We’re about a week away from the upcoming Batman v. Superman movie which may either be really awesome or incredibly awful. There’s very little in-between for superhero flicks with the obscene budgets they have. I want it to be good but there’s three huge red flags warning it won’t.
- Zack Snyder is involved.
- The flat Henry Cavill from Man of Steel continues to be Superman.
- It’s being released in the Spring, often the graveyard of bigger, potential flops during the more lucrative Summer season.
However, DC’s corporate parent wants a string of successes on par with Marvel/Disney. For a long time though they ruled the smaller screen via their animation offerings. My personal favorite was Justice League: New Frontier, adopting Darwyn Cooke’s take on how the Silver Age began for DC.
These two entries are now available through Netflix and I wish could recommend them. Sadly this critique is a warning to save the three hours you’ll want back.
First up is Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox in which the Flash (they’re back to using Barry Allen now) wakes up in an alternate timeline without his powers. Seems he was very critical to the League’s formation and cohesion too: no Superman, Batman is functioning drunk Thomas Wayne, no Green Lantern, Wonder Woman led an invasion of the UK, Aquaman is at war with everyone and the latter two heroes’ nations are going to destroy the world in their larger conflict. Flasnpoint is probably a synthesis of three story lines DC had, a common tactic to squeeze into an 80-minute feature.
The biggest problem is the art/style. Many characters have thick necks like they’re NFL linebackers. How do they animate this? As for the plot, it’s a shame they made two other major DC Universe events (Atlantis warring with the “surface world” and the Amazon invasion) into “oh by the way, these things happened.”
Next is Justice League: War, an animated retelling of how the current Justice League formed as per the 2011 reboot (more of a soft/half-assed reboot) to DC’s Universe. Traditionally the founding seven members join forces through an alien invasion. For several decades it was the shape-shifting Apellexians (sic) and in the awesome Bruce Timm-influenced series it was shape-shifting aliens who had exterminated life on Mars before they came to Earth. To tie everything up nicely in DC, 2011 shifted to Darkseid as the invader and Cyborg’s origin is a key plot point. The League is formed to shut down his influx of Parademons. This cartoon follows the first six issues pretty closely with one major change, Aquaman is traded out for Captain Marvel (aka Shazam!). I know Aquaman isn’t terribly interesting but Marvel is redundant even if his powers are derived from magic. You already have Superman and Wonder Woman. They’re mostly identical in what they can do in a fight against hundreds of Parademons and/or punching a 20-foot tall Darkseid. Throw in the Big Cheese (what villains traditionally call Captain Marvel) and Darkseid should have a harder time enduring a pummeling. Plus his Omega Force eye power cannot disintegrate Marvel given the divine protection he has.
Again, there’s more crappy art. The weirder thing is how there’s PG-13 language to make it edgier. Whatever! It remains dull.
I don’t mind DC Animation wanting to try something new, something different. Just avoid clunky animation styles. The Seventies’ Superfriends style was more pleasing on the eye. Hell, maybe they should stick with the Bruce Timm “tiny ankles/big chest.” At least it flowed smoothly to cover up weak stories.