I know most people don't like the DCAMU, but I genuinely liked every movie. They aren't the best movies, but they were really fun to watch. I also loved the art style, too.
I'm actually surprised people didn't like them. Sure they had some bad ones like Bad blood and mediocre ones like Hush, but they also had many more great ones. And I too loved the artstyle.
I just finished what I now know is the last movie they’ll make in this continuity and I’m so sad. I can’t explain why, but I really like this version of Nightwing and Starfire in particular. Also Batman and Damien are great. Nvm I like all the characters. You get the point though. Also more of a casual dc fan so if I have poor taste that’s why lol.
I really liked Justice League Dark and Suicide Squad Hell to Pay. By no means are they amazing, but I think they’re solid films and I love the villain and end twist of Hell to Pay since it feels fairly fresh and original.
From the DCAU, I favored the Suicide Squad Hell to Pay and Teen Titans' The Judas Contract. I preferred Superman Doomsday over the two-parter version, and the Batman Under the Red Hood over the Death in the Family.
Hal Jordan: Hey, since we've already done half a dozen Gotham City Stories, how about some deep space ring-slinging action, huh? Batman: Can't. Next movie is my crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Kiddos a fan. Damain Wayne (in zombie facepaint): I like turtles
@Leo Peridot He hasn't, Green Lantern has received a total of 1 animated movie focused on him all alone, and that sucks cuz the Green Lantern mythos are so great and they can tell many stories, but they always focus on Batman cuz clearly the rest of the heroes don't exist
Yeah they haven't really covered any of the other members of the justice leauge with movies, I wanted to see another flash movie, well flash was used to reboot the dcamu.
I have to push back against the idea that Batman: Bad Blood had a bros before hoes feel. For one, Damien and Dick aren't Batman's bros, they're his sons. And we have to remember that Damien was conceived when Talia drugged and raped Bruce. As weird as the change to her character was in this movie, I have to say that her actions fell in line with that of someone who is eugenics-obsessed enough to rape someone in order to produce the "perfect" offspring. She explicitly stated that's why she did it when she was introduced in Son of Batman, so despite her more sympathetic portrayal in that movie, her actions have tainted her character from the start. Because of this, I feel a more accurate interpretation of Bad Blood would be children pleading their parent to break free from an abusive partner. There's a reason it was specifically Dick and Damien in the room doing the pleading when Batman finally broke free. This was a bat family movie, not a bat bros movie.
I agree, I really felt like people gloss over the fact that she raped him in order to have his kid.. super gross.. I do think they should have had a line or scene saying her going in the Lazarus pit in the previous movie or even off screen again led to her changed behavior
Ok I haven’t seen the movie so I have to ask did she rape him in the movies continuity or are you going by the comics? Cus if you’re going by the comics it’s more complicated. *Long explanation below* In Son of the Demon the relationship between Batman and Talia was consensual. Then grant Morrison decided to bring it into continuity and had Talia rape Bruce. According to Morrison in an interview with Wizard Magazine, “For a longtime, [DC] said [Son of the Demon] was out of continuity. Now it’s just kind of out of continuity. I didn’t actually read it before I started writing this. I messed up a lot of the details, like Batman wasn’t drugged when he was having sex with Talia and it didn’t take place in the desert. I was relying on shaky memories. But now we have this new “Superboy punch” continuity [after Superboy Prime attacked the fabric of the universe during Infinite Crisis]. People still don’t realize how important that single punch was to cover everyone’s ass.” So they retconned it back into being consensual. Though I swear I’ve read stuff that implied she raped Bruce that was written after the whole retcon back. And I know I’ve read stuff written after that had Talia steal Bruces dna to make Damian which while not rape is certainly a violation. At this point I’ve given up keeping track of it and am just going to be mad at how Talia (who was implied to be a rape victim herself at one point) has been badly treated by DC. Then again DC (and comics as a whole) is bad at handling rape *looks at nightwing being raped* and DC also tends to screw characters who are not Batman over.
@@animasuperfreakgirl There is a specific line from one of the DCAMU movies where Damian tells Bruce, who's going out on a date, to watch his drink. It is also directly stated by Dick that Talia drugged Bruce into doing the deed. Hell, there might be a literal flashback to it, but either way, yes, it was not consensual for Bruce.
@@J__T In the final movie when Batman is under Darkseid's control and he shit talks to Damian, doesn't he say something like "you have no right to call me father. You who's mother drugged me to conceive you."
They are on HBO max and the original 3 1967 justice league cartoons edited 12/13/21 along with 3 episodes each of the original teen titans,hawk man,the flash,the atom, the green lantern are here on TH-cam.
We need a continuation they did the Justice league Actual Justice every charcter shined in their own way. Batman is dark Superman is hope and Wonder woman acts like an actual foreigner and embody strength
@@Luis-gn7ln I just watched Hush last night I've been rewatching all the DC animated universe movies and shows! I own almost all of them and yes you are right and I agree all the animated movies are not just better they nail the dialogue better than the best live action DC movies!
If you think DC. Is the only one who does it. I just got a Marvel Studios what if...? Lego set. So not only is "lego what if...?" An alternate reality of regular "what if..?" But the animated what if...? Is just alternative realities to the mcu, and the mcu is just a combination of different comics from them. Love comics
Regardless of how it ended, I think what’s come out after the DCAMU has been pretty stellar. I loved Superman Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society WWII is probably one of my favourite DC animated movies along side Return of the Joker and Under the Red Hood.
Another very good Batman animated movie that doesn't get mentioned very often in those lists is *"The Batman vs Dracula"* ... It's in the Matsudaverse, but the tone is much grittier/"more mature" than the 5 seasons of *"The Batman"* , and not "tits & ass mature"... It's not in the same tier as the big dogs, aka: Mask of the Phantasm, The Dark Knight Returns, Return of the Joker, Under the Red Hood or Batman: Year one... But it's still a solid movie that can be enjoyed even if you haven't watched the 2004 "The Batman" cartoon.
I know a lot of people give Damien crap and don't like him, but the DCAMU was my first interaction with him and I honestly didn't find him too annoying after his first appearance. He grew on me and by Justice League Dark Apokolips War I had grown to love him and felt that he did grow as a character by the end of the film.
People seem to forget that Damian is basically a younger version of Bruce, an awkward kid with little to no social skills, and considering Damian was groomed to be the leader of an army of assassins from a very early age he's not gonna be easily relatable or liked, but overtime Damian matured and they showed his maturity overtime and I respect that
@@grafixxrecords2188 I feel like if they nerfed him a little people would have less issue (using strength alone in most fights, not succumbing to his injuries like dick did say). Aside from that I loved his arc, he's motivated, ruthless and a lone wolf through and through. Even grows up to protect the pack, he's a 3d character.
Damian will always work best when he's teamed up with a lighter character that can bust his chops, like Dick Grayson Batman or Jon Kent. The dude's a vegan with a pet named Batcow, people! You don't need to make his stories that serious.
He was adorable in the *"Harley Quinn"* animated show... I'm not necessarily a huge fan of that cartoon since I pretty much hate the main cast, but some the secondary characters like Damian Wayne are done perfectly \o/
@@Planag7 Batman vs TMNT isn't a spin-off it's an adaptation of the six-issue intercompany crossover comic book miniseries Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II.
They are adapting the Rebirth Version now, and so far to me, it has been pretty good. Hopefully they make DC a lot of money because I really want more Animated Movies and Series from DC, this is where they shine imo.
I wouldn't really say they are adapting the rebirth version. It seems to me more like they are trying semi-fresh animated universe. Man of tomorrow wasn't based off of rebirth, nor is the long Halloween as I'm sure you know. So far I too am loving the direction the creative team is taking this new world in. The crisp designs, fantastic vocal performances, some of the most fluid animation I've seen since stuff that's come out in the late 90s early 00s. Great stuff
@limberlad, I agree. I also don't think the current DCAMU is as tight or apparent as the previous animated movie universe. To clarify, both Justice Society and the two Long Halloween movies don't make an effort to relate with one another in regards to storyline. As such, one would know that they are within the same universe is the artstyle of using thick black outlines, the reprisals of voice actors, and the post credit scene from the Long Halloween part 2; it feels that this continuity is a more less dependent on other films within the same universe so that anyone who didn't watch Superman: The World of Tomorrow, for example, can enjoy Justice Society: World War II. Granted that the 4 films are origin stories of sorts. Perhaps DC Animation is following Marvel Studios' footsteps by making solo animated films of the key Justice League characters before making the eventual Justice League movie.
Some people argued that Talia's shifted characterization in Bad Blood was a side effect of madness caused by The Lazarus pit. Bit it's not outride mentioned or discussed.
That's what I was saying, I wish they had put that in the movie as some sort of explanation cause her going from caring(ish) mother to "kill him, we can make more" is crazy to me
In my opinion the two Teen Titans films toned down Damien's more annoying character traits plus he acted off the rest of the titans pretty well. He'll in Judas Contract he was quickly gotten rid of so that he didn't steal the spot light from the movie. While I agree that most of the time Darkseid is boring I have a soft spot for the DCAU version. Mainly because of Ironside's voice.
The DCAU version is the closest that any adaptation has gotten to doing the character right. Ironside just sells every line he's given, and doesn't make the common mistake of making him rockface Mongul.
18:20 Yeah no, in fact HELL NO. The DCAU (aka. Timmverse) version of Darkseid was a memorable version of the character, his design was a great modern take on Kirby's design and Michael Ironside's voice really brought the character to life. Also there are a ton of 80s and 90s comics where Darkseid is a great villain, one of them is the Pre-Crisis Legion of Superheroes storyline The Great Darkness Saga (Long Live The Legion!! Yeah you can tell I'm a big Legion fan)
Yeah Steve is off base on that one. Darkseid has been written well outside of kirbys original material. Although sadly that doesn't seem to be the case recently.
I’m gonna have to disagree with you about Darksied. He may suck when treated like your generic alien villain, he works quite well as an insidious, unstoppable manifestation of pure platonic evil. For example, look at Final crisis and The most recent Mr. Miracle run. Edit: Typos
@Leo Peridot then cyborg was integrated to the source wall, even barry was forced to be a stand in generator. I think just because they wanted a callback to Bad blood so they had him just super brainwashed.
Yeah that's the thing, Darkseid has the potential of being one of the best villains, specially by his portrayal in Final Crisis where it's revealed he (and the New Gods) are not really physical beings, but more like extradimensional entities with LOTS of power, yet they always forget that and make him a generic alien villain in the same way that Thanos is often portrayed
He was pretty good in the Doctor Fate comics where he was literally a balancing force of nature that both Chaos, Order and Fate all had to do diplomacy with rather than punch each other out. He wasn't necessarily evil in that run, he just knew that Fate was stepping out of the natural balance of things.
@@shahanahsan05 I mean... Earth was dying, most of the worlds population was gone, most of the heroes were dead, traumatized, or permanently scarred so he kinda had to
Honestly, the movie that most surprised and impressed me during this run was SUICIDE SQUAD: Hell To Pay. The third act twist being a previous movie callback that I just did NOT see coming. Watching you break this down, actually made me interested in hearing your opinion of my favorite animated DC property of the past 10+ years. YOUNG JUSTICE. Also I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on some of the non-CW DC live action shows that ended up on DC UNIVERSE like TITANS, DOOM PATROL, or the ill-fated SWAMP THING.
I LOVE YOUNG JUSTICE. It is the best DC thing out there for me, haven't seen season 4 yet so dont spoil me on that but first 2 seasons some of the best stuff in superhero genre ever. I didn't love season 3 tho
Like seriously, I tilted my head when he mentioned it. I don't think he knows what real sexism looks like, maybe just wanna look "progressive." By his logic Lollipop Chainsaw is Misogynistic
Who ever knows what goes on behind the doors at these studios. But I felt like they never leaned into what 'worked' in their films which made them kind of oscillate between 'eeeeh not so good' and 'eeeh not so bad'. I remember when Bad Blood was still fresh out on the scene everyone said the worst part about it was there wasn't more Damien and Grayson. If the show runners/creators/whoever were paying attention to what the fans were giving as feedback of their films it almost felt like a no brainer they would make a film staring Nightwing and Robin solving some very classic batman-esque plot in Bludhaven in some buddy cop type movie.
I also don't know what goes on behind the doors at these studios but for me it felt like so much of the series felt like "Hey what can we do to make people who don't like these comic book movies, watch our animated comic book movies", as their guiding thesis. They already know the hardcore fans will watch these no matter what, so it feel like they would have focused on "more batman" instead of things like a nighwing/robin movie.
@@maxh276 The only time I can recall Dick Grayson bening written outside of comics (and not just a simplified version of Robin in Teen Titans cartoon) was the first two seasons of Young Justice, and even season 3 of that dropped the ball on him somehow.
Several years ago, I read an article (if I remember the writer I will come back and credit them) that put forth the idea that the WB always learns the wrong lessons from success. Try to make Superman more like Batman... try to make "The Hobbit" more like "Lord of the Rings"... whatever the twisted logic may be behind the Wizarding World franchise. Frankly, it's a lucky "Aquaman" wasn't rewritten to take place in WWI after the success of "Wonder Woman".
I think that Aquaman was spared on the back of Jason Mamoa being a huge breakout after being cast. the demand for the kind of Aquaman we were already expecting form him was strong enough that it didn't need to be a clone of Wonder Woman's tone.
They should have made a Lobo movie with Jason Mamoa as Lobo. I liked his Aquaman, but DC missed a huge opportunity by not introducing him as Lobo in either a Superman movie or a standalone movie.
I think Darkseid's one-dimensional characteristic is what makes him such a great antagonistic force, if not a great antagonist. Both The Great Darkness Saga and Final Crisis manage to portray him as this living concept of evil which just wont go away no matter how hard you try.
It's not that they "have the power to rewrite their own story" because, as Flashpoint shows, there's no guarantee. If anything, it's HUGELY risky. Saying it like that gives hope, and there is no hope with time travel, only a gamble.
Exactly. The choice to have Barry change the timeline just shows how dire their situation is and how desperate they are. It’s quite a “any timeline has to be better than this one” move. Sad stuff.
I liked your video and it really showed the pitfalls in these line of movies but the sexism thing in Bad Blood is sort of reaching. it stops being bros before hoes when you were brainwashed into killing your two sons. I'm not excusing them of downgrading and having fanserivce for the female characters there are plenty of Starfire and Talia examples for that. I think what they wanted to show in Bad Blood was that Talia is the bad influence on Damian while Bruce was a better parent (even if his parenting skills weren't great), the issue is that in the Son of Batman Talia cared for Damian but pushed him into path that wasn't healthy. In Bad Blood it felt like they turned her character flaws up to 100 and made her the typical villain who only used Damian but nothing about her relationship with the batfamily screamed sexism.
Thank you, I thought I was crazy lol i was listening to him go off about that part and was like" huhhhhh???" But he did have a point about batwoman etc.
Though given how it works you could say being revived by the Lazarus Pit had a negative side effect on her sanity as we've seen in various DC media involving that pool of green colored water, hell the negative side effects are more apparent when you revive someone as shown with Jason Todd in Under the Red Hood movie, even though that film isn't part of the DCAMU it's still apparent I think they were also going with that
After hearing your thoughts on the animated movie universe it would be really interesting to hear how you feel about other parts of the DC Universe - main one for me would be the young justice series
I think they keep using Darkseid for 2 reasons: Reason 1: His showing in the DCAU was, honestly, pretty well done, largely because they correctly built up and paid off the idea that he's a threat through Superman and the Justice League various run ins with his minions, culminating in the invasion of earth in the last few episodes of Justice League Unlimited. Reason 2: Thanos.
No its mostly because during the whole New 52 era of DC, Darkseid was basically pushed as a major foe for the DC multiverse as his his influence extended beyond just the prime Earth (see Multiversity and Earth 2).
I will say I got into this version of the DCAU is because of the movie Justice League Dark because it was something that hadn't been done before. I loved it.
The great thing about many comic book movies is that you can go back and watch them again. But it kind of takes the fun out of your shared universe when it ends like this, and you look back over the filmography and know that every happy ending of every adventure was just a prelude to a big damn fail that wipes it all away.
The thing with Darkseid is that he works great in the context of the New Gods. When he's up against Mister Miracle, Orion and Highfather Darkseid works because he has a deep and interesting history with those characters. Darkseid fighting Orion is a fated battle between father and son. Darkseid versus Superman is just Supes fighting a less racist Mongul.
I will say, I think Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen is my absolute fave superman movies outside of the classic Donner films, just from how right they get the character, and then also gets my favorite DC character right with Superboy (im not a fan of the brooding YJ version at all). I wish the two Justice League Dark films had been better since they cast Matt Ryan, who imo is The Constantine.
I half agree. I LOVED the Death of Superman, which is impressive because I don’t like the original storyline. But I honestly thought Reign of Supermen was a haphazard disaster.
I don’t really like the DCAMU that much there was the good and the bad, but I like what they did with Dick’s character, they gave Dick justice, they fleshed out his character. Gave him a great relationship with Starfire and showed him and Damien having a great bond together, but they killed him off by ugly ass frog, so yeah they did him very dirty at the end, but still…good
But he was HEAVILY nerfed! In almost all the movies he lost his arm. They showed him off as too weak when he is in the top 3 of the batfamily. Also, the worst characterisation in these movies was that of Deathstroke. What a shame!
I kind of feel the same. The DCAMU was okay but it was just a mix of hits and misses. Maybe I'm just wearing nostalgia goggles, but the DCAU was a lot more enjoyable. And just on a random note, people who grew up in the 90s see Kevin Conroy as the definitive voice of Batman, and while I count myself among them, I really liked Jason O'Mara's performance and wouldn't mind seeing him reprise the role.
"Without Kirby's visual genius, boundlessly intelligent and idiosyncratic imagination to bring him to life, Darkseid becomes a generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination." That's kinda like saying, "I love omelets, but boy do I hate eggs." Darkseid was a "generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination" when Kirby created him. The visuals popped like few others dream of, the concepts were vaguely interesting, but man...there was a lot of sizzle for not a lot of steak. I tend to believe that Jack Kirby is both generally underrated in his pure artistic invention, and MASSIVELY over-praised by his most ardent followers. I think he suffered with what I call "the Roddenberry effect," also called "listening to the praise of your fanbase a little too much." I think you're soft-pedaling to not slam Jack's...questionable...writing. But that said....Thanos isn't any better, despite what Disney marketing has sold everyone. You take Jim Starlin's way-out imagination, and the literal courting of Death, out of the picture, and it's just angry Grimace with a half-assed agenda.
@Xbox One I think that would be Grant Morrison, and the fact that the character became uber-popular in the comics. I mean, I'm not really a Damian fan, but it was interesting to have a Robin who was A: massively entitled (and I haven't watched all the DTV movies, but...in the books, this was always presented as a character flaw), but B: could back that entitlement up. I also think that was interesting after two Robins who were basically perfect people, and one who (after Crisis On Infinite Earths, anyway) was a violent thug. Damien split the difference with a heaping of arrogance, tied to being Bruce's actual blood child, rather than a "son" by adoption. There's plenty of interesting things about Damian, and...I'll say this as a gentle critique of Steve, who sometimes seems to conflate being "good" with conforming to his political viewpoint (and TO BE CLEAR it's his channel, he can do and say what he wants)...I don't think every central character has to be a moral paragon. I don't particularly like The Punisher, I find him morally reprehensible, but that doesn't mean you can't tell a compelling, interesting and challenging story with him. I have also plenty of problems with BvS, but...y'know what? The film explicitly (it's literal dialogue in the film) shows a Batman who's lost his way, and finds a way back to a more heroic mindset. Depiction is not advocation, and sometimes superheroes grappling with their own failings of character is pretty damn interesting. Damian, when written well, has been that character a lot.
alternate comment: "Without Kirby's visual genius, boundlessly intelligent and idiosyncratic imagination to bring him to life, Darkseid becomes a generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination." Well clearly you've never had an omelet
Which also bring to mind a suggestion for a future video: Jack Kirby's Worst Moments. American comic books will forever owe Kirby a debt of gratitude and Kirby will always be The King. But even he had his moments where we, the readers, look at his creations and think, "WTF?" One example: The Black Racer. Another example: Paranex the Fighting Fetus!
I really like Comic Damian. The movie universe cut out a lot of his character growth and progression for time I guess. Though I will admit i do like that they made him and Raven a thing.
Agreed. Damian, in this continuity at least, has the excuse of being a child who can grow into being a decent, mature human being. Ben is a fully grown adult man who chooses to be a smug, arrogant bully.
Yes but hypothetically speaking couldn’t you say that comparing a grown man to a fictional child is perhaps unrealistic? And furthermore couldn’t one also suggest that this only demonstrates the left’s desire to denigrate their opponents instead of competing with them in the market place of ideas? Checkmate liberals -Ben Shabibo, probably
I really enjoyed elseworlds stories such as; Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Superman: Red Son, Gotham by Gaslight. I hope they adapt kingdom come story line. But then again, I'm pretty sure they'll somehow manage to ruin that too.
The best thing about Dick and Damien is how its an inverse of the usual Batman-Robin dynamic as Dick is adorably optimistic even after all the shit he's been through whilst Damien is "far too dark for his tender years" as Alfred put it.
The film was (to me) little more than a Batman butt kiss where, at the end, his idiotic plan for Constantine works. It looks like he set up the first attack to fail. Pity we all can't see into the future. And he sat there unmoved as his team mates were tortured, mutilated and killed, Billions of earth people slaughtered and no trace of the 'invincible Bat will' his fans scream about, Only when his arsehole little bastard Damian was hurt did he somehow break free. Pity the rest of humanity don't wake any feelings in him.
Same. People regress in real life but Damian turned out alright in the end. Regression shows that you're struggling with change and it's the character's job to push on
Steve Shives: I'm a Batman fan. (Wears a Superman shirt.) Also Steve Shives: My favorite Batman movie, and the best one of the four, is the one that doesn't have Batman. Okay.
I don't understand how these people really want to make more Batman movies but for some reason just don't want to use characters that can potentially give them actual good stories!! like they already did Under The Hood before and EVERYONE LOVED that but then why not use Jason?? and what about Tim?? like he is one of the few characters that are in the same league as Bruce whe it comes to Detective work amd intelligence, so much so that aside from Bruce, he is the ONLY one in the Batfamily that Ra's refers to as "Detective" and literally all of them are trained by Batman they intruduced Kate and Luke but we barely even know anything about them!! (at least in the animated movies... I refuse to acknowledge the CW show) there's also Barbara and we all know how people felt about The Killing Joke adaptation Stephanie? Duke?? Cass??? hello??
they stopped using writers who actually cared about the subject matter and started hiring talent-less, snively doofs with no love for the genre and want a job that doesn't demand even the slightest bit of creativity or originality
I’m not a fan of the DC animated movies. Cannot understand why Damian is the leader of the Titans when there are more senior members like Cyborg and Starfire hanging around. I much prefer the Young Justice universe.
Honestly I loved the introduction of them in that movie. John and jason playing poker with a few demons and forcing the latter to change. Then boston who is bitter because he called shotgun but zatanna ignored him. Lol
Funny how the comics started with Crisis on Infinite Earths and ended with Flashpoint, whereas the DCAMU started with Flashpoint and ended with Crisis on Infinite Earths.
I have always been kind of on the fence about the DC AU. I do have to say that my favorite movies in the bunch are War, Throne of Atlantis, and the two Superman movies.. By the way did you know that Matt Ryan, who played John Constantine in the short lived TV series as well as the Arrowverse voiced John and these movies. Also another funny little bit of Trivia about these movies, Jerry o'connell and Rebecca romaine, who in real life are a couple, voice Superman and Louis Lane respectively.
Crticisms for it aside, the DCAMU was exactly what i needed from DC when JL Unlimited ended. It had great animation and at least had a solid universe where the same characters were running around inbetween their own stories.
Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing a DCAMU Post-Apocalypse (War) movie, all about how the Earth is falling apart, billions are dying, and the desperate, scared survivors either huddle together for strength, or turn on each other for resources; perhaps with an emphasis on how distrustful ordinary people would be towards the remaining heroes, with their horrific disfiguration, cybernetic modifications - and their demonstrable failure to actually protect the World. Heck, it would even be a rather topical take on trying to survive extreme and devastating climate changes, as the Earth has been irreparably damaged by Darkseid's careless mining operation. An intense and dark movie, in which the "villain" isn't just some space monster you can punch in the face until he goes away - but a terrible and unresolvable situation brought about by said space monster.
The 'New 52' happened. And, the animated universe shifted to reflect those changes. Nice essay. I agree with pretty much all of it. I guess I'm just old.
Justice league dark apokolips War I despise they did Nightwing dirty in that movie. Also it really really really went out why I say I don't want Jack Snyder's storyline with the DC Universe because they said a lot of the ideas that he was going to use was in this film.
Honestly a series around Dick Grayson isn’t horrible of an idea. He’s regarded as the most connected hero of the DCU essentially its heart. He’s the classic leader of the Titans, Batman’s favorite son, close with Superman and regarded as the best leader of the DCU. That could work
I have to disagree on damian, i think that he had a good development and like you mention the dynamic between him and dick, and also bruce made him a more interesting character as well. He was pretty annoying but by the end of the new 52 movies he became a solid character in my eyes at least.
This is the channel discovery of the year for me - spent the other night down a rabbit hole of your videos, now this is directly related to my interests.
Apokolips War just didn’t do it for it. I feel like ending that universe was way too premature and killing just for the sake of killing isn’t good storytelling Lol
As a former comic book obsessed geek (1985 to 1993) and casual comic book fan for my entire life, I thank you for this education on the DCAMU, which convinced me not to seek out and watch every single movie. I've seen a few of the movies, including Flashpoint Paradox and Death/Return of Superman (and I read the Death of Superman series when it was new in the early 1990s), and I approach these as independent movies and ignore the movie-to-movie continuity that they attempted to build, and take them on their own worth and merit. In that respect I enjoyed Flashpoint Paradox and thought Death/Return of Superman were pretty good. They were also much better than the *first* Superman-Doomsday animated movie from 2007, which everyone seems to have forgotten -- and rightfully so. They're not fantastic, but not bad; while the 2007 Superman/Doomsday movie was bland and forgettable. As for the other movies...I may check them out, one by one, if I find them in the discount section at Wally World or at Dollar Tree. Incidentally, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was silly and fun, and worth it just for the way it pays homage to a whole bunch of DC comic covers and splash pages.
As someone in his 20's, I enjoy the boobs as well, a little cheesecake aint killing anyone. But yeah, I enjoyed most of the ones I watched, except a couple the Batman ones. Genuinely fell asleep during a couple. I agree I love the dude, but getting tired of seeing him and anyone tied to Gotham, let other heroes shine at least for the animated stuff. The og AU I grew up on definitely reigns superior for me ultimately but these are a neat time too, or at least can be
I agree with a lot of the points made in this video. Not all, but a good amount... Given that I didn't actually see all of the films until recently, I kept thinking "Okay. Maybe THIS will be the one that hooks me, and makes me see why so many swear by the DC animated movies..." But apart from "Flashpoint Paradox" and "Batman vs Robin," this just never happened. That is not to say I thought the films were actively bad, but so many sit in the 4-5/10 range that it just makes me scratch my head. Again, I don't think they're bad, just not that great...
Mark Millar may have written on of superman's best stories with red son. But the animated movie was something I couldn't finish watching. It came at the point where Superman kills Stalin over the gulags. Which in the comic was a bit different with Stalin being sick and Superman reading every medical book ever written to find a cure for it. Even in red son Superman was a man who chooses not to kill even if he is okay with a little laobotomy.
You read far too deep into these movies 🤣, I thought I was bad lol. Really enjoyed your dive into the DCAU, I really liked the whole series but then again I can't attest to not being slightly stunted in my teens. Cool to see that we share intrest besides Trek Awesome video Dude thanks for sharing
I'm 17:50 in this vid. I enjoyed every JLAMCU!!! All these films were amazing. Story continuity, Drawing style, fight scene, and character development. I love everyone of these films. Great upload though
I absolutely hated the DCAMU. Because the writers didn't wanna commit to anything. Starting a new continuity based on a comic run that was disliked by fans was a no no. And they knew those stories wouldn't hold up so they copped out and started sacrificing classical stories to fit in this new movie universe. What made the old animated films so special is that they perfectly capsulated not only the story but the artsyle of the comics they adapted. And even though they mostly took place in separate canon there would be a few films that would serve as continuations to previous films. Such as JL Doom & Crisis on Two Earths. Or Batman & Superman Public Enemies and Apocalypse. But the DCAMU butchered classic stories all for the sake of not contradicting what they established in previous films.
I absolutely hated justice league dark apocalypse...watched it once and won't ever watch a trailer for it again. I like the animation, voices and scripts. I hate how they treat nightwing and how the heroes full powers aren't utilized. I don't like the profanity. I have collected a lot of the movies though.
@Xbox One Honestly they should have just made the Justice League fight Eclipso & have them get Possessed by him leaving it to the rest of the heroes to stop him, Imo Eclipso is a WAY better villain then Darkseid
@@beyondtrash1627 I agree with that statement, The movie was unnecessary gratuitous blood gore and violence with everyone's favorite DC heroes getting killed off indiscriminately for SHOCK VALUE & the movie had Superman act very out of character in the very beginning like the real Superman would not invade apocalypse in a hurry like it's no wonder why Batman is usually the strategist & leader of the Justice League & Superman is the muscle & face of the JL,
This guys crazy I liked all the movies I have them all and have watched them all multiple times Your problem is you grown up with comics for so long that you’ve become bitter And you’re definitely not given this series a fair shake But I do agree with you about dark side And yes Batman is heavily featured but he was in the justice league show too He’s the foundation of the DC universe That’s how it is The movies did a great job
What irks me the most about this series of films is just how joyless they are. I get it's supposed to be grittier, but the characters just appear to be bored with the proceedings. There's barely any sense of emotion, elation, or even fun in any of these films (except from Constantine). And of course, just when it looks like the movies might do something interesting, they revert back to their adolescent grimdark sensibilities. If I were to make one change to the series, just to throw everyone for a loop: rather than have the last film be a Justice League Dark movie (or Justice League), I would have had the film be a Suicide Squad movie through and through. They already play a pretty important role in the film, and to me it would be a nice twist to the proceedings to have the few remaining heroes rely on a collection of their shared villains since they're the ones that can succeed where the heroes failed: being worse than the worst bad guy and absolutely roiling their shit. Plus, imagine it: instead of Trigon taking over Superman, he takes over Harley Quinn who then faces off against Darkseid. Now THAT, to me, would be a climactic battle.
Honestly, I lost interest of this series by the second movie; and trailers of the additional movies did not make me want to watch them. The series is just so dry, grim and sullen with equally flat, one-note characters that take themselves too seriously. Also, as Steve pointed out, it's immature in its edginess with loads of adolescent machismo and dated depiction of women.
The problem with "too much Batman" in the DCAMU is that by and large, the Batman films are the weakest part of the continuity. Batman Hush is probably the worst film of the bunch and Batman v Robin is probably the strongest of the Batman 'solo' films but still is pretty mid-tier by the standards of the rest of the series.
I write to WB every few months, telling them to stop interfering with comic characters. If WB truly wants a Cinematic Universe, I have a 20 movie plan. No, they don't involve Batman as much even though I'm a Batfan. WB tries too hard with named actors instead of letting the story be the draw. Build up then pay off
These movies were pretty disappointing for the most part, and i did find the fact that these movie wanted so hard to make both batman and damian the center of the universe pretty annoying. Now i dont hate Damian as a character i actually quite like him but the animated movie version isn't a very good interpretation of the character at all
justice league dark OWNS. one of my favorite uses of batman as a non-main protagonist too. i think the new 52 movies are all fantastic, i seriously didnt think i'd enjoy them as much as i did something that stuck out to me a lot was just how brutal it was. people just get murdered left and right lol
I know most people don't like the DCAMU, but I genuinely liked every movie. They aren't the best movies, but they were really fun to watch. I also loved the art style, too.
I'm actually surprised people didn't like them. Sure they had some bad ones like Bad blood and mediocre ones like Hush, but they also had many more great ones. And I too loved the artstyle.
Thought people loved these moives. I do personally
I liked the art style, that is what actually drew me towards the series. Some movies were better than others, but I enjoyed movies
I just finished what I now know is the last movie they’ll make in this continuity and I’m so sad. I can’t explain why, but I really like this version of Nightwing and Starfire in particular. Also Batman and Damien are great. Nvm I like all the characters. You get the point though. Also more of a casual dc fan so if I have poor taste that’s why lol.
@@Zombie0303 Are you talking about apokolis war?
I really liked Justice League Dark and Suicide Squad Hell to Pay. By no means are they amazing, but I think they’re solid films and I love the villain and end twist of Hell to Pay since it feels fairly fresh and original.
I agree. Also I think the DC Animated Movie Universe is better than the live action films. Certainly better than the Snyder films.
Male Stripper Dr. Fate is my favorite part. He should of showed back up in Apocalypse.
From the DCAU, I favored the Suicide Squad Hell to Pay and Teen Titans' The Judas Contract. I preferred Superman Doomsday over the two-parter version, and the Batman Under the Red Hood over the Death in the Family.
@@gomezpants p
Suicide Squad Hell to pay felt like a grindhouse flick in a good way
Hal Jordan: Hey, since we've already done half a dozen Gotham City Stories, how about some deep space ring-slinging action, huh?
Batman: Can't. Next movie is my crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Kiddos a fan.
Damain Wayne (in zombie facepaint): I like turtles
Well played, sir. Comment of the year.
@Leo Peridot He hasn't, Green Lantern has received a total of 1 animated movie focused on him all alone, and that sucks cuz the Green Lantern mythos are so great and they can tell many stories, but they always focus on Batman cuz clearly the rest of the heroes don't exist
Yeah they haven't really covered any of the other members of the justice leauge with movies, I wanted to see another flash movie, well flash was used to reboot the dcamu.
i want a green lantern body-cop movie with john stewart and guy gardner. they can rip off from men in black as much as they want.
Thaaaaank you jeezus
I have to push back against the idea that Batman: Bad Blood had a bros before hoes feel. For one, Damien and Dick aren't Batman's bros, they're his sons. And we have to remember that Damien was conceived when Talia drugged and raped Bruce. As weird as the change to her character was in this movie, I have to say that her actions fell in line with that of someone who is eugenics-obsessed enough to rape someone in order to produce the "perfect" offspring. She explicitly stated that's why she did it when she was introduced in Son of Batman, so despite her more sympathetic portrayal in that movie, her actions have tainted her character from the start.
Because of this, I feel a more accurate interpretation of Bad Blood would be children pleading their parent to break free from an abusive partner. There's a reason it was specifically Dick and Damien in the room doing the pleading when Batman finally broke free. This was a bat family movie, not a bat bros movie.
I agree, I really felt like people gloss over the fact that she raped him in order to have his kid.. super gross.. I do think they should have had a line or scene saying her going in the Lazarus pit in the previous movie or even off screen again led to her changed behavior
Yes dude I was think the same thing and I just was going to write a comment about it then I saw yours
Ok I haven’t seen the movie so I have to ask did she rape him in the movies continuity or are you going by the comics? Cus if you’re going by the comics it’s more complicated.
*Long explanation below*
In Son of the Demon the relationship between Batman and Talia was consensual. Then grant Morrison decided to bring it into continuity and had Talia rape Bruce.
According to Morrison in an interview with Wizard Magazine, “For a longtime, [DC] said [Son of the Demon] was out of continuity. Now it’s just kind of out of continuity. I didn’t actually read it before I started writing this. I messed up a lot of the details, like Batman wasn’t drugged when he was having sex with Talia and it didn’t take place in the desert. I was relying on shaky memories. But now we have this new “Superboy punch” continuity [after Superboy Prime attacked the fabric of the universe during Infinite Crisis]. People still don’t realize how important that single punch was to cover everyone’s ass.”
So they retconned it back into being consensual. Though I swear I’ve read stuff that implied she raped Bruce that was written after the whole retcon back. And I know I’ve read stuff written after that had Talia steal Bruces dna to make Damian which while not rape is certainly a violation. At this point I’ve given up keeping track of it and am just going to be mad at how Talia (who was implied to be a rape victim herself at one point) has been badly treated by DC.
Then again DC (and comics as a whole) is bad at handling rape *looks at nightwing being raped* and DC also tends to screw characters who are not Batman over.
@@animasuperfreakgirl There is a specific line from one of the DCAMU movies where Damian tells Bruce, who's going out on a date, to watch his drink. It is also directly stated by Dick that Talia drugged Bruce into doing the deed. Hell, there might be a literal flashback to it, but either way, yes, it was not consensual for Bruce.
@@J__T In the final movie when Batman is under Darkseid's control and he shit talks to Damian, doesn't he say something like "you have no right to call me father. You who's mother drugged me to conceive you."
I miss Justices League Unlimited. It got so good before it ended.
That show will forever be goated
I miss that too
They are on HBO max and the original 3 1967 justice league cartoons edited 12/13/21 along with 3 episodes each of the original teen titans,hawk man,the flash,the atom, the green lantern are here on TH-cam.
I still watch it! Even got my younger family members addicted to it
We need a continuation they did the Justice league Actual Justice every charcter shined in their own way. Batman is dark Superman is hope and Wonder woman acts like an actual foreigner and embody strength
For all its weaknesses, none are bad films, and ALL are better than anything coming out of the live action studios.
True as such
Nah a lot of them are bad but my favorite movie is batman hush from that universe
Pretty true
@@Luis-gn7ln I just watched Hush last night I've been rewatching all the DC animated universe movies and shows! I own almost all of them and yes you are right and I agree all the animated movies are not just better they nail the dialogue better than the best live action DC movies!
If you think DC. Is the only one who does it. I just got a Marvel Studios what if...? Lego set. So not only is "lego what if...?" An alternate reality of regular "what if..?" But the animated what if...? Is just alternative realities to the mcu, and the mcu is just a combination of different comics from them. Love comics
Regardless of how it ended, I think what’s come out after the DCAMU has been pretty stellar. I loved Superman Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society WWII is probably one of my favourite DC animated movies along side Return of the Joker and Under the Red Hood.
Return of the Joker is incredible. Had it on DVD when I was a kid and knew it line by line.
Another very good Batman animated movie that doesn't get mentioned very often in those lists is *"The Batman vs Dracula"* ...
It's in the Matsudaverse, but the tone is much grittier/"more mature" than the 5 seasons of *"The Batman"* , and not "tits & ass mature"...
It's not in the same tier as the big dogs, aka: Mask of the Phantasm, The Dark Knight Returns, Return of the Joker, Under the Red Hood or Batman: Year one...
But it's still a solid movie that can be enjoyed even if you haven't watched the 2004 "The Batman" cartoon.
Long Halloween one best batman animateds they have done so far
Under the red hood got me into comics
@@randallflagg3700 also batman vs ninja turtles
I know a lot of people give Damien crap and don't like him, but the DCAMU was my first interaction with him and I honestly didn't find him too annoying after his first appearance. He grew on me and by Justice League Dark Apokolips War I had grown to love him and felt that he did grow as a character by the end of the film.
People seem to forget that Damian is basically a younger version of Bruce, an awkward kid with little to no social skills, and considering Damian was groomed to be the leader of an army of assassins from a very early age he's not gonna be easily relatable or liked, but overtime Damian matured and they showed his maturity overtime and I respect that
DCAMU did a way better job of portraying Damian compared to the Injustice Comics and games
Yup same
@@grafixxrecords2188 I feel like if they nerfed him a little people would have less issue (using strength alone in most fights, not succumbing to his injuries like dick did say).
Aside from that I loved his arc, he's motivated, ruthless and a lone wolf through and through. Even grows up to protect the pack, he's a 3d character.
He was a complex character that we got to watch grow and develop every movie he was in.
Damian will always work best when he's teamed up with a lighter character that can bust his chops, like Dick Grayson Batman or Jon Kent. The dude's a vegan with a pet named Batcow, people! You don't need to make his stories that serious.
He literally teamed up with the teen Titans and warmed up to them in the dca movies
He was adorable in the *"Harley Quinn"* animated show... I'm not necessarily a huge fan of that cartoon since I pretty much hate the main cast, but some the secondary characters like Damian Wayne are done perfectly \o/
I still crack up at the thought of a cow in cowel and utility belt
@@randallflagg3700 It was the hoverboard that did me in XD
@@Planag7 Batman vs TMNT isn't a spin-off it's an adaptation of the six-issue intercompany crossover comic book miniseries Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II.
They are adapting the Rebirth Version now, and so far to me, it has been pretty good. Hopefully they make DC a lot of money because I really want more Animated Movies and Series from DC, this is where they shine imo.
I wouldn't really say they are adapting the rebirth version. It seems to me more like they are trying semi-fresh animated universe. Man of tomorrow wasn't based off of rebirth, nor is the long Halloween as I'm sure you know. So far I too am loving the direction the creative team is taking this new world in. The crisp designs, fantastic vocal performances, some of the most fluid animation I've seen since stuff that's come out in the late 90s early 00s. Great stuff
@limberlad, I agree. I also don't think the current DCAMU is as tight or apparent as the previous animated movie universe. To clarify, both Justice Society and the two Long Halloween movies don't make an effort to relate with one another in regards to storyline. As such, one would know that they are within the same universe is the artstyle of using thick black outlines, the reprisals of voice actors, and the post credit scene from the Long Halloween part 2; it feels that this continuity is a more less dependent on other films within the same universe so that anyone who didn't watch Superman: The World of Tomorrow, for example, can enjoy Justice Society: World War II. Granted that the 4 films are origin stories of sorts. Perhaps DC Animation is following Marvel Studios' footsteps by making solo animated films of the key Justice League characters before making the eventual Justice League movie.
@@FallenGemini exactly, this makes me excited for the upcoming Green Lantern film set in this universe
Some people argued that Talia's shifted characterization in Bad Blood was a side effect of madness caused by The Lazarus pit. Bit it's not outride mentioned or discussed.
That's what I was saying, I wish they had put that in the movie as some sort of explanation cause her going from caring(ish) mother to "kill him, we can make more" is crazy to me
People also say that Talia going insane could also be her telling the mad hatter to remove all her emotions so she can be a “better leader.”
@@jasminethompson8808 yea that what I think
In my opinion the two Teen Titans films toned down Damien's more annoying character traits plus he acted off the rest of the titans pretty well. He'll in Judas Contract he was quickly gotten rid of so that he didn't steal the spot light from the movie.
While I agree that most of the time Darkseid is boring I have a soft spot for the DCAU version. Mainly because of Ironside's voice.
The DCAU version is the closest that any adaptation has gotten to doing the character right. Ironside just sells every line he's given, and doesn't make the common mistake of making him rockface Mongul.
A voice so damned bone-chillingly good, they brought him back for the Harley Quinn series
@@bigshow771 As much as I don't like that show, the more we have of Michael Ironside voicing Darkseid, the better.
There were so many good voices in that show.
Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor :)
judas contract was about Deathstroke's hatred for Damian not about Tara and Jericho was cut out.
The DC movie animated universe can be summed up like this:
“So dark! Are you sure you’re not from the DC universe?”
It's better than the dceu imo. The dceu is crap lmao
Not saying the animated universe is great doe. Its just better than the dceu ino
@@dudethisusername7285 Dc animated universe With BTAS SAS with Justi league Tv show are goated
Deadpool: So dark! Are you sure you’re not from the DC universe? AHHH I LOVE DUMPSTEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
18:20 Yeah no, in fact HELL NO. The DCAU (aka. Timmverse) version of Darkseid was a memorable version of the character, his design was a great modern take on Kirby's design and Michael Ironside's voice really brought the character to life.
Also there are a ton of 80s and 90s comics where Darkseid is a great villain, one of them is the Pre-Crisis Legion of Superheroes storyline The Great Darkness Saga (Long Live The Legion!! Yeah you can tell I'm a big Legion fan)
I totally agree
Yeah Steve is off base on that one. Darkseid has been written well outside of kirbys original material. Although sadly that doesn't seem to be the case recently.
I agree wholeheartedly
100 percent.
What the DCAU actually did good was that they held him back and used him as a real threat. When he showed up, the fight was serious.
I’m gonna have to disagree with you about Darksied. He may suck when treated like your generic alien villain, he works quite well as an insidious, unstoppable manifestation of pure platonic evil. For example, look at Final crisis and The most recent Mr. Miracle run.
Edit: Typos
@Leo Peridot then cyborg was integrated to the source wall, even barry was forced to be a stand in generator.
I think just because they wanted a callback to Bad blood so they had him just super brainwashed.
Yeah that's the thing, Darkseid has the potential of being one of the best villains, specially by his portrayal in Final Crisis where it's revealed he (and the New Gods) are not really physical beings, but more like extradimensional entities with LOTS of power, yet they always forget that and make him a generic alien villain in the same way that Thanos is often portrayed
He was pretty good in the Doctor Fate comics where he was literally a balancing force of nature that both Chaos, Order and Fate all had to do diplomacy with rather than punch each other out. He wasn't necessarily evil in that run, he just knew that Fate was stepping out of the natural balance of things.
@@ImTheMan0fSteel I agree
Final crisis he nearly destroyed reality
“What happened to the DCAU?”
Well it ended. Now with a new flashpoint, the DCAU has restarted a new
I wish it didn’t end and just continued it was great and I loved the designs 😔
DCAU with Btas and Justice league Static shock were great
@@jadenharding397
Yeah I loved that art style
they should have just continued but Barry just needed to reset the original game save..
@@shahanahsan05 I mean... Earth was dying, most of the worlds population was gone, most of the heroes were dead, traumatized, or permanently scarred so he kinda had to
Honestly, the movie that most surprised and impressed me during this run was SUICIDE SQUAD: Hell To Pay. The third act twist being a previous movie callback that I just did NOT see coming. Watching you break this down, actually made me interested in hearing your opinion of my favorite animated DC property of the past 10+ years. YOUNG JUSTICE. Also I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on some of the non-CW DC live action shows that ended up on DC UNIVERSE like TITANS, DOOM PATROL, or the ill-fated SWAMP THING.
He's got a video on Titans, and he talks about Doom Patrol a fair amount during that video.
I LOVE YOUNG JUSTICE. It is the best DC thing out there for me, haven't seen season 4 yet so dont spoil me on that but first 2 seasons some of the best stuff in superhero genre ever. I didn't love season 3 tho
Hell to Pay was fucking gold
Young Justice was excellent. Characters got room to breath and grow. Mistakes were learned from. The stakes felt big enough.
@@cable7152 That movie was AWESOME, I loved it
To call the Bad Blood batman movie "Misogynistic" is a really big stretch. Other than that, I agree with everything else you said.
Like seriously, I tilted my head when he mentioned it. I don't think he knows what real sexism looks like, maybe just wanna look "progressive." By his logic Lollipop Chainsaw is Misogynistic
Who ever knows what goes on behind the doors at these studios. But I felt like they never leaned into what 'worked' in their films which made them kind of oscillate between 'eeeeh not so good' and 'eeeh not so bad'.
I remember when Bad Blood was still fresh out on the scene everyone said the worst part about it was there wasn't more Damien and Grayson. If the show runners/creators/whoever were paying attention to what the fans were giving as feedback of their films it almost felt like a no brainer they would make a film staring Nightwing and Robin solving some very classic batman-esque plot in Bludhaven in some buddy cop type movie.
I also don't know what goes on behind the doors at these studios but for me it felt like so much of the series felt like "Hey what can we do to make people who don't like these comic book movies, watch our animated comic book movies", as their guiding thesis. They already know the hardcore fans will watch these no matter what, so it feel like they would have focused on "more batman" instead of things like a nighwing/robin movie.
Fr, I wanted more Nightwing. They always make him lose every fight and treat his character badly in the movies. Idk why.
@@maxh276 The only time I can recall Dick Grayson bening written outside of comics (and not just a simplified version of Robin in Teen Titans cartoon) was the first two seasons of Young Justice, and even season 3 of that dropped the ball on him somehow.
Several years ago, I read an article (if I remember the writer I will come back and credit them) that put forth the idea that the WB always learns the wrong lessons from success.
Try to make Superman more like Batman... try to make "The Hobbit" more like "Lord of the Rings"... whatever the twisted logic may be behind the Wizarding World franchise.
Frankly, it's a lucky "Aquaman" wasn't rewritten to take place in WWI after the success of "Wonder Woman".
I think that Aquaman was spared on the back of Jason Mamoa being a huge breakout after being cast. the demand for the kind of Aquaman we were already expecting form him was strong enough that it didn't need to be a clone of Wonder Woman's tone.
They should have made a Lobo movie with Jason Mamoa as Lobo. I liked his Aquaman, but DC missed a huge opportunity by not introducing him as Lobo in either a Superman movie or a standalone movie.
I think Darkseid's one-dimensional characteristic is what makes him such a great antagonistic force, if not a great antagonist. Both The Great Darkness Saga and Final Crisis manage to portray him as this living concept of evil which just wont go away no matter how hard you try.
It's not that they "have the power to rewrite their own story" because, as Flashpoint shows, there's no guarantee. If anything, it's HUGELY risky. Saying it like that gives hope, and there is no hope with time travel, only a gamble.
Exactly. The choice to have Barry change the timeline just shows how dire their situation is and how desperate they are. It’s quite a “any timeline has to be better than this one” move. Sad stuff.
I liked Nightwing in this series. Arguably one of the best characters in my opinion.
I 100% agree
only thing i didn’t like was him getting injured in every movie
@@llbalmainx true
Nah he gets shitted on like in the comics
I liked your video and it really showed the pitfalls in these line of movies but the sexism thing in Bad Blood is sort of reaching. it stops being bros before hoes when you were brainwashed into killing your two sons. I'm not excusing them of downgrading and having fanserivce for the female characters there are plenty of Starfire and Talia examples for that. I think what they wanted to show in Bad Blood was that Talia is the bad influence on Damian while Bruce was a better parent (even if his parenting skills weren't great), the issue is that in the Son of Batman Talia cared for Damian but pushed him into path that wasn't healthy. In Bad Blood it felt like they turned her character flaws up to 100 and made her the typical villain who only used Damian but nothing about her relationship with the batfamily screamed sexism.
Thank you, I thought I was crazy lol i was listening to him go off about that part and was like" huhhhhh???" But he did have a point about batwoman etc.
Though given how it works you could say being revived by the Lazarus Pit had a negative side effect on her sanity as we've seen in various DC media involving that pool of green colored water, hell the negative side effects are more apparent when you revive someone as shown with Jason Todd in Under the Red Hood movie, even though that film isn't part of the DCAMU it's still apparent I think they were also going with that
After hearing your thoughts on the animated movie universe it would be really interesting to hear how you feel about other parts of the DC Universe - main one for me would be the young justice series
Yeah same here
I think they keep using Darkseid for 2 reasons:
Reason 1: His showing in the DCAU was, honestly, pretty well done, largely because they correctly built up and paid off the idea that he's a threat through Superman and the Justice League various run ins with his minions, culminating in the invasion of earth in the last few episodes of Justice League Unlimited.
Reason 2: Thanos.
No its mostly because during the whole New 52 era of DC, Darkseid was basically pushed as a major foe for the DC multiverse as his his influence extended beyond just the prime Earth (see Multiversity and Earth 2).
What's Thanos has to do with this ,when Thanos is a rip off of Darkseid .
@@elizabethmolino8262 Because Thanos has become infinitely more popular than him, so DC's trying to ride that popularity to more sales.
@@elizabethmolino8262 probably because Thanos wasn’t writing like a villain Mary Sue.
@@kid.hudson_ you apparently don't know the comic Thanos
I will say I got into this version of the DCAU is because of the movie Justice League Dark because it was something that hadn't been done before. I loved it.
The great thing about many comic book movies is that you can go back and watch them again. But it kind of takes the fun out of your shared universe when it ends like this, and you look back over the filmography and know that every happy ending of every adventure was just a prelude to a big damn fail that wipes it all away.
The thing with Darkseid is that he works great in the context of the New Gods. When he's up against Mister Miracle, Orion and Highfather Darkseid works because he has a deep and interesting history with those characters. Darkseid fighting Orion is a fated battle between father and son. Darkseid versus Superman is just Supes fighting a less racist Mongul.
I hate how they dealt with Damian Wayne, and everything about the stories focusing on him.
That's all. Great video.
Do you think the Harley Quinn animated shows version of Damian is a dig at this version? An entitled squeaky voiced brat that rids a flying Segway.
he wasn't that different from injustice Damian except he actually got better in maturity
I will say, I think Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen is my absolute fave superman movies outside of the classic Donner films, just from how right they get the character, and then also gets my favorite DC character right with Superboy (im not a fan of the brooding YJ version at all). I wish the two Justice League Dark films had been better since they cast Matt Ryan, who imo is The Constantine.
I half agree. I LOVED the Death of Superman, which is impressive because I don’t like the original storyline. But I honestly thought Reign of Supermen was a haphazard disaster.
Death of Superman is definitely the stronger of the two.
@@CouncilofGeeks oh absolutely its the stronger movie im just very easily swayed by my love of Superboy as a character lol
The YJ version of Superboy does mellow out as the series goes, especially in s3 and he's as mellow as he'll ever be in the currently airing s4.
I want the reign version of Superboy back
I don’t really like the DCAMU that much there was the good and the bad, but I like what they did with Dick’s character, they gave Dick justice, they fleshed out his character. Gave him a great relationship with Starfire and showed him and Damien having a great bond together, but they killed him off by ugly ass frog, so yeah they did him very dirty at the end, but still…good
It might be the one character that was done better than the Timmverse.
But he was HEAVILY nerfed! In almost all the movies he lost his arm. They showed him off as too weak when he is in the top 3 of the batfamily.
Also, the worst characterisation in these movies was that of Deathstroke. What a shame!
@@harshjain9615 they did Raven dirty too especially in the last film
Sir I will die on the hill that Michael Ironsides Darkseid in Superman the animated series was the best renditions the character.
I always treated each film as a stand alone film instead of trying to make it a connected universe.
I kind of feel the same. The DCAMU was okay but it was just a mix of hits and misses. Maybe I'm just wearing nostalgia goggles, but the DCAU was a lot more enjoyable.
And just on a random note, people who grew up in the 90s see Kevin Conroy as the definitive voice of Batman, and while I count myself among them, I really liked Jason O'Mara's performance and wouldn't mind seeing him reprise the role.
"Without Kirby's visual genius, boundlessly intelligent and idiosyncratic imagination to bring him to life, Darkseid becomes a generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination."
That's kinda like saying, "I love omelets, but boy do I hate eggs." Darkseid was a "generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination" when Kirby created him. The visuals popped like few others dream of, the concepts were vaguely interesting, but man...there was a lot of sizzle for not a lot of steak.
I tend to believe that Jack Kirby is both generally underrated in his pure artistic invention, and MASSIVELY over-praised by his most ardent followers. I think he suffered with what I call "the Roddenberry effect," also called "listening to the praise of your fanbase a little too much." I think you're soft-pedaling to not slam Jack's...questionable...writing.
But that said....Thanos isn't any better, despite what Disney marketing has sold everyone. You take Jim Starlin's way-out imagination, and the literal courting of Death, out of the picture, and it's just angry Grimace with a half-assed agenda.
You're not wrong
I love pancakes, and hate eggs. Not lying.
@@BillyKamp OK, that made me laugh out loud. Not lying.
@Xbox One I think that would be Grant Morrison, and the fact that the character became uber-popular in the comics.
I mean, I'm not really a Damian fan, but it was interesting to have a Robin who was A: massively entitled (and I haven't watched all the DTV movies, but...in the books, this was always presented as a character flaw), but B: could back that entitlement up. I also think that was interesting after two Robins who were basically perfect people, and one who (after Crisis On Infinite Earths, anyway) was a violent thug. Damien split the difference with a heaping of arrogance, tied to being Bruce's actual blood child, rather than a "son" by adoption.
There's plenty of interesting things about Damian, and...I'll say this as a gentle critique of Steve, who sometimes seems to conflate being "good" with conforming to his political viewpoint (and TO BE CLEAR it's his channel, he can do and say what he wants)...I don't think every central character has to be a moral paragon. I don't particularly like The Punisher, I find him morally reprehensible, but that doesn't mean you can't tell a compelling, interesting and challenging story with him. I have also plenty of problems with BvS, but...y'know what? The film explicitly (it's literal dialogue in the film) shows a Batman who's lost his way, and finds a way back to a more heroic mindset.
Depiction is not advocation, and sometimes superheroes grappling with their own failings of character is pretty damn interesting. Damian, when written well, has been that character a lot.
alternate comment:
"Without Kirby's visual genius, boundlessly intelligent and idiosyncratic imagination to bring him to life, Darkseid becomes a generic alien warlord with dreams of galactic domination."
Well clearly you've never had an omelet
Which also bring to mind a suggestion for a future video: Jack Kirby's Worst Moments. American comic books will forever owe Kirby a debt of gratitude and Kirby will always be The King. But even he had his moments where we, the readers, look at his creations and think, "WTF?" One example: The Black Racer. Another example: Paranex the Fighting Fetus!
I really like Comic Damian. The movie universe cut out a lot of his character growth and progression for time I guess. Though I will admit i do like that they made him and Raven a thing.
Damian= Ben Shapiro? That is really, really insulting...to Damian.
It was way too easy to imagine Damian's green Robin mask on Ben Shapiro's smug little boy face.
Agreed. Damian, in this continuity at least, has the excuse of being a child who can grow into being a decent, mature human being. Ben is a fully grown adult man who chooses to be a smug, arrogant bully.
@@dj_daem0n Now I’m imagining Ben Shapiro in the 1960s Robin outfit with the green undies fuuuucckk.
Yes but hypothetically speaking couldn’t you say that comparing a grown man to a fictional child is perhaps unrealistic? And furthermore couldn’t one also suggest that this only demonstrates the left’s desire to denigrate their opponents instead of competing with them in the market place of ideas? Checkmate liberals
-Ben Shabibo, probably
Left always been off put. Comparing with Ben and what is the relevant? U want to compare with Joe being Brain dead😜
I really miss the DCAMU films… :( 😭😭😭😭
I really enjoyed elseworlds stories such as; Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Superman: Red Son, Gotham by Gaslight. I hope they adapt kingdom come story line. But then again, I'm pretty sure they'll somehow manage to ruin that too.
The best thing about Dick and Damien is how its an inverse of the usual Batman-Robin dynamic as Dick is adorably optimistic even after all the shit he's been through whilst Damien is "far too dark for his tender years" as Alfred put it.
I really hate when people confuse the DCAMU with DCAU or assume everything animated by DC is DCAU thanks for explaining it
Seriously, how are you everywhere??
I'm glad we can collectively recognize Teen Titans is not part of the DCAU. You'd be shocked by how many folks _don't_ realize that.
Wait, Judas Contract and the other one aren't Canon there?
@@easyJat99 he's referring to the tv show
It's not canon to the timmverse
@@danielalvarado3846 i saw the series long ago but i don't remember it to be so bad it's a good thing it is not canon.
"Justice League Dark: Apokolips War" is a glorified snuff film & is not worth the megabytes used to render it.
Yep, you know right off that you're watching a "what if" premise and none of it is going to count.
The film was (to me) little more than a Batman butt kiss where, at the end, his idiotic plan for Constantine works. It looks like he set up the first attack to fail.
Pity we all can't see into the future.
And he sat there unmoved as his team mates were tortured, mutilated and killed, Billions of earth people slaughtered and no trace of the 'invincible Bat will' his fans scream about,
Only when his arsehole little bastard Damian was hurt did he somehow break free. Pity the rest of humanity don't wake any feelings in him.
I actually like Damien... like his character makes sense...
He does regress in some movies. But his character growth is told pretty good
Same. People regress in real life but Damian turned out alright in the end. Regression shows that you're struggling with change and it's the character's job to push on
Steve Shives: I'm a Batman fan. (Wears a Superman shirt.)
Also Steve Shives: My favorite Batman movie, and the best one of the four, is the one that doesn't have Batman.
Okay.
I don't understand how these people really want to make more Batman movies but for some reason just don't want to use characters that can potentially give them actual good stories!!
like they already did Under The Hood before and EVERYONE LOVED that but then why not use Jason??
and what about Tim?? like he is one of the few characters that are in the same league as Bruce whe it comes to Detective work amd intelligence, so much so that aside from Bruce, he is the ONLY one in the Batfamily that Ra's refers to as "Detective" and literally all of them are trained by Batman
they intruduced Kate and Luke but we barely even know anything about them!! (at least in the animated movies... I refuse to acknowledge the CW show)
there's also Barbara and we all know how people felt about The Killing Joke adaptation
Stephanie? Duke?? Cass???
hello??
they stopped using writers who actually cared about the subject matter and started hiring talent-less, snively doofs with no love for the genre and want a job that doesn't demand even the slightest bit of creativity or originality
Now that's facts no wonder some of these films and dialogue seem so mediocre
Was just looking for a video like this days ago and look at how my recommended feed has blessed me today. Thanks for the video man
The Dickverse is going to have to get behind my pitch, the Jasonverse! An entire shared universe centered on Jason Todd
I'm glad I'm geeky enough to not be confused to what you were talking about in the opening part of this video. lol
I’m not a fan of the DC animated movies. Cannot understand why Damian is the leader of the Titans when there are more senior members like Cyborg and Starfire hanging around.
I much prefer the Young Justice universe.
Dude when you quoted the "don't hold back..." part I got chills
I actually enjoy a lot of these movies. I grew up watching them throughout high school and college.
Justice league dark is such a fun movie, it even works that batman, the least magical person, has to work with a bunch of magic characters
“You can’t solve everything with that little peashooter” five minutes later “I take it back. That thing IS useful xD”
Honestly I loved the introduction of them in that movie. John and jason playing poker with a few demons and forcing the latter to change. Then boston who is bitter because he called shotgun but zatanna ignored him. Lol
I want the version of Superboy from Reign of the Supermen back.
Funny how the comics started with Crisis on Infinite Earths and ended with Flashpoint, whereas the DCAMU started with Flashpoint and ended with Crisis on Infinite Earths.
A DC Animated Universe with Dick Grayson as the "main character" of it would be great imo.
What happened was they kept focusing on Batman and forgot about everyone else.
I have always been kind of on the fence about the DC AU. I do have to say that my favorite movies in the bunch are War, Throne of Atlantis, and the two Superman movies.. By the way did you know that Matt Ryan, who played John Constantine in the short lived TV series as well as the Arrowverse voiced John and these movies. Also another funny little bit of Trivia about these movies, Jerry o'connell and Rebecca romaine, who in real life are a couple, voice Superman and Louis Lane respectively.
That shot at Jim Balent, though 😃
Crticisms for it aside, the DCAMU was exactly what i needed from DC when JL Unlimited ended. It had great animation and at least had a solid universe where the same characters were running around inbetween their own stories.
Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing a DCAMU Post-Apocalypse (War) movie, all about how the Earth is falling apart, billions are dying, and the desperate, scared survivors either huddle together for strength, or turn on each other for resources; perhaps with an emphasis on how distrustful ordinary people would be towards the remaining heroes, with their horrific disfiguration, cybernetic modifications - and their demonstrable failure to actually protect the World.
Heck, it would even be a rather topical take on trying to survive extreme and devastating climate changes, as the Earth has been irreparably damaged by Darkseid's careless mining operation. An intense and dark movie, in which the "villain" isn't just some space monster you can punch in the face until he goes away - but a terrible and unresolvable situation brought about by said space monster.
Good news about the last request 😅
I do hate how they focus too much on Batman. Wb needs to trust their characters. Marvel does it decently well
The 'New 52' happened. And, the animated universe shifted to reflect those changes.
Nice essay. I agree with pretty much all of it. I guess I'm just old.
I actually liked the DCAMU... it was fun, and I'm looking forward to Constatine the house of mystery.
The Joker was legit shown only once in Batman Hush
Justice league dark apokolips War I despise they did Nightwing dirty in that movie. Also it really really really went out why I say I don't want Jack Snyder's storyline with the DC Universe because they said a lot of the ideas that he was going to use was in this film.
Honestly a series around Dick Grayson isn’t horrible of an idea. He’s regarded as the most connected hero of the DCU essentially its heart. He’s the classic leader of the Titans, Batman’s favorite son, close with Superman and regarded as the best leader of the DCU. That could work
I have to disagree on damian, i think that he had a good development and like you mention the dynamic between him and dick, and also bruce made him a more interesting character as well. He was pretty annoying but by the end of the new 52 movies he became a solid character in my eyes at least.
Fr at least Batman didn’t appear in all the films in dcamu
This is the channel discovery of the year for me - spent the other night down a rabbit hole of your videos, now this is directly related to my interests.
Apokolips War just didn’t do it for it. I feel like ending that universe was way too premature and killing just for the sake of killing isn’t good storytelling Lol
I wish other fans felt the same way.
As a former comic book obsessed geek (1985 to 1993) and casual comic book fan for my entire life, I thank you for this education on the DCAMU, which convinced me not to seek out and watch every single movie. I've seen a few of the movies, including Flashpoint Paradox and Death/Return of Superman (and I read the Death of Superman series when it was new in the early 1990s), and I approach these as independent movies and ignore the movie-to-movie continuity that they attempted to build, and take them on their own worth and merit. In that respect I enjoyed Flashpoint Paradox and thought Death/Return of Superman were pretty good. They were also much better than the *first* Superman-Doomsday animated movie from 2007, which everyone seems to have forgotten -- and rightfully so. They're not fantastic, but not bad; while the 2007 Superman/Doomsday movie was bland and forgettable. As for the other movies...I may check them out, one by one, if I find them in the discount section at Wally World or at Dollar Tree. Incidentally, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was silly and fun, and worth it just for the way it pays homage to a whole bunch of DC comic covers and splash pages.
As someone in his 20's, I enjoy the boobs as well, a little cheesecake aint killing anyone. But yeah, I enjoyed most of the ones I watched, except a couple the Batman ones. Genuinely fell asleep during a couple. I agree I love the dude, but getting tired of seeing him and anyone tied to Gotham, let other heroes shine at least for the animated stuff. The og AU I grew up on definitely reigns superior for me ultimately but these are a neat time too, or at least can be
I agree with a lot of the points made in this video. Not all, but a good amount... Given that I didn't actually see all of the films until recently, I kept thinking "Okay. Maybe THIS will be the one that hooks me, and makes me see why so many swear by the DC animated movies..." But apart from "Flashpoint Paradox" and "Batman vs Robin," this just never happened. That is not to say I thought the films were actively bad, but so many sit in the 4-5/10 range that it just makes me scratch my head. Again, I don't think they're bad, just not that great...
Mark Millar may have written on of superman's best stories with red son. But the animated movie was something I couldn't finish watching. It came at the point where Superman kills Stalin over the gulags. Which in the comic was a bit different with Stalin being sick and Superman reading every medical book ever written to find a cure for it.
Even in red son Superman was a man who chooses not to kill even if he is okay with a little laobotomy.
i still cry every time when in flashpoint bruce looks at the letter and says.. thats my fathers handwriting.... you are one hell of a messenger...
You read far too deep into these movies 🤣, I thought I was bad lol. Really enjoyed your dive into the DCAU, I really liked the whole series but then again I can't attest to not being slightly stunted in my teens. Cool to see that we share intrest besides Trek Awesome video Dude thanks for sharing
I'm 17:50 in this vid. I enjoyed every JLAMCU!!! All these films were amazing. Story continuity, Drawing style, fight scene, and character development. I love everyone of these films. Great upload though
DC makes it so hard for you to love them.
That flashpoint movie was one of my earlier exposures to DC outside of Justice League Unlimited and the Green Lantern animated series
I absolutely hated the DCAMU. Because the writers didn't wanna commit to anything. Starting a new continuity based on a comic run that was disliked by fans was a no no. And they knew those stories wouldn't hold up so they copped out and started sacrificing classical stories to fit in this new movie universe. What made the old animated films so special is that they perfectly capsulated not only the story but the artsyle of the comics they adapted. And even though they mostly took place in separate canon there would be a few films that would serve as continuations to previous films. Such as JL Doom & Crisis on Two Earths. Or Batman & Superman Public Enemies and Apocalypse. But the DCAMU butchered classic stories all for the sake of not contradicting what they established in previous films.
I love those two Batman/superman crossovers!
Be awesome to get a new crisis on so many options right?
What you think about gods and monsters?
DCAMU should be re named into the DWAMU aka Damian Wayne Animated Movie Universe
Yes!!! Exactly!!! I feel the same as you about the “rebirth” DC animated movies! Why am I just now discovering your channel?!?
There's one other version of Darkseid that works: Thanos. Yeah, I said it.
The Harley Quinn show would beg to differ :D
@@mella4376 Bruce Timm shows would also beg to differ.
Outside of the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline and the MCU version of the story. Thanos isn't a very memorable villain.
I rather preferred Darkseid in Superman Apocalypse.
"Doesn't anybody want to hold the planet hostage with a like a deadly virus?" The best line of this along with the D-Verse idea. Lol, good writing!
I want my superfriends. Where are my wonder twins man.
Best part about modern Darkseid is his love of chilling out in big comfy chairs
He’s contemplating
I absolutely hated justice league dark apocalypse...watched it once and won't ever watch a trailer for it again. I like the animation, voices and scripts. I hate how they treat nightwing and how the heroes full powers aren't utilized. I don't like the profanity. I have collected a lot of the movies though.
I agree, the movie is just unnecessarily gratuitous to me.
@Xbox One
Honestly they should have just made the Justice League fight Eclipso & have them get Possessed by him leaving it to the rest of the heroes to stop him,
Imo Eclipso is a WAY better villain then
Darkseid
@@beyondtrash1627
I agree with that statement,
The movie was unnecessary gratuitous blood gore and violence with everyone's favorite DC heroes getting killed off indiscriminately for SHOCK VALUE & the movie had Superman act very out of character in the very beginning like the real Superman would not invade apocalypse in a hurry like it's no wonder why Batman is usually the strategist & leader of the Justice League & Superman is the muscle & face of the JL,
Damn for me it was my fav DC movie so far. I guess I like realism more
They should've made Batman:The Battle for the Cowl instead of Bad Blood.
This guys crazy I liked all the movies
I have them all and have watched them all multiple times
Your problem is you grown up with comics for so long that you’ve become bitter
And you’re definitely not given this series a fair shake
But I do agree with you about dark side
And yes Batman is heavily featured but he was in the justice league show too
He’s the foundation of the DC universe
That’s how it is
The movies did a great job
What irks me the most about this series of films is just how joyless they are. I get it's supposed to be grittier, but the characters just appear to be bored with the proceedings. There's barely any sense of emotion, elation, or even fun in any of these films (except from Constantine). And of course, just when it looks like the movies might do something interesting, they revert back to their adolescent grimdark sensibilities.
If I were to make one change to the series, just to throw everyone for a loop: rather than have the last film be a Justice League Dark movie (or Justice League), I would have had the film be a Suicide Squad movie through and through. They already play a pretty important role in the film, and to me it would be a nice twist to the proceedings to have the few remaining heroes rely on a collection of their shared villains since they're the ones that can succeed where the heroes failed: being worse than the worst bad guy and absolutely roiling their shit. Plus, imagine it: instead of Trigon taking over Superman, he takes over Harley Quinn who then faces off against Darkseid. Now THAT, to me, would be a climactic battle.
Honestly, I lost interest of this series by the second movie; and trailers of the additional movies did not make me want to watch them.
The series is just so dry, grim and sullen with equally flat, one-note characters that take themselves too seriously.
Also, as Steve pointed out, it's immature in its edginess with loads of adolescent machismo and dated depiction of women.
The problem with "too much Batman" in the DCAMU is that by and large, the Batman films are the weakest part of the continuity. Batman Hush is probably the worst film of the bunch and Batman v Robin is probably the strongest of the Batman 'solo' films but still is pretty mid-tier by the standards of the rest of the series.
I write to WB every few months, telling them to stop interfering with comic characters.
If WB truly wants a Cinematic Universe, I have a 20 movie plan. No, they don't involve Batman as much even though I'm a Batfan.
WB tries too hard with named actors instead of letting the story be the draw. Build up then pay off
And thank you for mentioning the red shorts! He's not Superman without them!
These movies were pretty disappointing for the most part, and i did find the fact that these movie wanted so hard to make both batman and damian the center of the universe pretty annoying. Now i dont hate Damian as a character i actually quite like him but the animated movie version isn't a very good interpretation of the character at all
The artstyle is what makes me forget about the flaws of the DCAMU.
The Teen Titans movies were unexpectedly good, but that may have just been my low expectations.
justice league dark OWNS. one of my favorite uses of batman as a non-main protagonist too. i think the new 52 movies are all fantastic, i seriously didnt think i'd enjoy them as much as i did
something that stuck out to me a lot was just how brutal it was. people just get murdered left and right lol