Justice League: War Kicks Off New DC Animated Universe

[Fanghawk]

Justice League: War Kicks Off New DC Animated Universe

DC's animation studio is finally returning to an ongoing superhero continuity, but not the one from Justice League Unlimited.

DC Comics <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/7521-Man-of-Steel>hasn't done well in the motion picture business lately, but when it comes to animation it still sets the bar. That's largely thanks to <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCAU>the DC Animated Universe, a series of interconnected TV shows and movies that developed characters over the course of 15 years. DC hasn't officially contributed to an ongoing animated continuity of that scope since 2006, but for better or worse, that's finally about to change. According to Justice League: War director James Tucker, DC's latest animated film won't just adapt the New 52 origin story, it will launch an all-new animated universe with its own internal canon.

"This will definitely be the first salvo in doing new movies that are in continuity with each other," Tucker said. "Our next movie's going to be Son of Batman, and that Batman will be the same Batman that you see in Justice League: War. Basically, we'll have two concurrent series of Justice League movies and Batman movies, and they'll be in continuity with each other. So it's kind of world-building."

Since 2007, DC had stepped away from long-running continuity in favor of projects like Teen Titans, Young Justice, and <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Universe_Animated_Original_Movies>its animated movie line. While standalone projects are still in the works, DC hopes to set two out of three movies in its new continuity each year. That means Justice League: War and Son of Batman will showcase the New DCAU in 2014, while Batman: Assault on Arkham will focus on the Arkham videogame universe.

Of course, many DCAU fans will likely be horrified at this news, given that the New 52 continuity that inspired Justice League: War <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127144-DC-Comics-Reboots-Lobos-Reboot>has been controversial at best. That being said, starting a new animated continuity from the ground up could be positive in the long run. After all, the New 52 still made intriguing contributions through its Aquaman and Justice League books, and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131433-Lex-Luthor-Is-Joining-the-Justice-League>it's even making Lex Luthor into a full-fledged superhero. If the New DCAU can focus on the good from New 52 and filter out the bad, then maybe it can produce something that fans will happily pay attention to.

Justice League: War will hit store shelves on February 4, 2014.

Source: <a href=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=50669>Comic Book Resources

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[Falterfire]

Bleh. I'm all for more animated DC, but I'm not really interested in animated made-for-TV movies. I'd much rather have a TV Show since those tend to work better for Superheros. It's hard to have a truly SUPER hero if they only fight one villain every year and it always takes a full length movie to do so.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm excited for this, so much good has come from DC animation (even Young Justice rocked).

I wish it wasn't just on a buy-the-DVD business model though, it's something I'd prefer to rent. Do these things appear on Love Film/Netflix?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I'm excited for this, so much good has come from DC animation (even Young Justice rocked).

I wish it wasn't just on a buy-the-DVD business model though, it's something I'd prefer to rent. Do these things appear on Love Film/Netflix?

young justice was fucking awesome, such a shame they didn't get to finish right. I can't unassociate nolan north without super boy now, it is permanently stuck like that.

OT: More super hero stuff is good stuff! can't wait to check it out.

 

[Misterian]

I don't expect this to top the original DC Animated Universe, 'cause frankly, it already lost me at not being written by Paul Dini.

But hey, if it appears on Netflix, maybe I'll give it a shot.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Just don't cancel it because too many girls are enjoying the movies, okay? Don't follow CN's terrible example on that front.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I want to be optimistic...I don't hate the New 52...but if the NEXT movie is Deathstroke (which doesn't seem to be happening at all) then PLEASE keep Liefeld away from it. What's really worrying is that they admit to focusing on Batman and the Justice League. Then again these are based on the New 52 and other interesting characters didn't last long such as Etrigan the Demon Knight, Blue Beetle, etc...I don't think Animal Man would translate well to this model either...

...there goes any hope I had for a Blue and Gold DCAU flick...

 

[UltimatheChosen]

After watching Justice League: War, I don't have particularly high hopes for this. There were aspects of it that I liked-- Superman had more personality, for instance-- but there was a lot of stuff that was stupid, too.

Most notably, whoever wrote that apparently really hates Green Lantern. It wasn't just that he was repeatedly ineffective in every single fight, but he was ineffective while proclaiming that he was hot shit.

 

[Something Amyss]

Bleh. I'm all for more animated DC, but I'm not really interested in animated made-for-TV movies. I'd much rather have a TV Show since those tend to work better for Superheros. It's hard to have a truly SUPER hero if they only fight one villain every year and it always takes a full length movie to do so.

Yeah, I like the idea of movies in addition to series, but I'm not really sold on the continuity following a bunch of movies only.

 

[Falterfire]

Just don't cancel it because too many girls are enjoying the movies, okay? Don't follow CN's terrible example on that front.

Wait, what? There's a story here I don't know. And for all I'm sure learning it will be depressing, could you please fill me in?

 

[Fox12]

Just don't cancel it because too many girls are enjoying the movies, okay? Don't follow CN's terrible example on that front.

Wait, what? There's a story here I don't know. And for all I'm sure learning it will be depressing, could you please fill me in?

Supposedly there was an issue of DC shows getting canceled on Cartoon Network because the studio felt that the show wasn't hitting the male demographic hard enough. Several episodes of (I believe Young Justice, but I could be wrong) focused on developing the female characters. The studio said they didn't want those characters to receive any focus, because the show was aimed at boys. The writers argued that after the episodes premiered there was a huge surge in female viewers, and that ratings as a whole increased, but the studio said that female viewers don't matter because they don't buy as many action figures. The show was canceled shortly afterward.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130556-Paul-Dini-Superhero-Cartoon-Execs-Dont-Want-Female-Viewers

Yeah, if they want make more quality television then that's great, but I couln't care less about these animated films. Bring back Batman Beyond and the not terrible Teen Titans. Then we'll talk.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Sounds interesting, however if they're going to start a new DCAU continuity I'd rather they do it with a new animated TV series instead of a bunch of made-for-TV films.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Justice League: War will hit store shelves on February 4, 2014.

Actually it hit a few weeks ago thanks to a leak online.

Also, wat? I'm sure most of the point behind these films were that they were independant and adaptations of Comic Arcs - to name some examples in no particular order - Son of Batman, Superman vs. The Elite and Flashpoint Paradox (adaptations of Batman and Son, Superman: What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? and Flashpoint respectively). If they were going for all original movies from this point onwards, I wouldn't weigh it up to adaptations.

Then again, I don't blame DC for wanting to start a new Animated continuity given how CN seems intent on screwing over every DC show that isn't Teen Titans Go.

 

[gizmo2300]

I'm excited for this, so much good has come from DC animation (even Young Justice rocked).

I wish it wasn't just on a buy-the-DVD business model though, it's something I'd prefer to rent. Do these things appear on Love Film/Netflix?

young justice was fucking awesome, such a shame they didn't get to finish right. I can't unassociate nolan north without super boy now, it is permanently stuck like that.

OT: More super hero stuff is good stuff! can't wait to check it out.

They really REALLY killed it with the timeskip in my opinion. It came out of nowhere and was obviously made for adult viewers rather than kids. Which would explain the lack of toysales that got it off the air

 

[gizmo2300]

Just don't cancel it because too many girls are enjoying the movies, okay? Don't follow CN's terrible example on that front.

Wait, what? There's a story here I don't know. And for all I'm sure learning it will be depressing, could you please fill me in?

Supposedly there was an issue of DC shows getting canceled on Cartoon Network because the studio felt that the show wasn't hitting the male demographic hard enough. Several episodes of (I believe Young Justice, but I could be wrong) focused on developing the female characters. The studio said they didn't want those characters to receive any focus, because the show was aimed at boys. The writers argued that after the episodes premiered there was a huge surge in female viewers, and that ratings as a whole increased, but the studio said that female viewers don't matter because they don't buy as many action figures. The show was canceled shortly afterward.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130556-Paul-Dini-Superhero-Cartoon-Execs-Dont-Want-Female-Viewers

Yeah, if they want make more quality television then that's great, but I couln't care less about these animated films. Bring back Batman Beyond and the not terrible Teen Titans. Then we'll talk.

Well his quote was in direct regard to the cancellation of Tower Prep, but it wouldn't take much of a leap to speculate that this kind of mentality affected other shows as well - I'm looking at you Teen Titans.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Young Justice.

Young Justice.

We had glory with Young Justice. Even with that damn timeskip. They put it all over, they didn't warn of the changes, but we all did our best to try to follow it.

And you ruined it.

Season 3. I am Whelmed. Make me Over with Season 3. Then we'll talk about whatever else you want to do, DCU Animation.

 

[Leonardo Huizar]

No Aquaman or GL John Stewart [Which would have been hilarious to hear Phil Lamar *try* to make them both sound different] and it looks like that New52 issue where they all meet up to try to take on Supes?

No Thanks DC. Still sore bout New52 & ManOfSteel

 

[4173]

I certainly get them wanting to re-brand with "New 52," but it's not like Young Justice, Under the Hood, Flashpoint Paradox and the rest were DCAU things either.

 

[shintakie10]

I kind of liked the whole movie adaptations of comics approach though so this makes me worried. I'm tentatively excited since the only DCAU movie I didn't like was Superman Unbound. However I'm not exactly sure if I'm up for actually dealin with continuity again. Even the DC animated shows didn't really deal with continuity outside of their own with the minor exception of the really unexpected callbacks to Batman/Superman in Justice League Unlimited. Even then it wasn't really stuff you needed to really remember because it wasn't hugely important (except maybe the Supergirl thing?).