DC Universe Animated Original Movies General

Huh the studio for the Mortal Kombat animated movies is perfect for this

Watched the R.B. Trailer.

Awww yeah! Feel that cringe!

Edited by Guy01 on Sep 22nd 2021 at 10:44:23 AM

One wonders why Miller felt the need to pit Batman and Superman against each other at all. Was it simply the idea that a Superman who hadn't allowed himself to become a tool of the government wouldn't have allowed the world of The Dark Knight to come to pass? Miller could have had Superman operating in much the same way he does in much of The Dark Knight (which is, as one writer put it, as "...an earth-bound god revealed only by the wind of his passage or the destruction left in his wake") and simply had him do it without the government's sanction. I guess it depends on your perception of Superman as to whether he'd be willing to operate without "permission" (because you can find examples throughout Superman's publishing history where he's espoused both viewpoints).

I have heard some writers say that Superman's presence can tend to destabilize plots, the idea being that you have to have a reason why, if a situation is bad enough, Superman hasn't already attended to it.

My go to explanation is either: A) He's off in space for a mission. B) Lex Luthor is being a dick that particular day and Superman has to sort that out OR C) He's off on a space mission because Lex is being a dick and now he has to sort out Lex's mess. In Space.

Basically, there are plenty of reasons that can boil down to He's Busy Saving The World."

Considering how often comics occur concurrently, Supes being busy stopping Lex or caving in Darkseid's face and easily correspond with Flash trying to stop Eobard Thawne from making the timeline shit itself, or Batman having to deal with Joker putting explosive whoopee cushions under the seat of every nun in Gotham city.

These guys are pretty busy to be frank.

I mean the world's a big place, pretty sure no one individual can manage it.

The bigger issue is that regardless of how kind you are, there will always be people who refuse your help just because.

I said this before but real life has showcased why Superman can't really save the world even with his immense power. Because some people just don't want to be saved.

Huh. That's fair enough.

Guess that's the end of the "Superman doesn't do enough'' train of thought.

In fact, it really does enforce that the only way for Superman to save the world is to become a tyrant.

Red Son baby.

And of course in that case the entire world turns against Superman because they can't bear the idea of their savior being an alien........ and Russian.

Lex Luthor may be an narcissistic piece of shit but at least he's an American human piece of shit......

I think it's more that Superman couldn't "save the world" all by himself without becoming a tyrant. And of course, there's the fact that exactly what "saving the world" entails means different things to different people. I mean, The Dark Knight Strikes Back strongly implied that Superman 'was going to become a tyrant, if a benevolent one. I read one story where the Flash (then Wally West) asked him why he didn't just conquer the world. He tried to laugh the idea off, but Wally pressed him to be serious, and eventually Superman said, the morality of doing that and notions about the importance of individual freedom aside, nothing he could build that way would be likely to outlast him.

Therein lies the fundamental philosophical difference between Superman and Luthor, perhaps (depending on which version of Luthor you're talking about, of course). Superman thinks the world needs heroes to inspire it, and Luthor thinks the world needs a tyrant to rule it.

Edited by Robbery on Sep 23rd 2021 at 8:20:50 AM

Superman Stays Out of Gotham is just a mainstay, partially for practical storytelling reasons but also because Superman can't be expected to respond to every minor concern. No Mans Land was interesting for addressing the fact that mob control of Gotham, economic depression and societal collapse from a natural disaster is not something Superman can just fix because bullets bounce off him. Similarly, solo heroes probably don't want to call in their friends for every problem, and by the time things get out of control there isn't time to make a phonecall and wait for backup.

Edited by EmeraldSource on Sep 23rd 2021 at 8:27:38 AM

Yeah, the best explanation is generally that a lot of the immediate crises in comics happen so fast that there's really only time for whoever's on the scene to respond. Even when the destruction is massive, they're then usually over pretty quickly, too (I heard this one whipped out for why Wonder Woman stayed under cover while the Kryptonians were wrecking Metroplis in the Man of Steel movie—she simply might not have heard much about it until it was already over).

In regards to No Man's Land, I recall other writers at the time saying stuff like "Forget Superman, why isn't the government responding to this?"

Edited by Robbery on Sep 23rd 2021 at 9:26:14 AM

If I recall correctly, the government wrote it off as too much work and Gotham not being worth it anyway (and Chuck Dixon managed to work a Take That! against the Clinton Administration into that).

Wasn't that about having an issue with how a hurricane was handled?

I don't think so. In-universe, there was an earthquake and a pair of epidemics in Gotham before the White House declared the city no longer part of America, not a hurricane. See this: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/XINQm-5FHc_m4_DuplWdMf9qX4xH1xRi29DIvHR0c4ZRQO7x-hFWIeJrOSvEcYuANEoo4_F2V89H=s0 and this: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/cKAZlWm2ldjGFv4bDfBREprY-s8gDeENBocMuFOYkQ-v9H7jULhHGIzaP1kwyC0zNcl9tn3xZzz6=s0

Out of universe, I don't think the Clinton Administration had a controversially-handled hurricane response in the 1990s. You may be thinking of the Clinton Foundation's involvement in relief in Haiti after the earthquake that happened there in 2010, which was controversial: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37826098

However, Miller plays it very straight in Strikes Again and ASBAR.

To me, the definitive answer to "can Batman beat Superman" questions is "is this a Superman story or a Batman story?" In a Superman story that pits Superman against Batman, Superman is going to win, because the story is happening in his own book (e.g. Superman: Sacrifice by Greg Rucka). All of the stories where Batman beats Superman are Batman stories.

What if it's Justice League story?

Whoa. Good question. It's been a while since I read Justice League: Origin, but I think it contains an inconclusive/interrupted Clark-vs-Bruce fight. I can't off the top of my head remember another Justice League story with a Clark-vs-Bruce fight in it. I think I've seen similarly inconclusive fights in Superman/Batman team up stories. I've read lots of comics that were published before 1986 but I can't think of any that feature Clark-vs-Bruce fights. Some research reveals that they fought 14 times in issues of World's Finest, and that those fights tended to be ... inconclusive.

https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/news/ask-question-when-was-first-batman-vs-superman-fight/

https://www.bustle.com/articles/148574-have-batman-superman-fought-before-its-been-nearly-60-years-since-their-first-battle

Edited by StarformDCX on Sep 23rd 2021 at 3:15:29 PM

By comics compressed time and the amount of stuff Batman is in, Batman shouldn't have time to solve all the crimes that Batman does.

I feel 'but why doesn't this hero step in?' often falls under the umbrella of 'tropes that have a reasonable explanation but get asked a lot'

If the Batman titles are anything to go by, there's a small army of Bat-affiliated folks in Gotham now. If they're not dealing with stuff Batman doesn't have time to attend to himself, I have to wonder what it is they're actually doing.

Speaking of Batman (and not exactly related to DCUAOM), but...

The LEGO Batman Movie is leaving HBO Max on October 31st, 2021.

Yikes! Heard nothing but good things about that one and I still haven't sat down to watch it!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Sep 23rd 2021 at 10:14:13 AM

Bump.

In light of DC FanDome 2021, Toonami will be showing Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Ninja on October 16th!

None of my previous attempts to get people on this forum to state their opinions of Justice Society: World War II worked, so I'll just say it outright: what did you think of Justice Society: World War II?

Haven't seen it. Is it on HBO Max?

Just checked and sadly no not yet.

Haven't seen it yet either.

Edited by slimcoder on Oct 4th 2021 at 4:14:54 AM