DC Movies

I've always been a admirer of The Batman and Beware the Batman. Both shows basically decided to eschew traditional Batman imaginings and go in some wild new directions and I love them for it, but both suffered from They Changed It, Now It Sucks! and not living up to their predecessors in the mind of some (Brave and the Bold being Beware's predecessor). The Batman had a great run of five seasons and a (pretty solid) movie, while Beware barely had one and died in darkness, but both hold a place in my heart.

The Batman also had, by far, the best take ever on Hugo Strange as its most recurring Big Bad. Some of the episodes with him as a centerpiece (e.g Strange Minds, Strange New World, Fistful of Felt) are some of the show's strongest. Strange Minds in particular is the one most oft-cited as the show's most memorable one since that features Bruce going into Joker's mind.

Really, that show's greatest problem was inconsistent writing regarding the villains. Bane and Penguin in particular got hit with his hard, becoming Jobbers whenever the plot required them to.

Edited by Gaon on Feb 23rd 2020 at 8:37:14 AM

It’s kind of telling of how the show treated Bane that the best Bane episode was actually the one where Joker steals his venom and became Bane instead.

Heavily agreed on that being the best version of Hugo Strange outside the comics.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 23rd 2020 at 10:08:31 AM

Man this is creepy.

Oh you want creepy?

Indeed. He also happens to be the first Hugo Strange I saw, back when I was a child, and he left a big impression on me. This supposedly good doctor who seems to be more interested in doing mental experiments than caring about the his patients' well-being. And thus it was surprising when it's revealed that Strange is the bad guy all along.

And when I saw the DCAU Strange for the first time, I was greatly disappointed. He was shorter and more cowardly, and he didn't even figure out Batman's Secret Identity in an awesome way. No psychological analysis to narrow down the candidates. No simple pull the mask off. Just happens to stumble on Bruce's secret by accident through a mind-reader. And then he gets bullied by Batman's Rogues Gallery so easily.

I heard that the Justice League Unlimited wanted to do more with Hugo Strange as a Cadmus scientist had the Bat-Embargo not be in place but honestly, I don't see how they would do Strange any justice since his expy Dr. Moon is just a Torture Technician on the Question rather than someone who can outsmart Batman.

Anyone else ever remember watching this show? The Legion of Superheroes cartoon.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:06:30 AM

I remember really liking the Brainiac arc in the last season.

I watched it from time to time as a kid, but to be honest it didn't really stick in my memory. At most my reaction was a bit of surprise that Braniac was a good guy now.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:10:53 AM

This show has what is probably my favourite Brainiac design.

Mine as well homes.

If there's one thing that stuck with me the most even all these years later is that this is my favorite design for Brainac 5.

I've always found the whole android with purple eyes a hell of lot more cooler looking than the plain green-skinned human look he always appears as.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:14:33 AM

It was quite a surprise for me to learn that Brainiac-5 in the comics wasn't a robot like in the show.

Same. I loved Brainiac-5 in the cartoon so much that every other version of him feels wrong in comparison.

The idea that Brainiac is constantly evolving would be fascinating, and sometimes the various comics and shows depict him in changing forms, but it always feels like modifying their body depending on what destroyed him before rather than an evolving character. Brainiac 2-5 are more like offspring.

Edited by KJMackley on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:30:29 AM

I think he was made a robot to be more reminiscent of DCAU Brainiac (even though this show isn't part of the DCAU). Consistency between shows and all that, kind of like how a bunch of the Spider-Man shows in the 90's pretended to be in continuity with each other for a second or two before dropping the idea completely.

Weirdly enough the DCAU already did have the Legion appear. Here's how Brainiac 5 looks over there in JL & as said its a very plain look.

Jesus even Bouncing Boy looks off here after watching Legion's version. He looks like he just came out of school.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:37:15 AM

Robot Brainiac looks so much better than Fleshy Brainiac. Really, I have no idea why they don't go with that more.

Edited by Nightwire on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:38:27 AM

Brainiac seriously needs to become the villain of the next Superman movie. I think he has a lot to offer as a different kind of threat than the villains Superman usually faces in his solo movies; someone who's intelligent but can also put up a decent fight against him.

Edited by chasemaddigan on Feb 24th 2020 at 11:52:30 AM

He's never been in a superman movie before so that would be a nice first. I think he was supposed to show up in the Reeves movies but that didn't end up happening.

I also as a result prefer 5's relationship with Supes than with Supergirl.

It was cute especially how he actually rigged a simulation just to play out his imagination.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 24th 2020 at 8:56:16 AM

Brianiac was going to be the villain of Kevin Smith's Superman Lives: Also Featuring A Giant Spider.

I always feel that luthor was eventually set up to transform into is brainac merge from series after he upload all into is mind.

Yeah, Brainiac-5's MASSIVE crush on Clark was also a really cute and endearing part of his character in that cartoon.

If Brainiac were to be adapted into live-action film, I want him to be this obsessive collector who wants to know everything in the universe. And because things change every day, that is a near impossible task for Brainiac to handle. So his solution to destroy everything after he collects all the knowledge there is in order to keep his databanks from going out of date.

It would certainly make him a lot more different from other evil AI like Ultron. And his goal would certainly resonate with people who knows what it's like to preserve everything single document, including old high school homework, out of nostalgic memory even if they are completely useless to everyone else.

I just realized Brainiac has the same MO as the Brainspawn from Futurama. And that amuses me.

Honestly the fact the Legion got their own show in the mid-2000's regardless of it lasting only 2 seasons and actually being good with a conclusive ending (Evil Evolves sequel hook aside) is very impressive.

Like the Legion are pretty obscure compared to most of the DC properties that get their own show or movie. So the fact it actually got its own show at all is like 1 in a million.

Makes you wish for the Legion to get another shot in the spotlight or for the cartoon to influence the wider franchise like Brainiac's depiction or hell bring back Superman X. The guy was pretty cool.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 25th 2020 at 1:50:40 AM