What Happened to DC Animated Movies?
I’ll be talking about DC’s recent slate of animated movies, known as The Tomorrowverse. If you’re not familiar with how this came to be, let me quickly catch you up.
Back in the 90s we got Batman: The Animated Series, a critically acclaimed show that’s still revered today. In the same universe, we also got other shows like Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and of course, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. And while there were a few bits and pieces added later to this universe, it’s mostly considered complete.
Following that era, DC began releasing animated movies that were typically independent and self-contained—and most of them were absolute bangers. We got movies like Flashpoint Paradox, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Justice League: Doom, and Batman/Superman: Public Enemies. Each had different art styles, voice casts, and tones.
But as every studio in the early 2010s wanted that Marvel money, DC thought, “Hey, while we get our live-action movies off the ground with Man of Steel, let’s do the same thing with our animated movies.” So they did just that. They launched the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU) with Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox to kick off this new connected universe, where characters could grow and change over the course of several films
When Flashpoint Paradox was released, it was widely praised as a certified banger. It was a self-contained Justice League story for the fans, packed with great action, high stakes, and a tearful Batman—seriously, it was emotional. We also got some… interesting proportions on the characters, but that’s a topic for another day.
The DCAMU saw the formation of the Justice League, loosely based on the New 52 reboot happening in the comics at the time. We got some strong adaptations, including Son of Batman, Deathstroke, and The Death of Superman. (Yes, there was another Death of Superman movie before this one, but it didn’t quite capture the essence of the story.)
Birth of The Tomorrowverse
These movies came out with consistent voice casts, art styles, and character profiles—until the final film, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, decided to go full Game of Thrones. If you’ve seen it, you know it’s pretty wild. I won’t spoil anything, but if you fell in love with these characters over the course of these movies, you might need to book some therapy after watching this one.
With that movie, the universe reset once again. New actors, new stories, new style—a fresh start. The new slate of movies began with Superman: Man of Tomorrow, which is why this universe is called The Tomorrowverse. Darren Criss voiced Superman, Alexandra Daddario voiced Lois Lane, and Zachary Quinto voiced Lex Luthor—a pretty star-studded cast. We also got Jensen Ackles (aka Soldier Boy, aka that guy from Supernatural) as Batman, which is pretty cool.
After Man of Tomorrow, we got a Justice Society movie and a two-part Batman: The Long Halloween. Both were decent and set the stage for the formation of the Justice League in this era.
The Decline of the Tomorrowverse
Fair warning: the positivity stops here. If you like the Tomorrowverse movies, I suggest you click away now. Because when Green Lantern: Beware My Power came out, it was a disaster. I don’t know what it is with Green Lantern and bad luck with movies, but this one was terrible. I was actually excited for a John Stewart-focused movie, but it was garbage. I gave it one star out of five on Letterboxd. You know what else I gave one star to? Morbius. Yeah, this movie was that bad.
And sadly, this wasn’t a one-time thing. After this, every Tomorrowverse movie felt like a letdown. The Legion of Super-Heroes movie was so bad that my brother and I couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous it was. It’s like these scripts were written in a 48-hour turnaround because, wow, they were rough.
The Editing Problem
What consistently bothers me about these movies is how poorly they’re edited. Once you notice it, you can’t unsee it. There are random pauses between lines of dialogue that kill the flow of the conversation. It drove me insane. For example, you’ll hear a character say, “So you’re suggesting we head to the Watchtower?” And then there’s an awkward pause before the next line, Yes, I believe that is the best plan of action.
Rushing to Crisis
Then there’s Justice League: Warworld. It feels like four different people wanted to write four different movies, and only one of them was even remotely interested in making a Justice League story. And even though it’s called Justice League: Warworld, don’t expect to see more than a few members of the League. If you’re hoping to see Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman being their iconic selves, you’ll have to skip to the last 30 minutes.
And now we come to Crisis on Infinite Earths, arguably the biggest DC event you could possibly adapt, and it’s happening… what, four years after the first Tomorrowverse movie? That’s like jumping straight to Avengers: Secret Wars without having an earlier Avengers movie. And instead of giving this huge event the time it deserves, they crammed it into one rushed mess
Sure, we got Kevin Conroy’s final lines as Batman, and they were as badass as you’d hope. But I’m sorry that his final projects were tied to this mess. Rest in peace, Kevin Conroy—you deserved better.
The Future of DC Animation
In conclusion, I know I sound like a crazy person ranting about superhero cartoons, but I genuinely care about the voice acting industry. Traditional actors often take the jobs of professional voice actors, and it’s not the same. Voice acting is a completely different skill set. So, yeah, I’m upset. These Tomorrowverse movies started strong, but they’ve been fumbled so badly that it’s hard to stay invested.
And now the universe is resetting again, supposedly tying into James Gunn’s new DCU. But after how badly these movies have been handled, I’m not holding my breath.
