Dr. Fate is pretty much DC comics ultimate magic wielder. Created in the 1940's he has long been a member of the Justice Society of America, but it wasn't until 1997 that he made his onscreen debut as a guest star in Superman: The Animated Series' The Hand of Fate.
Doc F. would return for appearances in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. In the episode The Terror Beyond, Fate teamed with Aquaman and Solomon Grundy paying homage to the Marvel team the Defenders consisting of Dr. Strange, Namor, and Hulk.
In the episode, Wake the Dead, the homage continued with Amazo joining the group (filling in for the role of the Silver Surfer).
Dr. Fate was given a couple of frames in the Justice League: The New Frontier movie's opening credits depicting the rejection of the JSA.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold welcomed Fate back into the mix (though his helmet no longer covered the side of his face).
Most recently, Society member Dr. Fate came out of retirement on Smallville.
Only fate will tell, but this may not be the last we have seen of old bell head.
Attached to Planet Hulk was a sneak peak at Thor: Tales of Asgrad, the next in the line of Marvel DtVs. This was supposed to be release last August but is sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting to coincide with the theatrical release of the live action Thor. It looks OK and is a bit different than expected. It basically looks like a coming of age story beginning with a wussy and skinny Thor. Hopefully Marvel will start increasing the rate of their animated movies. One a year just isn't cutting the mustard.
Yes, I realize the irony of this post. Perpetuating a story that only exists to tease of a pending story with no real specifics. The point of my posting is to ask, Why does news like this always seem to spread like wildfire on the internets like on sites such as ComingSoon.net?
Here is the quote:
We are going to have a fairly interesting set of announcements and presentations pretty soon like in a matter of weeks, I think, about our plans for DC," Bewkes said. "And basically if you look across the title of the whole band of hits whether its Batman, The Dark Knight, Green Lantern coming up, Superman, there have been a huge number of franchised films that have been part of the Warner [tent pole] strategy that's been the reason for Warner's unparallel [sic] high and consistent earnings advantage over the other studios and DC has already been a part of that and we are now going to outline an even more expansive plan for that in the coming months.
So...? There may or may not be an announcement of some other DC owned superhero movie because The Dark Knight was a success. Does he realize The Dark Knight and Batman are the same franchise? Does he realize Superman has pretty much been considered a disappointment? Am I the only one that sees no substance in this announcement? Wake me when the real announcements get made.
In 2001, The Justice League debuted and to many people's pleasant surprise this was no Super Friends. The series first two seasons consisted primarily of two part episodes spotlighting the various Leaguers and their villains.
Despite Batman's League membership a "Bat-Embargo" would eventually be put in place reserving all Bat-related characters for other shows such as "The Batman." Thus, although Joker and Clayface were seen early in the series, Bat villains were few and far between in the later years; Nor did Robin or Batgirl ever appear.
Over the course of the series, the League encountered various alternate realities and Batmen including one in a world ruled by Vandal Savage in the three-part The Savage Time.
One of the most memorable doppelgangers was Justice Lord Batman from A Better World. This Batman was part of a League that took enforcement of the law to the extreme after Lord Superman killed an evil President Luthor.
From 2004 until 2007, the series was rebranded Justice League Unlimited and things lightened up a tad with appearances by Bat-Ape,
Bat-Kid, and even a singing Batman.
In spite of the embargo, eagle-eyed fans were able to catch a vague cameo of Nightwing patrolling the streets of Bludhaven in the episode Grudge Match.
In The Once and Future Thing, Batman (in his prime) got to team up with the future Batman from Batman Beyond. Things didn't end well...
Batman Beyond was revisited again in the episode Epilogue, the resolution of an epic two-season story arc. Although one final set of episodes followed, Epilogue respectfully closed Justice League and the DC Animated Universe spanning Batman, Superman, Batman Beyons and Justice League with a scene paying homage to one of the first and classic Batman:The Animated Series Episodes, On Leather Wings.
Although he was just one of the team members, Batman was more often than not the star of the 91 episodes of Justice League.
Its already been announced that a sequel to Superman / Batman Public Enemies is in the works, and some sharp eyes caught an announcement of WBs official German site announcing a Fall release of Superman/Batman: Journey to the Dark Side. I don't know about you but Dark Side sounds a lot like Darkseid, the villain of the second Superman / Batman comic arc which coincidentally featured Supergirl. If true Batman will be three for three this year with Feb's Justice League: Crisis on Two Earth's, Summer's Batman: Under the Red Hood, and Fall's Superman Team up. Sounds good, but when do we get more Lantern?
Planet Hulk, Marvel's latest animated feature hits stores today. In honor of the Jade Giant, I thought it appropriate to take a look at his prolific onscreen history in the monstrous spotlight.
The Hulk first appeared in 39 seven minute segments of the Marvel Super Heroes animated television series in 1966. His theme song could have used a little work:
To this day, Hulk may be best known for his live-action TV series The Incredible Hulk beginning with a made for TV movie in 1977 and running for 82 episodes until being canceled in 1982.
The cancelled series was followed up with three made for TV movies in the subsequent years. In 1988's The Incredible Hulk Returns Hulk teamed up with Thor.
The next year, in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, it was Daredevil's turn for a Hulk partnership.
Finally, 1990's The Death of the Incredible Hulk ended the series / movies run despite plans to bring Hulk back for a pairing with She-Hulk.
After the live action series ended in 1982, 13 episodes of an animated Hulk series were commissioned.
The animated series was a bit truer to the comic books than was the live action series. Over the course of the season, a number of comic foes and allies, including She-Hulk, dropped by.
Hulk was given a crossover to the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the episode Spidey Goes Hollywood in which he had to fight a robot Hulk.
Following his series cancellation, the Animated Hulk took a decade hiatus, next appearing as a guest star in the X-Men animated series episode The Juggernaut Returns. To be fair, this was actually just a danger room Hulk robot and not the Hulk himself.
In the mid-90's Hulk guest starred on the Fantastic Four animated series as well as Iron Man.
Hulk's look, however, was a tad inconsistent between the two shows.
In 1996, the Green Goliath was finally given his own show once again. The series had no shortage of Hulks. There was Green Hulk, Grey Hulk, She Hulk, and Dark Hulk.
Unfortunately, when the series was retitled in season two from The Incredible Hulk to The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk, the show also experience a drop in quality and was canceled.
Though there was a blink and you'll miss it cameo of Hulk (in a portrait) in the abysmal Avengers: United They Stand series, Hulk next returned in grand form in 2003's Hulk movie. Unfortunately the movie was not the huge success all were hoping for.
In 2006, Hulk starred in two animated features, Ultimate Avengers, and Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther. He was much more of the threat himself in these films than a traditional hero.
Also in 2006, Hulk and the Thing faced off in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode Hard Knocks.
In 2008, an older (wiser?) Hulk appeared in the animated movie Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.
2008 would also mark the return of Hulk to cinemas in the more heroic The Incredible Hulk, the film was just successful enough to make a sequel possible, though we will most likely see this Hulk next in 2012 Avengers live action film.
In 2009 (a "Banner" year for Hulk) , Hulk was the star of the very successful animated movie Hulk Vs. In the first segment Hulk and Wolverine engaged in a no holds barred smack down.
The second half of the feature saw Thor trying to stop a mindless raging Hulk shell.
Wolverine an Hulk were given a rematch in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode Wolverine Vs. The Hulk, an informal sequel to the Hulk Vs. battle.
In 2009, there was no shortage of heroes getting a chance to take on the Hulk as he also made an appearance on the Iron Man: Armored Adventures series episode Uncontrollable.
Lastly in 2009, a nice Hulk joined the line-up of the Super Hero Squad.
Planet Hulk tells the story of space Gladiator Hulk, banished from Earth. Depending on this movies performance, I expect we will be seeing more Hulk animated movies in the future. Hulk Vs 2 perhaps?
Finally, Hulk will be a member of the line-up in the animated Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes set to debut in 2011.
And that my friends was hopefully enough SMASH to get you through the rest of the day.
Presenting Arrowette, member of the upcoming animated series Young Justice based on the DC comic of the same name. The image and the following description come from the blog of voice actress Stephanie Lemelin.
WOW. Ok… I am beyond thrilled to announce that I was recently cast in the new animated series, YOUNG JUSTICE LEAGUE, based on the famous (and awesome!?) DC Comics. I seriously could not be more excited about being welcomed into this amazing family… what a fantastic way to start the new year! I will be voicing the character of Arrowette (see ridiculously hot avatar below!!! um, could I love her anymore?) as well as several supporting cast members… Due to the extreme popularity of this series, however, that’s about all I can say… for now. So excited, this is really a dream come true for me, I have ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SATURDAY MORNING CARTOOON!!! Woohoo!
Anyways, this leak comes on the heels of online rumors about this series AS WELL AS a CG Green Lantern Series in the works. From what I have been able to glean, Young Justice will feature Nightwing, Aqualad, Superboy/Connor Kent, Impulse, Arrowette and Miss Martian. DC does it again!
While DC prefers to make one animated Batman series after another (with the occasional Superman), Marvel seems to prefer spreading the wealth. In the 90's, Marvel produced two Spider-Man series, The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Silver Surfer, a terrible Avengers series, and Iron Man. Most of these series were short lived lasting just one or two seasons. I don't think I have ever seen this series and don't know too much about it except that supposedly the first season was terrible and the second was fantastic. Coinciding with the release of Iron Man 2, the Iron Man animated series will finally arrive on DVD on May 4 (along with the last set of X-Men episodes). Maybe I will finally check it out so I can have more than a passing familiarity with the world of Iron Man.
Along the same lines as last weeks leaked concept art featuring a few of the Green Lantern Corps, here are a couple more images. The first features the Guardians of Oa, the beings who formed the Green Lanterns Corps.
The second features Sinestro, the greatest of the Lantern, and Hal Jordan's mentor. I like that he doesn't have a gigantic head like he did in his Super Friends appearances. The big head may be true to the comics, but it is a bit odd looking. Then again, who knows how close to final these images are. The giant head may make a comeback.
So far, I am liking everything I hear about Green Lantern. I really hope it does for the Emerald Crusader what Iron Man did for the Tin Can Man.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold welcomed Fate back into the mix (though his helmet no longer covered the side of his face).
Most recently, Society member Dr. Fate came out of retirement on Smallville.
