Super History of Superman: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)

Perhaps its a tribute to the Man of Steel that a world without Superman is as bleak as that depicted in The Flashpoint Paradox. On the other hand, its a bit depressing seeing the anemic results of government program Project Superman.

War of the Justice Leagues: DC's Newest, Ranked

The League Double Header

 We are going to try something a little different this time seeing as how, oddly, two Justice League movies were released on the same day. Perhaps it made sense for a simultaneous release since one was released ubiquitously via iTunes only (for the next two weeks at least) and the other was released in sort of the opposite way, in a single brick and mortar chain without promotion as a "stealth release." Maybe the logic was that the two were not cannibalizing each other's sales since they were targeting different distribution streams or demographics. Well, jokes on them because I got both! On to the reviews.

Let’s just say, live action quagmire aside, it’s a good time to be a fan of DC movies. In fact, both movies were enjoyable, with their own shining points. Rather than declaring one the victor, I will lay out a few notes for each. In the end both deserve their place in the solid middle of the impressive pack of DC animated films.

  

-Tone-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Light, a la JLU season 3 with goofier humor but still legit action. Not what I want every time, but a nice change up in the animated movie formula. Focus on the younger heroes, but not at the expense of the grown-ups. 

Justice League: War - Going for an Avengersy tone and probably more broadly appealing than some previous Justice League movies. Adding a mix of quipy humor and action with touches of more graphic violence. This reminds me of the Superman/Batman animated movies, but is more satisfying than either. Wall to wall action with highlights for each League member.

-Originality-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Although inspired by Secret Origins of the Super Friends, less rehash than one might expect. 

Justice League: War - Fairly straight up adaptation of a fairly mediocre story. Better in motion than on the page. Some plot changes, the biggest of which being the addition of Shazam which I do think worked better for the movie.

-Characters-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - League lineup: Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Where's Green Lantern? I was worried about the inclusion of Legion members Karate Kid and Dawnstar, but they were one of the movie's strengths - though other Legionnaire cameos would have been a treat. Classic Legion of Doomer's Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Toyman, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Bizarro, Black Manta, and Gorilla Grodd were fine. Fine without Scarecrow, Riddler, Sinestro. Giganta, or Brainiac. Only gripe is if you add Cyborg to the League, there should be a new counterpart in the Legion.

Justice League: War - League lineup: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg Shazam Green Lantern. Where's Aquaman? But like I said, it worked without him. Villain: Darkseid. And as in the comic, he was not developed very well as a character beyond being a big physical threat.

-Designs and Animation-

 JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Given the nature of the release I was expecting a low quality production reminiscent of an animated Happy Meal commercial tie-in. This actually looked pretty nice. The quality may not have been up to the level of other DC movies or even Young Justice, but in my opinion it looked better than any of the Justice League or JLU episodes. 

Justice League: War - Very nicely animated. Perhaps the palate was a bit dark and gritty, similar to The Flashpoint Paradox, but it worked better in that movie.

-Story-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - Although there are some serious plot holes, there are also a fair share of clever ideas that sort of make sense if you don't overthink. 

Justice League: War - Story?

-Cliffhanger-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time- Reminded me of the "Ape-raham Lincoln" ending of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, but better. 

Justice League: War - Only good if you are familiar with the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis comic arc. If so, very tantalizing. If not, pretty lackluster. You might as well just have placed text on the screen saying, "The Justice League will return in Throne of Atlantis." In fact, they may have been better.

-Title Nonsense-

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time - No one actually got trapped anywhere. My cheesy alternative would be Peril of the Time Trapper.

Justice League: War - No war was officially declared. My copyright infringing title would be Justice League: Assemble.

Read on to see the new rankings

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Warpland

This was not the first time the Friends would be turned into animals, nor do I suspect will it be the last, but you have to give props for the animal choices. There was no Wonder-Zebra, but there was a Bat-Man and a patriotic Super-Eagle. As for the alternate animal Friends in the "Hall of Zoon," who doesn't love Superfrog - even if he wears an E rather than an F. Octoman and Hippo Hawk were also quite the heroes.

Super History of Superman: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)

In 2010, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths introduced the Crime Syndicate including its ruthless leader Ultraman. While evil versions of the Justice League such as the Justice Lords had been introduced previously, these thugs took it to a whole other level of nasty.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Universe of Evil

Opening with a wicked twist, the Super "Friends" are shown busting a dam and flooding a city. Huh!? Turns out these friends are actually Super Enemies. In this alternate universe, not only does Aquaman wear an eye-patch, but Robin has a mustache and Superman goes heavy on the eye shadow.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Pied Piper From Space

After Sinbad the space pirate, now its time for the pied piper from space. Yeah, I get it. Space was big, but what's next? Snow White and the 7 astronauts from space? For some reason, Senor Piper came by way of a flying Simon game... which I guess at least is better than a space sail boat.

Onscreen History of Captain America

Although Captain America: The First Avenger is set to position the Cap within the big screen Marvel movie universe, this will not be Captain America's first tour of duty. First appearing in 1941's Captain America Comics #1, Steve Rogers AKA Captain America is one of Marvel's oldest superheroes with a history of popping up onscreen throughout his 70 years.

The patriotic pummeler made his onscreen premier in the 1944 Captain America movie serials, though sadly he appeared without his now iconic shield.

In all the highly regarded 15-chapter serial had to hold fans of Cap over for more than 20 years until his next appearance.

In 1966, Captain America got his own night each week as part of The Marvel Super Heroes which adapted various Marvel storied directly from the comics.

In addition to giving Cap's mighty shield some screen time, the Captain America segments also provided a platform for the onscreen introduction of The Avengers.

In 1979, Captain America appeared in a made for TV movie which seemed a bit reactionary to the success of the live action Wonder Woman series. Although he was called Captain America, Steve Rogers was the son of a WWII agent who was nicknamed Captain America. He underwent a similar treatment of super soldier serum, and was recruited as a modern day agent with a tricked out motorcycle. His shield was in fact also the windshield on his bike.

Cap scored a follow-up TV movie in 1979 with Captain America II: Death Too Soon with a slightly more traditional costume... There was no Captain America III.

In 1981, Captain America returned to animation, spicing up the solo Spider-Man series episode, The Capture of Captain America along with nemesis Red Skull.

Cap also joined Spidey in several episodes of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

The super soldier even inspired a little hero worship from Iceman at the Spidey and Friends costume ball (at which Spidey went as Spidey).

In 1985, Captain America did his duty by starring in a public service announcement warning against energy wasters the Thermal Thief, the Wattage Waster and the Cold Air Crook.

In 1990, Captain America did not return to the big screen. Although movie was made, it was not released theatrically in the US due to its poor production value. Even though the Red Skull was Italian, at least this Captain America was an actual WWII soldier. The movie was eventually found on home release.

An extended directors cut was planned to coincide with the 2011 live action Captain America: The First Avenger movie. Ironically, making the movie shorter, not longer, may have been the better improvement.

Captain America made the rounds during Marvel animations heyday in the 90's, first appearing in the 1992 X-Men series along with Wolverine in a WWII flashback episode, Old Soldiers.



An alternate version of Cap and his Avengers appeared in the episode One Man's Worth which depicted a modern day in a world without Professor X.

Cap also threw his shield in a few episodes of the 1994 Spider-Man animated series including one of the series final stories arcs retelling the Secret Wars.

The less said about 1999's The Avengers: United They Stand series the better, but even though Captain America was prominently featured in the title credits, he only appeared in a single episode, Command Decision with the C-string Avengers.

Although Marvel rolled out many of their heroes including the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spidey, and Hulk, a Captain America series never moved beyond the planning stages.

Nevertheless, a promo for a Captain America series was produced in which Steve Rogers was a cover name for US Army soldier Tommy Tompkins.

In 2000, the X-Men: Evolution revisited the story of Wolverine and Captain America teaming up in the good ol' World War 2 days in Operation Rebirth in which the two combined efforts to save a young Magneto.

In 2006, Captain America got a real spotlight in the Ultimate Avengers movie which began during the second World War.

The movie continued to follow Captain America through his modern day thawing and a showdown with an engaged and inedible Hulk.

Captain America returned with his teammates later in 2006 in Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther.

Although Captain America was only briefly mentioned in 2008's Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, James Rogers, love child of Captain America and Black Widow is one of the film's primary kid heroes.

James had a force field version of Captain America's iconic shield.

In addition, the heroes ended up facing off against the Iron Avengers including a robotic Captain America.

Marvel Studio's first three live-action films contained Captain America Easter Eggs. In 2008's Iron Man Captain America's shield can be glanced on a table in Tony Stark's workshop.

In an even better hidden "egg" in a deleted scene of 2008's The Incredible Hulk, eagle eyes can spot Captain America frozen in a glacier along with his shield.



Finally, in 2010's Iron Man 2, a proto Captain America made a slightly more visible cameo once again in Tony Stark's workshop.

Captain America has also appeared in The Super Hero Squad Show in which he has been depicted as a leader who rambles about the 30s and 40s Grandpa Simpson style.

Most recently, Captain America has joined The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as a key team member.

The super soldier will next appear in Captain America: The First Avenger hopefully giving the hero some much deserved live-action dignity.

Batmen of All Ages Unite in Homage to Bruce Wayne's Return

Not only are there various Batmen scattered across the mulitverse, but throughout time as well. The pending TV release episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled Time Out for Vengeance! has debuted online and once again demonstrated the show's reverence for the Caped Crusader. This episode saw the JLI travel though time to protect Batmen throughout history including some inspired by the 2010 Return of Bruce Wayne story arc. Batmen included Caveman Batman, Pirate Batman, Roman Batmanicus, and a Robot Batman of the Future. Neat!

Brave and the Bold Gives Us an Army of Batmen

Tonight's Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, Night of the Batmen started off with Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow, and Aquaman filling in for an injured Batman. By episodes end, Batmen from universes far and wide arrived to help clean up Gotham City. Some of these dudes appeared previously in Season 1's Game Over for Owlman, but this time Batmen from previous shows came along for the ride. This picture captured the awesome.

Starting in the top left and going round clockwise (and with a little help from the interweb and some guesswork) we have:

Solar Batman
Bat-Man
Batman of 800,000 AD
Batman from Batman Beyond
Batman of Zur-En-Arrh
Captain Marvel as Batman
Batman from The New Batman Adventures
Bat-Manga Batman
Nighthawk of the Justice Riders
Super Friends Batman
Bat-Hulk
Plastic Man as Batman
Scooby Doo Batman
Green Arrow as Batman
Captain Leatherwing
The Dark Knight Returns Batman
Batman and Robin ("nipple") Batman
1960's Adam West Batman
Batman from The Batman
Aquaman as Batman
and Brave and the Bold Batman in the center.

Infinite Earth's Justice Leaguers

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths was not the first, nor dare I say will it be the last time that members of the Justice League had run ins with alternate versions of themselves.

Universe of Evil


The first such show depicting such shenanigans occurred in the Universe of Evil episode of The World's Greatest Super Friends. In the adventure Superman traded places with a Super Enemy version of Superman from a parallel world.

While the evil Superman was dealt with by the Super Friends, good Superman had to contend with a pink Batman and mustached Robin,

an eye-patch wearing Aquaman, an ugly mug Wonder Woman,

and even an evil Gleek. The episode was a big hit.


Brave New Metropolis

Though not formally introduced, Superman caught a glimpse of himself that could have been had he ever lost his love Lois Lane. In the episode Brave New Metropolis of Superman: The Animated Series, a parallel world Superman teamed up with Lex Luthor to bring order to chaos. This Superman was essentially the same good-intentioned alien, but maybe a bit dumber for ever trusting Luthor. He did have a talented tailor though.

Legends

The Justice League animated series loved alternate worlds. The first was depicted in the episode Legends in which League members met up with characters very similar to the Justice Society. This team, named the Justice Guild, contained The Streak an analog of the Jay Garrick Flash, the Green Guardsman, patterned after Green Lantern Alan Scott, Catman a blend of Batman and Wildcat, Black Siren an obvious clone of Black Canary, and Tom Turbine who was a bit The Atom Al Pratt with a dash of Superman mixed in.

The Savage Time

In The Savage Time, Vandal Savage altered history by influencing the outcome of World War II. Fortunately, most of the League was shielded from a temporal ripple that rewrote history. Batman was not. Ever the crusader of justice, the revised world Batman still came to be as leader of an underground movement against Savage.

A Better World

Shockingly, the Justice League episode A Better World opened with Superman murdering a corrupt President Lex Luthor. Turns out, this was a parallel world were the League dubbed themselves the Justice Lords and imposed a stricter order on the world. There were Lord versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern, but their Flash was dead (full disclosure, the image is actually from a different episode, but this was the only picture I could find of the whole team of Lords). Eventually Leaguers and Lords clashed and of course, it was the Batmen that turned the tide.

Deep Cover for Batman!

In the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode Deep Cover for Batman!, Batman and Owlman traded places. In Owlman's world, all of Batman's former allies had evil counterparts. forming the Injustice Syndicate. In the mirror world, The Atom, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Blue Beetle, Aquaman, and Fire were called Dyna-Mite, Rubber Man, Blue Bowman, Silver Cyclone, Scarlet Scarab Barracuda, and Blaze.


In this world, the villains were good guys with Red Hood replacing The Joker as their leader with other heroic villains resembling Gorilla Grodd and Black Manta.

The showdown with Owlman himself would have to wait until the next episode.

Game Over for Owlman!

In order to defeat the team-up of Owlman and scads of other villains, the Season 1.0 finale of Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode Game Over for Owlman! allowed Batman to assemble a team of elseworlds Batmen to even the odds. Among the recruits were the cowboy themed Batrider, hulking Bat Ape, vampiric Bruce Wayne of Earth-43 mechanical War-Bat, swashbuckling Leatherwing, and thoughtful Batbrain.

The Super-Batman of Planet X!

In another episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled The Super-Batman of Planet X!, Batman traveled to the world of Zur-En-Arrh where he met a crime fighting Batman with a secret identity as a mild-mannered reported. Though this worlds Batman had no super powers, the original Batman developed Superman like skills.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

In Crisis on Two Earths, the Justice League crossed paths with a Crime Syndicate - hero doppelgangers that formed a mafia like crime family. Ultraman led the pack along with Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Super Woman, Owlman (fun fact: owls hunt bats), and alien J'edd J'arkus.

Like Mary Marvel, Superwoman was a member of a super powered family, evil versions of Captain Marvel, Uncle Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr. Other Syndicatees included Hakgirl's analog Angelique, Black Lightnings' Black Power, Vibe's Breakdance, Elongated Man's Extruded Man, Vixen's Vamp, Looker's Model Citizen, Katana's Sai, Gypsy's Gypsy Woman, Halo's Aurora, Wonder Woman's Olympia, Lobo's Warwolf, Black Canary's Scream Queen, Green Arrow's Archer, and even little Jimmy Olsen's Mr. Action (click for more info).

Jester and Alexander Luthor were alterna-worlds good guys and in the parallel Earth the President was Slade Wilson better known in comics as Deathstroke the Terminator; His daughter Rose in other worlds is known as Ravager member of the Teen Titans.

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure * Super Friends * The All New Super Friends Hour * Challenge of the Super Friends * Legends of the Superheroes * The World's Greatest Super Friends * Super Friends (Shorts) * Super Friends (Lost Episodes) * Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show * The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians * Justice League of America (TV Pilot) * Justice League Unlimited on Batman Beyond * Justice League * Justice League Unlimited * Smallville * The Batman * Justice League: The New Frontier * Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths *

Special Infinite Earths Edition