DC Universe Animated Original Movies Part Six
Batman: Year One
The film is an adaptation of Frank Miller's story
"Batman: Year One" from 1987 in the main Batman title, featured in
issues #404–407. It is co-directed by Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery. Everyone should know this story. Frank Miller’s writing is
pure gold. I find this very hard to write a summary for this, mostly because
this is a well-known book.
Cast:
Benjamin
McKenzie as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Eliza Dushku
as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Bryan
Cranston as Lieutenant James Gordon
Katee
Sackhoff as Detective Sarah Essen
Alex Rocco as
Carmine "The Roman" Falcone
Jon Polito
as Gillian B. Loeb
Saratoga Ballantine
as Skeevers' Attorney
Jeff Bennett
as Alfred Pennyworth
Steven Blum
as Stan, News Reporter Tom (uncredited), SWAT Member (uncredited)
Roark
Critchlow as Hare Krishna
Grey DeLisle
as Barbara Eileen-Gordon, Vicki Vale (uncredited)
Keith
Ferguson as Jefferson Skeevers
Danny Jacobs
as Flass' Attorney
Michael
Gough as Driver
Nick Jameson
as Merkel
Liliana Mumy
as Holly Robinson
Robin Atkin
Downes as Harvey Dent
Pat Musick
as Louisa Falcone
Andrea
Romano as Obstetrician
Stephen Root
as Brendon
James Patrick
Stuart as Henchman
Fred
Tatasciore as Detective Arnold John Flass, Johnny Vitti (uncredited)
Bruce Timm
as Thug #1
Bruce
Wingert as Guard
Released Date: October 18, 2011, the same day as Batman: Arkham City.
(This is a line)
Justice
League: Doom
Justice
League: Doom is a loose adaptation of Mark Waid's JLA story arc, "JLA:
Tower of Babel" wherein the Legion of Doom is formed to eliminate the
Justice League using protocols created by Batman to take down the group should
its members ever go rogue. The movie was adapted and written by Dwayne McDuffie
shortly before his death in February 2011, and is directed by Lauren
Montgomery.
The film
revolves around Vandal Savage's plot to exterminate the greater part of the
human population and start a new civilization. To ensure that the Justice
League is unable to stop him, Savage hires Mirror Master, who hacks into the
Batcomputer and steals contingency plans devised by Batman to incapacitate his
League teammates should they ever go rogue. Savage assembles a group of
supervillains with personal vendettas against the heroes and pays them richly
to simultaneously attack the members of the League using these plans, albeit
altered to be lethal.
The villains
each do their part to take out the Justice League:
Batman is
informed by Alfred Pennyworth that the bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne have
been exhumed and are missing. When Bruce Wayne arrives at his parents' graves,
he is ambushed by Bane. The emotional distraction is enough to grant Bane the
upper hand and render his adversary unconscious. Bruce is then placed into his
father's coffin which is reburied. He wakes up to the horrifying prospect of
dying of asphyxiation next to his father's corpse.
The Martian
Manhunter (in his human identity of John Jones) is celebrating his birthday
with his colleagues from the police force. He receives a drink from a
mysterious woman (who is actually Ma'alefa'ak in disguise). The drink is laced
with magnesium carbonate, which is poisonous to Martian biology. The
Manhunter's body is capable of curing itself, but only by sweating out the
magnesium which is highly flammable. Ma'alefa'ak uses a lighter to set his
enemy on fire (J'onn's only weakness), leaving him to burn alive without the
possibility to extinguish the flames.
Wonder Woman
is attacked by Cheetah who scratches her arm, sending nanomachines into her
bloodstream. The microscopic machines attach themselves to her brain stem and
begin broadcasting directly into her visual and auditory sensors. This fools
Wonder Woman into thinking that everyone she sees is a duplicate of Cheetah.
The illusion is designed to exploit her competitive nature, by sending her into
a never-ending battle. Since she would never surrender, she will force herself
to fight until her body gives out, thanks to the drugs the nanomachines were
carried in, causing her to suffer an epileptic seizure or a heart attack.
The Flash is
lured into a trap by Mirror Master who pretends to be robbing a train. The
villain then uses a hologram of an elderly woman to create the illusion that he
had a hostage. The whole scenario is only intended to trick the Flash into
placing his arm into a booby trap that attaches a bomb to his wrist. The bomb
will explode and kill everyone within three miles if the hero tries to remove
it or if he does nothing. The only way to prevent the explosion is to run and
never decelerate, but even the Flash cannot run forever.
Green
Lantern is called upon by the FBI to deal with a group of terrorists who have
taken hostages into a salt mine. However the truth is that both the terrorists
and the hostages are sophisticated androids. The entire setting is part of a
complex deception that fools Green Lantern into thinking that innocent lives
are lost due to his overconfidence. The hero is also exposed to a synthesized
version of the Scarecrow's fear gas that undermines his will. Finally, Star
Sapphire shows up and exploits his fears convincing him that he does not
deserve the power he wields. Green Lantern renounces his ring without which he
cannot escape from the collapsed salt mine. The weakened hero resigns to his
fate.
Superman is
lured to the roof of the Daily Planet by a disillusioned former employee named
Henry Ackerson, who aims to commit suicide by either jumping off or shooting
himself. Superman tries to talk him out of it, and appears to have succeeded,
when Ackerson unexpectedly shoots the hero instead. It is then revealed that
the suicide ploy was meant to trick Superman into lowering his guard, that the
former employee was being impersonated by Metallo, and that the bullet was made
of Kryptonite, the only material that can harm Kryptonians. A fatally wounded
Superman falls from the top of the building.
Cast:
Kevin Conroy
- Bruce Wayne / Batman
Tim Daly -
Clark Kent / Superman
Susan
Eisenberg - Princess Diana / Wonder Woman
Nathan
Fillion - Hal Jordan / Green Lantern
Carl Lumbly
- J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter (credited), Ma'alefa'ak J'onnz / Ma'alefa'ak
(uncredited)
Michael
Rosenbaum - Barry Allen / The Flash
Bumper
Robinson - Victor Stone / Cyborg
Carlos
Alazraqui - Bane
Claudia
Black - Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah
Paul
Blackthorne - John Corben / Metallo (credited), Henry Ackerson (uncredited)
Olivia d'Abo
- Carol Ferris / Star Sapphire
Alexis
Denisof - Sam Scudder / Mirror Master
Phil Morris
- Vandar Aag / Vandal Savage
Dee Bradley
Baker - Officer in Charge
Grey DeLisle
- Lois Lane, Queen (uncredited)
Robin Atkin
Downes - Alfred Pennyworth (credited), Jack (uncredited)
Brian George
- Mayor
David
Kaufman - Jimmy Olsen
Juliet
Landau - Ten
Jim Meskimen
- King
Andrea
Romano - Batcomputer Voice
Bruce Timm -
Ace
Danny Jacobs
- Special Agent Porter
Released
Date: February 28, 2012
This Film
was dedicated in memory of McDuffie.
