DC Universe Animated Original Movies Part Seven

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.