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.

DC Universe Animated Original Movies Part Two

Part Two of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies

Next up is Batman: Gotham Knight which ties into the release of The Dark Knight in 2008. Batman: Gotham Knight is an anthology film, which means a film made up of several different short films tying into a single theme, that tells a series of stories that take place between 2005's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. This was the first movie to ever use authentic Japanese anime from five different animation studios. 

Segments:

Have I Got a Story for You

Have I Got a Story for You was written by Josh Olson and animated by  Studio 4°C. It's the story of three teenagers telling their one friend about Batman. Each kid has a different version of Batman, one as a living shadow, one as half-man and half-bat kinda like Man-Bat, and the last is more like Iron Man. Friend that hasn't seen Batman finally gets to see him, when the bad guy, called Man in Black, he is chasing ends up where the kids are. The young man sees him as what he really is; a very human warrior in costume. As the segment ends you hear the fourth kid tell his friends; "Have I got a story for you guys!"

Cast for Have I Got a Story for You:

Kevin Conroy as Batman

Jason Marsden as Cop

Scott Menville as B-Devil

George Newbern as Man in Black

Corey Padnos as Porkchop

Crystal Scales as Meesh

Alanna Ubach as Dander

Crossfire

Crossfire was written by Greg Rucka and animated by Production I.G.. Crispus Allen and Anna Ramirez are partners and members of the Major Crimes Unit that have been hand-picked by James Gordon. The two are assigned to take the recently captured Man in Black (captured during Have I Got A Story For You), revealed to be Jacob Feely, an escaped inmate from Arkham Asylum with an expertise in advanced electronics and explosives, to the Narrows to be incarcerated. So on the way back Ramirez and Allen get into a fight about him leaving MCU, but they get caught in a confrontation between tow gangs, Sal Maroni and The Russian. Batman saves them both gangs and Ramirez from Sal Maroni. He recognizes them as Gordon's officers and tells them that Gordon is a good judge of character, and disappears. 

Cast for Crossfire

Kevin Conroy as Batman

Corey Burton as The Russian

Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen

Jason Marsden as Doctor

Scott Menville as Cop

Jim Meskimen as James Gordon

Pat Musick as News Anchor

Ana Ortiz as Anna Ramirez

Rob Paulsen as Maroni

Andrea Romano as Dispatcher

Field Test 

Field Test was written by Jordan Goldberg and animated by Bee Train. An accident involving a new WayneCom satellite's gyroscopic electromagnetic guidance system gives Lucius Fox an idea to create a device with the satellite's gyro with an advanced motion sensor that will electromagnetically deflect small-arms fire. Bruce Wayne takes the device and attends a charity golf tournament being held by developer Ronald Marshall, with whom he discusses the mysterious death of a woman, Teresa Williams, who had opposed some of Marshall's plans. During the tournament, Bruce takes Marshall's PDA. Later, Batman hijacks a boat owned by Sal Maroni and drives it into  The Russian’s, and attacks both gangs at once, while using his new device. He attempts to force a truce between the two gang leaders until he can get evidence against them, but is disrupted when one of Maroni's men fires at him. The bullet deflects and instead hits one of The Russian's men. Distressed, Batman takes the injured man to the hospital. Later, he returns the device to Fox, stating, "... it works too well; I'm willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But it has to be mine, no one else's." A side note about Field Test, the Bruce Wayne in this one is much younger than the others we've seen so far, Kevin Conroy does an awesome job at making Bruce Wayne sound like he's ten years younger. 

Cast for Field Test

Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Corey Burton as The Russian, Ronald Marshall

Will Friedle as Anton

George Newbern as Guido

Rob Paulsen as Sal Maroni

Kevin Michael Richardson as Lucius Fox

In Darkness Dwells 

In Darkness Dwells, was written by David S. Goyer and animated by Madhouse. The police respond to a riot in a cathedral where Cardinal O'Fallon was giving a sermon. According to eyewitness testimony, the Cardinal was abducted by a large lizard-monster and taken down into the crypts below. Lieutenant Gordon, Crispus Allen, and Anna Ramirez investigate; Gordon has a brief conversation with Batman, who agrees with Gordon's theory that the Scarecrow's fear toxin is behind the riot as the doctor has been at large since the riot at the Narrows (during the event of Batman Begins).

Batman gives Gordon an earpiece that will allow them to stay in contact and descends below ground, trying to find Cardinal O'Fallon and his abductor. A homeless man living in an abandoned subway station identifies the abductor as Killer Croc. Batman and Gordon briefly discuss the villain's past, but are cut off when Killer Croc himself shows up, under the influence of the fear toxin, and attacks Batman. Batman defeats him, but not before sustaining a bite that transfers some of the toxin to him.

He then finds Cardinal O'Fallon being put on trial and sentenced to death by the Scarecrow, who is unhappy with O'Fallon's efforts to help the homeless. Batman leaps in to defend the Cardinal. Using the methane already present in the room, he sparks an explosion that destroys several water pipes, flooding the area and allowing him to escape with the Cardinal. Gordon appears in a helicopter to retrieve the Cardinal. The Cardinal offers to help Batman, but Batman refuses, saying, "Maybe next time."

Cast for In Darkness Dwells:

Kevin Conroy as Batman

Corey Burton as The Scarecrow

Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen

Will Friedle as Cultist

Brian George as O'Fallon

Jim Meskimen as James Gordon

George Newbern as Man

Ana Ortiz as Anna Ramirez

Rob Paulsen as Mole Man

Working Through Pain

Working Through Pain was written by Brian Azzarello and animated by Studio 4°C. Continuing on from In Darkness Dwells, Batman is shot in the stomach by a man hallucinating in the sewers of Gotham.

He cauterizes the wound and attempts to get out from underground, reflecting on his experiences with managing pain as he does so. First, he remembers volunteering with a relief effort and assisting a doctor in performing surgery without anesthesia. Next, he reflects on the lessons he learned from a woman named Cassandra, who was cast out of her community for disguising herself as a boy in an attempt to become a Fakir.

Over several months, she teaches him to minimize his pain to the point where he can control it, sleeping on a bed of needles or standing on hot coals without reacting. One night, several young men appear to harass Cassandra, who takes their blows without seeming to feel them. Bruce steps in to defend her, not only demonstrating his ability to withstand their attacks, but defeating them all with his martial arts skills. Cassandra then tells him to leave, saying that he has learned what he came to learn.

She then comments on how Bruce's pain was beyond her, or possibly even his, ability to handle, but how it also appeared to be leading him down a path he desired. Back in the present, Batman ends up in a gutter, where he discovers a cache of guns buried in the garbage. Alfred arrives to assist him and tells Batman to give him his hand so he can pull him out of the gutter, but Batman, arms full of guns, replies that he cannot.

Cast for Working Through Pain:

Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Will Friedle as Youth 1

Brian George as Arman, Scruffy Man

Jason Marsden as Youth 2

David McCallum as Alfred Pennyworth

Parminder Nagra as Cassandra

George Newbern as Youth 3

Rob Paulsen as Youth 4

Kevin Michael Richardson as Avery, Wounded Man

Hynden Walch as Young Cassandra

Note about the cast. David McCallum as Alfred is awesome. Dude, it's Ducky from NCIS! 

Deadshot

Deadshot was written by Alan Burnett and animated by Madhouse. Bruce Wayne has a flashback to the murder of his parents. In his penthouse, he examines the firearms he took from the underground tunnel's gutter (during the event of Working Through Pain) which he intends to turn in to the police. Wayne admits to Alfred that even though he vowed never to use them in the memory of his parents, he can still understand the temptation to use one. Meanwhile, in another city, an assassin known as Deadshot carries out an assassination on a local mayor with a spectacularly difficult shot from a ferris wheel literally miles away from the man and returns to his tropical base. There, one of his associates hires him to carry out a hit in Gotham. It is revealed that The Russian has put out a hit on Lieutenant Gordon, and Batman is called in to protect him. 

Batman gives Crispus Allen Ronald Marshall's handheld PDA device (which he stole as Bruce Wayne in Field Test), containing a link to encrypted e-mails proving that Ronald Marshall hired Deadshot in the past. He then follows Gordon's motorcade, with Alfred providing satellite-imagery assistance using the new WayneCom satellites. Deadshot attempts to shoot Gordon from a moving train, but Batman deflects the bullet. Deadshot then gleefully reveals that Batman was his real target the entire time, and that the threat against Gordon was merely a ruse to draw him out. He opens fire as the train enters a tunnel, and as Batman attempts to charge Deadshot, he is injured, falling off the train. Deadshot advances to where he saw Batman fall, gloating, but is ambushed from behind and disarmed. He and Ronald Marshall are arrested. Wayne confides to Alfred about how similar the fight in the tunnel seemed to the night his parents were murdered, and comments that "I've been trying to stop those two bullets all my life." He expresses discouragement, and Alfred agrees, but adds that he thinks Bruce has a higher purpose. Bruce then looks up at the sky and sees the Bat-Signal.

Cast of Deadshot

Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen

Jason Marsden as Thomas Wayne, Doctor

Jim Meskimen as James Gordon, Floyd Lawton / Deadshot

David McCallum as Alfred Pennyworth

Pat Musick as News Anchor

Kevin Michael Richardson as Bulky Man

Andrea Romano as Martha Wayne

Hynden Walch as Young Bruce, Female Campaign Worker

This is the end of Part Two. Part Three should be up soon.

Ace