DC Universe - Justice League Dark: Apokalips War (2020)

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I really think each season of Young Justice has gotten progressively worse. Best to leave that where it is and introduce more variety in the DC Universe movie line. I'm fed up with Phil Bourassa's designs anyway.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I really think each season of Young Justice has gotten progressively worse. Best to leave that where it is and introduce more variety in the DC Universe movie line. I'm fed up with Phil Bourassa's designs anyway.

I won't disagree, YJ is VERY ambitious and in trying to do soooooooo much and introduce so many characters it takes away from the quality...which is why having some spin offs would help them with the storytelling.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I can't wrap my mind around how they have outright refused to revive the Timmverse. Pretty much all the relevant cast and crew are down for coming back, and you've got a built-in audience from the past 30 years to build off of.

They've had 10+ years to create some sort of goodwill with these new continuities and one-shots, but generally it hasn't struck a huge chord with fans at all. It's likely they're settling for the bare minimum of "success", which is making just enough money to fund low-bar sequels.

The time has come. I bet we get another season of JL or BTAS in the next few years. Still so superior to the new animated universe.

It’s interesting how I got tired of Phil Bourassa’s designs within a couple of years and the 20+ year old Bruce Timm designs are still so excellent.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

There is an elegance and timeless quality to Timm/Gline's designs that I feel has been missing from Bourassa's work recently.

Bourassa has been over-exposed in the last 10 years and the sheen was bound to wear off.

- Justice League: Crisis/Doom continuity.
- Young Justice
- The Tucker/New 52 DTV's.
- Most of the Arrowverse webseries (Vixen, The Ray, etc.)

His early work was beautiful and he deserved his Emmy win, but it's time for a break.

 

[SupermanFan]

I really think each season of Young Justice has gotten progressively worse. Best to leave that where it is and introduce more variety in the DC Universe movie line. I'm fed up with Phil Bourassa's designs anyway.

I thought it was just me, I think YJ S1 was pretty much perfect. S2 was good but something was missing. S3 I thought was a complete bore.

 

[BobJM]

A complete bore might be a smidge too far for me, but Season 3 was a drop in quality comparatively. It still had some excellent ideas thrown in there, but it was missing the charm of S1.

 

[Juan1193]

The time has come. I bet we get another season of JL or BTAS in the next few years. Still so superior to the new animated universe.

It’s interesting how I got tired of Phil Bourassa’s designs within a couple of years and the 20+ year old Bruce Timm designs are still so excellent.

I wouldn’t call the Bruce Timm designs excellent honestly. Many of them look very dated to be honest.

 

[Travesty]

....yeah, them looking dated was the entire point.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Literally any of the Timmverse shows are so much more aesthetically pleasing than anything Bourassa related. I would so love a Justice League or BTAS revival

 

[terry78]

 

[Binker]

Cannot wait anymore for this movie.

 

[herolee10]

Just saw this film a few minutes ago. So comes the conclusion of the New 52 (and semi Rebirth) era of DC Animated films.

I can see why the movie was rated R and not the usual PG-13.

Be warned, heavy spoilers are about to follow:

Spoiler

I knew that several heroes would be killed off in this film but I didn't expect the body count to be so large and graphic. This film spares no expense at killing some of your favorite superheroes in the most graphic and painful way possible.

I also have mixed feelings about the ending as well. I know the producers said that they had crafted this film to be the conclusion to this animated universe but having Barry go back in time, presumably to when his mother was killed (again), to restart things was just weird. I don't see why they couldn't have Barry travel back to before the big battle at the beginning of the film that led to the deaths of so many heroes. Warning the Justice League in advance that their assault would fail miserably and finding a way to counterattack Darkseid in a smarter manner would have been more logical.

Try imagining "X-Men: Days of Future Past" where we never got to see the results of Wolverine's time travel and everything just ended in the dystopian future after everyone had been erased from the timeline. That's the same feeling that I got from watching the ending.

Overall, I was okay with how Superman was used and I enjoyed seeing new interactions between several fan favorites. Looking back at the buildup towards this film, I feel like we should have gotten another TItans film featuring thew new lineup that was quickly introduced at the start of the film. Though I guess it would have made little sense in the grand scheme of things seeing as how everything has been erased from the timeline.

Overall, the film itself is pretty much symbolizes on what the current DC Animated Universe is as a whole: A flawed journey with a few bumps in greatness.

 

[SupermanFan]

I just finished watching this and I thought it was incredible. They were able to take turns with characters they otherwise wouldn’t have been because of the story told.

I won’t post spoilers but I will say Etrigan steals the show & Superman has one of his most badass moment since ever in the film.

This was a damn fitting end to this New 52 universe imo. I would put this alongside what I consider the best of the animated New 52 universe for sure. Death & Reign of Superman are still head & shoulders the best though.

9/10

Also watched the sneak peek for Superman Man of Tomorrow. Its looking like it’s going to borrow heavily from American Alien & as a huge fan of that series I am damn glad about that.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

I just finished watching this and I thought it was incredible. They were able to take turns with characters they otherwise wouldn’t have been because of the story told.

I won’t post spoilers but I will say Etrigan steals the show & Superman has one of his most badass moment since ever in the film.

This was a damn fitting end to this New 52 universe imo. I would put this alongside what I consider the best of the animated New 52 universe for sure. Death & Reign of Superman are still head & shoulders the best though.

9/10

Also watched the sneak peek for Superman Man of Tomorrow. Its looking like it’s going to borrow heavily from American Alien & as a huge fan of that series I am damn glad about that.

Agreed I loved the moment when Superman stops the omega beams and how he does it and what he does afterwards. Seeing this made me upset with the live JL movie since Superman was supposed to have this type of battle in it. Would've been cool to see Cavil's original fight. As for Superman: Man of Tomorrow given the ending of this movie I am just wondering if they are rebooting everything and have it start with Superman this time.

 

[Detective Conan]

Just got done watching it, and it’s kind of entertaining but super messy. Glad there won’t be any more entries from this universe, good riddance, I say. I hope they ditch the wannabe anime style and go with something more aesthetically creative. They don’t need to go back to the old Timm-style but please let’s get something different and the next animated Superman movie looks to be that.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

i'm still pretty taken aback by the graphic nature of some of the kills in this movie. a lot of it was straight up barbaric.

I understand what they were going for but it just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Monochron]

The highest compliment I can pay this movie is that Harley Quinn is voiced by Hyden Walch instead of Tara Strong.

 

[Juan1193]

The only thing that bums me out is that we won’t be getting another Teen Titans film with that lineup! Which sucks because that lineup that was shown was so damn good!! Wasted potential imo.

Also Trigon vs Darkseid was so damn cool to witness!!

 

[kguillou]

Wow. This was really really good. A big epic bold ending to this saga. I like that DC makes stuff like this and they make it for an older demographic. Definitely some shocking stuff in this. This was like Endgame mixed with Days of Future Past.

Overall, this was a solid goodbye to this continuity, I’m ready for the animated films to enter a new phase.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

This was like Endgame mixed with Days of Future Past.

That has me salivating!

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I thought this was pretty awesome all around honestly. Maybe a bit messy in parts, but damn when crap hit the fan it definitely delivered and there are so many great, badass character moments in this. I can see why the graphic deaths might put some people off though, but the brutality and viciousness of the violence in some of these scenes made certain deaths hit even harder IMO. I also absolutely loved Etrigan and Harley Quinn in this. A worthy send off and like kguillo I am also ready for the next phase of DC animated films.

8/10

 

[herolee10]

If anything, the folks that gave us "Crisis on Infinite Earths" should have given us the same level of body counts and traumatic deaths of several noteworthy characters like this film had done.

When you're trying to convey the notion that the heroes are fighting for their lives and may not make it out of this, then you should have them literally struggling to stay alive and not fighting in a careless manner as though we were watching an episode from Power Rangers.

I still don't get why the Flash couldn't simply go back in time to stop the League from their going ahead with their first assault as opposed to wiping away the entire timeline.

 

[Monochron]

If anything, the folks that gave us "Crisis on Infinite Earths" should have given us the same level of body counts and traumatic deaths of several noteworthy characters like this film had done.

When you're trying to convey the notion that the heroes are fighting for their lives and may not make it out of this, then you should have them literally struggling to stay alive and not fighting in a careless manner as though we were watching an episode from Power Rangers.

I still don't get why the Flash couldn't simply go back in time to stop the League from their going ahead with their first assault as opposed to wiping away the entire timeline.

My understanding is the very act of Flash time-traveling and changing anything causes a Flashpoint which creates ripples through all space and time.

What he changes doesn't matter the result would still be a reset.

 

[The Big G]

Also Trigon vs Darkseid was so damn cool to witness!!

That was the "Bro...why haven't we gotten this in the comics?" moment for me.

As someone who has "casually" followed these DCAU movies, I gotta say this was a fun romp in the swamp. You had a good cast of characters that played off each other pretty well IMO.

Matt Ryan's Constantine is flawless as usual. His exchange with Boomerang was again something I never knew I wanted till it was given too me...then of course we had the reveal of him and King Shark XD

I'm gunna miss this take on Damian & Raven. They played off each other really well over the course of these films and I think this was a wonderful crescendo to that.

For a movie chock full of death and dismemberment...they did a good job at putting love at the center of it all.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I have mixed feeling on this movie, just like I have mixed feelings on this entire shared universe. The entire six/seven year journey was full of ups (a sense of experimentation, spotlighting lesser known characters) and downs (Disjointed storytelling, questionable design choices, mediocre - at times -actors). I do think the line was getting better and better, but perhaps it is the right time to end it.

Overall, It's a very strong movie. Crazy, fast paced and very emotional. I truly enjoyed the arcs of Constantine and Raven, not to mention another look at the relationship between Batman and Damian.

It was very bleak and nilhilistic. While the ending was beautiful, I would have liked to see how the universe was reshaped, even if just to end on a sense of hope. I don't know... I may have to process the ending a bit more on repeat viewings. Bottom line... it's a more than worthy conclusion to this shared universe and while I wished it was better at times overall, I'm still glad we had it.

Here's to the next phase of the DC Universe movie line.