Upcoming DC Animated Universe Movies: DC Does It Better
With DC ending their current animated universe with Apokolips War, what does the next upcoming movies tell us about their future?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to move over! The DC Universe may be divisive among fans thanks to flops like Batman v Superman and Justice League. Though gems such as Wonder Woman and Shazam have helped to repair its image a bit. The real strength in DC Comics filmmaking is with their Animated movies. With a lineage that goes back further than the MCU and with twice as many entries, DC knows how to make animated movies. In fact, most people don't realize they just wrapped up the end of their Animated Universe continuity. In doing so, they've set themselves up to create something that even rivals the Marvel Universe on the silver screen. The only question is, will DC use their upcoming animated universe movies to do so?
It Ends with Apokolips (Spoilers)
Last year DC released it's final animated movie in the current continuity, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. This movie saw was dark, gritty and aggressively violent. There are several scenes that show various heroes dying in splattering of bloods, or being dismembered. It's exactly what people worried Avengers: Endgame would be. In Apokolips War, the Justice League goes to Darkseid's home world to put an end to him once and for all. But the villain is waiting to ambush them and they lose. Some escape, including Constantine, who years later helps mount one final attack as the Earth is being drained of it's molten core. In the end, the heroes do succeed, but at the cost of everything. With Darkseid defeated, the Earth is still doomed and so they ask the Flash to go back in time and try and reset everything like he did with Flashpoint. It's a bitter sweet ending, but it sets up a whole new era of animated movies.
What's Next?
It's hard to guess exactly what comes next. There are some projects that are already in the works at DC. What's interesting about the way they create and release their animated movies is that not all of them are part of the same continuity. For the most part, they serve as standalone movies. Even when they are considered canon, most of them can easily be watched independently of each other.
That brings us to the biggest improvement DC could make when they launch their next animated continuity. Taking a page from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everything should be connected. Fans should feel rewarded for watching each movie and see small to big ripples from one to the next. DC would have a huge leg up over Marvel in this regards. Animated movies can do a lot more for a lot less. It's taken 12 years to put out 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In roughly the same time, DC put out 39 original animated movies. Not all of them where considered as part of the animated universe's canon. But if they were, it would have dwarfed anything the MCU had hoped to create.
To find out what Robbie and Ben think of Apokolips War and the upcoming DC Animated Universe movies download now!
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