Justice League: Doom (Tower of Babel)

[BigThor]

It's not hard to find. Just go to Smallville and bring a shovel.

I know it's not that hard to find, it's just that villains using Krytonite so damn boring.

 

[Nathan]

What else can you do against a guy who's practically a god? Not everyone can be from Apokolips or be an evil Kryptonian.

 

[BigThor]

What else can you do against a guy who's practically a god? Not everyone can be from Apokolips or be an evil Kryptonian.

Yeah but when all someone has to do is go get a piece of krytonite to defeat Superman, being Superman just doesn't seem all that "super" anymore.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well, that's why I prefer a toned down Superman. The original could be hurt by an artillery shell. He was still impervious to small arms fire, but he could be hurt by powerful conventional weapons. These days, he's far too overpowered. But people like that.

 

[LostSon88]

Well back in the day, wasn't kryptonite one of the rarest elements to find in the DC universe?

Itd be much more intimidating if they didn't make it so damn easy to find...

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well back in the day, wasn't kryptonite one of the rarest elements to find in the DC universe?

Itd be much more intimidating if they didn't make it so damn easy to find...

What they could do is have Kryptonite be synthetic. That way it could only be created, and the amount would be greatly limited, and easy to keep track of.

 

[BigThor]

Well back in the day, wasn't kryptonite one of the rarest elements to find in the DC universe?

Itd be much more intimidating if they didn't make it so damn easy to find...

Exactly t:

Well, that's why I prefer a toned down Superman. The original could be hurt by an artillery shell. He was still impervious to small arms fire, but he could be hurt by powerful conventional weapons. These days, he's far too overpowered. But people like that.

I think things like large tank shells should be able to inflict a small degree of pain whenever they hit Supes, he's human sized so I think they also should be able to knock him back.

 

[Darkness Falls]

i have to say both versions of the main theme from Doom and crisis on two earths are seriously badass

 

[Thundercrack85]

Exactly t:



I think things like large tank shells should be able to inflict a small degree of pain whenever they hit Supes, he's human sized so I think they also should be able to knock him back.

Well, if Iron Man can survive it unscathed (though that scene kind of bothered me). But we've seen him move planets, survive nuclear explosions point blank.

 

[BigThor]

Well, if Iron Man can survive it unscathed (though that scene kind of bothered me). But we've seen him move planets, survive nuclear explosions point blank.

I didn't say Superman's should be injured or damaged at all, I just said he should be knocked back and the pain should register.

Iron Man's armor was burned and slightly damaged after being hit with that tank shell by the way.

 

[BH/HHH]

I wouldn't be surprised if the next JLA film is a JSA crossover.

Maybe something based off this

 

[Savage]

I say hell yes. These guys need their due. Hell, I'd even take a movie just about them.

 

[The Caped Knight]

i have to say both versions of the main theme from Doom and crisis on two earths are seriously badass

Agreed although I like Doom's version more

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

This finally came in the mail today...

Just finished watching it and my basic feeling after the end credits was that I liked it. A lot.

I'll probably have a second screening before I jot down my thoughts more clearly. But basically, minus the animation, the movie is pretty much equal to Crisis on Two Earths for me.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Agreed although I like Doom's version more

 

[Panthro]

I say hell yes. These guys need their due. Hell, I'd even take a movie just about them.

The JSA are so totally overdue for a feature all their own.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I always wondered why villans didnt make more kryptonite bullets or just lethal weapons out of it instead of just keeping it as a rock and shoving it in Supes face.

 

[Savage]

There was a group like that created by Amanda Waller specifically to take down Superman. It was a Superman/Batman story so naturally Batman helped out and saved the day. You'd think more villains would do that, though. Or at least Superman would find a more creative way around the problem to show that just throwing it in his face doesn't work anymore after so much time on the job. Batman knows how to avoid most things that would hurt him. Superman should too.

 

[Wolfwood]

Barry Flash is boring, I wish they would've gone with their JLU Wally Flash. A far more entertaining character.

Also seeing Wonder Woman

Spoiler

kill/maim dozens of civilians was great to watch, but a terrible idea.

Overall it was pretty decent. Not my favorite, but it probably ranks somewhere in the middle. I still can't figure out what the benefit of using Vandal over Rahs was.

 

[Nathan]

Maybe just to make it a less Batman focused Movie? Also, Ra's doesn't seem to be the type of guy to found a Legion of Doom.

 

[gugumugats]

Maybe just to make it a less Batman focused Movie? Also, Ra's doesn't seem to be the type of guy to found a Legion of Doom.

Yeah, for the purposes of this story, Ra's and Vandal Savage seem somewhat interchangeable.

UNLESS, you throw in the plot point that Ra's was merely giving Batman a diversion in Babel so that he can spare him and try to turn him over the dark side VERSUS Vandal devising a plan to actually break Bruce.

 

[Drz]

Justice League: Doom - Review

Justice League: Doom is the latest of Bruce Timm’s Direct-to-Video DC movie, which is the last DC project Lauren Montgomery directed before moving onto Legend of Korra project & this is the last film Dwayne McDuffie wrote before his unfortunate death. What is also special about this project, it’s the 1st film where the storyboards & animation was handled by TMS Entertainment.

The story is a very loose adaptation of Justice League of America: Tower of Babel by Mark Waid, the only elements taken from the book is that Batman has contingency & how Justice League feels about this subject. Otherwise it’s a very “team of heroes vs. team of villains” story with big action brawl towards the end alongside trying to save the world, but not from the same type of scenario Ras’ al Ghul had in the comic book, alongside being absent from this film.

The Justice League consists of: Batman (Voiced by Kevin Conroy), Superman (Tim Daily), Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly), Flash (Michael Rosenbaum) and guest starring superhero of the movie is Cyborg (Bumper Robinson) who has an incredibly awesome visual design by Phil Bourassa, in fact I wish this is what he’d look like in the comics. Bumper also gives a very spot on performance as the character and the dialogue is really good.

In this movie, Vandal Savage (Phil Morris) is the main antagonist, having set his latest world conquering plan he needs the Justice League to be taken down, so he hires villains with personal vendetta against each member of the Justice League, creating his own Legion of Doom which consists of: Bane (Carlos Alazraqui), Cheetah (Claudia Black), Metallo (Paul Blackthorne), Star Sapphire (Olivia D’Abo), Mirror Master (Alexis Denisof) & making his animated debut; Ma’alefa’ak (Carl Lumbly). With Batman’s plans to neutralize the Justice League, Vandal alters them into much more brutal and deadly traps, alongside with the knowledge of Batman’s identity figures on his own how Bane can take down Batman with ease.

I really loved the animation on this film, it’s just enhanced version of the same animation we’ve seen on Young Justice & Crisis on Two Earths, but the sleek style added with the Japanese animation vibe TMS entertainment gives just makes it superb. The action scenes are smooth and the facial expressions are superb storytelling, giving us the visual looks demanded for very heartfelt moments as justice League members get taken down, their triumphant stand up and the pure menace Savage emposes.

Now, I feel forced to break into spoilers, because quite frankly I found the story to be disappointingly average and the story telling is just so forced on situations, I just feel for example the villains alongside Superman are played incredibly dumbed down to their comic versions just so the plot can move forward and reach conclusion, so again spoiler warnings, but here goes the rant:

Superman is a tool in this movie, like usual from Bruce Timm we have an incredibly dumbed down Superman so the movie can move forward. Not only does Superman get taken down by the most cliché way ever that is the green kryptonite bullet, he’s also clearly not giving his all in the fighting sequences, but is allowing Metallo to give punches in, until Superman realizes he has better things to do and just shuts him down like a boss. At the very end of the movie we have this catastrophic sequence happen because Superman fails to destroy a missile with his laser beam, because he was too busy flying and punching the other missiles while he could have just laser shot them all at once, sigh.

The Legion of Doom is compiled of idiots. They all have these full proof plans to defeat their enemies permanently, but instead of ensuring the job is finished and give the killing blow, they simply leave and assume the heroes will die. This doesn’t work at all in this story outside of how Flash is being stopped, but otherwise it’s just plain stupid and makes them all seem dumbed up when the Justice League attacks and they’re all shocked how they didn’t perish. It was just so incredibly dumb, not only that, but the movie informs us that Bane has been trying to kill off Batman for 10 years, but apparently has never figured out that Batman keeps taking him down with the same tactic, cut off the Venom supply, because like usual in animation, Bane is a wimp without his venom.

It’s just really bothering how the Legion of Doom get taken down, because all members we’re too stupid to ensure that their hated enemies would die off permanently, because what good is there try and conquer the world, when the Justice League would inevitably return? That’s really what makes this movie such disappointingly average from its latter half, while the movie has a really strong opening and seeing the villains plan come together is really cool.

With Commentary:

Geoff Johns & Mike Carlin, two persons who have absolutely nothing to do with this project outside of knowing about it’s production and reading the script give the commentary instead of anyone actually working on this project, because…? Honestly, this is just a effortless commentary for me, I get no insight of the making of this movie outside of a couple of mentions of how great McDuffie’s script is and how well his pacing was, but nothing from the actual people who worked on this with Johns & Carling giving comic background stories on some characters and praising the movie. Who on earth would enjoy this commentary? It offers no real insight outside of a quick synopsis of a character, which can be done with the internet by itself.

Sneak Peak: Superman vs. the Elite:

We get a good dose of voice clips of George Newbern as Superman and whoever is voicing Manchester Black. They explain the simple idealistic pitch the story holds and what does it mean, while showing character designs and even animation scenes and I have to say these characters look really bulky with rather huge eyes with stiff faces, I hope Dough Mahnke’s art comes off better in the final product then what I saw here myself.

Their Time Has Come: Cyborg and the DC Universe’s New Diversity:

This is simply a very short video where Marv Wolfman talks about the creation of the character & how happy & proud he is about DC using him more, with Geoff Johns talking about having Cyborg in the 2011 relaunched Justice League comic and how unique of a character he is. It’s pretty passable extra to be quite honest. I mean if this was about DC’s diversity, does that mean Cyborg is just enough for them?! It’s just a poor extra at the end of the day.

A Legion of One: The Dwayne McDuffie Story:

This collection of interviews regarding Dwayne McDuffie’s life has his wife Charlotte, co-workers like Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano and co-creators of Milestone company talk from his childhood to Marvel years to Milestone to Animation work and his career as a whole. I don’t wish to get into specifics, but you get a lot of good insight how incredible this man was, he attended college when he was 10 years old for example, but there are sad facts too such as his two brothers that died before him. It was a nice insight on the man himself, and I appreciated it.

Guarding the Balance: Batman and the JLA:

20 minute video about people explaining Batman’s reasoning for his plans to take down the Justice League if necessary by comparing with 9/11 and other events that changed human’s perception of power and how it should be used, what makes someone a terrorist and what a freedom fighter and so forth. I really think they shouldn’t have bothered with the real life examples, but just made it more about Batman and his relation to Justice League.

Rating: 70/100 - The movie feels like a dated Super Friends episode updated to today’s animation and the PG-13 rating instead or providing better storytelling and more believable villains of today’s standards is just there for the blood and brutality, but this is really a more kid’s family movie where they can cheer for the Justice League taking down the Legion of Doom in a classic superhero story arc. The extras outside of McDuffie’s tribute & the preview for the next movie range from abyssal to disappointing. Give this movie a rent at least, but this was a rather average movie, but with the best animation I’ve seen from the DC DTV movies.

 

[K'Prime]

I thought it was ok.it felt more like a three part episode of JL as apposed to an actual movie.there's also something that bugs me about the end

Spoiler

].superman hands batman the kryptonite bullet at the end as a sign of trust.but wouldn't it be safe to assume that since batman's plan to deal with superman requires kryptonite he would already have some available?so whats the point of handing the guy that already planed how to handle you more of your weakness?

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I thought it was ok.it felt more like a three part episode of JL as apposed to an actual movie.there's also something that bugs me about the end

Spoiler

].superman hands batman the kryptonite bullet at the end as a sign of trust.but wouldn't it be safe to assume that since batman's plan to deal with superman requires kryptonite he would already have some available?so whats the point of handing the guy that already planed how to handle you more of your weakness?

It was Superman acknowleding that he understands and accepts Batman's point of view, despite how everything turned out.

IF he ever did go rogue and there was no way back, he wants his friend and the one most suitable for the job to ''pull the trigger''.

Not to mention he simply may have had no more left.

 

[BigThor]

I "lol" whenever someone says Superman is "dumbed down" in animation, I would LOVE for Thor to be portrayed with the same level of power as Supes in animated films and tv shows.