Justice League: DOOM (2012)

Justice League: DOOM (2012)

7/10

Starring (voice actors):
Tim Daly (Superman)
Kevin Conroy (Batman)
Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman)
Michael Rosenbaum (Flash /Barry Allen)
Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter)
Nathan Fillion (Hal Jordan/Green Lantern)


Directed by: Lauren Montgomery

Justice League: Doom could as well be tagged Justice League: Contingency Plan, because literally that was what it was all about.

What Justice League is complete without the Bat being totally involved? This wasn't an exception, as it was all based on the contingency plan of the Bat falling into the wrong hands.

This animated movie plot has Vandal Savage, voiced by Phil Morris, who is fed up with the world and decides it’s time to burn it all down and rule whatever’s left. His big plan? Wipe out most of humanity and build a new order with himself at the top. Classic villain playbook — global destruction, rise from the ashes. Savage doesn’t just go in guns blazing though, he assembles a crew of familiar DC villains and hands them detailed plans to take down each member of the Justice League, quickly and efficiently.

Here’s the twist — those plans didn’t come from Savage’s genius. They were Batman’s own contingency plans, stolen and weaponized. One by one, each hero gets hit hard and is taken down from Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman, to even Martian Manhunter.

So the League is broken, scattered, and trust gets shattered, punches get thrown, but somehow they still have to come together and save the world. Again.

Mark Waid-penned JLA: Tower of Babel which this movie is based on, where the Legion of Doom is formed to eliminate the Justice League using protocols created by Batman to take down the group should any member ever go rogue.

The movie was adapted and written by Dwayne McDuffie, shortly before his death in February 2011 at age 48, and it is directed by Lauren Montgomery, who also directed the animated versions of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

Lauren took Dwayne’s adaptation of Tower of Babel and brought about JL: Doom, which I have to add is one of the best direct-to-DVD movies DC has released so far. The voice actors were amazing in their delivery, and you just feel sucked in and happy, as the voice actors were reprising their roles from various animated DC direct-to-DVD movies.

I believe DC went all the way to make sure the movie was fantastic, because the animation and art style is exquisite.

What didn’t work for me was the pace of the movie — it starts slow at first but picks up later on. Also, with so many characters, there’s little character development, so if you’re not familiar with them and their motives from the comics, you might have trouble connecting with some.

All I can say is buy and watch this whether you are a fan of the DC comics or not, a fan of cartoons or not, this is a movie made for everyone. It gets my 7.