Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016)

Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016)

Dir. Sam Liu

While the 'heroes vs other heroes' thing isn't a new concept for DC, it was pleasing to see the Teen Titans included in the continuity of the DCAMU movies because, while I'm not as familiar with the group in comic book form, I loved the 2003-06 animated series. And  their involvement gave the writers an opportunity to address concerns that the Justice League might not be best equipped to tackle alone.

A connection to the Titans is made when Batman, tired of Damian's pissy attitude, sends the boy to Titan Towers in the hope that time spent with crusaders of his own age will help him to learn the value of teamwork. (And secretly he maybe just wanted some time away from the little turd for a while.)

Batman: Bad Blood (2016)

Batman: Bad Blood (2016)

Dir. Jay Oliva

Bad Blood features the 'extended bat-family', which changes the tone considerably from how it is when Batman works alone against the horrors of the night. Personally, I prefer the latter model, but it's nice to see the filmmakers try other things.

The 'family' in question are Nightwing (Sean Maher), Robin - the Damian version (Stuart Allan), and Batwoman (Yvonne Strahovski). Though separate ordinarily, the different personalities must work together to discover the whereabouts of Batman (Jason O'Mara), who's gone missing.

The lack of any proper 'team dynamic' was perhaps intentional, to illustrate how the individual personas felt about each other, but the layers of stupid that exist outside of that were no doubt conceived to work in a more direct way. Alas, "high tech" villains with rocket wings, a bat-styled antagonist with a secret origin, ropey CGI vehicles, and a soldier with expert control of experimental tech that he's never used before all register high on the dumb-as-shit meter.

Batman vs. Robin (2015)

Batman vs. Robin (2015)

Dir. Jay Oliva

NOTE: there will be SPOILERS for Son of Batman (2014) in the text that follows.

A sequel to the Son of Batman movie, partially inspired by The Court of Owls crossover storyline from the comics. It has less protagonists, though, which some might argue is a good thing.

Bruce (Jason O'Mara) and ten-year-old Damian (Stuart Allan) have been living and fighting together for a few months. Having been taught by his grandfather to kill his enemies and draw power from the victory, the boy struggles with the moral code imposed upon him by Batman. That he even tries to overrule his instincts, however, suggests that he sees some merit in the non-lethal approach.

Unfortunately, the clash of egos that erupts when father and son don't see eye to eye threatens to destroy the fragile bond that they've built up. And the more Bruce pushes him to accept, the more Damian feels the need to defy his father.