Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)

Dir. Sam Liu

A second DCAMU outing for the super-powered youths, this time based on a story arc of the same name by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez that featured in The New Teen Titans comic book. I've not read the full arc, so can't say how faithful it is or isn't.

It also functions as a sequel to the previous year's Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016) animated feature, which I have seen. From that perspective, it's merely an okay movie.

The character that was teased in the closing credits of the previous movie is now a member of the group. Her name is Tara (Christina Ricci). As with any established collective, a new face has an effect on the team dynamic, but she plays a major role and is the focus of many of the story's themes.

The conflict is twofold, from without and from within, with the former being orchestrated by two villains, one of whom is a standard evildoer who wants all the power for himself. The other is in his employ, a sword-wielding mercenary with a personal grudge against one of the Titans.

There's more than one example of a character hiding their true face from public view, in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one.

Outside of that, Nightwing (Sean Maher) and Starfire (Kari Wahlgren) are an item, which explores a more mature relationship than would be possible with the kids alone. But there's a second, less wholesome pairing that'll likely raise a few eyebrows. I'm assured it was in the source text, so maybe its inclusion was supposed to be more meaningful than I was aware of.

Sadly, according to Wikipedia, The Judas Contract was actor Miguel Ferrer's final onscreen work before he passed away in 2017. Miguel had voiced a number of animated characters in a career that lasted over three decades, but for me he'll be most fondly remembered as the opinionated forensics specialist, FBI Special Agent Albert Rosenfeld, in the Twin Peaks TV series.

- "Whatever happens in the future, let's never have kids." -

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