Batman: Soul of the Dragon (2021)

Batman: Soul of the Dragon (2021)

Dir. Sam Liu

It would be natural to assume that Soul of the Dragon is an actual Batman story, seeing as how it's got his name in the title and he's on the cover art, but it's more accurately a story that just happens to feature Batman a few times throughout.

It's more of a Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli) story, showing via flashback the time he spent in the Himalayas learning martial arts, honing skills that his Batman persona relies on in the modern era.

At the same time, training under the same sensei (James Hong), are five other students, all of whom are lesser-known DC characters, namely Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Ben Turner (Michael Jai White), Shiva (Kelly Hu), Jade Nguyen (Jamie Chung), and Rip Jagger (Chris Cox).

You can see now why they put Batman in the title. The others may be familiar to long-time comic fans, but for many movie-only fans they may be total unknowns, except for maybe Shiva.

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (1996)

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (1996)

Dirs. Dan Riba / Scott Jeralds + Curt Geda / Bruce Timm + Dan Riba

The Last Son of Krypton — not an adaptation of Superman: Last Son of Krypton, which is a 1978 novel by Elliot S. Maggin — is episodes 01-03 of Superman The Animated Series merged together into a one-hour TV Movie. The join could've been better, but the pacing is pretty good.

It's the now-familiar origin story of Krypton's finest son, but familiarity doesn't dull it. In fact, the scenes on the doomed planet are the best part. So too is the voice work; the Earth cast are good, too, but not as impressive as Krypton's.

Clark / Superman's (Tim Daly) adolescence feels a little hurried, but the key players do each get some time in the spotlight. So too does the main villain of the series proper, Superman's nemesis, the bald billionaire Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown).

Being sold as a pick-up-and-watch movie makes the open ending feel a little awkward, so you might want to get TAS afterwards for the rest.

Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)

Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)

Dir. Chris Palmer

As soon as the DCAMU was ended, the Tomorrowverse continuity was launched. The Adam Strange DC Showcase short (on the JLD: Apokolips War disc) is its beginning, but the first feature-length movie was the aptly named Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020).

It explores the Kryptonian's early years, firstly as a youth in Smallville and then as a twenty-something adult in Metropolis working as an intern at the Daily Planet newspaper. The latter period is a modern 'smartphone' era. In ways that are both subtle and not, we see his pain at feeling alien and misunderstood.

Things thereafter descend into mostly mediocrity and blandness, with some very uninspired directing choices. It was the director's first feature film, so some allowances must be made, but even with those in place some scenes — such as the one wherein a costumed Supes first meets Lex Luthor — are amateurish at best. I don't mean that to sound unkind; it's simply an opinion.

Superman vs. The Elite (2012)

Superman vs. The Elite (2012) 

Dir. Michael Chang

A rather strange work in which a small group of new 'heroes' arrive in Metropolis and help cut down the Big Blue's workload, but their methods aren't sympathetic with his impossible ideals.

It's based on Joe Kelly's What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? (2001) storyline. I've not read the source text, but after watching the film, I definitely want to, which is not my usual response to DC's adaptations.

It doesn't just use the medium as allegory, it includes real world concerns in a fictional setting. It initially distances the origins of the unfavourable actions from American soil so that it can use them as a critique of home, but by the end shrewd viewers will be in no doubt as to what the message is, while at the same time being left with a shaky moral platform from which to soapbox.

Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (2002)

Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (2002)

Dir. William Hanna + Joseph Barbera

Oh, dear. The Bat-barrel has a bottom and it's been thoroughly Scooby-scraped. It's a pair of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo movies released on one disc, namely 1972's The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair and The Caped Crusader Caper. Admittedly, the two franchises have something in common, with both parties concerned with solving crimes in their own respective titles, but it's still an odd pairing.

Batman enlists the help of the Scooby gang in apprehending The Joker and Penguin because he's too incompetent to do it himself. While the talking dog and his human get up to their usual antics on the ground, Batman's bum-crack chin and disappearing pants flaff around in the Batplane with Boy Wonder.

It's one for Scooby fans more than Batman fans. I don't belong to that club, so can't comment further.

Static Shock (2000-04)

Static Shock (2000-04)

52 episodes, approx 22 mins each.

I haven't had time to watch Static Shock, much less write about it. I need to publish the post, though, so I can keep the links to PREVIOUS and NEXT in functional order. I'll edit the post when I have something more to say; i.e., when time allows and I get to to watch all 52 episodes!

It likely won't be until 2024. Until then, I'll use lorem ipsum to fill the empty space. Quisque lacinia pretium convallis. Donec iaculis vulputate ante. Ut finibus sem bibendum posuere semper. Proin scelerisque iaculis dictum. Phasellus auctor lacus et ex finibus, id luctus arcu hendrerit. Duis sed risus augue. Sed ornare pretium neque vitae placerat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Phasellus eget est in sapien blandit luctus. Aenean tincidunt purus arcu, non rutrum lectus dapibus.

Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000)

Superman: TAS (1996-2000)

Dirs. Various | 54 episodes (split over 3 seasons), approx 22 mins each [1]

Devised and produced by many of the same creative team that made Batman: TAS (1992–95), Superman's animated series looked familiar but also different. Metropolis is brighter than Gotham, with a different kind of art deco influence, one more inspired by Streamline Moderne. Giving each city its own visual identity is a positive change, but the less textured aesthetic of Metropolis looks cheap and sparse by comparison.

Likewise, and the first indication that what you're watching might be a step down in quality, the opening credits, which are a montage of episode scenes in roughly chronological order, feel tawdry and lazy compared to the dramatic excellence of Batman's. Superman's are spoilery, too, for anyone who's not seen the series before.

And subjectively speaking, Shirley Walker's accompanying theme music is also less memorable.

Reign of the Supermen (2019)

Reign of the Supermen (2019)

Dir: Sam Liu

NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD

A sequel to The Death of Superman (2018), set six months after its predecessor's end. 

Rather than show us what a world without Superman is like, it instead quickly fills up the necessary spaces with four new supermen, each with their own (initially secret) reason for wanting to protect Metropolis from itself.

A lack of faith in either script or viewer means we're told outright that in order to heal emotionally, Lois needs to solve the mystery of the four. The journey that should follow that realisation is a solid basis to build a sequel on, but the story has even more problems than The Death of Suprman and I lost interest.

If that hadn't been the case, however, I'm confident that the absurdity of the resurrected Super-Jesus and his three disciples hurtling toward a fisticuff finale would've been more than enough to ultimately kill it for me.

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018)

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018)

Dir. Sam Liu

This post exists to satisfy a personal goal. There's nothing of value within it. That's not some kind of playful in-joke. It's a true statement. I shit you not, et cetera.

⊲  PREV POST  ☆  NEXT POST  ⊳

Son of Batman (2014)

Son of Batman (2014)

Dir. Ethan Spaulding

Batman's brand of paternal instincts have been explored before with regards the various Robins in both comic book and animated form. There's room for debate on the usefulness of a Robin, but at least they aren't all snot-nosed little shits like the youth in SoB. He puts himself in dangerous situations to prove his mastery and ends up ruining everyone's day.

Does the continuity shake up of JL: War (2014) excuse the uncharacteristic way that Batman behaves? It's one thing to allow an outsider access to the Bat Cave, but to bring him into the world of other people who value their secrecy as much as Batsy is supposed to value his own is ridiculous.

And since when was letting someone who could be saved go ahead and die any different than killing him, in Bruce's mind at least? It's that kind of movie.

I didn't realise until I started writing that the movie's title as an initialism was kind of fitting, given that SoB is a polite way of saying son of a bitch.