Batman: Caped Crusader (2024—)

Batman: Caped Crusader (2024—)

Season 01: 10 episodes, approx 26 minutes each.

The trailer for Batman:CC got me excited about seeing it, mostly because it's clearly influenced by Batman: TAS. But when I learned that it was co-produced by Bad Robot Productions, alarm bells started to ring in my head. Having now watched the entire first season, I feel that those bells were entirely justified in their warning.

By presenting itself as a kind of spiritual successor to TAS, the creators have no one but themselves to blame when viewers make direct comparisons between the two shows. It's helpful because TAS is the best Batman TV series ever made, so there's no better thing to be inspired by, but the flip side is that it creates certain hopes in the viewer that B:CC Season 01 utterly fails to meet.

Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons (2020)

Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons (2020)

Dir. Sung Jin Ahn

Originally conceived as a dozen webisodes that were to be released periodically, Knights and Dragons was ultimately pulled from that format after just one installment had aired. It was eventually released straight to disc instead with all twelve parts stitched together, which explains 'The Movie' being in the title.

It's the story of Slade Wilson (Michael Chiklis), an ex-Green Beret soldier who, unbeknownst to his wife Adeline (Sasha Alexander), makes his living now as a costumed mercenary named Deathstroke.

His job isn't the only thing Slade keeps secret from Adeline. Before their marriage he volunteered to receive an experimental military serum, which gifted him super powers and a convenient healing ability. It's like someone took the most overused aspect of every Marvel comic character and gave it a new home.

Constantine: City of Demons (2018)

Constantine: City of Demons (2018)

Dir. Doug Murphy

An animated solo adventure for Liverpool's most famous warlock that has him investigating the reasons why his oldest (living) friend's daughter has fallen into a coma. Originally presented in episodic form (5 parts) it was later merged into one feature-length production.

Matt Ryan is once again on voice duties, as he was in the previous year's Justice League Dark animated movie and the live action Constantine TV Series (2014-15). There are differences with regards continuity between the two formats, so I'm choosing to view them as separate things. But it's perhaps also worth noting that episode ten of the live action TV series (Quid Pro Quo) used the same source text as City of Demons does, namely the Hellblazer: All His Engines (2005) comic book by Mike Carey and Leonardo Manco.