Post 3, Justice League: Doom

So to change things up this week, I am writing up a review of Justice League: Doom, the new DC animated movie that released this week.

Justice League: Doom is roughly based on the Tower of Babel storyline by Mark Waid that was published in Justice League America issues #43-46 in 2000. The premise of Tower of
Babel is that Batman has developed “fail safes” in case any of the Justice League members go rouge and they need to be brought down. Inadvertently, these plans are stolen and used by Vandal Savage to take out the Justice League while he launches a nefarious plan for world domination.

Justice League: Doom follows the same basic recipe, while not being a carbon copy ofTower of Babel. First off, it is written by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie. He did a fantastic job of adapting and streamlining the storyline for the small screen.

Second, Doom tweaks the cast of the Justice League for this adventure. The Justice League of America in this movie is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and
the Martian Manhunter. Also featured is Cyborg, who is not a member of the JLA during the movie, is featured prominently and he eventually joins them at the end which mirrors his status in the new Justice League comic.

As far as the movie itself goes, it holds up great to the level quality that has become standard for DC animated movies. The voice acting is fantastic, the story is great and is fully fleshed out in its 77 minute running time, and the animation is top notch as always. I have to give props to the animators for carrying over character designs from other DC movies as it makes the animated DC Universe feel more cohesive.

Not only does the movie rock, it comes with a whole slew of bonus materials on the disc. It has a “memorium” feature in Dwayne McDuffie that has interviews with friends, family, and colleagues and helps to chronicle his life in comics. Justice League: Doom also features a making of short, a short animated piece about how Batman gathered all of the intel for his failsafe plans, two episodes of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, and as a nifty little bonus it also includes a digital copy of the JLA storyline, Tower of Babel.

I think Justice League: Doom is a great package for comic fans and anyone who enjoys a good tale about heroes in tights. The movie is a great romp for super hero fans and the added bonuses on the Blu-Ray help to expand on the movie and its backstory. The animation is great, the acting is great, and the story is a blast.