Tag Archives: Batman

Official Dark Knight Rises Website Fully Launches

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The upcoming franchise finale film is less than a month away from hitting theaters with anticipating building every day and finally, Warner Bros has fully launched the film’s official website. TheDarkKnightRises.com is complete with downloadable stills, wallpapers, and more.

The third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s franchise will hit theaters and IMAX on July 20th with an all-star cast.

  • Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne / Batman:
A billionaire socialite dedicated to protecting Gotham City from the criminal underworld. Nolan has stated that, due to the eight-year gap between the events of The Dark Knight and those of The Dark Knight Rises, “he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.”
  • Tom Hardy as Bane:
Hardy stated that he intended to portray the character as “more menacing” than Robert Swenson’s version of the character in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. Producer Emma Thomas says that Bane “is an interesting match for Batman after the Joker, who was just purely about chaos and playing with people. Bane has a plan.”
  • Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle:
Selina Kyle is “an associate” of Bane. 
  • Michael Caine also returns as Alfred Pennyworth:
Bruce’s trusted butler and confidant. Alfred has acted as a father figure to Bruce, and continues to aid Bruce on his missions as well as supplying him with useful advice.
  • Gary Oldman as James Gordon:
Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. One of the city’s few honest police officers. Oldman described his character: “He’s a little reminiscent of the Gordon you see in Batman Begins. They’ve tidied up the city, but there’s still work to be done. He’s very world-weary.”
  • Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox:
Fox runs Wayne Enterprises on behalf of Bruce Wayne and serves as his armorer, providing him with high-tech equipment.
  • Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate:
A “Wayne Enterprises board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham.”
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake:
Blake is a “Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon.”

Josh Pence and Liam Neeson both appear as Ra’s al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows; Pence plays a younger version of the character in scenes set thirty years before the events of Batman Begins, while Neeson reprises his Batman Begins role in a cameo appearance. Other cast members include Nestor Carbonell reprising his role as Mayor Anthony Garcia; Alon Abutbul as Dr. Leonid Pavel, described as “a mad scientist”; Juno Temple as a “street-smart Gotham girl”; Matthew Modine as deputy commissioner Peter Foley; Brett Cullen as a judge; Chris Ellis as a priest; Aiden Gillen as a CIA agent; and Rob Brown, Christopher Judge, Tom Conti, and Joey King in unspecified roles.

The official plot of the film follows the aftermath of the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent’s crimes to protect Dent’s reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Batman returns to Gotham, where he encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle and the villainous Bane, and must confront the latter’s plans to destroy the city.

You can also see a brand new HD tv spot for the movie below:

The Lego Movie Will See Both Batman and Superman

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It was confirmed yesterday that comic book heroes Batman and Superman will both appear in the upcoming Warner Bros film LEGO: The Piece of Resistance, according to Variety.

This news comes just days after the highly anticipated release of Lego Batman 2, which features Superman and several other DC Comics heroes. Channing Tatum and Will Arnett are rumored to be up for the roles of Superman and Batman respectively.

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) will voice the lead character in the movie, Emmet, an ordinary, law-abiding, Lego mini-figure, who is mistaken for the most extraordinary MasterBuilder, is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together. However, there is no confirmation on Batman and Superman’s roles in the movie.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will work with Robot Chicken’s Chris McKay as co-directors, with Lord and Miller also taking on screenwriting duties.

The movie will be an action/adventure movie, but also a comedy, explaining how Gob Bluth actor could end up portraying The Dark Knight.

In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film’s storyline, saying: “It involves many worlds. Basically, the least qualified Lego characters in the universe having to keep the world from being frozen together.”

The project has been in development for three years and is set to hit theaters February 28, 2014.

6 New Character Posters For The Dark Knight Rises

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The Dark Knight Rises is almost here and fans are waiting relatively patiently. In order to satiate our thirst for the upcoming final chapter, 6 new high res character posters were released yesterday.

The film is the sequel to last years massively popular film, The Dark Knight. It is definitely one of the most anticipated films for the upcoming year. The film is being directed by Christopher Nolan.

The film is set to open in theaters on July 20, 2012. The film will star Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, MorganFreeman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Josh Pence, Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, Matthew Modine, Tom Conti, Joey King, Brett Cullen, Chris Ellis, Josh Stewart, Christopher Judge, Adam Rodriguez and Rob Brown.

In the film, after the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent’s crimes in order to protect Dent’s reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Batman returns to Gotham where he must discover the truth regarding the “enigmatic” Selina Kyle while stopping the villain Bane’s plans to destroy the city.

The Dark Knight Rises will feature the clever and sexy Selina Kyle (played by Hathaway) better known as Catwoman.

You can see the rest of the posters below:

 

 

The Dark Knight Rises Logo

Final The Dark Knight Rises Trailer To Play Before The Avengers

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The Dark Knight Rises Logo

Courtesy of Nolan Fans, a screenshot from the Warner Bros. Pictures Exhibitor site confirms that the final new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be shown in the 3D, 2D, and IMAX theaters may 4th with the release of Marvel’s The Avengers. 

This similarly happened when the trailer for The Dark Knight was debuted with the release of Iron Man back in 2008. Then another Nolan film, Inception, premiered their final trailer before Iron Man 2 in 2010.

The Dark Knight Rises begins after the death of Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for the crimes committed by Dent. He is subsequently hunted down by the police of Gotham City. Then eight years later, Batman returns to Gotham City where he meets the mysterious and alluring Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, as he tries to stop villainous Bane from destroying the city.

The Dark Knight Rises will be released in theaters on July 20th, 2012.

Marvel’s The Avengers will hit screens in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D on May 4.  Directed by Joss Whedon, the film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson.

Continuing the epic big-screen adventures started in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers is the superhero team up of a lifetime. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as SHIELD, finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.”

Those who will be seeing The Avengers of the big screen will be treated to the new trailer. As of now, there isn’t word of whether the trailer will be available online immediately after or not.

New Batman Animated Series To Hit Cartoon Network

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Cartoon Network will premiere a new Batman animated series this year, and it will be unlike any of its predecessors. “Beware the Batman,” produced by Warner Bros. Animation, will be the first in the Dark Knight franchise to use CGI animation.

The series will also set itself apart in another way, according to ComingSoon. It will incorporate villains not previously featured in animated form.

The official description of the new series follows”

Crime-fighting vigilante Batman teams up with swordtress Katana and his gun-toting ex-secret agent butler Alfred Pennyworth to face the criminal underworld led by the twisted Anarky, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad, King Kraken, and Magpie.

The new show will be executive produced by WBA’s Sam Register and produced by Batman Beyond’s Glen murakami and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated’s Mitch Watson.

IMDB has also reported that Kurtwood Smith from “That 70’s Show” has signed on to voice Commissioner Jim Gordon.

Despite the new format, this is not the first time the Caped Crusader has fought crime in animated form. There have been five other shows, beginning with the “New Adventures of Batman” (1977-1981), followed by “Batman: the Animated Series (1992-1995), the “New Batman Adventures” (1997-1999), “Batman Beyond” (1999-2001) and then “Batman” (2004-2008).

The beloved character of Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, has an even longer history in comic form, according to Comic Vine.

The character currently stars in six different comic titles, including Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, Batman: the Dark Knight, Justice League and Justice League International.

Batman has also been the subject of numerous films, most recently director Christopher Nolan’s trilogy.

Nolan’s highly anticipated final installment, the Dark Knight Rises, is due out July 20.

“Beware the Batman” will begin airing in early 2013.

You can watch the new teaser promo for the series below:

Tie-In Novel To Be Released For The Dark Knight Rises

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Titan Books announced Monday that the official tie-in novel for The Dark Knight Rises will be released July 20, the same day as the film premiere. The Dark Knight Rises, to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, will be the final installment in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

The film will be adapted to novel form by award-winning author Greg Cox, and published by Titan Books, according to a press release.

Cox has novelized DC Comics Universe stories before, including Infinite Crisis (2006), 52 (2007), Countdown (2009) and Final Crisis (2010).

Nick Landau, a publisher for Titan Books, said he is excited to be involved with the Batman project.

“Batman is one of the most iconic characters of popular culture,” he said. “We’re tremendously excited to work with Warner Bros. on the novelization of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ especially since it is the culmination of everything Christopher Nolan has done with his amazing trilogy. This is a part of motion picture history.”

Christian Bale, Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman will reprise their roles in the film. This will be the last film in the series, however, as Christian Bale has decided to leave the franchise.

Additions to the cast include Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception) as John Blake and Tom Hardy (Inception) as the film’s primary villain, Bane.

The official plot of the film and tie-in novel will follow the events of the previous film. After the death of Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for the crimes committed by Dent. He is subsequently hunted down by the police of Gotham City. Then eight years later, Batman returns to Gotham City where he meets the mysterious and alluring Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, as he tries to stop villainous Bane from destroying the city.

The Dark Knight Rises will be released in theaters and book form on July 20th, 2012.

Steampunk Batman: The Video Game That Disappeared

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A video of an abandoned Batman game has surfaced on the internet. Based on the Gotham By Gaslight graphic novel from DC Comics, this Victorian era take on the Batman was written by Bryan Augustyn and drawn by Mike Mignola; the creator of Hellboy. This sprang from a series of What If type comic books called Elseworlds.

The Elseworld tag:

“In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow.”

In this Elseworld comic, Gotham By Gaslight, the book begins with Wayne retelling a dream to Dr. Sigmund Freud; where Wayne watches as his parents are shot down by a bandit, then gets saved from the bandit by annoyed bats hidden in trees. Freud’s all into this because he’s got a symbolism obsession; not a far stretch for the greatest charlatan and father of modern Psychology. Wayne insists that it’s just a dream flashback, while Freud gets his oral fixation on with his cigar; sometimes a cigar really is just that.

The backdrop for this story is in Victorian-era setting, where Bruce Wayne returning to Gotham City after training all around the world. Freud even mentions that Wayne trained under a London Detective; perhaps the fictional Sherlock Holmes? That’s right. If Batman started off back then, he would have been the first Behavioral Science Unit.

Antsy to get started on being Batman in the Gotham equivalent of Victorian-era London, Bruce Wayne wastes no time establishing himself as the original darkness that flaps in the night; move aside Darkwing Duck. The primitive screw heads are no match for his fisticuffs and bat-horse-mobile. One problem, everyone thinks that Bruce Wayne is Jack the Ripper. Can Batman stop one of history’s elusive serial killers while behind bars?

A lot of people think of this version of Batman to be steam punk. The first book shows no steam punk like gadgets or cool technology. If it were to be redone today, they’d have shown Batman using a modified Nerf Maverick gun, while wearing goggles with brass gears glued to the thing. However it’s just Batman, dark brooding gentleman in a cowl. Without computer technology and a victim to leech based medicine, this dark knight is no match of another Elseworld comic called Superman: Red Son.  Comrade Batman!

Originally the game was being produced by Day 1 Studios, but was later on dropped when THQ passed on the sales pitch back in 2009 reports Siliconera. Probably a smart move as Warner Bros. Picked up DC Comics the same year. It could have turned really messy with copyright and trademark legalities.

So the speculation right now is that the video is a deliberate leak by Day 1 Studios, possibly hoping to get Warner Bros attention in the wake of Batman video game popularity. Let’s hope the attention that it does get from Warner Bros. doesn’t turn into the Eye of Sauron. I somehow picture a horde of ring wraith lawyers charging into the night.

So the video that’s surfaced is probably the prototype video for the project. Let’s take a gander at the game that could have been.

The video depicts a barrel chested Batman skipping across rooftops and the streets of old day Gotham. Like the Matrix, we see duplicates and people holding guns that make sudden jerking movements, pointing at the Batman like a counterstrike arrow bot. We also see the Batman leaps on top of buildings in a single bound. Again, this is forgivable as it’s a prototype.

What catches my eye is the cape. It ripples in the air and swings with each movement. Sometimes it just moves with a mind of it’s own. Over all, the cape looks amazing as it appears a lot of code must have been invested in it. Like a lot. Like DOA-bikini-volleyball-mammary-glands-physics lots. Was this the focus of the pitch? The cape physics are almost Spawn like.

If they wanted to give Batman an Elseworld gimmick that would have completely held the interest of comic book gamers, they should have created a whole new storyline revolving around current day Batman getting his hands on a Green Lantern’s ring of power; not the In Darkest Knight horror they spun together either.   I can almost imagine the weeks of game play I could get out of that as Batman goes mad with power.

So in the end, this video should remind the world that the steampunk genre and Victorian-era storylines are the untapped markets ready to be exploited today. The closest I’ve come to seeing a proper airship was in the 3 Musketeers movie. So chop, chop, Hollywood. Give me steam!

Free Harley Quinn Update for Batman: Arkham City Lockdown

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Today Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Entertainment announced a new update for the Batman: Arkham City Lockdown App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is now available. The update will include a brand new level featuring Harley Quinn, a Bruce Wayne skin and achievements, and a Batarang mini-game, all for the low low price of free. It’s strange how consumers will pay top dollar for the latest tech but they’re hesitant for one dollar apps.

As I sat and reviewed the trailer for the new portion of Batman: Arkham City Lockdown I was instantly hit by the realization that Harley Quinn has somehow gone from this cute little thing, to a tarted up sex-pot. Yes, yes, I know that’s what the industry is all about these days but whatever happened to old school costumes and characters? Over the years I’ve watched many comic book characters get the costume overhaul. Some of it just turns way to suggestive. Have you seen the Star Sapphire’s latest costume? When Harley Quinn first debuted, it was in “Batman: The Animated Series”, the costumed started a a modest one piece, traditional harlequin jester outfit, worn by Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel who had some serious nightingale issues.

The popularity of the character prompted DC comics to introduce the Harley into their universe. This time the costume wasn’t so modest and over years became more and more… pronounced.

My initial reaction to the visual of Harley Quinn in the video game was that she looks very much like the Malkavian from Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, right down to the raccoon make-up and blonde pig-tails. Harley Quinn is supposed to have a one piece outfit with a hat, not some leather outfit and pig-tails. Although I can understand the attraction.

Since then, DC comics seems to have updated Harley’s costume with The New 52 reboot. The basis seems to merge the Arkham City video game attire with her traditional costume. Her hair is dyed half-red and half-blue, similar to the jester cap of her original costume, while the rest of the ensemble is still present day skimpy; but just appropriately color coded now.

Aside from the initial realization of Harley looking all wrong, the graphics on the game look very good. If the trailer is any indication of how the game plays on your iWhatever then it looks like the game runs smoothly and is well designed. Harley Quinn’s voice still sounds like a 60’s era chippy, but it’s what I grew up with and still a classic, right next to Mark Hamill voicing the Joker. The scenery is still wrapped in the darkness of Gotham City and at least Batman still looks like he should. The Dark Knight isn’t sporting any nipples on his costume. So that’s a big plus right there.

Justice League: Doom, Where Are Your Heroes Now?

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As fans of the superhero genre have learned, Marvel might crank out a good live action movie, but it’s Detective Comics that makes a great animation. With the upcoming release of the 13th animation in the Justice League series, we wait in eager anticipation for Justice League: Doom. Until then, let’s do what comic book nerds do best and nitpick.

Justice League: Doom at first doesn’t sound like a proper title. It sounds like a file name that writer Dwayne McDuffie came up with when he started with this piece and never got around to correcting before he passed away last year. For a while I even assumed it was the code name that Batman kept all his Justice Leaguer information under. I do know that for the longest time I couldn’t even see the colon in the title and thought it was just a merger of Justice League of America and Legion of Doom.

Justice League: Doom is based on the comic book series JLA: Tower of Babel, an epic storyline heralded as one of Mark Waid’s best works. Dwayne McDuffie was hired to adapt the storyline for animation, which required many changes and may have lost some of the impact felt in the original.

The first change I saw was the cast. The roster for the Justice League constantly changes but there are some comic book archetypes that need to be seen. So there’s the big three: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Their story hardly ever changes. Then there’s a Green Lantern and The Flash. These two can be interchanged with other incarnations that wear their mantle.

Green Lantern can be switched out with any member of the Green Lantern Corp, but the Justice League tends to use the human ones. This leaves John Stewart, Guy Gardener, Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan; Alan Scott doesn’t count. The Flash is also narrowed down to Barry Allen, Wally West or Bart Allen.

In the original comic, it was Kyle Rayner who wore the ultimate weapon in the universe, while he was still the inexperienced Last-of-the-Green-Lanterns. The speed force was wielded by Wally West, the former Kid Flash who was forever trying to outrun the shadow of his mentor.

For Justice League: Doom, the storyline follows the rest of the Justice League series and uses Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to play the Faster Friends; yeah, they used to have a comic title together with that tag line.

This leaves Martian Manhunter who this time has gone through a slight reboot. The Manhunter now wears more complete clothing that doesn’t match the chest baring Barsoom novel series. This doesn’t change the fact that his real physical appearance and inspiration is a direct lift from that book series. If you see the live action movie called John Carter, then you’ll have a very good idea of what I’m referring to.

So what about the seventh member? The Justice League is usually comprised of several key members. In tower of babel however we saw Aquaman, the worlds most useless superhero, and Plasticman, the shape changing unitard wearing sight gag; didn’t he get the memo to wear the underwear on the outside? Both were replaced with Cyborg, the affirmative action, token superhero.

The Justice League cartoon series had John Stewart who was lord of the green lantern ring, which worked out fine as there was perfect continuity for it. This matched later on with the JLA comics switching out Rayner for Stewart as well. Again, proper as Rayner had to go out and play intergalactic cop in the Green Lantern title. So why Cyborg? Let’s forget that he’s a visible minority with disabilities and the best HMO in the world. I also want to forget that he was originally a thirty something adult that spent a lot of time with adolescent Teen Titans. This brings us to The New 52.

The New 52 is a revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing superhero books. All of its existing titles were canceled, and in it’s place 52 new series debuted starting at issue #1. Nothing more than a large publishing event that came after the Flashpoint crossover storyline. Apparently the Flash’s time traveling screwed up continuity so badly it affected the real world. So while titles restarted at issue #1, rebooting all the characters to allow them to be reintroduced in a contemporary manner; for a new generation of readership; the only title that somewhat survived was Green Lantern. They poured a lot of time into the storyline over the last five years, having been the focal point for two big crossovers; Blackest Night, and War of Light. They’d be stupid to abandon that goldmine now, reboot be damned.

While the New 52 is not being received well by older fans, it’s understandable why DC would want to cut ties with a complex continuity that has been in place since the 1930s. Without the reboot, the next logical step would have been to add footnotes to each comic rather than flashbacks and editor notes.

The entire Justice League series of animation that have gone direct-to-DVD seems to support the New 52 as well, as it also neatly ignores a lot of back story. Almost like a game of red rover, Cyborg from the New 52 Justice League was called over.

The best way to describe the current state of things in the DC comic universe right now is to compare it to a lie. Almost as if older nerds were hazing a lesser nerd, trying to convince them that all they held dear would be destroyed. A lot of fast talking would have to be done, based on an inch of truth called back story. So just like such a hypothetical joke, a lot of work had to be done to fill in the gaps of this lie called the New 52.

Hence, why Cyborg is a member of the Justice League now. Aside from the more sinister reasons of his membership, Cyborg is also the bridge between children raised on the Teen Titan cartoons, which is why I wasn’t surprised at the anime influence for The Justice League: Doom.

So there you have it, the current roster for the Justice League. Everyone is annoyed and feels betrayed because Batman essentially could back stab them at any point when he wanted. You can read more on what happened in Final Countdown to Justice League Doom, here. This wasn’t a back stab, it’s what I will now refer to as a Bat stab. Unlike villains, middle-management and high school bullies, Batman never needs to lord this over anyone. As far as anyone else was concerned, they didn’t need to know how screwed they were until he dropped the bat hammer on them. In addition, back stabbing sounds like a last ditch ploy to win, while every plan that Batman has come up with were winning moves, not moves of desperation.

So was this all a good movie by DC? Yes, I wanted to see more of their animation. No, because I felt cheated out of a better storyline. Will I ever watch DC Animations again? It can’t be helped, I’m an addicted comic book nerd. Think of it as solidarity. I’ll be with them no matter what.

So where are the villains and what exactly did Batman do?  Stay tuned next time.  Same Bat Time.  Same Bat Channel.

Final Countdown to Justice League Doom!

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The latest of DC’s projects gets released this February 28th on DVD and Blu-Ray and it’s the 13th animated movie of the Justice League series is ominously titled Justice League Doom, from writer Dwayne McDuffie.

So what’s so awesome about this? Aside from premieres in Beverly Hills and a little bit of coverage, this almost feels like a straight to video deal. Meanwhile Marvel has The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers coming out soon, while Nicholas Cage is currently doing his crazy hair thing as Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, right now in theaters. What’s there to celebrate with an animation that’s not in 3D or worth an overpriced ticket to see?

What fans of the superhero genre have learned is that Marvel might turn out a great live action feature film but Detective Comics crafts an awesome animation combined with memorable stories; with recent Batman movies as the exception of course.  How many times do I need to be surprised by a radioactive spider before I realize it’s just not enough.

Justice League Doom is based on the comic book series JLA: Tower of Babel storyline by Mark Waid. Waid has been a long time writer in the comic book industry, having notable work with titles such as the Flash, Captain America, Kingdom Come; almost the epic era of comics. Waid is also the creator of two titles, Irredeemable and Incorruptible, which tell a story not unlike a What if… or Elseworld series. If they were to describe Irredeemable as anything, it’d be, “What if Superman went evil?” Not in the Superman Rex storyline where he attempts to control earth, but kill and destroy anything that annoys him evil and laugh about it. That is the kind of storytelling that Mark Waid has brought to the table.

That’s right, Justice League Doom is not a rehash of an origin story, but a… adaptation of an epic story that’s only been done once; so far. To point out how this is different from the movie reboots happening right now, let say this: Statistically in the world, Thomas and Margret Wayne must die every twenty minutes in a retelling of Batman.

JLA: Tower of Babel runs a dark storyline about how each member of the Justice League of America is picked off one by one. Not by throwing their evil counterparts of the day at them, but incapacitated with calculated hits that maximize their weaknesses, physically and psychologically. Ra’s al Ghul, a near immortal villain of the Batman franchise is the one that makes these things happen, but it’s the Batman who’s to blame.

So who gets hit?  The JLA at the time consisted of Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern; Kyle Rayner; and wait for it… Plastic Man.

The comic book version of Batman is nearly infallible. If he gets hit, it gets corrected quickly, otherwise he’s a paragon of all that is awesome that’s prepared for everything. The comic book version also paints a picture of a psychopath who’s a mixture of indomitable will, paranoia, and control issues. What does this mean? It means that Batman has studied every superhero that’s a potential threat, and has created contingency plans on how to put them down if he ever needs to. Given enough time, resources and preparation, Batman has laid the smack down on Gods. So what happens when a villain steals all of these plans?

So this storyline has been re-imagined and adapted by writer Dwayne McDuffie. The Justice League roster will change; no doubt to be in line with DC’s The New 52 reboot atrocity; so will the villains and so will the methods of how the heroes are put down. The original story was darker and inferred a lot more pain and death, but I won’t hold it against DC. Especially in light that Nathan Fillion; Firefly, Castle, Slither; will be voicing the part of Green Lantern again!