DC Animation in 2018

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2018 was a very busy year for DC Animation, with several new movies (both feature-length and direct-to-DVD), web-series, and shows airing and aimed at a variety of different ages.

Justice League Action concluded it's on-air run with stories featuring Booster Gold (Diedrich Bader) giving a tour of the Watchtower to some poorly disguised Supervillains, Hal Jordan (Josh Keaton) attempting to find his misplaced ring (and a Green Lantern: The Animated Series reference along with it), an Uncle Dudley/Mxyzptlk (John Astin/Gilbert Gotfried) adventure, Superman (Jason J. Lewis) and Supergirl (Joanne Spracken) seeing their lives and identities turned around, Krypto the Superdog going up against Dex-Star of the Red Lanterns with Plastic man (Dana Snyder) in tow, and Booster Gold being hunted down by a mysterious new female villain named Red Velvet (Dania Ramirez).


Teen Titans Go! concluded it's fourth season and entered into it's fifth season, continuing to chronicle the zany adventures of the Teen Titans, with episodes chronicling the "origin" of the team, the team competing in yet another talent show held by the Justice League, and an epic space adventure.


The DC Super Hero Girls web-series began it's fourth season which saw the DC Super Hero Girls debut of female Green Lantern Jessica Cruz (Cristina Miiliza) Mera (Erica Lindbeck), the Super Pets, and Raven (Tara Strong) to the halls of Super Hero high as they faced off against such threats as Sinestro (Tom Kenney), Firefly (Khary Payton), Killer Moth (Phil LaMarr) and his Animalitia, Cheetah (Ashley Eckstein) and Trigon (Kevin Michael Richardson).


The series also began it's fifth season which saw an overarching storyline centered around a new teacher at Super Hero High named "Dr. Seid" (John DiMaggio) and further adventures with the Super Hero Girls as they contend with Robin (Grey Griffin), Catwoman (Cristina Pucelli), The Anti-Hall Monitor (John DiMaggio), Captain Cold (Matthew Mercer) and the lord of Apokolips Darkseid.


A new version of DC Super Hero Girls, spearheaded by Lauren Faust, will make it's TV debut in 2019.

Freedom Fighters: The Ray concluded the second half of it's run on the CWSeed site and saw Ray Terill (Russell Tovey) meet up with other Arrowverse Superheroes such as Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum) and Vixen (Megalyn Echikunwoke) while contending with the Earth-X New Reichsmen lead by Overgirl (Melissa Benoist) along with the Earth-X Freedom Fighters, on-top of coming out to his parents. The series was also released as a feature length movie on August 28th.

 

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Constantine: City of Demons chronicling the adventures of the titular chain-smoking British magic conman premiered on the CWSeed in March 2018 before being released as a feature-length film in October. The story featured Constantine (Matt Ryan) coming to the aid of his best friend Chas (Damian O'Hare) after his daughter falls victim to the machinations of a demon. To save her soul Constantine must go up against a cadre of demons in Los Angeles while also battling with the demons of his past and in his very soul.



Based off the popular and long-running cartoon, Teen Titans: Go To the Movies chronicled the efforts of the Teen Titans (Robin/Scott Menville, Starfire/Hynden Walch, Beast Boy/Greg Cipes, Cyborg, Khary Payton, Raven/Tara Strong) to gain respect and admiration as heroes by starring in their own movie, all the while contending with their new nemesis Slade (Will Arnett) as he attempts to conquer the world.



Set in an Elseworlds Victorian-era Gotham City, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, sees a still very familiar Caped Crusader (Bruce Greenwood) attempt to capture the infamous Jack The Ripper as he prowls the alleys of Gotham with the aid of Selina Kyle (Jennifer Carpenter) and Commissioner Gordon (Scott Patterson).



Set in the DC Animated Feature continuity, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay sees the titular team made up of Deadshot (Christian Slater), Bronze Tiger (Billy Brown), Captain Boomerang (Liam Mclntyre), Killer Frost (Kristin Bauer van Straten), Copperhead (Gideon Emery), and Harley Quinn (Tara Strong) attempt to hunt down a "Get out of Hell Free Card" for Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams) while running afoul of Vandal Savage (Jim Pirri) and Professor Zoom/The Reverse-Flash (C. Thomas Howell).



Set as a more accurate retelling of the famous storyline, The Death of Superman sets the story within the framework of the DC Animated Feature film continuity and sees the Man of Steel (Jerry O'Connell) struggle with his burgeoning relationship with Lois Lane (Rebecca Romijin) and a mysterious and unstoppable alien threat that has arrived on his home planet of Earth and that even the Justice League seems incapable of defeating.

The film will receive a follow-up next year in Reign of the Supermen, adapting the second half of the storyline.

 

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Helmed by a Japanese creative team, Batman: Ninja saw a new take on the Dark Knight as told by Japanese creators. The film chronicles Batman (Roger Craig Smith/Koichi Yamadera) ending up in Feudal Japan during a struggle against Gorilla Grodd (Fred Tatasciore/Takehito Koyasu), only to learn that The Joker (Tony Hale/Wataru Takagi) and his Rogues Gallery have carved up the nation for themselves. Batman must embrace his inner ninja and team up with the Batfamily and Catwoman (Grey Griffin/Ai Kakuma) in order to stop them.



DC Super Hero Girls: Legends of Atlantis, a feature-length film set in the DC Super Hero Girls universe, saw the Super Hero Girls' efforts to foil the attempts by underwater-dwelling Siren and Mera (dually voiced by Erica Lindbeck) to use the Book of Legends to take over Atlantis and the surface world.



Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash shined the spotlight on the Scarlet Speedster (James Arnold Taylor) as he finds himself stuck in a time loop and de-powered courtesy of the Reverse-Flash (Dwight Schultz). Now with the help of the Justice League, including new members Atom (Eric Bauza) and Firestorm (Phil LaMarr), as well as Dr. Fate (Kevin Michael Richardson) and Zatanna (Kate Miucci), The Flash must regain his powers through the Speed Force and put a stop to his nemesis.



Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis turns the focus to Aquaman (Dee Bradley Baker), star of the holiday blockbuster of the same name, as he teams with the Justice League to thwart the efforts of his duplicitous brother Orm/Ocean Master and Atrocitus (Jonathan Adams) leader of the Red Lanterns alongside his wife Mera (Susan Eisenberg), Green Lantern Jessica Cruz (Cristina Miiliza), Batgirl (Alyson Stoner), and Robin (Scott Menville).


A Lego film set in the DC Super Hero Girls universe, Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Super Villain High features Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Anais Fairweather) and Batgirl's (Ashlyn Selich) efforts to save their Super Hero high students after they fall prey to new high school that seeks to use their abilities for evil.

 

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Returning to the world of Batman: The Brave and the World, Scooby-Doo & Batman: The Brave and the Bold saw the Scooby Gang team-up with Batman (Diedrich Bader) and the Mystery Analysts of Gotham to solve an old Cold Case of Batman's.



So, what are your feelings towards DC Animation in 2018?

What were your highlights/favorites of the year?

What disappointed you?

What do you hope for from DC Animation in the future in terms of their products or the quality of their productions?

What are you looking forward to from DC Animation going into 2019?

 

[SweetShop209]

This was a very good year for DC Animation. My highlights include the Scooby /Batman movie, Batman Ninja, the DC Superhero Girls movies, and the Lego Flash and Aquaman movies.

 

[RoyalRubble]

I thought pretty much everything DC Animation offered in 2018 was great. I liked all of their features, whether they were their main line of movies or just smaller releases. Gotham by Gaslight was good, I enjoyed Hell to Pay more than I expected and The Death of Superman was also very entertaining. I am looking forward to the sequel in a couple of weeks.

The big surprise return of The Brave and the Bold was a fun way to start the year. The LEGO and DCSHG stuff was fun as well. The CW Seed stuff was pretty good, too. I still haven't watched the movie version of Constantine though, so I have only seen like half of the story, but that was pretty good regardless.

On the TV side of things, Justice League Action was fun and I am still kind of hoping it will get a chance to return with more adventures someday. Teen Titans Go had some pretty good moments this year, though I didn't check out all of the episodes. Their theatrical movie was fun, too.

Then there was also that big Batman: TAS on Blu-Ray release.

There's a bunch of stuff I am looking forward to in 2019 - the new Justice League, Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman movies (in that order) and for series, Young Justice Outsiders and the new version of DC Super Hero Girls. I am also kind of interested in seeing how Harley Quinn's new show will play out, and what other story ideas they can come up with for TTG. There will probably be a few more surprises next year, apart from what was announced so far (i.e. LEGO movies, etc.)

 

[KeldeoKitty]

I saw the TTG movie and I thought TTG improved a lot since Season 2 which was my least favorite. I was expecting DC Super Hero Girls for this year but I’m looking forward to its premiere this year.