THE JUSTICE LEAGUE RETURNS TO PREVENT EARTH’S “DOOM”

The Paley Center in Beverly Hills hosted the Justice League: Doom, Los Angeles premiere this week. Directors Lauren Montgomery and Andrea Romano joined LA Times Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher and some of the cast to discuss the making of the film as well. The thirteenth animated film from DC Comics and Warner Home Video features the return of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and arrival of new Justice League member, Cyborg. The film gives fans (of all ages) large doses of action, humor, and suspense.

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Justice League: Doom is based off the Justice League of America: Tower of Babel series written by Mark Waid in late 2000. The script for the movie was adapted by the late Dwayne McDuffie, whose wife, Charlotte, attended the premiere and was able to see the tremendous job McDuffie did. The art of the picture is great. The classic looks and colors of the Justice League were apparent in the more modern, younger looking characters of this iteration. The characters are less muscular but still look strong, super heroic. The animation of the fight scenes did not seem overdone. Many of the settings of the film will also be recognizable to fans.

The film starts off with a diamond heist in progress and the Justice League coming in to stop it. Immediately, the camaraderie of the hero team shines through with hilarious one-liners, Batman’s demeanor, and teamwork to take down the Royal Flush Gang. The main plot centers on the immortal Vandal Savage and his aspirations to take over the world by killing off more than half the world’s population. In order to accomplish his goals, some of the League’s toughest foes (Bane, Cheetah, Mirror Master, Metallo, Ma’alefa’ak, and Star Sapphire) must team with Savage to form the Legion of Doom and stop the heroes from interfering. After acquiring files on each of the heroes, the Legion of Doom plans to exploit each of the heroes’ weaknesses and kill the Justice League members. The heroes must overcome and survive the attacks in order to save Earth from decimation.

The story does not play out like the Justice League cartoon of the early 2000’s. The heroes and foes are well matched in their abilities here and the only way to handle the situation is to square off with fists rather than the usual all-too-easy, super-powered take downs that quickly end a conflict normally. Also, the heroes must deal with conflict and a sense of betrayal between each other at certain points in the story. The tougher fights in addition to more dramatic and a few gut-wrenching scenes give this story a higher level of quality than its TV series, there’s no campy-ness here. The film feels like it is a grown up version of the Justice League animated TV show made for the fans that are themselves grown up now. New fans can also get into the film without having known about the Justice League before. The PG-13 rating, that has become common for the DC Universe films, gives the production team more opportunity to tell a stronger story with darker tones and more realistic dialogue while still being able to reach audiences of many age demographics.

Morris, Montgomery, Romano, d'Abo, Eisenberg, Daly, Boucher

In addition to a great plot and amazing art, the movie has an all star cast, many returning to the roles they have played in the past in the TV series or the various films that followed. Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy return as Superman and Batman, respectively. Nathan Fillion plays Green Lantern, Michael Rosenbaum as the Flash, Susan Eisenburg portrays Wonder Woman again, Phil Morris returns to Vandal Savage and Olivia d’Abo is Star Sapphire. Daly, Morris, Eisenberg, and d’Abo took the stage to talk about the film and answer audience questions. The panel moderated by Boucher, lead writer for LA Times’ pop culture blog Hero Complex, explored the excitement, challenges, and fulfillment of making this film. Andrea Romano, the famous casting director for the DC Universe animated films and series, talked about the evolution of the Justice League from a TV cartoon to the animated films that have been produced over the years. She said this film felt “more full” than doing the animated series where these characters faced very real, life ending situations and expanded on the scope of the characters. Actor Phil Morris talked about the pressure and responsibility of playing a villain versus a hero. He explained the need of a balance of good & evil and how he had to bring this enormous amount of villainy with his portrayal of Savage in order for there to be the need for the call of the entire Justice League. The film’s director, Lauren Montgomery talked about the challenges of having some of the work done by the studio in Japan and properly translating the heroes from page to screen; at one point Wonder Woman was drawn much more aggressive than her usual self in an interrogation scene. Toward the end of the panel Boucher asked Andrea Romano about what is coming up next from the DC Universe on Warner Home Video and mentioned that Dark Knight Returns will be coming out as a two part DVD/BluRay later this year but could not give any more details.

If future stories are anything like Justice League: Doom, DC Comics’ animated features are destined to be great. In addition to the Dark Knight Returns, Gary Miereanu, of Warner Bros. Publicity, announced at last year’s San Diego Comic Con that Superman vs. the Elite was also in the works. Justice League: Doom will be available for download on February 21, 2012 and can be purchased on DVD/Bluray starting February 28, 2012.