Hello, my friends. The world is constantly plunging us into a chaotic attempt to make sure that we properly balance our lives within a system that’s as righteous as we’re able to make of it. However, that notion can get potentially rocked to its core as a result of a major tragedy. On that note, we’ll see how it comes to pass as I welcome you back to another entry of…
Comic books and video games have had a longtime relationship between each other, especially when famous characters of the ink & panel get to embark on a special adventure within the digital realm. While this isn’t the first time that we’ve talked about a film that’s intertwined within a gaming series, our subject for this review will see certain heroes locked against each other in a personal struggle. As such, it’s time for me to bring my own law & order to the animated movie version of…
Released on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray and for digital download on October 19, 2021, this film is based on the first entry of the NetherRealm Studios-developed fighting game series of the same name (specifically, “Injustice: Gods Among Us”), as well as a thirteen-issue tie-in comic called “Injustice: Gods Among Us-Year One” that was originally written by Tom Taylor. So, what harrowing situation will Earth’s mightiest heroes find themselves in? Let’s place this on justice’s scale and find out.
We open in Metropolis as Kal-El a.k.a. Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman (voiced by Justin Hartley) overhears the morning hustle & bustle of the city’s patrons from his bed via his super-hearing. Suddenly, his highly-advanced hearing begins to pick up a pair of heart beats from his wife Lois Lane (voiced by Laura Bailey). Just as she wakes up, he realizes that she’s pregnant as she also learns of this joyous news before they share a tender kiss while hovering over their bed. From there, he begins to frantically ponder where their child should go for their education. She assures him that they’ll have plenty of time to figure that out before she heads into the bathroom in order to get ready for work. Suddenly, Kal’s super-hearing picks up a certain situation from afar as he zooms out to deal with it.
Following the title card, we cut to a warehouse where Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman (voiced by Black Bolt himself, Anson Mount) is able to beat up a group of thugs. Just as the remaining goon is about to shoot him from behind, Superman speeds in and crushes his gun before Bruce takes the fleeing perp out with a Batarang. He then tells Kal-El that the Joker is in Metropolis and that he wants to know why. Just as Clark is about to deliver some personal good news, Batman says that Lois is pregnant and that he easily found out due to Kal’s trembling right hand. From there, Bruce takes a USB Drive from a defeated thug and accesses its contents which involved S.T.A.R. Labs. Wayne congratulates him for this joyous moment before he tells Clark that he’ll take his leave from the city once he captures his foe. From there, Batman makes his signature stealth exit.
Over at the docks, Lois is with photographer Jimmy Olsen (voiced by Zack Callison) as he takes some pictures of a shady dealing from afar. Lane notices that the fiends aren’t with their boss as she suspects something fishy and wants to get moving. However, Jimmy wants to get one more shot. Unfortunately, he comes across a familiar figure who fires a gun at him as the bullet goes right through the camera and strikes Olsen, instantly killing him. It turns out that the murderer was the Joker (voiced by Kevin Pollak) as Lois tries to run away. However, she gets hit on the head and winds up unconscious by Dr. Harleen Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn (voiced by Gillian Jacobs).
Over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Batman comes across a ransacked lab where its main content was stolen. Later, Superman arrives at the docks as he horrifyingly discovers Jimmy’s lifeless body. After removing the smashed signal watch from the former photographer, he suddenly gets a fierce chill as he realizes that Lois has gone missing.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Bruce demands to know why the scientists were experimenting on Kryptonite, to which the head technician says that they weren’t going to weaponize it. Instead, they were trying to find out if it could help them cure diseases or even be used as a power source. Shortly afterwards, Kal-El zooms in and informs the Dark Knight that he can’t find Lois. After discovering one of Joker’s cards at the crime scene, Supes asks his friend to help him find his wife, to which he silently agrees.
After Superman flies off, Batman heads out while contacting his fellow Justice League members as he asks for as many able bodies as he can get in helping him search for a missing person that’s been captured by the Joker. Oliver Queen a.k.a. Green Arrow (voiced by Dr. Dan Lewis himself, Reid Scott), Hal Jordan a.k.a. Green Lantern (voiced by Brian T. Delaney), Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg (voiced by Brandon Micheal Hall) and Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman (voiced by Korra herself, Janet Varney) receive the call as they learn that Lois has been captured. Bruce then tells Diana to head over to the Metropolis docks in order to find out if there’s any witnesses who spotted her or the Clown Prince of Crime and that he’ll meet up with her there.
Meanwhile, Batman gets in contact with Barry Allen a.k.a. Flash (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) and tells the Scarlet Speedster to check every underground corner of the city. Barry ultimately runs into a subway tunnel before he hears some looping laughter coming from a side room. He heads inside and discovers a makeshift, yet ransacked lab with a giant jack-in-the-box that’s emitting the eerie laughs. Not only that, but he also notices Jonathan Crane a.k.a. Scarecrow and finds out that the fiend has been killed by Joker’s toxin. Suddenly, some fear gas gets pumped into the room as it reaches Flash and paralyzes him in absolute terror. He then sees an illusionary pair of skeletal arms popping out from the floor and grabbing his legs before an actual buzzsaw shoots out from the wall and fatally slices him.
Shortly afterwards, Wonder Woman contacts Batman after capturing the familiar goons and informs him that the Joker is fleeing from Metropolis via a stolen submarine. Superman then flies in and locates them via his X-Ray Vision before he tells Bruce that it’s missing a warhead. From there, Supes dives in and easily lifts the submarine back onto the dock before he bursts in.
He then makes his way to the central chamber as he manages to locate Joker and Harley. However, Scarecrow’s fear gas has been emitted throughout the inside of the seacraft and is able to affect Kal-El. As Superman demands to know where Lois is, they step aside before he’s suddenly met upon by the monstrous being itself: Doomsday. Fueled by his determination to make sure that no one suffers from the being, he flies into the infamous creature and carries it out of the submarine before he heads towards outer space with it.
Back on the ground, Joker & Harley attempt to flee in order to avoid the wrath of other heroes. However, they get caught within a giant green hand as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Batman arrive. Bruce then analyzes the fear gas and learns that it’s been combined with Kryptonite particles. He then demands to know what his foe has just done, to which Joker says that he’s pulling off his greatest joke ever and that it’s his “masterpiece”.
Batman then contacts Superman and tells him that whatever he’s seeing, it’s not real. By the time Kal-El snaps out of his fearful rage, he realizes too late that it wasn’t Doomsday that he took into space, but it was actually Lois herself. He then notices a scar on her chest before he uses his X-Ray Vision and discovers a trigger that’s been placed on her heart. Back in Metropolis, the missing warhead is inside the clock tower and has a receiver on it. Just as Lane’s heart finally stops beating, the warhead gets detonated as Metropolis gets engulfed in a nuclear explosion, while Green Lantern uses his ring to protect himself, his fellow heroes and their culprits.
With the entire city in nuclear ruin, Superman mournfully returns to the former city of Metropolis with his dead wife in his arms. Meanwhile, the Joker has been placed in Arkham Asylum as Batman demands to know why he decided to go through with this sinister scheme. Joker explains that he got tired of constantly losing to the Caped Crusader, so he decided to make it easy on himself and go after someone who wasn’t used to consistently fighting him.
Back with Supes, he’s met by Wonder Woman who assures him that he shouldn’t blame himself for this horrid turn of events that the Joker has thrusted upon him. Kal-El then gives Lois’ corpse to Diana before he takes off. Shortly afterwards, he’s met upon by Green Lantern. Superman demands to know where the Joker is at, to which Hal says that Batman has taken the fiend to Arkham Asylum. Supes then begins to fly towards the building, but Hal encases him in a green ball of will and tells his comrade to take some time in order to properly process his “unfathomable loss”. However, Kal-El refuses to comply and easily punches his way out. Green Lantern then tries to stop him again, but Superman easily swipes the ring off of his hand as he reverts back to his flight suit and falls out of the sky. Supes manages to save him before Jordan warns him to not do something that he’ll regret throughout his life. However, Kal-El says that he already has before he flies off.
Over at Arkham Asylum, Joker tells Batman that he’s “the punching, kicking embodiment of wrath” because “someone” has taken “everything” from him. He then asks what will become of Superman after what he’s been put through, to which Bruce says that his comrade will grieve, yet he’s “incorruptible” and will ultimately be “the best man” he’s ever known. However, Joker doesn’t believe it before he mentions that “the world will burn”. As he proceeds into his maniacal laugh, the whole building starts to shake before Superman ultimately bursts into the interrogation room. From there, the unthinkable act happens as Kal-El rams his fist through Joker’s chest and kills him to the shock of Batman.
We then shift over to Gotham City at night as Harley is being driven to prison by a pair of cops. They all hear on the radio that the Joker has been slayed by Superman as one of the officers even describes it as “good news”. This shocks and angers Quinn as she breaks free and subdues both officials before she steals their police car.
Later, she arrives back at the hideout (in particular, the Gotham Pranks warehouse) as Harley sings a brief song about her deceased “puddin'”. Suddenly, she’s met upon by Green Arrow before she throws a small clown bomb at him. He’s able to shoot an arrow at it, but he gets knocked down by the explosion. From there, Quinn runs in with a mallet and attacks him with it. However, it turns out that she accidentally used a toy mallet. She then takes out a gun and aims it at him, but Oliver manages to recover before he lodges an arrow into the chamber. Amazed by the impressive accuracy, Harley wants him to do it again. However, Queen simply traps her within a net arrow. As he drags her away, he says that he’s taking her to a secret location. She then incessantly asks several questions to him before he gives her a special arrow that emits sleeping gas and knocks her out.
Up in the Justice League Watchtower, Superman overhears several newscasts about the recent event as Wonder Woman and Batman approach him. Bruce criticizes Clark for not being the better man in that moment, since it can lead to fatal consequences. Supes says that those consequences have already happened in the form of 11 million dead citizens, along with his wife and unborn child. Wayne says that they’re not executioners, but Diana chastises him for all of the times that he arrested the Joker, only for the fiend to regularly escape. Batman says that the law must be followed, but Prince tells him that those laws are utterly “weak & ineffective” and that they’re either “twisted by evil people to escape just punishment” or they “don’t apply at all”. After they notice that the newscast has also reported on some overseas bloodshed, Superman agrees with Wonder Woman. Bruce warns him to reconsider, since it would tarnish everything that the Justice League and himself are supposed to represent. However, Clark refuses to support “ideals that don’t protect the innocent” before he and Diana take their leave.
Later in Bialya, Superman forces his way into the President’s office and forcibly takes the corrupt leader named Hussein away in order for him to properly stand trial over in The Hague (over in the Netherlands and home to both the United Nations’ International Court of Justice & the International Criminal Court). Over in his hideout, Green Arrow learns of this from a newscast before Harley wakes up and finds herself handcuffed to a column. He tells her that they’re in the Arrowcave, which is located underground and completely lead-lined in order for her to avoid Superman’s wrath. She then criticizes the name of his hideout before suggesting a better one: the Quiver. She then makes a seemingly innocent request before Ollie knocks her out again with another sleeping gas arrow.
We then cut to the next day as Superman makes a speech in front of the United Nations. With Wonder Woman by his side and with the Justice League viewing this broadcast from the Watchtower, Kal-El proceeds to share his former Earth-based identity of Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent to the populace. He then says that no matter a person’s “lands, beliefs or petty squabbles”, he’ll make sure that the incident in Metropolis never happens again. As such, he officially announces a worldwide ceasefire that will immediately go into effect and that all global hostilities will stop, or else he’ll rub them out himself. Though the crowd initially hesitates, they ultimately applaud his course of action.
We then cut to Superman and Wonder Woman setting their worldwide mission into motion. As the newscasters report, Kal-El is able to destroy the corrupt military might of M’Gota (a fictional country) and end its devious government’s “genocidal war” against its own people. Over in Kashmir, he then meets up with Diana as they proceed to tear that country’s own military vehicles & armaments apart before they declare it as “an arms-free zone”. Afterwards, Clark is able to get the leaders of Israel and Palestine to agree on his peaceful terms.
Later, several heroes have gathered in the Justice League Watchtower in order to talk about the recent events. Batman argues that the team shouldn’t serve as “the world’s police force”, since their current actions could see them devolving into tyrants. Wonder Woman counterargues by saying that Superman’s actions over the past week proves otherwise and that justice is actually being served. However, not everyone on the team is liking this new direction as Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman (voiced by Derek Phillips) refuses to let Kal-El’s new world order take hold over his kingdom of Atlantis. Not only that, but Nathaniel Adam a.k.a. Captain Atom (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) says that the officials over at the Pentagon won’t also be willing to allow this. Another fellow hero also joins the discussion as Patrick O’Brian a.k.a. Plastic Man (voiced by Oliver Hudson) asks how the punishment process will be handled, especially since he used to be a criminal and even needed multiple chances in order to turn his life around.
Diana says that the punishments will fit whatever crime was committed, but Aquaman doesn’t like how she and Kal-El will be the ones who get to “decide these punishments” as he decides to step down from the Justice League. Not only that, but Billy Batson a.k.a. Shazam (also voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) is also backing out of the team since he and the majority of the magic-based heroes have the same opinion as Arthur. Even Green Lantern isn’t able to join this new world order, since he and his fellow Earth-based Emerald Knights (in particular, John Stewart & Guy Gardner) have been ordered by the Guardians to head towards Oa. Batman says that everyone here understands, especially since they all have “to make their own choice about this”, to which Wonder Woman says that it’s something they agree on. From there, the meeting is adjourned as the Justice League gets fractured by this brewing conflict.
We then shift to an undescriptive Middle Eastern country as a pair of U.S. drones are looking to take out the leader of a terrorist group, even though their upcoming strike would potentially cause some collateral damage via the loss of some innocent lives. One of the drones manages to fire its missiles, but Superman interferes before he takes both of them out. Back in the war room, a U.S. General tells the President (also voiced by Kevin Pollak) and his aides that Kal-El would go on to sweep every last one of their drones out of the skies. After the General mentions that there would’ve been some lives lost as a result of the strike if it was successfully executed, a military aide tells the President that Superman is carrying out his promises of protecting people from harm. However, the General says that this was an act of treason, especially since Clark isn’t solely stopping other foreign governments with his act. As such, the President asks him how he’s proposing to respond.
As such, we shift over to the Kent Family Farm over in Smallville. As Jonathan Kent (again voiced by Kevin Pollak) is asleep, he’s suddenly approached by a group of armed soldiers who quickly subdue him. Pa is then approached by Evan McCulloch a.k.a. Mirror Master (again voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) who gives his team the order to “light it up”. From there, they proceed to use several incendiary grenades and set the farm house on fire. Afterwards, the group reconvenes as Mirror Master uses a device on his belt to help them escape through a mirror.
Shortly afterwards, Superman arrives too late to stop them. Evan then communicates to him through the mirror and assures him that his Earth-based father is alive, yet he’s in a place where he’ll never find him. Mirror Master then tells Kal-El that as long as he stops going after the world’s governments and only emerges to deal with alien threats, then Pa will stay unharmed. In his anger, Superman punches the mirror before Evan threatens him by mentioning that if he doesn’t comply with these demands, then his father will be slowly sent back to him in severed pieces.
We then cut to the Fortress of Solitude as Kal-El ponders about his own global mission for a bit. Wonder Woman then tells him that even though he’s hit this major setback, he still needs to push forward with his original intention. Superman then says that his father is his last link to his humanity and that he can’t afford to lose him, to which Diana says that he can rely on his fellow super-powered friends to help him out of this situation. From there, the scene ends with her asking him who’s responsible for kidnapping his dad.
Later, Wonder Woman arrives with Cyborg and Hawkman at a seedy & villain-filled bar called The World’s End. She assures their foes that they’re not here to fight them and that they’re only here for Mirror Master. Shortly after she spots him, she heads over to talk to him. However, his holographic form vanishes before he properly pops up in a nearby mirror and tells her to leave. However, he’s soon approached by Raven as she partially exposes him from the mirror in order for Diana to wrap her Lasso of Truth onto his neck. She then takes out her sword and being to press the pommel onto the mirror, slowing making it crack. Evan says that he was following orders before Wonder Woman tells him to cough up Jonathan Kent’s location. As she continues to shatter the mirror, he reveals that Pa is being held within Salar de Uyuni over in Bolivia. After he gets pulled out of the mirror, Diana then tells him to remove his clothes.
Later, she and Superman arrive at their destination before she gives him Mirror Master’s belt. She then tells him that once he enters this vast reflective field, there will be a squad of ex-special forces & a few superpowered villains standing between him and his father. When Kal-El asks her if Batman helped her in retrieving the belt, she silently signals that he didn’t. After he gets assured by her that he’ll find his dad, Superman proceeds to fly in and begin his rescue mission.
Later that night at the White House, the General informs the President that their plan to halt Supes’ New World Order has failed. As such, he gets told to come up with a new strategy before he’s excused. Afterwards, the President gets met upon by Batman who criticizes him for foolishly going after Superman’s parent. Bruce says that he won’t tell Kal-El about this, but he warns the Commander-in-Chief that his life will be in danger should Supes ever discover that fact. Not only that, but Clark would make sure that there wasn’t a single piece of evidence to prove his sudden assault otherwise, since it would only look like the President has suddenly gone missing while his corpse would actually get sent all the way to a distant planet. The President then says that Superman wouldn’t commit such an act before he looks for some conformation for his notion, but Batman simply takes his signature silent leave.
Later on in the Bat Cave, Dick Grayson a.k.a. Nightwing (also voiced by Derek Phillips) is having a training session with Damian Wayne a.k.a. Robin (also voiced by Zach Callison). Dick is able to defeat Damian due to the youthful warrior being overly-aggressive with his legs and for constantly trying to hurt his adversary. Grayson then reminds the young Wayne that there are criminals out there who truly deserve another chance at redemption before brushing off the fact that the lad used to be in the League of Assassins with his grandfather. In his anger, Damian throws his escrima stick at Nightwing. Thankfully, Superman was able to speed in and catch it. Realizing that Kal-El has arrived in order to talk with Bruce, he and Damian take their leave, but not before the latter commends Clark for doing what had to be done towards the Joker.
Afterwards, Superman asks the Dark Knight why he didn’t help him save his father. However, Bruce says that he was doing his part before he tells Kal-El to stop his global operation, especially since it’s bringing unwanted fear towards any would-be dictator. Clark says that it’s a good thing, since it prevents those tyrannical leaders from harming innocents. Batman reminds him that he killed a man, to which Superman says that the Joker was a monster. Bruce says that they can’t act as executioners, especially since their tendency to spiral out of control can get started by a single kill. Kal-El then says that he originally came here to make peace with him, but he instead feels like his fracturing friend doesn’t understand the magnitude of how much the Joker has taken from him, to which Bruce simply tells him that he’s “in pain”. Clark then criticizes him for spending so much time in his cave while he neglects his attempts to console Dick & Damian, especially since they’ve suffered their own losses. This angers Batman as he punches Superman in the face, yet Kal-El doesn’t suffer any significant damage while Bruce ended up hurting himself. Wayne then reluctantly shows off his injured hand as Clark uses his X-Ray Vision and tells him that he’s suffered a hairline fracture with some minor ligament damage, yet he’ll recover in a few weeks. Afterwards, Superman tells him that he’s making an announcement in Gotham tomorrow and would like him by his side. However, Batman declines as Kal-El takes his leave.
Back in the Arrowcave, Green Arrow watches a newscast where Wonder Woman announces that North Korea has been stripped of its nuclear armaments as their warheads were confiscated. However, the reporter does mention that the country fought Diana and ended up with “several hundred casualties” before they finally lost to her. As Harley joins him over at his main console, Oliver wonders why no one is calling Superman out for his actions and whether Batman is okay with all of this. Suddenly, Bruce makes his hacking presence known to inform him that he isn’t. From there, he tells Queen to bring some of the special arrows that he made and to keep Quinn in his hideout.
Over with Superman, he tells the Gotham reporters that while he regrets having to kill the Joker, he doesn’t like it how there’s individuals who’re trying to defend the actions of similar psychopaths. He then brings up the notable inmates over at Arkham Asylum and how the institute has constantly tried to bring them some much-needed care, but he says that those insane individuals aren’t worthy of said help. As such, he announces that he’s moving “the worst criminals to a secured facility”. Over in the Bat Cave, Batman, Nightwing and Robin were able to watch this while the two former figures have prepped the Batwing in order to head out and stop this act. Bruce then tells his son to hop in, but Damian says that he’ll only do so if they’re going “to help Superman burn Arkham to the ground”. He then chastises his father for being on the wrong side of this situation before Wayne and Grayson silently fly off. On their way towards the twisted facility, Nightwing says that while he understands why they have to stop Kal-El from going through with his current action, he tells Bruce to not be so hard on his son, especially since he had far more time to properly mold Grayson into the hero that he is.
Meanwhile, Green Arrow is driving towards the infamous facility as well. Batman informs him that Cyborg and Wonder Woman are also on their way there and that he’ll be there shortly. Oliver then tries to call him out for secretly bugging his hideout, but the Dark Knight simply hangs up. Shortly afterwards, Harley reveals that she was hiding out in his car, especially after she somehow broke out of his safe room. She then says that she wants to bring down Superman, especially since she declares herself as a hero. After she climbs into the front passenger seat, she then puts on a gas mask before she subjects Queen to one of his sleeping gas arrows. Despite him getting knocked out, they end up speeding right towards their destination before crashing their way in.
Over within Arkham Asylum, the on-staff doctor assures Superman, Wonder Woman & Cyborg that her subject is making progress with his treatment. However, Diana says that they’ve lost faith in the facility and that their inmates “will be moved”. Shortly afterwards, Batman and Nightwing come in to stop them. To their surprise however, Superman’s group was expecting their arrival since Robin had joined them as Kal-El lets Bruce know that he’s not going to stop them.
Wayne tries to tell him that he doesn’t belong here, but a particular inmate named Victor Zsasz (also voiced by Reid Scott) says that Superman now has his own scar and is able to feel the freedom from that murderous release. Shortly afterwards, Kal-El gives Victor the order to transport Zsasz to his new containment as the fiend gets sucked into a portal. Wonder Woman then has Stone do the same thing for Mad Hatter before Batman warns him to stop. Just as Cyborg is about to send the Riddler away as well, he suddenly gets viciously shocked as the Dark Knight is causing this via a receiver on his utility belt. After Nightwing gets him to stop, Victor then accesses the data stamp on the virus and discovers that Bruce uploaded it onto him when they first met back in 2012. As such, both sides are preparing to engage each other.
Suddenly, Harley comes over the loudspeaker and tells the Caped Crusader that she intends to help him. With her in the main control room, she ends up freeing the inmates as they proceed to swarm our heroes. As such, Batman and Superman agree to put their feud with each other on hold for now.
From there, a massive fight breaks out as Kal-El initially goes up against Waylon Jones a.k.a. Killer Croc (voiced by Edwin Hodge). Suddenly, he finds himself duking it out against Clayface. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is able to subdue Poison Ivy while Batman delivers a shocking strike to Bane.
Over with Robin, he starts off in a fierce fight against Deadshot before he’s suddenly approached by Solomon Grundy as the massive, undead fiend grabs him by his head. Fortunately, Superman uses his Heat Vision to slice the ghoul’s limb off before flying into the massive being in order to attack it.
Meanwhile, Nightwing helps Damian out of Grundy’s severed hand before they find Deadshot, Calendar Man and the Riddler bearing down on them. Robin finally defeats the infamously-accurate assassin, right before the Riddler was about to deliver a surprise attack. Damian then proceeds to chase after him, while Dick is easily able to defeat Calendar Man.
He then notices that Robin has caught up to the Riddler and is starting to ruthlessly beat him up. Grayson then tells him that when he was the Boy Wonder, he didn’t pummel his foes up while they were in a helpless state. However, Damian tells him that he’s not Robin anymore before throwing his escrima stick at him. Unfortunately, it ends up viciously striking Nightwing in the head before he limply falls over. The young Wayne then rushes over to his side and begs him to get up, but to no avail.
At that moment, Superman is fending off Solomon with his Freeze Breath before he notices the grim fate that has fallen upon Dick. As such, he viciously flies right through Grundy and finally defeats him. From there, Kal-El brings the brawl to an end by slamming his fist into the ground and causes a massive shockwave that knocks over everyone. He then tells the inmates to get back in their cells, to which they comply. Batman then rushes towards Grayson’s lifeless body as he discovers what his son has accidentally done. Despite Robin saying that Dick had always dodged his past stick throws, Bruce shoves Damian away before he picks up Nightwing and begins to head out. As Kal-El and his group look on, Robin says that he didn’t mean to do this. However, the Dark Knight simply says that he was wrong to try and redeem his son.
Later, a small-time theft is being pulled off by Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman (voiced by Tiana herself, Anika Noni Rose) as she managed to steal a ruby. Suddenly, she’s approached by Superman who only wishes to talk to her. He informs her that Nightwing is dead and that Bruce will “need someone”. Selina then asks Kal-El why he can’t just talk to Wayne himself, to which Clark says that too much has happened between them before he flies off. Later, she arrives in the Bat Cave before she notices that Batman is relentlessly punching a post. Even worse, the constant strikes have caused his hands to bleed through his gloves. Catwoman is then able to get him to stop before she removes his cowl and tells him to not be Batman tonight. She then tells him to let himself “fall apart”, since she promises to hold him together. As such, Bruce proceeds to cry within her arms.
We then shift over to the afterlife as Nightwing wakes up and realizes that Damian was the one who accidentally killed him. He then sees a structure in the distance and assumes that it’s Heaven before he makes his way over there. As he reaches the main gate, he’s suddenly met by a mystical woman named Rama Kushna (also voiced by Laura Bailey) as she tells him that this isn’t his resting place. Instead, she brought his soul here in order to help her with a vital mission. She tells him that his world’s future is currently riding upon a dangerous thread and that she believes that his soul could help it “tip the scales”. From there, she proceeds to transform him into his new role & persona. Upon the completion of her spell and with him now having access to her own powers, Dick ends up in an astral form and with a new codename: Deadwing.
Over at the League of Assassins’ headquarters, Superman arrives as he meets up with Robin. Even though Damian has accepted his fault of accidentally killing Grayson, he tells Kal-El that they have far-more urgent matters to deal with. Not only that, but they’ll need more allies in order to properly combat his father. From there, Damian’s grandfather himself steps in as Ra’s al Ghul (voiced by Raza himself, Faran Tahir) admits to his previous attempts of trying to destroy Gotham City in order to “renew it”. Nowadays, he’s putting his own plans aside in order to help Clark create “the perfect Gotham” that they both want. As such, he offers his services to Superman. As Robin tells Kal-El that his grandfather has never bowed to anyone in his life, Ra’s even attempts to sweeten his offer by allowing him access to a project of his that would “immeasurably” help him. However, Clark declines as he doesn’t want to join forces with a villain before he flies off. From there, the scene ends with Damian asking his grandfather how they can convince Kal-El to finally team up with them, to which Ra’s says that he’ll simply wait for “time & circumstance” to come into fruition and finally make Clark reconsider.
Later on in the Justice League Watchtower, Superman meets up with Michael Holt a.k.a. Mister Terrific (also voiced by Edwin Hodge) as he’s mapping out the entire multiverse. He explains that there’s an infinite number of Earths containing alternate versions of themselves who’ve made different choices than what they made. From there, he designates their world as Earth-1. Afterwards, Kal-El tells him that he needs more of his T-Spheres in order to effectively eliminate their world of every single gun. As they both take their seat over at a Chess board, they begin to play as Michael says that it’s impossible to eradicate every last firearm. Even though Clark says that they could still remove the majority of them, Holt says that even though they could possibly do it, that doesn’t mean that they should, especially since the people would greatly revolt against that decision. As he gets closer to winning, Superman says that at least a lot of their fellow humans would be alive to voice their disapproval and would only be able to come after them with “sticks”. Mr. Terrific then decides that they should also get rid of cigarettes, since he says that they claim even more lives than guns. Not only that, but they should arrest every single smoker as well. From there, he says that they must also imprison anyone who drives above the speed limit due to the excessive number of traffic fatalities, lock up every pet owner who neglects to chain up their dangerous dogs and even rub out anyone who doesn’t recycle. During this whole argument, Michael was able to take advantage of this compounded guilt-shaming in order to turn the tide and win his chess match. Either way, due to the potentially escalating levels of never knowing when enough is enough, Holt says that he refuses to offer Clark any more of his T-Spheres.
We then shift over to Gotham as Green Arrow and Harley access a secret entrance within a public restroom before they descend towards a hidden base. From there, they meet up with Batman, Catwoman, Captain Atom, Huntress & Atom as Oliver sees that they’re not thrilled to see Quinn amongst them, but he tells them that he’s hiding her from Superman’s wrath. After Selina allows Harley to watch some TV as a distraction, they properly begin their meeting as Bruce says that Superman must be stopped, due to him not thinking straight. As such, he tells them that they’re going to break into the Fortress of Solitude in order to steal a Red Sun Cannon and use it to depower Kal-El. Queen then asks about the possibility if Clark is waiting there for them, to which Batman says that he has a contingency plan in place as Nathaniel says that it’ll be him fighting the rogue Kryptonian as a means of distraction.
Up in the Justice League Watchtower, Wonder Woman informs Superman that despite a small amount of human casualties, Cyborg & Hawkman have prevailed over Myanmar’s military and that their junta has fled as a result. Just as she mentions that his will shall be imposed over mankind, he asks her to refrain from that statement since he doesn’t see himself as a god and that he only wishes “to keep people safe”. Diana then confirms her faith in his notion by leaning in for a kiss, but Kal-El declines as he says that even though she’s been more than a friend to him in these insane times, it still hasn’t been long enough since Lois’ death for him to romantically move on yet. Suddenly, their sensors detect a pair of U.S. submarines off the Chinese coast as they assume that the President is trying to take advantage of this mostly-worldwide ceasefire.
From there, Superman flies towards the White House, enters the Oval Office and tells the Commander-in-Chief to call up the submarines in order to have them retreat. Kal-El then proves his might by picking up the President, causing the Secret Service to burst in and aim their guns at him. However, Clark easily disarms them by using his Heat Vision in order to heat up their firearms and forces the agents to discard their weapons. Superman then demands to know why the President is doing this, since it’s an authoritative act that he wouldn’t approve of. He then realizes that the Commander-in-Chief was in on this and that it was a huge distraction as Kal-El flies off.
Over at the Fortress of Solitude, Catwoman is able to pick the lock and let her teammates in. Just as Batman’s group is about to approach the Red Sun Cannon, they suddenly discover that Jonathan Kent is here as well.
As such, Bruce decides to terminate their mission and gives the order to retreat. Green Arrow then asks him why they’re backing out, to which Batman says that because Superman isn’t thinking clearly, he’ll think that they’ve come here in order to kidnap his dad. Unfortunately, they’re soon met upon by Kal-El who was able to defeat Captain Atom. Just as Clark tells them that they’re under arrest, he suddenly keels over in pain before it’s soon discovered that the Atom has shrunken down into his head and is using a shard of Kryptonite to subdue him. From there, Bruce tells Huntress and Green Arrow to go get the Red Sun Cannon.
Just as they reach it however, it gets blown up by Ra’s al Ghul and his armed League of Assassins before a fight breaks out amongst the groups. While Batman, Huntress and Catwoman do their part in fending off these enemy agents, Ra’s approaches Superman and helps him out of his current dilemma.
He places a mask over Kal-El’s mouth as a “highly-concentrated chemotherapeutic gas” gets into his system. With this form approaching him, Atom is forced to retreat. Unfortunately, he’s not able to escape as he gets enveloped before its radioactive nature viciously tears him apart and kills him.
Back in the physical world, Oliver is able to evade the enemy gunfire and take out several agents with his various arrows. During the commotion, Bruce is able to slip into a side room and discover a key Kryptonian device.
With every agent defeated, Queen then finds himself up against Superman as he preps a Kryptonite arrow. As Clark begins to approach him, Green Arrow fires away. Even though Kal-El is easily able to deflect it, the arrow gets accidentally redirected towards Jonathan as he gets hit by it.
Superman is able to comfort his dad before his grief-stricken anger gets the better of him as he uses his Heat Vision to effectively kill Ollie. Batman returns with the device as he also discovers his fallen teammate before he tells Catwoman & Huntress to head out.
With his dying strength, Jonathan tells his son that this was completely accidental and that he should forgive them for his sake. Shortly after his father passes on, Kal-El gets told by Ra’s that the Dark Knight and his group don’t deserve his forgiveness. As such, he once again offers his help in bringing their opposing figures to justice.
Later, Superman holds a press conference over at the United Nations building. He announces that any hero who doesn’t side with the Justice League will be labeled as a fugitive. Not only that, but he’s managed to create a massive amount of T-Spheres that will act as surveillance drones and will be launched throughout America & the world. He then issues a final warning to every single moral and immoral person on the planet: Don’t commit a single violent act, or else he’ll be there to punish those responsible.
We then shift to nighttime in Gotham City. With the whole world now under a superpowered police state, Batman & Catwoman are hanging out on the roof as they notice how quiet the streets have gotten under this new world order. She tells him that no crime is being committed, just like he always wanted. However, he says that this isn’t his ideal situation, especially given what Superman has recently done before they head out to do some rooftop swinging.
Just then, a T-Sphere notices some loud club music playing within a massive warehouse as it scans the property and finds a large group of young patrons enjoying themselves there. However, their activities have now gotten Superman’s attention as he bursts in and notices that they all worship the Joker. He chastises them for gathering in his name, but the patrons yell back at him in protest. One of the civilians even calls him a fascist before throwing his beer bottle at him. Unfortunately for them, this infuriates Kal-El as he uses his Heat Vision to murder them. On a nearby rooftop, Batman notices this and wants to intervene. Fortunately, Catwoman stops him from foolishly wasting his life in a pointless fight. From there, they can only helplessly watch as Clark brutally continues down his overly-controlling path.
Later, they arrive back at their hideout as they inform Harley about Superman murdering Green Arrow. From there, Batman proceeds to inform them that because of the modified T-Spheres, it’s going to make it practically impossible for them to move around. Because the technology is too-advanced for even him, they’ll need to be neutralized. In order to do so, they’ll need to bust Mr. Terrific out of his cell. Unfortunately, he’s being contained in a specialized prison that’s located within the crushing depths of the Marianas Trench. Not only that, but the only way in and out of the facility is through Cyborg’s Boom Tubes. Batman then says that there’s a single hero who isn’t on Superman’s side and “has the powers to get there”. From there, Plastic Man makes his presence known as he reveals himself as the chair that Quinn was sitting on.
Over at the League of Assassins’ base, Ra’s commends Kal-El for his progress before he reveals his secret project: Amazo. Despite Clark’s initial skepticism, al Ghul explains that it’s “an indestructible security and defense system” that’s able to “learn and adapt”. He even describes it as a major step above his swarm of T-Spheres, since these can be placed in “every city and town”, while also carrying out Clark’s orders. As such, Kal-El decides to give it a trial run within “a small town”.
Meanwhile, Plastic Man is being flown out to the drop zone while he’s wrapped around a mini-sub. After he’s dropped into the Pacific Ocean, he ultimately makes his way to the prison and sneaks his way in. However, he’s immediately detected by Cyborg who tells him that there’s no way he’ll be able to open the cell door. However, Patrick simply molds his hand into the lock and manages to open it himself before he smashes the video camera.
He then tells Mr. Terrific that Batman sent him here to break him out, to which Michael asks him about Bruce’s plan. However, O’Brian says that he was informed about Holt himself having said escape plan. Suddenly, they’re approached by a group of security guards who open fire on them. Fortunately, Plastic Man is able to form his hands into shields before he and Mr. Terrific attempt to flee. Unbeknownst to them, Deadwing has also arrived to potentially help them.
Patrick and Michael manage to retreat into the lunch hall, but they’re immediately met upon by the guards there as they’re forced to take cover. Holt then says that they’ll have to break the outer glass, but O’Brian is immediately against the idea due to the overwhelming surge of ocean water that they would face. Shortly after Dick phases in right next to them, Cyborg then arrives via Boom Tube and orders them to surrender.
At that moment, Deadwing flies into Victor and takes possession of his body before he fires his arm cannon at the glass wall, shattering it and allowing the ocean water to start pouring in. While Mr. Terrific and Plastic Man are surprised by this turn of events, Grayson then flies out of Stone who’s stunned at the fact that he’s now able to see him before taking his leave.
After they hop onto a table, Michael rips off his prison shirt and takes a certain T off of his chest, revealing that this body tattoo is actually a special device that creates a protective sphere around himself and Patrick. From there, they proceed to float out of the prison and reach the surface.
Over at the Justice League Watchtower, Superman and Wonder Woman talk about how the majority of the world is under his watch (yet countries like Myanmar aren’t willing to bow down to him). Diana praises him for how much he’s accomplished, while he reminds her that he’s “done questionable things” en route to achieving this goal. With most of the globe under their reign of peace, Prince tells him that Batman and his resistance will eventually be captured. Suddenly, their computer system has detected a video that had gone up online, which turns out to be Kal-El murdering the Joker-worshipping patrons. He instantly knows that Bruce has uploaded this in an attempt to sway the populace, but even Wonder Woman is appalled by what Clark did. However, Kal-El defends his action as his means of staying “strong” by providing a lesson to the people before he takes his leave.
Meanwhile, Batman and his resistance fighters are hiding out in one of his few remaining bases. It’s soon revealed that Mr. Terrific managed to reprogram his T-Sphere drones without any outside detection. He then provides an update regarding the piece of Kryptonian technology that Bruce had stolen, in that he’s getting it to match their needs and that he’ll put the device together before running some tests. However, it’s going to take at least a week for him to accomplish this.
We then shift over to Smallville as the townsfolk are celebrating with the annual Corn Festival. Over in front of Town Hall, it’s also revealed that Amazo is getting its test run there. However, things start to get out of hand when it notices a patron who’s attempt to throw out a minor piece of trash has unknowingly bounced off the rim and onto the ground. After the man gets into his car and starts to drive off, Amazo then blasts his vehicle with its Heat Vision and kills him.
With the patrons rightfully fleeing for their lives, the explosion has caught the attention of the town’s police as they swarm Amazo. Unfortunately, it deems them all as a “potential threat to authority” and thus, it proceeds to attack them with its Heat Vision before it goes after civilians as well.
Just as it’s about to harm a mother and her child, Superman arrives to save them before he orders Ra’s to shut the malfunctioning Amazo down. However, al Ghul says that it’s perfectly operational before revealing his own heal turn. As Kal-El takes the fiendish robot out of town, Ra’s tells him that it’s capable of copying his power set and that Amazo is actually going to carry out his original plan of creating his perfect world. As such, it proceeds to assault Superman before it tries to strangle him.
Fortunately, Wonder Woman, Hawkman and Cyborg arrive to help their comrade. From there, Victor and Carter proceed to engage their robotic foe. Unfortunately for Hall, Amazo is able to duplicate the Nth Metal from his mace and viciously attacks the winged hero before it crushes his head with a fierce foot stomp.
Stone responds by creating a giant boom cannon out of his arms before he fires a massive energy burst at his enemy. Despite the powerful blast, Amazo was able to withstand the shot before it flies towards him. Even though Cyborg fires again, Amazo is able to power through it before it smashes off both of Victor’s arms. It even destroys his left leg before it proceeds to kill him.
Superman and Wonder Woman are then able to approach it as he tells her that they’re putting it down. From there, they engage Amazo while Ra’s watches this unfold from his base. Robin then comes in and asks why the Justice League’s comm links are “going wild” before he sees the battle taking place. Unfortunately, Diana and Kal-El are initially struggling with their foe.
Suddenly, Batman and company fly in on the Batwing and ram into Amazo. After a while, Bruce lets up in order to send the robotic terror flying. However, it still manages to damage the aircraft with its Heat Vision and send it falling towards the ground. Fortunately, Superman flies in and saves the group.
From there, he re-engages with Amazo alongside Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, Batman tells Plastic Man to help Mr. Terrific assemble their device, while he, Catwoman and Harley also join the fight.
Back with Damian, he sees his dad fighting Amazo before he gets inspired to go help him. However, Ra’s stops his grandson before calling him a disappointment. From there, they engage each other in a sword duel.
While Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman continue their fierce clash with Amazo, Patrick and Michael finally assemble their device before it starts up and creates an otherworldly portal. From there, Holt proceeds to make his way inside. Unfortunately, the impacting rubble from the nearby fight has caused the device to disassemble itself.
Back with Robin, he continues his fight against his grandfather. Unfortunately, Ra’s is able to constantly get the better of him. Unbeknownst to them, Deadwing phases in before he flies into Damian and co-opts his body. As Robin gets up to resume his battle, he mentally apologizes to Grayson for accidentally killing him. Deadwing accepts it, but he says that they should focus on stopping al Ghul and his world domination plot.
Back with Plastic Man, he manages to reassemble the device and gets it working again. Unfortunately, this has gotten Amazo’s attention as it attempts to destroy the portal with its Heat Vision. Thankfully, Wonder Woman flies in and blocks the attack with her shield. She then tries to force her way towards her foe, even as it increases the intensity of its Heat Vision and begins to disintegrate her shield. Even though she does reach Amazo, it simply smacks her away.
From there, Patrick decides to no longer stand around as he also joins the fray. He manages to wrap himself around Amazo before he tells his comrades to help him out. As such, Superman and Wonder Woman are able to subdue their foe’s arms. Batman then uses a pair of grappling hooks to tie up Amazo’s legs onto a nearby bridge.
He then uses a cryogenic grenade as it freezes the fiend’s mid-section. From there, Quinn gives Selina a boost as she jump kicks Amazo, shattering it in two. Afterwards, O’Brian enters the robotic foe’s upper half and expands himself, shattering Amazo and finally bringing this menace to its bitter end.
Meanwhile, Robin is still entangled in his duel with Ra’s. Deadwing tries to have him work together, but Damian is too eager to strike the killing blow as he takes over and makes his attempt. Unfortunately, al Ghul simply dodges before he stabs his grandson in the leg. Ra’s then admits to only needing Damian in order to get close to Superman.
From there, Dick finally gets Robin to listen to him as he tells the Boy Wonder to watch al Ghul’s feet. Once Ra’s charges in, Damian is finally able to properly attack with a leg sweep before he kicks his grandfather towards the wall and knocks him out. Grayson then emerges from Robin who proceeds to ask him how he’s doing what he’s able to do. Deadwing tells Damian that he’s able to see him since his body was possessed by him before he simply mentions that it “gets weird” when it comes to how he became an astral hero. Robin then humbly tells Grayson that he’s better skilled than him before he asks for forgiveness, to which Deadwing accepts before he reminds the young comrade to mind his footwork and that he doesn’t have to slay every single foe. From there, Dick fades away and takes his leave.
Back on the fields of Smallville, Wonder Woman mentions their recent bittersweet victory. Despite them working together to take down Amazo, Superman still wants to arrest Batman and his group of “terrorists”. Diana questions his actions, especially since Bruce & company risked their lives to help them. As Kal-El suspects that she’s turning on him, Prince realizes that his slaughtering of the youthful Joker worshippers wasn’t an isolated moment of “momentary madness”. Batman even tells him to “stand down” and “finally stop this madness”. Unfortunately, Clark isn’t willing to comply as he blasts Wonder Woman away with his Heat Vision before he prepares to incinerate Bruce and his fellow fighters.
Suddenly, they get protected by another Superman (also voiced by Justin Hartley) as Mister Terrific returns with a version of Kal-El from Earth-9. However, this particular Clark says that he’s actually from Earth-1 and that their world has been labeled as Earth-22. From there, the E1 version tells his other self that he was informed by Michael about what happened to him and that even though he offers his sympathy over the compounded losses, he’s still “on the wrong side of this”.
Unfortunately, the E22 version isn’t willing to be swayed before he proceeds to engage his Earth-1 self. The E1 Superman manages to disorient his E22 self by throwing a manhole cover at him before wrapping him up in an electric cable in order to spin him around and slam him into the ground. From there, the E1 Kal-El rams an electric pole into the E22 version and drives him into the ground with it.
However, the Earth-22 Superman emerges and flies into his Earth-1 self. They then attempt to blast each other with their Heat Visions as the combined energy build-up sends a powerful shockwave into town.
The E1 Superman then manages to deliver some punches and force his other self onto the ground before asking him to stop. Unfortunately, the E22 version retaliates with his own series of attacks. While he’s delivering these assaults, he chastises his Earth-1 self for holding back. Ultimately, his various strikes have sent the E1 Superman up into the atmosphere before the E22 version viciously hits him back down.
From there, he finally confronts Batman and assaults him while asking if his plan really was to have someone talk to him in order to convince him into stopping his endeavor. Just as Bruce admits to it, Superman is then approached by the Earth-9 version of Lois Lane (also voiced by Laura Bailey). She says that her world’s Clark gave up his life in order to stop Brainiac, especially since he greatly cared about every single life. The E22 Superman says that he’s trying to have world peace, but the E9 Lois calls him out for murdering anyone who doesn’t agree with him and asks him how many lives does he have to take before his intention is finally reached.
Kal-El finally realizes the horrors of his actions as he wishes for death. Batman then tells him that he’s not getting off that easily, since he’ll be placed in a special prison cell that Bruce will make alongside Mr. Terrific. Not only that, he’ll only be allowed out when his services are needed to stop certain threats. Superman says that he’ll stay wherever they put him before the Earth-9 Lois allows him to feel her pregnant belly as he hears her unborn baby’s heartbeat with his super-hearing. From there, he tearfully flies off with Wonder Woman in order to wait for his sentence.
And so, the film ends with Catwoman asking Batman what will happen now. He says that he’s unsure, but that they all deserve “a second chance” as he grasps her hand. As she wonders what’s gotten into him, he proceeds to kiss her before he gives his best smile as they proceed to head out.
Now that we’ve recapped this series of events, let’s finally get to my character analysis. First up, we have our Caped Crusader himself: Batman. He has the moral high-ground for this piece, especially since he’s willing to follow the fatally-flawed law in order to keep himself from losing his humanity and to prove that he & his fellow heroes shouldn’t be allowed to act as judge, jury & executioner upon the world. To help him maintain that level of sanity, he has at least one costumed crime-fighter going into battle alongside him. Prior to the tragic incident at Arkham Asylum, he has Nightwing and his son Damian. When Robin accidentally kills Dick, his moral center does get rocked for a while, especially since he banished his boy from his world. Thankfully (and also because of Superman’s last spread of decency), Catwoman is able to come to his emotional rescue. Thanks to this emotional safety net, he’s able to regather himself in order to think clearly enough for his resistance operations to go as smoothly as possible. By the end, he rewards himself by letting Catwoman become a part of his world entirely as they prepare to help the planet recover from its recent events. Ultimately, the things that helps keep Batman from falling down the same madness hole that Kal-El ultimately plummets into is that he doesn’t have superpowers that he ends up relying on too much and thus, he can’t get drunk on his own overly-protective super ego. Also, he needs to rely on others who can help him keep his mental sanity in check. He never acts like a lone wolf who thinks that he can go into various situations by himself, especially since his main fight sees him going up against his own superpowered kind. As such, he needs other grounded heroes in order to get through this whole ordeal in one piece. Because of this supportive emotional net, he ends up as the most sane and relatable out of the main players of this story. As for the required vocal delivery for this character, Anson Mount was actually pretty effective in the role. For someone who also portrayed the mostly-silent Black Bolt over in the MCU (in both the critically-panned & short-lived Inhumans show, as well as an alternate universe version of the character in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness”), his intonations felt genuine throughout and never felt out-of-place at any point in the narrative. As such, he makes the most of a superhero movie role where he’s front-&-center and gets to talk a lot.
Next up, we have a fallen hero who’s become a tragic villain in Superman. Because Batman’s top villain left the deepest of emotional scars upon him with this unpredictable act, he decides to take it upon himself and bring all of the world’s bloody atrocities to an end, so that innocent people can be saved from the horrid emotions that he had to endure. It starts innocently enough when he goes up against dysfunctional governments abroad. In particular, he removes corrupt leaders from their seats-of-power and even tears down their military might. However, he ends up becoming an enemy to the U.S. Military due to him stopping their attempt to eradicate a terrorist via a drone strike, since it would’ve cause some collateral damage. As such, they’re forced to hire Mirror Master in order to kidnap Pa Kent and use that ultimatum to keep Supes in line. However, Kal-El’s allies (especially Wonder Woman) help him overcome that hurdle before he decides to send the most dangerous criminals to a highly-secure facility, starting with Batman’s imprisoned rogues over at Arkham. Following Nightwing’s accidental death, Superman shows his last moment of mainline sympathy when he convinces Catwoman to provide some comfort to a grieving Batman. From there, the film begins to make its biggest mistake with his characterization. When the exiled-Robin tries to convince him to work alongside his grandfather in order to bolster their ranks against the Dark Knight, Superman doesn’t initially agree to their proposition. However, the break-in at his Fortress of Solitude has him reconsider his alignment with Ra’s. Not to mention, he had Mr. Terrific imprisoned and took over his T-Sphere tech just because he refused to cooperate with him. Not only that, but he also distances Diana from himself towards the end once she constantly questions his actions. Unfortunately, the reveal that al Ghul was using him to usurp power was a major mistake. This should’ve been a story where this Superman went too far with his attempts to protect the whole world and ended up becoming a scary tyrant under his own right. After all, the game’s Year One comic is getting adapted into this narrative. However, he’s not allowed to have that misfortunate fall from grace and instead, he’s given one last opportunity to see the errors of his ways. Even after Amazo gets defeated, his transition back to being the true villain of the piece felt jarring. As such, the movie failed at giving Clark the decent into utter madness that he should’ve gotten here. In terms of Justin Hartley’s performance, he was mostly nice throughout. While some areas of his delivery could’ve used another take or two, he still brings his charming charisma to the role and shows some good range. For what would ultimately be the third DC hero that he would portray in his career (the others being Aquaman for what would have been the character’s own show and Green Arrow during the second half of Smallville’s run), his effort was still worth it.
As for the rest of the central characters, we first have Wonder Woman. For the majority of this tale, she’s a steadfast believer in Superman’s global mission. After all, she does criticize Batman for not effectively dealing with the Joker in the past in order to prevent his destructive joke and she even calls out man’s laws for not going far enough to prevent having loopholes that devious leaders can constantly exploit for their own self interests. In a similar role that Selina will provide Bruce, Diana also serves something of an emotional support towards Kal-El. After all, she and the remaining Justice League members do help him locate where the U.S. Military is keeping Jonathan Kent. However, she’s not allowed to be as emotionally close to Clark like Catwoman ultimately gets to be with Batman. While their morals did play a part in preventing them from rushing into a relationship as Lois’ demise was still weighing heavily on them, their alliance ultimately falters in a two-pronged way when she learns of Superman’s slaughtering of young Joker worshippers and his willingness to arrest Batman & his group despite their help in taking down Amazo. Ultimately, Diana serves as the confident warrior who’s just as eager to see Superman’s attempt to bring about his brand of continuous worldwide peace to life, yet is more level-headed in not crossing certain moral lines that Kal-El ultimately does. For her part in the role, Janet Varney brought a strong confidence that properly suits the character and helps her make the most of her supporting part. Moving on to Catwoman, she doesn’t turn up until after Nightwing’s unfortunate demise. While she does faithfully takes part in Batman’s missions, her deep levels of care for him are absolutely prominent in two places. One is when she allows him to weep within her arms following the tragic moment in Arkham, while the other moment is when she prevents him from suicidally rushing in to stop Superman from incinerating a large group of young people who also worshipped the Joker. Their faith in each other remains strong throughout and by the end, she’s allowed to be completely inside his world while they look to slowly help it recover from Superman’s misguided efforts. For her effort in bringing that to life upon our Feline Fatale, Anika Noni Rose was pretty solid in her vocal range, emotional deliveries and her sly amount of energy that’s necessary for this Cat Bugular. Next up, we have Green Arrow. For the majority of his screen time, he processes and contemplates about Superman’s less-than-satisfactory actions following Lois’ death, all-the-while trying to protect Harley since she did have a hand in putting Clark into his position. In the end though, he’s the one who ultimately suffers from Kal-El’s wrath after a Kryptonite arrow that he shot in self-defense was accidentally deflected towards and killed Pa Kent. Ultimately, he did bring some sense of levity to the proceedings and even became an unintended friend to Quinn in a way that I’ll expand upon when I get to her analysis. For his time as Ollie, Reid Scott brought a neat charm to his delivery and made his character shine within his scenes.
Finally, let’s get to a few minor characters with certain roles within this tale, or even with repurposed roles. First up, we have Robin. He initially starts off just like how he’s portrayed within the Year One comic. Following his accidental murder of Nightwing however, that’s where the comic and the movie go off on different paths for his characterization. In the comic, he’s completely aligned himself with the Justice League and suspects something suspicious early on when Hawkgirl was captured by Batman’s rebels, only to be eventually let go. Later on after Kalibak led an invasion over Earth that was ultimately foiled, the team discussed about the creation of pills that they would give to individuals who believed in their philosophy in order to avert that tragedy again. With said pill in hand, Damian teleported to the Bat Cave due to him previously receiving a letter from Alfred. When Batman returns to his Bat Cave, he tries to have a regular conversation with his son. However, Robin chastises his dad for ditching him following Dick’s death and that this whole conflict has to be about him. Damian then reveals his consumption of the Super Pill when he accidentally hurts Alfred with a powerful shove before he nearly gets him killed by the giant penny after punching Bruce into it. Hawkgirl managed to save Pennyworth, but Robin starts to suspect something about her. With the help of an incendiary grenade, he discovers that Martian Manhunter was disguised as her before escaping. He then informs the Justice League about Bruce’s shape-shifting spy before he warns them that he’s seen their profiles and that his dad could launch a preemptive strike on them. After Batman disabled the Watchtower just as Superman was about to reveal the Dark Knight’s identity, Damian manages to get Cyborg and Lex Luthor to leak his father’s persona online. For the movie, he was given a redemptive arc where he regrets getting his grandfather involved with Superman’s endeavor. It even attempts to pay off his training scene in the Bat Cave when Deadwing convinces him to pay attention to Ra’s feet in order to finally defeat him. It’s decent for what it is, but he’s not that prominent of a player throughout the story. Even still, Zach Callison does the most with what he has to work with. Even with such a minor part, he still brings his youthful confidence with effective ease. Next up, we move on to the elastic wisecracker himself: Plastic Man. Although he’s a character that appears in later installments of the series, he’s been brought in to this story. After being introduced early on, he doesn’t become a prominent member of Batman’s resistance until he’s needed to break Mr. Terrific out of the impossible prison. His snark never got overbearing and it balanced out very well with his level-headed approach to the serious situation at hand. Of course, he gets his biggest moment to shine when he helps out in the takedown of Amazo. Out of the entire supporting cast, Oliver Hudson was one of the big standouts as his vocal delivery helped the character achieve that perfect balance of silliness and seriousness. Moving on, we have our comedic henchwoman who becomes a heroic ally in Harley Quinn. Just like Robin, her translation from the Year One comic starts off on a faithful note. Sure, there’s a minor deviation where Green Arrow is actually allowed to take part in the massive fight within Arkham Asylum, but it’s nothing too out of the ordinary. Unlike the movie where she’s hidden from Superman before she fully becomes a part of Batman’s resistance, she was still out on her own by the time that Kal-El had hired Lobo to hunt her down for him. Although he initially captures her, the Super Pill comes back into play as she takes it from the alien bounty hunter and uses it in order to properly fight him. They ultimately cross paths with Green Arrow & Black Canary before she captures him for her silly psychiatry session. She managed to discover that he felt emasculated and thus, convinced him to go “take the power back” in order to prove to himself that he truly is “the main man” as he heads out to fight Darkseid. As for this film version of Harley, she’s mainly a sly jokester who can get angry at times, yet she maintains her upbeat and bouncy personality whose consistent interaction with Ollie ultimately inspires her towards a better path, especially since she provides Catwoman with a timely assist during the fight against Amazo. Gillian Jacobs does a decent job in capturing that signature Quinn energy and while her portrayal doesn’t stand out too much, she still came through with the right amount of perkiness that the character requires for a proper presentation. Now, we’ve reached someone who managed to receive some unexpected expansion with Nightwing. Although he apparently shows up again in later Injustice comics (which I haven’t read at the time of this article), the people who made this movie decided to allow Dick to not die with indignity and instead become the universe’s version of Deadman for two crucial scenes. For fans of the character, it’s definitely a nice way to utilize someone who originally went out in an unspectacular fashion. Although his possessions over Cyborg and Damian were well-handled, it could’ve been interesting to see how he would’ve been utilized had he been allowed to take part in the fight against Amazo, especially if he briefly possessed Bruce and it ultimately helped him forgive Damian. For working in a slightly-expanded supporting role, Derek Phillips handled his job in a greatly effective manner. Finally, we have the Demon’s Head himself making his presence felt as we delve into Ra’s al Ghul. For someone who was prominent within the second game’s tie-in comic, his inclusion here was ultimately a disappointing letdown. Sure, he puts himself in Superman’s favor in order to help him achieve absolute control over the world. However, the reveal that Ra’s was only using him for his own scheme undermines what should’ve been Kal-El’s own tragic descent into tyranny. Also, we never see al Ghul convince his grandson into making Clark join forces with him, thus making his inclusion not entirely thought out. Despite that major setback, Faran Tahir was fairly good, despite the less-than-effective writing surrounding his character.
The story sets itself up as a Greek Tragedy where the world’s living symbol of hope gets personally rocked by a villain that he doesn’t regularly deal with. As such, he tries to take proactive steps in order to prevent similar tragedies from popping up, only to end up going too far and wind up as an emotionally-driven god-king over humanity. For the majority of the film’s length, Kal-El’s descent felt like a smooth transition towards the monster that he would become in the game and in the Year One comic. Even bringing in Ra’s could’ve worked, since it would make the fight much harder for Batman and his small forces to overcome. Also, the addition of Mr. Terrific (who wasn’t in either the first game or the Year One comic) was a nice update, especially since the T-Spheres somewhat serve as Clark’s constant surveillance upon the Earth. Unfortunately and as I’ve already mentioned, Superman’s fall to villainy got derailed when al Ghul and his Amazo project were revealed as a means to usurp control over Kal-El and run his worldwide operations for the League of Assassins. Because I hadn’t checked out any of the other games in the series or read any of the other tie-in comics (at the time of this article, at least), I don’t know if this was a plan that Ra’s tried at a later time, but was put in here in order to help this tale work as a stand-alone movie. The only thing that worked there was that Clark still had some of his heroic side in him, but had mainly suppressed because of his tragedy. Even after Amazo’s defeat, his return to his seat of power had a tonal whiplash that didn’t feel right. That’s not the only difference that the film makes with its material. Because I prepped myself for this review by watching all of the cutscenes from the first game’s single-player campaign and read all 13 issues of the Year One comic, I noticed how some of the characters that I previously mentioned has reworked roles. Unfortunately, that came at the cost of some characters. For example, both Aquaman and Shazam were limited to just one scene in the movie. In the comic, Arthur was furious at some Japanese whalers for their actions and decides to sink their ship. However, this was during the worldwide ceasefire and thus, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Shazam & Hawkgirl had to go up against Aquaman and his Atlantean forces. Just like the movie, Arthur refuses to allow Superman’s rule to extend to his undersea kingdom. During the scuffle, Aquaman is able to summon the Kraken to help him out. Superman has to step in and stop him, yet Arthur refuses to allow him to extend his reach to Atlantis. As such, he secretly sent several of his undersea forces to various points of the world as his “show of strength”. However, Superman responds by having Diana, Hal & Billy carry the whole kingdom to the middle of the Sahara Desert. From there, Arthur has to talk with Wonder Woman in order to get his kingdom returned to its rightful place beneath the ocean waves, thus agreeing to call his Atlantean forces back. By the time we get to the game, he was about to agree to an alliance with Superman before he gets defeated by the main universe Aquaman. As for Shazam, his biggest moment starts off as Billy Batson when he asks several people about their thoughts on the superheroes’ recent actions. As Shazam, he and the rest of the Justice League get into a fight with Black Adam due to his country Kahndaq getting attacked. As punishment for his assault, he gets taken out by Shazam. After getting scolded by the country’s civilians that he and his group are “angry, powerful gods” who’re deciding their future, we learn that this is why Billy went around to get the people’s opinions about the current situation. He even talks to his superhero self about this and he isn’t too praising of his superpowered side, even mentioning how this seems to be “affecting” him. Yet while both Aquaman & Shazam had prominent supporting roles in both the game and the comic, another notable superhero on Superman’s side was the Flash. Unfortunately for him, the movie kills him off after only a minute of screen time. In just the Year One book, there’s even certain spots of his that were altered. First off, there’s the hidden area that the Joker got Scarecrow’s fear gas from. In the book, Barry brings Batman with him as they discover Dr. Crane’s fate. While it was then minor that he was alongside Bruce, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern on the Metropolis outskirts in their capture of Joker & Harley right as the fiend’s scheme is about to reach its zenith, Allen then pops back up to help Superman save his parents after they were captured. Side Note: Martha Kent was also in the comic, while she was omitted from the film. He and the Justice League go after his rogues gallery in order to find Mirror Master before he ultimately goes to The World’s End bar alone with Diana and helps her & Raven interrogate him. Afterwards, Barry is the one who meets up with Superman at Salar De Uyuni and give him Mirror Master’s belt in order for him to save his folks. He then has his prominent moment in Issue #5 where the citizens of Melbourne, Australia are protesting against Superman & Wonder Woman’s authoritative attempt. Although they were confronted by a person codenamed Galaxor who had some genetic tweaking, received some tech and also got some steroids, he was still no match for them as they easily crippled him while Allen just stood there and watched. As he rushes out to go get an ambulance, Batman (who managed to revoke his revoked access to the league’s communicators) tells him to go to the Advanced Sciences & Genetics Testing Lab in Canberra. He then meets up with Dr. Norris before he ends up learning about the newly injured Galaxor named Mitchell Davies. It turns out that the guy went through the genetic programs in order to become a superhero, since the Justice League originally inspired him, and he even had an autographed picture of himself with the Flash. Ashamed by what’s happened to Mitchell, he removes his communicator and proceeds to dash his guilt away on the country’s longest road over in the Nullarbor Plain. Later, he’s playing chess with Superman (as opposed to Mr. Terrific who does this in the film) shortly after Lex creates the nanotech pill up in the Fortress of Solitude. Barry essentially has the same conversation that Michael did in the movie when Kal-El wants to rid the world of guns, only for Allen to bring up other horrid causes of death that allows him to win at chess. Ultimately, those greatly altered roles has led me to this thought. Maybe this should’ve been a two-part movie instead with Ra’s competely removed from it, so that the narrative could’ve benefited more as an adaptation of the Year One book. With that said, the movie that we have here does have its entertaining moments. The action scenes are thrilling & intense, the performances from the whole cast mainly works, the animation is fine despite some stuttering movements at times and the story works when it sticks to its sources & allows Clark to become the slowly-developing tyrant that he’s in danger of becoming. Alas, the key change towards the end is what ultimately prevents the narrative from having the massive impact that it wants to deliver. While I can see this working with those who’re curious about this fighting game series, it could be a tough pill to swallow for those who’re already engrossed within the franchise.
Overall, this is a major conflict that ends up being conflicted towards its audience. While some various elements can potentially work with the young adult crowd (as a reminder, this is an R-Rated film), others will find it difficult to get behind due to some massive changes in terms of character roles and the overall story. Even though this won’t go down as one of the best within the overall DCUAOM series, it’s still worth a watch in order to properly judge for yourself and decide whether it’s an heroic attempt at entertainment or a fiendish betrayer of narrative justice.
Next Time: Who would’ve thought that when our Feline Fatale had set her sights upon a valuable jewel, it would put her in the crosshairs of a costumed superheroine, a worldwide policing organization and loads of famous super-criminals. How will our sleek burgular handle this harrowing ordeal? All will be answered within the realms of a tale known as “Catwoman: Hunted”.
Batman (created by Bob Kane & Bill Finger), Superman (created by Jerry Seigel & Joe Shuster) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
