Top 5 DC Animated Films

      June 12 marks the DVD release for Super VS. The Elite, the next film in the DC Animated Movies. With the next film on the way, I’ve taken a look at the previous 12 movies (excluding Justice League: Doom due to the fact that I’m still waiting to purchase the 2-disc special edition) and I have chosen my favorite five.

5. Batman: Under The Red Hood

     The intro is based on the Death In The Family storyline with the death of Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker. The plot was incredible with a lot of different action scenes and , like every good Batman story, a mystery, which was who the Red Hood was and what his real intentions were. It had a lot of depth with villains like Joker, Ra’s Al Ghul, Black Mask and the Red Hood, all with their own intentions to either control Gotham City’s criminal underworld or destroy Batman. But the Caped Crusader would not have to fight them alone, at least for the most part. Nightwing assists in Batman’s defeat of the machine called Amazo and helps track down and chase the Red Hood until he accidentally breaks his ankle and pretty much disappears for the remainder of the film. Under The Red Hood gathered a good group of characters that worked well together, took a classic Batman story and reworked it a bit and ended up with a great animated movie.

Favorite Moment: Batman recalls the moment when he met Jason Todd in crime alley. The scene right before his rooftop battle with the Red Hood.

4. Superman: Doomsday

     Almost every single one of these DC animated movies is based on a popular DC comic series or graphic novel, and for this first film in the series, that is completely true. Superman: Doomsday takes the highlights from “The Death Of Superman” storyline from the early 1990’s. The killing machine known as Doomsday has made it’s way to Earth’s surface and battles the Man Of Steel. Superman is eventually able to defeat the monster, but only by sacrificing himself. A funeral is held in his honor and several months pass before his “return”. Unlike the comic book, which featured the arrival of four different Supermen, the movie only features one Superman clone. The Death Of Superman is the best-selling Superman comic book ever, so it was an excellent choice for the writers of the animated film to recreate that for their first movie.

Favorite Moment: Superman sacrifices his own life to put an end to Doomsday’s destruction by plummeting them both to Earth’s surface, creating a large crater with the monster at its center.

Doomsday: A History Of A Monster

     This character has always been one of the more “interesting” of the DC Universe. It’s origins and attributes have been altered throughout its history in comics and television. But whether it is a failed experiment of Cadmus Labs, an intellectual serial killer in space or the ultimate weapon/ killing machine from Krypton, there is nothing that can be as powerful, menacing or dangerous as Doomsday.

     Yes, you can obviously make the argument that Doomsday is not the most powerful. The first person that comes to mind would be Superman, of course, but as I distinctly remember, he died at the spike-knuckled hands of this creature.

     Many comic readers may just remember Doomsday as that mindless monster who killed Superman that one time (although it was a pretty great accomplishment, not many people can put that on their resume when applying for a job as a super villain), but Doomsday has a very rich history in comics, a history that began long before The Death Of Superman.

     Doomsday was once a character known as “The Ultimate”, who was born on Krypton during prehistoric times. Through a very hard to understand storyline, this baby would one day grow up into that monster we all love to hate. The Ultimate was able to escape Krypton by hitching a ride on a transport ship. And after years of killing on several planets, The Ultimate almost had a meeting with the infamous Darkseid. Unfortunately, toxic fumes from the planet’s chemicals made for a nasty battle arena, so Darkseid had to leave.

     I don’t want to get into more detail then I have to, but after killing a few dozen Green Lanterns, the inhabitants of the planet Calaton combined their powers to capture The Ultimate in a metallic casket, which was shot into space and eventually landed on a planet where the impact of the crash buried it miles underground. This planet was Earth.

     And thus began one of the best Superman stories ever. After years of new writers and new ideas, Doomsday’s story will change and hopefully improve. But with a character with so much history and potential, I think Doomsday writers will have more then enough ideas to possibly recreate another story as amazing as The Death Of Superman. Doomsday has become a household name (for comic fans), a comic book legend for years to come, one of Superman’s greatest adversaries of all time, and the one that defeated him.