Well, as the headline reads, the upcoming animated film ‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’ will be the last set in this DC shared universe. This cycle kicked off with ‘Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox’ in 2013, which was followed by ‘Justice League: War’, ‘Son of Batman’, ‘Justice League: Throne of Atlantis’, ‘Batman Vs. Robin’, ‘Batman: Bad Blood’, ‘Justice League vs. Teen Titans’, ‘Justice League Dark’, ‘Teen Titans: The Judas Contract’, ‘Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay’, ‘The Death of Superman’, ‘Reign of the Supermen’, ‘Batman: Hush’, and ‘Wonder Woman: Bloodlines’.
Of course, there have been multiple DC animated movies released during this time that have not been connected to this shared universe, and Warner Bros. Animation will continue to create and release original DC animated flicks– they will just be free-standing. There is also the possibility that they could establish a new shared universe with a different art style and direction.
This sequence of movies was meant to reflect DC Comics’ “New 52” reboot, which launched in 2011. Ironically, the film series has outlasted the publishing initiative, which began to unravel in 2015, with the “Convergence” crossover. It should be noted, however, that the films themselves drifted away from some of the “New 52” concepts– like Superman dating Wonder Woman– as it incorporated elements from the more “classic” DC comic continuities and adapted storylines that were printed well before the “New 52” relaunch, like ‘The Judas Contract’, ‘Hush’, and the ‘Death’ and return of Superman.
It was already known that ‘Apokolips War’ would be the biggest of these direct-to-video movies and would feature the returns of most of the voice actors for the previous projects. The film will mainly center on Superman, John Constantine, and Raven, with Jerry O’Connell, Matt Ryan, and Taissa Farmiga portraying them, respectively.
The voice cast will also include Sachie Alessio as Lady Shiva, Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne/Robin, Sean Astin as Shazam, Jon Bernthal as Trigon, Ray Chase as Jason Blood/Etrigan, Roger R. Cross as John Stewart/Green Lantern and Swamp Thing, John DiMaggio as King Shark, Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Matt Lanter as Aquaman, Camilla Luddington as Zatanna, Liam McIntyre as Captain Boomerang, Sumalee Montano as Mera, Nyambi Nyambi as J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter, Tony Todd as Darkseid, and Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn.
‘Apokolips War’ looks pretty epic! This DC Universe is definitely going out with a bang, but that’s not all. Much like the major crossover events in the comics, it appears that there will be casualties. The trailer has already shown that at least two MAJOR characters will be killed, and it’s quite possible even more will fall. But when you think about it, this will be the last time we see ALL of these versions of these characters, so maybe that will mitigate any mourning.
To be honest, I think this version of the DCU could have gone on for many more years. I’ve never been blown away by any of these direct-to-video movies, but they’re not bad, and I love the art style. (Almost identical to that used on ‘Young Justice’.)
‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’ will be released on digital on May 5, and on Blu-Ray, and 4K on May 19.
Are you sad to see the end of this DC shared universe?
Source: ComicBook.com
