The 10 Best DC Animated Movies
Ever since Batman hit theaters in animated form there have been a fairly steady stream of animated films from DC and Warner Animated Studios - especially since the late 2000s. All told there are 42 animated movies featuring Batman, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League with three more on the way in 2020. It might be a little bit overwhelming for some. Where does one start? In this article I will examine which are the best and most essential of all of DC's animated movies.
Let me start by explaining the genesis of this project, which began way back in October around Episode 67 of The Movie Lovers. I would regularly see ads for the 2019 DC animated movies - Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, Batman: Hush and a few others - as well as see several available for purchase at the local Target. I got to thinking after a certain point, 'How many of these things are actually good?'. I'd seen a handful in the past: Mask of the Phantasm, Year One, The New Frontier, and a few others. But there were at least a couple dozen others I hadn't.
So, I started doing a Google search for the best DC animated movies, best Batman animated movies, and best Justice League animated movies, and came up with six different sites with different lists (I can't remember which ones specifically at this point, but they were the primary search results). There were a couple of overlaps. Figuring the objective truth of which are the best lies somewhere between these lists, I made a master list of the 20 films that appeared on more than one of these lists and formulated it based on their average rankings.
Below is the master list:
20. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
19. Justice League: The Throne of Atlantis (average rank: 17.5)
18. Batman and Harley Quinn (16)
17. Batman: Bad Blood (13.5)
16. Justice League vs. the Teen Titans (11)
15. Justice League: Dark (10.5)
14. Justice League: War (10.5)
13. Wonder Woman (2009) (avg rank: 8.67)
12. Justice League: Gods and Monsters (8)
11. Justice League: Doom (7.25)
10. Batman: Year One (7)
9. Batman: The Killing Joke (6.5)
8. All-Star Superman (6)
7. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (5.1)
6. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (4.8)
5. Justice League: The New Frontier (4.3)
4. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (4)
3. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2.75)
2. Batman: Under the Red Hood (2)
1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1.3 - clearly most often at #1 on these lists)
You'll notice the most recent movies on the list are from 2017. So, I decided to use this as a guide for myself and add a few movies since then in order to see what I thought myself of these films. If a movie released pre-2017 did not make this list I did not take it into consideration with only one exception. Therefore, you won't see movies like Gotham Knight, Assault on Arkham, Son of Batman, and Mystery of the Batwoman on this list.
What's also interesting to note that I discovered through my research is there are three different shared universes, so to speak, within all of the primary animated movies considered. There's the DC Animated Universe, also known as the Timmverse, which involves any movie within the universe of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited - all of which are related. There are pretty much only six films in that series. Then there's the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, which started in 2007 with Superman: Doomsday and pretty much includes every movie related to the Justice League and its members. There are 36 movies in total since 2007 with Superman: Red Son and two other films releasing later on in 2020. This group includes all of the odd one-off movies like All-Star Superman, Gotham by Gaslight, and Batman: The Killing Joke. Within that is the DC Animated Movie Universe. This is pretty much every film since 2014's Justice League: War, which followed the continuity-altering Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox. This is essentially a new continuity of films that includes Justice League and its members. It does not include odd one-offs like Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Batman: Ninja... man, there's a lot of weird Batman movies. At any rate, most of the oddball one-offs were not considered for this project.
A huge shout out should be given to Andrea Romano, who was a huge part of DC animated history. She was the voice director for practically everything from 1992's Batman: The Animated Series to 2015's Justice League: Gods and Monsters - that's on top of 90+ other credits as voice director. She is a legend in this area and things would look a lot different for DC and Warner Animation's library if not for her.
Okay, here we go...
10. Justice League: Doom (2012)
This film was unique and intriguing, as it played with the idea that Batman, ever the cynic, would feel the need to create safeguards against each member of the Justice League, just in case. Now, what if those safeguards were discovered and executed by a group of villains? There's a lot to like about Doom. It's climax gets a bit silly, having something to do with making the Earth and every little object and creature in it somehow momentarily intangible in order to save the day (...whatever). But it's always cool to see a team of super villains mostly working together, especially when it brings to life lesser-known characters like Vandal Savage and Ma'alefa'ak (good luck pronouncing that one). It's all really solid and Doom is one of the only films to combine the best voice actors of each member of the League: Tim Daly (Superman), Kevin Conroy (Batman), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern), Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter), and Michael Rosenbaum (The Flash). There's very little to complain about here. It's also one of the last solid entries before the DC Animated Movie Universe got started.
9. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
This film introduces the concept of the multi-verse and focuses mostly on the characters from Earth 2 where Lex Luthor is a good guy and the Justice League is a group of villains called the Crime Syndicate, with evil versions of basically every member. This film gets kudos for pulling off a tricky premise and villain plot (Owlman, played by James Woods, wants to essentially cause a chain reaction that would destroy all of the millions of alternate universes). It takes a bit more focus than your average DC movie. It was originally intended as a story that would bridge the Justice League series to Justice League Unlimited, but was scrapped and recycled into this film. The voice work is a mixed bag (William Baldwin may be the worst Batman), but it's not too shabby overall.
8. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
This film didn't even rank on most of the lists I used in my research, so it ended up at the bottom. I really don't understand why. It's funny, it has a high-stakes conflict, it's quite edgy, and it introduces Supergirl. It also has Ed Asner as Granny Goodness, which is awesome. Speaking of the cast you also have Andre Braugher as Darkseid, Summer Glau as Supergirl, and the original voices of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman (Conroy, Daly, and Eisenberg, respectively). It has a really great plot with a curious Kara-el who ultimately feels suffocated by an over-protective Superman. And there's some brutal fight scenes involving a trio of henchgirls on Apokolips, Darkseid's enormous ship. Apocalypse is a fun flick and deserves more credit than it usually gets.
7. Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker (2000)
Batman Beyond is a series that has a huge fanbase, but never really interested me. It took me a while to get around to watching The Return of the Joker years ago. And I remember being impressed by it. Watching it a second time, 20 years after its original release, I was struck by how edgy it was for a Timmverse film. It gets pretty dark after Joker kidnaps Tim Drake (I'll refrain from saying anything more). It has an interesting balance of cartoonish action you expect from the TV shows and more mature stakes. This film offers an intriguing idea of what happens when Bruce Wayne is too old to be Batman and what would happen if one of his biggest rivals were to somehow return. The Return of the Joker offers one of the most intriguing and fascinating stories DC ever put to animation and is highly respected for good reason.
6. The Death of Superman (2018)
Why is this the only entry from the DC Animated Movie Universe that started in 2014? Because most of those 13 films (9 of which I've seen) are fine, but not great - and occasionally not that good. But this film knocked my socks off. Now, you could see it as one-half of one story, The Death and Return of Superman, and in that sense it might feel a bit incomplete. But it's a bit like the recent IT movies where one half is solid, but the other half fails to stick the landing, so you're better off sticking with the first one. On its own, Death of Superman is bloody and intense as a mysterious force of extraterrestrial nature destroys and kills everything in its path without mercy. Heads get crushed. Bodies get smushed. There's a lot of crushing and smushing in general. It even appears the Justice League will be the next to fall in this creature's path. This film excellently adapts the legendary 1992 story in ways the neutered, poorly animated 2007 film that kicked off the DC Universe Animated Movies didn't. Because the film plays with our emotions - a bit of humor in the first act, unrelenting terror in the second act - the final act is able to surprise us by moving us. No other DCAMU film has that power so far.
5. Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
This was sort of the game-changer that led to where DC animated movies are today. Set presumably in the same universe as several of the other films in the DCUAOM, Flashpoint was a means to create a more streamlined continuity and what is now known as the DCAMU. It's sort of like the animated movie version of DC's New 52 reboot from a couple years before. All of that stuff aside, what Flashpoint really offers is the only Flash-focused animated movie. It features many of his villains because of this, which is fun on its own. But, DC/Warner have played with the idea of dark versions of the core characters with Crisis on Two Earths and Gods and Monsters. Flashpoint Paradox is probably the most interesting of them all, partially because it gives us a different timeline rather than a different universe, so you get to see the characters you know and love make greatly different decisions in their lives, which occasionally means they have diametrically opposing attitudes and views of the world. As a result, this film gets dark. Two characters who may be lovers in the proper timeline may now be strangers and one may kill the other. It's a very intense experience, especially as you see characters drop like flies with no solution in sight. It's also grounded by a very emotional decision the Flash makes and the consequences of that decision. DC stories are rarely emotional, being more about some external threat. The character designs aren't always among the best Warner Animation has ever done, but the film as a whole is really damn good.
4. Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Now we're getting into the cream of the crop. The best of the best. These are the films that are definitively the best DC and Warner Animated has to offer no matter who you ask. We start with this adaptation of the Darwyn Cooke story, now considered one of the best JLA stories ever made. The film, released in 2008, was the second film of this new era of DC animation where the studio aimed for its late teen and adult audience with mature tones and content. The New Frontier gave fans hope after the dismal Doomsday. It successfully translated Cooke's nostalgic Golden Age-like art and contrasted it with a merciless Wonder Woman, suggestive moments, and more explicit deaths. One of the great elements of The New Frontier - aside from its stellar cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Kyra Sedgwick, Lucy Lawless, and Brook Shields - is its ability to weave so many disparate characters and locations and bring them together as a team to combat an evil force. The New Frontier is a gem.
3. Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
It's crazy that this movie is already a decade old. But that era between 2008-2013 was cranking out more hits than misses and this is definitely one of the hits. The film opens with an adaptation of the late-'80s story Death in the Family with Joker beating to death a major character before Batman can come to the rescue. It sets the tone and reminds viewers that these movies are no for kids. Whether the story maintains the bar set by the opening is up for debate, but the rest of the film is about a new character hitting Gotham and taking out the underworld's heavy hitters. Mob boss Black Mask, now featured in Birds of Prey in theaters, is brought to life from the page for the first time. He's manic, but menacing and impulsive (a perfect rival for Harley in BoP). He walks this line between comic and violent. There's a few times where stunts stretch the realm of credibility, but overall Under the Red Hood is a solid crime film with a third act that asks some interesting morality questions.
2. Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
For many, this is the creme de la creme of DC animated movies. It's also the first and one of the only ones to have a wide theatrical release. It's easy to see why it's so beloved. It is really smart. It dives into the early days of the Batman vigilante. It involves Joker without feeling cheap or forced. And its title villain is just as good a character as most of Batman's wonderful rogues gallery. The Mask of the Phantasm is a virtually flawless film.
1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013)
There is no film in the DC animated oeuvre as meaty and satisfying as The Dark Knight Returns. Adapted from Frank Miller's legendary game-changer, The Dark Knight Returns not only follows the original text almost to a 'T', but also delves into character themes about whether or not we can ever let go of who we were in the past. It is that question and the pull Bruce Wayne feels when his city is losing control to a community of amoral youths that brings him out of retirement and leads to a chain-reaction of other characters from his past succumbing to their previous urges. At two and a half hours it is definitely the longest DC animated movie, but it never drags or feels bloated with unnecessary plot points. It's also the only film on this list to leave you with questions and thoughts to ponder and discuss long after it is done. The Dark Knight Returns is easily the best DC animated movie ever made.
Honorable Mentions:
Justice League: Gods and Monsters.
The 5 Worst...
5. Justice League Dark (2017)
4. Justice League: War (2014)
3. All-Star Superman (2011)
2. Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
1. Superman: Doomsday (2007)
All in all, I ended up having only minor differences with the consensus ranking of DC animated movies. But what do you think? Am I crazy? Do you have thoughts on any particular movies? Let me know!