Justice League vs The Fatal Five is the latest animated movie from DC Comics. Unlike recent animated movies this does not take place in the DC Animated Movie Universe. Justice League vs The Fatal Five is actually the return to the Timmverse, the original DC Animated Universe. Since it was just released at midnight today I will be keeping the spoilers to the minimum. Now onto the review.
Just hearing the voices of Kevin Conroy, Susan Eisenberg and George Newbern as Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman, respectively, was something that brought a smile to my face. These are the voices of these characters that I hear when reading any DC Comics with Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman in it. The trio do not miss a beat with their performances as Justice League vs The Fatal Five puts over why these three are the Trinity of the DC Universe.
Though Conroy, Eisenberg and Newbern were a major highlight the spotlight of Justice League vs The Fatal Five shines brightest on Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, who is voiced by Diane Guerrero. She is the main driving force for what happens in this movie, particularly the final act. This is appropriate given that Jessica Cruz is still a new character in the comics and mainstream fans aren’t aware of her like they are Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart. Her showing here does put her over as a Green Lantern you should be looking out for in the comics.
At the same time, some of the weakest storytelling that is done in Justice League vs The Fatal Five is from Jessica’s character arc. While we are given plenty of information to understand her character, Jessica’s evolution does go from full stop to 100 mph within a matter of minutes. This is particularly problematic given that there isn’t a large time gap to give the perception the character’s growth is permanent.
Jessica Cruz’s rushed development is nothing compared to Star Boy’s portrayal. This was not a good showing for this character, especially since this is really my intro into the character. More than anything, Star Boy is used as a plot device to move the story forward. There is never a time that he comes across as a character to root for. Instead he is just left in a bubble of repeating the same thing over and over and over again. This lack of compelling development made Star Boy’s big moment fall flat even though it was supposed to be deeply emotional.
I will say that Star Boy being a plot device did give us a few great scenes with the Legion of Super-Heroes. The scenes with the Legion of Super-Heroes were brief but every time they appeared on screen it was a show stealing performance. Even with the short time we spent in that time period it was enough to hope that in the future DC invests in making a full Legion of Super-Heroes animated movie soon.
While Star Boy’s arc was disappointing, Miss Martian’s involvement turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Pairing Miss Martian with Batman was an excellent choice. It allowed Miss Martian’s light hearted character to shine in relation to Batman’s brooding nature. As the movie went along we saw how Batman and Miss Martian’s relationship grew naturally. This also worked to play up Batman being someone that is a natural at training young proteges, even though he won’t admit it.
As for the Fatal Five they were definitely put over as a powerful threat that the Justice League would struggle against. That tone was set early during the first big fight certain members of the Justice League get involved in with the Fatal Five. That impressive showing made how the Fatal Five’s future tech made them unpredictable, even though they were down two members for much of the movie. Being down two members actually added understandable motivation for why they were causing the chaos in the present that they did.
Overall, Justice League vs The Fatal Five was a fun return to the Timmverse. From the return of Kevin Conroy, Susan Eisenberg and George Newbern to the JLU music and animation being used, there is a lot here to enjoy. The Fatal Five themselves were strong antagonist. Though there are some weak moments with certain character arcs, Justice League vs The Fatal Five is a movie you should watch if you are a DC Comics fan.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
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