Ranking Every DC Original Animated Movie Worst To Best
When it comes to animated features, DC shows Marvel who's boss.
It can't be denied that Marvel is well ahead of DC when it comes to live-action output and building cinematic universes, but there's one front on which they can't compete. When it comes to animated movies, DC has been the reigning champion for over a decade.
Bruce Timm, the godfather behind DC's cutting edge 90's toon shows (like Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League: Unlimited) left the serialised arena in 2007 to start a venture that would focus on large-scale, adult-targeted animated adaptations of iconic DC storylines taken straight from the comic book page.
It was a concept that bewildered a few and although it took a while for it to gain momentum, it's turned into a cartoon powerhouse that is creating cutting-edge animation, as well as some of the best superhero features being made, period.
Still, with no signs of slowing down (the output is currently at 30 films with two more already in production), sometimes, it's an issue of quantity over quality, making the task of sifting through the wheat and finding the chaff to avoid all the more essential. So which of the features is best?
30. Superman Vs. The Elite (2012)
This was based on What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way? by Joe Casey, written response to the popular, violent trends that mainstream superhero stories were taking in the early 2000's and how it reflected on our old-school heroes.
The plot has Superman becoming forgotten in the modern age as the murder prone supergroup The Elite take the world by storm and conflict with Kal El himself.
It makes for a bizarre choice in source material. After all, Casey's biting satire was fitting in the early 2000s but over a decade later is it still that relevant? Superman is straight-up breaking necks in cinemas nowadays.
It doesn't help that The Elite do not make for strong adversaries either, basically boiling down to a bunch of 'bad kid' cliches with no memorable traits or strengths. The worst culprit is leader Manchester Black, a punk rocker wannabe with explosive kinesis powers and a hideous attempt at a British accent. The writers attempt to go into to his backstory to justify his negative attitude, but you'll be hard-pressed to care.
Add to that some lame character design and ugly animation and you have a surprising stumble from the solid animation studio. If there was a sole redeeming factor, it's that the finale packs a bit of power as Superman turns the tables on his tormentors and finally delivers some justice to their obnoxious faces. Unfortunately, it's long overdue by that point.