10 Reasons Why The Justice League Cartoon Is Better Than The Film

8. It Had A Message

Amanda Waller Justice League Unlimited
Warner Bros. Animation

While Zack Snyder's DCEU may have garnered a reputation for bungling its sub-text, the same can't be said for Justice League, which seemingly shirked all attempts at having a meaningful conversation by dropping a gigantic green screen on its cast.

But, unlike both of those interpretations, McDuffie's Justice League most definitely has something meaningful to say, typified by the series' seminal CADMUS Crisis that bookended Unlimited's first season. Centred around Amanda Waller and her attempts to form a meaningful opposition to the increasing power of the Justice League, the story-arc dealt with the fallout surrounding the League's expansion and how that would impact upon a real world populace.

Waller's attempts to stifle Superman et al. don't emerge come from a place of malice in this sense, but rather from a profound sense of duty for her country. There are rogue elements at play, particularly when she uses Task Force X (everyone's favourite Suicide Squad) to disable the League's orbital headquarters, but - for the most part - you can understand the anxiety.

Said anxiety is best embodied by Jeffrey Combs' Question, the League's crackpot conspiracy buff who - for once in his life - uncovers one worth unraveling. He's the heart and soul of that arc, and the enduring image of the show's wit, warmth and intelligence (and fashion sense, depending on who you ask).

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.