Batman: Gotham By Gaslight - 10 Ways It Could Save DC's Animated Films

6. A Return To Proper Adaptations

Gotham by Gaslight Batman
Warner Bros.

Prior to the fallible release of Justice League: War, Warner Animation had made a name for itself cracking on with some truly authentic animated adaptations. They kicked things off with Superman: Doomsday - a somewhat flawed adaptation of the 1992 Death of Superman crossover - and continued with further adaptations of the Tower of Babel, All-Star Superman and more.

For the most part, they worked. Some were, of course, better than others, but the bulk of content that came out of Warner's animated departments during that period were fantastic, heartfelt works that really captured the essence of what made these books so special in the first place.

The aforementioned DC Animated Movie Universe just feels lame in comparison, a theme that can be owed to DC's efforts to synergise their animated efforts to their (then) burgeoning reboot. In that sense, not only do adaptations of the classic material feel like a more organic way of bringing DC's characters to the masses, they're also more successful too.

Indeed, the only critical flop we have to speak of in regards to these adaptations was The Killing Joke, a storyline that, like many other Moore works, was not ideally suited for either the big or small screen.

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Content Producer/Presenter
Content Producer/Presenter

Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.