Justice League vs the Fatal Five (2019)

[Silver Nemesis]

This trailer has a pleasantly nostalgic DCAU vibe. It's nice to hear Conroy, Newbern and Eisenberg reuniting in their classic roles.

[thecolorsblend]

How the crap did I not know about this?! THE FATAL FIVE!!!!!

I went through a pretty massive Legion Of Super-Heroes binge last year, especially the Five Years Later stuff. I'm a pretty big Legion fan and it's my most fervent wish that this movie somehow leads to more Legion stuff coming out. I maintain that a Legion Of Super-Heroes live action TV show or movie or animated something or other, ANYTHING is a potential gold mine if it's handled right.

And Newbern and Conroy are back, what's not to like? Shut up and take my money!

[Silver Nemesis]

[thecolorsblend]

Can't. Freaking. Wait.

This one movie could breathe some much-needed new life into the Legion. But even if nothing else comes from this, it looks great!

[The Laughing Fish]

I watched this last night.

While it was nice to hear the DCAU Trinity coming together again and the action was quite good, the plot needed some more polishing. I liked Jessica Cruz and Thomas Kallor's arcs for the most part, but some aspects were sloppy.

I thought Miss Martian was the only character who was shoehorned and underdeveloped. She plays more of a comic relief role. I suppose Carl Lumbly wasn't available to reprise his role as Martian Manhunter? I would've preferred to have him back.

As for the Fatal Five themselves, they may not have much depth as characters, but they're definitely the most violent villains ever seen in the DCAU. This film itself is also the most bloodiest I've seen in that continuity, a LOT of the action would've been banned from the original JL cartoons. Particularly Jessica Cruz's backstory.

Overall, despite naturally having better animation than most DC animated films nowadays, it's also a typical DC animation film nowadays. Which means it's worth seeing if you're a JL cartoon fan, but it won't have much rewatch value.

My favourite scene would have to be Two-Face at Arkham Asylum, with Bruce Timm doing a Richard Moll impression.

[The Laughing Fish]

I was watching Justice League Unlimited recently. It somehow missed my attention that the Fatal Five appeared in the episode Far From Home, where the Legion of Super-Heroes brought Supergirl, Green Lantern and Green Arrow to stop the villains, and ending with Supergirl declaring the 30th Century her new home and getting romantically involved with Brainiac 5.

It looks like I'm not the only one who forgot about the Fatal Five had already appeared in JLU, Bruce Timm thought he hadn't done anything about them before. He revealed the film wasn't going to have anything to do with the DCAU designs initially, but changed his mind when he didn't want people to confuse it with the New 52-style films.

I was having second thoughts whether or not Justice League vs the Fatal Five was in continuity in the DCAU, but Timm confirms that it is connected.

In terms of which Fatal Five-related production I prefer, I'm rather indifferent. I can see the Supergirl and Starboy arcs having some merit, but the Fatal Five villains simply aren't all that interesting. In terms of genocidal villains in these animated films, I much prefer the nihilistic Owlman from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.