The Hardcore Review: Doom Comes To The Swamps… AGAIN! YAY!

So being a reviewer for a comic book based website certainly has it’s perks. Today you get to hear all about how I got to watch Justice League Doom BEFORE YOU! You’ll also get to hear about how awesome it was and how much you’re going to like it. And how dumb you are if you don’t. Animated movies like this make me wonder why studios are even trying to put together insanely budgeted live action team movies that can’t even come close to doing their comic book counterparts justice. Like that. Pun totally intended.

Justice League Doom the Bluray cover. It will no doubt have extra features that the regular dvd edition will not

Justice League Doom is perhaps the very best Justice League movie made to date. With Kevin Conroy voicing Batman and Tim Daly voicing Superman you have a solid core for this flick which is based on the JLA story from the late 90′s. This may have also been the last project written by Dwayne McDuffie, a man who brought a lot of the DC Universe to the forefront with the work he did on the JLU series and the work he did with Static Shock. I am “friends” with Dwayne on facebook, and it’s something I cherish. Even though I have never met him, and sadly never will, he has a legacy and a fanbase that loves everything he has done. And this animated movie is going to be included in that list of great accomplishments.

The JLA, with a conspicuously absent Batman

The world is a harsh mistress. Especially when you’re a member of the single most powerful superhero team EVER! And when a group of the DC Universe’s B Team villains unite to take out the heroes they loathe, things get freaking ugly, and I’m not talking about Mirror Master’s outfit. So, let’s get down to the players in this little dance. On the Justice League you have Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Flash (Barry Allen) and seconded by Cyborg. Fighting on the side of the Legion of Doom, which was totally awesome in and of itself, cause of how they worked the story were led by Vandal Savage (the man with the plan), Cheetah, Metallo, Bane, Ma’alefa’ak, Star Saphire (Carol Ferris) and the Mirror Master. The plan, flawless. The action, some of the best in the animated library of DC Comics.

The story was amazing, and again kudos to Dwayne for his writing on this movie. The choice of rogues used in this flick was great. There is nothing that didn’t make this movie awesome. Even the art style, which I was not a fan of when the flick started, grew on me. And being first and foremost an artist, visuals are immensely important to me. And when the movie started, I was underwhelmed. But as the seconds ticked off the timer, I became extremely excited to see what was next. Although, Bane’s S&M costume was kinda weird and made me feel somewhat uncomfortable, his mask was seriously cool. But it was no less revealing than Star Saphire’s, and that is what is peculiar about the comic book industry. A male character’s revealing outfit is thought about a lot less than a female character’s outfit, no matter how much or little flesh it shows.

Wonder Woman versus Cheetah screen capture from the movie

There is little else I can say about Justice League Doom that wouldn’t give major spoilers. But think about one of the single greatest Justice League stories you’ve ever read, and you may not even be prepared for Justice League: Doom, the newest feature length animated movie to join the ranks of DC Universe’s ever growing library.

This flick ranks up there with some of the best animated super hero movies in history. And to be honest, I sometimes wonder if I’m going to run out of grades for the growing list of projects I review. But I’ll do my best to keep with my system. This time, Justice League Doom rates one of the best Royal Rumbles ever to have taken place. The year was 1991 and a recent edition to the then WWF roster was then World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, who had recently left rival wrestling promotion WCW with their top title belt in tow.

Flair came into the WWF with the help of the single greatest manager in wrestling history, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and proclaimed himself the only World Champion. The WWF title had recently been vacated and in the interest of restoring order to the WWF, the 1991 Royal Rumble would winner would become the undisputed WWF Champion. Flair entered at number 3, at the time no one had won the 30 man over the top rope war at such a low entry. Heenan’s color commentary was amazing as some how, Flair outlasted future Hall of Famers and legendary performers such as The Understaker, Mr. Perfect, The British Bulldog, Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, Jake Roberts and more. It was a great time. And an amazing match. So good, that it was included in the first WWE produced “Best of” Ric Flair dvd sets. Of which there could be hundreds. But with the help of Hulk Hogan holding Sid’s arm, Flair tossed the behemoth over the top rope and became the undisputed World Wrestling Federation Champion.