*Originally published on 4/19/11
Both Marvel and DC have found quite a bit of success releasing direct to video animated movies. The DC ones have generally been better (though being a DC guy myself, I'm somewhat biased), but the question remains, which are the best. In the interest of fairness, I won't include the DCAU movies, though I do recommend "Mask of the Phantasm".
1. Wonder Woman
I'm a relative newcomer to the Wonder Woman fandom. I only started reading the comics after hearing good buzz about Gail Simone's run (which I enjoyed and recommend). For all the talk about how Wonder Woman can't hold her own movie, this feature manages to counter that sentiment in spades.
The characters were fleshed out, the action scenes were spectacular, and it gave the character a chance to shine. The movie ended on an effective sequel hook, but sadly, it looks like it won't happen since the DVD was somewhat disappointing in terms of sales.
Even so, this was a good movie, and I still feel like it's the best that the company has put out thus far.
2. Green Lantern: First Flight
This movie chronicles Hal Jordan's first adventure as a Green Lantern. As his origin was already covered in depth in "New Frontier", the producers decided to have the "origin story" take place before the credits even rolled. This enabled them to move on and tell a full story. It's a tactic that worked both here and in the live action "Incredible Hulk" reboot, yet Hollywood doesn't seem to use the tactic enough, choosing instead to tell origin stories repeatedly.
3. All Star Superman
I had high hopes for this one as I was a big fan of the comic. Like with "New Frontier" a lot had to be cut out for time, but it was still a darn good movie.
As the comics were fairly self contained, the movie comes off as a bit episodic, but they managed to tie it together well enough that it didn't feel too jumpy.
4. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
While I enjoy the solo adventures in terms of superhero stories, I really like seeing them all come together to take on larger threats. This movie enables us to see all of our favorite DC heroes in action.
This was supposed to be a DCAU movie originally, but it got delayed and when it was released, they decided to tweak it so that it stood on its own. You can still clearly see the ties though, so you could call it DCAU "canon" if you wanted to.
The action was top notch and I really enjoyed James Woods' voice work as Owlman. He pretty much stole the show and made the villain one of the creepier ones in recent memory.
5. Justice League: New Frontier
I haven't read the comic yet, though I hear that quite a lot was cut. As far as comparisons go, I'm operating blind, but I did enjoy the movie. The animation, voice acting, and story were all well put together. It could have used a bit more Keith David, but hearing him voice the villain was still highly enjoyable.
Final thoughts
There are other movies set to be released over the course of the next couple of years. So, in time, this list could be rendered obsolete. As it stands now, however, this is how I would rank the top releases so far.
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