The DC Animated Universe

[ABMorales787]

If you're a fan of western animation and don't know what the title means, you shouldn't call yourself a fan then. It's not rare for multiple shows to feature one shared continuity. It was fairly common in the 90's and now itcan happen in movies too. But the DCAU (Timmverse or Diniverse) can easily be considered the one with the biggest depth and length. Well, in animation. Starting in 1992 with arguably one of the best animated series ever with Batman: The Animated Series and concluding with the 3rd season of Justice League: Unlimited in 2006. That's 14 years of cartoon storylines. It was built off various series and created many a new material that has or is being adapted into DC's comics. Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze's sad backstory, Terry McGinnis, Roland Dagget (Yes, it still peeves me that they changed his name for TDKR) and on.

* Batman: TAS
* Superman: TAS
* New Batman Adventures
* Static Shock
* Batman Beyond
* Justice League
* The Zeta Project
* Justice League: Unlimited

It's simple. A trip down memory lane? What are your thoughts on this long-running universe? Do you think it was special? Favorite show/moments?

For me, Batman still remains the best. Particularly the episodes "Robin's Reckoning" (ep. 31 & 32) and "Growing Pains". The first features the backstory of Dick Grayson as well as him being angry at Batman hiding the fact that he's trialing his parents killer. Meanwhile Batman, being Batman, never bothered to say the reason until the very end. He feared losing his adopted son. It won an Emmy, so certainly wasn't. Then there's the second one I mentioned that features Tim Drake trying to help a young girl with amnesia who's being chased by her "dad". I don't wanna spoil it, but it's a pretty sad episode.

Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker is another favorite of mine. The movie features the guy somehow turning up 40+ years in the future nearly unchanged and we learn just how the Bat-Family broke up and why Bruce became so bitter even after the Justice League. In my eyes, Tim Drake fate here is far worse than whatever happened to Jason Todd in the comics. And Joker looks down-right satanic here.

Any other fond memories worth sharing?

 

[Notorious718]

No replies? Come on, guys! I love the DCAU. I'm not a big reader of the DC comics but I always had a soft spot in my heart for the cartoons. I wasn't aware that all of these DC cartoons took place within the same universe until a couple years ago when I got back into the DCAU and watched Justice League Unlimited. I was also very fascinated by following Batman in particular. I loved watching the turmoil in him when I was watching Mask of Phantasm when he was debating between staying true to his vow to fight crime in Gotham or abandoning the cowl to pursue a life of happiness with Andrea Beaumont. I really felt for the guy.

I also enjoyed Return of the Joker a lot. As a fan of the Batman Beyond series, it was pretty damn cool to watch Terry face off against Bruce's former nemesis and be the one to put a final end to him. It was also pretty bone chilling to see the fate of Tim Drake during the flashback. And speaking of Terry, I remember how much of a swerve it was for me when I found out his true biological parentage in the Justice League episode "Epilogue". Even though it wasn't the last episode of the series, I thought it did a fantastic job giving closure to Bruce Wayne's story.

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I have to say though that the series I'm most unfamiliar with is The Zeta Project. I do remember Zeta in a Batman Beyond episode and that's where he made his debut prior to him having his own show but I know little else about him.

 

[.]

The DCAU was a fantastic creation. DC in my opinion has always had superior heroes and far and away superior villains which resulted in fantastic episodes by writers who knew what they were doing. Definitely one of the highlights of my childhood(From what i can remember).

I have some episodes that i still fondly remember. These include:

Meltdown(Batman Beyond) - The DCAU just can't not do Victor Fries justice. This episode was so damn sad that i nearly cried after seeing it for the first time about 3 years back(It was repeating on some TV channel). I wanted to see Freeze succeed but no, he has a life plagued with pain and suffering after he trying to help the world. There's one lin in that episode that gets me all the damn time - "You're the only one who cares".

Legends of the Dark Knight(New Adventures[I think]) - It has an adaption of the Dark Knight Returns, what about this episode wouldn't want you to watch it? It's awesomesauce.

Mad Love(No idea) - An adaption of the story that details how Harley Quinn met the Joker and how she became his side kick and it's just as great as the comic itself. It did what the show did to nearly every character involved - made Harley a compelling character who we can somewhat understand. Stuff like this was so interesting to see and it was great.

Some Static Shock episode - Static wasn't really an all great series in terms of superheroics but rather focuses on other themes like racism and bullying. Sorry if i have no idea about this but i remember it fairly well. The man who would become Gear, Richie, a man who was always jealous of what Static had but we never knew that so well until this episode but always got hints of it. In this episode Richie finally gets the opportunity to have powers from some kind of dealer by touching him and soon enough he becomes addicted. It's a great episode telling the coercive tale of a guy whose best friend gets all this great attention while he just sits in the shadows doing absolutely fuck all. I loved seeing Richie get powers that stuck later in the series and finally getting what we saw he wanted without going overboard with it.

An honourable mention goes to an episode of Batman where Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Joker, Two-Face & Penguin are all playing poker. There, they all recount stories of how Batman foiled their plans in the past. It's a fun little episode seeing all these villains discussing one of the only little things they have in common. Also the humor is there and the episode itself contains a fun little surprise. Also loved the HP Lovecraft inspired episodes.

 

[GrandSword]

What Bruce Timm and his team has done with the DC Universe has been simply amazing, and something I think the Marvel guys are totally jealous of.

It is amazing how something like Batman and Robin exists when years earlier the Mask of the Phatasm was made. The DCAU is an absolute triumph and has too many high spots to name. BTAS was just an amazing project they just built from that strong foundation.

Also Kevin Conroy's vocals as Batman has always been great.

 

[Diet Soda]

One of the best episodes of Batman: TAS was 'Heart of Ice', the first to feature the modern version of Mr. Freeze.

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Freeze has always made for an interesting villain since his motivation isn't chaos or anarchy, nor greed or power, but to rescue the life of his cryogenically frozen wife, and to take revenge on those who stop him from doing so. Thus Freeze stands out from Batman's rogues gallery as he has no real personal vendetta against Wayne or the
Caped Crusader (at least in this continuity anyway).

The portrayal of Freeze in this episode captures the tragedy of the character in the back story. But overall I think my favourite part about this incarnation of Freeze is his voice; the calculating, emotionless, robotic sound is simply chilling. Yes, that is an Arnie-esque pun.

 

[ABMorales787]

Justice League's first 2 seasons were also something special. The episodes were always 2 parters (except a Christmas special and the premiere) and it had very well told stories. The Justice Lords arc that eventually leads us to CADMUS is a really good one particularly for Batman. The League version wants to make his parents proud while the Lord version took extra measures to ensure no one suffers the way he did. "And with that power we can live in a world were an 8 year old boy won't lose his parents because of some punk with a gun!". Batman drops his batarang realizing that even though it's wrong his counterpart does have a point.

Another interesting story is told on back-to-back episodes. The first is "Secret Society" were Grodd recruits several misfit villains to challenge the League. Shade points out that he failed at it twice, but Grodd reveals he's been slightly manipulating the League to distrust themselves. Leading Superman to proclaim that "every punch he takes is a risk his teammate don't take". He's nigh-invulnerable. Not even Wonder Woman is on his level. And the team feels shunned by his proclaiming that he's the most effective in the team. But the kicker comes the next episode when Toyman seemingly kills Supes. The Leauge realizes just how crippled they are without him. Oh, and Lobo shows up.