Summary
- DC animated films continue to receive positive reception from critics and audiences.
- Legion of Super-Heroes had their first feature-length movie, expanding their presence in DC animated projects.
- Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham adapts a popular comic book arc, offering a standalone story outside the current DC animated universe.
The DC Universe franchise continues its successful tradition of crafting animated movies, with several confirmed projects in 2023. While a lot of the previous DCEU live-action movies, such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, have been divisive, the DC animated films have been mostly positively received by critics and audiences. A total of six animated movies were released by DC in 2022, including DC League of Super-Pets, Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, and Catwoman: Hunted, a self-contained story with no connections to any universe.
Green Lantern: Beware My Power was 2022's last entry in DC's “Tomorrowverse.” The name is a reference to 2020’s Superman: Man of Tomorrow, and it is used to describe DC’s new animated universe following Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. The Tomorrowverse currently consists of six movies, and the list will continue to grow in 2023. That said, the DC 2023 slate of animated films is not restricted to the Tomorrowverse chronology. Here’s every DC animated movie that released in 2023.
Every Batman Animated Series Ranked Worst To Best
From Silver Age cartoons like The Adventures of Batman to the DC Animated Universe shows, here is every Batman animated series, ranked worst to best.
Legion Of Super-Heroes Is The Team's First Feature-Length Movie
Released February 7, 2023
DC’s beloved futuristic heroes received their first feature-length movie in 2023’s Legion of Super-Heroes, released on February 7. Although the Legion of Super-Heroes already starred in their own animated TV show in 2006, the team of young heroes has only recently started to be featured in more DC animated projects. The Legion of Super-Heroes was brought into 2019's Justice League vs. the Fatal Five movie, as well as into Young Justice season 4. Now, the story of the superhero team, often led by Superboy or Brainiac 5, has been told in an animated movie set in the Tomorrowverse.
Justice League Society: World War II already introduced the concept of time travel and alternate realities in the new DC animated universe, which makes a possible crossover between the Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes more likely. Legion of Super-Heroes follows Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl, as she trains with the 31st Century's Legion of Super-Heroes to battle the Dark Circle, a terrorist organization. Meg Donnelly voiced Supergirl, while she was ed by Harry Shum Jr., Darren Criss, Matt Bomer, Jensen Ackles, and more in an all-star voice cast.
Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham Shows One Of The Dark Knight's Best Alternate Universes
Released March 28, 2023
Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is an adaption of the comic book arc of the same name from DC Comics. The Mike Mignola and Richard E. Pace comic was released in 2000, and it places Batman in a period adventure set in 1928. Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham features some of the most famous Batman villains, such as the Penguin and Mr. Freeze, reimagined as Lovecraftian figures. The animated Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is a standalone feature with no connections to the current DC animated universe, and released on Blu-ray and Digital mediums on March 28, 2023.
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes And Huntsmen, Part One & Two Combine Superheroes And Anime
Released April 25, 2023 & October 17, 2023
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang ed DC's heroes in 2023, via a crossover between the RWBY anime series and the Justice League in two feature films. In 2021, a seven-issue RWBY Justice League crossover comic book was released, and it featured the world of Remnant’s version of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The Justice League x RWBY movies are not an identical retelling of the comic book crossover, but rather a brand-new story, exploring more of what it would be like if the two worlds collided.
Justice League: Warworld Continues DC's Tomorrowverse In A Major Way
Released July 25, 2023
Justice League: Warworld is the sixth movie of DC's Tomorrowverse, and is the first Justice League movie in this chronology. After introducing Superman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Batman in previous Tomorrowverse movies, the franchise initially skipped the formation of the Justice League - as seen in Green Lantern: Beware My Power. The movie has received mixed reception for its more anthology-styled approach to its storyline, though this doesn't appear to have stopped the production of its sequel, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, which releases alongside a slew of other DC Universe movies in 2024.
Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! Combines Two Beloved Warner Bros Series
Released September 26, 2023
Continuing the theme of DC animated crossovers, Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! features a team-up between Scooby-Doo and Superman's dog Krypto, allowing the pair of iconic pooches to go on their own adventure. The movie was one of the many direct-to-dvd feature films that saw the Scooby-Doo gang enter another universe, and saw itself in a seemingly fraught position during the early restructuring of the DC Universe, with rumors circulating that it was set to be canceled for tax write-off purposes. However, this didn't turn out to be the case - which was confirmed in July 2023, months before its release in September.
All 10 Animated Superman TV Shows, Ranked Worst To Best
From the iconic Fleischer Superman shorts to the DC Animated Universe timeline, here is every Superman animated series, ranked worst to best.
Merry Little Batman Provides A Seasonal DC Movie
Released December 8, 2023
While Merry Little Batman isn't a conventional Batman movie, it does serve as an entertaining interlude for those looking for an extra serving of stories about the DC hero and his family during the seasonal period. Merry Little Batman follows the story of a young Damian Wayne being accidentally left alone during Christmas Eve, and taking up his father's mantle to protect himself and Gotham from its supervillain threats. The film's almost-Home Alone style plot promises to entertain, while hopefully introducing yet more people to Batman's biological son, which may well help to set up the DC Universe Batman movie and its version of the character along the way.
