What’s next for the DC Animated Universe? How Mark Millar’s Superman: Red Son, Justice League Dark: Apokalips War, and Superman: Man of Tomorrow?
First up: Superman: Red Son based on the Mark Millar, Dave Johnson and Killian Plunkett Elseworld’s mini-series from 2003, that answers the question, “What if Superman’s shipped had crashed in the the Soviet Union, instead of Kansas?”
Of all the Superman tales currently available under the DC Animated Universe, I like All-Star Superman the best, but now that Red Son is coming out, I have a feeling I will have a new favorite.
Also announced at the Batman: Hush world premiere panel the Spring 2020 release of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, which is a sequel to 2017’s Justice League Dark. You may remember Justice LEague Dark as one of the few R-rated animated movies Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released, and I expect we’ll see the same rating applied to the sequel.
The final full-length movie announcement of the night was Superman: Man of Tomorrow, making TWO Superman titles arriving in 2020. Batman fans are going to have to sit in the corner with their arms crossed in frustration I’m afraid, as this will be an original story taking a look at Superman during his early years.
I like the idea behind this one, but if DC really wanted to grab my attention, they’d adapt Tom De Haven’s 2005 novel, It’s Superman, that is set in 1935, as Clark Kent learns of his powers during the Great Depression, and learns what it means to become a hero, even if he does some not good things in the process.
While hearing about these animated features is great, what has me very excited is the return of the DC Showcase series of short films – if you have never seen The Spectre animated short, stop what you are doing right now and go check it out. Coming our way in 2020 will be shorts featuring Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, Death, The Phantom Stranger, and an adaptation of Batman: Death in the Family.
