10 Lessons the DCU Must Learn From DC’s Best Animated Shows

With Superman doing so well both at the box office and critically, it’s fairly certain that James Gunn‘s DCU is going to be taking off and continuing forward for quite some time. This isn’t the first time DC has had a shared universe, though, and no, neither was Zack Snyder‘s “Snyderverse”. The first real DC connected universe took place on television: the DCAU. This universe contained some of the best DC series of all time, including Batman: The Animated Series.

There have also been plenty of other amazing DC animated shows outside of that, too. Like Teen Titans and Young Justice. Regardless of being DCAU or solo, the animated content from this brand has been so successful and popular because of how genuinely amazing the shows are. If James Gunn wants to ensure that the DCU is going to be a banger through and through, there are some lessons he could take from these animated shows and what made them great.

10

Have a Rotating League Roster

‘Justice League Unlimited’ (2004)

After the masterpiece that was the first Justice League animated series, the folks at Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics decided to keep the series going with a new title: Justice League Unlimited. What made this follow-up so special and different was the fact that this show featured way more characters from the extended DC universe, and the Justice League’s roster was constantly changing based on the threat at hand.

Having a rotating League roster not only keeps things unique and interesting, but also allows other characters to shine and be built up successfully, thanks to the fact that they’ll be fighting alongside the likes of Superman (David Corenswet), so all eyes will be on them. Not to mention the fact that this will also give the filmmakers the opportunity to show off different character dynamics based on who is teamed up with whom.

9

Ensure the Villains Are Compelling

The DCAU

The entirety of the DCAU did a phenomenal job at making sure that the villains the heroes were fighting weren’t always some Saturday morning cartoon villain of the week. Sure, some were, but the important ones always had time given to them to be compelling and interesting to the viewer. Almost all of Batman’s (Kevin Conroy) villains in Batman: The Animated Series had character arcs and genuine complexity.

Another great example is in Justice League Unlimited Season 3, Episode 5, “Flash and Substance”, when the heroes need information from Flash’s (Michael Rosenbaum) iconic villain, Trickster (Mark Hamill), and he’s not giving up the info they need. While Orion initially comes at him with force, Flash intervenes and sits Trickster down to simply talk with him, as he understands that his foe is genuinely just an unstable guy, and he truly doesn’t want to fight or hurt him. He presses him about taking his medication and genuinely wants to help him. Moments like this in the DCU would help these villains become so compelling and make the heroes look even better.

8

Give Us World’s Finest

The DCAU

Audiences have already seen Batman fight Superman. People are done wanting to see them fight (for the most part). What would truly make the DCU both unique and entertaining would be—rather than making essentially another Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—to give viewers the “World’s Finest” team-up and have the two be besties, as they should be.

Some of DC’s best stories come from these two titans working together. This is something that hasn’t really been seen in film, besides the last half of Act Three of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Seeing these two finally working together and being the friends everyone truly knows them as would not only set the DCU apart from what’s come before, but also craft such a fun character dynamic between DC’s two largest characters on screen.

7

Embrace the Street-Level Heroes

‘Static Shock’ (2000)

Sure, the Justice League and massive characters like Superman and Green Lantern are great and all, but that doesn’t mean that the DCU should at all shy away from the street-level heroes like Static Shock—a fan favorite. Static Shock, Green Arrow, Nightwing, Cassandra Cain, Wildcat, and more all not only help expand the DC universe, but are essential parts of it.

The MCU has definitely struggled with this in the past until recently, by having pretty much no street-level heroes—now having Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), and a few others. Heroes that look out for the every day citizen and deals with the criminal organizations and smaller villains of the world can often be more compelling and relatable than those who are jumping into space to fight the likes of Darkseid.

6

More Animal Pals

‘Krypto the Superdog’ (2005)

Krypto the Superdog (Ozu the Dog) was easily one of the brightest highlights of this year’s Superman, and that’s partially because everyone loves a good animal sidekick. Little do most general audiences know, though, but there are a ton of other animal pals in the DC Comics world like Ace the Bat-Hound, Dex-Starr, Storm the Seahorse, and so many others.

If James Gunn wants to recapture the love people had for Krypto in other pieces of DCU media, it would be an incredibly smart idea to include more DC animal heroes. Animal protagonists are unbelievably easy to get an audience connected to and that’s almost a secret sauce to getting people more invested in the plot and characters before them.

5

Introduce the Bat-Family

‘The Batman’ (2004)

While a lot of people really want Robert Pattinson‘s Batman from The Batman to be the DCU’s Caped Crusader, another Batman from a project also called The Batman shows proof of why maybe having a DCU-exclusive Bat would be a more unique idea. While they most certainly could begin introducing these characters in The Batman Part II, it would be a great opportunity to introduce a Batman who already has a Bat-Family surrounding him.

The Batman (Rino Romano) from the animated The Batman grows into having his own Batgirl (Danielle Judovits) and Robin (Evan Sabara), and having a Bruce Wayne who already has these characters and more (Nightwing, Red Hood, Tim Drake, etc.) would be a huge moment for the DC hero in cinema. There hasn’t been a Batman project in quite some time where he’s had any sort of Bat-Family or even Robin. The DCU is where audiences could get that next and quickest.

4

Bring in Lesser-Known Characters

‘Justice League Unlimited’ (2004)

Something special that the entire DCAU did—Justice League Unlimited in specific—was use the bigger characters to introduce people to lesser-known characters from the DC mythology. For example, in the aforementioned moment where Flash talks to Trickster after Orion tries to attack him, no one knew who Orion was before that. They do now, though.

The DCU has already started doing this through Creature Commandos and Superman with Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), and that’s because it’s always been clear that James Gunn has a love for the lesser-known characters in DC and Marvel mythology (because who knew about the Guardians before Guardians of the Galaxy?) So long as they continue to do this, the DCU has the opportunity to make some new household names to sell more toys and movies/television shows.

3

Balance Tone Well

‘Teen Titans’ (2003)

One of the most beloved DC animated series is quite easily Teen Titans. It’s honestly one of the most beloved animated series from the early 2000s as a whole. Something that this show did exceptionally well was the way it balanced tone, being able to go between super humorous moments and surprisingly serious ones.

Teen Titans could go from hilarious chibi-style bits to Robin (Scott Menville) hallucinating Slade (Ron Perlman) even after he died, messing with his mind and making him go a bit mad. The way that they gracefully execute going between these two tones is stupendous and makes both the comedic and serious moments work very well thanks to the contrast between them.

2

Embrace the Comic Book Feeling

The DCAU

The entire DCAU is very good at embracing the comic books and not letting the inherent goofiness and camp that can come with that medium and those stories hold them back. It does so while still taking itself seriously and not treating these things like jokes (most of the time). Superman is already doing this and did it very well.

From this point forward, it’ll just come down to ensuring that for characters where the tone can be balanced (probably not the best idea to have a ton of jokes in a Batman movie), that Gunn picks a director who can juggle tone well. Upcoming projects like the live-action Teen Titans one or Supergirl definitely need to be able to balance tone well.

1

Emphasize the Sidekicks

‘Young Justice’ (2010)

One of the best DC animated shows of all time is Young Justice, a Teen Titans-like show that features the best sidekicks of the DC universe coming together to make a team of their own. While the main titans of the Justice League are the most popular DC heroes, their sidekicks are actually some of the most interesting. Like Wally West, a sidekick who ends up becoming the hero he served under (and to many, is a better Flash than Barry).

Whether it be any of the many Robins, Wally West, Aqualad, Superboy, or any of the many other DC sidekicks, these characters are genuinely some of the most interesting DC heroes out there. Sidekicks have never, ever been focused on or even featured in DC movies of the past and the DCU is the perfect opportunity to change that.

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