While DC has created many great animated films, they also have produced quite a few that did not live up to the same standards as their predecessors. From whiny characters to lack of detail and overall mediocrity, the DCEU’s worst flaws seem to be contagious. Not all of these films are inherently broken or unwatchable dumpster fires. However, some of them are pretty rough performance-wise. With that being said, these are some of the most disappointing DC animated films, ranked in ascending order –
Superman: Red Son
The Superman: Red Son comic was not created to fit other people’s standards. While it won an Eisner award in 2004 for the qualities of its artwork and story, that doesn’t matter much in today’s world. This story was more about human nature than anything else, and anyone who fails to understand this reality isn’t worth listening to. Quite frankly, the folks complaining about “forced new themes” or some nonsense like that are nothing but idiots with no understanding of what makes literature work.
Batman Vs. Robin
Damian Wayne is a repeat performer in this animated movie universe. It’s already tiring that he’s starring in films alongside Batman, who, as you know, is one of the most important DC characters, along with Superman and Wonder Woman. But what might be the worst part about all of this is that Damian Wayne is the lead character here and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like his personality has changed much whether he was previously portrayed by Mathew Morrison or Stuart Allan – which we find amazing because it definitely should. He really doesn’t have many redeeming qualities – on top of being unlikeable to boot!
Batman Unlimited
Watching the Batman Unlimited films is almost like watching an action-adventure video game wherein instead of you taking control of the characters; they just run around and fight the crime of their own free will. The difference here, though, is that it’s a bite-size adventure film – one that’s more suited to keeping children entertained while they’re out shopping. It would be fine if these films were around 5 minutes long as short trailers but as feature-length movies, they sort of go over the top and get a bit too involved for their own good. To cut a long story short, it’s cool that DC is releasing fun lighter games for fans to enjoy but really these Batman outings are just far too long and we’ve seen enough.
Batman: Hush
The Batman: Hush comic arc is one of the most well-liked comic story arcs in recent memory. The story follows one of the best Batman storylines and has intricate artwork as well as a fascinating original villain with a superb plot. However, how did the cinematic adaptation do? The animation style looked good and you could tell it was definitely inspired by another popular franchise that it’s been hard to avoid these days. However, given just how many subplots and major characters are cut from the film, this would have undoubtedly been a better choice to create an animated series from instead.
Batman: The Killing Joke
The opening prologue to The Killing Joke comic adaptation serves no purpose at all. It doesn’t hook anyone in, it doesn’t move the plot along, it doesn’t seem to fit with the nature of Batgirl and Batman and seems utterly out of character for both of them (probably because it is). This might very well be one of those occasions where a movie would’ve worked better without an opening credit sequence at all. What’s more, the actual storyline about Commissioner Gordon trying to find out who shot his daughter is underwhelming and bland – definitely not worth sitting through just to see an extremely pointless prologue gets mercifully cut short.
