Animate & Appreciate (10 Most Wanted DC Animated Movies)

Now that I've spit on the faces of the current DC animated movies, allow me to detail what comic book stories and characters NEED to be seen in animation. These aren't just stories I like, but stories that matter and need to be seen. Along with a story/character to base the film on, I also put the names of people I want to direct these animated films, most of them being the ones who originally wrote the stories in the first place. So, here are The Panel Biter's Top 10 Most Wanted Animated DC Movies!

10. Death of The Family (Scott Snyder)

If I have any disappointments with Scott Snyder's Batman run it was "Zero Year" and "Death of The Family". Don't get me wrong, the idea of The Joker hunting down Batman's sidekicks so it can only be the two of them again is pretty interesting, but since this is a one-and-done kind of story, can we actually have some sidekicks die? Like, Jason Todd can get killed the same way he did before, Batgirl could get shot through the spine and not survive. At least kill Alfred so we know how serious this is. There has yet to be an animated movie where the entire Batman family is featured, so having this be Batman's attempt to rescue the children he's mentored from his oldest villain could be pretty intense.

9. Knightfall (James Tynion)

Another Batman story at the bottom is the iconic "time Bane broke Batman's back" story "Knightfall". The problem with "Knightfall" is that it's too long. "Knightfall" is about Batman's defeat, "Knightquest" is about Bruce's journey to recovery, and "KnightsEnd" is his return. Meanwhile, you have his apprentice John Paul Valley taking his role as the new Batman too far, using power suits, and lethal force, and becoming The Terminator version of Batman. If James Tynion could shorten the story, we could have a pretty interesting saga. Between Bane, Valley's Batman, and Batman himself there is a thematic shift of blacks, whites, and grays of morality. Something like that could really give a action-packed story like this some actual intelligence. I mean we've seen Doomsday kill Superman like three times by now, it's not a bad idea to return to this story. At the very least seeing robo-Batman in animation would be sick.

8. Blackest Night (Geoff Johns)

Okay, so what if every dead DC Comic's character came back to life as zombies? And what if those zombies also became Black Lanterns? And what if the living heroes had to don various Lantern Rings just to compete against the zombies? AND what if this cosmic/horror/action story brought upon the revival of long-dead heroes? That's "Blackest Night" in a nutshell. You get to work with the entire DCU, obscure characters like Deadman and Black Hand, you get zombies and you get to see characters like Lex Luthor, Scarecrow, and Wonder Woman as Lanterns in animation! And we haven't had a Green Lantern based story in a while in animated movies. There's just so many cool ideas wrapped up in this story that I'm sure Johns could write an hour-long epic of life and death.

7. Superman: Red Son (Mark Millar)

Possibly one of the best Superman stories ever and-apparently-something DC animation is working on. That being said, I'm hoping a story about a Soviet-rasied Superman is as compelling in animation as it was as a comic. Imagine a world where the Russians had Superman on their side. A world where the US military weaponized the Green Lantern Ring and Batman was some Russian orphan who's parents were killed by Soviet agents. There are so many cool ideas in "Red Son" and such a potent point throughout that defines Superman's character and reveals no matter what he goes through he'll always be the boy scout for his people.

6. The New Gods (Jim Stalin)

The New Gods are a group of characters who really need a video game or a comic series or a TV show just to fairly cover everything they offer. Various characters with bizarre gimmicks and abilities, a whole mythology of events that led to a constant war between good and evil, life and death, light and darkness. Sometimes you forget these characters exist in the same universe as the DC heroes. Everybody may know Darksied, but an animated film could really flesh out the rest of the New Gods cast like Orion, Metron, Big Barda, and Mr. Miracle. You could even have it be a series of shorts like "Gotham Knights" or "Emerald Knights" which shows off the various New Gods. And I'm sure Thanos creator Jim Starlin would do a great job bringing Jack Kirby's world to life.

5. Birds of Prey (Gail Simone)

A sexy spy-thriller starring three of DC's most badass women? Sign me up! Huntress is basically DC's Punisher and Black Canary is like the Aunt of the DCU, and Barbara Gordon as Oracle is a character people need to see in action. I don't think DC Comics and Warner Bros realize what they're missing out on by having Babs be Oracle and a film like this could teach people how effective sitting in a chair behind a computer can actually be. You can add some other women in there two if you want, maybe Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn can be the villains. It's "Charlie's Angels" but with DC superwomen! Or would "Totally Spies" be a less dated reference?

4. Booster Gold (Dan Jurgens)

Well, duh! Booster Gold is a time-traveling superhero he stole his equipment is dead-set on making a name for himself. Advertisements, commercials, whatever he has to do to get famous. Booster isn't just a funny character, he has dimensions. His lust for fame comes from an insecurity, his ignorance to humility comes from a life of being a football quarterback everybody loved, and his knowledge of the future relative to now would be of zero use to him in truth, but then again he could always lie about the future. Booster is kind of like an anti-Superman and he really deserves a time in the spotlight just so people can see DC Comics superheroes aren't all cut from the same cloth.

3. Green Arrow/Green Lantern: Snowbirds Don't Fly (Dennis O'Neil)

Yes, a story about drugs. DC animation has touched on a couple important topics. Puberty, murder, mourning, and especially betrayal, but they have yet to do a drug story. And if their first drug story is "Batman: Venom" I'm gonna pull my hair out. In the 70's "Green Arrow/Green Lantern" dealt with a lot of social issues like race, sexuality, and drug-use. And even today Green Arrow has remained the least-annoying Social Justice Warrior alive. And with drugs being a hot-button issue even to this day, we could use a PSA treated like a serious event for the Arrow family. Plus, I think people need to realize that Lantern and Arrow having a book together wasn't a joke about their names, it was a play on their political policies. Hal is a conservative and Ollie is a liberal, we can't be afraid to show two people like that working together. And having two people with such different stances deal with their own teenaged ally doing heroine would be a dramatic story. If we really need that classic DC movie action, Roy Harper's dealer could be some some supervillian like Deathstroke or Brother Blood or The Brotherhood of Evil. Any excuse to get this cautionary tale out to the public.

2. Titans Tomorrow (Glen Murakami)

"Titans of Tomorrow" was originally a story in Geoff Johns' run on "Teen Titans", but I'd rather see DC go back and pay off one of their most beloved animated series "Teen Titans". We've already seen DC animation is willing to do films set in pre-existing universes like "Batman & Harley Quinn" being set in the now twelve-year old DC Animated Universe, and the possibility of a Season 6 return of "Teen Titans" is still in speculation. So let's give the fanbase something and do an animated movie set in the "Teen Titans" animated series universe. One of my favorite episodes was "How Long is Forever" where Starfire ends up in some depressing future where the Titans have split up, but with film we could see the whole team being sent to a future where The Titans are the warlords of Earth, much like the aforementioned comic book story and the "Justice Lords" story from "Justice League: The Animated Series". Robin and Beast Boy have taken new identities as Nightwing and Changeling, Raven has subjected the entire world into a slow-minded slave race to keep them from hurting each other, and The Titans have used freeze-technology from Season 5 to freeze all criminals and rebels who plot against them. Cyborg leads a resistance, there could be some joke about "Teen Titans Go" being a brainwashing cartoon for the masses. And maybe some answers to how Terra ended up and who Red X was. Whether or not "Teen Titans" comes back, people deserve some kind of severance for watching it's successor become three-times the cash cow the original series was.

1. Kingdom Come (Mark Waid)

"Kingdom Come" is my favorite comic book story of all time. Alex Ross' art is breathtaking, Mark Waid's brilliant writing was ahead of it's time, and the whole story still rings relevance to this day. In a world where Superman has quit and the rest of the superhero community with him, what becomes of villains, and allies, and people? New, young heroes run rampant as they cause property damage and destruction and kill innocent people in the crossfire. And with the imminent end of humanity or superheroes, it all comes down to a humble priest to choose which side lives and which side dies. "Kingdom Come" is home to tired, morally pushed Superman, an exiled Wonder Woman, and an old, police-state-enforcing Batman. It's battles between Superman and Shazam, Batman and Wonder Woman, and entire wars of heroes make it hard to ignore and a crime to forget. I don't know how well Alex Ross' art could look in motion, but I'd settle for no less. Moving paintings could be really good or really bad, but I'm willing to take an experimental chance if it means experiencing this awesome story in animation. When all is said and done, DC Comics may earn back the respect of it's animation fans if "Kingdom Come" could come to the screen.
Thanks for reading!
Which story sounds best to you!?