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10 Comic Books That Deserve Their Own Animated Universe


We have all seen (and gloriously reveled in) the new era of live-action superheroes on the silver screen. Ever since we picked up those glossy pages and looked inside, every comic book lover has seen their heroes soar off the page and up, up, and away. With the DC Extended Universe trying to catch up to the MCU, and Fox somehow staying relevant thanks to the other hero in red Spandex, our heroes are becoming more and more alive.

But let us not forget the animated universes. Tucked away in direct-to-DVD releases are gems that remain hidden to all but the faithful. With a smaller budget constraint, many of our favorite tales can get the full casting they need for these epics that have captured the imagination.

In this list, I will be working exclusively on the Big Two. In compiling this list, it truly became too difficult to reconcile DC and Marvel with the small press (not to mention indie) graphic novels that deserve their own list(s). For another day. It’s time to strap on your cape and sally forth!

  1. Justice

    The introduction asked a question that comics have struggled with for so long. How does the villain view himself? In the face of a dream of the apocalypse, where the Justice League is ultimately powerless, the villains are torn from their usual roles as antagonists, and act in a way that could very well save their planet.

    I loved the opening sequences of this book by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross. The sight of Captain Cold building an iceberg in the middle of a desert. Poison Ivy giving food and regrowing the plants across the planet. Scarecrow curing diseases, Toyman giving functional limbs. They were becoming everyday heroes. Followed by the Alex Ross fight sequences that remain some of the best in the business.

    It did something that made the heroes question their very natures. While they were saving the world, were they improving it? Superman can fly faster than a speeding bullet, and yet never seems to have time to help the homeless. Batman can build Batmobiles til they’re going out of style, and Gotham starves because it’s billionaire is off playing hero. What use is a hero that just keeps everything the same?

    The reason this remains at the bottom is the ending. A techno-parasite created by Luthor and Brainiac? Sure it makes sense, but the issues being raised were almost quickly forgotten. Let’s make these heroes think about why they first donned cape and cowl.

  2. Enemy of the State

    Everyone seems to be in love with Mark Millar’s work. He’s had Kick-Ass, Kingsman, and even Wanted given the movie treatment. Old Man Logan is supposedly the inspiration for the latest Hugh Jackman appearance in the role. But Millar had another great story for the Berserker Canadian…

    Wolverine is the best at what he does. And what he does isn’t nice. You’ve heard it all before, and yet old Logan never seems to rack up a body count. Until he’s captured and brainwashed by the Hand and Hydra, and set loose upon those he once called friend. The stakes are upped with the addition of Elektra, Daredevil and the X-Men.

    One of the darker stories, Millar understood just how dangerous Wolverine was to the Marvel Universe. Surrounded by these veritable (and literal) gods of nature, Wolverine has held his own by his skills and a completely unfair regenerative ability. With this movie we could see why Wolverine is looked upon with just a taste of suspicion and fear.

  3. Identity Crisis

    One of the hardest comic books to ever read through. Brad Metlzer’s almost crime noir-esque story tells of the death of Elongated Man’s wife, the investigation to find her killer, and he exposure of some of the League’s darkest secrets. What follows is an examination of the heroes, and the depths to which they are willing to sink to protect themselves.

    This is one of the hardest psychological pieces that has come out of DC. While everyone is scrambling to discover the murderer, it becomes a question of what lines are crossed. Dr. Light, seen in ways that he never was before, becomes one of the most vile and hated villains, while his comeuppance is one that stained the souls of all involved. The fact that this was the comic that led to Batman leaving the Justice League should help express its gravitas.

    What is being seen now with The Killing Joke and Under the Red Hood is that DC’s Animated Universe is not afraid to delve into the darkness of comics. Adding Identity Crisis to the list would allow the audience to truly feel this great comic.

  4. Secret War

    Apparently we are missing out on some truly dark and twisted comic movies…

    Hear me out on this one. Secret War is so often overlooked as one of Brian Michael Bendis’ accomplishments to the genre. An examination into interventionist policy, this comic asks some questions both of comics and the real world. For comics, Nick Fury finally asks the question of how the heck all these loser villains keep getting such amazing technology? And when the answer is a political quagmire, how does a man who lives in secrecy respond to such known evil?

    Just looking at the cast helps set up just how in-depth Bendis considered this. The heroes are all solitary, conflicted characters. Nick brings them together both for their ideals, and how such ideals can be made useful. They are met with a villain in Lucia Von Bardas that is wrapped in political protections that can be just as dangerous as Doom’s armor. And through it all Americans have to ask the question if it all was worth it.

  5. The Twelve

    What if there was a simpler time? When heroes were heroes, the villains literal Nazis, and the good guy always won out in the end? And how would it all crash into the twenty-first century?

    Enter J. Michael Straczynski’s The Twelve. Taking the B-listers from the World War 2 era and bringing them into the present day brings the 40s crashing into our own morality. Both for good and ill (homophobia and racism being held in high esteem by many of our “heroes” just as they serve the public.)

    In our modern society’s wishful thinking for the golden days of yesteryear, The Twelve takes an honest look at how morality has changed. And asks the questions on whether it needs to change again.

  6. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe/Deadpool Killustrated...

    All of the above, please.

    Deadpool is our favorite wise-cracking merc. The constant rising popularity he has received both leading up to and beyond the Reynolds’ film almost demands an animated film of one of his greatest stories. Or at least one of his most gore-tacular.

    In this recent romp, Canada’s least favorite export has finally snapped and tries to wipe out existence, one body at a time. In case the title wasn’t clue enough, he does succeed, and then starts going into literature before starting in on his parallel selves. Seems simple enough, but what makes this particular story so memorable is how Deadpool goes about his murderfest. Every death is creative, over-the-top and almost chuckle inducing in its gore. Garth Ennis would be proud to call this his own.

  7. Marvels

    Finally! Something not constantly involved with darkness and nihilism. It had to be from the perspective of a reporter.

    Alex Ross’ art returns in this tale written by Kurt Busiek about Phil Sheldon, a reporter that comes to New York just as The Golden Age of Marvels begins. The Human Torch (the first one), Namor and Captain America burst onto the scene as this everyman is caught up in the middle of the new explosion of superheroes. For the next thirty years Sheldon is surrounded by the awesome wonder that surrounds him called the Marvels, trying to reconcile their power with morality.

    We all love our heroes. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be reading comics. But sometimes, we need to stop and consider the ordinary people in the world. Those who won’t be the chosen ones, who will never rise above a good husband or father. Marvels could bring a new angle to all of these superhero films, looking at the innocent bystander and asking what they think of these gods among men. Does he live in fear, suspicion, or wonder?

  8. Kingdom Come

    In part inspired by his work on Marvels, Alex Ross (who is on here for the last time, I promise) teams up with Mark Waid for an Elseworlds tale on the new world order. One that has embraced the killer instinct that has become so popular, much to the chagrin of the Man of Steel. After ten years in solitude, the last son of Krypton returns to find a new world at siege.

    Gotham City is controlled by an exposed Bruce Wayne. Wonder Woman has been cast out of Paradise Island. And the Justice League is run by a ruthless Magog, the new “Man of Tomorrow,” who isn’t afraid to get a little blood on his hands. No matter how many people he has to kill, he’ll get his man, and damn the irradiated consequences.

    I think every one of us has asked the big question of these namby pamby superheroes and their holier-than-thou morals. Why doesn’t Batman finally get rid of Joker for good? Lex Luthor has completely earned his death sentence. And Wonder Woman, why do you even carry a sword if you’re not going to use it?

    Kingdom Come represents something of an answer to this ‘realism,’ and in a scope that takes in almost the entire DC Universe. A gorgeous story that can bring heroes back up to those we aspire to, not just those who get the job done.

  9. Marvel 1602

    Queen Elizabeth summons her court physician, Doctor Stephen Strange, to question him about troubling weather plaguing the world. Her adviser is Nicolas Fury, a counter-intelligence expert of sorts experienced in ferreting out treachery. On the continent, the Witchbreed are individuals gifted with supernatural abilities, seemingly hunted by the Devil. Those who can take refuge with Carlos Javier…

    Neil Gaiman’s reimagining of the Marvel Universe in Elizabethan times is so high on this list because it is what it was meant to be: enjoyable. Seeing Thor appear in a time period closer to his own, while Richard Reed muses on the fundamental reasons of existence in the middle of battle just brings a new sense of joy. And Matt Murdock actually seems happy in this as a blind Irish Bard, all brought together with Gaiman’s usual wit and charm.

    In almost all of the movies we have seen, the heroes tear through the present, the future and the recent past. Giving the viewing audience something different, something almost formal in the midst of epic war is both refreshing and much appreciated.

  10. Red Son

    Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no! It’s Comrade Superman! Russia’s answer to the nuclear bomb, the gray and red clad alien fights for communism, Stalin and the proletariat masses. Enemies of the state, beware.

    Mark Millar’s tale of communist Superman is chilling not because he is suddenly the great evil of the world. Superman is not going to kill the capitalists and destroy America through conquest. He is actually still a man of principle, committed to the ideals that he has grown up with, while maintaining his need for no bloodshed.

    Imagine this animated movie. Tim Daly with a slight Russian accent, narrating a need for the Americans to understand the moral imperative of communism. Americans suddenly rallying around Doctor Alexander Luthor and his wife Lois. Would we finally start asking the question of whether Superman was amazing because he was American, or perhaps the other way around?

    Who is the real superpower?

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