Justice League vs. Teen Titans

Justice League vs. Teen Titans is a 2016 direct-to-video animated superhero film directed by Sam Liu from a screenplay by Alan Burnett and Bryan Q. Miller. It is part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and DC Animated Movie Universe. The film features the voices of Jon Bernthal, Taissa Farmiga, and Jason O'Mara.

Justice League vs. Teen Titans
Promotional poster
Directed bySam Liu
Produced byJames Tucker
Screenplay by
Story byBryan Q. Miller
Starring
Music byFrederik Wiedmann
Edited byChristopher D. Lozinski
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Home Video
Release date
  • March 26, 2016 (2016-03-26) (WonderCon)
  • March 29, 2016 (2016-03-29) (United States)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film had its world premiere at WonderCon on March 26, 2016, and was released through digital download on March 29, 2016. It was released through home media on April 12, 2016, by Warner Home Video.

Plot

Years ago, the demon Trigon gave birth to his daughter Raven with the human Arella. When Arella discovered his demonic nature, she runs away and is taken in by the Azarathians, who live in another dimension called Azarath. One day, Trigon finds and destroys Azarath along with Arella. Raven manages to imprison Trigon inside a magical crystal in Hell. Sometime later, she meets and joins the Teen Titans. In the present-day on Earth, Trigon sends a demonic corruptor to Earth, which briefly possesses Weather Wizard, following a battle between the Justice League and Legion of Doom. Ignoring his father Batman's instructions beforehand, Damian Wayne helps defeat the entity, but leaving the League with no background information from it.

As a consequence for his reckless actions, Damian is sent to join the Titans and meets Starfire - their leader, Jaime Reyes - a teenager infused with technology that turns into a beetle, Garfield Logan - a metahuman with the ability to shapeshift into any animal due to a rare disease he discovered when he was 10, and Raven. At first, Damian doesn't get along with them, believing he can be a better leader. Meanwhile, Batman and Cyborg investigate the earlier attack. Superman is later possessed by one of the entities and brutally damages Atomic Skull, grabbing the attention of Diana and Batman. Before calming him down with Kryptonite, Batman learns the entity was after the "girl". Batman then requests Cyborg to help him in tracking her. Elsewhere, the demonic Superman raises a gate somewhere in the desert.

Starfire takes the Titans to a carnival in order for them to try and get along. Unbeknownst to the Titans, Raven is called by Trigon's entities, who attack Raven, but is aided by the Titans. After the attack, Raven explains her backstory to the Titans, who had not learnt about it even before Damian joined. Returning to the Tower, the League attempt to take Raven but Flash and Diana are possessed by the entities, knocking out Cyborg and Batman during a battle. With the Titans weakened by the entities, Raven takes the latters to Superman and summons Trigon to Earth. Cyborg awakens and uses his Apokoliptian technology to teleport them to Superman. Damian stabs Superman with Kryptonite, releasing him from his possession, who then heads to release the entity from Flash - by kicking and breaking his leg, and Diana - by using her Lasso of Truth.

The League stay behind on Earth to battle Trigon with Cyborg joining the Titans to Hell. Upon arrival, Gar is taken over by an entity but is saved by Jaime. Damian confronts a demon in the form of his deceased grandfather Ra’s al Ghul[N 1] as Raven uses a spell to create a magical prison to detain Trigon, forging the crystal in her forehead. A reluctant Raven decides to stay on Earth with the Titans. In a mid-credits scene, a mysterious girl[N 2] with metahuman abilities is seen heading towards the Titans Tower.

Voice cast
Voice actor Character
Justice League
Jason O'Mara Bruce Wayne / Batman
Jerry O'Connell Kal-El/Clark Kent / Superman
Rosario Dawson Diana Prince /
Wonder Woman
Christopher Gorham Barry Allen / Flash
Shemar Moore Victor Stone / Cyborg
Teen Titans
Stuart Allan Damian Wayne / Robin
Kari Wahlgren Koriand'r / Starfire
Taissa Farmiga Rachel Roth / Raven
Brandon Soo Hoo Garfield Logan / Beast Boy
Jake T. Austin Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle
Villains
Jon Bernthal Trigon
Steve Blum Lex Luthor
Toyman
Terrence C. Carson Ra's al Ghul
Rick D. Wasserman Weather Wizard
Solomon Grundy
Atomic Skull

Production

The film was announced by DC Comics, along with Batman: Bad Blood, in July 2015 during the San Diego Comic-Con International.[1] The voice cast was revealed on January 18, 2016, including new cast members Jon Bernthal, Taissa Farmiga, Jake T. Austin, and Brandon Soo Hoo, and returning cast members Rosario Dawson, Jerry O'Connell, Jason O'Mara, and Christopher Gorham.[2] Frederik Wiedmann was reported to be composing the score to the film on January 27, 2016.[3]

Distribution

Marketing

In January 2016, the first official image from the film was released, as well as an image of Jon Bernthal recording voiceover for the film.[2] A sneak preview of the film was released as a bonus feature on Batman: Bad Blood.[4] The sneak preview of the film was released online later that month, along with the film's official trailer.[5][6] In March 2016, two clips from the film were released.[7][8]

Release

Justice League vs. Teen Titans had its world premiere at the Los Angeles WonderCon on March 26, 2016.[9] The film was released via digital download on March 29, 2016, and straight-to-DVD and Blu-ray on April 12, 2016.[10] A gift set of the film was released with an exclusive Robin figurine.[11] It was released straight-to-DVD on May 30, 2016, in the United Kingdom.[12]

Sequel
Main article: Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

An adaptation of The Judas Contract was planned as the third DC Universe Animated Original Movie, to be released after Superman: Doomsday (2007) and Justice League: The New Frontier (2008).[13][14] It was announced in 2006 but later put on hold.[13][14] This film was to be based on "The Judas Contract" story from 1984 featured in Tales of the Teen Titans #42–44 and Teen Titans Annual #3 by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.[15] Warner Bros. Animation's writer/producer Bruce Timm confirmed in April 2010 that there were no current plans to revive the project.[16] In July 2016, however, Warner Bros. announced that the project has officially been resurfaced as Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and would serve as the sequel to Justice League vs. Teen Titans.[17][18] In January 2017, it was announced that Farmiga, Austin, Wahlgren, Soo Hoo, Allan and Maher reprise their roles, and Christina Ricci and Miguel Ferrer have joined the cast.[19] The film was released on April 4, 2017, and is the final film role of Ferrer, who died on January 19.

Critical reception

Brian Lowry of Variety gave the film a mixed review, saying, "It's more disposable than the best entries in this animated franchise."[20] Eric Diaz of Nerdist awarded the film a rating of 3.5/5, writing, "The movie is mostly entertaining with some pretty fun action beats. It captures the essence of the Titans, shown mostly as they were portrayed in the animated show, but with a slightly more grown-up feel."[21]

The film has earned $4,534,710 from domestic home video sales.[22]

Notes
  1. following his death from the 2014 film Son of Batman
  2. identified offscreen as Terra, marking continuity to Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
gollark: Well, this is very heretical.
gollark: People talk about gender bias in tech quite a lot, and weirdly enough my computer science class next year of 11ish people is entirely male.
gollark: I'm sure if you have free healthcare, *it* could never be overloaded or anything.
gollark: There's 9axes, too, which... has 9 axes... so that would be a political... 9-cube.
gollark: Well, 8values has 4 axes, so you could map it onto a political tesseract.

References
  1. Curto, Eric (July 11, 2015). "Two New DC Animated Film Coming 2016". DCComicsMovie.
  2. Sands, Rich (January 18, 2016). "Roll Call: Meet the Cast of Justice League vs. Teen Titans". TVInsider.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  3. "Frederik Wiedmann Scoring 'Justice League vs. Teen Titans'". Film Music Reporter. January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  4. McGloin, Matt (January 18, 2016). "Justice League Vs. Teen Titans Animated Movie Announced". CosmicBookNews.com. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  5. Jayson, Jay (January 24, 2016). "Justice League Vs. Teen Titans Sneak Peek Released". ComicBook.com. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  6. "Watch: Justice League Vs. Teen Titans Preview Trailer". CosmicBookNews.com. January 24, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  7. Siegel, Lucas (March 22, 2016). "Justice League vs. Teen Titans Clip Features Suped-up Demon Weather Wizard". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  8. Siegel, Lucas (March 29, 2016). "EXCLUSIVE: Teen Titans Train Together in Action-Packed Justice League vs. Teen Titans Clip". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  9. Perry, Spencer (February 3, 2016). "Justice League vs. Teen Titans to Premiere at WonderCon". SuperHeroHype.
  10. Gerding, Stephen (January 29, 2016). ""Justice League vs. Teen Titans" Releases Box Art, Release Date & Blu-ray Details". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  11. Osburn, Alex (January 29, 2016). "Justice League Vs. Teen Titans: Box Art and Home Entertainment Release Details". IGN. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  12. "Justice League vs Teen Titans [Blu-ray]". Amazon.com. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  13. "DC Universe DVD Releases Coming from Warner Bros". MovieWeb. July 24, 2006. Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2006.
  14. Harvey, James (February 28, 2008). ""Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" Animated Feature On Hold". WorldsFinestOnline.com. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
  15. "'Comics Buyer's Guide' Fan Awards Archives". CBGxtra.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
  16. Marnell, Blair (April 27, 2010). ""Green Lantern" And "Wonder Woman" Animated Sequels Aren't Happening, Says Bruce Timm". MTV. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
  17. "Top 5 Easter Eggs in 'Justice League vs. Teen Titans' That Reveal More About the DC Animated Universe". Moviepilot. March 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  18. Damore, Meagan (July 23, 2016). "SDCC: "Justice League Dark" Animated Film Confirmed; "Teen Titans" & More Announced". Comic Book Resources.
  19. Kit, Borys (January 19, 2017). "Christina Ricci, Miguel Ferrer Join Voice Cast of 'Teen Titans' Animated Movie (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  20. Lowry, Brian (March 28, 2016). "Blu-Ray Review: 'Justice League vs. Teen Titans'". Variety.
  21. Diaz, Eric (March 30, 2016). "Review: Justice League vs. Teen Titans". Nerdist Industries. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  22. "Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)". The Numbers. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
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