DC's 10 Most Disappointing Animated Movies
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VOICE OVER: Andrew Tejada
WRITTEN BY: Izhan Arif
We wish we could unsee these movies... or shall we say De-See them? Ha! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most disappointing animated DC films. Watch out for minor spoilers ahead! Our countdown includes movies “Justice League: Warworld”, “Wonder Woman: Bloodlines”, “Superman: Unbound” and more!
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most disappointing animated DC films. Watch out for minor spoilers ahead! Is there an animated DC movie so bad that you can’t believe we missed it? Tell us in the comments!
While “Throne of Atlantis” is far from an atrocity, it definitely fails its main character. The film is supposed to be about Aquaman’s rise from aimless adult to king of the seas. However, he’s routinely sidelined in favor of the other members of the Justice League. The other heroes constantly outshine him within scenes. Outside of the hero problem, the villain was also another major issue. Ocean Master is a ridiculously over-the-top antagonist who comes off as too cartoony to take seriously. Additionally, his generic take over the world plan led to a cliched final battle between the heroes and a faceless army. Thanks to a stereotypical plot and lack of focus on Aquman, “Throne of Atlantis” failed to make waves.
This film definitely had an out there premise. When the Batfamily is transported to feudal-era Japan via Gorilla Grodd’s time machine, they must stop villains and figure out how to get back. Its unique artstyle and let’s say…“inspired” character designs were off-putting for many fans. To make matters worse, the pacing’s all over the place. Big characters like Bane just come and go with little explanation as the story goes on. And at times, the voices for characters like the Joker can feel completely off. There are times where “Batman Ninja” feels fun and delivers cool action sequences. But its lack of a coherent plot and jarring visuals ultimately prevented it from being enjoyable for everyone.
This anthology movie lets multiple heroes tell their own stories. While this could've made for a great Green Lantern highlight reel, the overall product was a mixed bag. The stories themselves range from being decent to utterly boring. And despite taking place over different time periods and on various planets, the segments are somehow part of one plot. The final battle between the Green Lanterns and a villain named Krona doesn’t get enough setup for us to get truly invested. And while the animation is pretty solid, sometimes you feel like the constructs look more lively than the actual characters. Whether you know a lot or a little about the Green Lanterns Corps, this movie will take a lot of extra willpower to sit through.
We were excited about a tale that would pit the man of steel and his cousin Kara against the superintelligent Brainiac. However, the execution left a lot to be desired. At times, Superman’s characterization can come across as a bit frustrating. He seems more annoyed than usual and doesn’t seem to gel with his cousin all that much. It doesn’t help that Supergirl is not written that well either. Speaking of writing, the movie’s plot is so overstuffed that entire storylines are abandoned at the finish line. And the way Brainiac is actually defeated is incredibly unsatisfying. “Superman: Unbound” had the opportunity to be utterly brilliant. Instead, a few baffling story choices held the epic tale back.
The story of a Superman who turns evil after losing Lois has been adapted to several mediums. While the video game and comic versions of the narrative took their time to show the hero’s fall, the “Injustice” movie tried to cram about five years worth of lore into less than 80 minutes. As you could imagine, that didn’t go so well. Pivotal moments from the source material were completely ignored. At the same time, bizarre changes like the death of the Flash got added in for no clear reason. The rushed story builds up to an epic battle…that ends abruptly when an alternate universe Lois shows up. If we’re being honest, the way this movie turned out was an injustice of its own!
Everyone’s favorite amazon starred in a movie where she attempts to battle the evil Villainy Inc and help a troubled girl named Vanessa along the way. What should’ve been a straightforward and action-packed story got very confusing fast. While parts of the plot serve as a prequel to “Justice League War”, the rest of the narrative takes place later in the timeline. This strange storytelling method is further held back by hollow dialogue and a fairly forgettable plot. Iconic Wonder woman characters like Cheetah, Ferdinand the Minotaur, and Medusa should’ve been great. But they all felt like obstacles for the heroine to overcome instead of fully formed characters. Wonder Woman deserved a much better story than the one “Bloodlines” provided.
Although this was supposed to be a crossover movie between two kid-oriented properties, it failed to satisfy fans of either. After Lex Luthor sends Earth’s superheroes into the Phantom Zone, the remaining members of the Teen Titans and the Superhero Girls must team up. Or, at least that’s what they were supposed to do. While the Teen Titans do show up, their appearances are sparse. The “DC Super Hero Girls” are clearly the stars of the show and have the lion’s share of the film. Outside of the disappointing lack of crossover scenes, the by the numbers plot offers little to keep the audience’s attention. This film ultimately fails to give fans anything it promised on the tin.
This movie’s basically one giant toy commercial. Actually, scratch that, this entire franchise of unlimited films feels like feature length ads! (xref), In “Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem”, the dark knight and a large supporting cast of heroes team up to stop Joker and his many allies. The movie’s bloated cast makes it hard to get invested in any of the characters. Additionally, the designs for both the heroes and villains feel off. But the most egregious problem with the movie is the constant advertising. Every time Batman or Joker’s forces pull out a new vehicle, you get the feeling that they’re just trying to market yet another toy. The film’s lack of depth and shallow structure made it the worst of the already rough “unlimited" franchise.
After members of the Justice League are mysteriously taken to a harsh gladiatorial realm, they have to team up to liberate it. While the main plot is supposed to be focused on Warworld, the movie spends an excessive amount of time in different settings. Wonder Woman in the Wild West, Batman in Skartaris, and Superman in 1950s America are all interesting stories! However, this anthology approach ultimately makes it easy to lose track of the overarching plot. “Warworld” was supposed to be a big event film that highlighted the best parts of the new DC animated reality known as the “Tomorrowverse”. However, it ended up being a disjointed mess that let down all of its heroes.
On paper, it seemed like adapting one of the most acclaimed Batman stories ever made would lead to nothing but success. But the film went down as a massive failure. For starters, the movie doesn’t begin by adapting anything from the graphic novel. Instead, the writers added a plotline where Batgirl takes center stage and gets romantically involved with Batman. Fans found the relationship between student and mentor to be extremely uncomfortable. This added storyline also comes off as exploitative. Since the original graphic novel sees Batgirl suffer cruel torment at the Joker’s hand, viewers felt the writers built her up just to see her fall. By the time the movie actually started adapting the events of the “Killing Joke”, many had already lost interest.
#10: “Justice League: Throne of Atlantis” (2015)
While “Throne of Atlantis” is far from an atrocity, it definitely fails its main character. The film is supposed to be about Aquaman’s rise from aimless adult to king of the seas. However, he’s routinely sidelined in favor of the other members of the Justice League. The other heroes constantly outshine him within scenes. Outside of the hero problem, the villain was also another major issue. Ocean Master is a ridiculously over-the-top antagonist who comes off as too cartoony to take seriously. Additionally, his generic take over the world plan led to a cliched final battle between the heroes and a faceless army. Thanks to a stereotypical plot and lack of focus on Aquman, “Throne of Atlantis” failed to make waves.
#9: “Batman Ninja” (2018)
This film definitely had an out there premise. When the Batfamily is transported to feudal-era Japan via Gorilla Grodd’s time machine, they must stop villains and figure out how to get back. Its unique artstyle and let’s say…“inspired” character designs were off-putting for many fans. To make matters worse, the pacing’s all over the place. Big characters like Bane just come and go with little explanation as the story goes on. And at times, the voices for characters like the Joker can feel completely off. There are times where “Batman Ninja” feels fun and delivers cool action sequences. But its lack of a coherent plot and jarring visuals ultimately prevented it from being enjoyable for everyone.
#8: “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” (2011)
This anthology movie lets multiple heroes tell their own stories. While this could've made for a great Green Lantern highlight reel, the overall product was a mixed bag. The stories themselves range from being decent to utterly boring. And despite taking place over different time periods and on various planets, the segments are somehow part of one plot. The final battle between the Green Lanterns and a villain named Krona doesn’t get enough setup for us to get truly invested. And while the animation is pretty solid, sometimes you feel like the constructs look more lively than the actual characters. Whether you know a lot or a little about the Green Lanterns Corps, this movie will take a lot of extra willpower to sit through.
#7: “Superman: Unbound” (2013)
We were excited about a tale that would pit the man of steel and his cousin Kara against the superintelligent Brainiac. However, the execution left a lot to be desired. At times, Superman’s characterization can come across as a bit frustrating. He seems more annoyed than usual and doesn’t seem to gel with his cousin all that much. It doesn’t help that Supergirl is not written that well either. Speaking of writing, the movie’s plot is so overstuffed that entire storylines are abandoned at the finish line. And the way Brainiac is actually defeated is incredibly unsatisfying. “Superman: Unbound” had the opportunity to be utterly brilliant. Instead, a few baffling story choices held the epic tale back.
#6: “Injustice” (2021)
The story of a Superman who turns evil after losing Lois has been adapted to several mediums. While the video game and comic versions of the narrative took their time to show the hero’s fall, the “Injustice” movie tried to cram about five years worth of lore into less than 80 minutes. As you could imagine, that didn’t go so well. Pivotal moments from the source material were completely ignored. At the same time, bizarre changes like the death of the Flash got added in for no clear reason. The rushed story builds up to an epic battle…that ends abruptly when an alternate universe Lois shows up. If we’re being honest, the way this movie turned out was an injustice of its own!
#5: “Wonder Woman: Bloodlines” (2019)
Everyone’s favorite amazon starred in a movie where she attempts to battle the evil Villainy Inc and help a troubled girl named Vanessa along the way. What should’ve been a straightforward and action-packed story got very confusing fast. While parts of the plot serve as a prequel to “Justice League War”, the rest of the narrative takes place later in the timeline. This strange storytelling method is further held back by hollow dialogue and a fairly forgettable plot. Iconic Wonder woman characters like Cheetah, Ferdinand the Minotaur, and Medusa should’ve been great. But they all felt like obstacles for the heroine to overcome instead of fully formed characters. Wonder Woman deserved a much better story than the one “Bloodlines” provided.
#4: “Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse” (2022)
Although this was supposed to be a crossover movie between two kid-oriented properties, it failed to satisfy fans of either. After Lex Luthor sends Earth’s superheroes into the Phantom Zone, the remaining members of the Teen Titans and the Superhero Girls must team up. Or, at least that’s what they were supposed to do. While the Teen Titans do show up, their appearances are sparse. The “DC Super Hero Girls” are clearly the stars of the show and have the lion’s share of the film. Outside of the disappointing lack of crossover scenes, the by the numbers plot offers little to keep the audience’s attention. This film ultimately fails to give fans anything it promised on the tin.
#3: “Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem” (2015)
This movie’s basically one giant toy commercial. Actually, scratch that, this entire franchise of unlimited films feels like feature length ads! (xref), In “Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem”, the dark knight and a large supporting cast of heroes team up to stop Joker and his many allies. The movie’s bloated cast makes it hard to get invested in any of the characters. Additionally, the designs for both the heroes and villains feel off. But the most egregious problem with the movie is the constant advertising. Every time Batman or Joker’s forces pull out a new vehicle, you get the feeling that they’re just trying to market yet another toy. The film’s lack of depth and shallow structure made it the worst of the already rough “unlimited" franchise.
#2: “Justice League: Warworld” (2023)
After members of the Justice League are mysteriously taken to a harsh gladiatorial realm, they have to team up to liberate it. While the main plot is supposed to be focused on Warworld, the movie spends an excessive amount of time in different settings. Wonder Woman in the Wild West, Batman in Skartaris, and Superman in 1950s America are all interesting stories! However, this anthology approach ultimately makes it easy to lose track of the overarching plot. “Warworld” was supposed to be a big event film that highlighted the best parts of the new DC animated reality known as the “Tomorrowverse”. However, it ended up being a disjointed mess that let down all of its heroes.
#1: “Batman: The Killing Joke” (2016)
On paper, it seemed like adapting one of the most acclaimed Batman stories ever made would lead to nothing but success. But the film went down as a massive failure. For starters, the movie doesn’t begin by adapting anything from the graphic novel. Instead, the writers added a plotline where Batgirl takes center stage and gets romantically involved with Batman. Fans found the relationship between student and mentor to be extremely uncomfortable. This added storyline also comes off as exploitative. Since the original graphic novel sees Batgirl suffer cruel torment at the Joker’s hand, viewers felt the writers built her up just to see her fall. By the time the movie actually started adapting the events of the “Killing Joke”, many had already lost interest.
