Since I was talking about DC live action and animated movies the last couple of entries, it seemed natural to do some ranking. I'm going to rank the live action and animated separately. And since I haven't watched a lot of the animated ones in a while I'll only do my top 5.
Live Action (2013-2020):
9. Birds of Prey Harley Quinn: I haven't seen it but I just assume it sucks ass.
8. Suicide Squad: I thought this movie was so dumb and lame. I hated Jared Leto's Joker, hated Harley Quinn, and the rest of the characters were pretty forgettable. Viola Davis did a good job of Amanda Waller, but her character does so many stupid things that it was ridiculous.
7. Wonder Woman 84: See two blog entries ago. To me the whole wishing thing was dumb and there were so many things that didn't really make a lot of sense. A big disappointment from after the first movie.
6. BvS: This attempt to create a cinematic universe was full of holes. There were some good parts and I didn't hate Batfleck as much as other people, but in the end the plot doesn't hold together. I mean, what the hell was Lex Luthor's plan? Hope Batman kills Superman or at least delays him long enough to unleash Doomsday? And if Doomsday fails, sell out Earth to Darkseid? Why?
5. Justice League: I didn't hate this nearly as much as other people. It wasn't a great movie either, but it did the best it could with the hand it was dealt. I doubt the much-anticipated "Snyder Cut" will really make it that much better in the end.
4. Man of Steel: As far as Superman movies go it wasn't as cheesy as the Christopher Reeve movies and not as confusing as the Brandon Routh movie. There aren't as many plot holes as BvS but all the Krypton stuff and world engine stuff was pretty lame. It's too bad DC/WB got dollar signs in their eyes before they could really build up the character.
3. Aquaman: The first movie after the disaster of Justice League and it did a good job of changing the narrative by largely ignoring Justice League, ditching the grim-n-gritty Snyder tone, and taking its cues from Black Panther and Thor. The end result is a decent popcorn movie on par with a lot of Marvel efforts.
2. Shazam: Like Deadpool, this was as much a comedy as an action movie. A lot of it is basically like if in Big the kid had turned into Superman instead of Tom Hanks. It took a character most people hadn't cared about since the 50s and made it a success.
1. Wonder Woman: The first of the modern DC live action movies where they actually got things right. Most of it wasn't as fun and popcorn-movie entertaining as Aquaman and Shazam but it was a good origin story and for my money the No Man's Land scene is still one of the best scenes in any superhero movie. Not to mention the significance of finally having a successful female superhero movie after decades of popular female characters being ignored.
Animated Movies (Top 5)
1. Mask of the Phantasm: This movie is from 1994 but it still holds up in the modern superhero movie age. It combines a noir movie, romance, and superhero movie in a great package. It's really better than a lot of the DC live action movies--and some of Marvel's too.
2. All Star Superman: This was an adaptation of Grant Morrison's standalone 12-issue series where Superman saves some scientists near the sun and sort of overdoses on solar radiation. Not only does this make him stronger, but in time it will kill him. While the animated movie doesn't include everything from the series (like the Bizarro World part) it hits most of the main points and had a great ending.
3. Red Son: I really liked the graphic novel and since this keeps most of that story, I really liked the animated version too.
4. Justice League: War: The title is probably the worst part of this movie. It was a pretty straight-up adaptation of the first two volumes of the New 52 Justice League title that brought together the League as they come together to thwart an invasion by Darkseid. Really the live action version would have been much better off following this blueprint.
5. Justice League: Gods & Monsters: This is an alternate universe or "Elseworlds" tale where Superman is the son of Zod, Wonder Woman is the granddaughter of the "Highfather," and Batman is a scientist who turned into a vampire. While not evil like the Crime Syndicate (the real Justice League's doppelgangers) this is a lot grittier Justice League. When someone starts rubbing out scientists in ways that look like the Justice League is responsible, they have to find the real killer before the government wipes them out. This was really good. The bad guy wasn't too easy to spot, so that made it better than if it had just been Lex Luthor or someone obviously evil.
As a third category, here are some of the stories I wish they would do animated movies for:
1. Kingdom Come: The seminal graphic novel by Mark Waid and Alex Ross was really great. I'd say it was probably the best DC Comics story of the 90s. It would be amazing if they could adapt Ross's painted artwork for the animation.
2. Batman: Knightfall: I really want an adaptation of this that sticks pretty close to the comics of the 90s. It would be hard to do in live action but an Elseworlds animated movie would be awesome. Actually I'd like three movies to cover all 3 phases of the story: Knightfall, Knightsquest, and Knightsend. Or the first part could adapt the Sword of Azrael miniseries, then Knightfall, and then combine Knightsquest/Knightsend into one movie.
3. Batman: Vampire: Another great story from the 90s (I think) where Batman becomes a vampire and destroys Count Dracula. There are two more books where he struggles with being a vampire until he kills the Joker and Alfred and Gordon kill him and then in the final book he's brought back (because they didn't cut off his head) and becomes a murdering fiend until he's destroyed once and for all.
4. Green Lantern: Earth One: This was a more recent two-part graphic novel series of which I only read the first part. It's set in the future where Hal Jordan is a space miner or something and finds the Green Lantern ring. It was a neat way to update the story.
5. Wonder Woman: Warbringer: This was a YA novel that they also did in graphic novel form. It's about a young Diana finding a girl who's cursed to start a war that could end the world unless she's taken to Greece to remove the curse. It's sort of a prequel for Wonder Woman and a decent fish-out-of-water story as Diana enters the "world of Man" for the first time. A lot better than WW84 anyway.
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