Justice League: Gods and Monsters

[LoP]

Glyph, out of curiosity are you American? Had an interesting convo with a mixed culture group, and generally the Americans found the sexual oriented stuff (Harleys look, the wonder woman quips) to be more surprising than the violence, whereas pretty much everyone else (Brits, Aussies, a Canadian and a Chilean) found the violence more shocking. Of course the Japanese among us found this all very cute and quaint, haha.

Agreed the superman clip could be a Saturday morning cartoon, since the violence is implied/off screen. The batman and wonder woman clips though would both not fly. But its not for kids, which is why I find all this rather fun to begin with.

[lord_khaine]

Glyph, out of curiosity are you American? Had an interesting convo with a mixed culture group, and generally the Americans found the sexual oriented stuff (Harleys look, the wonder woman quips) to be more surprising than the violence, whereas pretty much everyone else (Brits, Aussies, a Canadian and a Chilean) found the violence more shocking. Of course the Japanese among us found this all very cute and quaint, haha.

Im honestly a little shocked anyone could find time to focus on anything even slightly sexual oriented regarding Haley's look, considering what nightmarish things we found evidence off in her basement.

[The Glyphstone]

Glyph, out of curiosity are you American? Had an interesting convo with a mixed culture group, and generally the Americans found the sexual oriented stuff (Harleys look, the wonder woman quips) to be more surprising than the violence, whereas pretty much everyone else (Brits, Aussies, a Canadian and a Chilean) found the violence more shocking. Of course the Japanese among us found this all very cute and quaint, haha.

Agreed the superman clip could be a Saturday morning cartoon, since the violence is implied/off screen. The batman and wonder woman clips though would both not fly. But its not for kids, which is why I find all this rather fun to begin with.

As a matter of fact, yes. I guess my cultural experience biases are leaking through my posts. The Batman violence wouldn't be at all out of place for the cartoons I'm familiar with - even the Wonder Woman violence would be okay, since there was no blood despite all the sword-slicing and gun-shooting, but WW's jokes would not be culturally kosher for a cartoon property like Justice League that is traditionally marketed primarily at the kid/young adult market. So the medium of delivery contrasted with the content is unusual, even if I don't have any problems with it (which I don't, as mentioned).

Though I agree with khaine in that I didn't find anything remotely sexual about Harley - she's a character who always gets 'tarted up' a bit, so to speak, but this iteration of her was far more murderously deranged than usual, and correspondingly less 'sexy'. Very much Fan Disservice.

[DigoDragon]

I'm more curious how they fit that giant robot into that egg. It was big, but not nearly big enough for that Giganta.

Just a little British sci-fi technology.

[Traab]

The violence was a bit further than standard american cartoon fare. You rarely ever see people actually be impaled and pinned to a wall till they die. But honestly, its probably well within censor tolerance considering there was no blood. Even the safe word comment was probably ok, while people get strangely squicky over sex on tv here in the US, thats the type of comment that would probably be considered to go over the kids heads till they are old enough that its ok for them to hear and understand it.

[Tiki Snakes]

This one definitely had a much more adult-humor vibe to it, along with the action. I could see the Batman and a Superman shorts being aired during a Saturday afternoon cartoon block, being both kid-appropriate and adult-friendly, but outright sex references and a joke about safewords as the punchline to the short were slightly surprising. Not bad, it's nice to see an animated series that, pun intended, explicitly aims for the adult market, but it did catch me off guard.

It's supposed to catch you off-guard. The sex-talk/pre-occupation is the gimmick in the Wonder Woman short just like the "murdering the criminal" and the grizzlyness is the gimmick in the Batman one and the whole angst/steeliness combo is the gimmick in the Superman short. Though I'm sure they'll allow those traits to fade into the background more in the actual film.

[Legato Endless]

So, anyone else watch that thinking "Why exactly did you give the giant robot tits? Is she gonna suckle her giant robot babies?"

Once you become a cult leader, you too can put your minions to work catering to your unique tastes. Makes slightly more sense than building a giant lumbering gynoid for combat purposes.

[LoP]

Sneak peak of the second season of Gods and Monsters shorts, from Newfronts. Bruce Timm shows off the reimagined Green Lantern, Steel, and Mary Marvel (from left to right).

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[lord_khaine]

Once you become a cult leader, you too can put your minions to work catering to your unique tastes. Makes slightly more sense than building a giant lumbering gynoid for combat purposes.

Well it were immune to conventional weapons, and it seems its main purpose were to ruin the presidents speach?

For that it seems pretty well suited.

[Legato Endless]

Well it were immune to conventional weapons, and it seems its main purpose were to ruin the presidents speach?

For that it seems pretty well suited.

That's a good point. Although that cycles into, you built a giant robot ton..disrupt the president's speech? I mean, that might be funny if this were more self aware.

[Dienekes]

That's a good point. Although that cycles into, you built a giant robot ton..disrupt the president's speech? I mean, that might be funny if this were more self aware.

Don't you understand? First they disrupt her speech. Then she looses favor with the people. Then she won't be a contender for next elections. Then you can try and take over America. And then THE WORLD!!

Perfectly logical.

But since that didn't work we'll have to think of a new plan for tomorrow night, Pinky.

[The Glyphstone]

Steel looks awesome and Mary Marvel looks pretty good, though I hope Mary is developed character-wise beyond the Sassy Black Woman that her pose indicates in that single still. They're going to have a hard time selling me on Green Lantern though, that guy is ugly.

Anyone recognize what kind of alien he is from the canon universe? That's obviously inhuman, but the Lantern Corps are infamous for their bizarre membership.

[Dienekes]

Steel looks awesome and Mary Marvel looks pretty good, though I hope Mary is developed character-wise beyond the Sassy Black Woman that her pose indicates in that single still. They're going to have a hard time selling me on Green Lantern though, that guy is ugly.

Anyone recognize what kind of alien he is from the canon universe? That's obviously inhuman, but the Lantern Corps are infamous for their bizarre membership.

Ehh, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on her position. Timm has a pretty distinct art style, and I've seen him put a lot of women in that stance.

Also, have the exact opposite reaction you have to the GL. But then, I like when my aliens look alien, and not pretty humans with some strange feature like weird hair/ears/eyes, or worse, people with animal heads. Bring me the ugly monsters.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm not as familiar with the artist as you are, so I'll remain optimistic then.


As for GL....it's not so much the ugly, I guess, as it is the fact that he's obviously inhuman. The Lanterns generally appoint a member from the planet/sector they live in to protect it, and while as I said they end up with some very, very interestingly diverse members as a result, I will need to be sold on a blatantly alien Lantern protecting the Earth sector.

[Dienekes]

I'm not as familiar with the artist as you are, so I'll remain optimistic then.


As for GL....it's not so much the ugly, I guess, as it is the fact that he's obviously inhuman. The Lanterns generally appoint a member from the planet/sector they live in to protect it, and while as I said they end up with some very, very interestingly diverse members as a result, I will need to be sold on a blatantly alien Lantern protecting the Earth sector.

Calling it. Martian Manhunter is also a GL. It makes sense, he's martian therefore from our sector.

[The Glyphstone]

That would be odd, but I could dig it. J'ohnn is an interesting character who doesn't get enough focus in a lot of media, in part because he's almost Superman levels of overpowered.

He doesn't look remotely like any iteration of MM I've seen though. I guess it could possibly be a very stylized White Martian.

[dancrilis]

It might be worth remembering that it is possible that there is no Green Lantern Corps, without knowing about the character other than image I would not be inclined to assume anything about them in terms of backstory.

[lord_khaine]

As for GL....it's not so much the ugly, I guess, as it is the fact that he's obviously inhuman. The Lanterns generally appoint a member from the planet/sector they live in to protect it, and while as I said they end up with some very, very interestingly diverse members as a result, I will need to be sold on a blatantly alien Lantern protecting the Earth sector.

Are the green lanterns not protecting a lot more planets than they have lanterns?

That would make it a little hard having one of the dominant race for every planet, and sells me on the idea of having an alien Green Lantern.

[Mando Knight]

Are the green lanterns not protecting a lot more planets than they have lanterns?

That would make it a little hard having one of the dominant race for every planet, and sells me on the idea of having an alien Green Lantern.

Lanterns are generally assigned to vaguely-defined "Sectors" instead of individual planets or solar systems.

[LoP]

If they are keeping the Lantern Corps concept (which is highly unlikely), it could just be that there is another alien species in Earth's sector and there's someone(thing) there that became the lantern.

Its more likely though that the Green Lantern corps isn't a thing anymore at all; that alien GL may not even have a power-ring or do anything remotely like the golden age or silver age GL's we're familiar with.

[Traab]

If they are keeping the Lantern Corps concept (which is highly unlikely), it could just be that there is another alien species in Earth's sector and there's someone(thing) there that became the lantern.

Its more likely though that the Green Lantern corps isn't a thing anymore at all; that alien GL may not even have a power-ring or do anything remotely like the golden age or silver age GL's we're familiar with.

Its also possible this guy is being sent to scout the area to find out if anyone on earth is worthy of becoming a green lantern.

[lord_khaine]

Or even more likely that earth was just not the center of its sector, and another intelligent alien ended having to look after it?

[t209]

Steel looks awesome and Mary Marvel looks pretty good, though I hope Mary is developed character-wise beyond the Sassy Black Woman that her pose indicates in that single still. They're going to have a hard time selling me on Green Lantern though, that guy is ugly.

Anyone recognize what kind of alien he is from the canon universe? That's obviously inhuman, but the Lantern Corps are infamous for their bizarre membership.

I wonder how people will differentiated "black Mary" with the one from God and Monsters and the one in Countdown to Final Crisis (Marvel Family: DC's punching bag after lawsuit against Fawcett Comics).

[Quild]

I've seen Gods and Monsters this week-end and really liked it.

Even if you believe in parallel universe, an universe where everyone is slightly different is something kinda impossible (chaos theory, a small difference at some point should have huge impact in there future, looks like the différences with "our" universe happened really recently and simultaneously. It's not one triggering the others, so nothing to see with "Flashpoint Paradox").

But since it doesn't try to be that, I'm all fine with it.

It's quite an impressive casting here with sometimes some hard time to get who everyone is, but you can perfectly do without it, so it's fine.
I don't even know Bekka very much.

For the spoiler parts:

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I wondered in the beginning what the plot would be. This Justice League is sure made of killers, but they don't seem to be BBEG(s) of this story. And indeed. They're more lacking some moralith rather than being villains, and that's fine. Kind of an "Expendables" team in the end.

I found it nice to see everything twisted. Bad guys as good guys. I wonder if Luthor is not more often in the good guys than in the bad guys now. I like when he's depicted as not so much a bad guy but someone who fears that Superman would be too powerful and size control. It's the same here in the end, but Superman is more what Lex Luthor thinks he is.

I didn't saw the twist coming. I should have, since Magnus is supposed to be a good guy. Why would he still be one here? His plan is quite lame however, not sure I get it. Let's resume.
He killed Tina out of frustration, jealousy and by mistake (Kirk never saw the difference, good job! There sure is a gap of between Tin and other metal men). He realized that if HE can do that, anyone can be a monster and he wants to "control" everyone implanting some nanotech in their brain through small boom tubes opening with precision in their heads without any other damages (). For that, he needs access to Superman's ship. And the best way to get access, is... To massively attract attention killing the scientifics that participated in a research on how to eliminate Superman, faking "Tina's" death and almost his own. Then "Tina" escapes from the morgue and... Wait, ENTERS THE TOWER? to get him back on feet while he's about to die. So he can infiltrate and reveal himself to Kirk. The way Bekka stops the countdown is really really lame and consequences are that the ship is about to explode... lame as well.
I'm sick of stupid plans, but that wasn't such an important part in the end.

Characters personnalities were otherwise enjoyable. Herman, Kirk and Bekka are not all evil (it's not like Injustice League). I'm surprised that Orion was still a good guy in the end.

I think I got who most of the characters are in the end, but I'm not sure about:
- The guy fighting Bekka in the beginning: He's clearly a male version of Cheetah, I don't think there's much to dig here.
- The guy fighting Kirk... He is a kind of Bane? Reminds me someone but I can't tell.
- Who's the blue haired girl fighting Herman?

[BWR]

I really liked it. It suffered a bit with showing the origins of the trio as well as the main story, but other than that I liked how people died and how the trio worked together. It was good to see more Timm animation. I want more. I liked seeing the different takes on the various characters. The twists were twisty and unexpected, in large part because one is used to thinking of characters in certain ways. All in all, highly recommended.

[Cyber Punk]

I just saw this, holy crap! My views on them:

• The Batman one was... pretty okay. I loved Harley, but that ending... when I saw that ending, I realized that I loved it.
• Superman. A superman I can respect, who isn't a goody-two-shoes, and who isn't 'grr grr hate evil destroy'. One who's heroic while still willing to do what is needed. I like the character design, but the costume is.... meh.
• Wonder-Woman. What changed, exactly, apart from her costume, her powers and her willingness to kill?

[Dragonus45]

I just saw this, holy crap! My views on them:

• Wonder-Woman. What changed, exactly, apart from her costume, her powers and her willingness to kill?

A lot actually, its just not apparent from the short but she has a lot more going on. I just watched the movie itself and out of the three I think I like Bekka the most and she is probably the only one I like more than her normal counterpart.

That said having seen the movie I...

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I felt that it was just a hair to far on the side of gritty. I did like the idea of the JL taking the kid gloves off when they went to deal with the terrorists but the death toll for soldiers at the hands of the league was to high for my liking. Although the line in the end about trying to clean up their act gives me hope for the future. In general I felt the kill count for named scientists was a little high without there being much need but I suppose that's the benefit of having something with a limited run like this, you don't need to bother saving people for later. Although I liked the way they played with the expectation that most people would have had with cyborg, I somehow doubt that they would manage to make anything out what was left there. Magnus being a villain was a pleasant if predictable twist, and one that I felt worked for the story as a whole. Also I really wish we had gotten some details about what has happened in the world so far, if only to find out about other possible supers running around the world and to get more detials about the history between Lex and Hernan.

[TeChameleon]

For the spoiler parts:

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I think I got who most of the characters are in the end, but I'm not sure about:
- The guy fighting Bekka in the beginning: He's clearly a male version of Cheetah, I don't think there's much to dig here.
- The guy fighting Kirk... He is a kind of Bane? Reminds me someone but I can't tell.
- Who's the blue haired girl fighting Herman?

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- Actually, I'm pretty sure that the guy fighting Wonder-Bekka is Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger. Not a great redesign for him, but fun to see the character nonetheless- I've always had a soft spot for him ever since I was introduced to him in the Ostrander-era Suicide Squad. Oddly, despite all the other reversals, I don't recall any genderswapped characters.
- The big dude fighting Manbatman was Blockbuster II. Don't think he's ever had a big part in any of the animated series; he's pretty much just another Hulkalike, so no big there either way.
- The blue-haired girl I initially thought was Killer Frost, but the electric weapon has left me pretty sure it was Live Wire, a villain that originated in Superman: The Animated Series.

As to the movie itself... eh, without delving into spoiler territory... it was enjoyable enough overall. The plot was a little thin in places, and Bekka's backstory, especially, felt a bit 'WTF?'. And the big bad is someone they have been a little too fond of making into a villain- there seems to be a certain level of anti-intellectuallism in comics over the last few decades, with virtually all the hyper-intelligent heroes and/or team leads delving into villainy.

President Waller was fun, but woefully underused... I would've loved to see this universe's version of Task... Force... X... herpaderp. I just realized as I typed that line that we did- the opening fight sequence villains(?) were all members of the Suicide Squad at one point or another (I think...).

I do think that there was a bit more of a body count than really needed... would've been nice if a few of the victims had a shot at defending themselves, especially since quite a few of their mainline counterparts could've held off their attackers, or at least had a decent shot at getting clear.

[Dienekes]

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- Actually, I'm pretty sure that the guy fighting Wonder-Bekka is Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger. Not a great redesign for him, but fun to see the character nonetheless- I've always had a soft spot for him ever since I was introduced to him in the Ostrander-era Suicide Squad. Oddly, despite all the other reversals, I don't recall any genderswapped characters.
- The big dude fighting Manbatman was Blockbuster II. Don't think he's ever had a big part in any of the animated series; he's pretty much just another Hulkalike, so no big there either way.
- The blue-haired girl I initially thought was Killer Frost, but the electric weapon has left me pretty sure it was Live Wire, a villain that originated in Superman: The Animated Series.

As to the movie itself... eh, without delving into spoiler territory... it was enjoyable enough overall. The plot was a little thin in places, and Bekka's backstory, especially, felt a bit 'WTF?'. And the big bad is someone they have been a little too fond of making into a villain- there seems to be a certain level of anti-intellectuallism in comics over the last few decades, with virtually all the hyper-intelligent heroes and/or team leads delving into villainy.

This seems a bit unfair considering:

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The guy who actually puts it all together and saves the day by getting the heroes and government to stop fighting each other is the smartest man on the planet. I don't think it really anti-intellectualism to have smart villains, they're kind of necessary if the villain is outplanning the heroes in some way.

[TeChameleon]

This seems a bit unfair considering:

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The guy who actually puts it all together and saves the day by getting the heroes and government to stop fighting each other is the smartest man on the planet. I don't think it really anti-intellectualism to have smart villains, they're kind of necessary if the villain is outplanning the heroes in some way.

Hrm... not quite what I meant...

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Smart villains aren't anti-intellectuallism in my books; I rather like having an intelligent villain, to be honest. But it really does seem that the vast majority of the 'good' characters that started their existence as some variant on the 'brilliant scientist/engineer/biogeneticist/whatever' type has had a period of at the very least moral ambiguity, with many of them moving past that to being out-and-out *****, if not straight to blatant villainy. Just to bang off some of the most prominent examples... Professor X (being a raging douche even more often than he regains/loses his ability to walk, which is saying something), Tony Stark (Civil War. Heil Stark!), Mr. Fantastic (Civil War again, of course, but there's an uncomfortable amount of stuff where 'hero' isn't exactly the best label for him), and, well, pretty much anything involving the Illuminati, Batman (that whole Brother Eye mess, his treatment of Spoiler, a big chunk of his interaction with... well, most of the rest of the DCU, frankly...).

Will Magnus being a ragingly sociopathic serial killer/Take-Over-the-World (OF COURSE!)-Type is just kind of par for the course there. From my admittedly fuzzy memories, even mainline Magnus has been portrayed as having some rather nasty sociopathic tendencies at one point or another.

It eventually gets to the point that you start to wonder if the writers just don't believe that you can be smart AND good. Kind of like how Quesada doesn't believe you can be married and interesting >.<