REVIEW -- Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016)

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. The film features the voices of Jon Bernthal, Taissa Farmiga, and Jason O'Mara. The film had its world premiere at WonderCon on March 26, 2016. It was released through digital download on March 29, 2016, and through home media on April 12, 2016 by Warner Home Video.

Voice Acting Cast:

Jon Bernthal as Trigon
Taissa Farmiga as Raven
Jason O'Mara as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Jerry O'Connell as Clark Kent / Superman
Rosario Dawson as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
Christopher Gorham as Barry Allen / Flash
Shemar Moore as Victor Stone / Cyborg
Sean Maher as Dick Grayson / Nightwing
Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne / Robin
Kari Wahlgren as Koriand'r / Starfire
Brandon Soo Hoo as Garfield Logan / Beast Boy
Jake T. Austin as Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle
Laura Bailey as Angela Chen
Steven Blum as Lex Luthor and Toymaster
Terrence C. Carson as Ra's al Ghul
Rick D. Wasserman as Weather Wizard, Solomon Grundy and Atomic Skull

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

The Justice League battle the Legion of Doom (consisting of Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, Weather Wizard, and Toymaster). After the Legion is defeated and captured, Weather Wizard runs away, but is possessed by a shadow-like creature that teleports through darkness, revealed to be the demon Trigon, whose supernatural nature allows him to physically harm Superman. Robin disobeys his father's orders to get civilians to safety, thinking he can help the Justice League fight Trigon. Robin sets the Batwing to crash into Trigon and explode, forcing Trigon's shade to leave Weather Wizard. Upset that there's no answer to this occurrence, and in order for his son to learn teamwork, Batman sends Robin to join the Teen Titans. Meanwhile, Trigon's shade possesses Superman, plaguing him with visions of demonic shadows.

Robin meets the Titans' leader Starfire and members Raven, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle, but his lack of respect for the others causes friction. Blue Beetle and Robin fight until Blue Beetle's suit instinctively uses an energy blast to severely burn Robin. Raven heals him, but during the process her empathic powers link their minds, tapping into each other's memories. Later, Robin thanks Raven for saving him, but confronts her about an entity he saw in her mind. With Raven unwilling to answer, Damian tries to search up Raven's background, but no information is kept about her in the Titans' files. When he confronts Starfire about this, she replies the team isn't just for fighting crime, but also a surrogate family, as they are all lost souls in a world with no place for them.

Superman finds and brutally beats down Atomic Skull, alerting Wonder Woman and Batman. The latter uses kryptonite to drive Superman back, revealing his possession before Superman flies off. Cyborg tries to locate Superman and a "female with supernatural powers", whom Trigon is searching for. He and Batman analyse footage of both a transformed Superman and the shadow demon that possessed Weather Wizard, concluding that if the host is damaged or overwhelmed, they will be freed from it. In the meantime, in order to loosen Damian up, Starfire takes the group to a carnival, where Raven encounters demon emissaries and Trigon, in a spirit form, who wants to find her so they can be together. With the help of the other Titans, Raven resists and fights the emissaries until they cannot maintain their presence on the Earthly plane and dissipate.

Afterward, the Titans demand answers from Raven. She reveals that her mother was a member of a cult who married her off to Trigon, who took a human form. Her mother fled after discovering his true nature and was saved by the Azarathians, a people from another dimension, where Raven grew up. After unwittingly summoning her father and thus causing the obliteration of Azarath and her mother, Raven was taken by him so he could conquer Earth, but she trapped him inside a crystal. The Titans offer their support to Raven in defeating Trigon, but the Justice League arrives in order to take Raven away. However, before they can act, Flash, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman are taken over by Trigon's shadow and turned into demon emissaries. Batman prevents his own possession by injecting himself with a nerve toxin designed for Bane, putting himself in a comatose state and thus causing the shade to abandon him.

Of course the Bat family have ways to beat Superman...

The Titans battle the League without success, causing Raven to surrender herself. Just before the League and Raven use a portal to leave, Blue Beetle brings back Cyborg from Trigon's control. Robin locates Raven in the Middle East, revealing he put a tracer on the Titans after meeting them. Cyborg and the Titans portal to the Middle East, to discover that Superman had unearthed a mystical shrine that Raven uses her powers on so that Trigon can pass though the shrine as a gate. Robin stabs Superman with kryptonite to free him from Trigon, and back to his own self, Superman defeats Flash and Wonder Woman, which frees them both. The Titans save Raven, but not before Trigon returns to his physical form.

Following Raven's plan, the Titans and Cyborg portal to Hell to retrieve the crystal to lock away her father, while the Justice League attempt to prevent Trigon from reaching innocent civilians. Beast Boy's biology reacts oddly to the dimension, initially forcing him to take the form of demonic beasts. The Titans battle hordes of guardian demons while Raven gets the crystal, but an undead Ra's al Ghul shatters it; he was made Trigon's vassal following his death, since the Lazarus pits were created by him. Ra's tries to persuade Robin to join him and Trigon so that he may return to life, but Robin, deciding that he is no longer an 'al Ghul' but a Titan, refuses, engages his grandfather in combat, and ultimately defeats and kills him. Overcoming her inner doubts and Trigon's telepathic attempts to dissuade her, Raven uses her powers and her link to Trigon to re-imprison him in a shard of the broken crystal.

Raven informs the Titans that the shard must stay in Hell and be watched always, in case Trigon tries once again to break free. She puts herself forward as Trigon's keeper, but the Titans assure that her home is with them. Back at Titans Tower, the group – now joined by Robin and Cyborg – are lauded by the Justice League for saving Earth, and Raven wears her father's crystal prison on her forehead, even as he is angrily demanding his release.

Welp... we know what the next Teen Titans related DC Direct is going
to be about then...

In a post-credits scene, Terra is seen approaching Titans Tower, riding a boulder across the sea.

The Verdict:

This film has been out for a few months now, but I have been putting off this review for a while now just out of laziness to be quite honest.

Definitely the funniest moment from Raven's origin story...

It's cool to see that DC has kept the narrative introduced in Justice League: WAR and Son of Batman and throughout their sequels/follow-ups - Batman vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood, and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, to bring them all together into one coherent continuity with this film. There was that assumption until now that all of these events have been taking place in the same universe, but now we have the proper confirmation outside of the voice acting talents being the same.

After the diversions from the Batman-oriented films, this was a nice change of pace with the introduction of the Teen Titans into this continuity. In this continuity, Starfire is acting leader while Beast Boy, Raven, Blue Beetle, and Robin are her younger proteges. It's vaguely hinted at that Starfire and Nightwing were, or rather still are, an item at some point or Starfire is completely oblivious to his flirting from their hilarious phone call. The "Thanks, Dick!" line made me laugh so hard that I almost fell out of my chair. I'm sure that's going to go over most people's heads but it's cool to see that DC still has a strong foothold in dominating the animated market compared to Marvel's modern attempts.

There's so much to love about this feature. From the fact that they are going with what looks like a Young Justice-inspired version of the Titans or the fact that both this team and the Justice League are actually working together to setup future team-ups and crossovers. I think most comic book nerds like myself were excited to see the Justice League vs. Titans match-ups which saw the Titans take on the League's best members. Even though it was a losing effort for the most part, it was still cool to see nonetheless. I'm still not crazy about them making Robin (Damien) the most overpowered kid I have ever seen in combat to say that he has no superpowers (except his assassination training and what little Batman's taught him) to say that they were fighting so many supernatural and powered beings in this film.

My only problem is how is Cyborg going to juggle his duties from the League and the Titans? That should feel like a demotion, right? Like why would you give up a seat in the big leagues to hang with the kids on the reserves? I'm anxious to see how they are going to handle Terra's introduction into this continuity though.

If this is going to be the new DCAU version of the Titans, then I can definitely live with this roster. Fuck bringing back Young Justice...

Watch It, Rent It, or Don't Bother?

Definitely take the time to watch this one. This is by far my personal favorite DC Direct animated movie set in the same universe as the Justice League: WAR and Son of Batman movies along with their sequels (Throne of Atlantis, Batman vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood). As much as people are starting petitions and protests for a revival of the original Teen Titans (that's not Teen Titans, GO!!) or Young Justice, I would be happy with an animated series based on this version of the Titans setup in this continuity. It seems like they are using the same Blue Beetle from the Young Justice continuity and a similar design for Beast Boy from that series as well. Only time will tell if they have the same origins in this continuity.