Last month DC released the animated film Justice League: The
Flashpoint Paradox, based on Flashpoint, a mini-series by Geoff Johns. In this story Barry Allen, the Flash,
woke up in an alternate reality.
CAUTION SPOILERS AHEAD, FOR THIS ENTIRE ENTRY. In
this reality Bruce Wayne was shot and his parents lived. Thomas Wayne became the Batman and his
psychopathic wife became the Joker.
Superman never landed in Smallville, KS but the middle of Metropolis
where he was taken by the government and treated like a lab rat his whole life. Meanwhile, Aquaman and Wonder Woman are
fighting a war that would destroy the entire world! Barry must either find a way to change reality back or find
a way to stop his former friends from killing billions of people.
This was a great film.
It didn’t stray too far from the source material, and was the right
mixture of drama and action to make the story pop. DC has done a tremendous job with their animated films in
recent years with Batman: Year One to Superman: Doomsday. To dare say I’ve enjoyed their
animated films more than their live action. With a direct-to-dvd animated film you aren't constraint to
theater prices, weekend numbers, and big special effects that hike the cost of
the film millions of dollars.
Animation is a great alterative to telling comic book stories so long as
you have the right story, directing, and animation. A little well-known voice-acting doesn’t help either.
Last week I read a Robot 6 article describing 5 DC
storylines that would make great animated films. While I agree with them all this inspired me to make my own
list of Marvel storylines that would make great animated films. So, I thought of several
separate storylines, but when I started jotting down my favorite Marvel
stories they all kind of flowed into each other, minus Civil War. Then it occurred to me, why not just make
them all sequels to one another, leading to one big event, just like the Avengers did!
Part 1) Avengers: Disassembled
This film would see the destruction of the Avengers by one
of their own. Having gone insane
over the loss of her children the Scarlet Witch kills several member of her
teammates, including her own husband, Vision. But not before she brings down every hideous villain the
Avengers have fought onto the Avengers mansion.
With Marvel Studios hitting it big with Joss Whedon’s
Avengers and a sequel on the way with Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver
set to appear, this film would be perfect to roll out right after Avengers: Age
of Ultron. Anyone who would watch
this film would know most of the characters so you can skip the back story
and go straight to the destruction of the Avengers. You could play the franchise hype like a fiddle. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking
about it!
Part 2) House of M
Following Avengers: Disassembled came this doozy of a
storyline. Professor X has been
tapped to help put Wanda, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, back together again. When he can’t the Avengers the
X-Men come together to decide her fate. Suddenly reality has changed and the only person who knows
it is Wolverine, head of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Logan finds himself in a world where Magneto and his family rule, Peter
Parker is a celebrity, and every hero is living their dream life. With the help of mysterious girl Logan
must rally his friends to give up their happiness and change reality back to how
it was.
The twist at the end of this story is 2-fold. First, Magneto didn’t tell his daughter
to change reality, his son Quicksilver did. Second, when the Wanda changes reality back she makes one diversion, “No More Mutants.” 90% of the
mutant population has lost their powers, including Magneto. This forces the few hundred mutants
left on the planet to take refuge with the X-Men and sets up everything to
come. Did I mention Peter Parker
is pissed as hell that his perfect happiness got taken away from him?
Part 3) The New Avengers: Breakout
With most of the worlds mutants de-powered and the Avengers
shut down of course it’s the perfect time for a super-villain prison break! Captain America and Iron Man must get
the band back together, along with a few new members like Spider-Man and
Wolverine, to catch all the bad guys who broke out of the Raft, the maximum
security prison.
This would be a first look at Spider-Man and Wolverine
brought into the Avengers mix, a formula viewers would already know from
Marvel’s big screen adaptations. It also would re-establish the Avengers and Wolverine for their role
in Part 6 of this animated film anthology.
Part 4) X-Men: Messiah Complex
With less than 200 mutants left in the world they are no
longer the next step in human evolution, but a species on the brink of
extinction. It’s been over a year since a new mutant has been born, until one
pops up in Alaska. The X-Men
arrive only too late to see the destruction Mr. Sinister’s Maruders and human
Purifiers have caused on the Alaskian town. The baby is safe, in the hands of Cyclops’ son from the
future, Cable. It’s a race to get
to Cable and the baby first and it all ends with an epic battle that leaves
Cyclops with the decision to send Cable and the baby girl away, into the time stream, so she can grow-up and decide her own fate.
This story has all the X-Men into the mix and re-introduces
X-Force, led by Wolverine. Again,
thanks to all the live-action X-Men films most of the characters have been
established to the general audience, just not well in my opinion. Anyway, I would love to see the 90’s
X-Men voice-cast come back to do this film and all the others. For a generation of kids like myself
those voices are what we hear when we read Cyclops and Wolverine's words on the page.
Part 5) X-Men: Second Coming
Cyclops sends Cable and the baby, Hope, into the time stream so
of course they’re going to come back just as Cyclops believes they would, and just
in time to save them all. The villain Bastion is
making his final move to end mutant-kind and when he hears that the so-called
“mutant messiah” is back he’ll stop at nothing to destroy this now teenage
girl. Some notable deaths along
the way include Nightcrawler and Cable.
The ending leaves some X-Men wondering if Hope was worth the price they
paid, and if that was the Phoenix that twinkled in her eyes at the end. You ready for the big pay-off?
Part 6) Avengers vs. X-Men
The Phoenix is coming for Hope and the Avengers
believe that, like Jean Grey, the Phoenix will corrupt her and surely destroy the
world. Cyclops however believes
that the Phoenix has always signaled rebirth and that this could
be the salvation the mutant race has been waiting for. Of course then we get Captain America
vs. Cyclops, Hulk vs. Colossus, Magneto vs. Iron Man, etc. Wolverine falls down with the Avengers,
people switch sides, and when it’s towards the end Cyclops is the sole possessor of
the Phoenix power. He then is
corrupted so much by that power that he kills his teacher, and surrogant father,
Professor Charles Xavier.
With the help of Hope, the Avengers, and now the X-Men, are
able to take down the new Dark Phoenix and re-spark the mutant race. So this sparks the debate, was Cyclops
right? I’m sure he’ll have time to
think about in a prison cell as a now known super-villain. Remember when everyone thought Cyclops
was just an up-tight boy scout?
Suck it!
So there you have it people, six great stand-alone animated
features that would kill as one giant animated franchise. You wouldn’t have to worry about aging
actors, make special effects look real, and who owns what because Marvel has
the right to make all their characters animated. I would much rather enjoy this in the privacy of my own home
then go back $12 to sit in a noisy theater just see the current A-List
celebrity try to act like he has integrity before he goes back to his trailer and
does another line. Was that a
little too much? Oh well. I know I’m not the only fanboy who would
kill to see this happen. So, to
the House of Ideas, here is mine, let’s make it happen!
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