Justice League War Panel NYCC 2013

DC Entertainment is known for their animated feature films covering the DC Universe - but they have yet to really push into the recent "New 52" reboot of the DCU - but that all changes with the next feature, Justice League: WarThe Filmmakers at DCE came to New York Comic Con 2013 in order to unveil a first look at the new film!

Taken right from Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's initial run on the New 52 Justice League comic book, JL:W re-imagines the coming together of the Justice League for the modern age, as clashing personalities must relax and mesh before the alien forces of Darkseid conquer earth. The voice cast includes a string of DCE newcomers (read: not the iconic DC voice actors) - including Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye), Alan Tudyk (Serenity), Sean Astin (LOTR), Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds), Justin Kirk (Weeds) and Jason O'Mara (Terra Nova) as Batman.

PANEL

  • Moderated by DCE's Gary Miereanu, in attendance were filmmakers like Jay Olivia (Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox), voice director Andrea Romano, producer James Tucker - and the voice of New 52 Batman, Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars). 
  • A new CLIP detailed New 52 Green Lantern's first meeting with Batman - lifted directly out of Geoff Johns' Justice League #1 from the New 52 launch.
  • O'Mara made jokes about the challenge of voicing Batman - and how he has been worried fans would reject him and scream for Kevin Conroy. He joked that he met Conroy - who promptly choked him out Trading Places style.
  • Tucker explains that the movie covers the New 52 universe because WB/DC wants fans to have films featuring the versions of characters they're reading NOW. (Also helping sell New 52 comics and the brand doesn't hurt either I'm sure. ;-)
  • Romano name-dropped some big voice names involved with DCE (and a pretty crazy pregnancy story).
  • Miereanu revealed that while Aquaman is NOT featured in JL:W, he is getting his OWN animated feature film in the future!
  • A second CLIP featured Wonder Woman on the hunt for ice cream in Washington DC. The voice acting was... not the best.
  • A third CLIP from the film featured Batman and Green Lantern in battle with Darkseid's demon forces. Again, the voice actins was... not great.

Q&A

  • One girl asked about the shift in the voice acting industry - actors are getting all that work now.
  • Another asked if the DCE features are now following continuity - since Flashpoint and JL:W follow each other in both comic book continuity AND film continuity. The makers confirm that there IS indeed continuity.
  • The same question asker also proposed a movie following ALL of the Robins through the ages, and examining how their partnership with Batman always seems to adversely affect their lives. Both the crowd and the filmmakers were surprised and VERY intrigued by that idea.
  • Miereanu reminded the crowd that those Son of Batman and Arkham Asylum animated features are coming.
  • One fan questioned the voice casting of the film (Alan Tudyk Superman?) and challenged his own skills against Green Lantern voice actor Nathon Fillion. As if.
  • The DCE fimmakers kept stressing that there are limits why they can't make EVERYTHING in DC cannon - like "Sinestro Corps War" or "Kingdom Come". Fans still aren't accepting that.

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Justice League: War will hit DVD/Blu-ray in early 2014.