The DC animated universe.

[Klinsy]

The DC animated universe (DCAU) is a fan term that refers to a series of popular animated television series and related spin-offs produced by Warner Bros. Animation which share the same continuity.

The series that made the DC animated Universe are

• Batman: The Animated Series
  
• Superman: The Animated Series
  
• The New Batman Adventures
  
• The New Batman/Superman Adventures
  
• Batman Beyond
  
• Static Shock
  
• The Zeta Project
  
• Justice League
  
• Justice League Unlimited
  

All of these shows were of verry high quality, doing the same universe different media thing long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe did. The shows were so good made a great impact on the original DC comic universe and other media based on it. For example the DCAU created the beloved Harley Quinn character and changed Mr. Freeze from a dull gimmick villain to an tragic villain with a sad backstory. The DCAU is generally look up upon positively.

So what your thoughts on the DCAU and what your favorite show from it?

[Ducktor Naldush]

It gave me my favourite version of Batman ever. Not to mention, thanks to this universe, my favourite Lantern became John Stewart.

[Jack / Joker]

Oh I am going to fucking love this thread.

[Johnny Boy]

Ah, loved these shows growing up. My favorites were Batman The Animated series, Justice League, and Static Shock. Especially Static, that guy was awesome (love that he's gonna be in young justice).

[Snatcher2047]

I have to admit that a lot of my knowledge of the DC Universe has come from watching the animated series they've created (never been much of a comic reader aside from SONIC). And quite a few of them are of excellent quality, especially the Batman and Justice League series. I was also one of those individuals who cried foul when Batman Beyond was first announced, but it turned into one of my favorite series (and movies, "Return Of The Joker").

As a side note, I'm also a huge fan of many of the DC Animated straight to DVD movies, like Batman: Under The Red Hood and Justice League: DOOM. Also, the new animated movie, BATMAN: The Dark Knight Returns Pt. 1 is amazingly good.

[Emmett L. Brown]

Batman the Animated Series is my favourite animated series of all time. Second place comes way, WAY behind, because there's just no show that's even almost as good. That's why I love that most of the DC animated universe either continues the Batman TAS saga, or spins-off from it, bringing the same level of quality animatio and writing all the way.

When I think of Batman, he's got Kevin Conroy's voice, and although he's spend the most hours voicing Batman of any actor ever, he's only gotten better at the part year after year. Same goes for Mark Hamill. Shame Hamill's retired from voicing the Joker, but ya gotta admit he went out on top.

[Jack / Joker]

Batman: The Animated Series is not only my favourite animated show of all time but one of the best shows I've ever seen. It doesn't let the fact it's a cartoon (a kids' cartoon on top of that) decrease the quality of the show. The writing is brilliant, the voicing is sublime and even though it takes several risky twists and turns along the way, it always comes off on top. Never will a kids' show reach that high level of quality. And of course, we all know why I (among many others) love TAS so much, the main villain being such a legendary character, one of the best in all of fiction! That villain is of course:

The Joker! Played to perfection by the lovely Mark Hamill, with brilliant theme songs by the late Shirley Walker, this clown was the best incarnation of the greatest comic book villain of all time. So yeah.

This scene fucking terrifies me to this day. RIP you legendary bast-- wait... he survived this...

[Linkabel]

After watching the first two Batman films by Tim Burton and then finding out there was a Batman cartoon that had almost the same atmosphere as the movies I became an instant fan. The way they re-imagined some characters, creating new characters that will later appeared in the comics, the use of "noir" & Art Deco styles in the earlier series, and the homages to elements from the comics is what made the the DCAU so successful.

That's not saying the DCAU didn't suffered from having flaws here and there (some animation issues, how some characters were overpowered in one episode and then weaker in another, some questionable episodes). But even then the DCAU still managed to be good.

I don't think other DC series that didn't have anything to do with the DCAU (The Batman, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen Titans though sometimes there was references that tried to tied it to the DCAU, Green Lantern, and Young Justice) aren't bad.Though I hope somewhere in the future we get something on the scale (or even bigger) of the DCAU.

[188Eternal]

Batman TAS is my second favourite American-made cartoon series right under SatAM Sonic! There's at least a dozen episodes which I utterly love in it, and I managed to download most of them from YT quite recently. It had the best version of Two-Face ever, IMO. This Two-Face was way more sinister and believable than the lame version which they had in the latest movies.

Also, Poison Ivy and Mad Hatter... Why couldn't these folks reappear in the new movies instead of friggin Bane? Why? WHY? *pounds fist*

Quite recently I'm liking the Mad Hatter even more than Two-Face. Jervis Tetch has become my #1 favourite villain, and I sympathize for him so strongly because I'm also a lonely old geezer for whom some desirable things almost always seem to be denied. We're like walking in the same shoes. *sigh*

I also like those Superman & Batman crossover animated films, i.e.:

World's Finest (the one where Joker travels to Metropolis with a dragon souvenir made out of Kryptonite and helps Lex Luthor to try to kill Superman);

Public Enemies (the one where Lex Luthor becomes President of USA and frames Superman to look like an antagonistic murderer but Batman helps to clear his name);

Apocalypse (the one where a new redesigned Kara Zor-El appears! And personally, this new long-haired design of Kara looks so much prettier and hotter than the old short-haired design from Superman TAS. I love her! )

*sigh*

Edited October 8, 2012 by 188DarkRevived

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I didn't grow up with the DCAU, but I've been watching it lately, so I decided to dig up this ancient thread to talk about it.

Since I'm a big Superman fan, I've watched all of Superman: The Animated Series a while ago. I have been watching Batman: The Animated Series for a while, but INSANELY slowly (I think I'm saving it because I don't want to run out of it...which might be wise because I felt so deflated when I finished Static Shock, lol). I finished Static Shock a bit ago and recently sort-of finished Justice League (I skipped a few episodes of the first season because I felt like it and I don't like the first season much), and am somewhat slowly watching Justice League Unlimited.

So my thoughts on what I've watched so far.

Batman: The Animated Series

I don't want to say too much for now because again, I haven't finished it. I'll just say that there's a lot about this series that blows me away, such as the aesthetics in general being really beautiful, great characterizations, and sometimes being really deep. That said, I do feel like in the first season, episodes were sometimes a teeny bit boring, but in the 2nd season, I feel like they're more consistently entertaining so far. Also, Robin appears more, which to me, is a very good thing. That might be a hot take, IDK. Overall, this seems like the best show of the DCAU so far (and I kinda doubt any show has a chance at dethroning it). It's not perfect, but there's a lot about it which is pretty amazing and it certainly deserves its reputation.

The New Batman Adventures

I have only watched a couple random episodes of this (actually, now that I think about it, I might have literally seen one, I don't remember), so I'm not going to give many opinions at all. All I want to say is that the new redesigns and style (which sadly were used for the rest of the DCAU) is a massive step-down from B:TAS. Even if they wanted a more simplified style, there's really no reason they had to go this far. That doesn't reflect the overall quality of the show, which I can't comment on at this point; it's just a complaint I have.

Superman: The Animated Series

I consider this a good, solid show, but not amazing. Maybe that sounds weird coming from a Superman fan, but actually, I've observed that in general, Superman fans have a lower opinion of this show than the general public. But whenever I try to explain why I find this show underwhelming, it takes too long to explain, so I won't try. I'll just say that I don't consider it particularly inspired or to have much of a vision for Superman. It's just a competent take on the character. At times, it does touch greatness and even excellence, but overall I just don't think it's all that great. I'm going to say that overall, it's the worst DCAU show I've seen so far, but that's not much of an insult.

Static Shock

I really love Static Shock. It's just a lovable show. Lots of fun and humor and endearing characters, not to mention a lot of heart and an amazing ability to tackle really serious issues despite generally feeling like a somewhat "kiddier" show than the rest of the DCAU. It faltered a bit in Seasons 3 & 4, but despite that, it rivals B:TAS as my personal favorite DCAU show.

Something awesome is that in the first Batman crossover this show has, they inexplicably bring back the original B:TAS designs. Yay!

Justice League

I need to be clear that my opinions of Season 1 and Season 2 are VERY different. I honestly think Season 1 is really bad. Not a fan of it at all. It just feels very hollow and shallow, like it's not aspiring to be anything more than just another Saturday morning cartoon to provide some entertainment to the kids. Especially compared to the rest of the DCAU, this is very disappointing. On top of that, they illogically give Superman a redesign to make him look older, even though I'm pretty sure Batman should be older than him or at least comparable in age (based on the fact that Batman became a superhero before Superman in this continuity), and make him even more of a jobber than he was in S:TAS. If the entire show was like Season 1, it would beat out S:TAS for my least favorite DCAU show by a huge margin. Season 1 does have its good moments, mind you, but overall I am certainly not a fan.

Thankfully, Season 2 is excellent, almost incomparably superior to the previous one. I don't like it quite as much as Static Shock or B:TAS, but it's still very good. It has great characters and interesting stories. My favorite episodes are probably Only a Dream, Maid of Honor, A Better World, and especially the finale, Starcrossed.

The thing about this show is that the episodes are almost always big battles against supervillains or other fairly typical superhero plots, which somewhat weakens this show in my mind since I prefer more variety in plotlines, some of which are more focused on the protagonists' personal lives or the like. There's not quite as much "room" for that in this show.

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I have quite a while to go before I make it through the DCAU, but so far it's been a great ride. I'll post more thoughts later.