ANI-MOVIES, *Justice League Dark: Apokalips War

Where as the previous phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe went out on Avengers: Endgame, the "DC Animated Movie Universe" concluded a near decade's worth of made-for-video films with this follow-up to the original Justice League Dark movie. Combining several comic storylines like Injustice and Darkseid War, Apokalips War brings all of Earth's heroes(and villains)in a final stand against the New Gods. Taking place in a post-Flashpoint timeline, the DCAMU has had several movies featuring Justice League, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, and even the Suicide Squad, plus a possible Constantine animated web series although that might be more connected to the CW's Arrowverse.

Set sometime after The Death And Return Of Superman, the collected Justice League(s) along with the Bat-Family and Teen Titans plan for a possible invasion from the alien overlord Darkseid, and all the forces of his planet Apokalips, enhanced monsters called Parademons. But they were not prepared for the full onslaught of his neww "Paradooms", monsters that are part Parademon and part Doomsday which Darkseid previously sent to Earth to kill Superman. The heroes' offensive was met with defeat as the Paradooms' Kryptonian strength kills or succumbs the first wave. Heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman and turned into cybernetic soldiers loyal to Darkseid, while Superman is infused with Kryptonite which blocks his powers. Other heroes like Zatanna perished while Constantine uncharacteristically panics and portals back to Earth. Two years pass and the powerless Superman along with Raven talk Constantine and his bored drinking partner Etrigan the Demon into helping them locate Robin who now leads the remains of the League of Assassins. Superman convinces Robin to help them lead an assault on Apokalips and break through Darkseid's hold on Batman. Lex Luthor secretly working with the remains of the Suicide Squad secures Superman's forces with Lois Lane while the heroes teleport their way to Apokalips, free their comrades, and stop Darkseid once and for all.

Without getting into a lot of spoilers, this movie acts as a definitive final chapter first started in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, even though from this point on a newly resent timeline is starting up in the next movie, Superman: Man Of Tomorrow. There's some DC Universe animated films that have nothing to do with their yearly releases, such as ones connected to toylines like Lego or DC Superhero Girls, and the occasional one-shot like the Batman/TMNT cartoon movie. Apokalips War however is one of the only times that a non-comic book DC production attempted to give a conclusion to a long-running plot, which even the Arrowverse's version of Crisis On Infinite Earths didn't dare to do as characters get flatlined with no parallel universe counterpart waiting in the wings to take their place. The animation is above average, even done from the original Justice League Dark movie, and is a definitive hard "R" rating with the level of violence and cursing abundant throughout the film. This might either enrage most fans since it seems to be just cleaning the board for a new timeline, or praise for having the fortitude in taking their characters in this darkest of dark endings.