The Legion Of Super-Heroes from the 31st Century is home to DC Comic’s D-Tier superheroes and numerous plot holes. Notoriously silly characters like Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, Chlorophyll-Kid, and Bouncing Boy litter what has always felt a bit like a testing or dumping ground for concepts. However, there has always been something endearing about the Legion’s written off misfits. The Legion has always felt like a separate part of DC, and its far flung future setting has barely felt connected to the main DC continuity, despite present day characters traveling to the future and vice versa. The direct-to-video Legion of Super-Heroes animated film tries to take the endearing aspects of the Legion and join it with DC’s mostly well received animated films.
This review contains spoilers.
Jeff Wamester returns to directing duties after 2021’s lukewarm Green Lantern: Beware My Power and is joined by writer Josie Campbell. This is Campbell’s first film after over 10 years of writing for television series like Teen Titans Go, Justice League Action, and She-Ra And The Princess Of Power. Warner Bros. took a gamble on having a writer with only television credits take on a full length film, and it didn’t exactly pay off. DC animated movies usually clock in near the 80 minute mark, and even the best of their animated films struggle with pacing issues. Legion Of Super-Heroes is no exception. It’s clear Wamester and Campbell had a unique vision that could have been much better.
Legion of Super-Heroes Review
The film starts slow, retelling Supergirl’s origins, then quickly gets her to earth. She loses a fight and is transported to the 31st century. Once in the future, the story does a good job introducing the setting. However, it’s also pretty shallow and speeds through characters. We get the names and powers of many heroes but no real reason to feel a connection to any of them beyond Braniac 5. Numerous characters are introduced, but not fleshed out or interacted with in meaningful ways. This meant that later on, neither their accomplishments nor peril raised any emotion from me.
Despite the name, this is really the Supergirl and Braniac 5 story. Everyone and everything else is pretty tertiary. By the amount of screen time she takes, I’m surprised they just didn’t call it a Supergirl movie. Even the movie’s big bad, despite brief foreshadowing, feels shoved into a very rushed second half. If you don’t know DC lore, then you’ll likely feel even more disconnected from the story and characters. In many ways, it feels like there should have been more build up in the middle of the film, not just to the heroes, but also to the villains. DC animated films’ tight runtimes have frequently been to their detriment, but characters and setting which are unfamiliar to many make it even more challenging.
Great Acting, Okay Writing
The moment to moment dialogue isn’t badly written or acted besides a few moments that made me go, “Huh?” For instance, when Supergirl willingly enters a single escape pod, knowing full well it’s the only functioning one, but not resisting in any way until it’s sealed and leaving. Fortunately, moments like this are few and far between, and most of the dialogue is well written and acted. The Hi/Bye nature of so many character interactions almost makes it feel like a television series pilot, not a film. This also feels like a missed opportunity for much needed depth.
Even though the cast includes the likes of Jensen Ackles as Batman and Matt Bomer as the Flash, the majority of the movie is acted by less well known actors. Meg Donnelly, from numerous Disney projects like ZOMBIES, stars as Supergirl, and experienced actor Harry Shum Jr. stars as Braniac 5. Both actors give strong performances even though the dialogue feels more like something from a DC animated television series, not a DC animated film. There is always deep emotion in Supergirl’s and Braniac 5’s dialogue, even when what they’re saying isn’t the most engaging.
Art and Music
A big highlight for Legion Of Super-Heroes is the bold visual art style that diverges from most DC animated films. The thick line art on characters really makes them pop from the backgrounds. It feels like some of the more experimental styles from more recent comic books. There are also extra details that many animated films skip out on, such as the lines in Supergirl’s hair and blushing cheeks, but not all characters get this treatment. Braniac 5’s design is quite boring and flat with little detail, and they try to compensate for this with him being one of the most shadowed characters in the film. While minor characters like Timberwolf, a blatant mix of Marvel’s Wolverine and Sabretooth, have a more interesting visual design despite extremely limited screen time.
Regrettably, the soundtrack is not nearly as memorable as the art style. I literally had to go back to the film and scrub through it to re-listen to the soundtrack because it made such little impact on me. None of it was offensively bad or good; it was just very generic and forgettable. The standard overtures could have been plucked from any Superman movie, and I honestly wouldn’t know.
Final Thoughts
In the extensive pantheon of DC animated films, Legion of Super-Heroes is an incredibly average film that felt poorly paced and lacked development. This is a Supergirl movie with the Legion as extras. I can’t help but feel like it fails its namesake and misses the follow through by both doing too much and too little. From the post credits scene, it is clear that Warner Bros. wants to build off the events of this movie, and that concept is more interesting than the entire film itself. If they do take that path, then I hope that storyline feels more complex and cohesive than this film.
If you want to see some of the best films the DC animation has to offer, then I recommend Batman: Under The Red Hood, The Death Of Superman movies, Constantine: City of Demons, and Justice League Flashpoint Paradox. These movies better exemplify what the talent behind DC animated films can do.
