JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE FATAL FIVE Animated Cast Announced

Get ready to face the future.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the upcoming animated DC Universe Original Movie Justice League vs. The Fatal Five has announced its voice cast, which features a mix of returning and new actors, along with the animated debut of Green Lantern Jessica Cruz.

According to the official synopsis for the movie, "Justice League vs. The Fatal Five finds the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance when the Justice League faces a powerful new threat — the Fatal Five!  Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman seek answers as the time-traveling trio of Mano, Persuader and Tharok terrorize Metropolis in search of budding Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz.  With her unwilling help, they aim to free remaining Fatal Five members Emerald Empress and Validus to carry out their sinister plan.  But the Justice League has also discovered an ally from another time in the peculiar Star Boy — brimming with volatile power, could he be the key to thwarting the Fatal Five?  An epic battle against ultimate evil awaits!"

The cast includes:

Elyes Gabel (Scorpion, Game of Thrones) as Thomas Kallor/Star Boy
Diane Guerrero (Doom Patrol) as Jessica Cruz/Green Lantern
George Newbern as Clark Kent/Superman
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Susan Eisenberg as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
Peter Jessop (Mass Effect) as Tharok
Matthew Yang King (Batman Ninja) as The Persuader
Sumalee Montano (This Is Us) as Emerald Empress
Philip Anthony Rodriguez (Grimm) as Mano
Tom Kenny (Spongebob Squarepants) as Bloodsport
Daniela Bobadilla as M'gann M'orrz/Miss Martian
Kevin Michael Richardson as Michael Holt/Mr. Terrific
Noel Fisher as Querl Dox/Brainiac 5
Tara Strong as Imra Ardeen/Saturn Girl

Created in 1967 by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan, the Fatal Five first appeared in Adventure Comics (vol.1) #352 as a gang of supervillains assembled by the Legion of Super-Heroes to help them destroy the Sun-Eater threatening Earth.  They battled the Legion numerous times, in various incarnations, with Validus killing Lyle Norg, the Legionnaire known as the first Invisible Kid.

The Fatal Five has appeared in other animated projects, including the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far from Home" and the Legion of Super Heroes animated series.  In addition, the Persuader appeared in the Smallville episode "Legion", the only member of the group to appear in live-action.

Justice League vs. The Fatal Five is expected to arrive on direct-to-video sometime in Spring 2019.

SUPERGIRL Casts Jesse Rath as Brainiac 5

Another Legionnaire is coming to National City.

TVLine has revealed that the CW series Supergirl has cast Jesse Rath as Querl Dox, better known to DC Comics fans as the 31st Century superhero Brainiac 5.  

The role of Brainiac 5 will be recurring and Rath will first appear in the tenth episode of the show's third season, "Legion of Super-Heroes."  Brainiac 5 will be the third member of the Legion of Super-Heroes to appear on the series, after Chris Wood as Mon-El and Amy Jackson as Saturn Girl.

Brainiac 5 is described in the article as "Half computer, half organic life and boasting a 12-level intellect, Brainiac 5 is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who travels to National City from the 31st Century to help Supergirl and the DEO battle Reign, the villain that L-Corp CEO Samantha Arias (played by Odette Annable) is on track to becoming."

Rath, 28, is a Canadian actor probably best known as Alak Tarr on the Syfy series Defiance.  In addition, he's appeared on episodes of No Tomorrow, Being Human (U.S.), Code Black, My Babysitter's a Vampire, Mudpit, and 18 to Life.  He's also appeared in the films The Howling: Reborn and The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Created in 1961 by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, Brainiac 5 first appeared in Action Comics (vol.1) #276 as a green-skinned, blond-haired teenage native of the planet Colu, who claimed to be descended from the original Brainiac, one of Superman's deadliest enemies. He wished to join the Legion as atonement for his great-great-grandfather's misdeeds. When Brainiac 1 was revealed to be an android created by the Computer Tyrants, Brainiac 5 "discovered" he was actually descended from Brainiac 2, the leader of the rebellion against the tyrants, as well as being the clone of the original Brainiac. 

As a member of the Legion, Brainiac 5's ingenuity led to the invention of the Legion flight ring, the anti-lead serum that allowed Mon-El to leave the Phantom Zone and the force field belt which became the signature device of the character.  Another of Brainiac 5's creations, the super computer Computo, attempted to take over the world, killing one of Triplicate Girl's three selves in the process.

A few years the Legion encountered Pulsar Stargrave, a villain who convinced Brainiac 5 that he was the Coluan's long-lost father.  Brainiac 5 joined Stargrave to battle the sorcerer Mordru, but the android's influence would haunt him as Brainiac 5 became increasingly unstable.  When Stargrave murdered Ultra Boy's ex-girlfriend An Ryd, Brainiac 5 framed Ultra Boy for the murder.  Chameleon Boy, who suspected Brainiac 5 from the beginning, found proof when Brainiac's madness resulted in an attempt to destroy the universe using the Miracle Machine, a device that turns thoughts into reality.  He was stopped by Matter-Eater Lad, who ate the machine, and both were committed to a mental institution after the energies of the Machine drove Matter-Eater Lad insane.  Brainiac 5 eventually recovered his sanity and rejoined the Legion.  Shortly afterward, however, he was accused of having murdered Ultra Boy's ex-girlfriend himself.  To prove his innocence, he found Stargrave and defeated him.  He later managed to cure Matter-Eater Lad's insanity and soon corrected another of his mistakes by finding a way to control Computo.

Brainiac 5 entered a state of deep melancholy upon the thousand-year anniversary of Supergirl's death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor during the event known as Crisis on Infinite Earths.  However, the Crisis eliminated Supergirl from existence, so Brainiac 5 (as well as everyone else) eventually had no recollection of her.

Rath will be the second actor to portray the character in live action, after James Marsters on the CW series Smallville.  In addition, Brainiac 5 has appeared in a number of animated projects, including Justice League Unlimited (voiced by Matt Czuchry) and Legion of Super-Heroes (voiced by Adam Wylie).

Supergirl airs Monday nights on The CW at 8 p.m. EST.

SUPERGIRL Casts Amy Jackson as Saturn Girl

Another Legionnaire is coming to National City.

Deadline has reported that the CW series Supergirl has cast Amy Jackson in the recurring role of Imra Ardeen, better known to DC Comics fans as the superhero Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

According to the article, Saturn Girl is described as "a kind, smart, and strong-willed hero who uses her telekinetic ability to help those in need.  She was born on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, and arrives on Earth to help Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) battle one of her biggest threats."

Saturn Girl will be the second member of the Legion to appear on Supergirl, after Chris Wood's character Mon-El.

Jackson, 25, is from Isle of Man who works as a model and predominantly appears in Tamil and Hindi language films, better known as Bollywood style films.  She's appeared in the films I, Gethu, Their, Devi, Abhinetri, and Tutak Tutak Tukiya, and will be starring in 2.0, the sequel to the popular Indian film Robot. 

Created in 1958 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, Saturn Girl first appeared in Adventure Comics (vol.1) #247 as Imra Ardeen, who lived in the 30th century as the most talented telepath among a race of powerful mentalists on Titan, one of Saturn's moons.  Imra left her homeworld as a teenager to join the Science Police, but during her flight to Earth, an assassination attempt was made on the life of fellow passenger and billionaire R.J. Brande.  Using her powers of telepathy, Imra discovered the plot, and with the help of two other teenagers on board, Garth Ranzz and Rokk Krinn, caught the assassin and saved Brande's life.  At Brande's urging, she adopted the alias of Saturn Girl, and joined Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy in founding the Legion of Super-Heroes, an organization of teenage heroes formed to honor the legacy of Superboy.  The Legion soon traveled back to the 20th century and gave Superboy a place on the team after he passed their tests.

Lightning Lad pursued Imra romantically for some time, but she repeatedly rebuffed his advances.  However, after he sacrificed his life for her own until his later resurrection, she understood the depth of his feelings and came to realize that she felt the same way.  After dating for almost ten years, Garth and Imra were finally married and retired from the Legion because of the Legion's charter, which prohibited married team members.  However, a few months after their marriage, war broke out in which all active Legionnaires were captured and the reserves were forced into action.  Imra's telepathic skills were instrumental in the Legion's eventual victory, and as a result the rule barring married members was repealed.  The Ranzzes returned to active duty until Imra gave birth to their son, Graym, after which they both retired once again in order to devote their energy toward raising him.  Unknown to the couple, however, Graym had a twin who was stolen at birth by the Legion's enemy Darkseid and transported into the past, where he was transformed into the monster Validus of the supervillain group the Fatal Five.  Validus fought the Legion on numerous occasions (and even killed the first Invisible Kid), but was eventually returned as a normal infant to his parents by Darkseid at Imra's insistence.

In the current DC Comics continuity known as DC Rebirth, Saturn Girl appeared in the 21st century as a mysterious blonde woman in DC Universe: Rebirth #1.  She was arrested after stealing a sandwich, not realizing that in this era, food isn't free.  She revealed that she's was in the 21st century to meet Superman but the officers told her that Superman was missing in action and presumed dead.  She replied that she knew and that she'll wait for his return, having seen it in the future.  The only item in her possession was a Legion Flight Ring.  The woman was seen again in Batman (vol.3) #9 where she was incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.  When Batman, Commissioner Gordon (who was actually Punch in disguise), and Jeremiah Arkham were passing by inmates, one of the inmates was a blonde woman named "Doe".  As Batman and Gordon glanced at her, she breathed on her cell's glass door and drew the Legion of Super-Heroes symbol from the exhaled breath condensation.  In the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad limited series, it was revealed that Emerald Empress was searching for Saturn Girl.  When Emerald Empress' Eye was damaged by the Green Lantern Simon Baz, Emerald Empress disappeared with it, claiming she needed to find Saturn Girl or she'll be trapped.  During the recent "The Button" crossover between Flash and Batman, she was seen screaming about the death of the Legion of Super-Heroes while watching the accidental death of a hockey player on live television.

Jackson will be the second actress to portray Saturn Girl in live action, after Alexz Johnson on the CW series Smallville, in the episode "Legion".  The character has also appeared in various animated projects, including Superman: The Animated Series (voiced by Melissa Joan Hart), Legion of Super-Heroes and Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League -- Cosmic Clash (both voiced by Kari Wahlgren).

Supergirl will return to The CW for Season 3 on Monday, October 9th at 8 p.m. EST.

DC Universe Animated Movie Dream Projects

As a fan of the various DC Universe animated movies, I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of Batman: Year One and the reported upcoming projects Justice League: Doom (supposedly based on the "Tower of Babel" storyline in the JLA series) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (based on the mini-series by Frank Miller).  Yeah, the current rotation of Batman, Superman and Justice League projects can feel a bit limited at times, even if something like Green Lantern: Emerald Knights manages to sneak in if there's a big-budget movie to justify an animated tie-in.

So I started thinking about some of the DC animated movies I want to see happen, the ones that could broaden the potential for these releases or simply be the kind of dream projects fans hope for but never expect to actually see.  Here's a sample of my own wish list...

The Crisis on Infinite Earths Trilogy -- Yeah, this is the Big One.  Break the 12-issue maxi-series by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez up into three animated movies covering four issues each and treat it like the animated DC Universe version of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.  One installment per year for three years, making it a huge event fans will look forward to for the holidays.

The Flash: Terminal Velocity -- I've been a bit annoyed that Green Lantern has now had two animated movies while The Flash remains conveniently ignored.  After looking through my various trade paperbacks, though, I have to think that Mark Waid, Salvador Larrocca and Carlos Pacheco's definitive Wally West epic would look great animated and give The Flash some of the mainstream exposure he hasn't had since the single season CBS TV series starring John Wesley Shipp back in 1990.

The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract -- As some of you already know, this one came this close to being made after Justice League: The New Frontier, but was put on hold and then quietly shelved in favor of Superman and Batman projects.  Regardless, the story of Terra's betrayal remains one of the finest to come out of 1980s comics and as a diehard Teen Titans fan, it's one that I really want to see someday.

Blackest Night -- Yeah, this was a big 8-issue event mini-series by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis with a lot of spinoff minis, but if you focus on the central event and treat it as more of a DCU story instead of a glorified Green Lantern story, I think it would work well enough.  Or...if that Green Lantern movie sequel actually does happen, you have your tie-in release to go along with it.

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga -- I know, more '80s material...but how can you not include this one?  Even after the Legion's two-season animated series and their appearances on Smallville, I'm still waiting for the proper Legion of Super-Heroes to arrive on television.  One condition, though...You have to bring back Michael Ironside as the voice of Darkseid.  No one else will do.

Relaunching My DC Comics Shopping List

In the words of the late Doctor Who actor Nicholas Courtney, "Well...Here we go again..."

DC Comics finally released information on the last four of their 52 Post-Flashpoint reboot/relaunch/reloaded titles yesterday, revealing the new Superman, Superboy, Supergirl and Action Comics books.  It's been an interesting couple of weeks, watching news trickle out each day and seeing the instant assessment from fans about whether these new titles are going to be worthy of their $2.99 for the immediate future.  As fans, you tend to make a call on some titles based on their creative team alone, or others on the how the characters you've loved for years have been altered in whatever way.  We all do it, and I'm no different, obviously.

With information on all 52 titles now available for prospective readers to dissect and analyze to their hearts' content, this means I now have a decent idea of which titles I'm going to add, which I'm going to keep and which I'm losing.  So for the two or three of you who might actually be interested in such things, here's a rundown of how my monthly DC Comics shopping list is regenerating into its new incarnation.  (Sorry, couldn't help myself there...)

For the sake of comparison, here's how my original list of 22 DC Comics titles looked...

     Action Comics                                               Hellblazer
     Adventure Comics                                          Justice League of America
     Batman                                                         Justice Society of America
     Batman and Robin                                         Legion of Super-Heroes
     Batman, Incorporated                                     Power Girl
     Birds of Prey                                                 Secret Six
     Booster Gold                                                 Superboy
     Detective Comics                                           Superman
     The Flash                                                      Teen Titans
     Gotham City Sirens                                        Wonder Woman
     Green Lantern                                                Zatanna

And now, here's my new Post-Flashpoint list, with new titles in bold...

     Action Comics                                               Green Lantern
     Animal Man                                                 Hellblazer (Presumably)
     Aquaman                                                     Justice League
     Batgirl                                                          Justice League Dark
     Batman                                                         Legion Lost
     Batman and Robin                                          Legion of Super-Heroes
     Batwoman                                                    Nightwing
     Birds of Prey                                                 Stormwatch
     DC Universe Presents                                  Superman
     The Flash                                                      Teen Titans
     The Fury of Firestorm

So overall, that's only one less title every month after losing ten as a result of cancellation or simply not going forward with the relaunched version.  Not too bad, certainly better than I expected a couple of weeks ago, and I'll be trying out a few others for a short time to see if they can convince me to add them to this regular buying list.  I will miss Batman, Incorporated, Justice Society of America, Power Girl and especially Secret Six, though, but at least there's word that Batman, Incorporated is going to return in 2012 for twelve issues.

It should be interesting to see this list a year and a half from now.  All 52 are unlikely to make it past issue #18, especially with this economy, so I imagine those titles of genuine quality and talent have the best chance for long-term survival.  Hopefully, some entertaining "mid-season replacements" (to use a television programming term) are already in the works.

Now, if my own list changes are generally typical of DC's existing audience, then I'm guessing they should be okay for the foreseeable future.  I'm sure there will be creative team changes and adjustments along the way as they figure out this relaunched DC Universe, so for those upset about things like missing characters and certain costume designs, try and be patient if you can.  I've been though this sort of thing before back in 1986, so it's not nearly the end of the world that you might think it is.  It's just change.

To rattle off a bit more from Doctor Who, it's a bit dodgy, this process, you never know what you're gonna end up with.  But it could be fantastic so pass me the fish fingers and custard...