A Trainwreck--The Last Appearance of the DCAU

The final appearance of the world created by Bruce Timm and company was made in ... Space Jam 2?

Let me get this out of the way before I proceed: I don’t like the Space Jam franchise. It’s Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the Looney Tunes characters in their lowest forms. The first film was, to paraphrase The Simpsons, a movie based on a commercial based on a sneaker based on an athlete who, regardless of his skills on the basketball court, cannot act. The soundtrack’s most popular song made an icon out of a man now known as a convicted sex offender. And in regard to the ‘90s trend of sexualizing female animated characters like Lola Bunny, well … I’m not here to kink shame, so we’ll call that one a draw. However, in its own way, Space Jam 2—also known as Space Jam: A New Legacy—was worse.

Released at the height of the Streaming Wars, as intellectual property (or IP) was being segregated into five or six corporate fiefdoms, the kids’ movie drew criticism for its use of references to Warner Media’s (now Warner Bros. Discovery’s) adult properties—such as Rick and Morty, Game of Thrones, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Matrix, It, and even the X-rated 1971 horror film The Devils—but these critics missed the point, as it was never just a kids’ movie. Space Jam 2 was a flex against the Walt Disney Company, Comcast, ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), and Amazon Prime showcasing the characters and film franchises in their possession.

Screw you, Disney! You may own Mickey Mouse, the Marvel Universe, Star Wars, The Simpsons, The Muppets, Family Guy, and Pixar, but we have Yogi Bear! And The Flintstones!

Space Jam 2 wasn’t a movie. It was Warner Bros. showing off their portfolio.

Which brings me to the point of this essay. As we know, one of the major pieces of IP owned by Warner Bros. Discovery is DC Comics. Together since 1969 (Barnes), when DC’s then-parent company Kenney National acquired Warner Bros. (then known as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts), DC Comics has been a reliable source of revenue for its overseer, even if the quality of their theatrical output has been inconsistent (I’m looking at you, DC Extended Universe). And as part of their dick-measuring conte—uh, showcase of their intellectual assets, they decided to throw the spotlight on the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), which was last seen in the 2019 film Justice League vs. The Fatal Five.

In the film, the Looney Tunes characters—except for Bugs—have split up, leaving Tune World (the name given for their shared area of Warner Bros.’ servers) to try their luck in other IPs owned by their parent company, allowing the filmmakers to digitally edit Sylvester the Cat and Elmer Fudd into Austin Powers, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner into Fury Road, etc. Now, Bugs Bunny and LeBron James (the movie’s new athlete du jour) try to get the band back together and save LeBron’s son, who has been abducted by an evil A.I. played by MCU alum Don Cheadle. Their first stop? DC World, which appears as a planet half covered by Gotham City and half covered by Metropolis.

Really, could there be a more pre-James Gunn mindset for how the suits see the DC Universe?

Soaring over familiar Ocean Liner Deco buildings, Bugs and LeBron are in Metropolis to acquire Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, who is attempting to reprise his role from the 1956 animated short "Stupor Duck." Seeking to join the Justice League, he’s hijacked a train so that he can save it. Of course, things go wrong, leaving the Man of Steel, on screen like he stepped out of Superman: The Animated Series, to save it.

The entire clip can be viewed be viewed below:

What is interesting about this scene is the sheer number of cameos from DCAU alumni. For example, at the train station, we can see Clark Kent, along with a Batman: The Animated Series-era Commissioner James Gordon, a The New Batman Adventures-era Selina Kyle, a TNBA Dick Grayson, a TNBA Arnold Wesker (the Ventriloquist), Jimmy Olsen, and Farmer Brown. As the train passes, we can see Clark Kent begin to remove his glasses to change into Superman.

On the train—in the passenger car behind the engine—we can see a BTAS Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, and a TNBA Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Harley Quinn). And, is it just me, or does that engineer look familiar?

Of course! It’s the same character model for the engineer whose train schedule keeps getting interrupted by destruction, such as in the STAS episodes “The Way of All Flesh” and “My Girl.” Man, public transit takes a beating in Metropolis.

Anyway, as things go south, the now-out-of-control train speeds past several venues, such as Atlantis, the Fortress of Solitude, and a very familiar, Dark Deco city.

Finally, the train is stopped before hitting the orphanage by Superman, who silently looks at the criminals with barely concealed irritation. He is flanked by fellow Justice League members Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and—surprisingly—Batgirl, who’s never been a member of the League on the show.

Realizing the trouble he’s in, Daffy agrees to bail on the League and go play basketball. The film features a later sequence on Themyscira with Wonder Woman, but it’s animated in a more Into the Spider-Verse-esque style, and Wonder Woman is voiced by Rosario Dawson, who previously voiced Diana in seven DC Universe animated original movies, starting with 2015’s Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. These are, of course, unrelated to the DCAU proper.

All in all, this was an acceptable callback to time’s past, but it did bother me that Warner Bros. couldn’t be bothered to spend some coin to get Tim Daly or George Newburn to reprise the voice of Superman for this scene.

And while the cameos were fun, there was one omission that really made me angry—where was Batman?

The scene with LeBron cosplaying as Mr. Freeze doesn’t count.

In a Warner Bros. film obsessed with showing off their IP, the absence of an honest-to-God Batman appearance is shocking. And, considering the passing of legendary voice actor Kevin Conroy the following year, it would have been nice to give him one more appearance on the big screen as the Dark Knight.

Imagine the scene playing out as it did, but rather than the silent smattering of DC heroes we got, what if the Justice League showed up to confront Bugs and Daffy appearing as they did on their series twenty years ago (post-Season One, so we could skip Supes’ notorious age lines). If you want to get nitpicky about Wonder Woman appearing later, swap her out for Vixen or Black Canary. Have Batman and Superman trade a few lines with the main cast, with the League relinquishing Daffy and Porky into Bugs’ custody with a warning that, should they return, they will be locked up in Arkham Asylum (or considering their toon abilities, the Phantom Zone).

In the years since the end of Justice League Unlimited, there have been a small number of mini-reunions and instances where alumni have reprised their roles, the most recent being the aforementioned Justice League vs. The Fatal Five. There were rumblings of a full reunion (Friedman; Staley), but with the death of Conroy such an event would be highly unlikely. The recent announcement of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, an upcoming animated film announced at this years San Diego Comic-Con (Dubey) could provide an opportunity for more DCAU, and I hope so. It would be a shame for the DCAU’s last appearance was in a soulless cash grab like Space Jam 2.

I blame Stupor Duck’s nefarious adversary, Aardvark Ratnik, for this.

Works Cited

Barnes, Brooks. “Superman in Starring Role as DC Studios Unveils Strategy.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 31 Jan. 2023. <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/business/media/dc-studios-superman.html#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20Part%20II.%E2%80%9D-,Warner%20Bros.,30%20television%20shows%2C%20including%20cartoons.>. Accessed 18 Aug. 2023.

Dubey, Nivedita. “DC Crisis on Infinite Earths Animated Film Announced.” Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. 22 Jul. 2023. <https://www.cbr.com/dc-crisis-on-infinite-earths-animated-movie/>. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

Friedman, Nicholas. “Mark Hamill Joins the Call for a Justice League Unlimited Reunion Movie.” Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. 2 Mar. 2018. <https://www.cbr.com/hamill-justice-league-unlimited-reunion-movie/>. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

“Kinney National Company.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 18 Aug. 2023. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinney_National_Company>. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

Staley, Brandon. “Animated Justice League Cast Wants a Reunion Movie, Need Fans’ Help.” Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. 23 Nov. 2017. <https://www.cbr.com/animated-justice-league-reunion/>. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

“Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 18 Aug. 2023.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.-Seven_Arts>. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. YouTube video courtesy of the robohobosam channel.