Warner Bros. Animation

Heroes of Earth beware!  Darkseid is coming back for his revenge at long last.  Warner Bros. Animation marks six years of interwoven DC movies by delivering what sounds like the biggest yet.  Based on the New 52 relaunch, things kicked off with ‘Justice League: War’, which adapted the first storyline from that version of the ‘Justice League’ comic book, showing the formation of the team (and the origin of Cyborg) to stave off an invasion by Darkseid and his Parademons.  Now he’s bringing payback in the new movie ‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’ and part of the voice cast has been announced.

Tony Todd (‘Candyman’) reprises the voice of Darkseid.  Todd previously voiced the despot in ‘Reign of the Supermen’.  (Steve Blum voiced him in ‘War’.)

Warner Bros. Animation

It appears the three heroes that will be the most heavily featured are Superman, John Constantine, and Raven.  Jerry O’Connell has voiced Superman in ‘Justice League: Throne of Atlantis’, ‘Justice League vs. Teen Titans’, ‘Justice League Dark’, ‘The Death of Superman’, ‘Reign of the Supermen’, and ‘Batman: Hush’, and he returns here.  (Alan Tudyk voiced him in ‘War’.)

Matt Ryan, who portrays Constantine in live-action on ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, will once again voice the character here, after starring in the first ‘Justice League Dark’ animated movie, as well as in the streaming movie ‘Constantine: City of Demons’ released via The CW Seed.

And Taissa Farmiga will once again voice Raven, after portraying her in ‘Justice League vs. Teen Titans’ and ‘Teen Titans: The Judas Contract’.

Warner Bros. Animation

Other returning Justice League cast members include Roger R. Cross as John Stewart, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Christopher Gorham as The Flash, Shemar Moore as Cyborg, and Jason O’Mara as Batman.

In addition to John Stewart, Cross also voices the Swamp Thing from Justice League Dark.  Joining him on that team are Camilla Luddington as Zatanna, and Ray Chase as Jason Blood/Etrigan.

Other returning cast members that aren’t part of either team include Stuart Allan as Robin/Damian Wayne, Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane, and Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor.

Additional cast members include Liam McIntyre as Captain Boomerang, Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn (taking over for Tara Strong, who voiced her in ‘Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay’),  Sachie Alessio as Lady Shiva, and John DiMaggio as King Shark.

It sounds as though the Suicide Squad may factor into this story.  And if Raven is a major part of the story, it stands to reason that the Teen Titans will be there as well.

Warner Bros. Animation released a still picture courtesy of ComicBook.com:

Warner Bros. Animation

Depicted but not credited with voice actors are Hawkman, Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Mera, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Shazam.  But with this many characters, not everyone may get lines.  And yes, it appears that Luthor is siding with the angels in this conflict.

It’s curious that this is labeled as a ‘Justice League Dark‘ movie.  When Darkseid and the typical galactic conquerors come calling, it’s not usually the magical characters that one pictures standing up against them. (Then again, it worked for the Avengers.)

The movies were originally set up to adapt the New 52 comics but since then, the scope has been expanded to include storylines from other parts of DC’s history and even completely original stories.  (This falls into the latter category.)

‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’ will be released sometime this spring, but an official date has not yet been set.

EXTRA: If you want to binge a marathon of the connected DC animated films, here they are in order:

  • Justice League: War
  • Son of Batman
  • Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
  • Batman vs. Robin
  • Batman: Bad Blood
  • Justice League vs. Teen Titans
  • Justice League Dark
  • Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
  • Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay
  • The Death of Superman
  • Reign of the Supermen
  • Batman: Hush
  • Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

They are all available on DVD, and many can be found for really cheap. Most are also available to stream on DC Universe.

Check back for updates on ‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’ as they become available!