Legion of Super-Heroes review: DC’s once revered animated division is in a rut

2.5/5

Story: Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl finds her new life on Earth challenging to navigate. Still reeling from the loss of her mother after the destruction of her planet Krypton, in addition to being stuck in space and time for several years, Kara’s struggles continue even while fighting crime and Batman questioning her lack of training. Superman then decides to send Kara to the 31st century in the future to train with the Legion of Superhero — a timeline where technological advancements are identical to Krypton and a place and time where she can feel a lot closer to home.

Review: Despite DC’s well-documented shortcomings in building a shared cinematic universe to rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), its animated division has always managed to consistently produce quality content. The newly launched Tomorroverse after the events in the acclaimed animated film Justice League Dark: Apokalips War, was also well received with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Batman: The Long Halloween. However, the films that followed have failed to live up to expectations; Green Lantern: Beware My Power, in particular, is poorly written and surprisingly underwhelming. Legion of Super-Heroes, unfortunately, follows the same downward trajectory that began with Justice Society: World War II.

While Legion of Super-Heroes is certainly not as convoluted and poorly executed as Green Lantern: Beware My Power, it is a far cry from the excellent films and other animated content released by the DC animated studios since the 90s. The animation and the sound design cannot be faulted as it follows the same template set by the first Tomorrowverse film Superman: Man of Tomorrow. The technical aspects are certainly superior to most animated projects released in recent years, but Legion of Super-Heroes falls short when it comes to narrating a cohesive story.

A Supergirl origin story was previously successfully adapted in the 2010 animated film Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and in the popular CW series Supergirl. Therefore a fresh take on the character required more nuance. Even the Supergirl subplots in the critically acclaimed animated series Justice League: Unlimited are significantly superior to the new animated film. To the film’s credit, the basic concept of the film is intriguing, as it is set in a Hogwarts or Xavier’s School for the Gifted-type setting. But the characters are not thoroughly fleshed out, and the story is riddled with plot holes.

The film’s biggest setback is how one of its main characters, Mon-El, is relegated to being a cliched hero-turned-villain — ignoring decades of backstory set up in the comics. Mon-El is unfortunately given the same treatment as Hal Jordan in Green Lantern: Beware My Power. Whereas Brainiac 5’s arc is also a recycled trope that simply fails to add any meaningful impact on the story.

Verdict: DC is undergoing major overhauls across the board — from animated content to games, and live-action adaptations. The one department of DC that has invariably delivered quality films and TV shows was its animated studios. But a vast majority of the animated content, barring a few exceptions such as the animated series Young Justice and Batman: The Long Halloween, have been on a downward spiral. Legion of Super-Heroes is unable to stop the rut and has failed to rejuvenate an ailing franchise.

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