DC Animation Reveals Its Lineup Through 2019 — Including 'The Death Of Superman'

Until the release of this year's Wonder Woman, many fans believed that DC's animated movies were better than its recent live-action films. Sure, there are stumbles — The Killing Joke came in for a lot of criticism — but, in general, these animated direct-to-DVD movies are DC at their best.

Much to fans' excitement, DC Animation has just revealed its 2018 and 2019 lineup at #SDCC2017. It promises a lot of fun; you're talking both original content, and some "more faithful" adaptations of some of the biggest stories in comic book history...

Gotham By Gaslight

As revealed last month, the next animated film is #GothamByGaslight. It's an adaptation of what is widely considered DC's first "Elseworlds" graphic novel, a slim comic by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola. It's set in the Victorian Era, and features a reimagined #Batman of that time pitted in battle against Jack the Ripper.

This is going to be one of DC Animation's most fascinating projects. The actual comic is only 48 pages in length, meaning DC will have to create a lot of new content in order to make a strong adaptation. The most likely approach is to indulge in a lot more time fleshing out the Victorian Era version of Gotham City, using the extra time to create a powerful sense of place. Augustyn and Mignolia have already laid firm foundations for that.

Although DC hasn't confirmed a release date, it seems this will come out later this year!

Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay

An original animated story, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay will actually be the first #SuicideSquad set in the shared continuity of DC's animated films. DC Animation stresses that the much-loved Batman: Assault on Arkham is actually set within the Arkham video game continuity, so sadly doesn't count.

Although last year's live-action Suicide Squad was negatively reviewed by critics, it was a phenomenal box office success, and the characters are more popular than ever before. It makes sense for DC Animation to capitalize on that success, and they promise "an amazing, though sadly not-yet-revealed, voice cast."

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay will release in spring 2018.

Death Of Superman

Next up is DC Animation's "more faithful" adaptation of #DeathOfSuperman. The 1992 comic book arc pitted the Man of Steel against a new nemesis, Doomsday, and shook the comic book world. It's a brutal, visceral classic that redefined comic books in the '90s, and was loosely adapted into an animated film back in 2007 (and influenced Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice).

A decade later, though, DC plans to adapt the story a lot more faithfully; this time around, they plan on making something that's far less condensed, and includes many of the fan-favorite moments that were dropped in the earlier adaptation.

This is sure to be a popular move, bringing one of the most important and influential comic book events into the DC Animated Universe. Comic book fans always love a faithful adaptation, after all!

Death of Superman will release later in 2018.

Reign Of The Supermen

Although DC didn't give much information about the Death of Superman sequel, comic book fans will be very familiar with that title. The "Reign of the Supermen" arc saw a number of potential Supermen emerge across the world: the Man of Steel (John Henry Irons, a man who wore powerful exo-armor); the Man of Tomorrow (also called the Cyborg Superman, a character who's already made some appearances in the DCTV series Supergirl); the Metropolis Kid, also referred to as Superboy, a teenage clone of Superman; and the Last Son of Krypton, a powerful energy-wielding being. It all led, inevitably enough, to #Superman's resurrection.

If this is another "more faithful" adaptation, then a lot of the surprises will already be known to viewers; after all, it's adapting a famous arc from the 1990s. It's interesting seeing DC Animation embrace what's essentially a duology of films, especially given this arc had a massive impact on the direction of '90s characters. Is it possible we're about to see a far stronger ongoing narrative develop in the #DCAU?

Reign of the Supermen is scheduled for release in early 2019.

So there you have it, DC fans; the next four DC animated projects have been announced. And what a range. We're going from a Victorian Era "Elseworlds" story to the first Suicide Squad set in the DCAU. From there, DC is launching us into a two-part story inspired by some of the most loved comics of the '90s. What's more, they're raising the intriguing possibility that we may be getting a far stronger narrative running through future DC animated projects.

We're in for a wild ride!

[Source: Newsarama]