While Marvel Comics has been dominating the big screen, DC has long held the gold standard on the small one, in particular through animated shows. Bruce Timm's work on Batman, and its ensuing legacy, has set the stage for clean, simple distillations of DC's superhero properties, wonderful reinventions that have somehow eluded comic book writers and artists. Here then are five of my personal favorites, in order of appearance. I've skipped over anyone who appeared in cartoons first, but feel free to add them (or anyone else you think deserving) in the Comments section.
Mr. Freeze
Show: Batman: The Animated Series
Though I'd seen Freeze in an issue of Who's Who, it was really Paul Dini who put him on the map in the award-winning episode, "Heart of Ice". Suddenly, he's being played by Arnold in a major motion sickness picture, and showing up in all the video games. Still, even after his accession to the A-list, he was never as soulful, sympathetic or (I'm gonna say it) cool as he was in the Batman animated series.Brainiac
Show: Superman: The Animated Series
I can't believe it took that long to make Brainiac a real part of the Superman legend, and had it happened earlier, we might actually have seen him in a Superman film pinch-hitting for Luthor. A Kryptonian computer intelligence, this Brainiac has a vested interest in Superman (in a sense, he's a little like the Eradicator). He plays a role in dismissing Jor-El's findings while secretly working to escape from the doomed planet, makes his way to Earth, absorbing the knowledge of every world he encounters, and tries to take over the world. Not the alien invader, nor the robotic skeleton, nor the circus psychic, nor the various combinations of these, but a true legacy character that is indivisible from his continuity's Superman.Slade (Deathstroke)
Show: Teen Titans
Doing away with the terrible codename was the first good decision the makers of Teen Titans made for the character, but it only went up from there. From lame mercenary assassin to criminal mastermind, Slade is at once the mystery man behind most of the bad things that happen, a hand-to-hand fighter on par with Robin, a Dr. Doom-type who sometimes turned out to be a robot double, and eventually, a man who sold his soul to the devil for even more power. I HATE Deathstroke and I LOVE Slade. That says something about the power of the Titans cartoon show.The Question
Show: Justice League Unlimited
Granted, the various versions of the Question in the comics are already pretty good - Ditko's original mystery man, O'Neil and Cowan's conflicted zen Buddhist, you might even count Rorschach in there - however, the Question as a conspiracy nut is a character I wish they'd introduced in the comics. Not only are his theories a real hoot, but his ability to see connections where he shouldn't is an interesting and seldom seen wrinkle for superhero books. And then there's the weird romantic relationship with the Huntress. He would be awesome even without Jeffrey Combs' voice.Green Arrow
Show: Batman: The Brave and the Bold
I know fan wisdom would have me name Brave and the Bold's Aquaman in this slot, but I dare say, as fun as the series' Aquaman is, he's not necessarily "way better than he ever was in the comics" (I've been a big fan of several incarnations, in fact). For my money, I've got to give it to Green Arrow, a character that hasn't had a good story arc in decades. Gone are the hypocritical politics, the bad relationships and the (ugh) killer arrows. They've regressed Oliver Queen to his Kirby days (before the beard) when he was basically a Batman rip-off, and used that to fuel a healthy competition between the two characters. He's the cocksure one in green.Who do YOU prefer on the small, animated screen?
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