Legion of Super-Heroes review

Legion of Super-Heroes is a decent animated project co-starring the Legion that once again will likely disappoint longtime Legionnaire fans.

The Legion has been one of the more enduring DC franchises despite constant reboots and relaunches that obliterate the continuity that came before it.

This has made adapting the Legion challenging. Writers typically opt to revisit the Legion’s origin or working with a drastically reduced cast thus missing the point of the concept in the first place.

 

Warner Home Animation’s DC films usually fare best when adapting comic book stories with minimal alterations to the source material. The Legion isn’t lacking for classic stories that would fare well in mini movie format from Before the Darkness, The Great Darkness Saga, An Eye for an Eye to The Universo Project.

Screenwriter Josie Campbell (The New Champion of Shazam) takes the tried-and-true method of telling a Legion story — focusing on Superman/Superboy…or in this case Supergirl.

Of course, since this is the debut of Supergirl in this post-New 52 animated continuity, Campbell has to spend valuable screen time rehashing Supergirl’s origin.

This is frustrating since Supergirl has had her own live-action series, was prominently featured in Justice League Unlimited and has been a fixture in the various DC Animation films. Devoting so much time to Supergirl means there’s less for the Legion, who need as much focus as possible especially when they’re the headliners for this film.

Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Meg Donnelly) is still having a rough time adjusting to life on Earth. Before Krypton’s destruction, she was supposed to arrive before her baby cousin, Kal-El, only to get thrown off course and land after Kal-El is an adult and Earth’s greatest hero Superman (Darren Criss).

Batman (Jensen Ackles) is leery of Supergirl’s lack of restraint and discipline. This prompts an unorthodox solution from Superman — sending Supergirl to the 31st Century where she can become part of the Legion Academy and learn alongside teens her own age.

The Legion has long been established at this point, but Kara joins the recruits aspiring to join the Legion ranks. They’re comprised of characters familiar to Legion fans from Mon-El (Yuri Lowenthal), Dawnstar (Cynthia Hamidi), Triplicate Girl (Daisy Lightfoot), Invisible Kid (Zeno Robinson) and Brainiac-5 (Harry Shum Jr.).

Since the film is told from Supergirl’s perspective the fan favorite Legionnaires are limited to one note quirky character traits. It’s weird how even in their own film the Legion still get treated like guest stars.

While the character designs lack the charm of the 70s/80s era, the team makeup is more racially diverse something that was hardly a priority for the old Legion writers.

Naturally, Supergirl distrusts Brainiac-5 due to the history of Brainiac trying to destroy Superman in his era. She’s not alone as Legion instructors Timber Wolf, Chemical King and Shadow Lass are also questioning why he was allowed to join the Legion.

A larger threat is arriving that threatens to destroy the Legion from all sides provided the team’s recruits can step up and save the day.

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Campbell seems to have a decent knowledge of Legion lore — Proty is among the recruits — but telegraphs the sure to be divisive twist too early.

The choice for the big villain is also underwhelming particularly since they’ve already been used in this iteration of DC films. And the Legion has enough quality villains of their own without borrowing someone else’s major foes.

Director Jeff Wamester is settling into the main role for these projects following his work in Green Lantern: Beware My Power and Justice Society: World War II.

Wamester’s signature with these films are clean action sequences that are easy to follow and big explosive battles. Timber Wolf gets to cut loose in a scene that is reminiscent of Wolverine — a character he predates by a decade.

The art style remains consistent with the launch of the post-New 52 films with heavier emphasis on deep lines and less heroic proportions for the characters.

Legion of Super-Heroes is a decent Supergirl (with Brainiac-5) adventure that provides a little shine to the Legion.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Home Animation