Warner Bros.
When I heard that there was a Justice League and RWBY crossover movie I was dubious at best. Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One is a crossover event that I never in a million years would have seen coming. Now, having seen it, I love the idea and really loved the movie.
Being a huge JLA and RWBY fan, I wasn’t quite sure how well these two universes would mesh. I have to say, Warner Animation and Rooster Teeth pulled it off excellently.
The animators at Rooster Teeth and Warner, under the direction of original RT creator Kerry Shawcross have given us an action packed film that I think will satisfy JLA and RWBY fans alike. Written by Meghan Fitzmartin who penned the Justice Society:World War II animated movie as well as episodes of the DC Super Hero Girls show, she has done a really fine job of bringing these two teams together for the first time in what is also RWBY’s first foray into the movie genre.
Part One of this crossover finds the JLA team of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Vixen, and Cyborg in the world of Remnant. At least that’s what they are told.
The film begins with Superman appearing out of nowhere as huntresses, Yang and Ruby, are battling a horde of superpowered Grimm, evil monsters that plague this land. He quickly discovers that he isn’t in Kansas anymore. He quickly regains his wits and joins Ruby and Yang and together they defeat the Grimm. When the fight is over they all have many questions and Ruby realizes there is only one person who will know the answers, Ozpin.
Meanwhile, the other DC heroes meet with similar situations. Wonder Woman has been discovered by guards at the Belladonna Estate where Blake and her mother are discussing disturbances in their world’s communication lines. Wiess finds Bruce Wayne lurking around her residence, during a gala her father is throwing, trying to figure out what is happening. Meanwhile Cyborg, Lantern, Flash and Vixen are in the company of Glynda, Nora, Lie Ren, and Jaune doing the same.
One thing the team from Earth has discovered is that their powers have altered. In the Remenent powers and tech are all made possible in this world because of something called of Dust and Semblance. The Justice League are also now all teenagers with new costumes (this actually reminds me a little of the Justice League Unlimited season 1 episode “Kids Stuff”) Another thing is that a few of the Justice League team seem to be a part of the Faunus Race (humans possessing animal traits and physicalities) further making them have similarities to other RWBY universe’s characters.
The two teams finally meet up.
After a lot of misunderstandings, butting heads over leadership, and mistrust, The Justice League and team RWBY realize that they must work together to figure out how this is all possible and how they can set things right.
One thing that my short spoiler-ish free description of the plot doesn’t convey is just how action packed this animated film is.
In the 80 minutes of total run time I’d say that way over half of it is pure action. I expected nothing less from a JL/RWBY film. The pacing is solid and the animation is a great mix of the style of RWBY and the traditional Warner Justice League and Batman animated films. This style of animation might be a little jarring at first but you get used to it pretty quickly. I did.
I will say that having a passing but solid foreknowledge of the RWBY universe did help me out immensely in viewing this. However,I don’t think it is completely necessary. Even if you know nothing about either universe they do a great job at giving new viewers of either franchise a sort of cliff notes version of what each of the different universes are all about . I do think the writer is definitely banking on the idea that more people know about the Justice League and its members’ backstories than that of the RWBY-verse.
Overall I would say that this film works really well. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. In fact, it made me realize that I never finished RWBY a few years ago. I am now in the process of re-watching the series from the beginning. I think that speaks volumes for any crossover event. If it makes the viewer want to go and learn more about the characters they aren’t familiar with then they should see this as a successful venture. The only part of this particular Justice League team that I wasn’t familiar with was that of Jessica Cruz as Green Lantern which I quickly remedied by reading up on her after watching this, as well.
Extras include two featurettes, and two bonus animated episodes (the previously mentioned “Kid Stuff” from Justice League Unlimited S1E5 and “Plastic Man Saves the World” from Justice League Action S01E17)
This is a total win for Rooster Teeth and Warner Animation in my opinion. I really love the animation and the story. I enjoyed what they did with all the characters. Their journeys, the team-ups, and overall arcs were really fun to watch.
I completely recommend this if you are a Justice League and/or a RWBY fan.
As the title leads us to believe, this being “Part One”, that there will be a “Part Two” soon I hope. I am really looking forward to hopefully seeing the RWBY characters in the Justice League’s universe, this time with all new re-designs of their characters and outfits.
I mean, it is only fair, right?
