In 2007, DC Comics announced the creation of Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Animation. This is a production company that was created with the specific puropose of creating feature-length animated films showcasing some of the most popular comic storylines in DC Comics history and also creating the opportunity to do origin stories for lesser known characters, such as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. To date, DC Universe Original Animated Movies has released 10 films: Superman Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. These films are all rated PG-13, gurenteeing viewers more "adult" centered storylines and action-sequences. Not only are these movies more geared towards adult audiences, but they have also provided the public with movies that introduce these characters and storylines to people who don't read comics and don't know all that DC has to offer. On top of that, DC Universe Original Animated Movies offers life-long fans the opportunities to see their FAVORITE storylines to be seen in a film medium. For me personally, to see "The Death" and "Return of Superman" storylines, "Batman: Under The Hood" storyline, and the "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" and "Superman/Batman: Supergirl" storylines interpreted in animated movies has been an awesome gift. To see these spectacular stories in a moving, motion-picture medium is spectacular and only increases my love for those stories. I think that Marvel needs to adopt this idea.
All my life of collecting comics, I have never collected or really even read Marvel Comics. A lot of my friends do, but I've never gained enough interest to buy those books. However, with the Iron Man movies, The Incredible Hulk movie, and the forthcoming Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger movies, my interest has been peaked. For someone who doesn't have much knowledge of that universe, I would be extremely interested to have animated Marvel movies that use popular storylines from the comics. Now, I know that Marvel has released the animated movies The Invincible Iron Man, Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2, Planet Hulk, and Hulk Vs., but none of those were based on actual Marvel Comics storylines. I know that Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2 is said to have been, but they were VERY loosely based on the books.
I think that with Marvel coming out with all these live-action movies, I feel as though they would build a bigger audience for these films by releasing feature-length animated movies like DC is doing. If they were to come out with movies based on the storylines "Civil War", "Death of Captain America", or the J. Michael Straczinski Thor books, I feel like Marvel would not only introduce more people to these characters, but they would also stand to make a good bit of money from them.
Now, a lot of people may be saying that with all the live-action movies coming out, it would be pointless to make animated movies that would retell origin stories that will be done in the live-action movies. Well, origin stories would only be a small facet of it. I would be more interested to see animated Marvel movies based on their most popular storylines so that people like myself could become more familiar with the Marvel COMICS world, not necessarily the Marvel FILM world.
What do you guys think: Should Marvel take a play out of the DC Comics playbook and start making feature-length, PG-13 animated movies based on their most popular comic storylines?