The heroes of DC's Justice League and Rooster Teeth Animation's RWBY join forces to battle an evil entity attacking Remnant in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One, available to purchase Digitally and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-Ray starting April 25.
The all-new, feature-length DC Animated Movie finds Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern and Vixen in new iterations – transformed into teenagers while in transport to RWBY’s world, and presented in Rooster Teeth’s anime-influenced animation – and partnering with the heroes of Remnant (Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang) to battle a mysterious, superpowered creature before it destroys everything they know.
We recently spoke with writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Justice Society: World War II) about her experience working on the movie and how she went about combining two very different worlds for the year's biggest crossover event.
As well as taking us through her creative process, Meghan elaborates on Batman's unique role in the movie, what it was like turning the Justice League into teenagers, and the challenge that comes with penning an animated movie's action scenes. She also (briefly) teases plans for Part Two!
Check out our full conversation with the writer about Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One below.
We’ve talked about your DC work in the past, so I know that’s a world you’re familiar with, but when it came to RWBY, were you already a fan or did you need to take a deep dive into that franchise?
I hadn’t become a fan of RWBY yet, mostly because I knew that, if I dipped a single toe into the world, it would consume me. And I was correct! I absolutely loved it. When my producer, Jim Krieg, came to me and said, ‘Do you know RWBY?’ I said, ‘Give me two weeks and I will know everything.’ I literally was just waiting for someone to give me permission to become obsessed and God bless Jim because he always opens the door to my worst nature so I can go, ‘Yes! I love this.’ So I did two weeks of a deep dive and came out the other end knowing exactly what this movie was and exactly who these characters are. I was so excited.
When it came to combining these worlds, what would you say was the most fun you had being able to do that as a writer?
This is true with any project that I work on, but the thing that I love most is character dynamics. The great joy in this movie for me was being able to figure out how these characters would hang out together and what it would look like for Wonder Woman to meet the heroes from RWBY, for example. It was all of the things I love about interpersonal relationships, all while getting to play in this world.
These teams have crossed over in the comic books, so did you find that useful when you started piecing this story together?
I always feel strongly with adaptations that, having worked in comics and in animation as well, being able to come in and say, ‘Okay, what works in service of each medium in a good way and a bad way?’ What works in comics doesn’t always work in animation and vice versa. Making sure I’m coming in and bringing the heart of what the comic is doing and, certainly, some of the powers are very similar…it was about recognising we not only wanted to make this our own, but certain things work best in a comic and we didn’t want to take anything away from that.
The fact the Justice League suddenly find themselves as teenagers must have also been an exciting new dynamic for you to explore?
The idea of coming at it from, ‘What if the Justice League were teenagers?’ was a two-fold idea. One was knowing that, in introducing these characters, we needed them to be on an even footing. We knew some of the audience wouldn’t have seen RWBY, so we didn’t want the Justice League to overshadow them. How do we make sure each team is on equal ground so we can properly portray everyone to the best of their ability? Within that, I was like, ‘Oh, DC has had its characters, including the Justice League, reverting to a certain age.’ There’s a specific episode of Justice League Unlimited where the team is turned into eight-year-olds and that’s one I very much love. So those connective tissue pieces all fused together in my brain and I realised it would be great and something I wanted to do. I had a lot of fun with it.
Batman’s arc really stood out to me, particularly as him getting superpowers really seems to put how much he wants to go home to the test; what led to you exploring that and why did it interest you?
The thing I love about these characters is that there are so many emotions to mine. We’ve had these characters, specifically the Justice League, for many, many years at this point. However, there are still so many glorious emotions to mine because that’s human nature. It has so many engaging facets to look at, so going in, I knew what choice Bruce would make at the end but there’s some writing advice I read from one of my favourite comic book writers, Mark Waid. He talked about the nature of false jeopardy and how we, as writers, create these arcs even though people know where they’ll end. We still want to enjoy the journey and still want to learn something new. In coming up with the idea specifically for Bruce and the power he gets in this world, the idea I kept thinking about was how this would feel for a Batman who has never had powers before. What would that do to him and how would it affect him? We know what choice he’ll make because this is a superhero story and he’ll make the sacrifice, but what does he have to give up for that? It’s a really interesting story to play and I’m glad you dug it. It felt very important and real to me.
It was great fun to spend time with the RWBY characters, but as someone who was also discovering them for the first time, was there anyone, in particular, you really enjoyed exploring?
Absolutely. I love the journey Ruby is going through. When we were writing it, Vol. 9 was just finished, and we’d talked about that and how she handled leadership. These kids are warriors and these RWBY kids are a really good look at what we’re putting a lot of kids through today. There’s a statistic I saw recently that said 1-in-5 kids will die in gun violence in America. That sucks. That’s the level of warrior stuff we’re putting our kids through and it’s a good example of what’s happening to this current generation. I wanted to make a point of saying, ‘What does that do to us?’ Looking into the leadership or what these characters go through, it’s interesting to see what they have to give up to give future generations a chance. I think that resonates a lot with kids today.
I won’t get into spoilers, but the final battle is epic and there’s a good chunk of it that is dialogue-free; what’s your approach to putting together a sequence like that on the page?
I have so much fun writing fight sequences. I have a blast and a half trying to figure out what the coolest thing would be to see as they use their powers. How can we combine powers in a way we haven’t seen before and what clever things can we do to put all of these fun powers together? I turned on some epic music and went to town as I imagined the fight…on top of that, the animation is so good. The team does beyond what I could imagine. I always think I set it up so they can knock me out of the park. They’re just so good.
This is a "Part One," of course, so should you get the chance to return for a sequel, have you given much thought to where you’d like to take this story next?
You know…I don’t know how much I can say about ‘Part Two,’ so I shan’t [Laughs]. I am excited for where the world can go and what might be next for these characters.
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One will be available to purchase Digitally and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-Ray starting April 25.