Movie Talk - Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

One movie I’ve been meaning to get to here is one you know I might like: Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You have one of my favorite superheroes mixed with one of my favorite hero teams. It’s a winning combination! Yet, I actually haven’t read the miniseries that was based on this movie. I'm behind on a lot of stuff, okay? I actually just started to read it on DC Infinite, so I can’t tell ya how accurate the movie is to the book. I do know that some licenses were taken (the turtles are apparently in the same universe as Batman is one example, but all you need to know is that a lotta fighting is happening.

The movie was released in 2019, and this was one rare occasion where I actually bought the movie outright. I had to see this. I even rewatched it last year with Liz, and she enjoyed it as well. The voice talents include some recognizable voices like John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Eric Bauza, and Troy Baker. One surprise is that Baker’s back as Batman… and the Joker. Talk about pulling double duty. Heck, the dude’s done both voices in other properties before, so I say go for it.

Tales from the $3.99 Bin! - Detective Comics #950-956: League of Shadows

Next up for the month is a go-around into the DC universe. For this story, I got two pretty skilled martial artists: Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain. Lady Shiva was created by Dennis O’Neill and Ric Estrada. She first appeared in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #5 from 1975. She’s gone toe-to-toe with the best fighters in the DCU. She’s considered to be one the best and is even better than Batman. Yes, Batman isn’t the greatest at everything, folks. I’m getting tired of the whole “I can do anything with prep time” version of Batman. Even though she’s mostly a villain, she’s even trained folk like Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake.

As for Cassandra Cain, she first appeared in Batman #567 from 1999. She ended up becoming Batgirl for a few years, then someone decided to make her a villain for no reason. Anyway, that went away, she had called herself the Black Bat right before Flashpoint happened. After Flashpoint, all of that history was gone and she was brought back to square zero. Instead of becoming Batgirl, she ended up taking the name of Orphan during DC’s Rebirth phase. In either continuity, Cassandra is a premier top fighter in the DCU. Even Batman said he can’t beat her.

I think these two are fine characters overall, but I do like that two women are the best DCU fighters. I know some Batman fans are now staring darts at me right now. These two have gone to blows in the past. I know they did in Cassandra’s own book from the 2000’s and somewhat recently in the story I’ll be covering today. Today, it’s the “League of Shadows” arc from Detective Comics #950-956. When Rebirth started, Detective Comics essentially became a “Batman Team” book with other Batman-related characters being on the team. I’ll list the creative team below.