Injustice

Injustice is a 2021 American adult animated video-on-demand superhero film based on the 2013 video game of the same name, developed by NetherRealm Studios and based on characters from DC Comics. Produced by mh:besttvshows:Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment, and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, it is the 43rd installment in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies (DCUAOM) line. The film is directed by Matt Peters from a story by Ernie Altbacker and stars Justin Hartley and Anson Mount as Superman and Batman, respectively. The film, set in a separate continuity from the main DC Universe, follows Superman’s descent into madness after being tricked by Joker into killing his pregnant wife Lois Lane and detonating a nuclear weapon that destroys Metropolis.

Plot
On Earth Twenty-Two, Superman hears a second heartbeat coming from his wife, Lois Lane, and realizes that she is pregnant. Simultaneously, Batman arrives in Metropolis in pursuit of the Joker, who has stolen Kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs. Alongside Harley Quinn, Joker kills Jimmy Olsen, kidnaps Lois, and steals a nuclear weapon, which they connect to a heart rate monitor surgically attached to her heart. Upon hearing of Lois' capture, Superman and Batman call upon the other members of the Justice League to find her. While searching the city, Flash finds the Scarecrow dead in his lab and his supply of fear toxin missing, before being killed by a trap laid by Joker.

Superman eventually finds the Joker and Harley hiding on a submarine, but is attacked by Doomsday upon confronting them, and flies the monster into space. As the other heroes arrive and apprehend Joker and Harley, Batman realizes that they have mixed the stolen fear toxin and Kryptonite, using it to make Superman hallucinate that he is fighting Doomsday; in reality, he has killed Lois. Before Superman can be warned, Lois' death triggers the detonation of the warhead, destroying Metropolis and killing millions of people.

Joker is apprehended and brought to Arkham Asylum, where he reveals to Batman that, frustrated with being unable to break him, he turned his sights on corrupting Superman instead. Moments later, a grieving Superman crashes the interrogation, killing Joker by impaling him with his fist, ripping out his heart, much to Batman's horror. Aboard the Watchtower, as the world reacts to his actions, Superman resolves to take a firmer stance on preventing death, which is supported by Wonder Woman but disavowed by Batman, believing that he will throw away his and the Justice League's ideals.

While Green Arrow takes Harley to his hideout to protect her from Superman's wrath, Superman reveals his secret identity before the United Nations and announces his intentions to bring peace to Earth, by force if necessary. The Justice League is left divided over Superman's actions; with some embracing his new methods, while Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, and other members refuse to support them and leave the Justice League.

Meanwhile, the United States government becomes concerned that Superman will interfere in their operations, and have Mirror Master and his soldiers kidnap his father, Jonathan Kent, as leverage against him. Superman begins to question his actions, but Wonder Woman reassures him that he is doing the right thing. Locating Mirror Master, Wonder Woman and Raven force him to give up Jonathan's location and takes his belt, which Superman uses to find and rescue his father. In the White House, Batman confronts the President and warns him not to go after Superman's family.

Later, Superman visits Gotham City for the next stage of his plan and tries to make peace with Batman, only to fall into an argument over their ideological views, culminating in Batman rejecting Superman. Alongside Nightwing, Batman heads to Arkham to prevent Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg from forcefully relocating Arkham's inmates to a more secure facility, discovering that his son Robin has joined Superman. Harley, after escaping from Green Arrow and deciding to become a hero, releases the inmates to kill Superman, forcing the heroes into battle. During the fight, Robin lashes out against Nightwing, accidentally killing him by snapping his neck. A heartbroken Batman disowns Robin for his actions, leaving Arkham with Nightwing's body. Informed of what happened by Superman, Catwoman arrives at the Batcave to comfort Batman. In the afterlife, Nightwing meets Rama Kushna, who transforms him into Deadwing to restore balance to the world.

Robin introduces Superman to his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul, who offers his assistance in furthering his mission; however, he refuses to partner with a villain. Alongside other heroes who refused to join Superman, Batman forms an underground insurgency and makes plans to steal a red sun cannon from the Fortress of Solitude to defeat Superman. Realizing Batman's plan, Superman arrives at the Fortress, defeating Captain Atom before being subdued by the Atom wielding a microscopic piece of Kryptonite. Before the cannon can be stolen, Ra's destroys it and kills Atom with gas. Green Arrow attempts to shoot Superman with a Kryptonite arrow, only for it to be deflected into Jonathan, resulting in Superman killing Green Arrow in anger. Following his father's last words, Superman allows Batman and his team to escape with the Phantom Zone Projector, and officially partners with Ra's.

Superman publicly declares his intentions to use T-Spheres survey the world and prevent crime, and later kills a nightclub of teenagers for wearing the Joker's symbol. To counter this, Batman has Plastic Man break the T-Spheres' creator, Mister Terrific, out of Superman's prison in the Mariana Trench, receiving unseen help from Deadwing. Video footage of Superman attacking the nightclub is leaked, leaving Wonder Woman uneased. Superman dispatches Amazo, an indestructible learning android constructed by Ra's, for a test run in Smallville. However, Amazo quickly turns violent and attacks Superman, and Ra's announces his intentions to betray him. Able to replicate metahuman powers, Amazo overpowers the Justice League, killing Hawkman and Cyborg, but Batman and his allies arrive and help Superman and Wonder Woman destroy the android. Meanwhile, Robin, having had a change of heart, duels and defeats Ra's with Deadwing's help.

Despite their aid, Superman prepares to have the insurgents arrested and incapacitates Wonder Woman after she turns on him. However, having created an interdimensional gateway using his technology and the Phantom Zone Projector, Mister Terrific summons the Superman of Earth One, who battles his counterpart. Earth Twenty-Two Superman defeats Earth One Superman as the latter was holding back, but surrenders after being talked down by Lois from Earth Nine, who lost her Superman in a battle against Brainiac and remains pregnant with his child. Remorseful of his actions, Superman agrees to be imprisoned as penance. Although unsure of what will happen next, Batman makes preparations to rebuild the world and his life with Catwoman.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) To get the elephant out of the room, the movie severely changes the elements from both the video game and prequel comics to the point where it's simultaneously unfaithful and faithful to its source material to an uneven and inconsistent degree as it attempts to cram year 1 and 5 of the comic series into just one movie. As a result, the movie is completely rushed, with many arguing that it should have been a television series instead.
 * 2) The characters that were crucial to the game's plot (like Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Shazam) are either sidelined or killed, especially the Flash, whom, after he gets killed in a trap Joker made, is never again mentioned at any point later on in the movie. Not even his best friend Hal Jordan mentions him.
 * 3) Some of the characters from the games and comics were absent, such as Black Canary, Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Batgirl, Commission Gordon, Ares and Alfred.
 * 4) Unlike the voice actors from the games (Kevin Conroy, Geroge Newbern, Susan Eisenberg, Tara Strong, Khary Payton, Richard Epcar, etc.), they were replaced by actors for voices the characters (Justin Hartley, Anson Mount, Kevin Pollak, Janet Varney, etc), even though they do a decent job.
 * 5) The characterization is quite lackluster here, since Batman is twice as jerkishness than in the comics since he goes for the more low blow moves which only further makes Superman go deeper in his dictatorship.
 * 6) The dialogue is a bit forced and laughable at times. Especially with this:
 * 7) *Wonder Woman: How are you? Superman: Angry. Wonder Woman: That is your right.
 * 8) Nightwing's death is even worse then in the comic, as instead of being knock out by Robin angrily throwing his baton at his head enough for him to land on a pebble which broke his spinal cord, he just gets hit in the head by a baton...and he just...dies...yes really.
 * 9) Many of the comics and games best moments are absent, such as Alfred beating up Superman, Harley Quinn becoming a hero after regretting her sins, etc.
 * 10) *Speaking of Harley, some of the heroes go easy on her despite her involvement in Superman’s downfall and gets no consequences for her actions.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The animation and voice acting is good.
 * 2) The fight between Earth-22 Superman and Earth One Superman was awesome as it has Earth 22 Superman using super moves from Injustice 1 and 2.
 * 3) Plastic Man was at his best here.
 * 4) Some of the characters that are likable like Lois Lane, Nightwing, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man and Mister Terrific.
 * 5) There are some scenes that based used for comics and games, such as Superman killing the Joker and the Arkham Asylum scene.
 * 6) The idea of this having a movie based on the video game was great, even though it was poorly developed.

Reception
Despite Injustice receiving mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, it received negative reviews from fans of the video games and comics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 5 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.60/10, while the audience score is 39%, with an average rating of 2.6/5. Criticism was leveled at the story, deaths of certain characters feeling irrelevant, poor character development, absence of the game's voice cast, unfaithfulness to its source material and the film trying to pack too much content from the comics and games into one movie. Some reviewers, however, praised the voice acting and animation.

Streaming and home media The film ranked third on the "NPD Videoscan First Alert" charts for overall home media sales and Blu-ray sales in the United States during its first week of release. 84% of the sales came from Blu-ray discs, including 24% from Ultra HD Blu-ray, and 60% from traditional Blu-ray, while DVDs comprised 16% of the sales. It also ranked fifth on both Google Play and Vudu's VOD charts. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at the tenth rank on the Official Film Chart.

In the second week of its release in the United States, Injustice fell to the fifth rank on the Blu-ray sales chart and eighth rank in overall disc sale At the end of October, it ranked tenth in overall disc sales during the month. The film re-entered Google Play's top 10 films chart in its third week, ranking fifth,falling to the tenth rank in the following week.