Strawberry Loft

I remember my introduction to Marvel, and it was the Captain America movie in 2011 and I was enthralled. Slowly more movies rolled out and everything was connected. I was excited to see where the thread would end, but it never seemed to. The movies got bigger, and the cast got larger, more movies came out and the timeline got messy, and by the time End Game came out I hadn’t seen a Marvel film in years. My spark for it fell to the wayside as I explored the new wave of horror emerging and anime films making theatrical debuts. In early 2025 my boyfriend wanted me to watch Batman the Animated series. I said no several times before finally giving it a try, because how bad could it be? I had no idea it would make me a big DC fan, especially for Batman media.

For the past few months, I’ve been watching just about any DC content I could find on various streaming services, mostly HBO. I find the charm of DC to me is the way a story can contain the same characters and be something completely removed from any larger universe in its own bubble if it hits certain beats. One of my personal favorite examples of this is an animated Batman film, the Doom that came to Gotham, a Lovecraftian Victorian era adventure that still read as a Batman film. It was a horror I wasn’t expecting with characters that I knew even if they never explicitly said who they were. Giving the characters specific traits that persist through all media makes it easier to explore characters without extensive introductions. You see a woman with control over plants to some extent or even just a plant motif and know immediately it’s Poison Ivy. That doesn’t mean some movies don’t try to add an air of mystery to their set up like the Hush movie that was kind of just okay. It had amazing villain designs though, probably some of my favorite in terms of animate villains.

Having a large character roster with very noticeable traits makes one of my favorite games pointing at the screen and going oh my gosh it’s this person. I’ve again mostly seen Batman media as far as DC goes and if you’re interested in diving in, I recommend starting with Batman the Animated Series like I did. There are backstory episodes for most of the bigger villains that make you appreciate their appearance more in other media. Batman media also tends to give a lot of nods to their more popular characters through background posters or news articles. Gotham is a living breathing city that I swear sucks you in and makes you another citizen surviving the action.

Two of my current favorite DC shows have been The Penguin and Peacemaker, both humanizing villains in completely different ways. The more I think about this I might like the bad guys the most in Batman. I watched the episode drops weekly for both The Penguin and Peacemaker season 2 which is something I haven’t done for any show in a while. Not without forgetting about the show and letting the episodes pile up for a few weeks. For the DC shows I have been sitting on the couch the moment it goes live for streaming. I’m always brimming with different emotions- joy, shock, excitement, anxiety, and I’ve shed a lot of tears. Both shows flesh out their namesake characters with a lot of care giving them depth and human motivation. I’ve watched the Penguin force change for himself tricking himself with mental gymnastics to believe he’s something he’s really not, and that’s a great man. It’s a gritty adventure in the dark alleys of Gotham. On the other hand, Peacemaker is about a man who used to believe everything he did was right and for a greater good. In his mind he was a hero, until he killed a hero. Suddenly Peacemaker is questioning his own strong morals and motives that carried through the blockbuster film Suicide Squad two. Peacemaker’s story takes place in the much sleepier town of Evergreen and it’s lighthearted and silly. I enjoy that DC can do both depending on the director. Matt Reeves and James Gunn are incredible at what they do.

Slowly and more recently there have been threads connecting the DC live action media together. The Penguin is a spin-off from the 2022 Batman movie that I’ve seen several times which is a rarity for me. Peacemaker made a cameo in the newest Superman film before Superman characters started appearing in Peacemaker season 2. As of now you can pick up any of these DC properties without having seen the others. They’re more fun world building cameos. I think the best part about it is the same directors are managing these overarching stories. It’s not a huge mish mash of different producers who all have different visions for a character. The universes and their threads are in the hands of the same people who have one vision to bring everything seamlessly together. It doesn’t feel overwhelming trying to keep up with what’s happening.

 I feel like I became a DC fan at the perfect time everything has felt like its own cinematic masterpiece and there’s a lot of fun projects coming out. A body horror Clayface film by horror extraordinaire Mike Flanagan is on the way and I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping it’s really scary though I’ve seen predictions it’s going to be sad. Batman the Animated series will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I could watch reruns of that probably forever. It’s a good comfort show that checks all the boxes of being silly, serious, and humanizes its villain characters. Again, the depth of the characters I think is what continues to draw me in.

If you ever felt the hero fatigue from Marvel and didn’t understand the hype, I fully recommend giving the newer DC media a try. I only say newer because that’s mostly what I’ve seen in terms of live action media. I’m far from an expert and I’m just a girly enjoying movies and shows with her boyfriend and getting a little obsessed. I’ve dusted off the old Tumblr searching for fandom connection again. I think once you find a character you connect with you’ll be hooked.