Wonder Woman: Bloodlines 2019

It’s time to check out the latest movie from DC Animation. This one takes a slight curveball as it doesn’t really continue the previous continuity though there’s a couple references so that it could still be a part of the major continuity despite being a stand-alone story. It’s also notable for nearly having the entire voice cast be female characters outside of Steve Trevor and a Minotaur. For the most part it follows pretty well in line with the rest of the DC animated movies. It’s a lot of fun to watch with some good action sequences and some nice character beats mixed in here and there. It’s also worth noting that the DC Showcase short packaged with this home video release: Death, is quite excellent as well.

One of the most notable things about this film is the cast list. The entirety of the main cast except for Steve Trevor were women. But not only that, it wasn’t something that stood out as being a selling point for the movie. It just happened to be this way and that was great. The only downside was that Etta Candy initially felt like she was a stereotypical sassy Black sidekick, but as the film went on she became more three dimensional and contributed to the team more than just a random snarky comment. On top of that, all of the women were actually in various different roles and not a single one was at the center of a romantic relationship, although they did very strongly suggest that Etta was actually a lesbian.

Another great aspect of this film was the nontraditional problem solving done by the characters. It was never a punch first, ask questions later, it felt much more in the vein of Steven Universe where fighting is typically the last resort. The heart of the story centered around Vanessa, the teenage daughter of the woman that initially integrated Diana into modern culture after she left Themyscira. The film sets up a rivalry between Vanessa and Diana in such a way that Diana was completely oblivious to it. It’s basically the prodigal daughter story as Diana is the perfect daughter so Vanessa becomes jealous and rebels. Vanessa joins the villains and becomes Silver Swan through the help of Doctor Cyber and Doctor Poison. It’s a little on the exaggerated side of things, but it works well enough in such a short film. It’s also a fun moment when they release the Minotaur, give him the name Ferdinand, and he basically becomes a homebody.

While it’s not overly important in the grand scheme of things, this falls somewhere between being a stand alone movie and being a part of the overall DC Animated Universe that started with Justice League: War. This starts with a Wonder Woman origin story, then jumps ahead into the present. None of the other Justice League members make an appearance, but there’s a slight throwaway line that mentions Diana’s relationship with Superman, something that happened in the early stages of this continuity before he fully got with Lois Lane in the Death of Superman. She also has a very similar if not the same design, outfit, and the same voice actress with Rosario Dawson returning to voice her again. While it’s nice for DC to spread out with various alternate continuities, it’s also good to see them sticking with a generally constant overall timeline.

There’s not too much else to be said about this movie, it gets Wonder Woman pretty well as a character and it gives her an interesting relationship that we haven’t really seen before. There’s a nice redemption arc and several nice nods to Greek mythology with Perseus, the Minotaur, and Medusa along with several villains from Wonder Woman’s rogues gallery. There’s even a bit of a spin on several of them as they work with Doctors Poison and Cyber to bring Giganta to life and give a variation of Cheetah that’s more powerful than the typical villain. The animation, voice acting, and action are all par for the course for DC Animation plus a little unexpected near-nudity. It’s fun and it’s Wonder Woman, what more do you need? Until next time this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.