Bruce Timm is considered one of DC’s premiere creators when it comes to their animated material. Timm has co-created some of DC’s most important pieces of animated content. From Superman: The Animated Series, and Batman: The Animated Series to Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Timm had a role to play in the creation of all these IPs, all of which shared a continuity, together being referred to as the DCAU.
Although after Justice League Unlimited ended, the show would not get a sequel, it continued via Justice League vs. The Fatal Five. The film existed in the same universe as the DCAU, as confirmed by Bruce Timm, who took the time to clear out where the film stands in the timeline.
Justice League vs. The Fatal Five takes place a few years after Justice League Unlimited ended
Bruce Timm revealed that the sequel to Justice League Unlimited might have a lot of discrepancies when compared to the rest of the DCAU, but there is a lot that could have happened considering where the film is in the timeline, compared to Justice League Unlimited. Speaking with Bleeding Cool, he said:
As far as I’m concerned it is….I would say anywhere from one year to three years after the end of Justice League Unlimited. It doesn’t take place immediately afterwards. Because there’s going to be some weird stuff in there that people are going to go, “how can that be in continuity because of That, That, and That?” But my answer is a lot can happen in a year.
Justice League vs. The Fatal Five took place a significant time after the final episode of Justice League Unlimited. This allowed Bruce Timm to tweak some things about the universe, which he pointed out were possible because of the time jump that was written into the story by him and his team.
The DC Animated Universe remains one of the best adaptations of the DC Universe
There have been a slew of connected universes that have been adapted over the years to depict the heroes and villains of the DC Universe. However, the DCAU remains one of the best versions of the DC mythos put to screen, despite all the successive versions of the characters that have been realized, be it the Tomorrow-verse, the DC Animated Movie Universe, or Zack Snyder’s DCEU.
It has been rumored that James Gunn might be taking inspiration from the DCAU for his own DCU, which might bode well for this set of films. The DCAU had some great stories to tell, and still remains the quintessential version of the characters that it depicted for an entire generation.
