"JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR" REVEALED AS NEXT DC ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE PROJECT

With "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" set to debut at Comic-Con International 2013 later this week, PR representative Gary Miereanu has revealed via Twitter that the DC Universe Animated film series will take a direction similar to DC's publishing plan for its next feature. "Justice League: War," based on the first New 52 "Justice League" arc by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, is next up for Warner Bros. Animation's popular animated film series. According to Mireanu's Twitter, "Vegas" actor Jason O'Mara will play Batman, while "Criminal Minds'" Shemar Moore will lend his voice to Cyborg.

The position of "Justice League: War" as the followup to "The Flashpoint Paradox" is unlikely to be a coincidence. The DC Animated Films -- with one or two notable exceptions -- have skewed toward adaptations of popular DC Comics story lines, such as the recent "Superman: Unbound" or the "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" two-part movie, rather than original stories or re-imaginings of characters. With the adaptation of "Flashpoint" on the table, it's a prime opportunity for the DC Animated Original Movies to start building some form of a continuous narrative, rather than being completely stand-alone. Two "Justice League" projects in a row certainly seem to support the idea that Warner Bros. Animation is at least considering the possibility of a united Animated universe in the same way it's rumored Warners wants to craft a DC Cinematic Universe.

Johns and Lee's first "Justice League" issue of the New 52 was the first book on stands following the final "Flashpoint" issue and was in many ways the flagship series of the publishing initiative. The first arc detailed the origin of the Justice League, and how Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg came together to combat an invasion of Earth by Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips.

More about "Justice League: War" will undoubtedly come to light during Comic-Con International later this week.

"This will definitely be the first salvo in doing new movies that are in continuity with each other," James Tucker, producer of "Justice League: War" and multiple DC animated projects, told CBR News during the west coast premiere of the film at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. "Our next movie's going to be 'Son of Batman,' and that Batman will be the same Batman that you see in 'Justice League: War.' Basically, we'll have two concurrent series of Justice League movies and Batman movies, and they'll be in continuity with each other. So it's kind of world-building."

According to Tucker, the plan at this point -- which he advises is "always subject to change" -- is to produce three animated features a year, two in the universe of "Justice League: War," and a standalone, separate from continuity. In 2014, the third scheduled animated feature is "Batman: Assault on Arkham" (directed by "Justice League: War's" Jay Oliva), which takes places in the world of the massively popular "Batman: Arkham" video games.

This doesn't mean that Warner Bros. Animation is limited to New 52 stories for the in-continuity releases -- they'll just be adapted to fit in the framework established by "Justice League: War," as in the case of "Son of Batman," based on the "Batman & Son" story by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert from 2006.