Warner Home Video has given Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths a release date of February 23rd, 2010. The real new news is that it will also come with the first in a series of short films featuring the Spectre in a detective story. DC Showcase: The Spectre was written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and features the voices of Gary Cole and Alyssa Milano. It wasn’t revealed who was directing. The Spectre is a character created in 1940 who was a murdered cop refused access to the afterlife, and so became a powerful spirit of vengeance on Earth. Perhaps most interestingly is the detail that these DC Showcase shorts will show up on “select DC Universe releases” which means they might not be limited to extras on the animated features. Maybe we’ll see some on the home video releases of the live-action movies as well?
As for Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the plot revolves around a ‘good’ Lex Luthor appearing from an alternate universe to recruit the Justice League to battle the Crime Syndicate on his Earth. The Crime Syndicate is an evil reflection of the Justice League, with members sharing similar powers and histories to the heroes. A war between the Justice League and Crime Syndicate engulfs both worlds while a plot by Owlman (Batman’s evil counterpart) may jeopardize existence itself.
A few voice actors have been announced with Mark Harmon playing Superman, William Baldwin as Batman, Bruce Davison as the president, James Woods as Owlman, Gina Torres as Super Woman and Chris Noth as Lex Luthor. Dwayne McDuffie (of many Justice League and Justice League Unlimited episodes) wrote the script while Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Sam Liu (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies) are jointly directing.
