In recent years, Marvel has been giving DC a run for their money on the big screen. Besides a couple of exceptions, most notably the “Batman” franchise, Marvel’s comic book-to-movies have overwhelmed their DC rivals by a healthy margin. But that isn’t the case on the small screen, where DC still dominates. But what about on DVD? That is where the new battleground is between the two companies.

A few years ago, Marvel created a line of direct-to-DVD movies from their more famous properties, achieving success with the “Ultimate Avengers” line, an Iron Man movie, and more recently, a Doctor Strange movie. DC’s answer to Marvel’s DVD line was last year’s “Superman/Doomsday”, and this year’s “Justice League: The New Frontier”, a direct-to-DVD animated movie that chronicles the early team-up between DC’s mightiest heroes — i.e. the formation of the Justice League.

“Justice League” opens in 1953, with Lois Lane (Kyra Sedgwick) announcing the end of the Korean War. (”Justice League” is set in the real world, alongside real world histories that we are familiar with.) We pick up with fighter pilot Hal Jordan (David Boreanaz), who gets into a dogfight with some North Korean fighters who apparently hadn’t heard that the war is over. Soon, Jordan is parachuting to safety, but quickly gets into a scuffle with a young North Korean soldier. Result: Jordan blows the kid’s brains out.

Yup, you read that right. Hal Jordan blows the kid soldier’s brains out. Mind you, he had no choice, but it drives home the point that Dave Bullock’s “Justice League: The New Frontier” is not a movie for the kiddies. Of course, we knew this at the film’s opening, when an unseen writer put down his pen, picked up a gun, and put a bullet through his brains. None of the Marvel DVDs come anywhere close to matching “New Frontier’s” surprising bloodletting.

Meanwhile, J’onn Jonzz, aka the Martian Manhunter (Miguel Ferrer) has unwittingly arrived on Earth, thanks to a transmission sent to Mars but an astronomer. The Manhunter later spends his nights watching TV, before taking up police work, where one night he stumbles across the Batman (Jeremy Sisto) in a church. The Dark Knight knows that Jonzz isn’t who he claims to be, and quickly surmises the disguised alien’s one major weakness, a knowledge he isn’t shy about letting the very powerful Jonzz know, much to the Martian’s chagrin.

But wait, you ask, what’s up with Superman (Kyle MacLachlan)? The Big Blue is still a Boy Scout. We find him somewhere in Asia, where he stumbles across Wonder Woman (Lucy Lawless) in a village that she had help liberate — and gave the women guns so they can kill some stinkin’ rebels. (Did I mention that “Justice League” is not for kids?) We learn that Superman is working with the U.S. Government in an attempt to quell the fears about costumed superheroes, but Wonder Woman has become disillusioned with America, and soon returns home.

In Las Vegas, the appearance of Captain Cold brings the Flash (Neil Patrick Harris) to the rescue. It is the Flash who becomes the first superhero to encounter The Centre (Keith David), a being intent on purging Earth of its populace, believing them a parasitic disease on the planet. As the movie continues to jump from character to character (with Hal Jordan getting most of the face time), the Center continues to pop up, inhabiting the bodies of villains and talking about “judging” humankind. He is not a happy fella, it would appear, and has no use for us “lesser” species.

Back in Hal Jordan land, the ex-fighter pilot finally gets to go to Mars (well, sort of), tasked with finding the purpose of the “Martian” that came to Earth two years earlier; he doesn’t know, of course, that the Martian is now in Gotham working with the Batman to find the purpose of a mysterious cult that seems to be growing. And what about Wonder Woman? Er, after 40 minutes, we finally see her again, flying her Invisible Jet, the cockpit of which is literally covered in her blood. (Wait, did I mention this thing isn’t for kids?)

Running just barely 70 minutes, including a long opening title sequence and closing credits, “Justice League: The New Frontier” could use some padding, which means I liked it so much I wish it was longer. As the movie opens, superheroes like Batman and Superman have already been around for a while, with the public distrustful of them, especially the Flash, whose red costume brings up snickers of “red commie” from the masses. As mentioned, “Justice League” follows the parallels of the Earth as we know it, except with superheroes thrown into the mix.

The movie is really an Origins Story for Hal Jordan, who would eventually become the Green Lantern. It takes a while for Jordan to finally slip on the powerful ring, and the limited time the movie is able to devote to Jordan’s story makes centering the movie around Jordan’s origin a bit questionable. I’m really not sure why the filmmakers decided to do an Origins Story for Jordan; with the other superheroes already established, the smart move would have been to do likewise for Jordan/Green Lantern, and that way more running time could be spent on the Centre’s growing menace.

So what is the Centre? Uh, it’s a giant, living island. Or something. It could use a little bit more exploration. As it stands, the Centre sort of just appears and starts trying to kill everyone, forcing the superheroes to team up with the distrusting military to stop it. Now, after watching the movie, I still have no real clue as to the Centre’s purpose, except to act as the movie’s Big Boss.

Nevertheless, “Justice League: The New Frontier” is a thoroughly entertaining superhero yarn, and is an example of a new kind of superhero movies — at once nostalgic and at the same time gritty. The movie uses the period — the 1950s, and all the paranoia and -isms of the decade — to great affect. It’s the America that we remember from the textbooks, but not quite. Familiar, yet different.

Fans of DC comics and superhero movies in general will get a kick out of “Justice League”. I liked it much more than I thought I would. It was surprisingly very well put-together, and the pacing, though too breezy at times, nevertheless manages to jam quite a bit of good stuff into the film.

Warning: It is not for young viewers.

“Justice League: The New Frontier” arrives on DVD February 26, 2008.

Dave Bullock (director) / Stan Berkowitz, Darwyn Cooke (screenplay)
CAST: David Boreanaz … Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (voice)
Miguel Ferrer … J’onn J’onzz / Martian Manhunter (voice)
Neil Patrick Harris … Barry Allen / The Flash (voice)
Lucy Lawless … Wonder Woman (voice)
Jeremy Sisto … Bruce Wayne / Batman (voice)
Alan Ritchson … Aquaman (voice)
Kyra Sedgwick … Lois Lane (voice)
Kyle MacLachlan … Clark Kent / Superman (voice)
Keith David … The Centre (voice)