Robot Chicken DC Comics Special II: Villains In Paradise review

The Legion of Doom goes on Spring Break in Robot Chicken DC Comics Special II: Villains In Paradise. Even supervillains need a vacation and being locked up doesn’t count. They make a daring prison break parodying the opening to Hogan’s Heroes. The disgruntled workers demand time off from their boss, Lex Luthor. Starro is the one dissenting voice but they flush him down the toilet despite a warning from Captain Cold, who explains that’s how New York got giant alligators in the sewer as demonstrated by Killer Croc. Luthor tries to keep them on task but the villains ignore him. They surf the web where they find a hilarious video of his high school band “Sexx Luthor.” The experience was less embarrassing for Alfred Molina, who voices Lex Luthor.

“When we did Sexx Luthor, I do remember for a split second somewhere a small voice ‘Man you could’ve been a rock star,'” Molina told DC Entertainment. “Thankfully, for the world of music and for the sake of my career that moment didn’t last too long.”

Luthor finally agrees to take them to the beach but only to get his daughter Lena, who’s playing hooky. Robot Chicken creator Seth Green explained he had to create swimsuits versions of their costumes. His favorite was Bizarro’s parka jacket but for the rest of the Legion of Doom all they need were their birthday suits. They villains assume private beach means “private” as in nude beach but the villainesses are a little smarter than their male counterparts. Don’t don’t worry, there’s still some fanservice for the guys.

There’s a super sexy scene with Poison Ivy. The femme fatale strokes her hair and caresses her breasts while her plant tendrils roam all over her body. Meanwhile, Brainiac makes an unfunny joke about having to use the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi. Not that it matters since your attention will be elsewhere. Admitted it, your eyes are still on that GIF.

At the beach, Superboy and Lena team up romantically. Green compares them to the star-crossed lovers from West Side Story. Superman and Luthor refuse to allow them to be together but their love won’t be silenced.

“Talking about teenagers having sex would be cheap exploitation but singing about it is another story,” Superboy explains.

The Super Friends with benefits launch into a duet of “Summer Nights” from the musical Grease but with much more lewd lyrics.

“Good thing my panties are ten percent lead,” Lena sings.

“And she’s no stranger to dicks with smooth heads,” Superboy notes in a double entendre referring to Lex Luthor among other things.

Their song is interrupted by a giant Starro, who indiscriminately attacks them all. Both heroes and villains are powerless to stop him, even Aquaman is in over his head. You’d think that Aquaman’s proximity to the ocean would give him the advantage but he’s once again the punchline just like the first Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special. The King of the Seven Seas telepathically summons help from his aquatic friends but the only ones who answer the call are an army of tiny seahorses. After a long-winded speech that would put Braveheart to shame, they anticlimactically throw themselves at the behemoth with absolutely no effect.

Batman is grumpier than ever, maybe from getting his back broken repeatedly in the first special. He refuses to give the eulogy for Green Arrow, who dies in a plane crash when he’s unable to pilot the invisible jet and its equally invisible controls. Batman points out that they’ve all died at some point but they inevitably come back thanks to some contrived plot device like a magic amulet. The speech is applauded by the rest of the Super Friends including a very much alive Green Arrow attending his own funeral!

What really makes him batty though is being carried around in a bubble by Green Lantern. Batman initially suggests something more vehicular but then realizes it would be a superficial change and he’d be no better than Snoopy pretending to fly. He literally changes his tune when Green Lantern constructs him a sailboat. The Dark Knight gleefully sings as he sails cross the skyline. The sailboat impales Starro after he had already succumbed to the power of love between Superboy and Lena.

Grodd is also inspired by their love and finds the courage to propose to Bizarro. Of course, the backwards speaking reverse Superman says yes, meaning no. Bizarro keeps saying yes right up until their wedding but you have to wonder if he protests too much since he’s stronger and could simply fly away.

Even Jimmy Olsen is disappointed with the ending (a running gag).

“This is how we’re ending the second Robot Chicken DC Comics Special with a bullshit fake out wedding?” asks Olsen, who was presumed dead but reveals he has the magic amulet!