The film opens several months after the Justice League has mysteriously vanished. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen travel to the Hall of Justice to investigate their disappearance, but they are suddenly attacked by a phantom and forced to flee. With no other options, Lois and Jimmy contact Mystery Inc. for help, because who else are you gonna call?
While heading to Metropolis, the gang discovers the city has been overrun by villains including Giganta, Solomon Grundy, the Joker, Harley Quinn, General Zod, Non, Ursa, and Brainiac, all taking advantage of the Justice League’s absence. We also learn that Freddy has a slight crush on Harley Quinn, which leads to some amusing banter with Daphne.
After narrowly escaping the chaos, the gang reunites with Lois and Jimmy at the Daily Planet, where Lois Lane immediately mistakes them as interns. Jimmy ends up introducing everyone, where he also awkwardly claims Daphne is his girlfriend, mostly has they had a moment at camp several years ago where they bonded over being red heads. Daphne is a little annoyed, bu tshe also enjoys prodding Fred with this revelation.
Lois and Jimmy explain what they know, and everyone heads to the Hall of Justice, where they encounter Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves, and Rex Ruthor. Rex Ruthor is Lex’s pet dog and Mercy Graves is Lex’s driver.
The gang go on a tour of the Hall of Justice and we spot some fun Justice League costumes. Unfortunately the phantom shows up and scares everyone away. Everyone but Scooby and Shaggy of course, who are soon rescued by Krypto.
The gang reunite and everyone splits up looking for clues with Shaggy, Scooby, and Krypto sneaking into the kitchen and accidentally activating malfunctioning holograms of the Legion of Doom. While Shaggy and Scooby keep the holograms distracted, Krypto shuts them down, only for the gang to discover that Solomon Grundy has infiltrated the Hall of Justice. This leads to an extended chase, during which they uncover holographic footage showing the moment the Justice League disappeared.
Grundy does get the upper hand at one point and corners the gang, yet he oddly vanishes in a burst of light, which is kind of weird. We also learn that that there multiple phantoms loose in the Hall of Justice. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for Velma to deduces the truth: Mercy Graves orchestrated the plot, intending to secretly turn the Hall of Justice into her own supervillain headquarters by trapping the Justice League in the Phantom Zone using the Phantom Zone Projector.
Before the mystery can be formally solved, Lex Luthor takes control of the situation. Lex reveals that he was aware of Mercy’s plan and used it to hide his real objective—conquering Metropolis with a robot army. We also learn that Rex is a robot with a heart made out of kryptonian rock after a short battle with Krypto knocks the fur off of Rex.
We then get a 20 minute long scene or so of chaos as every one dukes it out with the LexBots, but eventually the gang prevail with the help of Krypto who wrestles the Phantom Zone Projector away from Rex. Rex is blasted into the Phantom Zone while Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Hawkman and Solomon Grundy are returned to earth.
In the end, Luthor and Mercy are arrested, and Solomon Grundy admits he only wanted to be Scooby’s friend. With the mystery resolved, the gang meets Clark Kent, Jimmy ends his pretend relationship with Daphne, and Scooby and Krypto share a snack alongside the Flash.
My Thoughts
I give this movie a 7 out of 10. I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the running gag where nobody in Metropolis can recognized someone if they remove their glasses. Krypto was also quite endeering and I thought the overall plot was pretty good.
The final third was a bit too action oriented for me and when that happens I often blank out. Action is hard to do well and I feel, at least for me, there has to be some heavy duty stakes on the line for me to commit to paying attention to what is happening on screen. With this film, they did get me with Krypto being weakened by the Kryptonian and fighting is poor little heart out because of it.
So yeah, this one is pretty good, but I feel like I have guest star fatigue and would love a Scooby film that goes back to the themes and atmosphere of Zombie Island and Witches Ghost.
Hey Professor Joel, did you know that this DTV was alleged to be cancelled as a tax write-off for parent company Warner Bros. Discovery’s cost-saving efforts and was subsequently leaked online in March 2023? Thankfully though, it actually wasn’t.