Seeing beloved superheroes maintain their law-abiding status quo is nice and all, but it’s when they do an about-face that fans really turn their heads. Comic publishers have toyed with alternate versions of their prized properties for some time, particularly via Marvel’s “What If” and DC’s “Elseworlds” banners. These stories have served as means to explore the effect of drastic changes thrust upon firmly-established do-gooders without betraying continuity, although they’ve become shallow, gimmicky cash grabs just as frequently. If anything can be said about DC’s new animated film Justice League: Gods and Monsters, it’s that at least it commits to the downbeat nature of its rebuttal to the eponymous crew’s typically awe-inspiring escapades. All of its leads are rough around the edges, and not all may have as smooth a go at achieving the redemption that viewers have been trained to assume characters in their position are bound to get. But in terms of both style and story, Justice League: Gods and Monsters hasn’t a leather boot-clad leg to stand on, constantly faltering in its efforts to emulate the look of previous (and better) incarnations of classic crimefighters and further its own gritty aesthetic agenda at the same time.

Ready yourselves for a far different Justice League than the bunch we’ve gotten used to. Instead of being champions for truth and innocence, the superfolk of Gods and Monsters are closer to a goon squad, courtesy of some not-so-teensy tweaks in their origin stories. Rather than Kal-El being taken in by the kindly Kents, this world’s Superman (voice of Benjamin Bratt) is the son of General Zod, sent by ol’ pops to conquer Earth some day. Wonder Woman (voice of Tamara Taylor) is the princess of a war-hungry society, having fled to our planet in the wake of an invasion in which she wanted no part. Batman (voice of Michael C. Hall) truly lives up to his name, what with being turned into a bloodthirsty vampire after an experiment went awry. Together, these “heroes” are assigned to execute morally-dubious missions on the government’s behalf, actions that have earned the ire of the public…and the wrath of someone very powerful. All over the globe, scientists have been brutally slaughtered, with the League being set up to look like the culprits. With the masses teetering on the edge of totally turning against them, it’s up to this trio to buckle down, clear their names – and perhaps even become beacons of some hope in the process.

One of the most ballyhooed aspects of Justice League: Gods and Monsters involves the signing of Bruce Timm to the creative team. Timm was among the chief artistic driving forces of the animated Superman and Batman shows of the ‘90s, whose character designs this film proudly carries on. But while I’ve no doubt that the sight of figures who look an awful lot like heroes we know and love acting out of sorts was meant to rattle fans on some deeper level, the number of inconsequential changes brought to the party leave Justice League: Gods and Monsters looking like a hasty scramble for nostalgia dollars. Some results its switcheroo act yields are interesting, but for the most part, this movie spends its time pointing out how different its references to DC characters and events are, yet never does it accomplish anything substantial in doing so. Though it’s quick to name drop bad guys like Mr. Freeze who haven’t gone to the dark side, the feature seems hesitant to examine the ripple effect that leads to these alterations and to explain why the traditional counterparts of our three leads (save for Superman) are nowhere to be seen. We’re expected to think that just because some of the pieces in DC’s mammoth toy box have been slightly rearranged, it’s enough to stand alone as an intriguing concept. Things get doubly aggravating when plot threads worth pursuing (such as this Superman’s earthly upbringing being anything but apple pie) are dangled before you, only to be yanked away and abandoned in favor of casting attention on the middling mystery at the story’s center.

It’s not promoted as aggressively here as in something like Batman vs. Robin, but Justice League: Gods and Monsters still suffers from a case of the grimdarks that have afflicted a sizable chunk of recent, comic-based media. Not only do we get a heightened body count, the deaths themselves are fairly gruesome, and our three protagonists are prone to random cursing, all in service of hammering home the film’s “edginess.”

That said, the attitude is more befitting of the scenario this premise presents, as the characters have enough blood on their hands to cast the intended doubt on whether or not they’ll come out on the side of right before the credits roll. There’s much more suspense in that department here than in what Marvel attempted with Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, giving us roguish main characters who we saw becoming sweethearts from the word go. The League and its collectively gruff image even inspire a clever dynamic or two, including how this world’s Lex Luthor (voice of Jason Isaacs) is given more of a legit reason to be suspicious of the Man of Steel. But even with time set aside to show how this take on the titular trio came to be, it still feels like these characters are left with only the slightest hint of a dimension. Plus, if the plotting hadn’t killed what momentum the film hoped to achieve for you, the dicey voice acting will; Hall makes a suitably cold Batman, but Taylor doesn’t leave a terribly distinct impression as Wonder Woman, and for someone who’s supposed to play the offspring of Zod, Bratt doesn’t sound enraged so much as he does catatonic.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters was a more pleasurable experience than a lot of DC’s latter-day animated adventures turned out to be, but that isn’t saying much. While it takes the first steps towards pulling off an admittedly radical premise, it stumbles in a big way, giving us something that holds up neither on its own merits as a straight action flick nor as a thought-provoking riff on some of the most famous superheroes in history. I can’t fault Justice League: Gods and Monsters for wanting to experiment, but the conclusion it comes to isn’t as mind-blowing as the movie would like us to believe.

(Released by Warner Home Video and rated "PG-13" by MPAA.)