As DC Comics fans know, Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum holds all that locale’s most dangerous supervillains. As such, one expects a slew of these characters from 2014’s Batman: Assault on Arkham.

After another violent escapade, Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) captures the Riddler (Matthew Gray Gubler) and sends his nemesis to Arkham Asylum. However, Riddler brings a secret with him, one that authorities need to recover.

Amanda Waller (CCH Pounder) cobbles together the Suicide Squad to invade Arkham and obtain this information. In the meantime, Batman contends with a deadly threat from the Joker (Troy Baker).

Mass audiences enjoyed their first look at the Suicide Squad with the 2016 film of that title. While that group previously appeared in sporadic episodes of various TV series - live-action and animated – the feature took the Squad to a higher level.

Which makes the timing of the direct-to-video Assault curious, as it hit stores about two years prior to the big-screen movie’s release. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to put out Assault closer to summer 2016 and better connect the two?

Perhaps DC didn’t synch the two because the Squad of Assault only shares about half its members with the Squad of the 2016 movie. Also, though both feature Deadshot, he changes race between this animated feature and the big-screen iteration, so that seemed likely to confuse audiences.

In addition, fans who come to Assault and expect lots of Batman will encounter disappointment. Essentially this acts as a Suicide Squad adventure with a little Dark Knight on the side.

False advertising aside, I won’t complain much. While the movie may not follow its title well, it becomes too entertaining for me to gripe.

Though the title might imply a form of combat, instead much of Assault delivers something closer to a caper flick. As the Squad infiltrates Arkham, it almost takes on an Ocean’s 11 vibe.

Well, a more profane, psychotic and violent Ocean’s 11, as Assault incorporates the nastiness of the Squad characters into its story. The members chosen here blend well to create a vivid team.

Assault lacks a particularly strong plot but the movie delivers so much verve and action that this never seems important. Really, the quest involved feels more like MacGuffin than anything else, as the pursuit becomes nothing more than an excuse for various shenanigans.

All these domains work well. The action seems creative and exciting, and the characters play off each other in a positive manner.

Maybe a little more Batman would make the movie even better, but I doubt it. Fast-paced and vibrant, Assault turns into one of the better DC animated movies.

Batman: Assault on Arkham appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. No issues emerged across this appealing transfer.

Sharpness excelled. The movie always came across as tight and well-defined, so don’t expect any signs of softness.

Jaggies and moiré effects also remained absent, and the image lacked edge haloes or artifacts. In addition, print flaws were a non-factor and didn’t appear at any point.

In terms of colors, Assault went with a dark palette that favored blues and subdued hues. The tones looked solid, as they showed positive richness and vivacity.

Blacks were deep and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity. Across the board, the image worked well.

I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Assault opened up the comic book material well. The forward channels brought out the majority of the material, but the entire package added a lot to the movie. Music presented strong stereo imaging, while effects cropped up in logical spots and blended well.

The surrounds also contributed good information. For the most part, these reinforced the forward channels, but they also contributed a fair amount of unique material.

These instances mainly occurred during storms or bigger action scenes. The back speakers brought out a nice sense of space and environment.

Audio quality always satisfied. Speech was warm and natural, without edginess or other issues.

Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition. Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved a “B+”.

As we shift to extras, we start with an audio commentary from DC Comics Animation Creative Director Mike Carlin, screenwriter Heath Corson and executive producer James Tucker. All three sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, animation and cinematic style.

Commentaries for DC animated movies tend to lack many insights, and this one follows that pattern. We get a smattering of useful notes but much of the track feels oriented toward praise for the film and all involved.

Two featurettes follow, and The Joker’s Queen goes for 13 minutes, 50 seconds. It brings info from Carlin, journalist Geoff Boucher, Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini, and comic writer Adam Glass.

“Queen” looks at the origins of Harley Quinn as well as aspects of the character and her use in various projects over the years. Expect a tight little summary.

Arkham Analyzed spans 27 minutes, 16 seconds. We find remarks from Carlin, Tucker, former DC Comics writer/editor Jack C. Harris, Batman writer Len Wein, DC Comic co-publisher Dan DiDio, author Phil Cousineau, WB Interactive Entertainment VP Development Ames Kirshen, and director Jay Oliva.

This piece covers the creation of Arkham Asylum as well as its influences/development over time and details about the location. Like “Queen”, “Analyzed” examines its subject well.

Next comes a Sneak Peek at Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. It runs nine minutes, 10 seconds and offers comments from Carlin, Tucker, Corson, voice director Andrea Romano and actors Matt Lanter, Sam Witwer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Christopher Gorham and Jason O’Mara.

Like most of these “Sneak Peeks”, this one mainly just promotes Atlantis. It becomes a painless puff piece.

Under From the DC Comics Vault, we get four animated TV episodes. This collection includes “Task Force ‘X’" from Justice League Unlimited (23:13), "Infiltrator" from Young Justice (22:25), "Emperor Joker" from The Brave and the Bold (23:07) and "Two of a Kind" from The Batman (22:17).

In “Task Force”, we get a form of Suicide Squad as they attempt to infiltrate Justice League HQ. It delivers a fun adventure.

Young Justice offered a focus on youthful heroes, and “Infiltrator” looks at their attempts to protect a scientist from the League of Shadows. It seems unclear why this show got attached to Assault but it provides decent entertainment.

At least “Emperor Joker” makes more sense, given that villain’s role in Assault. Joker gains powers that allow him to kill/revive Batman over and over.

Brave offered a tongue in cheek series, so it plays that grim concept for dark laughs. I often like the Brave take on the character, but “Emperor” feels uninspired too much of the time.

In a world with roughly 923 different Batman animated TV shows, The Batman took a slightly different approach in that it approached the Caped Crusader fairly early in his crime-fighting career.

“Kind” introduces a pre-insane Harley, here depicted as the host of a tacky TV advice show host. It mixes Bruce/Batman, Harley and Joker in a clever manner.

The disc opens with ads for the Batman: Arkham Knight and Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video games. We also get Previews for Son of Batman, Beware the Batman, DC Collectibles, Infinite Crisis video game and Ben 10: Omniverse.

Although it doesn’t feature its title character as often as one might expect, Batman: Assault on Arkham soars anyway. A saucy and fun adventure, the film keeps us involved from start to finish. The Blu-ray comes with strong picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. This winds up as a terrific comic book flick.