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J.J. Abrams, Bruce Timm say Caped Crusader taps into ‘original principles’ of Batman: The Animated Series
Cartoon Network is headed back to the past — the 1990s to be exact — with a new animated series that’s designed from the ground up to feel old. Or well, timeless might be a better word for it.
Producers Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series), J.J. Abrams and a few others showed up during DC FanDome to reveal some details about the upcoming animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, which is being pitched as a spiritual successor to the acclaimed, beloved Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s. Abrams said he was already a fan of the original animated series, and jumped at the chance to work with Timm in revisiting that type of world and those types of stories.
Timm made it clear that fans of the '90s animated series will find something to love in this new project, maybe even a bit more than the OG series fans still revere so fondly.
“It’s more Batman: The Animated Series than Batman: The Animated Series,” Timm said. “It goes back to the original principles of the show we came up with in the 1990s… But at the time there were limitations on what we could do with adult content and adult themes. Now I can say, ‘Ok it’s the 1990s again and I can do what I want to do.’”
One interesting angle for Caped Crusader is that it will find Batman in a Gotham City and DC Universe where he’s pretty much the only hero running around. So that means no Justice League, just Batman. The creatives also teased we’ll get to see a “low-tech” spin on Batman who hasn’t developed his gadgets just yet. So the series itself will track the creation of the Batmobile through different prototypes, and Batman’s gadgets as he invents them along the way.
Timm also teased fresh spins on iconic characters like Catwoman, the Joker, and Penguin as they try to find new ways into those characters with looks and takes that can be just as iconic as what fans remember from Batman: The Animated Series. But don’t worry, it’ll still maintain that “noir sensibility” and “timeless ’40’s style” with its art and architecture.
Batman: Caped Crusader will air on Cartoon Network and stream on HBO Max. No word yet on when it will premiere, but 2022 seems likely.
Check out the DC FanDome live stream below:
