Nearly seven months after being axed in the big HBO Max animation purge, Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves’ callback to the days of B:TAS, Batman: Caped Crusader has found a new home on Prime Video. Amazon has reportedly ordered two seasons of the show, which was announced in May 2021 and was described by the co-exec producers as a “thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.”
The series is produced by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Warner Bros. Animation, Bad Robot Productions and 6th & Idaho. No official comments have been issued, awaiting finalization of the deal.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment returns to WonderCon 2023 in Anaheim, Calif. March 24-26 with its traditional big screen debuts of DC animated films. Both screenings will be followed by panel discussions amongst cast and filmmakers.
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham will premiere on Friday, March 24 at 6 p.m. in the Arena. Confirmed to participate on the post-screening panel is Tati Gabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Kai Li Cain, Christopher Gorham (The Lincoln Lawyer) as Oliver Queen, David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad) as Grendon, producer/co-director Sam Liu (The Death and Return of Superman), co-director Christopher Berkeley (Young Justice) and screenwriter Jase Ricci (Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse).
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One will premiere on Saturday, March 25 at 1:30 p.m. in North 200A. The post-screening panel includes Natalie Alyn Lind (Gotham) as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and RWBY’s long-running cast — Lindsay Jones (Camp Camp) as Ruby, Kara Eberle (RWBY: Ice Queendom) as Weiss, Arryn Zech (The Detective is Already Dead) as Blake and Barbara Dunkelman (Blood Fest) as Yang — alongside Jeannie Tirado (Soul) as Green Lantern and Tru Valentino (The Cuphead Show!) as Cyborg, producer/director Kerry Shawcross (RWBY franchise) and screenwriter Meghan Fitzmartin (Justice Society: World War II).
Both films will have encore screenings in the Arena on Sunday, March 26. Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One will screen at 12:15 p.m., followed by Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham at 2 p.m. Additional panel talent will be announced as confirmed.
Warner Bros. Discovery has meticulously remastered Max Fleischer’s series of 17 animated Superman shorts from the original 35mm source elements, which will be released on the new Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 on Digital HD ($14.99) and on Blu-ray ($33.99 U.S./$39.99 Can.) on May 16.
Superman made his debut in 1938, appearing in Action Comics #1, and the Man of Steel’s popularity grew with his subsequent radio program. Fleischer gave the world’s first Super Hero his original animated theatrical spotlight, taking the character to new heights of popularity and adding many significant aspects to his canon, including coining many of Superman’s catchphrases and attributes.
Clayton “Bud” Collyer and Joan Alexander reprised their famed The Adventures of Superman radio show roles for the Fleischer/Famous Studios animated shorts as Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, respectively. Jackson Beck provided the voice of Perry White and the show’s primary narrator. Additional voices, many from the radio program, were provided by Jack Mercer, Grant Richards, Julian Noa, Lee Royce, Max Smith, Sam Parker and Carl Meyer.
The remastering process began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. Maintaining the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37- to-1, the highest quality raw image was then scanned and then entered into the recombine process, utilizing proprietary software to merge the successive exposure Technicolor negatives into a single RGB color image.
Special Features:
- New Featurette – Superman: Speeding Toward Tomorrow – Superman’s exploits in the Fleischer series modernized the monomyth of the Greek godlike hero and expanded and romanticized the prevalent themes of sci-fi and fantasy. It was this combination of heartfelt storytelling, relatable heroes and amazing visuals that has endeared the Fleischer series to fans as one of the greatest superhero stories of all time. This featurette explores the visual storytelling as the lavish animation, with special attention paid to all the atomic age technology, pushes science fiction closer to becoming a powerful social and pop culture force.
- Featurette – First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series – The Origins and Influence of This Groundbreaking Cartoon Series – A gathering of contemporary animators, comic-book & animation historians, and legendary Fleischer artists examine these beloved shorts, focusing on the animation and the breakthrough techniques that created it, as well as studying the title character’s place in history.
- Featurette – The Man, the Myth, Superman: Exploring the Tradition of Superman Heroes on the Page and Screen – A fascinating study of Superman-esque characters throughout history — in ancient myth, literature and film — that bring forth imaginative, super-human qualities, captivating audiences and enduring the test of time.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment also gave fans an opportunity to peer further into the eldritch darkness of Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham with a look at the Elseworlds-altered allies of the Caped Crusader. While Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, Harvey Dent and Dick Grayson get only slight deviations from their norm, the movie takes liberties with Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain — reimagining them as Sanjay “Jay” Tawde and Kai Li Cain, respectively — while Barbara Gordon appears as her alter ego Oracle with a little Elseworlds twist. Oliver Queen also gets a backstory revision and 1920s-style presence.
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham is available to own on Digital, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Blu-ray on March 28.
Bruce Wayne and his wards make their final stop on a 20-year journey — at Professor Cobblepot’s frozen encampment — in one of the opening scenes of Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. David Giuntoli (Grimm, A Million Little Things) reprises his Batman: Soul of the Dragon role as the voice of Bruce Wayne and the Dark Knight, while Jason Marsden (Young Justice, A Goofy Movie) plays Dick Grayson and Karan Brar (Jessie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise) voicesthe Elseworlds version of Jason Todd, Sanjay “Jay” Tawde.
The great Gotham City triumvirate of Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen and Harvey Dent come together at a dinner hosted by the famed archer as the action begins to heat up in Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. DC Animated Movies standards Christopher Gorham (The Lincoln Lawyer, Insatiable) and Patrick Fabian (Better Call Saul) voice Oliver Queen and Harvey Dent, respectively.
Bruce Wayne, Kai Li Cain and James Gordon stand graveside pondering their next move during one of the more somber moments of Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Uncharted) voices Kai Li Cain — an Elseworlds interpretation of Cassandra Cain — and longtime DC Animated Movies veteran John DiMaggio (Futurama, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire) plays James Gordon.
In preparing to take on supernatural forces, Batman turns to his own mystical ally — Oracle — to help prepare for battle in a key scene from Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. Gideon Adlon (Pacific Rim: The Black) gives voice to an Elseworlds-altered Oracle in the movie.
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