In less than a month, DC fans will be able to enjoy a new Batman animated series. Bruce Timm, who co-created Batman: Caped Crusader with Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams, recently revealed that the cartoon will pick up with Bruce Wayne only weeks into his career as the Dark Knight.

In an interview with Empire, Timm — who notably co-created/produced the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series and other DC Animated Universe series — shared that "Batman is so early in his career that in the first episode, he’s still an urban myth." He added that Caped Crusader is "more like Week Two" than "Year One," the iconic Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli Batman origin comic from 1987 that was previously adapted as an animated feature in 2011.

Prime Video Saved Caped Crusader From Being Permanently Shelved

Announced in 2021, Caped Crusader was originally in development for HBO Max but was shelved, alongside fellow Batman-centric projects Merry Little Batman and Bat-Family, in August 2022 by Warner Bros. Discovery as part of larger cost-cutting methods. Luckily for the Batman fandom, Prime Video swooped in to acquire all three projects in early 2023. Merry Little Batman was the first of three DC projects to be released on the streamer, premiering in December 2023. Caped Crusader will be next, while a premiere date for Bat-Family hasn't been announced yet.

Batman: Caped Crusader has received a two-season order from Prime Video, with the first set to consist of 10 episodes. In Caped Crusader, per the official logline, "the corrupt outnumber the good as criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear [in Gotham City]. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the Batman. His one-man crusade for justice attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications."

Who Voices the Dark Knight?

The voice cast for Batman: Caped Crusader was unveiled in June 2024 with a trailer narrated by Hamish Linklater, who will voice the titular hero. Linklater is known for his roles in the comedy series The New Adventures of Old Christine and The Crazy Ones, as well for playing Clark Debussy in the Marvel series Legion.

Besides Linklater, the voice cast includes, among others, Christina Ricci as Catwoman, Jamie Chung as Harley Quinn, and Diedrich Bader as Two-Face. Bader previously voiced the Dark Knight in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Harley Quinn. James Tucker, who serves as co-showrunner on Caped Crusader and developed The Brave and the Bold, recently shared that he was initially against casting Bader as Two-Face since he was "my Batman." However, after seeing Bader's Two-Face performance, Tucker doesn't think of him as Batman anymore. "I immediately think of Harvey... He did some nuanced things with Harvey," Tucker teased.

Batman: Caped Crusader premieres on Prime Video on Aug. 1.

Source: Empire