DC Animated Universe

• 1. Introduction

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  The DC Animated Universe, which fans also call the Timmverse or the Diniverse, is a shared fictional world built from DC Comics characters and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Its first story arrived in 1992 with Batman: The Animated Series. Its last arrived in 2019 with the film Justice League vs. the Fatal Five. Between those two titles sit television series, theatrical and direct-to-video films, shorts, comic books and video games. Critics and fans have praised its storytelling, its animation and its maturity. Several of its shows appear on lists of the greatest animated series ever made. Yet the single label hides some odd puzzles. How did separate cartoons grow into one connected world? Why did some projects with the same look fall outside it? Which ambitious ideas never reached the screen? And how did cartoon characters end up changing the comic books they were drawn from?

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• 2. A Growing Continuity

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  Zatanna and Jonah Hex both dropped into Batman: The Animated Series as guest stars, yet the show itself stood largely alone. The first series to point toward a wider shared world was Superman: The Animated Series. In it, the hero meets Batman, Wally West as the Flash, Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, Aquaman and Doctor Fate.

  The New Batman Adventures came next as the sequel to the Batman show. It took on a redesigned art style close to the one Superman's series used. The two shows then crossed over with each other.

  Batman Beyond leapt forward in time. It showed an elderly, retired Bruce Wayne handing the mantle to Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future.

  Justice League followed after the third season of Batman Beyond. Its team was Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Wally West as the Flash, John Stewart as Green Lantern, J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl. After two seasons the series was renamed Justice League Unlimited and given a larger roster. It became the last series set in the universe.

  Two other shows lived near the edges. Static Shock followed Virgil Hawkins, and it was the first time an African American superhero starred in his own animated series. The Zeta Project was a spin-off from the Batman Beyond episode named for Zeta, an android on the run from NSA agents. It stayed largely detached from everything else. Zeta turned up in just one further Batman Beyond episode, and Batman showed up in just one episode of The Zeta Project.

  Static Shock would later turn out to hold a surprising link to a team of teenage heroes.

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• 3. Voices Behind the Masks

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  Kevin Conroy gave his voice to Bruce Wayne and Batman, while Loren Lester voiced Dick Grayson as Robin and later Nightwing. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. spoke for Alfred Pennyworth in most appearances, and Clive Revill also took the role. Bob Hastings played Commissioner James Gordon. Robert Costanzo played Detective Harvey Bullock. Barbara Gordon, as Batgirl, was voiced by several actresses, including Melissa Gilbert, Tara Strong, Stockard Channing and Angie Harmon.

  The villains drew equally striking casts. Mark Hamill voiced the Joker, and Arleen Sorkin voiced Harley Quinn. Adrienne Barbeau played Catwoman, Richard Moll played Two-Face, and Ron Perlman played Clayface. Roddy McDowall voiced the Mad Hatter, and Michael Ansara voiced Mr. Freeze.

  In Superman's corner, Tim Daly, Christopher McDonald and George Newbern each voiced Clark Kent in different productions. Dana Delany played Lois Lane. Clancy Brown voiced Lex Luthor, and Michael Ironside voiced Darkseid.

  The Justice League side brought its own names. Michael Rosenbaum voiced Wally West as the Flash, Susan Eisenberg voiced Wonder Woman, and Carl Lumbly voiced J'onn J'onzz. Will Friedle gave Terry McGinnis his voice in Batman Beyond.

  Some actors crossed between worlds. Phil LaMarr voiced both Static and John Stewart, and Michael Dorn voiced both Steel and Kalibak.

  Even a single villain could change voices. Bane, for example, was played by Henry Silva in one production and by Héctor Elizondo in another.

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• 4. Films, Shorts and Pilots

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  Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm directed Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the theatrical continuation of the Batman series. Alan Burnett wrote the story, and the screenplay came from Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko and Michael Reaves.

  Boyd Kirkland directed Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, which went straight to DVD. He wrote it with Randy Rogel.

  Curt Geda directed Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which continued Batman Beyond, the original Batman series and The New Batman Adventures. Dini, Glen Murakami and Timm shared the story credit, and Dini wrote the screenplay.

  Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, with a screenplay by Michael Reaves, picked up the Batman series and The New Batman Adventures. Sam Liu directed Batman and Harley Quinn, with a story by Timm and a screenplay by Timm and Jim Krieg.

  Justice League vs. the Fatal Five premiered at WonderCon Anaheim on the 29th of March 2019 and reached Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray the next day. Eric Carrasco wrote the story, and the film continued Justice League Unlimited.

  The shorts tell their own story. The Dark Knight's First Night, from Timm and Radomski, served as the developmental pilot for Batman: The Animated Series. Justice League: The First Mission, directed by James Tucker, did the same job for Justice League.

  Chase Me, directed by Curt Geda from a script by Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, is a short with no dialogue, based on The New Batman Adventures.

  Darwyn Cooke made a Batman Beyond short for Batman's 75th anniversary. It reunites the show's original voice cast. It also packs in cameos of robotic batmen from The New Batman Adventures, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Beware the Batman and The Dark Knight Returns. Michael Keaton's Batman, Adam West's Batman and the original 1939 comic book Batman appear too.

  A 90-minute documentary called The Heart of Batman arrived on the 16th of October 2018 inside the Batman: The Complete Animated Series box sets. It later appeared on the official Warner Bros. Entertainment YouTube channel.

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• 5. The Canon Question

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  Bruce Timm, the creator at the center of the franchise, has said that he learned early not to be upset by what the comics did. His personal method was "to consider only the animated episodes themselves as true canon." By that rule, he said, "even Mad Love wasn't purely canonical until we adapted it for the animated series." He also noted that the animation team had no direct input on the comics.

  The tie-in comics were often written by people outside the animation crew. Ty Templeton wrote The Batman Adventures comic series. Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, the animated series writers, did write the Batman: The Adventures Continue comics.

  The 2006 film Superman: Brainiac Attacks shows how blurry the line can get. It used the same animation style and many voice actors from Superman: The Animated Series. Yet writer Duane Capizzi has said it was never meant to belong to the DCAU.

  The video games raise the same doubt. They began with a 1993 Game Boy version of Batman: The Animated Series and ran to a 2016 mobile title, View-Master Batman Animated VR. Some had original plots, and their place in continuity is unknown. Six of them featured voice acting from the original casts. The Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin also used animation from one of the studios behind the Batman series.

  A comic called Harley Loves Joker, from 2018, copied the animated style and character models. Its official description places it in the main comic universe instead. In 2015, a Scooby-Doo team-up comic borrowed the DCAU character models and ignored the lore entirely.

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• 6. Projects That Never Happened

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  In 1998, writer John P. McCann was asked to develop a Lobo animated series for the universe, with Brad Garrett ready to repeat his voice role. The show was cancelled right before production. Some of its elements surfaced in a Lobo webseries released in 2000, animated in Flash. Whether that webseries counts as part of the DCAU is unclear. A wax statue with the same Lobo design appeared in an episode of Gotham Girls, which supports the link, though this is still disputed. Unlike the other shows, the webseries has graphic violence, sexual content and strong profanity.

  In the mid-1990s, a Teen Titans series was planned for the universe and then scrapped. The team was still confirmed to exist in the Static Shock episode "Hard as Nails," where Batman identifies Robin as a member. Static Shock had not been meant to belong to the DCAU until its second season. A Teen Titans series with no link to the universe was released instead.

  After the early success of Batman: The Animated Series, Fox asked Bruce Timm for a spin-off about Catwoman. The project never materialized.

  Before Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker came out, a third animated feature based on the original Batman series was planned, titled Batman: Arkham. It was meant as a follow-up to Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, with Boyd Kirkland attached to write and direct. It was scrapped soon after. A second Batman Beyond movie was also dropped in 2001 because of the dark tones and controversies around Return of the Joker.

  Around 2003, while Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman was in production, Warner Bros. asked Kirkland to write a direct-to-video Catwoman film tied to the 2004 live-action movie. He wrote the script. The film was scrapped after the live-action film was poorly received.

  In 2004, a planned film called Justice League: Worlds Collide was cancelled. It was meant to connect Justice League with Justice League Unlimited. Its script was later rewritten as Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, with every connection to the DCAU removed.

  In the early 2020s, Warner Bros. Animation asked Timm about reviving Batman: The Animated Series with a story set after The New Batman Adventures. Timm refused to continue that series. He was interested only in reviving Justice League, which Warner did not want. He built a new Batman series instead, Batman: Caped Crusader.

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• 7. Echoes in Comics

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  Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya, Mercy Graves and Livewire all began on screen before they ever appeared in a DC comic. Batman: The Animated Series alone supplied Nora Fries, Lock-Up, the Sewer King, the Condiment King, Summer Gleeson, Kyodai Ken, Red Claw, Veronica Vreeland, Baby-Doll, Emile Dorian, Roland Daggett and the Gray Ghost. Superman: The Animated Series added Volcana. The New Batman Adventures gave comics Roxy Rocket, Batman Beyond gave them Terry McGinnis and Blight, and Mask of the Phantasm gave them the Phantasm. Static Shock contributed Ebon, Shiv, Talon, Onyx and Anansi.

  Mr. Freeze's backstory in the comics was adapted from his animated portrayal. The looks or personalities of Green Lantern, Supergirl, Toyman, Two-Face, Parasite, Metallo and Clayface were carried over as well.

  The Batman Beyond comic began in June 2010 with the miniseries Future Evil. In August 2010 it was announced as an ongoing series. It ended alongside DC's whole monthly line at the 2011 relaunch known as The New 52. Superman Beyond, a one-shot in the same universe, followed in 2011.

  Batman Beyond Unlimited arrived in February 2012 with triple-sized issues. Each held three stories, following Terry McGinnis, Clark "Cal" Kent and the future Justice League Unlimited. Batman Beyond Universe replaced it in August 2013. It shifted to double-monthly issues when the elderly Superman rejoined the future League. Terry McGinnis also became the central figure of the weekly series Futures End.

  Issue #22 of Superman/Batman sent Bizarro to an alternate Gotham patrolled by a Batman in the Batman Beyond costume. A version of that future appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #21. In January 2015, The Multiversity Guidebook revealed that a universe inspired by the DCAU is Earth-12 in the DC Multiverse. It also added the Justice Lords Earth as Earth-50.

  The 2021 Milestone Returns relaunch tried to merge the original 1990s Static comics with the animated show. In the old comics, Virgil's best friend was Rick Stone. The reboot renamed him Richie Foley and gave him the animated version's role as the hero Gear. Virgil's family was reshaped to match the series. Hotstreak, Rubberband Man and Puff were changed to look like their animated versions.

  In 2015-2016, DC and IDW Publishing produced Batman/TMNT, a six-issue crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Its success inspired Batman/TMNT Adventures, which paired the DCAU Batman with the Turtles from the comic of the 2012 CGI series. It was announced in late July 2016 and began on the 9th of November 2016.

  Justice League Infinity ran for seven monthly issues between July 2021 and January 2022. Set after the Justice League Unlimited finale, it follows the fallout from Darkseid's disappearance and the League's clashes with alternate universe counterparts.

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• 8. Tributes and Cameos

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  In 1994, Batman appeared in his animated design on the front cover of Man of Steel #37, an early sign of the look's reach. The tributes kept coming in other shows. In a 1995 episode of Freakazoid, Batman cannot help fight Cave Guy because he is on a different network. In a 1995 Animaniacs episode, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm stand at a Batman booth beside a Mask of the Phantasm poster.

  In 2001, a Catwoman comic, issue #89, had Harleen Quinzel pitch a TV series in the style of The New Batman Adventures. Krypto the Superdog borrowed the visual style of Superman: The Animated Series in 2005 for its Superman and other characters. Artist Min S Ku drew many characters in their DCAU style in the Krypto the Superdog comic that year.

  Other comics paid homage in later years. Teen Titans Go! #45 showed the Justice League in its DCAU style in 2007. Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #11 did the same in 2008. Lobo appeared in his DCAU design in Green Lantern: The Animated Series #13 in 2013. In 2017, Action Comics #975 featured Mr. Mxyzptlk and Superman in the style of Superman: The Animated Series.

  Batman: The Brave and the Bold sent the Batman from The New Batman Adventures into its 2011 episode "Night of the Batmen!" alongside the Batman Beyond version. Teen Titans Go! has made meta-gags about the DCAU since 2013. In 2017, Villainous gave cameos to Sinestro and the Joker as they looked in Justice League Unlimited.

  The Lego Batman Movie of 2017 has Barbara Gordon show slides that recreate famous Batman scenes and posters in Lego form, including the animated series. In 2021, Space Jam: A New Legacy featured many DCAU characters throughout.

  The homage has stayed alive in recent years. In 2022, Harley Quinn used the visual style of the original Batman series for Bruce Wayne's mindscape and memories. In 2023, My Adventures with Superman had Mister Mxyzptlk turn Clark Kent into several versions of Superman, including the DCAU one. In 2024, Batman: Caped Crusader ended its episode "Savage Night" with Batman striking the pose from the original opening after throwing a Batrang onto Rupert Thorne's house. In 2025, Creature Commandos repeated that pose in a flashback for Doctor Phosphorus.

  The most dramatic cameo came in 2024 with Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths. It shows the DCAU with Batman and the Joker fighting, and the Watchtower holding Aquaman, the Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern. Then the Anti-Monitor destroys the whole universe.

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