Warner Bros. Television/DC
Given the massive cinematic success of Batman over the last 40+ years, the fact that Warner Bros. has left a concept like Batman Begins largely untouched for more than two decades is a rather stunning decision.
Other than some comic book runs — the latest Batman Beyond comic, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, was released in January 2023, and a sequel, Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic, is set to be published in June 2024 — the Terry McGinnis version of the Dark Knight has stayed dormant since the character was introduced in Batman Beyond back in 1999.
Apparently, though, it’s not like Warner Bros. hasn’t had a legitimate chance to develop a project around the character, as production designer Yuhki Demers, who has worked on both of the fantastic Spider-Verse movies, and director Patrick Harpin recently revealed they pitched the studio on an animated Batman Beyond film.
On February 20, Demers took to Twitter to share both the story of their pitch and concept art for the project, which surely looks like it would be DC and Batman’s answer to Marvel’s Into the Spider-Verse movies.
5 months ago Patrick Harpin walked into @wbpictures @DCofficial and pitched a 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 Animated Feature.
Before we pitched, they warned us "there is absolutely no way we can do a 𝘉𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 movie", but they loved our enthusiasm. We pitched the outline for the… pic.twitter.com/1mhFyu6NUp
— Yuhki Demers (@yuhkidemers) February 20, 2024
Batman Beyond, created by famed DC animation duo Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, first debuted in 1999 as a sequel series to both the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.
The story is set in “Neo-Gotham”, a futuristic, tech noir version of Gotham City, and features a 70-something-year-old Bruce Wayne mentoring teenager Terry McGinnis, who takes over the mantle of Batman and fights crime in a high-tech Batsuit.
In addition to the series, the character was also featured in the animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Batman Beyond ran for three seasons until 2001 when it was then succeeded by Justice League and later Justice League: Unlimited, which ultimately concluded the DC Animated Universe in 2006.
Given the overwhelmingly positive response to these concept art photos, it wouldn’t be surprising if the suits at Warner Bros. and DC started to kick the tires on a Batman Beyond project, perhaps even this one.