Prime Video and DC have unmasked the first full trailer for the new Batman: Caped Crusader animated series. Ahead of the cartoon’s August 1st debut on the streamer, you can watch the preview below.
Coming from Bruce Timm, producer of the iconic Batman: The Animated Series (and pretty much every other quality DC animated series, for that matter), the series is executive produced by J.J. Abrams and The Batman director Matt Reeves. Caped Crusader is said to be a more adult take on Batman than The Animated Series was, with Warner Bros. Animation EVP Peter Giraldi explaining, “It’s everything that Bruce Timm wanted to do in the original series but because it ran on a kid’s channel, he wasn’t able to do it… It’s more of his complete vision.”
The first trailer sets the stage, with a rookie Batman on a one-man crusade to clean up Gotham City. While recapturing the original series’ beloved “dark deco” vibe, the designs of many characters have been altered to match this “reimagining of the Batman mythology.” Catwoman (Christina Ricci) appears in her retro purple look, Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung) puts on a creepier yellow-and-black jester doll outfit, and Two-Face (Diedrich Bader) appears less chemically burned and more generally disfigured. Batman himself, voiced by Hamish Linklater, has a sleeker appearance than his cinematic counterpart, and appears deeply focused on the World’s Greatest Detective element of the character.
Other villains teased in the trailer include The Penguin, Clayface, Gentleman Ghost, Firebug, and (a personal favorite) Onomatopoeia. The expansive and impressive voice cast is rounded out by the likes of Minnie Driver, Mckenna Grace, Reid Scott, Gary Anthony Williams, John DiMaggio, Dan Donohue, Paul Scheer, and Haley Joel Osment.
Find the official synopsis for the show below, followed by the full Batman: Caped Crusader trailer. Premiering August 1st, the show was given a two-season order from Amazon last year after HBO Max chopped it during the company’s hack-and-slash cost-cutting measures of 2022, which also led to the shelving of the already finished Batgirl film.
Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. 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.