The DC Animated Universe
Poster for Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series was able to gain extraordinary talent behind it. Gaining Al Pacino as Two Face, and Christoper Lee returning to voice Ra's Al Ghul. Kevin Meaney served as a guest star. Characters that appeared in the series that did not OTL included the Creeper, Black Mask, Anarky, a genderbent version of Calendar Man, Gentleman Ghost, Bronze Tiger, Dr. Tzin-Tzin, Victor Zsasz and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Gentleman Ghost appeared as the antagonist in "Zatanna(OTL it was meant to be but shot down, leading to the creation of the forgettable Montague Kane). Zsasz has his serial killer elements toned down. Other changes include the Joker kidnapping Jordan Hill in "
Be a Clown". Man Bat kills people in "On Leather Wings". The ventriloquist making most of his money from fixing gambling and sporting events, having a base on a barge in "Read My Lips". "The Demon's Quest" had Ra's Al-Ghul kidnap Robin, and force Batman to help him steal a jeweled statue of Kali, leading Ra's's assassins to begin a crime spree, forcing Batman to try and outwit Ra's to stop them and save Robin, with the help of Talia Al-Ghul, who had other plans for him. In "Two-Face", Harvey Dent was disfigured when Batman chased a thug into the middle of the stakeout. Acid meant for Batman hit Harvey, turning him into Two-Face. Two-Face, after going on a crime spree, planned to lure Batman into a trap to make him pay for his failure. "Two-Face: Part 2" has an original title card rather than reusing the Part 1 version. "Christmas with the Joker" originally opened with killer toys made by the Joker appearing in stores days before Christmas. The hostages also had bombs strapped to their stockings. In "Nothing to Fear", Scarecrow uses his fear toxin to extort money from Gotham's elite, instead of trying to get revenge on the university. The episode "P.O.V." goes more into the backstory of the characters. Bullock was once a high school sports star with an abusive father who drilled respect for the rules into him, explaining his intense dislike of Batman, while Montoya grew up in Crime Alley and is a reformed teenage punk, who cleaned up her act and dedicated her life to helping people. As a result, writer/story editor Sean Catherine Derek did not leave the show(OTL she did leave when the censors cut the backstory). "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy" involved someone stealing Batman's Cape and Cowl and impersonating him while committing crimes.
Robin is mentioned as being off in college, explaining his first season absence. Commissioner Gordon had a more in-depth backstory, being a good cop who worked his way through the ranks until being kicked upstairs by the crooked ex-mayor and his administrators, but made it clear he wouldn't kowtow to them by showing up for his first day as police commissioner in his patrolman's uniform to let them know he wasn't one of them. Gordon's wife from the comics, Sarah Essen, was also in the series.
Renee Montoya is a major character. She loses her husband to Gotham's criminals, shot and killed in the line of duty. She grew up in Crime Alley, so knew first hand what criminal lifestyles did to good people. She had mixed emotions about Batman, but found herself working with him often and he would become fond of her due to their similar pasts. The irony being that she hated Bruce Wayne and all he stood for, thinking he was everything wrong with the wealthy and that he was deaf to the problems the poor faced. She also was a volunteer at a Catholic church and had ambitions to have children of her own, as she loved kids. She was to secretly dreaded the day she might have to arrest Batman. Harvey Bullock was more of a rogue cop with methods not unlike Batman and arrogantly viewed his badge as a licence to break the law. Mayor Hill hated Batman for being out of his control by never took a firm stand on him due to fear of losing Pro-Batman Votes. He would grow to dislike Batman after Joker kidnapped his son as he believed that if Batman never existed, the Joker wouldn't as well. He was therefore friends with Bullock due to their dislike of Batman.
Ridder's backstory was closer to the Comics. Poison Ivy's backstory was more in-depth as well, detailing that as a child, plants in the greenhouse were her only friends and she was a somewhat homely wallflower, who matured into the beauty she is now known as, but the attention and attempted wooing of would-be boyfriends caused her to become even shyer. In retaliation, a gang of hoodlums surprised and attacked her in her greenhouse, accidentally setting it on fire, causing her to swear revenge. Hugo Strange is able to use his mind-altering devices to brainwash people into simple-minded brutes. An added story involved a team up with Ra's Al Ghul and Poison Ivy, made just before
Batman Beyond started, Poison Ivy seducing Swamp Thing, an episode featuring Batman having a near death experience and meeting Morpheus and Death from
The Sandman. Morpheus being voiced by John Hurt
Superman: The Animated Series
The original idea for the series was to feature teams ups with various Heroes. While this idea was shot down to prevent Superman from being overshadowed in his own show. Several Heroes would be introduced such as an Episode with Captain Marvel. The style of the show was similar to the 40's and 50's(complete with Jimmy Olsen wearing the comic accurate Green Suit and red bowtie). The retro aesthetic fit the series closer to
Batman: The Animated Series and it kept the same art style. Among the episode level changes are: The Season Finale, "Apokolips...Now!" killed off Ma and Pa Kent(OTL Dan Turpin was killed instead). The climax of
A Fish Story had Luthor set off an underwater explosion creates a massive tidal wave(Cut for being too expensive to animate, here the show got a bigger budget). "Little Girl Lost" is much darker, with humans being rounded up and sent to some very Nazi-esque camps to be turned into Parademons. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm were able to use Kara Zor-El as Supergirl.
Batman Beyond
After being pressured to add a Batgirl-like female hero to the series, Bruce Timm introduced Huntress, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. Another offspring was introduced in the son of Superman and Lashina, who had been conceived through genetics during Superman's time under Darkseid's control. The son set his sights on Earth after having conquered Apokolips, leading to an all out battle against Batman and the Justice League with Superman struggling with the guilt of not having known his child. Terry became an item with Maxine after Dana broke up with him. Finally there was a second DVD Movie after
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which included the return of Catwoman and concluded the Batman Beyond series(using plot elements from OTL's "Epilogue" episode of
Justice League Unlimited). In the Comic Continuation featured the return of the Terrific Trio.
Another Series released at around this time was an Alex Ross and Paul Dini created a Shazam cartoon with Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr. The style being a mix of C.C.Beck and the Powerpuff Girls. Bruce Timm had done a crossover with the Powerpuff Girls titled
The Joker vs the Powerpuff Girls in which Mark Hamill's Joker visited Townsville, with the City weirdly enjoying his presence and he was such a high profile villain that he gave the Town more public attention.
Justice League
Justice League had been pitched since the 90's while
Superman: The Animated Series was still in production but would not see release until 2001. The founding members of the Justice League were Batman, Superman(maintaining the Voice of Tim Daly), Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, who had been introduced in the
In Brightest Day... Episode of Superman the Animated Series, and Aquaman (who sported his
Superman: TAS design instead of his hook-handed one from the '90s). Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow and Black Canary were also planned, but it was decided to have the team match the original comic roster, leading to the addition of Martian Manhunter. Later seasons were expected to switch up the roster, introducing Hawkgirl and John Stewart to the team. Later on in 2003, a Teen Titans series was introduced with the line-up being Kid Flash(Wally West, as the Flash on the Justice League was confirmed to be Barry Allen), Aqualad, Donna Troy, Speedy, and Robin (an older Tim Drake). Later additions to the team included Static Shock(Following the tease in a crossover episode with Batman: The Animated Series where Batman said Robin was with the Titans and that Static would meet them some day). Other members included Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy(OTL this version of Teen Titans is by the DCAU cast, meaning it is much closer in quality to
Justice League). There would be frequent crossovers between the two.
The Justice Society appeared in "Legends" as living on an alternate universe known as Earth 2. Another alternate Universe League was introduced in
Justice League: Worlds Collide, which changed the Crime Syndicate to the Justice Lords and helped to bridge the gap between Justice League and the later seasons rebranded as
Justice League: Unlimited. This included the Justice League expanding its roster to counter their alternate selves, Wonder Woman gaining an invisible Jet, and the Second Watchtower being built.
The Birds of Prey starred in an episode of
Justice League Unlimited. In a semi-retelling of the origin of Oracle, in which Batgirl was hospitalized in an episode and, unable to finish the mission she was on when she was injured, she contacted Huntress and Black Canary to help her finish the job while supervising them over their radios(this replaces the OTL Episode "Double Date"). In season 3 a more faithful adaptation of the Legion of Doom appeared, meaning Riddler and Scarecrow were featured as members.
There was a Joker cameo in "This Little Piggy" for a brief moment of comic relief. After Diana had been turned into a pig, Batman was walking down the street with her and would pass the Joker preparing to commit a crime with his gang. The Joker, in the middle of preparing a heist and laying out his convoluted plan to deal with Batman, would see Batman holding and consoling a pig and stared at it in Dull Surprise, then threw his hands in the air and abandoned the entire scheme because he couldn't possibly top that.
Another extra scene is added of Amazo wondering if it was safe to return to Earth in the last episode. A Comedic Episode exists by Stan Berkowitz and Dwayne McDuffie called "Misfortune Cookies" based heavily on the
Justice League International comics. The story centered on Martian Manhunter's addiction to Oreos...er, Chocos almost ruining a peace negotiation between two warring alien races, which forces Elongated Man to play the mediator instead. It's considered the
JLU's equivalent to "The Trouble with Tribbles". Gail Simone also wrote an episode after "Birds of Prey" featuring the Queen of Fables as the villain. Superman/Clark revealed his identity to Lois at the end of "Divided We Fall". The Show was given another season of twelve episodes, revealing Darkseid and Luthor were merged with the Source Wall. Luthor was freed and revived Brainiac. The Key was featured as a villain and there was more of a focus on time travel(such as meeting Enemy Ave during World War I and the Atomic Knights and Kamandi in a post apocalyptic setting) and travelling the galaxy. The series bridged the gap, showing how the DCAU becomes the world of Batman Beyond. This included the depiction of an event in the lore of
Batman Beyond known as the Near Apocalypse of '09. There was a continued format on a Day in the Limelight for various members. Justice League would be followed up by a
Legion of Superheroes series.
Four of the DCAU Teen Titans(Art by AMTModollas).