First ‘Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham’ Images Highlight Heroes and Villains

While DC’s cinematic universe is in a wait and see period, their animated universe continues to thrive. 2023 is going to be another big year for DC animation and one of the more intriguing offerings that we know of so far is Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. The Batman story is expected out next spring. With the new year right around the Bat-corner, Warner Brothers and DC have released a handful of new character images that will get any Batman fan excited.

The three images showcase the heroes and villains of this next caper for The Dark Knight. We have a classic image of Batman (David Giuntoli) running across the Gotham City rooftops covered by the shadow of night, Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent (Patrick Fabian), and Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow (Christopher Gorham) all dressed up at a party of some kind, and Talia al Ghul (Emily O’Brien) reading a mysterious book. The film is based on the 2001 miniseries of the same name by Mike Mignola, Richard Pace and Troy Nixey which saw an elseworld Batman fighting crime in a 1920s Gotham City.

Like that story the film will be an alternative take on the classic Batman origin story. Bruce returns to Gotham after being away for two years and accidentally unleashing an evil supernatural force. The story will have this steampunk Lovecraftian vibe to it. That should pique anyone’s interest who loves the more horror side to this iconic hero. The film will also have an epic scale to it with Batman meeting fellow DC heroes like the previously mentioned Green Arrow, Etrigan (Matthew Waterson) and Jim Gordan (John DiMaggio) while going up against staple villains like Ra’s al Ghul (Navid Negahban), Talia al Ghul, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze and Two-Face. Since the new image of Two-Face shows him in his pre-villain Harvey Dent form it looks like he will be going through his tragic transformation in the film. Kirk Langstrom aka Man-Bat (Jeffrey Combs) and Cobblepot aka The Penguin (William Salyers) will be featured in the film as well. It’s also going to be exciting to see the al Ghuls and Mr. Freeze getting the spotlight again. Plus Killer Croc’s one of Batman’s most underrated foes.

Ever since the Justice League War continuity ended in 2020 with Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the DC animated film line has been killing it with hits like Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Justice Society: World War II, and Batman: The Long Halloween. While The Doom That Came to Gotham is separate from those films’ continuity, their high quality is enough to get excited about this new Batman adventure. The 1920s setting and supernatural vibes are especially going to help separate this Batman film from the character’s overcrowded library of content. In terms of the art style, the film appears to have a cel-shaded CGI look to it not too dissimilar from this year’s Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons. The colors and shadows really pop because of that, and it will be exciting to see what this Batman’s costume looks like in the light. In all the images so far we have seen The Dark Knight fittingly drenched in the shadows. However, if you look closely Batman has longer boots and a collar on his cape which is similar to how he looks in another popular elseworld story Batman: Gotham By Gaslight.

While there’s no exact release date yet, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham will be releasing sometime in Spring 2023. While DC fans wait for more news on the project.