DC animated universe
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Image:Justiceleagueunlimited.jpg
The DC animated universe is a series of animated television shows and related spin-offs which share the same continuity. Most of these animated series are adapted from DC Comics properties. The abbreviation "DCAU" is often used. This continuity is also sometimes referred to as the Timmverse (after Bruce Timm, the contuity's most consistent creative influence) and in the past, the Diniverse (after Paul Dini, who has mostly departed from Warner Bros. Animation)
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In-continuity in the DCAU
While there have been several animated series based upon DC Comics characters over the decades, what is commonly accepted as the "DC animated universe" refers to the stable of shows and films that spin off from Batman: The Animated Series, the original show in this universe. Older shows such as Super Friends and newer shows such as The Batman are not part of this continuity.
TV series
The universe primarily consists of these animated series (and their related films; see below):
- Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) (later renamed The Adventures of Batman and Robin)
- Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000) (later compiled in The New Batman/Superman Adventures)
- The New Batman Adventures (1997-2000) (sometimes referred to as Gotham Knights; later compiled in The New Batman/Superman Adventures)
- Batman Beyond (1999-2002)
- Static Shock (2000-2004)
- The Zeta Project (2001-2002)
- Justice League (2001-2004)
- Justice League Unlimited (2004-[2006])
Films
The following spin-off films also are part of the continuity:
- Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
- Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998)
- Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003)
- Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
- Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006)
Web cartoons
Two canonical DCAU Macromedia Flash web cartoon series were dowloadable from the WB website, and were voiced by their original actors. As can be expected, the animation wasn't up to par with the television shows. However, these webtoons were well-received. Sadly, neither show is available on DVD as of this writing.
Comic books
Many of the DCAU shows have also had comic books created based on the characters of the shows. Bruce Timm has declared them all non-canon, although they their are still based on the continuity of the shows. The comics are (not counting mini-series, one-shots, annuals and specials such as the Gotham Girls series):
- Batman Adventures
- Batman and Robin Adventures
- Gotham Adventures
- Superman Adventures
- Adventures in the DCAU
- Batman Beyond Adventures
- Justice League Adventues
- Justice League Unlimited Adventures
On a different note, issue #22 of DC Comics' Superman/Batman series, which explores alternate realities, had a character transported to an alternate version of Gotham City patrolled by a Batman using the Batman Beyond version of the costume. This has been the first time the DCAU and the mainstream comic book DC continuity have crossed over, but it has not been the first time elements from the former have appeared in the latter (as the mainstream DC continuity's Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya, as well as other elements, such as Mr. Freeze's origin, were adapted from the animated universe).
Other TV series
TV shows that are considered to be separate from the animated universe by most, but that could be connected according to some theories are:
Each of those shows is believed to be associated with the DC animated universe differently. It should be noted that The Batman is by all means separate from the animated continuity.
Krypto the Superdog
Krypto the Superdog is more of a regular children's cartoon than an all-ages animated series. The debate stems from the appearance of Superman in the show, although not enough of him was seen to deduce whether he was the same as appearing in Justice League Unlimited. However, the background shots of Metropolis strongly resemble those in the Superman animated series. As a counterpoint, Lex Luthor, who as most other human DC charaters in the show never appears in the flesh, is shown as a businessman at a time he was in jail in the DCAU, and a portrait of him at LexCorp doesn't resemble his appearance in the DCAU. It is possible that this series, much like the non-canonical comic books, uses the continuity of the DCAU, but not vice versa.
Teen Titans
Teen Titans is the most strongly debated show as to its place in DC's animated continuities. When considered to be outside the continuity, it is usually due to its vastly different animation style and different sense of realism. Among those who still consider it possible for it to be part of the animated universe, the debate generally centers on the Robin of the series, and his true identity. Before the launch of the series, the existence of the Teen Titans in the DCAU was revealed in an episode of Static Shock, in which Batman stated that Robin (Tim Drake) was "with the Titans." However, in execution, the Robin who appears in Teen Titans seems to be the original Robin, Dick Grayson, but his physical appearance makes it difficult to place the series at any point in the chronology of DCAU. Other suggestions that this Robin is Grayson include his relationship with Starfire (which involved Grayson in the comics), and the fact that Robin's dwarfish interdimensional doppleganger is named "Nosyarg Kcid" ("Dick Grayson" backwards). Finally, two different events seem to indeed confirm that he is Grayson: when we are offered a glimpse of fifteen years in the future, we see that Robin has adopted the costumed identity of Nightwing (an action taken by Grayson in both the comics and in Batman: The Animated Series), and when we are offered glimpses to the past, we see his parents falling from trapezes and him pledging his alliegance to a figure meant to be Batman. The final season of "Teen Titans" featured the Wally West version of Kid Flash, which conflicted with the present status quo of the DCAU with the adult Wally West Flash featured in Justice League, but was voiced by the same actor (Michael Rosenbaum), suggesting the possibility that Teen Titans was set in the past of the DCAU, possibly before Batman: The Animated Series, but more likely during Dick Grayson's two-year absence between Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, and that the Titans that Batman referenced when mentioning Tim Drake were a different incarnation of the team, much like in the comics. This theory seemed to be supported by the presence of Speedy (Roy Harper, Jr.) in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act", in which his is clearly rendered as an older version of his Teen Titans self and voiced by the same actor, Mike Erwin. However, Mike Erwin and Michael Rosenbaum starring on both shows may have been simply due the different crews and casts paying homages to each other. "Teen Titans" can still understandably be set in the DCAU, but may be likely set on a universe of its own.
However, on a thread at the TitansGo.net forums, character designer on the Teen Titans show Derrick Wyatt wrote that: "Almost since the day after the last issue of Crisis came out, the one universe started unravelling again. All those alternate universes that used to exist in DC are starting to come back. The JLA is even fighting their alternate antimatter universe counterparts, the Crime Syndicate of Amerika in the current JLA comic right now. "The animated TV shows are not in the same continuity as their comic book counter parts, and now the TV shows themselves are starting to be separate. The Batman, JLU, and Teen Titans are all in their own different continuities."
Inconsistencies within the DCAU
The shows within the universe have had mostly consistent continuity over the years thanks to Bruce Timm's iron grip. Fans were initially concerned that Kyle Rayner appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, which took place before the first episode of Justice League, whereas John Stewart was Green Lantern from day one of the Justice League series. But it was later revealed that both Green Lanterns existed, not unlike the situation in the comic book DC universe, and that Kyle Rayner is, for reasons left to the imagination, on the planet Oa (the home planet of the Guardians of the Universe, who commission the Green Lanterns) and is not permitted to return for now. The implication, however, is that Rayner has been off training in space with Katma Tui on Stewart's request, as she is the same person who trained him. In "The Return", Stewart, Rayner, and the Guardians discuss the possibility of having the two of them trade places, which implies that Rayner is done with his training and now is merely serving a different sector than 2814 (the one that includes Earth, currently Stewart's domain).
Additionally, Wonder Woman made her debut in Justice League as a freshman superhero taking her first peek at man's world, despite having been referenced in Superman: The Animated Series. The continuity-slasher is a throwaway line from Lois Lane in "Blasts from the Past", who sarcastically mutters to herself, "Yeah, and I'm Wonder Woman," in response to the Kryptonian criminal Mala's insistence that she'll abide by Superman's example. Unlike the Rayner/Stewart fracas, which has been clarified over the course of various episodes, this small dialogue gaffe will probably remain just that. However, it should be pointed out that a Justice League time-travel episode ("The Savage Time") takes place in the 1940s when Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman went back in time and history recorded them helping the allies fight Vandal Savage's Nazi forces.
Inconsistencies may have also arisen concerning the flashback scene in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which shows a young Tim Drake. With the normal time progression shown in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited episodes taken into account, Tim Drake would be around his late teens or early twenties as of current episodes, rather than in his early teens as shown in the flashback. The Joker was seen alive as late as the second season of Justice League, and it is unlikely that the events of Return of the Joker have taken place during Justice League Unlimited's run, given that we have seen none of the emotional backlash that one would expect. In the episode The Savage Time, an alternate present version of Tim Drake can be briefly glimpsed with Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain as one of the soldiers in Bruce Wayne's resistance force. In the episode, he looks short and young despite being old enough to serve in an army, so it is possible that he just looks very young for his age, therefore eliminating the inconsistency pertaining his youthful appearance in the flashback scene in Return of the Joker.
In the series Static Shock, Virgil Hawkins once said that "even Clark Kent had a day job." He would later meet Superman and not be aware of his secret identity, so it is now unclear what Static meant. Static's comment once made sense, as his series was originally separate from the other shows, and it remained separate until a crossover episode with Batman.
External links
| The Bruce Timm DC animated universe |
|---|
| The Television Series |
| Batman: TAS | Superman: TAS | The New Batman Adventures | The New Batman/Superman Adventures | Batman Beyond | The Zeta Project | Static Shock | Justice League | Justice League Unlimited |
| Feature Length Movies |
| Batman: Mask of the Phantasm | Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman | Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker |
| Web cartoons |
| Gotham Girls | Lobo |
