Here We Go Again: First Batman Unlimited, Now JLA – The Uncertain Future of DC Animation

A couple of days ago, a Reddit user named UnknownJ25 posted the following picture thought to be of a wall at Warner Bros. Animation:Pointing to the poster on the far right, the user speculated, “Possible new JLA show in production at WB Animation” with “JLA” standing for “Justice League of America.”  The poster only features silhouettes of characters so it’s hard to make out who might be featured in such a show, though at a quick glance I can pick out Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Firestorm.  In response, sites like ScreenRant ran thinkpieces about the history of WB Animation’s superhero shows (generally start with Batman: The Animated Series, hit the middle with Justice League Unlimited and end with a sorrowful remembrance of Young Justice and Beware the Batman) and whether or not Cartoon Network might finally be getting back into the superhero game beyond Teen Titans GO!.

But we’ve been here before.  Over a year ago, someone on Reddit noticed the following poster at a Licensing Expo in Las Vegas and decided it clearly meant a new Batman TV series was on the way, thus softening the blow for those mourning Beware the Batman:

Wrong.  Sweet lady Wikipedia now tells us that “Batman Unlimited is an action figure line produced by Mattel based on Batman. It has inspired a series of direct-to-video animated films and online shorts.”  To date, there have been two movies (Animal Instincts, Monster Mayhem), both of rather dubious quality, and a web-series with 20 total episodes on the DC Kids YouTube Channel.

WB Animation wouldn’t have that JLA poster up for no reason.  They probably are up to something, and a TV series is a logical assumption considering Batman v Superman is due next year and Justice League: Part 1 the year after that.  Hey, if Guardians of the Galaxy gets its own animated series then surely Justice League will as well, right?  Sure, there have already been several Justice League shows, but to paraphrase Mrs. Lovejoy from The Simpsons won’t someone think of today’s children!

However, as I previously observed, the death of the broadcast network Saturday morning cartoon has eliminated prime real estate for cartoons and pushed all of them to cable (e.g., Disney and DisneyXD, NickToons and Cartoon Network).  In this brave new world, DisneyXD is the only one which seems interested in traditional superhero cartoons, thanks entirely its corporate synergy with Marvel.  That used to be a Cartoon Network specialty (WB and CN belong to the same TimeWarner corporate conglomerate), but its current slate of programming is exclusively comprised of kiddie-friendly fare like Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball.  Rumor has it that the higher-ups at Cartoon Network are no longer comfortable with marketing superhero shows to little kids, not unless they seriously tone down the violence.

DC Animation has moved on, focusing on building up its line of direct-to-video movies and online content which ultimately serves as short ads for those direct-to-video movies.  They hope that if you watch the Batman Unlimited web series on YouTube or the 3-part Justice League: Gods and Monsters animated series on Machinima you’ll be motivated to go buy the related movies (or talk your parents into it).  WB is now a pretty big investor in Machinima, thus making the site a logical, corporate synergy-approved landing spot for future DC Animation projects.  Plus, DC has all of those direct-to-video Justice League LEGO movies which cross-promote the video games and usually come with collectible LEGO figurines of DC characters.  There’s also the odd case of the Target-exclusive, direct-to-video Justice League: Trapped in Time.

Given all of that recent history, we should expect some animated product called JLA to pop up in the next year or so, but where it lands and what form it takes is anyone’s guess.  Lately, DC’s favored bypassing networks and going straight-to-video.  So, unless JLA is incredibly kid-friendly like Teen Titans GO!, I’d be surprised if it ends up on Cartoon Network.