The upcoming animated series Batman: Caped Crusader has a pretty stellar list of talent creating it. There’s The Batman’s Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams. Plus, you’ve got Batman: The Animated Series legends Bruce Timm and James Tucker. But now, they’ve added one more notable name to the roster. Joining the Batman team is longtime comics writer Ed Brubaker. The prolific writer worked on iconic Bat-centric titles like Gotham Central, and he will run the writer’s room for the series. Caped Crusader is set to premiere on HBO Max in 2023.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, he’ll be Timm’s “right hand.” He’ll also be a co-executive producer on the show, which will consist of ten episodes. In a statement about joining Batman: Caped Crusader, Brubaker said, “Here’s something few people know. The original Batman: The Animated Series was one of the things that made me want to write superhero comics. And Batman in particular. If not for what Bruce Timm and all the talented writers and artists did with that show, things like my revamp of Catwoman with Darwyn Cooke and Gotham Central with Greg Rucka and Michael Lark would never have happened.”
Aside from his creator-owned work like Criminal, Brubaker is perhaps most famous for transforming Captain America’s sidekick Bucky into the Winter Soldier for Marvel. His run on Captain America comics informed the storylines for both The Winter Soldier and Civil War. When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered on Disney+, he was a guest on Kevin Smith’s Fatman Beyond. There, he lamented that he got more residuals for his film cameo than for any stories he wrote which directly inspired it. So it’s nice to see that on the creative side of things, things are going more smoothly with Batman. Without the comics to inspire them, these productions have nothing.
Warner Bros. announced Caped Crusader back in May 2021. They describe the series as having a more noir take on Batman’s adventures. And that kind of storytelling is right up Ed Brubaker’s alley. Given the amazing creative team, we’re just as excited for this series as we are for the live-action The Batman. Hopefully, we’ll be getting some voice-cast announcements very soon. We’re crossing our fingers for the return of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. No voice cast for any Batman project was ever as spot-on as the cast for B: TAS. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
But honestly, we’re here for whatever they bring us. This is a creative team that’s hard to beat. We can’t wait to see what Ed Brubaker will bring to this rendition of Batman.
Featured Image: Warner Bros. Animation
