Bruce W. Timm a God in animation? And the Secrets and Myths of the DCAU
If you don’t know who Bruce Timm is then whip out your copy of Justice League or the Batman animated TV series and you will see his name all over it. He is the guiding force behind the animated projects put out by DC Comics and the WB.
You can follow is work all the way back to such cartoons like The Secret of NIMH and Tiny Toons. He has been involved with all the DC Heroes that have been on TV starting with Batman: The Animated Series, all the way to Justice League Unlimited, and almost everything in between.
His more recent work involves the new Superman: Doomsday DVD and the up coming Justice League: New Frontier and also Teen Titans: Judas Contract. Justice League: New Frontier will be based on the Mini Series DC: New Frontier. It will explore the DC Universe in 1950s era at the end of the Korean War and over lay the DC history around that time. It will also feature DC Heroes from the era but may have been forgotten by time and constant rebooting of the universe.
Teen Titans: Judas Contract will be based on the comic book story of the same name. You might say we have already seen this in the Teen Titans cartoon. Fans will remember the episodes that feature Terra. This is the Judas the title is referring to. In the comic and also this new DVD adaptation will be slightly more adult as the relationship between Terra and Deathstroke: The Terminator also known as Slade will be far from a Father/Daughter relationship, and more that of a “couple” that sleeps together. It will also see the transformation from Robin to Nightwing.
There is also Batman Anime that Bruce Timm is attached to. It will bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. No other information is released at this time.
The Myths of the DCAU
What is the DCAU? It is the DC Animated Universe. Others call it the “Timm-virse” The “Timm-verse” (named for Batman: The Animated Series producer Bruce Timm) is the collective universe of animated series and movies descended from Batman: The Animated Series. The following definitely fall within the Timm-verse: Batman: The Animated Series (1992); Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993); Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (1996); The New Batman Adventures (1997); Superman (a.k.a. Superman: The Animated Series; 1997); SubZero (a.k.a. Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero; 1998); The Batman/Superman Movie (1998); Batman Beyond (1999); Static Shock (2000); Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000); The Zeta Project (2001); Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (2001); and, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003).
Others such as Batman Beyond and Static Shock are only made relevant in the Justice League episodes. And one episode in particular firmly places the Batman Beyond future in the Timmverse. This episode is called Epilogue and features the True origin of Terry McGinnis. The revelation is that he is a clone of Bruce Wayne.
An interesting fact that people (at least the ones I know) is that Lex Luthor is Black in the show. This, unfortunately, is not the case. In fact his characteristics resemble that of actor Telly Savalas from Kojak.
The voice of Batman has always been the same. It is voice actor Kevin Conroy. As for Superman his was the voice of Tim Daily (Wings). But when Justice League started he was busy doing the Fugitive TV show. His replacement was George Newbern. He also does a reprisal of sorts when he does the voice of Superman in “The Batman’ cartoon. Kevin Conroy has also done a voice on the show. He was Dick Grayson’s Father and he bore a striking resemblance to Thomas Wayne in the Batman: Animated Series.
Keith David does the voice of Despero in Justice League. In the comics Despero is pink but in Justice League cartoon he is purple. This is in homage another character he voiced. It was Goliath from Disney’s Gargoyles. He was also the voice of Spawn on the Animated show.
Carl Lumbly does the voice of the Martian Manhunter but this is not his first time playing a Super Hero. He played Dr. Miles Hawkins, “A brilliant, wheelchair-bound scientist invents a form of exo-skeleton called the Mechanically Augmented Neuro Transmitter System (M.A.N.T.I.S.) that turns him into a superhero and gives him the ability to fight the crime wave that is engulfing his city.” Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com
Also on the show J’onn J’onzz is called by his superhero name in only one episode.
There are a lot more trivia and oddities out there, and if you know a few feel free to share.
