The upcoming Batman: Caped Crusader cartoon has quite the creative force behind it, rooted in both its past and its future. Bruce Timm, one of the foundations of the legendary DC Animated Universe, is showrunning the new series that plans on bringing the hero back to the noir genre that helped define the Dark Knight’s iconic 90s series, with J.J. Abrams and The Batman director Matt Reeves on hand to executive produce. A pretty strong pedigree, and now it’s gotten even stronger thanks to the addition of Ed Brubaker, co-creator of Marvel’s Winter Soldier and writer of beloved comics such as Immortal Iron Fist and the creator-owned Criminal and Kill or Be Killed.
As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Brubaker is the head writer for Batman’s new animated outing. Acting as Timm’s right hand, he’ll run the writers room for the 10-episode first season that’s said to be “more Batman: The Animated Series than Batman: The Animated Series.” In a statement to Hollywood Reporter, Brubaker talked about how Animated Series served as the catalyst for his career, and expressed his excitement at working on its spiritual successor.
“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 (who worked on BTAS) and Gotham Central with Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, would never have happened…I can’t wait until the rest of the world can see what we’ve been building the last few months in the writers room. All I can say is, it’s not what anyone is expecting … but in a good way.”
Beginning in late 2000 after he took over writing duties for the main Batman book, Brubaker became a consistent writer of the character for the 2000s. He then wrote various books featuring the character’s supporting cast for several years, including the beloved Catwoman run with Darwyn Cooke and co-created Gotham Central with Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark. He also has a solid history with television, as he wrote episodes for HBO’s Westworld and Amazon’s Too Old to Die Young. You could say that neo-noir is Brubaker’s bread and butter, and it’ll be interesting to see what he, Timm, and the rest of the creative forces come up with for audiences to see.