Bruce Timm’s new ten-episode series, Batman: Caped Crusader, has been receiving positive reviews. The series almost reminds fans of Batman: The Animated Series, but is set in a different period with uniquely different characters. Timm had no plans to revisit the series based on the Dark Knight and was discussing a different plan with his bosses.
However, his co-executive producer on Caped Crusader and long-time Batman creator James Tucker wanted to explore a show similar to BTAS. Tucker was ultimately able to convince Timm to make a Batman animated series, citing one reason that piqued Timm’s interest.
Bruce Timm Had A Different Plan Before He Was Convinced To Do Batman: Caped Crusader
When Bruce Timm‘s bosses tried to pitch a show similar to Batman: The Animated Series, his immediate response was a no. Timm shared with the Television Academy that he didn’t want to compete with people’s memory of the show. He also added that he didn’t feel he could do more with that version of the character.
Before Timm reconsidered that decision for Batman: Caped Crusader, he was having a different conversation with the studio about another project. He revealed that he had earlier worked with James Tucker on Justice League Unlimited, which featured Batman, Superman, and a bunch of other DC superheroes. He felt that there were more possibilities in bringing back a Justice League series.
He was met with an unenthusiastic response from the studio, who suggested that he should work with Tucker on this. When he started pitching his idea to Tucker, the creator tried to turn the conversation to BTAS. Timm shared that Tucker had the ulterior motive of convincing him to do a Batman series.
Tucker basically asked Timm whether he wanted to do anything different with BTAS that he couldn’t do back then. On speaking with Tucker more, Timm realized that there was a ton of stuff that he had to scrap while making the original series. Timm shared with the Television Academy:
[James Tucker] had an ulterior motive for it. He didn’t tell me at the time, but it was like, ‘I hear what you’re saying, but if you had a chance to go back, aren’t there things you wanted to do with the show that you couldn’t do back then, either because of broadcast standards and practices, or because the show evolved away from where you originally did it?’ And the more we talked about it, it was like, ‘Yeah, there was a ton of stuff, actually.’
The discussion did not immediately take them to Caped Crusader. A little while later, J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves came on board to executive-produce a Batman show. Timm jumped at the chance. The series was initially set to air on HBO Max but the WB/Discovery merger happened leading to Caped Crusader getting almost scrapped. However, the series was eventually sold to Prime Video.
Bruce Timm’s One Original Vision Came True In Batman: Caped Crusader
In Caped Crusader, Bruce Timm did one thing that he aspired to do with the original Batman: The Animated Series. He set the show in the 1940s, the period when Bob Kane and Bill Finger first designed their DC superhero. He shared that he wanted to explore a world with rotary dial phones and no computers. He shared with the Television Academy:
My original idea was to make [BTAS] set more deliberately in the 1940s, not just a ‘40s-ish world like Tim Burton did. I’d really love to have seen it with rotary dial phones and no computers and all that stuff. So, the more we started talking about [doing a show more in the vein of BTAS], by the end of that conversation, I was all in on the idea.
During another interview with EW, Timm shared they really leaned into the period setup “in terms of the clothes, the cars, the architecture, and the level of technology.” He shared that many scenes in the series resembled the comics of the ’40s era. Timm traveled back in time with his Batman suit — short gloves, tall boots, and heightened ears.
Bruce Timm’s Batman: Caped Crusader is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
