Batman: The Animated Series was a truly one-of-a-kind show that received worldwide love and fame. The series writer Henry Gilroy was praised for his writing skills that helped create the 2-D version of Batman into a full-fledged character with depth and intensity.
At that time, the U.S. military was not looking good because of what happened in the Middle East. Wanting to change public opinion, Henry Gilroy helped develop a U.S. military-centric series that went on to become quite a fantastic take on the franchise of G.I. Joe.
When Batman: The Animated Series Writer Helped Develop A Military-Centric Seris!
Batman: The Animated Series aired from 1992 to 1995 and the world loved it. With iconic voice actor Kevin Conroy voicing the role of Batman opposite Star Wars fame Mark Hamill as the Joker, the series received high ratings and is still a much-remembered show.
The series writer Henry Gilroy revealed in an interview with SlashFilm that after Batman: TAS, he had to develop a U.S. military-centric series that changed people’s opinion about the military. And which franchise would have done the job quite beautifully than the iconic G.I. Joe franchise?
“Worldwide, the U.S. military was not looked at in a very positive light. We can’t just have these guys be gung-ho, U.S. military guys shooting up everything because of what happened in the Middle East, so we also thought, well, we probably could tell more character-centric, stronger character stories if we focus on a smaller group of Joes, and we have them on the run.”
The result was the iconic 2010 series titled G.I. Joe: Renegades. Although the series received good reviews, a second season of the show was canceled. Henry Gilroy attributed the cancelation as a direct result of the MCU and the shifting patterns of the audience after Iron Man!
Executives Wanted G.I. Joe To Be More Like The Avengers!
With the popularity of Iron Man and the MCU taking shape back in 2008, the world immediately got hooked on it. The G.I. Joe franchise wasn’t far behind as Henry Gilroy revealed that an executive literally asked him to make the G.I. Joe team more like The Avengers!
“Can you make all of the Joes into Avengers? And I think they were thinking, like, ‘Oh, right, we’re going to give Duke a bow, so he’ll be like Iron Man and Hawkeye.’ All those weird things, where the toys come first and then you write your story after.”
Although the team tried to come up with new stuff, it didn’t work out in the favor of the 2013 film as G.I. Joe: Retaliation received poor ratings. On the other hand, the 2010 animated show G.I. Joe: Renegades received a rating of 7.1/10 on IMDB.
The 2010 animated show is available to stream on TubiTV in the U.S.
