Bruce Timm and James Tucker sat down with The Television Academy to talk about their new hit series, Batman: Caped Crusader. The show takes a fresh spin on The Dark Knight but puts him in a 1940s noir environment, where the character must rely on his skills as a detective, rather than relying on the gadgets that he has come to be associated with in modern times.
Speaking about Batman: The Animated Series and more recent versions of the Caped Crusader, Bruce Timm revealed what he feels is the best representation of Batman, and why he favors animation when it comes to superhero fiction altogether.
Bruce Timm believes animation is just better for superhero fiction
Speaking to the Television Academy, Bruce Timm revealed how he thought that animation had the edge over live-action when it came to superhero fiction. He said:
Not to knock any of the live-action Batman movies — a lot of them are really good. But superhero movies in general, at least for the longest time, they tended to work better in animation than in live-action movies because there was a limitation in the special effects, as well as with costuming the characters.
You could get away with Adam West wearing a cloth costume back in the day, and it was kind of silly. But everybody was in on the joke. In animation, they can look much more like their comic book counterparts and be animated convincingly.
It’s like Batman throwing a rope across the street and swinging across the chasm of the streets is more convincing in animation, or at least easier to accomplish. Obviously, since we did BTAS, effects technology has really caught up, and the same thing with the costuming.
The idea is that when it comes to animation, the principal mediums are very malleable when compared to live action. While skin-tight suits that barely have any texture might look odd in life action, the nature of animation makes it easier to portray the characters closer to their comic book counterparts.
There is also the fact that framing and pacing can be different when dealing with animation, allowing creators to play around with a little ambiguity in scene presentation and progression.
2024 has been a great year for superhero animation
2024 has been a big year for superheroes. While Deadpool & Wolverine and The Boys have dominated the live-action space, the race in the animation sphere has been even closer, with banger after banger hitting one streaming service or another.
The second of Invincible‘s Season 2 broke the year in with its brilliant conclusion to its sophomore outing, leaving audiences wondering how Nolan Grayson is going to escape Viltrumite holding. Not to mention, Mark and Cecil have to fortify Earth for a possible full-on Vilturmite invasion.
Then came along X-Men ’97, singlehandedly injecting characters like Storm, Jean, Cyclops, and Jubilee back into the cultural zeitgeist, with fans wanting to see how the time-displaced X-Men will now handle themselves.
Following this, earlier this month, fans were treated to Bruce Timm‘s new take on the Dark Knight with Batman: Caped Crusader, which took a fresh spin with the Bat of Gotham and brought his modern mythology into a time period when the character was in his infancy.
The year is not done with superheroes, as films like Kraven the Hunter, and shows like Agatha All Along, and Creature Commandos are still on the horizon.
The Boys Season 4, Batman: Caped Crusader, and Invincible Season 2 are streaming on Amazon Prime Video
X-Men ’97 can be streamed on Dinsey+
Deadpool & Wolverine is currently in theatres.
