Ethan Hawke will return as Batman in a new batch of episodes from the DC series, with the release of Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, which marks the start of a multi-part standalone Batman movie, highlighting other exciting characters and animated projects for the year 2026.
Ethan Hawke gives life to Batman again in a new batch of episodes from his long-running DC series, and there are many exciting characters in this 2026 release.
Sadly, this is a year without live-action Batman movies, largely due to how long it took for director Matt Reeves to get the script for The Batman - Part II ready. That DC movie was delayed multiple times. That said, animation comes as the perfect medium for the Dark Knight and his fans in 2026. On DC's slate of releases, there are multiple animated Batman projects, ranging from new movies to fresh seasons of established TV shows.
The former is the arrival of Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, which marks the start of a multi-part standalone Batman movie franchise. As for Batman's animated TV shows, two exciting series return in 2026. One of those is Batman: Caped Crusader, which features a stacked roster of creatives, such as The Batman franchise's Matt Reeves, Batman: The Animated Series' Bruce Timm, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy's J. J. Abrams, and comic book writer Ed Brubaker.
However, Hawke stars in another returning Batman TV show. ScreenRant.com | BAT The Dark Knight Interactive Quiz ScreenRant/ Movies/ Batman/ Trivia From the Caped Crusader to The Batman · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Batman?
“I’m Batman. ” 🦌Bob & BillDetective Comics #27, 1939 🥘The Camp EraAdam West, 1966 🎣Burton & SchumacherKeaton to Clooney, 1989–97 💉The Dark KnightBale & Ledger, 2005–12 🕵The BatmanPattinson & Reeves, 2022– LIGHT THE BAT-SIGNAL → QUESTION 1 / 8DETECTIVE COMICS #27 01 Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939.
Cartoonist Bob Kane received sole credit for creating the character for the next 76 years — on every comic, every TV series, every film — despite being only half of the real partnership. His uncredited collaborator wrote much of the original story, designed the cowl and cape, invented the name “Bruce Wayne,” named Gotham City, and helped create the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman. DC finally added his name to all Batman credits in 2015. Who?
AJerry Robinson BBill Finger CJoe Shuster DOtto Binder ✓ Correct! Bill Finger . Kane’s original 1939 pitch was a Superman-style figure in a red leotard with a domino mask and bat-wings; Finger talked him into the cowl, scalloped cape, gauntlets and grey-and-black colour scheme that have defined the character ever since.
Finger also wrote Detective Comics #27 itself, named Bruce Wayne , created Gotham as a stand-in for New York, and co-created most of the rogues’ gallery — while signing a 1939 contract that gave Kane exclusive byline credit. Kane received millions in royalties; Finger died poor and uncredited.
After a 2014 documentary and a 2015 family campaign, Warner Bros. and DC added “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” to every credit starting with Gotham , Batman v Superman and forward. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Bill Finger.
Jerry Robinson really did co-create the Joker and Robin alongside Finger and Kane — he was the third member of the early studio — but the cowl, cape, “Bruce Wayne,” Gotham City and the actual script of Detective Comics #27 were Finger’s. Joe Shuster co-created Superman, not Batman. Otto Binder created Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Finger signed away his byline in 1939 and didn’t receive on-screen credit until 2015.
NEXT → QUESTION 2 / 8THE FIRST FEATURE 02 Batman: The Movie — released in July 1966 between the first and second seasons of the ABC TV series, featuring the “Holy Whatever, Batman! ” tone, the four super-villain team-up , the shark-repellent Bat-spray, and the Batmobile/Batboat/Batcopter — is generally considered the first theatrical Batman feature film. Two earlier 1940s movie serials don’t qualify as standalone features. Which actor played Batman in this first theatrical feature?
AAdam West BLewis Wilson CRobert Lowery DMichael Keaton ✓ Correct! Adam West , with Burt Ward as Robin and Cesar Romero as the Joker. West played the role across 120 ABC episodes and the 1966 theatrical feature, hammed up the camp tone to perfection, and then spent decades typecast before reclaiming the role in animated form and as Mayor West on Family Guy.
The two traps are real: Lewis Wilson played Batman in Columbia’s 15-chapter 1943 serial Batman, and Robert Lowery played him in the 1949 sequel serial Batman and Robin — but those were Saturday-morning chapter plays, not standalone theatrical features. Michael Keaton’s Batman doesn’t arrive until Tim Burton’s 1989 film. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Adam West.
The trap is real but technical: Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery both played Batman in Columbia movie serials, but those were 15-chapter Saturday-morning serials, not theatrical features. Adam West’s 1966 Batman: The Movie — with the four-villain team-up and the shark-repellent Bat-spray — is the first standalone Batman feature film. Michael Keaton doesn’t arrive until 1989.
NEXT → QUESTION 3 / 8THE ANIMATED SERIES 03 Batman: The Animated Series — the Bruce Timm/Eric Radomski production with the deco-noir “Dark Deco” backgrounds painted on black paper — is consistently ranked by fans and creators as the definitive screen Batman. Its central performance is so iconic that the actor reprised it across 30 years, every DC Animated Universe series, and a dozen Arkham-series video games.
He died on November 10, 2022, and DC essentially treated his passing as the death of Batman’s voice. Name him. ATim Daly BKevin Conroy CMark Hamill DWill Friedle ✓ Correct! Kevin Conroy .
Conroy’s key innovation, on his first audition for BTAS in 1991, was to give Bruce Wayne and Batman two distinct voices — Bruce as the lighter, charming playboy and Batman as the deeper, harder-edged growl — a take that became the industry default and was openly copied by Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson on screen. He played the role for 31 years, across BTAS, Superman: TAS, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond , and every Rocksteady Arkham game.
The trap is genuine: Mark Hamill voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS and is just as legendary in that role. Tim Daly voiced Superman; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. Conroy died in November 2022 at 66. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Kevin Conroy. Mark Hamill is the giant trap — he voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS for 30 years and is widely considered the definitive screen Joker — but Batman was Conroy. Tim Daly voiced Superman in the DCAU; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, with Conroy still playing the elderly Bruce. Conroy died November 10, 2022.
NEXT → QUESTION 4 / 8BATMAN 04 Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman earned him an estimated $60–$90 million from a film for which his actual on-screen salary was a fairly modest $6 million — making it, dollar-for-dollar, one of the most famously lucrative single roles in Hollywood history. He achieved this by negotiating an unusual deal structure that other actors immediately tried to copy. What was it?
AA flat $50 million bonus on opening weekend success BA no-cut equity stake in Warner Bros. itself CA percentage of box-office gross AND merchandise royalties DA fixed-rate-per-ticket micro-royalty on every theatrical screening ✓ Correct! Nicholson took a $6 million base, a piece of the box-office gross AND a percentage of Batman merchandising — the toys, posters, t-shirts, lunch boxes, video games and ride tickets.
Batman grossed $411 million theatrically and unleashed the largest superhero merchandising wave in history, and Nicholson’s royalties on it have reportedly continued accruing for decades. His agent Sue Mengers, and his attorney’s “back-end participation” structure, became the gold standard talent-deal template that A-listers like Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. would later use. Nicholson also negotiated top billing over Michael Keaton and limited shoot days. It’s the most-copied bad-guy deal in Hollywood.
✗ Wrong. The answer is C — a percentage of box-office gross plus merchandising royalties. The $6 million base salary was relatively modest by 1989 star standards; the magic was the back-end participation in both ticket sales and the unprecedented Batman toy/poster/lunchbox merchandise wave, which has reportedly continued paying out for decades. Tom Cruise and RDJ later borrowed the same gross-points-plus-merch template.
There was no $50M opening-weekend trigger, no equity stake in Warners, and no per-screening micro-royalty. NEXT → QUESTION 5 / 8THE BATMAN 05 After Ben Affleck stepped down from his planned solo Batman film, Warner Bros. handed the project to a new director who reconceived it as a noir-detective serial-killer story modelled on Se7en and Zodiac, runs 2h 56min, casts Robert Pattinson as a brooding second-year Bruce Wayne, and gives Paul Dano’s Riddler a Zodiac-style cipher gimmick.
The Batman grossed $772 million worldwide. Who directed it? AZack Snyder BChristopher Nolan CTim Burton DMatt Reeves ✓ Correct! Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield , Let Me In , and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes / War for the Planet of the Apes director.
Reeves co-wrote The Batman with Peter Craig, leaned hard into a Fincher-noir detective tone , and got Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz , Colin Farrell , Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright . The film established its own continuity separate from the DCEU/James Gunn DCU. The Penguin followed as a Reeves-produced spin-off, and The Batman: Part II is currently scheduled for 2026. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield, Let Me In and Planet of the Apes-reboot director. Nolan made the Dark Knight trilogy ; Snyder made Batman v Superman and Justice League with Affleck’s Batman; Burton made the 1989/1992 Keaton films. The Batman is Reeves’s, in its own continuity, with The Penguin as the spin-off and Part II in 2026.
NEXT → QUESTION 6 / 8BATMAN & ROBIN 06 Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin — with Bat-nipples on the suit, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze spitting ice puns , Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy, Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl, and an estimated $238 million box-office failure on a $125 million budget — is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever made. It killed the live-action Batman franchise for eight years until Batman Begins .
Who played Batman in it? AGeorge Clooney BVal Kilmer CMichael Keaton DChristian Bale ✓ Correct! George Clooney — in his only outing as Bruce Wayne, between his ER fame and Out of Sight. Clooney has publicly apologised for the film for nearly thirty years; he told Entertainment Weekly he “destroyed the franchise” and routinely thanks fans for their hostility.
The trap is Val Kilmer, who played Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever — he was originally signed for two but exited due to scheduling and reported disputes with Schumacher. Keaton played Batman in Burton’s 1989 and 1992 films . Bale arrived eight years later in Nolan’s Batman Begins . The Bat-nipples were Schumacher’s, the ice puns Schwarzenegger’s, the apology Clooney’s.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Clooney. Val Kilmer was Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever — he then exited and Clooney took over for Batman & Robin. Keaton was Batman in Burton’s 1989/1992 films .
Bale arrived in Nolan’s Batman Begins , eight years after Batman & Robin killed the franchise. NEXT → QUESTION 7 / 8CESAR ROMERO’S JOKER 07 Cesar Romero’s Joker on the 1966–1968 ABC Batman series — white grease-paint, green wig, red lipstick, manic giggle — remains one of the most-cited comedic TV villains in American history. Romero, a leading-man matinée idol since the 1930s, agreed to the role on one condition: he refused to do a specific thing for the makeup.
You can still see what he refused if you look closely. What did Romero refuse? ATo wear the green wig BTo speak in a falsetto voice CTo shave his moustache DTo wear purple gloves ✓ Correct! Romero refused to shave his trademark moustache — reportedly a vanity rule he’d had since the 1930s — so the makeup department simply caked white grease-paint over it.
If you watch the 1966 episodes or Batman: The Movie on Blu-ray, you can clearly see the moustache bristles poking through the white paint above his lip. It’s one of TV’s most-cited “visible-prosthetic” quirks — later parodied by Burt Ward and explicitly nodded to in the 2016 animated Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders .
Romero played the role for all three TV seasons and the 1966 feature. ✗ Wrong. The answer is shaving his moustache. Romero had had his trademark Latin-lover moustache since the 1930s, refused to lose it for any role, and the makeup department simply painted white grease-paint over it — if you look closely on Blu-ray you can see the bristles poking through under his lip.
The wig, the high-pitched giggle and the purple gloves were all things he gladly did. NEXT → QUESTION 8 / 8JOKER 08 Todd Phillips’s Joker — the standalone, R-rated, $1.07-billion-grossing Joaquin Phoenix vehicle that exists outside any DC continuity — was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the most of any comic-book-derived film at the time. It won Best Actor for Phoenix. It also won exactly one other Oscar that night.
Which? ABest Director BBest Original Score CBest Adapted Screenplay DBest Picture ✓ Correct! Best Original Score, Hildur Guðnadóttir — the Icelandic cellist and composer who, in the same awards cycle, won the Emmy and Grammy for Chernobyl .
Joker’s score was her breakthrough; she became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score since Marilyn Bergman in 1984 . Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho for Parasite, which also won Best Picture, beating Joker’s nomination.
The film’s screenplay nomination was Adapted , not Original — option C names the right category but it lost to Jojo Rabbit. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Best Original Score — Hildur Guðnadóttir . She became the fourth solo woman ever to win the category.
Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho ; Best Picture also went to Parasite; the screenplay nomination was Adapted and lost to Jojo Rabbit. Phoenix’s Best Actor + Guðnadóttir’s Best Original Score are Joker’s two 2020 Oscar wins. REVEAL MY RATING → The Bat-Signal Has Faded · Final Scorecard Your Gotham Standing 🦌 / 8 World’s Greatest Detective — or a Gotham red herring? ⤴ ROUND TWO The Oscar-nominated actor plays Batman in the animated Batwheels.
The show, as its name gives away, focuses on the vehicles of the Bat-Family, who are sentient beings that become as worthy of being called superheroes as Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and others. The Cars meet Batman TV show came back in May with its most recent batch of episodes. New Episodes Of DC's Unique Batman Series Are Out Now After it began on September 11, 2022, Batwheels has already aired two full seasons of 37 episodes so far.
Recently, Batwheels season 3C debuted on HBO Max on May 22, 2026, adding another batch of five episodes to the ongoing season of the DC series. Instead of releasing all of its episodes at once, like Prime Video's Spider-Noir will do this week, on May 27, or airing its episodes weekly, which will be the case for DC and HBO's Lanterns, starting on August 16, HBO Max's Batwheels chooses to release multiple episode batches.
That is an interesting format for the show, and it makes sense, given Batwheels has an unusually high order of 37-episode seasons. That makes Batwheels' release schedule quite unique, which goes hand in hand with the fact that Hawke's Batman series focuses on talking cars instead of traditional superheroes. Batwheels season 1 started in September 2022 and ended in December 2023, 16 months later. Batwheels season 2 debuted in January 2024 and concluded in December 2024, 12 months later.
If the 4-month decrease between seasons holds, Batwheels season 3, which began on December 5, 2025, could end in August 2026. Why Batwheels Is Worth Watching On HBO Max Sure, Batwheels might be geared towards younger viewers, but its new five episodes, as well as season 3 in general and the whole show, make for an exciting option for fans of all ages.
In terms of older viewers, I believe that the HBO Max Batman TV show's biggest attraction is clear: Ethan Hawke as Batman. There is no denying that Hawke is one of the best actors of his generation, even being nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award as recently as 2026, and this piece of"what if?
" casting that never happened in live-action makes Batwheels intriguing. Subscribe for exclusive Batman animation coverage and analysis Discover more DC animation insights—subscribe to the newsletter for focused coverage of Batman projects, casting choices, and episode deep dives. Ideal for fans who want informed analysis and concise highlights on animated Batman developments. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime. Batwheels' story is also quite fun, with colorful redesigns of classic characters, such as the Joker and Harley Quinn, and fluid animation. The HBO Max Batman series also emerges as the perfect show for parents to get their kids into DC, as it plays out like a super-powered version of cars, only with iconic DC characters and a strong performance from Hawke as Batman sprinkled throughout.
While Batwheels is not one of DC's biggest releases, season 3's new episodes are worth checking out on HBO Max if you are a Batman fan, with or without kids. 5.2/10 Batwheels 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-Y Kids Animation Comedy Action Adventure Sci-Fi Release Date October 15, 2022 Network Cartoon Network Directors Antoine Charreyron, Lila Martinez, Michael Berardini, Vaughn Ross, T.J. Sullivan Writers Ryan Toyama, Becky Wangberg, Andrew Guastaferro, Sarah Eisenberg, Craig Fernandez, Patrick Rieger, Scott Gray, Jennifer Heftler, Craig Carlisle, Eva Konstantopoulos, David Avallone, Chris Roberson Cast See All Creator Michael G. Stern Powered by Expand Collapse
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