10 Reasons The DC Animated Universe MUST Return

3. The DCAU And DC Comics Lines Had Great Synergy

Justice League Reunion
DC Comics

Without the various Batman titles that had flourished by the late eighties/early nineties, there would be no BTAS. Batman has one of the best rogues galleries in comics and there was a wealth of characters and storylines to breathe life into.

But something funny happened after the show started.

Characters created for Batman and other DCAU shows became standouts and were moved to mainstream DC canon: Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya, Lock-Up, The Condiment King, Mercy Graves, Livewire, Batman Beyond's Terry McGinnis, the Gray Ghost, and more. In some cases, these characters appeared DCAU style in a comic before they had even made it to air in the episode they were created for!

Conversely, the DCAU also spawned a line of comics that kept their continuity and design, starting in 1992 with The Batman Adventures, ultimately including titles with Superman, the Justice League, Harley, and even wild team-ups like Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

These titles have continued to run since the DCAU ended. 14 years seems about the right time to satisfy fans who have loved and supported these titles through DC's many changes and restart the animation that spawned the comics.

DC has a great opportunity to bring things full circle!

Contributor

Child of the Canadian '80s. Fan of Star Wars, Marvel (films), DC (animated films), WWE, classic cartoons. Enjoys debating with his two teenage sons about whether hand-drawn or computer animation is better but will watch it all anyways. Making ongoing efforts to catalogue and understand all WhatCulture football references.