Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, and Loren Lester are finally reuniting! They’re coming back for an original animated movie coming out later next month called Batman and Harley Quinn. The dynamic duo of Batman: The Animated Series returning to reprise characters in the design of the Timmverse. Based on that, it just made sense for it to take place in the Timmverse, right?
Return to the DCAU?
Well, Bruce Timm sat down and talked with Comicbook.com at San Diego Comic-Con where he explained that that was, in fact, the intent. He said:
“It’s kind of classic Harley. Early on we decided we were going to set the movie in the classic, Batman: The Animated Series universe. That meant the character designs and bringing Kevin [Conroy] and Loren [Lester] back to play Batman and Nightwing.”
Classic Harley has been all but abandoned in recent media, as she rose to fame. It seems that Timm was missing the clownish, silly character he helped to create 25 years ago.
Ultimately, he backed off and said that it wasn’t his decision:
“I don’t really know. I personally kind of think that it is, but I’m not actually in control of what’s in continuity and what isn’t because there’s been several other classic Batman animated-style movies that I didn’t have anything to do with, so technically they’re canon even though I didn’t have anything to do with them, so technically this could be continuity or it could just be head-canon. I don’t know.”
I found that kind of strange. Although technically, he’s correct, I always believed that as the storyteller, he CAN make that decision. Based on the fact that he’s creating the story and if he is creating that story in-universe, then there shouldn’t be any ambiguity in that at all. However, I suppose he’s referring to whether or not it’ll be incorporated into its canon from there on, then yes, he is unequivocally correct in that it is not in his power.
Harley’s Holiday Remake?
He goes on to provide a synopsis for the movie.
“When we meet her in the beginning of the story she’s actually kind of tried to put that behind her and she’s out of prison and she’s just trying to get on with her life and then Batman, of course, just has to pull her right back into the whole capes and cowls thing and then wacky hijinks ensue.”
The primary blueprint for the movie harkens back to an episode entitled, “Harley’s Holiday.” However, that episode was so good that I’d gladly take a remake of it.
Batman and Harley Quinn will have a one-day theatre run on August 14th, with a digital release the next day. The movie will hit physical shelves on August 29, 2017.