DC Studios is lining up a triple threat for its upcoming slate — and at a time when a new Supergirl film has taken off on the silver screen, no less. Building on the momentum of its joint presentation with Warner Bros. Animation at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the company announced that three animated projects are in the works: Absolute Batman, a new show focusing on Krypto the Superdog, and its first-ever anime title, Joker: Laugh Riot.
The first, based on the award-winning comic book sensation by Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta, will have the pair on board as executive-producer-slash-showrunner and producer, respectively. Additional information, such as episode count and the extent of its faithfulness to the source material, is under lock and key, but the original work, which switched up the character’s backstory, has sold more than six million copies to date.
“Absolute Batman boldly reinvents the Batman mythos for a new generation of fans, reimagining the Dark Knight as a working-class hero up against impossible odds (and the most terrifying foes ever), on a mission to prove that even in an era of wealth, power and corruption, one good person can change the world,” reads its official description. “No manor, no money… all Batman. When you take away the manor, the money, the advantages, what you’re left with is something absolute.”
As for his archnemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime is also getting a variation of his own. Helmed by award-winning director Yasuhiro Aoki at Sola Entertainment (Ninja Kamui), whose credits include The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the anime series follows Joker as he launches a ruthless crusade through Gotham’s underworld to find the killer who took away his greatest adversary. But as his violent quest for answers pushes him closer towards vigilante than villain, Joker is forced to confront the truth that without Batman, he doesn’t know who he is.
Heading into child-friendly territory is an untitled Krypto series, with CH Greenblatt of SpongeBob SquarePants fame, set to executive produce. Per the logline, it chronicles the adventures of the goodest boy, as “he tags along with a gang of misfit criminal wannabes who live down the block. They soon discover he’s a ball of destructive, lovable energy worse than any of them! As he accompanies them into misadventures and poorly laid plans, Krypto’s pure nature slowly ends up redeeming them, whether they want it or not.”
The three projects join the R-rated Batman: Knightfall and season two of Batman: Caped Crusader in fleshing out DC’s future in animation. While the latter is slated to debut on 31 July, no release date was announced for the other titles.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
