I can hear Neil Patrick Harris as Dick Grayson/Nightwing/original-Robin no problem. Great casting moves on all those characters (except I'm not a regular Batman reader, so I don't know who the Red Hood is, aside from seeing his name in Previews solicitations in the past, so I dunno if Jensen Ackles is a good fit). Bruce Greenwood's a natural fit for Bruce Wayne/Batman, and I'm curious to see how John DiMaggio does as The Joker, plus how Jason Isaacs (who'll always be Michael from Showtime's 3-season Brotherhood to me, more than any of his other roles) interprets Ra's Al Ghul.

Think Judd Winnick is a fantastic writer (from Pedro & Me to The Adventures of Barry Ween: Boy Genius and a few other things, though I've never read his superhero work), so there's another point in this film's favor. Plus Bruce Timm continues to be involved in these.

Still way behind on these direct-to-DVD DC animations (and I fell behind on Marvel's too after Dr. Strange, though apparently I haven't missed much).

Kris | February 11, 09:49 CET

I love these DC Animated films.NPH was in Justice League:The New Frontier as The Flash.

I've read Judd Winnick's superhero work.His Green Lantern run and his Batman runs(including the storyline this film is based on.Was pretty good.

[ edited by Buffyfantic on 2010-02-11 13:09 ]

Buffyfantic | February 11, 13:08 CET

Judd Winnick hasn't particularly impressed me on Batman previously and I have to say, I thought the [return of] 'Red Hood' storyline was a bit ill-advised to begin with (can't really say why without spoiling but suffice to say it took one of the most resonant moments in the Batman mythos and removed a lot of its impact IMO). I'll still probably get this though cos i'm a sucker ;).

And NPH is a great fit for Nightwing. Not seen Jensen Ackles much outside of 'Smallville' but he's at least not hopelessly miscast as Red Hood. In general, after starting out pretty sceptical, i've found the diverse recasting of these roles to be interesting and refreshing - Conroy/Hamill are still the definitive animated Batman/Joker for me but the other actors have always brought something worthwhile too.

Saje | February 11, 13:09 CET

I am very excited for this dvd and it's the first DCU animated movie I *need* to own.

The comic book was very entertaining, so I'm glad Judd is adapting his own work here.

How do I make text invisible/hide a spoiler? There is something else I want to say but I can't figure it out.

Riker | February 11, 16:19 CET

I like the casts DC animated stuff comes up with, but I'm a bigger fan of the Marvel characters.

NPH being a bit grimmer serious and not just sad serious would be new to me and I'm curious about that. Also both the Supernatural boys (I still don't remember which is which) both have unexpectedly gravelly voices which would suit my impression of the character.

And I love John Dimaggio in Futurama but I just have trouble accepting animated Jokers that aren't Mark Hamill. I'm also used to the idea of whoever did the Arkham Asylum and BtAS Batmans. It throws me off a little that they'd get relatively big names for these things rather than just staying consistent across platforms.

orangewaxlion | February 11, 23:45 CET

I enjoy these direct to dvd DC movies (with Bruce Timm's involvement). The only one I was disappointed with was the Green Lantern one.

Jensen Ackels (Orangewaxlion - he is Dean - the tough older brother) has been great in Supernatural, so I'm excited that he is in this new movie.

I agree with Sage, Conroy/Hamill are my favorites for Batman and Joker in the animated productions (they also did the voices for Arkham Asylum game). But Bruce Greenwood should be great for Batman (loved him as Commander Pike in the Star Trek movie).

Passion | February 12, 00:38 CET

I bet we are going to get the original reason for Red Hood's return. Judd Winick gave an interview last summer where he admitted to changing his original idea to sync up with Infinite Crisis, but he didn't want to reveal that idea lest he use it in the future. Obviously he was writing this film at the time, so it looks like we'll get the "real" reason at last.

Riker | February 12, 00:53 CET

Possibly yeah, since these films are largely non-canonical as far as mainline continuities go. Hope it's a better reason than we got in the comic since that felt very ad-hoc and stunt-ish to me.

It throws me off a little that they'd get relatively big names for these things rather than just staying consistent across platforms.

These films are actually deliberately using different actors orangewaxlion and, usually, slightly different character designs and art styles. Between Batman:TAS (and its various film spin-offs), the animated Superman, 'Batman Beyond', JL and JLU etc. Conroy/Hamill had produced 15+ years of amazing work as Batman/Joker but Bruce Timm et al seemed to want to take a slightly different look at the characters to try to freshen the DCAU up a bit. As I say, initially I didn't like the idea either (if it ain't broke then why "fix" it ?) but I think the new actors have brought something to it (James Marsters' Lex Luthor was great for instance, more ambiguous and darkly psychological than the excellent Clancy Brown take on him).

(but 'Arkham Asylum', being a genuine attempt to produce a/the "definitive" modern Batman game, surely had to go with the fan favourites rather than risk the development millions with new voice actors. No need to freshen it up in that instance since it being a game is already "fresh")

Saje | February 12, 11:50 CET