The Batman: Arkham series is one of the most successful in recent history. So successful, apparently, that Warner Bros. has decided it’s worth an animated movie in a new, shared DC Comics universe.
Warner Bros. is planning on creating a continuous universe between future DC movies, similar to Marvel Studios’ Cinematic Universe. “We can do original content, we can do New 52 stuff,” director Jay Oliva told The Hollywood Reporter. By original content, Oliva was referring to his next project, called Batman: Assault on Arkham, which is based on the Batman: Arkham video game series. The New 52 refers to DC Comics’ 2011 cancellation of all of its comic book series and simultaneous reboot of 52 new or existing ones.
Two of gaming’s most famous voice actors will reprise their roles from the Arkham series in the upcoming film: Troy Baker, who will play the Joker, and Nolan North as the Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot. Baker is also known for portraying protagonist Joel in last year’s hit game The Last of Us and main character Booker DeWitt in another hit from last year, BioShock Infinite. North is well-known for his role as the Uncharted series’ hero Nathan Drake as well as Assassin’s Creed’s lead character Desmond Miles. These two are as close to stardom as a video game voice actor can be.
The first of the new line of films is Justice League: War, directed by Oliva, which released Feb. 4. The next entry will be Son of Batman, which is based on the same Batman who appears in Justice League: War, WB producer James Tucker told Comic Book Resources. “It’s kind of world-building,” said Tucker.
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GamesBeat reached out to Warner Brothers for comment on Batman: Assault on Arkham and will update if we get a response.