With a lot of attention on Batman at the moment, both for the upcoming The Batman and Michael Keaton’s return in The Flash, but Warner Bros. are also giving Catwoman a headlining role in the anime movie Catwoman: Hunted. Elizabeth Gillies will voice the feline villainess of Gotham, who will be joined by a host of other DC characters in the film from Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
The movie will see Catwoman attempting to steal a jewel which sets her up for a clash with a villain consortium, Interpol and Batwoman, voiced in the movie by Stephanie Beatriz. The rest of the cast is made up of a huge list of well known characters and an ensemble voice-cast behind them. Among the stars involved in the production are Better Call Saul‘ s Jonathan Banks as Black Mask, Steve Blum as Solomon Grundy, The Walking Dead‘s Lauren Cohan as Julia Pennyworth, Keith David as Tobias Whale, Zehra Fazal as Talia al Ghul & Nosferata, Jonathan Frakes as King Faraday & Boss Moxie, Kirby Howell-Baptiste fresh off the back of Cruella as Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, Kelly Hu as Cheshire, Andrew Kishino as Mr. Yakuza & Domino 6, Eric Lopez as Domino 1, Jacqueline Obradors as La Dama, and Ron Yuan as Doctor Tzin.
The movie will be the first time in eight decades that Catwoman will be heading up her own animated movie, and is in good hands with her story being written by Greg Weisman, who has previous experience with Spectacular Spider-Man and Star Wars: Rebels, as well as creating Gargoyles for Disney and co creating the Young Justice series.
Catwoman: Hunted is slated to arrive sometime in early 2022, but as yet has no clear premiere date. Directed by well respected anime director Shinsuke Terasawa, the movie will join Warner Bros. expanding DC content heading to HBO Max, and in particular their animation arm. There will also be the JJ Abrams, Bruce Timm and Matt Reeves produced Batman: The Caped Crusader heading to HBO Max and Cartoon Network, and then there is also the Batman: The Audio Adventures podcast hitting HBO Max this fall.
Batman fans have been spoiled recently with numerous projects in the works, and with Warner Bros. desperate to continue building up their DC output in a bit to rival Disney’s Marvel streaming series’, there is no doubt they will be calling on the Dark Knight as the residents of Gotham again. For now, the fact that Catwoman is being given her first lead in an animated movie suggested that we could see similar movies coming down the line featuring more of Gotham’s worst, and there are plenty to choose from if that is the case.
With Marvel preparing to take centre stage with the release of some of their biggest movies and shows over the next twelve months, it seems that Warner Bros. have decided that they need to really up their game not get left behind, and that can only mean good things for superhero fans on both sides of the fence.