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Over the years, there have been a variety of talented actors to portray the Joker in both live action and animation. And while there are those who’ve appreciated the performances brought to the table by the likes of Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Cameron Monaghan, many diehard fans actually favor Mark Hamill, who, believe it or not, has been attached to the character for about a quarter century now.

Having debuted in the early 1990’s on the hallowed Batman: The Animated Series, Hamill went on to voice the Clown Prince of Crime in various other projects, including Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the awesome line of Arkham video games, and the animated adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s classic graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke.

Originally, Tim Curry had been cast as the Ace of Knaves for the Bruce Timm helmed show, though an unfortunate case...

It may very well be the most heavily demanded home video release featuring the Dark Knight since fans clamored for complete volumes of Batman: The Animated Series on DVD about a decade and a half ago, and now we finally have word that yes, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm will finally make its way to the Blu-ray format this summer.

For those unfamiliar, this animated film was especially noteworthy because not only was it the first full-length motion picture featuring Batman of its kind, but also because it remains the only one to see a wide theatrical release. Sure, we’ve experienced “one night only” limited engagements put on by Fathom Events for offerings such as The Killing Joke, but that’s far from the same situation.

Basically, the flick explored the origins of the Caped Crusader within the universe established by Batman: The Animated Series, with Kevin Conroy and...

Over the past 25 years, many diehard fans have repeatedly said that the true voices of Batman and the Joker belong to Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, respectively. Having started off in Batman: The Animated Series, both men have gone on to reprise their roles in various forms of media, be they direct-to-video animated films such as Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and Batman: The Killing Joke or one of the hit video games in the Arkham franchise. Their most recent reunion, however, comes in the form of the more light-hearted Justice League Action.

Consisting of tightly focused 11-minute episodes, Justice League Action brings together some of DC’s most iconic heroes and villains, sometimes in pairings you may not often expect. One such example is this week’s episode, “Galaxy Jest,” which will see Joker meeting up with none other than Mongul. Now there’s something you don’t see every day!

Batman fans have long enjoyed a rich tradition of video games to accompany their favorite DC Comics hero in his exploits. The tradition of Batman games harkens back to the original Nintendo in the 1980s and has remained a staple in gameplay ever since. In today's world gamers have a number of options outside of console games, from online games to online casino games. You can find a lot of these by scowering search engines and while you're at it you can check the top offers of the internet betting operators from this link. There are no shortage of popular games that have spawned from the Batman franchise, even long before the Arkham series came along. We'll examine a few for you below.

The Batman Lego video games offer some of the funnest gameplay, while also serving up a ton of easter eggs for the fans. The first time we...

Check out the embedded video below for a supercut of all the times The Joker takes a life in Batman 1989, The Dark Knight, Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,  Batman: Under the Red Hood, The Dark Knight Returns,  Batman: Assault on Arkham and Batman: The Killing Joke. Also be sure to subscribe to Mr Sunday's YouTube channel,, youtube.com/mrsundaymovies. If you want.  No pressure.  ...

Fans rejoice! Mark Hamill will indeed provide the voice for The Joker in DC's animated take on Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, which is due out next year. The Star Wars: The Force Awakens actor had already expressed interest in reprising the iconic role for the movie, but sources have confirmed to Collider that it's definitely going to happen - in fact, word is he's already recorded his voice acting! Mark Hamill has voiced the character on many different occasions, from Batman: The Animated Series, to the likes of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Birds of Prey, and more recently the Arkham Asylum video games. Alan Moore's graphic novel is widely considered to be the definitive Joker story, so it's great to hear that Hamill will be back. Now, fingers crossed that Kevin Conroy will also return as Batman!

This new series of Batman Beyond (entitled Batman Beyond Universe) collects the first two digital releases of both Batman Beyond and Justice League Beyond into one book. This series is a grand departure for the past run with an all new creative team and a desire to tie into the animated series rather than a separate entity. This offers a fresh starting point for newbies to the comic’s Universe with this run being set one year after the end of the previous run, entitled Batman Beyond Unlimited.

This is first thing that strikes me about this comic is how extremely welcoming is it toward new fans, or those that have never read a Beyond book before. I have a familiarity with the Batman Beyond universe via the awesome TV series from the 90′s but zero experience with the past runs of the book. Before I get into this review...

My immediate reaction is...crap. What is yours Bat-Fan?

Story courtesy of ComicBookResources

Update: A Warner Bros. rep has written to clarify that Timm has not left Warners entirely. He has stepped down from his role as a supervising producer for the DC Universe Animated DVDs. Original story follows.

Cartoonist Bruce Timm, who shepherded a majority of the DC animated universe titles over the past two decades, has stepped down as supervising producer at Warner Bros. Animation to develop his own projects. He's been replaced by James Tucker, a veteran of "Batman: The Animated Series," "Justice League" and, more recently, "Batman: The Brave and the Bold."

“Bruce had done a lot since 'Justice League Unlimited' ended, so it’s been quite a haul," Tucker told the fan site Voices From Krypton. "I can’t speak for him, but I think going out on 'Dark Knight Returns' was a special thing for him.

I understand that this topic may have been beaten to death but after watching the stellar animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, I cannot let this go. For the final live-action Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, director Christopher Nolan exploited that source material and failed to achieved anything but a summer popcorn flick. There are huge and just annoying plot holes in the narrative of the film. The characters seem to go against themselves and what was previously established in the other films. The film takes itself too seriously, and yet it makes a joke of itself. It it comes off as jarring and disjointed. I want to compare Nolan’s vision of the world post-Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight to the more canonical and less offensive world of Batman Beyond.

Batman Beyond was created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics...

Lets hear from you bat-fans!  We want to know your favorite Batman Dcau animated films in order.  Then, make a list of your fav. movies overall.  The best being #1 and so on...

Dcau Animated Universe

-Batman: Mask of the Phantasm -Batman and Robin: Sub Zero -Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker -Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman -The Batman vs. Dracula -Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo

Batman Movies Overall

-Batman: Mask of the Phantasm -Batman and Robin: Sub Zero -Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker -Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman -The Batman vs. Dracula -Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo -1966 Batman -1989 Batman -Batman Returns -Batman Forever -Batman and Robin -Batman Begins -Dark Knight -The Dark Knight Rises...

The Dark Knight was not the first great Batman movie.

Neither was Batman Begins – in fact, years before Warner Bros. brought Christopher Nolan in to revive their marquee franchise, another group of talented film-makers delivered what is still, to many, the definitive on-screen version of the character.

And if you’re a fan of the character and haven’t seen Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Right now seems an ideal time to bring this topic up, as Batman: The Animated Series just celebrated its 20th anniversary (completely unmarked – for Shame Warner Bros.) on the 5th of this month. And this show deserves serious recognition. Desperate for a quick kid-targeted cartoon to support their Batman brand in-between movies, WB landed on animation vets Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski to run the new show, and gave them a surprising amount of creative freedom to go with an enviable budget.

Sequels, sequels, sequels. Often they are unwanted and ultimately as well received as a surprise colonoscopy performed by Mr. Freeze. However in terms of Rocksteady’s Batman game franchise; we just want more and more and more…And then more…But less villains. Please; less villains.

With Arkham City and Arkham Asylum making our jaws drop several times on two different occasions the sequel is inevitable but not as obvious as it may be with (spoiler) The Joker’s Death at the end of Arkham City meaning Batman could be looking for a new angle, a new villain and we here at WhatCulture towers are here to offer a few ways they could do this with a few select story ideas…

1. Return Of The Joker

The Story:

The villains of Arkham City start appearing throughout Gotham after the City’s controversial final plan means all of Gotham’s super villains...

With the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, the third in a trilogy of highly successful Batman movies by Christopher Nolan, and the recent release of the hotly anticipated video game Arkham City, its really never been a better time to be a Batman fan. The past few years have seen a gigantic leap in popularity for DC Comic’s surly, brooding poster boy, a character that has always held a large amount of public affection in its near 80 year history.

With this in mind, WhatCulture has decided to do an article comparing the two most beloved Batman movies: Tim Burton’s Batman from 1989, the iconic and most endearing interpretation of Batman, and The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s second take on the World’s Greatest Detective from 2008, the highest grossing and critically revered Batman film to date. As soon as I heard of this, I practically pleaded for the opportunity to write it.

Warner Bros. have been producing animated movies of DC Comics’ most popular superheroes for a few years now, but for me they’ve always been rather hit and miss, with earlier original productions such as Mask of the Phantasm or Return of the Joker being far more enjoyable than adaptations of newer works such as Darwyn Cooke’s Justice League: New Frontier, which I felt was a cruelly truncated version of the original comic book.

The news that Frank Miller’s classic 1987 storyline Batman: Year One was being adapted for a direct to DVD/Blu-ray/download movie was thus greeted with somewhat muted enthusiasm by yours truly, but after settling down to watch the film I’m happy to announce that this is, for the most part, an enjoyable and faithful version of one of the most celebrated Batman storylines.

Year One, as its name suggests, is a Batman origin story,...

Batman: Arkham City is one hell of a badass video game that gamers are going to enjoy. I thought Batman: Arkham Asylum was awesome, it's one of my favorite games, but Arkham City takes Batman to a whole new level. You can read my E3 2011 first impression review of the game here. I can't wait to pick up a copy of the game and play through it. There's no doubt this game is going to be a huge hit.

We recently showed you some previous box art for the game, but that obviously wasn't approved art, because what we have here is completely different, but still awesome. The game is set to hit the streets on October 18th on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Here's the detailed story synopsis:

The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum,...

Batman: Arkham City was one of the coolest games that I played at E3 2011. This is a game that I can't wait to buy and play through. If you thought Batman: Arkham Asylum was awesome, wait until you get a load of this. you can read my first impression review of the game here.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment have revealed the cover art for the video game, which is set to hit the street on October 18th on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Batman wants to punch you in the face.

Here's the detailed story synopsis:

The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to detain inmates,...

Here are some beautiful screenshots from Batman: Arkham City. Earlier we shared an awesome gameplay walkthrough demo and Venkman shared his first impressions of the game from the E3 floor. These screenshots show off the Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman. Check them out below and share your thoughts:

Here's the detailed story synopsis:

The story for Arkham City takes place about one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used the notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to detain inmates, Sharp buys out a large section of Gotham's slums and arms the perimeter with private military contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create "Arkham City". The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as long as they do not attempt escape.

***It’s hard to give a full review on a game while at E3 because usually the demos that are available to play give us only around 10-15 minutes of gameplay time. So there will be a series of first impression reviews for the demos that I get to play while I’m here.***

Yeah, that's right I played Batman: Arkham City. Call me crazy, but I spent almost two hours in line to play this game, and I only got to play it for about 15-20 minutes. Ok, so yeah, I am little crazy, who does that! The question is... was it worth the wait? Hell yeah it was! This is one of my most anticipated games of the year, and I had to play it while I was at E3.

I remember two years ago when I came to E3 no one was playing the Batman: Arkham Asylum,...

Paltalk’S Diana Falzone To Host Michael uslan, executive producer of batman blockbusters

Executive Producer of Batman movies Discusses the Batman Saga and Current Work with Archie Comics

May 11, 2011 - Paltalk, the leading real-time, video-based community with over 70 million downloads, announced today that renowned producer, Michael Uslan will join Diana Falzone as her guest on the video chat program at 1 pm Et on May 12th. Participants can access the chat by visiting Paltalk.com/DianaFalzone

Uslan was the executive producer of films such as Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Constantine, The Spirit, Batman Begins, and the second highest grossing film of all time, The Dark Knight. He has also written a number of comic books, including the critically-acclaimed revival of "The Shadow" for DC Comics.

Uslan is the recipient of an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of the popular children's series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, an...

Paltalk’S Diana Falzone To Host Michael uslan, executive producer of batman blockbusters

Executive Producer of Batman movies Discusses the Batman Saga and Current Work with Archie Comics

May 11, 2011 - Paltalk, the leading real-time, video-based community with over 70 million downloads, announced today that renowned producer, Michael Uslan will join Diana Falzone as her guest on the video chat program at 1 pm Et on May 12th. Participants can access the chat by visiting Paltalk.com/DianaFalzone

Uslan was the executive producer of films such as Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Constantine, The Spirit, Batman Begins, and the second highest grossing film of all time, The Dark Knight. He has also written a number of comic books, including the critically-acclaimed revival of "The Shadow" for DC Comics.

Uslan is the recipient of an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of the popular children's series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, an...

Welcome back to Killer Film’s New Release Tuesday for April 5th! Before we get to these releases, let us remind you by ordering through our site, you not only get the best deals around from Amazon, but this one little click will help us out at no extra cost to you! It’s what keeps us killer!

Tron: Legacy

The long-awaited sequel to the 80s cult “classic” finally arrived a few months back in glorious IMAX 3D and it was worth the hype. Musically, Daft Punk created a fabulous score and visually, I felt the film was under-appreciated. Anything less than 1080p and Flynn will be very upset with you. (Formats: 3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Buy Donny says: Rent

Tron: The Original Classic

Nobody does mainstream releases like Disney and this dreamy reissue is everything our digital hearts could hope for. Bout time too, as the first...

Your Weekly Source for Blu-Ray and DVD Release News Blu-Ray for Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) An early Al Pacino in …And Justice For All (1979) Dudley Moore is a happy drunk in Arthur/Arthur 2: On The Rocks (1981/1988) Cute pork for kids… Babe (1995) Another dose of the villainous Mark Hamill in Batman: Return Of The Joker (2000) Forgotten good rom-com with Johnny Depp… Benny & Joon (1993) From the late George Hickenlooper, Kevin Spacey is Casino Jack (2010) Shocking dolphin documentary The Cove (2009) Kevin Kline & Ashley Judd star in De-lovely (2004) Fiddler On The Roof: 40th Anniversary Edition, Blu-Ray/DVD Combo (1971) Jim Carrey & Ewan McGregor star in I Love You Phillip Morris (2010) Rose McGoawn stars in the dark high school comedy Jawbreaker (1999) Ryan Gosling stars in Lars And The Real Girl (2007) Robert DeNiro & Ben Stiller star in Little Fockers (2010) Romantic comedy, Shakespeare-style with Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Julia Roberts...

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Blu-Ray coming 4/5/11

Synopsis: The greatest villain of all comes out of the past to threaten Batman, Bruce Wayne and all of Gotham City in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the first feature-length Batman Beyond movie.

The sleeker, deadlier and seemingly immortal Clown Prince of Crime is back with his own unique brand of havoc and mayhem. While trying to uncover the Joker's secrets, the new Batman, Terry McGinnis, discovers the greatest mystery in the life of the original Caped Crusader: What happened the night he fought the Joker for the last time. When Bruce Wayne is almost killed in one of the Joker's latest attacks, Batman vows to avenge his mentor and put the Joker to rest forever.

Get ready for heart-stomping action, awesomeadventure and amazing revelations in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. 

Follow Legions of Gotham on Facebook...

Warner Bros. has announced that Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is coming to Blu-ray for the first time on April 5th, 2011. Extras will include those from the DVD edition of the film, with a commentary, a making-of featurette, music video, and trailers. Unfortunately, there’s no word on if this version of the film is the edited PG cut or the director’s cut of PG-13.

The film was released in 2000 amidst critical praise from the hit TV series that focused on an aging Bruce Wayne and his new protege that uses the iconic costume to restore Gotham once more. Mark Hamill returned from Batman: The Animated Series to voice The Joker again.

Source: Blu-ray...

Welcome back to our weekly look at the new podcasts available at our “partners in podcast crime” the GeekCast Radio Network. Each week we bring you the highlights from Gcrn, with descriptions and links to each and every episode.

The Tele-Cast Episode 04 – Are You Afraid Of The Dark

In the fourth episode of The Tele-Cast join OptimusSolo and making her Gcrn Debut Tarah “Rising Star” as the two discuss clowns, ghosts, dead people and all other things creepy as they pose the most important question of all to you… Are You Afraid of The Dark? Listen Now.

The Beast Unleashed Podcast Episode 30 – The Final Episode

One year ago to the date that TFG1Mike, Steve/Megatron, and PecanCtMichael started The Beast Unleashed Podcast and now we end it. Listen Now.

ToonCast Episode 82 – Cinderella Franchise

In Episode 82 we are continuing The Disney Animation Spotlight this week we have something that Kevin has been dreading!

The popular voiceover actor took time last week to speak about his days as the new Caped Crusader in preparation for this week's release of Batman Beyond: The Complete Series, a nine-disc limited edition DVD set that presents nearly 20 hours of animated action spread over 52 episodes, as well as including all-new bonus featurettes and a 24-page, 8”x 12” collectible booklet.

Batman Beyond: The Complete Series centers on Terry McGinnis, an ordinary teenager ... until his father is mysteriously murdered. Suspecting foul play at his father's company, Wayne/Powers Corporation, Terry meets Bruce Wayne and learns of a secret identity hidden for decades. Now too old to don the cape and cowl as Batman, Wayne refuses to help – so Terry does what any brash young kid would do: steal the Bat-suit and take matters into his own hands! Vowing to avenge his father's death, Terry dons the high-tech suit tricked out with jetpacks,...

And check out the rest of the cast members!

Sony Online Entertainment announced today the voice cast for "DC Universe Online":

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (Soe) announced today that two of animation's most well-known talents lead a triple-a cast of voice actors in providing their skills for the upcoming online action game, DC Universe™ Online. Mark Hamill (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: The Animated Series) will once again voice The Joker, while Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited, Batman: Arkham Asylum) will bring to life everyone's favorite dark knight, Batman.

"We're excited that not only will Mark and Kevin bring their talent back to the DC Universe as part of DC Universe Online, but we've hit the jackpot with a full cast that are veterans of movies, TV shows and games that our fans are crazy about," said Sony Online Entertainment Vice President of Development,...

Executive Producer Bruce Timm sets the record straight on DC Universe Animated Original Movies and Batman: Under the Red Hood

Who’s under the Red Hood? Bruce Timm knows, but he’s not telling. However, he answers a bevy of other questions in an interesting Q&A focused on the upcoming release of Batman: Under the Red Hood, the latest entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies.

Batman: Under the Red Hood is just the latest finished product to come from Timm’s canon of super hero vehicles at Warner Bros. Animation. A veritable legend among the creative forces in animation today, Timm has spearheaded the elevation of DC Comics’ characters to new heights of animated popularity and introduced generations of new fans to the characters via landmark television series and made-for-dvd films. The latter task includes the creation of the current series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies,...

Mark Hamill (otherwise known as Luke Skywalker or The Joker depending on what camp you’re in) has been given the chance to bring a much treasured personal project to the big screen – his comicbook miniseries, The Black Pearl. The project will arrive via new production and financing arm, Berkeley Square Films according to Variety.

The project, which was originally penned for the screen 14 years ago, was released in comicbook form by Dark Horse Comics in 1996. The project has been given a (very) modest budget of just $7 million. This from Variety:

The $7 million live-action pic is adapted by Hamill and “The Fighter’s” Paul Tamasy and writing partner Eric Johnson. Hamill said the comic, which was published by Dark Horse Comics in 1996 and penned by Hamill and Johnson, is a “dark, edgy thriller” that the company hopes will receive an R rating.

Hamill admits he’s been “obsessed with comicbooks...

Generally speaking, direct-to-dvd features tend to be slightly…terrible. However, both Marvel and DC have struck gold as of late with their numerous animated superhero DVD films. If someone were to put a gun to my head and make me choose between the Marvel or DC animated films, I would say that Marvel has the edge. The animated films involving Batman are where DC really shines in the direct-to-dvd market (see Gotham Knight and Return Of The Joker for proof). Today, the trailer for Batman: Under The Red Hood debut, check it out after the jump…

Read more on Batman: Under The Red Hood trailer…...

Wait until you get a load of this. It looks like the sequel to the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum will be going to a much darker place, if that is possible. I mean there wasn’t too much slapstick comedy in the first one. During the C2E2 comic convention in Chicago, legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy was coerced into revealing some tidbits about Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and what fans could expect from the game – including an appearance by the villain Two-Face.

Arkham Asylum 2 will also be “really, really dark” Controy said, comparing it to fan-favorite animated film Return of the Joker. He also had this to say:

“There’s a very complicated cast. A lot of villains are in it. I’ll just leave it at that! It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area — it’s that dark.”

Also,...

When Batman returns to "Arkham Asylum," he'll have at least three new villains to contend with, as various voice actors from the upcoming video game sequel have confirmed that Mister Freeze, Talia al Ghul and Two-Face are on the loose in Gotham City.

According to Kotaku, "The Spirit" actress Stana Katic revealed on Twitter that she had recently "recorded a character voice on the next Batman video game," confirming the character as Talia, daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Katic later removed the tweets from her account.

Additionally, "Futurama" voice actor Maurice Lamarche told Geekcastradio (via Kotaku) that he'll be playing Mister Freeze in the game.

"I'm about to go in and do Mr. Freeze for Arkham Asylum 2," he said. "He's out for blood right now because, err... I can't tell you the situation, but he's actually somewhat a sympathetic character within the framework of the game."

Finally, at the C...

Super villains Two-Face and Mr Freeze have reportedly been confirmed to appear in the "really, really dark" Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Voice actor Kevin Conroy, who played Batman in the first game, recently revealed some details about Rocksteady's action sequel, reports Comic Book Resources. Speaking on a panel at the Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo over the weekend, Conroy claimed that the new game will adopt a similar tone to animated movie Batman Beyond: The Return Of The Joker. "It's really, really dark. It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area - it's that dark," he said, before letting slip that Two-Face Aka Harvey Dent will feature in the sequel. "There's a very complicated cast. A lot of villains are in it. I'll just leave it at that!" he added. In a Geekcastradio podcast, (more)...