Pow! Adam West & Burt Ward Return In Batman Animated Movie

What’s that you say? They’re just aren’t enough new Batman-related movies to look forward to in the near future…? Well, riddle me this - how’d you like to see an all-new ‘Batman’ animated movie featuring the voices of TV’s Batman and Robin, Adam West and Burt Ward?

Yes, as if the upcoming ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (due March 2016) and ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’ (due February 2017) didn’t give Bat-fans enough to look forward to, it’s been revealed that an all-new animated movie marking 50 years of the much-loved ‘Batman’ TV series will see West and Ward reprise their signature roles half a century on.

The actors - who portrayed the Dynamic Duo in 120 episodes between 1966 and 1968, as well as a 1966 movie - broke the news this weekend to the audience at Carolina fan convention Mad Monster Party (covered by Consequence of Sound).

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69-year old Ward tentatively made the announcement, expressing uncertainty as to whether the agents would let them say it, to which 86-year old West assertively declared, “I tell them what to do.”

Ward explained, “You can look forward to a new, animated Batman full-length 90-minute feature coming out on the fiftieth anniversary. One of possibly two, but for sure one, that Adam and I are going to be doing the voices for.”

No other details were revealed, so it’s open to speculation as to whether the film will be theatrically released or go direct to home entertainment - though we would suspect the latter, given that’s where Warner Bros/DC have long been most prolific with their animated superhero movies.

Given that the as-yet untitled film is intended to mark 50 years of the TV show, it would seem highly likely that it will be close to the series in tone and content. In other words, expect bright colours, 45 degree camera angles, Robin frequently exclaiming “Holy (insert appropriate word here), Batman!” and captions reading BIFF! BANG! POW! and so forth flashing up on the screen with great regularity during fight scenes.

For some time, this period of Batman history was somewhat sneered upon by a portion of fandom, in favour of the brooding, violent ‘Dark Knight’ model of the character pioneered by Frank Miller in the comics, then Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan on the big screen. Joel Schumacher’s Bat-movies, 1997′s ‘Batman and Robin’ in particular, were widely panned for bringing back a 60s-esque high camp sensibility.

However, more recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the more light-hearted, old-fashioned Batman, dubbed ‘the Bright Knight’ by West. The show was recently released to DVD and Blu-Ray. TV animated series ‘Batman: the Brave and the Bold’ took a similarly camp and colourful approach to the character.

Documentary ‘Starring Adam West’ celebrates the actor’s legacy, and there was also a fan campaign to get the former Batman a cameo in ‘Batman V Superman.’

Most notably, recent DC Comics series ‘Batman ‘66′ - which some are already speculating will be the title of the upcoming animated movie - has directly recreated that era of Batman in comic book form for a contemporary audience, and has been warmly received by readers.

Old-school Bat-fans will doubtless be delighted to see West and Ward return. Alas, it seems doubtful many other veterans of the show will return as most of them have long since passed away, including the three most iconic villains, Cesar Romero (The Joker), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler) and Burgess Meredith (The Penguin).

However, Julie Newmar or Lee Meriwether could conceivably return as Catwoman.

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Picture Credit: Warner Bros, WENN, DC