Ethan Hawke Cast As Batman In New Series
Ethan Hawke has been cast as Batman in an upcoming series though it might be a little different than you are expecting for this role
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Ethan Hawke is about to make his debut in the world of superheroes marking the comic book debut for this guy. It is an exciting time in what could be a darker series for that franchise. But it doesn’t mean he can’t do work on the DC side of things. That’s going to be the case with Deadline reporting that Ethan Hawke has signed on to play Batman. But before you go ga-ga over the prospect of Hawke landing in the cape and cowl, know that for now, he is simply voicing the character in an upcoming animated series geared very much for younger kids.
The new series is called Batwheels and will be a cross-venture between HBO Max and Cartoon Network where it will air next year. The series is geared towards preschool-aged viewers and will be themed for this demographic. Ethan Hawke will voice the character of Batman, though the show will primarily be about the vehicles in the Batman universe, all of which will have their own voice actors and actresses as well. It is unclear just how big of a role Batman has in all of the storylines, though Hawke is definitely the biggest name in the cast.
Joining Ethan Hawke in Batwheels will be AJ Hudson as Robin and Leah Lewis as Batgirl. Voicing the vehicles will be Jacob Bertrand as Bam the Batmobile, Jordan Reed as Redbird (Robin’s ride) Madigan Kacmar as Batgirl’s Batcycle, Noah Bentley as a BatTruck, and Lilimar as Batwing. It is a cute concept all things considered and could definitely appeal to a much younger viewer as DC and company work to onboard a new group of viewers into the larger comic book world.
In this show, the onboard AI that allows each of the vehicles to be his/her own character was started by the Bat computer. Essentially they were all just “born” and need to figure out how they can come together as a group while learning along the way. In this sense, it looks like Ethan Hawke as Batman will take on a much more fatherly approach than we have seen from the character before. Again, this is strictly for kids.
Before he gets into the voice work for Batwheels, Ethan Hawke has plenty on the way over the next year. He’s already completed Tonight at Noon with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lauren Ambrose as well as Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone. Both of those are set to release in the next few months.
Ethan Hawke also has some big ensemble films coming up as well. The first is Robert Eggers’ The Northmen with Any-Taylor Joy, Nicole Kidman, and Alexander Skarsgard among many others. And then there is Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 which will bring back Daniel Craig, but then a completely different set of folks in the sequel. Both of which could be fantastic. And as mentioned, he is going to be joining the Marvel ranks when Moon Knight finally hits Disney+. Though his role hasn’t been announced, there is speculation that he is landing on the more evil side of things with that show.
