Doom Comes To Gotham - Fanboy Planet

Doom comes to Gotham, but that doesn’t mean any of James Gunn’s plans for the DCU have been destroyed. It just means that Warner Bros. Animation still has a parallel track of just creating good animated films. Technically, that fits in what Gunn and Peter Safran announced as “Elseworlds.” No better way to mark the transition of a new era than an adaptation of one of the best Elseworlds comics, The Doom That Came to Gotham.

As the title suggests, it’s a Lovecraft riff. It took decades after creating Arkham Asylum to connect the troubled author’s work directly with Batman. And it took Mike Mignola, no stranger to the dark and disturbing unknown, to do it. Helpfully, DC releases a new edition of the trade on April 4. The animated Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham arrives March 28, which dovetails nicely with WonderCon. So if you’re attending in Anaheim (and not going to Disneyland), the psychic ether gives me a premonition that we’ll probably have the world premiere screening there.

The press release gives this much:

Inspired by the comic book series by Mike Mignola, Richard Pace and Troy Nixey, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is a 1920s-based tale that finds explorer Bruce Wayne accidentally unleashing an ancient evil, expediting his return to Gotham City after a two-decade hiatus. The logic/science-driven Batman must battle Lovecraftian supernatural forces threatening the sheer existence of Gotham, along the way being aided and confronted by reimagined versions of his well-known allies and enemies, including Green Arrow, Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Two-Face, James Gordon and Bruce’s beloved wards. Prepare for a mystical, often terrifying Batman adventure unlike any other.

As is commonplace in an Elseworlds tale, the Caped Crusader’s closest allies appear as altered versions of themselves in Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham, which is available to own on Digital, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Blu-ray on March 28, 2023 from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

While Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, Harvey Dent and Dick Grayson get only slight deviations from their norm, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham takes liberties with Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain – reimagining them as Sanjay “Jay” Tawde and Kai Li Cain, respectively – while Barbara Gordon appears as her alter ego Oracle with a bit of an Elseworlds enhancement. Even Oliver Queen gets a few changes to his backstory and 1920s-style presence.

We’ll say “inspired by” rather than straight adaptation, because the DC Animated Universe has often taken necessary liberties to both impact run time and sometimes better dramatic choices in hindsight. David Giuntoli plays a slightly different Bruce Wayne/Batman. David Dastmalchian continues his mad dash through the DC Universe, this time as Grendon (this world’s version of Mr. Freeze). As the Robins, Jason Marsden voices Dick Grayson while Karan Brar assays Sanjay Tawde. John DiMaggio, who redefined Aquaman and has taken a stab or two at the Joker, plays Jim Gordon.

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