‘Across The Spider-Verse’ Visual Development Artist Reveals Rejected Pitch For Animated ‘Batman Beyond’ Film
Spencer Baculi
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[Editor’s Note: This article’s headline originally referred to Demers as an ‘Across the Spider-Verse Production Designer’. Following publication, Demers reached out to clarify that he was not a production designer for the film, but rather one of its visual development artists. The headline has been updated to reflect this correction.]
Well, now wouldn’t that have been pretty shway?
In a further indication that DC seems intent on doing everything they can to limit the presence of Terry McGinnis in their greater canon, Across the Spider-Verse animation production artist Yuhki Demers has revealed that the publisher’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery rejected his pitch for a wholly original and animated Batman Beyond film.
Demers, whose notable credits include stints as a production artist on both of Sony’s Spider-Verse films, the Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric video game, and Disney’s Big Hero 6: The Series, divulged this information on February 20th via a post shared to his personal Twitter account.
Therein, the artist detailed, “5 months ago, Patrick Harpin [the creator of the animated series My Dad the Bounter Hunter, on which Demers also served as a production artist] walked into @wbpictures @DCofficial and pitched a Batman Beyond animated feature.
“Before we pitched, they warned us ‘there is absolutely no way we can do a Beyond movie’, but they loved our enthusiasm,” Demers detailed. “We pitched the outline for the entire film, and what started as a ‘never’ turned into a ‘maybe’.”
Sharing three pieces of concept art – wherein Terry, as depicted in a very Spider-Verse-esque aesthetic, can respectively be seen fighting Inque, slowly entering an alleyway with a Batarang at the ready, and standing atop the neon-drenched skyline of Neo Gotham – the artist then added, “In the time since, we’ve been pitching our way up the company hoping to get to James Gunn. But for now, here’s a taste of what we’ve been cooking.”
To this end, Demers concluded his post with a call-to-arms for fans, urging them to like and share his tweet “If you want to see a Batman Beyond Animated Feature in theaters!”
As noted above, the concept art shared by Demers suggests his and Harpin’s take on the fan-favorite Batman successor would have taken heavy inspiration from his previous work on the first two Spider-Verse films, particularly in its heavy use of saturated colors and, as seen with the attacking Inque, its stylistic use of physics.
And while such art direction would have undoubtedly left the film looking spectacular, given the fact that the industry now exists in a post Spider-Verse world where every new piece of big-budget animation is attempting to emulate its visual flair – see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – its use in a future Batman Beyond animated film would unfortunately feel both tired, desperate, and ultimately under serve what should be the screen return of one of DC’s beloved heroes.
Of course, this read is going off of just three pieces of still concept art – should their Batman Beyond project ever actually get off the ground, there remains every chance that their visual choices could end up being the perfect choice to portray Terry’s dynamic action in motion.
Unfortunately for fans, as of writing, there appears to be no indication that either Warner Bros. Discovery nor DC Studios are interested in adding any new projects to the aforementioned Gunn’s upcoming cinematic slate.
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