Batwheels
Batwheels is an American animated superhero children's television series that premiered on September 17, 2022, on HBO Max. It made its linear premiere on October 17, 2022, on Cartoon Network's preschool block Cartoonito. A second season premiered on January 12, 2024, on Max. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a third season. Season 3 premiered on December 5, 2025, on HBO Max.
Plot
The Bat-Family's vehicles are brought to life by the Batcomputer to form the "Batwheels", a team led by the Batmobile or "Bam", to fight crime in Gotham City.Characters
The Batwheels
- The Batmobile / Bam, the insecure leader of the Batwheels. Its appearance is mostly based on the 1989 Batman batmobile with some small differences.
- Redbird / Red, Robin's car and the youngest of the Batwheels
- Batgirl Cycle / Bibi, Batgirl's small but impulsive motorcycle
- Bat Truck / Buff, a good-hearted monster truck who serves as the Batwheels' muscle
- The Batwing / Wing, Batman's sophisticated and confident supersonic jet
- The Batcomputer / BC, the team's trainer, supervisor, dispatcher, and mother figure
- M.O.E., short for Mobile Operation Expert, M.O.E. is Batman's kind-hearted yet sarcastic robot mechanic
The Bat-Family
- Bruce Wayne / Batman, a vigilante operating in Gotham City and father figure to the Batwheels Hawke previously turned down the role for Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever.
- Duke Thomas / Robin, a mystery-loving member of the Bat-Family who wants to prove himself in the eyes of Batman
- Cassandra Cain / Batgirl, a daredevil tech-savvy member of the Bat-Family, who serves as a "big sister" figure in the group
- Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, a vigilante archer from Star City and a friend of Batman's
- Dick Grayson / Nightwing, a superhero who used to fight crime with Batman but currently fights crime in different cities
The Legion of Zoom
- Badcomputer, an A.I. computer software inside a scoreboard and temporarily in a television who wants to replace the Bat Computer as the most powerful computer on Earth
- Crash, Badcomputer's crash-dummy like robot minion
- Prank, Joker's funny and pranking van
- Jestah, Harley Quinn's fun-loving ATV
- Ducky, Penguin's mischief-causing duck on a boat with wheels vehicle
- Quizz, Riddler's quiz-loving helicopter and the youngest of the Zoomers
- Snowy, Mr. Freeze's bad but gentle snow crawler who is also Buff's friend
The Gotham Guardians
- Kitty, Catwoman's playful cat car
- Goldie, Green Arrow's kindhearted arrowplane who is Batwing's flying friend
- Nightbike, Nightwing's motorcycle
- Grundy, a dump truck-styled monster truck
Minor
- A.D.A.M, Batman's early Batmobile. His design and character are based on the Batmobile and Batman from the 1966 Batman series.
- John Stewart / Green Lantern, one of Batman's Justice League team-mates.
- Ray Palmer / The Atom, one of Batman's Justice League team-mates.
- Banebuggy, Bane's size-changing assault vehicle.
- Voice Box, Music Meister's tour bus.
Episodes
Season 1 (2022–23)
All episodes were directed by Antoine Charreyron.Season 2 (2024)
Season 3 (2025)
Shorts (2022–23)
Production
Development
In October 2020, it was announced that an animated preschool series centered around the Batmobile was in development at Warner Bros. Animation, set to premiere on Cartoon Network's then-upcoming preschool block Cartoonito and HBO Max. According to Tom Ascheim, president of the now-defunct Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, the series was greenlit due to its concept being fit for the studio's focus on preschool projects. Michael G. Stern serves as developer and co-executive producer, with Simon J. Smith as supervising producer, and Steven Fink and Caroline Karmel producing. Stern was brought into the project early in development, as WB explored ideas for preschool-oriented DC shows, while Smith was brought after Stern wrote the first scripts for the series. In October 2021, during that year's DC FanDome convention event, Cobra Kai star, Jacob Bertrand, the voice behind Bam the Batmobile, announced a sneak peek of the show. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Stern and Smith being promoted to executive producers. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.Casting
During the aforementioned 2021 DC FanDome convention event, Cobra Kai star Jacob Bertrand announced himself to be the voice behind Bam the Batmobile; while announcing a sneak peek of the show, he announced Ethan Hawke as the voice of Batman, three decades after the actor turned down the role in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. whilst A.J. Hudson announced himself to voice the Duke Thomas incarnation of Robin.Writing
While writing the series, Stern wanted to avoid "kiddifying" the characters, as he felt children should be introduced to the characters through faithful portrayals and was also requested to respect the characters. For Batman, he wrote the character to stay faithful to most interpretations, with only his violence being toned down. He also wrote the villains with "a lane" that stayed faithful to their classical portrayals while still fitting the target audience, such as portraying Harley Quinn as a fun-loving prankster.When creating the Batwheels, the writers wanted them to be perceived as "lovable" and "fun" characters for the audience, in order to avoid the children only watching the show for Batman. In order to accomplish this, they tested the personalities for each character with a test group, who received the characters positively. The writers also wanted to avoid portraying the Legion of Zoom as mere copies of their owners, to which they gave each vehicle their own characteristics, such as portraying Prank, the Joker's van, as "a surfer dude".