Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is Still in Production, But it Looks Fantastic

One of the most popular superhero characters continues to find himself in unconventional situations. The best example is Batman Ninja, a CG animated film that transported Batman and many of his villains to feudal Japan. Right off the film’s success, there’s the much-anticipated sequel, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League. At New York Comic Con 2024, fans got an exclusive sneak peek of the first ten minutes.

The film seems to pick up almost immediately from the end of the last movie. Batman and Robin are on patrol, only to find dozens of yakuza with jetpacks falling from the sky. The threat is dealt with quickly until the sky opens up, and the islands of Japan appear above in a sequence reminiscent of the original Digimon. Batman and Robin fly up to these islands, only to find themselves confronted with members of the Justice League, such as Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Flash, who are all fully decked out in Japanese-inspired wardrobes. The bat family is attacked by these three until they are saved at the last minute by Wonder Woman and a yankee deliquent-inspired Harley Quinn. The preview ends with a follow-up trailer that seems to promise the inclusion of the classic Batman villain Ra’s al Ghul and the potential appearance of Superman.

Although these first ten minutes looked as gorgeous as Batman Ninja, Junpei Mizusaki, one of the film’s directors, specified that the film isn’t finished yet. In fact, at the time of this panel, the film’s final part is still being worked on. Scriptwriter Kazuki Nakashima specified that they wanted to go bigger and even crazier this time. Introducing the Justice League as a potential obstacle for Batman to overcome seems to coincide with that desire. Considering the scale of the previous film, I wonder how over-the-top the action will get when the film introduces these powerhouses of the DC mythos.

Batman Ninja wasn’t the only new work featured as attendees finally got a more detailed and involved look at the upcoming animated film Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires. The team has been working on the film for years, and seeing the fruits of the animation team’s labor was a treat. The animation style looks very clean, if a little bit flat. The use of color and how it bleeds into some of the designs was particularly striking, and I loved how the film used fire to emphasize the dark backgrounds. Writer and director Juan Meza-León specified how their version of Batman uses the night after being trained by this movie’s version of Catwoman, who acts as his mentor.

This section emphasized how this film is faithful and accurate to Aztec culture. Researchers were brought in to ensure everything was correctly portrayed despite the fantastical elements. We got to see the evolution of the film design from the early sketches to the final inception. Some characters had certain color combinations or were pulled from well-known Aztec iconography. However, other characters had to be altered for the sake of accuracy or changed for animation fluidity.

Juan Meza-León explained that Tzinacan, an Aztec bat god, was where this story started. Batman takes on the responsibility of this deity. The staff worked hard to find ways to reinvent or present these characters specifically through this Aztec lens. That way, they would still feel like the original characters but also evolve into certain versions of themselves despite their new point of origin. This film is in good hands, considering how much detail and love was poured into it.