DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation have put Absolute Batman on the animation slate, announcing a series adaptation at the Annecy International Film Festival on Thursday. Scott Snyder, who writes the comic, will serve as executive producer and showrunner, giving the adaptation a direct creative link to the source material.
Annecy Presentation
The announcement came during a joint presentation hosted by Warner Bros. Animation Sam Register, with Peter Safran and James Gunn on stage. For viewers tracking DC animation as a business line, the setup matters: this was not a standalone reveal, but part of a broader push that paired Absolute Batman with new information on other projects.
Absolute Batman launched in 2024, and the comic series has sold more than six million copies. The first volume was on its 11th print run, a sign that the property already has enough reach to support a television version before a release date has even been set. That kind of sales base gives DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation a built-in audience to test against once the series moves beyond announcement status.
Scott Snyder And Nick Dragotta
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta created Absolute Batman, and Dragotta is producer on the new animated show. Keeping Snyder attached as showrunner is the clearest signal here: the adaptation is starting with the writer who helped define this version of Batman, rather than treating the comic as a loose branding exercise.
That approach also helps explain why DC Studios would move now. A comic that has crossed six million copies and reached an 11th print run is already functioning as a proven IP asset, which makes a series order easier to justify than an untested concept. In practical terms, the announcement tells readers the adaptation has cleared the idea stage and entered active development, even if the schedule has not been laid out publicly.
Joker: Laugh Riot
The same presentation also greenlit Joker: Laugh Riot, with Jim Krieg executive producing and Yasuhuro Aoki directing. Its log-line cuts against the lighter setup suggested by the title: “When Batman is murdered, the Joker launches a ruthless crusade through Gotham’s underworld to find the killer who took away his greatest adversary. But as his violent quest for answers pushes him closer towards vigilante than villain, Joker is forced to confront the truth that without Batman, he doesn’t know who he is.”
That contrast gives the Annecy event a sharper edge. Absolute Batman is being sold as a new-generation reinvention with a massive readership behind it, while Joker: Laugh Riot turns on Batman’s absence entirely, a reminder that DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation are building linked projects from the same character ecosystem. For readers, the immediate takeaway is straightforward: the adaptation is real, Snyder is steering it, and the next meaningful update will be whether the series moves from announcement to production.
