The DC Animated Universe

Batman: The Animated Series was broadcast in almost none of the order it was made in, and everything built on top of it over the next fourteen years assumes you watched it in the right one.

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Where to start with The DC Animated Universe

Watch Batman: The Animated Series in production order, not in the order Fox aired it. Production order is what the DVD and Blu-ray sets use and what the standard episode list follows, and it is the difference between an origin story arriving before the character it explains and arriving twenty episodes after. Everything else in this universe then falls into a straightforward line.

  1. 1
    Batman: The Animated Series, season 1, in production order Batman: The Animated Series

    Sixty-five episodes, beginning with On Leather Wings, which was made first and aired second. In this order the villain origins arrive before the villains are treated as familiar.

  2. 2
    Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

    The theatrical film, made during the series and set inside it. It works best after the first run, when the flashbacks to Bruce before the cowl have something to play against.

  3. 3
    Batman: The Animated Series, season 2 Batman: The Animated Series

    Twenty more episodes, eleven of which aired under the title The Adventures of Batman & Robin. Same continuity, same designs, and the end of the Fox run.

  4. 4
    Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero

    Finished in 1997 and shelved until 1998, so it looks like a later film and is not one. It uses the old designs and belongs here, before the redesign.

  5. 5
    Superman: The Animated Series, season 1 Superman: The Animated Series

    Starts from scratch with Krypton and Metropolis and needs nothing before it, but it becomes half of the shared universe from its second season onward.

  6. 6
    The New Batman Adventures The New Batman Adventures

    Twenty-four episodes with a new art style, a new Robin and Tim Drake as a third Batman ally. It assumes you know everyone from the Fox run and reintroduces nobody.

  7. 7
    Justice League Justice League

    Picks up the same Batman and the same Superman with the same voices and expects you to know both. Fifty-two episodes, mostly told as two part stories.

  8. 8
    Justice League Unlimited Justice League Unlimited

    The direct continuation and the payoff for everything above, including characters last seen in single episodes years earlier. Its finale is the end of the whole continuity.

  9. 9
    Batman Beyond Batman Beyond

    Jumps to 2039 with a teenager in the suit and Bruce Wayne as a voice in his ear. It can be watched at any point after The New Batman Adventures, but it lands hardest last.

Then what? Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker comes after the second season of Batman Beyond and is the one film here that genuinely spoils something if taken early, so leave it until then. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman and the short Chase Me sit in the redesigned Batman era and can be taken any time after The New Batman Adventures. Static Shock and The Zeta Project are optional: Static Shock is its own show for a season and then starts crossing over, and The Zeta Project runs alongside Batman Beyond. The three films in the last section were made years later in the same style and their place in the continuity has never been settled, so treat them as extras rather than as an ending.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.

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Batman: The Animated Series

  • Batman: The Animated Series 1992, 2 seasons, 85 episodes

The two films made alongside it

  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 1993
  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero 1998

The redesign and the Superman years

  • Superman: The Animated Series 1996, 4 seasons, 54 episodes
  • The New Batman Adventures 1997, 1 season, 24 episodes
  • The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest 1997
  • Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman 2003
  • Chase Me 2003

Batman Beyond

  • Batman Beyond 1999, 3 seasons, 52 episodes
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker 2000

The two spin-offs

  • Static Shock 2000, 4 seasons, 52 episodes
  • The Zeta Project 2001, 2 seasons, 26 episodes

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited

  • Justice League 2001, 2 seasons, 52 episodes
  • Justice League Unlimited 2004, 3 seasons, 39 episodes

Made later, in the same style

  • Superman: Brainiac Attacks 2006
  • Batman and Harley Quinn 2017
  • Justice League vs. the Fatal Five 2019

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