Absolute Batman animated series and more DC cartoons announced in midst of Warner Bros. merger
Warner Bros. and DC unveiled a huge slate at Annecy: an Absolute Batman series, DC’s first anime, a Krypto show, and more. It’s great news. The awkward part is that a debt-heavy new owner is about to take over and decide what survives.
DC fans got a pile of good news today. Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios rolled out a stacked lineup of new shows, headlined by an Absolute Batman series.
There’s just one thing hanging over all of it. The company making these announcements is about to be sold, and the new owners are buying it with a mountain of debt.
So the real question isn’t whether this stuff sounds great. It’s how much of it actually survives the sale.
What got announced
First, the fun part, because there’s a lot of it.
At the Annecy animation festival, DC’s Peter Safran and James Gunn took the stage with Warner Bros. Animation to reveal their next wave of shows.
The headliner is Absolute Batman, based on the smash comic by Scott Snyder. It’s sold over 6 million copies and reimagines Batman as a working-class hero instead of a billionaire. Snyder himself is running the show.
They also announced Joker: Laugh Riot, DC’s first-ever anime series. The hook is wild: Batman is murdered, and the Joker goes hunting for the killer, slowly turning into a detective version of his dead enemy.
Plus an untitled Krypto kids’ show about the Super-dog and his misfit friends.
That’s on top of stuff already in the pipeline: Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 (out July 31), the animated Batman: Knightfall, Mr. Miracle, My Adventures with Green Lantern, and the stop-motion Dynamic Duo. It’s a genuinely huge slate.
Why the timing is strange
Here’s the catch that makes today’s celebration a little complicated.
Warner Bros. is being sold. The Ellison family, who already run Paramount, are buying it in a deal that cleared its big regulatory hurdle this month and is expected to close later this year.
When it does, they’ll own Warner Bros., DC, and everything announced today.
And they’re buying it with debt. A lot of it. By the company’s own filings, the combined business will carry around $79 billion in debt. The ratings agency Fitch was worried enough to cut the credit rating to junk status over it.
So a brand-new owner, one that just borrowed enormous money to make the purchase, is about to inherit this whole animation slate. That’s the cloud over an otherwise sunny announcement day.
Why a new owner with debt is the worry
Here’s the thing about announced projects: announced isn’t made.
A show revealed at a festival is a promise, not a finished series. Most of these are early, with no release dates and years of expensive work ahead.
And when a company takes on huge debt, the first thing it usually does is hunt for costs to cut. Projects that are just promises, not money in the bank yet, are the easiest things to quietly kill.
We’ve actually seen Warner do exactly this before. Under its current owners, the company shelved finished films like Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme for tax write-offs, and scrapped nearly-done animated shows.
If a struggling Warner did that, a new owner staring down $79 billion in debt could be even more ruthless about trimming a long list of unfinished cartoons.
To be clear, nobody has announced any cuts. The Ellisons haven’t said a word about canceling these shows, and the deal isn’t even closed yet.
This isn’t a prediction that Absolute Batman is doomed. It’s just the honest reality that a giant announced slate is heading straight into an ownership change built on debt, and announced projects are exactly what tends to get squeezed when new bosses go looking for savings.
So should fans get excited or not?
Both, honestly. Just with eyes open.
The announcements are real and the talent is legit. Scott Snyder running his own Absolute Batman is a dream setup, and a DC anime is a genuinely cool swing. If these shows get made, fans win.
But “if” is the key word right now. The smart move is to be excited about the ideas while keeping expectations loose until the sale closes and the new owners show their hand.
The projects furthest along, like Caped Crusader Season 2, are the safest bets. The ones announced today with no release date are the ones most exposed if the budget axe comes out.
For now, enjoy the trailers and the concept art. Just remember that the people who greenlit these shows might not be the people who decide whether they ever air.
The next few months, and who’s signing the checks when the dust settles, will tell the real story.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
Variety and Deadline (June 25, 2026), verified for the Annecy announcements: Absolute Batman with Scott Snyder showrunning, Joker: Laugh Riot as DC’s first anime, the Krypto series, and the Safran/Gunn presentation
The Hollywood Reporter and ComicBook.com (June 25, 2026), verified for the existing slate (Caped Crusader Season 2’s July 31 date, Batman: Knightfall, Mr. Miracle, My Adventures with Green Lantern, Dynamic Duo) and the Absolute Batman comic’s 6 million sales and 11 printings
SEC filings, via prior CNBC and TechCrunch reporting (2026), verified for the Ellison/Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros., the ~$79 billion combined debt, the Fitch junk-status downgrade, and the deal’s expected late-2026 close
Prior reporting on Warner Bros. Discovery (2022-2024), verified for the company’s history of shelving finished projects like Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme for tax write-offs