You might think that in 2024, which marks an incredible 85 years since his comic book debut, every single type of Batman story going has already been told.
Batman if he looked like the guy from American Psycho? They’ve done it. Batman teaming up with two Ezra Millers to talk about spaghetti? For some reason, they’ve done that too. And yet here comes Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios to prove us wrong and make apparent that there are still fresh takes on the Dark Knight to be explored after all these decades.
A wholly unique DC animated movie, Batman Azteca will move the Caped Crusader out of modern-day Gotham City for once and drop him down into Mesoamerica. With DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran credited as executive producers, the film is believed to be the first of Gunn’s much-touted “Elseworlds” titles, those releases that fall outside of the continuity of the burgeoning DCU to tell self-contained stories set in their own, very different universes.
And Batman Azteca is certainly very different from any other screen iteration of the hero we’ve had so far. Here’s all you need to know about the Central American Batman you never knew you needed.
What is Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios about?
English title Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, the animated movie was announced back in June 2022, along with the release of some gorgeous promo art which unveiled our first look at the titular twist on the iconic character. As you would expect, Aztec Batman will be a wholly original interpretation of the Bat-Mythos, drawing from both historical events and characters and Mesoamerican mythology to bring its world to life. As the synopsis reads:
“In the time of the Aztec Empire, Yohualli Coatl — a young Aztec boy — experiences tragedy when his father and village leader, Toltecatzin, is murdered by Spanish Conquistadors. Yohualli escapes to Tenochtitlan to warn King Moctezuma and his high priest, Yoka, of imminent danger. Using the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god, as a lair, Yohualli trains with his mentor and assistant, Acatzin, developing equipment and weaponry to confront the Spaniard invasion, protect Moctezuma’s temple, and avenge his father’s death.”
Who is in Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios?
The full cast for Batman Azteca has yet to be revealed at the time of writing, but nonetheless we know who’s playing the titular version of the flying rodent-themed vigilante. Narcos: Mexico star Horacio Garcia Rojas takes the lead as Yohualli while Omar Chaparro (Detective Pikachu) voices Yoka — a character that something tells us is this universe’s variant of the Joker. Álvaro Morte (Money Heist) portrays Two-Face aka real-life figure Hernán Cortés. José Carlos Illanes, meanwhile, voices another actual Spanish conquistador, Pedro de Alvarado (he’ll presumably turn out to be a Batman villain too).
We’re not yet aware who’s voicing Yohualli’s right-hand man, Acatzin, although it’s clear he’s the Aztec answer to Alfred. We also know that the movie will feature the likes of Forest Ivy (Poison Ivy) and Jaguar Woman (Catwoman), but their voice performers have likewise yet to be announced. By the looks of things, though, the film promises to end up with an all-Mexican cast.
Where and when could Batman Azteca: Choque De Imperios release?
Although it is typical for Warner Bros, to release its DC animated movies straight to digital and DVD, Batman Azteca is not a typical animated movie so it is actually being pitched as a streaming exclusive that is on its way to Max. While we don’t yet know exactly when it could arrive, the fact that HBO Max Latin America debuted a first-look image from the film (see the pic at the top of the page) indicates that the most unlikely Batman movie of the year — somehow even more so than dark musical Joker Folie à Deux — could hit streaming sometime in the first half of 2024.
