Batwheels is an American animated superhero children's television series that premiered on September 17, 2022, on HBO Max. The series follows the eponymous team, a group of vehicles owned by DC Comics superhero Batman that are brought to life. It made its linear premiere on October 17, 2022, on Cartoon Network's preschool block Cartoonito. A second season premiered on January 12, 2024, on Max. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on December 5, 2025, on HBO Max. The first two seasons are also available on Netflix.
Plot The Bat-Family's vehicles are brought to life by the Batcomputer to form the "Batwheels", a team led by the Batmobile or "Bam", to fight crime in Gotham City.
Characters The Batwheels The Batmobile / Bam (voiced by Jacob Bertrand), is the leader of the Batwheels. Its appearance is mostly based on the 1989 Batman batmobile with some small differences. Redbird / Red (voiced by Jordan Reed in Season 1, Titus Blake in early Season 2 and Crew Kingston Miskel in late Season 2–present), Robin's car and the youngest of the Batwheels Batgirl Cycle / Bibi (voiced by Madigan Kacmar), Batgirl's small but impulsive motorcycle Bat Truck / Buff (voiced by Noah Bentley), a gold-hearted monster truck who serves as the Batwheels' muscle The Batwing / Wing (voiced by Lilimar), Batman's sophisticated and confident supersonic jet The Batcomputer / BC (voiced by Kimberly D. Brooks), the team's trainer, supervisor, dispatcher, and mother figure M.O.E. (voiced by Mick Wingert), short for Mobile Operation Expert, M.O.E. is Batman's kind-hearted yet sarcastic robot mechanic
The Bat-Family Bruce Wayne / Batman (voiced by Ethan Hawke), a vigilante operating in Gotham City and father figure to the Batwheels Hawke previously turned down the role for Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. Duke Thomas / Robin (voiced by A.J. Hudson), a mystery-loving member of the Bat-Family who wants to prove himself in the eyes of Batman Cassandra Cain / Batgirl (voiced by Leah Lewis), a daredevil tech-savvy member of the Bat-Family, who serves as a "big sister" figure in the group Dick Grayson / Nightwing (voiced by Zachary Gordon), a superhero who used to fight crime with Batman but currently fights crime in different cities Alfred Pennyworth (voiced by Alfred Molina), Batman's loyal butler and the builder of M.O.E.
The Legion of Zoom Badcomputer (voiced by SungWon Cho), an A.I. computer software inside a scoreboard and temporarily in a television who wants to replace the Bat Computer as the most powerful computer on Earth Crash (voiced by Tom Kenny), Badcomputer's crash-dummy like robot minion Prank (voiced by Griffin Burns), Joker's funny and pranking van Jestah (voiced by Alexandra Novelle), Harley Quinn's fun-loving ATV Ducky (voiced by Ariyan Kassam), Penguin's mischief-causing duck on a boat with wheels vehicle Quizz (voiced by Josey Montana McCoy), Riddler's quiz-loving helicopter and the youngest of the Zoomers Snowy (voiced by Xolo Maridueña), Mr. Freeze's bad but gentle snow crawler who is also Buff's friend
The Rogues' Gallery The Joker (voiced by Mick Wingert), Batman's archenemy and the self-proclaimed "Clown Prince of Crime" Harley Quinn (voiced by Chandni Parekh), Joker's partner-in-crime and girlfriend The Penguin (voiced by Jess Harnell), an elegant penguin-like criminal The Riddler (voiced by SungWon Cho), a riddle-obsessed criminal Mr. Freeze (voiced by Regi Davis), an ice-themed supervillain with a mechanical suit Catwoman (voiced by Gina Rodriguez), a cat-themed burglar Poison Ivy (voiced by Kailey Snider), a plant-themed villain Toyman (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), a toy-themed villain who is also an enemy of Superman Egghead (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), an egg-themed villain. Clayface (voiced by Chad Kroeger), a metahuman who possesses a clay-like body. Condiment King (voiced by Mick Wingert), a supervillain who uses condiments as weapons. Music Meister (voiced by Andy Sturmer), a music-themed villain who talks in songs. King Tut (voiced by Wayne Knight), an Egyptologist at Yale University who is convinced that he is a reincarnation of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Croc (voiced by Diedrich Bader), a crocodile-themed villain. Clock King (voiced by Mick Wingert), a clock-themed supervillain.
The Gotham Guardians Kitty (voiced by Kinza Khan), Catwoman's playful cat car Goldie (voiced by Chandni Parekh), Green Arrow's kindhearted arrowplane who is Batwing's flying friend Nightbike (voiced by Nick Fisher), Nightwing's Brooklyn-accented motorcycle Grundy (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), a dump truck-styled monster truck based on Solomon Grundy
Other Heroes Oliver Queen / Green Arrow (voiced by MacLeod Andrews), a vigilante archer from Star City and one of Batman's Justice League team-mates. John Stewart / Green Lantern (voiced by Todd Williams), one of Batman's Justice League team-mates that currently serves within the Green Lantern Corps. Ray Palmer / The Atom (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), one of Batman's Justice League team-mates that can shrink in sub-atomic size. Zatanna Zatara (voiced by Kari Wahlgren), a famous stage magician and one of Batman's Justice League team-mates. Arthur Curry / Aquaman (voiced by John DiMaggio), one of Batman's Justice League team-mates and the ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. Barry Allen / The Flash (voiced by Chad Kroeger), one of Batman's Justice League team-mates who runs at superspeed.
Minor A.D.A.M (voiced by Adam West with archived dialogue), Batman's early Batmobile. His design and character are based on the Batmobile and Batman from the 1966 Batman series. Banebuggy (voiced by Nick Fisher), a miniature assault vehicle who can turn into a giant size by consuming grow gas. Voice Box (voiced by Mick Wingert), Music Meister's tour bus. The Tumbler (voiced by Diedrich Bader), Batman's specialized extreme terrain armored interceptor. He is based on the vehicle and its corresponding version of Batman from The Dark Knight film trilogy. Presto (voiced by Kailey Snider), Zatanna's magic car. Dent (voiced by Sam Witwer), a dual colored car with a split-personality, based on Two-Face.
Episodes
Season 1 (2022–23) All episodes were directed by Antoine Charreyron.
Season 2 (2024)
Season 3 (2025–26)
Shorts (2022–23)
Production Development In October 2020, it was announced that an animated preschool series centered around the Batmobile was in development at Warner Bros. Animation, set to premiere on Cartoon Network's then-upcoming preschool block Cartoonito and HBO Max. According to Tom Ascheim, president of the now-defunct Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, the series was greenlit due to its concept being fit for the studio's focus on preschool projects. Michael G. Stern serves as developer and co-executive producer, with Simon J. Smith as supervising producer, and Steven Fink and Caroline Karmel producing. Stern was brought into the project early in development, as WB explored ideas for preschool-oriented DC shows, while Smith was brought after Stern wrote the first scripts for the series. In October 2021, during that year's DC FanDome convention event, Cobra Kai star, Jacob Bertrand, the voice behind Bam the Batmobile, announced a sneak peek of the show. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Stern and Smith being promoted to executive producers. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.
Writing While writing the series, Stern wanted to avoid "kiddifying" the characters, as he felt children should be introduced to the characters through faithful portrayals and was also requested to respect the characters. For Batman, he wrote the character to stay faithful to most interpretations, with only his violence being toned down. He also wrote the villains with "a lane" that stayed faithful to their classical portrayals while still fitting the target audience, such as portraying Harley Quinn as a fun-loving prankster.
When creating the Batwheels, the writers wanted them to be perceived as "lovable" and "fun" characters for the audience, in order to avoid the children only watching the show for Batman. In order to accomplish this, they tested the personalities for each character with a test group, who received the characters positively. The writers also wanted to avoid portraying the Legion of Zoom as mere copies of their owners, to which they gave each vehicle their own characteristics, such as portraying Prank, the Joker's van, as "a surfer dude".
Animation The series' animation services are handled by French animation studio Superprod Animation and Israeli-Canadian animation production service Snowball Studios (who previously handled the show's pilot and early development).
Music The series' score was composed by Alex Geringas, while the theme song was performed and produced by Andy Sturmer, who previously composed the themes for the series The Batman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Sturmer also co-wrote the theme alongside Stern.
Marketing Merchandise On July 23, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products and Mattel announced an extension of its global licensing partnership for over 50 of its brands under various categories such as preschool, plush, dolls, vehicles, novelty toy and board games which included Batwheels.
Awards and nominations The show was nominated for Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children for the episode "To the Batmobile!" at the 51st Annie Awards.
Notes
References
External links