Bruce Timm Releases The Reins Of Warner Bros. Animation’s ‘DC Universe’ Features

Bruce Timm, the Warner Bros. Animation legend who has been the guiding force behind nearly every DC Comics-based series and movie since co-founding what would become an animation powerhouse with Batman: The Animated Series nearly 20 years ago, is stepping down from his position as Supervising Producer to work on projects of his own, according to Voices From Krypton.

At least an old hand will be taking his place. James Tucker, a longtime director and producer on DC titles including Batman: The Brave and the Bold and, most recently the DVD movie Superman Unbound, will fill the role Timm held on the direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray projects based on the DC Comics superheroes.

Timm's contributions to the DC Animated Universe, or the DC Tooniverse as some fans call it, cannot be understated. His artistic style was the basis of the looks of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, the Justice League shows and the recent Green Lantern series. Timm has also been a major creative force in most projects that don't feature his distinctive character designs as well. Timm supervised the DC Universe line of feature films based on storylines from the comics, beginning with Superman: Doomsday in 2007. Timm's final work in this role was overseeing the popular and acclaimed adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which was the 15th film in the DC Universe line.

For Tucker's part, he said his goal is keeping WB's DC animation output moving in the right direction, while also showcasing more characters than just Batman and Superman, as well as projects that are not straight adaptations of existing DC comic book stories.

"I can't go into specifics, but I have a feeling when we announce our next slate of movies, people are going to be very excited because we will be using Batman, Superman and Justice League as a gateway to exposing other characters," Tucker told VFK.

For instance, the new Flashpoint: Paradox movie will be a showcase for The Flash, he said.

As for Timm, VFK didn't elaborate on what his future projects might be, but given that the artist has been such an integral part of Warner Bros. Animations's superhero line for so long, it wouldn't be surprising to see him pop up as the director or an executive producer of a new DC-inspired project somewhere down the road.

[Via Voices From Krypton]

Filed Under: Bruce Timm, BruceTimm, dc animated, DcAnimated, James Tucker

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