Welcome to another Adventure(s) Time special installment, a look at animated heroes of the past. This week, we're examining the unusual path that led to an animated Justice League.

Because it's become such an integral part of DC's animated history since its 2001 premiere, it's hard to fully explain the significance of Justice League. This is a show fans had been demanding for almost ten years, ever since the animated Batman debuted on FOX. Sure, the previous generation grew up on Super Friends, which featured no shortage of (extremely kid-friendly) DC heroes. And a cult following exists today for its later incarnation, which wasn't quite so watered down. But the show was never truly the Justice League. With the debut of a more sophisticated Batman series, followed by Superman from most of the creative team, fans were expecting a modern, classy take on the League.

They got a series about a teenage Batman set in the future, instead.

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How Superman's Series Could've Become An "Almost-JLA"

And, per producer Bruce Timm's comments at this time, this Justice League show would remain nothing more than a fantasy. (At one point, Superman was to feature a gradual gathering of the League. By Season Three, they would act as recurring players on the series. Fearing Superman would come across as a guest star on his own series, this idea was scrapped.)

Justice League's such an enticing fantasy, though, the fan press never stopped running rumors about its production. At one point, a fan cut together some of the superhero cameos from the Superman series and displayed it at conventions. He swore this was test footage for the upcoming Justice League cartoon.

He was lying.

The Comics Inspired by the Cartoons Inspired by Comics

The comic creators behind the tie-in books were also eager for an "animated" Justice League.  Assuming there'd never be any continuity to trip up, the Adventures line introduced its own version of the League. Several references in Superman Adventures indicated he was already a member of the team.  Plus, the League existed as a concept in 1997's Adventures in the DC Universe.

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Even before this, the Welsh publication Superman and Batman Magazine introduced the League in its final 1995 issue. The magazine was overlooked by many comics fans, but if you're just in it for the Mike Parobeck art, it's worth locating.

The art for #8 comes from Ty Templeton, however.  (One of the few issues without Parobeck's work.)  Templeton's no slouch, either, of course.  He's joined by writer Roger Stern, who presents a story fans might find familiar...an alien invasion forces Batman, Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman to join forces and form a Justice League.  This predates even the Superman animated series.  Notice that the artists, without animation models, extrapolated a Bruce Timm-style for Superman and the rest of the cast.

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The (Frankly Odd) Steps Towards Justice League's Debut

So, what led to the actual production of Justice League? Bruce Timm cites a growing confidence in his team's ability to handle more complex action. Also, the impending end of Batman Beyond on Kids' WB!  The last run of Batman Beyond introduced a future Justice League team in a two-parter called  "The Call." Fans were hopeful this signaled a present day Justice League series.

With Beyond ending, Timm wanted another show to maintain his animation crew.  But the early 2000s era of Kids' WB! just didn't seem to be a fit for Timm's style.  Producer Paul Dini was quoted in 2000, regarding the possibility of an animated Justice League: “Everybody wants to see it and we would like to do it, but the suits at the network keep pounding it in that is the Kids' WB! If we were to do Justice League, all they see is a bunch of adults in suits."

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After initially launching as an older-skewing competitor to FOX's dominant animated programming, WB soon found itself chasing "youth," the ever-elusive target demo beloved by television execs. The creation of Batman Beyond was the first attempt at skewing the DC Animated Universe younger. And, as everyone involves admits, the show's just the opposite. Yes, Beyond features a much younger Batman, but the stories lean adult.

It Was the Year 2000, After All

Another attempt at a futuristic Batman series, inspired by Pokémon of all things, also went nowhere.  The informal title was "Batman Anime" or "BATMANIME." This thread on the Toonzone forums archives a few DCAU shows that could've been. Bruce Timm stops by the comments. He reveals American manga legend Adam Warren worked on the "Pokémon" pitch...and "Batman on Mars" was also pitched!  According to Timm, producers Alan Burnett and Hilary Bader pitched this continuation of Batman Beyond..."(T)erry moves to a colony on a terraformed mars and has kid-friendly adventures there...i was really relieved when kwb showed no interest in it, as i just HATED the concept...."

Regarding the Pokémon pitch, this approach later inspired Glen Murakami's Teen Titans animated series, reportedly.  And Terry never went to Mars, alas.

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No, We're Not Letting Go of the Pokémon Thing

Here's Timm on the issues with pitching the Pokémon-inspired Batman series:

anyhow, kenner LOVED the whole pitch, wanted to get started on the toy-line "yesterday!", but kwb thought it was still too "traditional", it wasn't "out of the box" enough..."batman's still too re-active...does he have to fight crime?" i pointed out that he would be fighting MONSTERS, not criminals.... "what if, instead of three kids who fight monsters, what if the three kids COMPETE about who gets to BE batman?" after a long moment of stunned silence i pointed out that if batman's not protecting the weak from the bad guys, be they monsters or criminals or aliens or what-have-you, then fundamentally, it just isn't "batman" AT ALL....

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Recognizing the continued demand for Justice League, and the solid results of the Beyond episodes guest-starring a future version of the team, Timm finally relented. Still viewing Kids' WB! as the series' home, Timm pitched a "youthful" Justice League. Adults as mentors, but teen heroes as the real stars of the series. The team consisted of  Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, J’onn J’onzz and Hawkgirl, and the young heroes included Impulse, Robin and a female version of Cyborg!

Coming to a DVD Easter Egg Near You

A pitch was made, featuring Lex Luthor, Mongul, Sinestro and Chemo as the villains.  And a decent amount of recycled footage from the existing Batman/Superman DCAU team-ups. It's certainly...of its era.

Notice that lantern-jawed Martian Manhunter.  And John Stewart with a mask!

The series never came together at The WB. With an open invitation to pitch anything to Cartoon Network, which was still pretty new to the realm of original cartoons, Timm made the call. And with no restrictions on the series having to skew young, a far more traditional Justice League series was born.

That’s all for now. Thanks to the folks at Toonzone for research help. If you have any suggestions for the future, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.