Aztec Batman: Wayne Will Turn Into An Indigenous Hero In “Clash of Empires”

Since his creation in 1939, Batman has been one of the most popular and important superheroes in pop culture. The  Dark Knight has been present in comics, movies, series and video games. The public always consumes with interest the stories in which the Gotham vigilante appears, for this reason, it is that in the cinematographic field productions are frequently emerging that seek to reinterpret and renew the character.

Current examples of this are the trilogy of the Knight of the Night directed by Christopher Nolan, the version of Batman played by Ben Affleck for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) or “The Batman”, a film released this year, which places us in a realistic environment and shows us a disturbed Bat Man, darker and more violent than other recent film versions of the masked man.

The idea of reinventing this character now reaches a new level with the confirmation that HBO Max is preparing an animated movie of the vigilante that will turn him into an indigenous hero, who will fight against the Spanish invasion.

This has been announced by the streaming company during the celebration of the International Film Festival in Guadalajara. The news has surprised and created expectations among fans, who want to know how this superhero would be framed within Mesoamerican history and reality.

In this article we will share all the details that were revealed about this innovative production that reimagines the iconic DC vigilante.

Also read: Everything you Need to Know About Netflix’s “Wednesday”

The story of the indigenous Batman

According to the information shared by Variety, in this film we will follow a young Aztec named Yohualli Coatl, whose father and leader of the Toltecatzin people, is assassinated by Spanish conquerors. This young man will flee to Tenochtitlán with the intention of alerting King Moctezuma and his high priest, Yoka, about the imminent danger.

In the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god, Yohualli Coatl will train guided by his mentor and assistant Acatzin, with whom he will develop weapons and equipment to face the Spanish invasion and avenge the murder of his father.

Horacio Garcia Rojas, will be in charge of giving voice to the Bat Man of this story. The direction is provided by the Mexican Juan Jose Meza-Leon, who has worked on “Rick and Morty” and the animated series “Harley Quinn”. “Everyone in the production is a fan of Batman. So we hope that they are as excited as we are,” the director commented in an Instagram post, in which he also assured that this will be “an original story that fuses an alternate version of the Conquest, with the fictional characters of Gotham City.”

The animation will be produced in Mexico and will use local talent. Spanish will be the original language of the film. It has also been announced that the film will have the advice of Alejandro Díaz Barriga, an expert in Mesoamerican studies and the ethnic history of Mexico. He will work closely with the filmmakers to ensure an accurate representation of the indigenous community.

This movie seems to be part of HBO Max’s strategy to create original content of relevance and interest for Latin America.

Batman in other contexts

This will not be the first audiovisual production that places the Bat-Man outside of Gotham or its usual historical moment. In “Batman Ninja”, a 2018 animated film, the dark knight is presented fighting in feudal Japan. For its part, in the comics we find “Gotham: Gaslight”, which shows a Batman fighting Jack the Ripper in the Victorian era.

The exact premiere date of “Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires” has not yet been announced, but it is expected to be sometime in 2023.

As can be seen, this is an interesting proposal that promises to combine the Mesoamerican indigenous world with the history of the iconic hero of Gotham, which would ultimately give us one of the most peculiar versions of Batman.