New animated feature film ‘Batman: Azteca’ in works with HBO Max

Batman is getting a new animated film for HBO Max Latin America. 

Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios is a new animated feature film that was announced during the 37th Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (FICG), Variety first reported. Batman Azteca marks the first-ever collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation, Particular Crowd, Mexico’s Anima, and Chatrone, the producer of Book of Life. The Spanish-language animated film will drop the Dark Knight into Mesoamerica culture and Aztec Mexico and is an original story for the streamer. Production will take place in Mexico and utilize local talent to fill out the cast.

Warner Bros. hasn’t been afraid to release Batman content, with the Dark Knight headlining various animated TV shows and movies, along with blockbuster films. Batman: Soul of the Dragon was one of the most recent animated flicks to be released by Warner Bros. Animation in 2021 and was also another original story that involved familiar characters from the DC Universe like Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and Bronze Tiger. The two-part animated Batman: The Long Halloween adapted the popular story by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios stars Yohualli Coatl, a young Aztec boy who loses his father when he’s murdered by Spanish Conquistadors. Coatl’s father was Toltecatzin, the leader of their local village. The boy seeks refuge with King Moctezuma and the high priest Yoka, who lord over Tenochtitlan. Here’s the official synopsis: 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.

HBO Max Latin America launched last June and is currently the second biggest streamer in Latin America after Netflix. Director and storyboard artist Juan Meza-León will helm Batman Azteca, with José C. García de Letona and Fernando De Fuentes producing alongside Aaron D. Berger and Carina Schulze. Meza-León confirmed the news on his Instagram account, writing, “Batman Azteca. It’s finally out! // Por fin salio! Very excited and honored to be part of this.”

Sam Register and Tomás Yankelevich serve as executive producers.