Along with delivering a wild cameo of Nicolas Cage as Superman, the big multiverse sequence in The Flash’s climax also featured several deceased DC actors through the use of AI and deepfaking, including Adam West, star of the 1960s Batman TV series. While West passed away back in 2017, the latest of the theatrically-released DC movies gave fans a quick reunion with the affectionately-nicknamed Bright Knight, who fought crime in Gotham City alongside Burt Ward’s Robin. However, it doesn’t end with the Scarlet Speedster-led feature, as West has another posthumous appearance in a DC project lined up, albeit not as the Caped Crusader.
One of the currently-running DC TV shows is Batwheels, a preschool-geared animated series focusing on the various vehicles driven by members of the Bat-Family. The show, which both airs on Cartoon Network and can be viewed with a Max subscription, will kick off a new batch of episodes on September 11, and per Comicbook.com, West will be heard as the voice of the classic 1966 Batmobile in “To the Batmobile,” which airs on September 15, the day before this year’s Batman Day.
Given that Batwheels entered development in 2020, naturally the show will be recycling audio from Adam West rather than the actor having recorded dialogue beforehand. This will be the actor’s third posthumous Batman-related appearance, as along with The Flash, he voiced Batman for the final time in the animated movie Batman vs. Two-Face, which came out four months after West’s death and followed 2016’s Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. Both movies were set in the same continuity as the original Batman TV series, which aired on ABC from 1966 to 1968 and was accompanied by one live-action theatrical movie released during its first year on the air.
While it’s unclear what the West-voiced Batmobile will specifically be doing in “To the Batmobile,” he will undoubtedly be helping out the cast of younger vehicular protagonists, including Jacob Bertrand’s main Batmobile, Jordan Reed’s Redbird, Madigan Kacmar’s Batgirl cycle, Noah Bentley’s Bat Truck and Lilimar’s Batwing, among others. Batwheels also features vocal talent like Ethan Hawke as Batman, A.J. Hudson as Duke Thomas/Robin, Leah Lewis as Cassandra Cain/Batgirl and MacLeod Lewis as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, and along with plenty of familiar villains antagonizing the superheroes, their vehicles and gadgets have their own group of rogues designated the Legion of Zoom.
As for what else is coming up on the Batman movies and TV front, Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe is set to expand with The Penguin miniseries that will air on Max, followed by The Batman: Part II’s release in theaters in October 2025. Meanwhile, the new DC Universe’s Chapter One slate includes the movie The Brave and the Bold, which will see its version of the Dark Knight teaming up with his son, Damian. Additionally, Amazon Prime Video subscribers have some exclusive Batman-related content to look forward to, including the animated shows Batman: Caped Crusader and Bat-Family, the latter of which will be preceded by the movie Merry Little Batman.
