Harley Quinn: The Animated Series

Yeah it would . . . for the record I was refering to the Ted Kord Blue Bettle, not Jamie Reyes. I feel the guy hasn’t been uses a lot in other medias, and it kind of sucks as he is basically Spider-Man but uses tech like Batman.

I mean the only thing outside of comics he appeared in was Batman: The Brave and The Bold through either flashbacks or time travel shenanigans.

That's funny you said that because I actually had an idea for a series based around Jaime, with Ted in a mentor role. I've written a summary before. Basically, it'd go like this:

Beetles

Light PG-13 rated animated series centered around Jaime Reyes after he picks up the Blue Beetle scarab. He serves as a superhero in El Paso, Texas where many metahumans and aliens conspicuously turn up. While dealing with these foes is tough, so is balancing out life as a high school freshman, all while having a maniacal alien scarab trying to take over you. Fortunately, he has friends, family, and even old heroes like Ted Kord to help him out with that.

While it'd have it's dark moments, it'd be overall lighthearted like Spider-Man I figured the story could feature episodes of Blue Beetle taking on metahumans, while references to the greater Justice League can be made and even have appearances later when the aliens attack. Ted would primarily operate as a mentor and helper to Jaime and guides him through as a superhero, giving much need exposure to the character. The first season could have La Dama as the main villain, then the next would have the Reach with more appearances from other heroes.

While Young Justice did draw upon Blue Beetle and his surrounding mythos, I feel like this could be a Truer to the Text version.

Main and supporting cast:

• Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle III
• Bianca Reyes
• Alberto Reyes
• Milagro Reyes
• Ted Kord/Blue Beetle II
• Paco Testas
• Brenda del Vecchio
• Traci 13

Villains:

• Amparo Cardernas/La Dama
• Bone-Crusher
• Coyote
• Silverback
• The Reach Negotiator
• Black Beetle

Would this work as a show on the service?

I would say Captain Marvel (is he still called Shazam?) would make a better protagonist. Kids still like self insert characters, right?

I would say no but we keep getting Sword Art Online sequels.

As for this, I don’t see it lasting. Maybe as the project takes shape we’ll get a reason to care.

edited 25th Nov '17 12:16:47 PM by Beatman1

x3 Actually that’s not bad at all. I could definitely see this show happening. Also making Ted Kord a mentor is interesting considering how in a lot of takes of Jamie Reyes Blue Bettle the two never interacted due to Ted being dead (I blame Batdick for that), so it would be cool to have him be next level tech support for the teen.

Its also fitting seeing how a lot of retcons made it that Ted has been studying the scarab of his idol Dan Garret, and with said knowledge he can guide Jamie.

It would kind of be like how the Miles Morales Spider-Man comic should of been during ANAD Marvel (funny enough how Peter and Miles in that line essentially became Ted and Jamie). Or Batman Beyond, but the mentor tells more jokes than the protege. Or the movie Ant-Man.

x2 Of course kids like self inserts. Hell that’s like one of the appeals of Captain Marvel as its basically about a kid who can transform into Superman. Plus with his given cast of characters which I would say is pretty cartoony, I could see the series working as a kids show . . . until Black Adam shows up . . . and Blaze . . . and Captain Nazi . . . and lets not forget that sick fuck Mr. Mind.

I meant nowadays. Kids don't read Shazam comics, so we can't judge from that. I have heard anecdotal evidence he is popular with kids in his animated appearances, though.

Of course no kid reads Shazam comics today, DC didn't bother to give the character an ongoing series ever since the Nu 52 first got started. Hell, they didn't even use the character at all (again blame the Nu 52 for its portrayal of the character during his time in the Justice League comic).

And yeah he is popular in a lot of his animated portrayals. Justice League Unlimited pretty much reintroduce him to a modern audience (that's how I first learn about the character). Batman Brave and the Bold showcase the interesting mythos of the character (as per the show's premise). Young Justice made him an Ensemble Darkhorse with his interaction with the team by being it's Tagalong Kid. And don't get me started on how underutilized this character is in Justice League Action.

So giving this guy a show would be a great way tp revitalize the character in the public's eye.

Shazam would be perfect for a crazy fun superhero series, with his oddball enemies and lighthearted family dynamics contrasting the dark directions his adventures and enemies can take, and the sad backstories of his family members.

Shazam I can see being a version of Rick and Morty that's more kid-friendly in terms of giving a bunch of unique visuals.

@BigK1337

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Hopefully with this streaming service they'll have more freedom to shows like this without having to deal with execs.

Anyways, the mentor thing was inspired by Rebirth, which does have Ted playing a mentor role to Jaime. I can imagine them drawing from that aspect if they made a show like that, especially because the interactions between them were pretty good.

x2 Nah, if we want to do a kid friendly Rick and Morty with DC characters; might as well be a Doom Patrol series aimed for a younger audience. Case in point: Animal Mineral Vegetable Man.

Huh. Didn’t really read the Rebirth Blue Beetle comics. There were so many titles in that line that I honestly couldn’t read them all. Might check it out some day.

I got to read it and liked it so far.

So, some of the plot and character descriptions for the main cast are out.

Some of these people I wasn't expecting. I hope we get to see the folks from the concept art as well.

That's... interesting. Premise wise, it's a mix between her first comics run (the "Harley dumps Joker and sets out to become an even better supercriminal than him" concept) and her second comics run (the overall tone and some of the supporting cast).

It could definitely become the best of both worlds (since both runs are fantastic, imo), so I hope they don't botch it.

First teaser.

The cast has been revealed:

• Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn

• Lake Bell as Poison Ivy

• Diedrich Bader as Batman

Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Tudyk, Jason Alexander, Christopher Meloni, Wanda Sykes, J.B. Smoove, Natalie Morales, Tony Hale and more will also have roles.

Edited by comicwriter on Oct 3rd 2018 at 5:30:05 AM

There's not a whole lot of substance to the teaser beyond the meta-gags (except for buzzkill Batman, which I'm delighted by) but I'm...tentatively optimistic? The animation looks fine, and I'm really liking Ivy in this teaser. But presumably an actual trailer will come out eventually to give us a clearer picture on what's going down.

That was silly but nothing worth noting. Nice to see her original design again (or just the hat).

Wasn't Margot gonna voice her? Also, the fourth wall is gone clearly.

It was reported that Warner wanted Margot to voice Harley, but she probably proved too expensive for a TV show. I don't think she's done running TV work since that ABC show she was on forever ago.

Incidentally, I've noticed this wouldn't be the first time a lady from The Big Bang Theory voiced Harley Quinn...

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Oct 4th 2018 at 10:54:14 AM

Talk about Hilarious in Hindsight.

Personally, I hope Cuoco gets to voice Cassie Sandsmark some day.

Rahul Kohli will voice the Scarecrow.

Go Ravi!

I wonder if we're going to see Guy Kopski in this series.

Two new voice roles confirmed: Alan Tudyk as The Joker and Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon.