Now that Batman: Gotham by Gaslight has opened the door for various other Elseworlds tales to be adapted as animated films, Superman: Red Son will be the first to follow in its footsteps. To be quite honest, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise because the limited series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Dave Johnson has long remained one of the most popular in the line, not to mention DC fans demanding this become a reality for years.
To briefly sum up what that story entailed for those unfamiliar, what you need to know going into your first viewing of the animated flick is that it explored that possibility of baby Kal-El’s rocket landing in Soviet Russia instead of in Smallville, Kansas. As you can imagine, the Comrade of Steel had a very different upbringing than the hero we’ve come to know otherwise.
What’s also exciting about the material was how it put new spins on other DC icons including Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern and, of course, Batman. Hot on the heels of our first look at the animated Soviet Superman is the unveiling of the ushanka- wearing Dark Knight, which can be viewed below.
In case you were wondering, this version of Batman will be voiced by none other than Roger Craig Smith. After first being introduced in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, Smith reprised the role in three Batman Unlimited animated films, in addition to the Batman Ninja anime. This time, however, I’d expect him to do so with a Russian accent.
Rounding out the rest of the cast will be Jason Isaacs as Superman, Diedrich Bader as Lex Luthor, Amy Acker as Lois Lane, Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman, Phil Morris as James Olsen, Paul Williams as Brainiac, Sasha Roiz as Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern John Stewart, William Salyers as Stalin, Jim Meskimen as JFK, Travis Willingham as Superior Man and Winter Ave Zoli as Svetlana.
Superman: Red Son currently lacks a release date, but an early 2020 Blu-ray release is being targeted.
