Batman, in all his moody, brooding glory, typically lends himself to films and TV shows with a dark (if not full-blown emo) skew. For fans who crave something starring the caped crusader that’s a little more light-hearted, Merry Little Batman offers a compelling alternative.
The animated film, which is available to stream for free with Amazon Prime, offers a new take on an underrated Batman character: Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s son. The story follows Damian as he embarks on a hero’s journey to save Christmas, channel the superhero within, and get back his stolen utility belt.
Taking the famously somber Batman lore and twisting it into a kid-centric Christmas tale can be a delicate task, one Merry Little Batman Director Mike Roth was eager to undertake given his history with the hero: “Who isn’t a big Batman fan growing up? I grew up with the ’66 Batman,” he says. “I’ve been a Batman fan my whole life. All the iterations of Batman are special to me.”
Roth has previously worked with other fan-favorite cartoons that amassed a kidult following, writing and directing for TV series like The Regular Show. Armed with a love for Batman and a history of spot-on tone, Roth crafted a Yuletide Batman fantasy.
The tale takes a father-son dynamic that’s usually portrayed as antagonistic and flips it into a loving, relatable relationship. “I hope that [audiences] connect to the characters,” Roth says. “We wanted this world to feel real and authentic because we want the stakes to feel real.”
One uphill battle was painting Bruce Wayne, a billionaire superhero, in a relatable light for viewers. “Myself, the writers … we all put a lot of our own dad-isms into the character,” he says. “Giving a personality and a connection to his son that’s get-able and relatable was very important to us.”
And then, of course, Christmas comes in. To join into the crowd-approved Christmas canon takes a certain style and tone, one Roth think benefits from traditional cartoon animation.
“It’s a very illustrative quality we brought into it. And we wanted that because we wanted the story very much driven by Christmas and by Christmas themes, so we wanted each frame to almost look like a picture book, like a Christmas card or a Christmas book you might read on Christmas Eve.”
The film, which came out Dec. 8, has garnered positive reviews and has already spawned a spin-off. The upcoming show, Bat-Family, will be within the same universe as Merry Little Batman, featuring 22-minute episodes of the family sitcom action-adventure.
“We’re gonna build the world out, see more villains … we’re also adding some fun and interesting people to the household. So we’re going to expand Wayne Manor a little bit.”
So while Merry Little Batman plays on repeat for the remainder of the holiday season, the Bat-Fandom has plenty to look forward to.
