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“Justice League Unlimited” was the final entry of the DCAU, which had run almost continuously since “Batman: The Animated Series” debuted back in 1992. 14 years is an impressive run, but after that long, the creators were ready to do something new. “Unlimited” builds on the previous series to bring everything full circle. Superman’s greatest villains — Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Darkseid — are the foremost villains in “Unlimited,” so there being no Batman villains stands out all the more.
For example: Two of the most beloved DC Animated Universe characters are Mark Hamill’s Joker and Arleen Sorkin as the O.G. Harley Quinn. They’d shown up in the “Justice League” episode “Wild Cards,” but no more once “Unlimited” rolled around. Even Batman villains who would make sense as baddies who could threaten the whole League, like Ra’s al Ghul, were no-shows.
The show had some specific thwarted plans for Batman characters, too. McDuffie had pitched an episode starring the Birds of Prey, where Barbara Gordon would team up with Black Canary and Huntress. Of course, the Bat-embargo included Batgirl, so that episode didn’t happen.
Hugo Strange makes a brief appearance in “Justice League Unlimited” season 2 as part of Amanda Waller’s anti-Justice League task force, Project Cadmus. But Strange was a big enough Batman villain to be hit by the embargo, so after that, he vanished.
The third and final season of “Justice League Unlimited” introduced the Legion of Doom, the 13-strong super-villain team from “Challenge of the Superfriends.” The “Superfriends” Legion included Scarecrow and the Riddler, but the embargo meant the “Unlimited” Legion couldn’t have those characters.
It should be noted, though, that DC fans generally thought the embargo was a bigger deal than the creators did. Timm, McDuffie and company spoke of it as a blessing in disguise; they could spotlight more obscure characters instead of bringing out old favorites. For example, the Birds of Prey pitch evolved into “Double Date” (penned by “Birds of Prey” comic writer Gail Simone), which turned out to be an excellent episode.
In a 2004 ToonZone/Anime Superhero post, Timm explained:
“I don’t see the Bat-embargo lifting anytime soon….but to tell you the truth, as much as I, too, love those characters, I don’t really miss ’em all that much….it’s not like we don’t have TONS of other interesting characters to play with…if I were doing an actual ‘Batman’ show, and not allowed to use those characters, yeah, that’d be pretty galling, but Batman’s only one ingredient in the ‘Justice League’ brew.”
Yeah, about that…
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