It’s a common joke that Warner Bros. will put Batman in basically anything, be it Fortnite, shows for toddlers, or podcasts. Crossing over and getting into other mediums or other people’s business part of the Dark Knight’s whole Thing, and one of the most popular crossovers of the bunch was a pair of 1994 one-shots— Spawn/Batman from Frank Miller and Spawn creator Todd MacFarlane, and Batman/Spawn: War Devils by Alan Grant, Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Klaus Janson. And since crossovers are all the rage these days, the two are coming back together to do it all again.
Batman/Spawn was announced back iin the summer, but with the book’s December release drawing closer, DC’s put out an animated trailer to hype up the one-shot. Written by MacFarlane and drawn by recurring Batman artist Greg Capullo, the story kicks off when the Court of Owls call on Spawn to do what they can’t and finally kill Batman. While it doesn’t appear to be in the same continuity as those previous crossovers, it likely won’t work out in the Owls’ favor regardless.
Spawn himself has been no stranger to crossovers, with the most recent being his appearance in NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 11, after MacFarlane and NetherRealm previously attempted to get him into prior games. The Image character also briefly showed up in Ready Player One’s film adaptation in 2018, and who can forget when Spawn was a guest character in Soul Calibur II all the way back in 2002? Maybe he’ll show up in Fortnite once his movie actually gets to looking like it’ll see release.
Batman/Spawn will release on December 13. If the trailer has you feeling nostalgic, both Spawn/Batman and War Devils will be reprinted in a single Collected Edition bundle on November 15.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.