Gina Rodriguez, Xolo Maridueña, and Tom Kenny are coming to Gotham City. The three have been cast as villains in the upcoming Batman-inspired preschool animated series Batwheels. Rodriguez will voice Catwoman in the series. In the series, Catwoman will play on both the good and bad side of the law to get what she wants. Rodriguez is best known for playing Jane Villanueva in The CW's Jane the Virgin. Her other previous work includes this year's I Want You Back (directed by Jason Orley) and 2021's Awake (directed by Mark Raso).
Maridueña will voice Snowy the Snowcrawler, a vehicle used by Mr. Freeze (voiced by Regi Davis). Due to Snowy's treads, he is the slowest of the villain vehicles. He also thinks about sometimes leaving behind his villain life and joining the Batwheels team. Maridueña's previous work includes Netflix's Cobra Kai and NBC's Parenthood. He will also be joining the DC Universe in live action as the star of the upcoming film Blue Beetle, which will be directed by Angel Manuel Soto. Kenny will voice Crash in the series, a robotic test dummy. He is the assistant to the evil Badcomputer (voiced by SungWon Cho), who brings the evil vehicles to life. Kenny is best known for playing the main character in Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squareparents. In the DC Universe, he voiced The Penguin in the 2004-2008 animated series The Batman and the Anti-Monitor in Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
Both Snowy and Crash will be part of Legion of Zoom, which is led by Badcomputer. The group also includes Prank (voiced by Griffin Burns), the vehicle used by the Joker (voiced by Mick Wingert). Alexandra Novelle will voice Jetstah, the souped-up ATV used by Harley Quinn (voiced by Chandni Parekh). Josey Montana McCoy will voice Quizz, a helicopter used by the Riddler (also voiced by Cho). Ariyan Kassam will voice Ducky, the duck boat used by the Penguin (voiced by Jess Harnell). Danny DeVito's version of Penguin used a similar vehicle in Tim Burton's 1992 film Batman Returns. Toyman, who is traditionally a Superman villain, will also appear in the series voiced by James Arnold Taylor. The villains join the previously announced Ethan Hawke (Batman), Jacob Bertrand (Bam the Batmobile), AJ Hudson (Robin/Duke Thomas), Madigan Kacmar (Batgirl's cycle Bibi), Jordan Reed (Robin's sports car Redbird), Lilimar (Batwing), Noah Bentley (Buff the Bat Truck), Leah Lewis (Batgirl/Cassandra Cain), and Kimberly D. Brooks (Batcomputer).
The series will follow the Bat-Family's vehicles, who were created by the Batcomputer. Having just been brought to life, the series will follow them through the growing pains of what it is like to be a kid. However, they will also have to learn how to work together as a new team known as the Batwheels. The team will be led by Bam and will work with Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. Simon J. Smith will be the supervising producer for the series. Sam Register will be an executive producer. Michael G. Stern will be a co-executive producer, and Bang Zoom Ltd.'s Steven Fink will be a producer. Batman isn't the only superhero to star in a preschool animated series. Spider-Man currently stars in the Disney Junior series Spidey and His Amazing Friends.
Batwheels is scheduled to premiere this fall on HBO Max and Cartoon Network as part of the Cartoonito block. Check out more teaser images below:
