Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios, also known as Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, has released a new look at the show's take on Batman, the Joker, and Two-Face. The promo art is released in advance of a special screening for the show at El Festival Pixelatl 2023, which takes place tomorrow, September 5, in Guadalajara.
Pixelatl is Mexico's biggest annual animation convention and is in its 12th year.
One of the festival's main presentations will be the eagerly awaited Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires from Anima Estudios. Juan Meza-Leon, who served as the series' director, is billed as one of the event's most prominent guests.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will also be on hand to receive the 2023 Pixelatl Lifetime Achievement Award.
Clash of Empires will air exclusively on Max and will depict an alternate take on the Batman mythos where a young Aztec warrior takes on Spanish Conquistadors. Specifically, the series follows Yohualli Coatl, who witnesses the death of his father at the hands of the Conquistadors.
He flees to Tenochtitlan to warn King Moctezuma and the high priest, Yoka (this reinterpretation's take on the Joker) of the impending assault by the foreign invaders. Yohualli also decides to set up a secret base in the temple for the bat god, Tzinacan, where with the help of Acatzin (Alfred), he trains and creates weaponry to combat the Spanish invasion and avenge his father. A primary antagonist among the Spanish Conquistadors is Hernán Cortés (Two-Face).
Other Batman mythos characters set to appear include Forest Ivy (Poison Ivy) and Jaguar Woman (Cat Woman).
During the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Peter Girardi, executive vice president of alternative programming at Warner Bros. stated, "We have done different interpretations of Batman in the past, specifically in Japan, so it’s a format we were familiar with. But it’s a whole new story, set in that [specific] time."
Jaguar Woman will have a very important role in the project, according to Meza-Leon.
"She is the one who helps him embrace his spiritual animal and to become this warrior. The Aztecs only fought during the day, but she is a little thief in the night, the Robin Hood for the Aztec people. She is teaching him how to make his way around darkness and use it as a weapon."
The director went on to add, "I didn’t want it to be some ‘cartoony’ thing. I wanted it to be serious, dramatic and dark. As a Batman fan, growing up with the Aztec culture, hearing these two words together…POW! It just had so much power."
"I am very excited that all this Mexican talent is working so hard to elevate Latin American animation. This is a big project, and hopefully it will be just the beginning of many things to come."
Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios is currently without an official release date, and no footage has been released, but fans are speculating that the project could be released in early-2024.
Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios centers on a young Aztec boy, Yohualli Coatl, whose father, village leader Toltecatzin, is murdered by Spanish Conquistadors. Coatl flees to Tenochtitlan to warn King Moctezuma and his high priest, Yoka, of looming danger. Using the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god, as a lair, Yohualli trains with his mentor and assistant, Acatzin, developing equipment and weaponry to confront the Spaniard invasion, protect Moctezuma’s temple, and avenge his father’s death.