A new look at Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios aka Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires has surfaced online, courtesy of Variety. The image comes ahead of a special screening for the upcoming show that will take place at El Festival Pixelatl 2023, which takes place in Guadalajara on September 5.
Pixelatl is Mexico's biggest, annual animation convention.
Anima Estudios’ much-anticipated Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires will be one of the festival's feature presentations. Juan Meza-Leon, who directed the series, will also be one of the event's featured guests.
Clash of Empires will debut 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 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 along 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 but is fans are speculating that the project will 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.