Franchise / DC Animated Universe

aka: DCAU

The DC Animated Universe (DCAU for short; also referred to as the "Timmverse" by fans) is a group of animated adaptations based on DC Comics characters and, unlike other DC adaptations, all sharing the same continuity.

Batman: The Animated Series began first, intended as something of a tie-in with Batman Returns but with its own distinct canon and take on the mythos and airing on the Fox Kids network. The high-quality animation, scripting and voice work received near instant praise, helping to redefine Batman to the general public as neither the campy Adam West Batman or the ultra dark Michael Keaton Batman, but as someone who often has to protect his Rogues Gallery from themselves. The specific character design is referred to as Timm Style, and has been very influential with elements based on it seen in many western animation action shows. After 85 episodes over 2 seasons (65 episodes in the first season alone, generally unheard of, though the DVD releases split it up into three seasons, with the first two containing 28 episodes each and the third season having the final 29) the show ended in 1995. Soon afterward, the same creators went on to make Superman: The Animated Series for the Kids' WB! network, featuring a similar but more streamlined art style. When the license to Batman: TAS on Fox Kids expired, they went on to make an Art-Shifted Sequel called The New Batman Adventures for the Kids WB, which in practice was more of a revival and featured a massive art redesign to match up with Superman: TAS.

The inevitable crossover occurred with "World's Finest", which teamed Batman and Superman against the Joker and Lex Luthor and firmly placed them in a Shared Universe. After several more crossovers, both shows ended about the same time in 1999, when Batman Beyond came on to take their place. While initially divisive for its premise as a teenage Batman in the future mentored by an elderly Bruce Wayne, Batman Beyond was able to continue the legacy of the prior shows and had many standout moments of its own. In fact, an episode featuring a future version of the Justice League proved popular enough that Cartoon Network made an order for the production to create Justice League in 2001. This new show introduced what can be considered a third Timm Style revamp, an attempt to include more individuality between characters that was lost with the streamlined design. With two seasons focusing on seven core members of the Justice League, the production staff made a Retool for the series to include dozens of characters never before seen in the DCAU: Justice League Unlimited. After another couple of seasons, reaching the absolute height of ambition to showcase the entire DC Comics roster, the DCAU officially ended in 2006, but had a few semi-returns in the latter half of The New '10s.

There are two other shows that take place in the same universe but are considered more of on the fringe than being a core series. The first is Static Shock, based on the comics character Static and initially taking place in its own continuity (there is a reference to Superman as a fictional character in an early episode) but eventually having contemporary Batman and Justice League crossovers with a Batman Beyond appearance via Time Travel, Static himself appears in Justice League Unlimited in another time travel story. The second is The Zeta Project, which was a Spin-Off inspired by a standalone episode of Beyond about a shapeshifting android assassin gaining a conscience and his struggles to avoid his handlers who want to reprogram him, unique in that it features entirely original characters and stories, excepting a later Batman Beyond crossover. Neither show was as successful as the primary shows, but they had their fans.

There are a few web cartoons that are on the fringe level. The first is Lobo, a completely adult oriented entry starring Lobo. It was originally going to be a family friendly cartoon on Kids WB but got retooled because having the lead of an adult oriented franchise for a kids show is problematic. The second is Gotham Girls which featured a lot of female characters associated with Batman. It paved the way for Gotham City Sirens.

It is generally accepted that the DC Animated Universe includes:

• Batman: The Animated Series / The Adventures of Batman and Robin / The New Batman Adventures (1992-1995; 1997-1999)
  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998)
  • Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003)
• Superman: The Animated Series / The New Superman Adventures (1996-2000)
• Batman Beyond (1999-2001)
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
• Static Shock (2000-2004) ^note Via retcon (Superman was a fictional character in early episodes).
• The Zeta Project (2001-2002) ^note Spin-off from Batman Beyond.
• Justice League / Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006)

Webseries set in the DC Animated Universe cartoons:

• Gotham Girls (2000-2002) ^note The New Batman Adventures spin-off.
• Lobo (2000) ^note The only TV-MA-rated cartoon in the DC Animated Universe.

Comic Books based on the DC Animated Universe include:

• Superman & Batman Magazine ^note Notable for featuring comic stories about DC characters other than Batman as well as predating every non-Batman show in the continuity. It isn't considered canon due to the depictions of the other heroes having discrepancies with how they are portrayed in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League.
• Adventures in the DC Universe ^note Although this one ended up being almost wholly retconned; it was published a few years before the Justice League cartoon and its setting was a mix between the then-known DCAU and the DC Universe at that time (chiefly JLA (1997), with Aquaman as a founding member and Kyle Rayner as the League's titular Green Lantern).
• Batman Beyond ^note Only the ones in the Timm art style; the later ones are a mix between DCAU continuity and mainstream DC Comics continuity.
• Batgirl Adventures
• The Batman Adventures
• Harley & Ivy
• The Superman Adventures
• Supergirl Adventures Girl Of Steel
• Justice League Adventures
• Justice League Beyond
• Justice League Unlimited
• Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Co-published by IDW and features the 2012 TMNT cartoon continuity)
• Batman: The Adventures Continue
• Justice League Infinity

Tabletop Games based on the DC Animated Universe:

• Batman: The Animated Series Adventures

Video Games based on the DC Animated Universe:

• Batman: The Animated Series
• The Adventures of Batman and Robin
• Superman 64
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
• Batman: Chaos in Gotham
• Batman: Gotham City Racer
• Batman: Vengeance
• Superman: Shadow of Apokolips
• Justice League: Injustice for All
• Superman: Countdown to Apokolips
• Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu
• Justice League: Chronicles
• View Master Batman Animated VR

The DC Animated Universe is sometimes referred to as the "Timmverse" (after Bruce Timm) or the "Diniverse" (afterPaul Dini). It ended production with the final episode of Justice League Unlimited. However, its influence continues to this day both in Comics and Western Animation, and due to the distinct art style of the 'verse (aka Timm Style) being applied to later animated adaptations of The DCU, other properties are frequently and incorrectly cited as part of the DCAU. It is also partially responsible for most of Warner Bros. Animation's production having a Latin American Dub produced in Venezuela.

The Direct to Video DC Universe Animated Original Movies line is considered something of a Spiritual Successor, featuring many of the same production staff with a similar design aesthetic and story tone. The films were originally self contained but eventually formed two sub-series called the DC Animated Movie Universe and Tomorrowverse, both being an Alternate Continuity Shared Universe to each other and the DCAU. Some of these works are extremely close to the DCAU in some fashion, but ultimately in an Alternate Continuity all the same:

• Superman: Brainiac Attacks: a tie-in work for Superman Returns. The production team used the Superman: TAS character designs and many of the same voice actors, but otherwise was not intended to be part of the DCAU and has several contradictions (Brainiac is treated as his first appearance).
• Superman: Doomsday: The art style is obviously influenced by Timm Style, but the specific character designs are different (Lois Lane, most obviously) and it has a darker color palette.
• Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths: originated as a DTV midquel movie between Justice League and Justice League Unlimited called Justice League: Worlds Collide, but it was cancelled at the last minute before recording started. Years later, they decided to turn it into an original story with original character designs. The overall script was basically unchanged, though, and the story connections are obvious.
• Justice League: Gods and Monsters was overseen by Bruce Timm and uses his art style, but it's an Alternate Universe-style story with a radically re-imagined Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman all with different alter-egos.
• Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) was overseen by Bruce Timm and is done in a similar art style to The New Batman Adventures, serving as a throwback film to several staples of Batman media, including the animated series. Several statements from co-writer Jim Krieg, or the film's composers have stated it likely takes place in something of an Alternate Continuity to Batman: The Animated Series.
• Justice League vs. The Fatal Five (2019) was overseen by Bruce Timm and is done in the art style of Justice League Unlimited, though it's status as an official DCAU entry is unclear. Originally, the film was set to use the Phil Bourassa art style and models from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and Justice League: Doom, with the voice cast already having done their recordings. However, to avoid confusion with the New 52-based DCAMU movies, the film used the animation models from Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. While Bruce Timm hesitantly said the film was canon during the film's premiere at Wonder Con, in the audio commentary for the film, Timm admitted that due to the film being changed to a JLU type movie during post production, there would inevitably be some continuity issues. Ultimately, he said fans could decide on their own, and that he's a "firm believer in head-canon." The debate continues.

---

General tropes

• Adaptation Name Change
• Big Bad
• Canon Foreigner
• Composite Character
• Darker and Edgier
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Expy
• Famous Last Words
• Foil
• Ms. Fanservice
• Timeline
• What Measure Is A Non Human

---

The DC Animated Universe provides examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: Beyond is set in 2039, which is forty years after The New Batman Adventures, and shows how Gotham became Cyberpunk dystopia with gene-splicing and more advanced technology. Unlimited has an episode that's set 15 years later in 2054, where Terry McGinnis has continued as Batman and become a proper member of the Justice League.
• Aborted Arc: With the exception of Batman (whose cast and storyline had a near complete beginning-middle-and-end across the entire franchise), the other heroes and characters left quite a few dangling threads:
  • In Superman: TAS, we never see Lois finding out about Clark Kent and Superman. There were plans to bring that scene at the end of the episode "Divided We Fall", but executives forbade the writers from including it. Originally, there were also plans for Batman Beyond episode The Call to have featured an aged Lois Lane.
  • More or less the future of Justice League is not shown. Although as per "Epilogue", Superman is still operating in the future, and somewhere down the line Green Lantern and Hawkgirl reconnected and started a family, which led to Rex Stewart /Warhawk, and Wonder Woman probably did live and operate at an advanced age owing to being immortal.
  • Some of the villains' story arcs were not resolved, such as AMAZO who disappeared after "Wake the Dead" (although he was planned to appear in a Brick Joke late in Season 5, but the writers couldn't find a way to include him). Likewise, the members of Batman's allies, supporting cast, and rogues gallery were not allowed to appear in Justice League owing to an embargo, meaning Dick Grayson (aside from a sly cameo) never appears again, and the Noodle Incident of Ra's al Ghul's "Near Apocalypse of '09" is never expanded upon.
• Adaptation Distillation: All of the DCAU installments took the best parts of all DC Comics elements and modernized them.
• Art Evolution: The universe as a whole steadily improved in animation with each new installment. This was first done with The New Batman Adventures in order to tie it in with Superman: The Animated Series, as well as make it easier to keep characters On Model.
• Backported Development: Justice League Unlimited drew into a close as just Infinite Crisis was wrapping up. However, when Batman and Harley Quinn and Justice League vs. The Fatal Five revisited this universe, they brought over elements from stuff that came after IC (including the "One Year Later" Time Skip) and the New 52, the former film featuring A.R.G.U.S. (a government agency that debuted during the New 52) and the latter film not only featuring A.R.G.U.S. making a return appearance, but both Miss Martian (a Teen Titan that was a part of One Year Later) and Jessica Cruz (who debuted as a part of Forever Evil (2013)'s aftermath) as main characters.
• Big Bad Ensemble: There are numerous supervillains plaguing the setting, but the most recurring and important are the Joker and Lex Luthor.
• Book Ends:
  • The first superhero to be ever seen in the DC Animated Universe is Batman. The last hero in the final Curtain Call at the end of Justice League Unlimited is Batman.
  • The final scene in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue" mirrored the first shot of the very first Batman: The Animated Series episode, with the episode being written before the series was renewed for its third & final season. Whilst it didn't end up book ending the DCAU (at least, not by our chronology), it did book end the first shot of Batman: TAS with the final shot of the future Batman.
• Canon Welding: The showrunners initially maintained that the shows should be seen as standalones, they specifically said that they weren't sure whether Batman Beyond was the actual future of the DCAU (always saying it was a "possible future"). Occasional episodes would start to connect them, such as the Batman Beyond episode "Meltdown", the various time travel episodes on Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited, that connected both shows to each other and to Batman Beyond definitively. The main shows ended with "Epilogue" merging elements and pieces from different eras and cementing Batman Beyond as the effective end of the DCAU. At least with the exception of the various episodes and movie that involve the 31st century Legion of Super Heroes.
• Character Development: The DCAU is praised by fans for its subtle characterization where even when it isn't directly spelled out, characters visibly change across the entire series and develop organically from earlier interactions:
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman began as being on the whole quite humanistic, friendly, and willing to crack some quips despite being a serious detective in addition to sharing smiles and bonding with both Alfred and Robin (Dick Grayson) and being a Big Brother Mentor to the latter. By the time of The New Batman Adventures, he has become Drill Sergeant Nasty to the Bat-Family (particularly to Batgirl and Tim Drake) and very standoffish and rude (as in the case of his first meeting with Superman) in addition to becoming a colder and more driven hero. Justice League seemed to show him regaining more of his earlier qualities as he bonded with the League and other heroes, but Return of the Joker is likely what caused him to regress back into an angry vigilante that pushed everyone away until he ended up an old man living on his own in Batman Beyond.
  • In Superman: The Animated Series, Superman began as a smart, affable, somewhat smug superhero who was more or less confident and happy in both his civilian and superhero identity. However, the events that occur over the course of the series (such as the invasion of Apokolips by Darkseid, Dan Turpin's death, and Superman’s brainwashing by Darkseid) cause Superman to lose his naiveté, his idealism, and even his reputation, which leads to him becoming a little more cautious, jaded, irritable, and even paranoid by the time of Justice League. His Hot-Blooded nature even makes him a target for Gaslighting by Luthor and Cadmus and his hatred for Darkseid nearly led him to kill himself on Brainiac's asteroid before Batman comes and teleports both of them away.
  • Wonder Woman began with Immortal Immaturity, being somewhat naive and a bit of a Straw Misogynist, with Blood Knight tendencies that even led to her nearly crossing the line a few times. It wasn't until she left Themyscira and spent more time in "man's world" that she grew out of some of these traits, and her wisdom and compassion came to the forefront.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Every show in this continuity except for Static Shock and The Zeta Project had at least two comic book tie-ins.
  • Two particular comic tie-ins that were based on the DC Universe in general rather than following a specific series are Superman & Batman Magazine (a tie-in to Batman: The Animated Series that featured comics about other DC heroes, lasted eight issues and predated every non-Batman show in this continuity) and Adventures in the DC Universe (which mainly consisted of standalone stories focusing on different DC heroes and featured a story arc where the Justice League fought a villain called Cipher). Neither is considered canon due to both comics having a lot of discrepancies with what was established in the DCAU installments that came afterwards.
  • There were multiple comic book tie-ins for Batman: The Animated Series: The Batman Adventures (its first run consisting of 36 issues and two annuals as well as a Holiday Special one-shot, a Batman and Robin Adventures edition that ran for 25 issues and two annuals, a Lost Years miniseries that bridged the gap between the cartoons' Adventures of Batman and Robin and The New Batman Adventures retools and a second run tying in to The New Batman Adventures that lasted 17 issues), Batman: Gotham Adventures (another tie-in for The New Batman Adventures that lasted 60 issues), a Gotham Girls miniseries, a Harley & Ivy miniseries and a continuation published years after the DCAU ended production called Batman: The Adventures Continue. There were even one-shots adapting the movies Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero.
  • Superman: The Animated Series had Superman Adventrues (consisting of 66 main issues, an annual and the Superman vs. Lobo and Dimensions of the Dark Shadows one-shots) and a one-shot adapting the "World's Finest" two-part episode that crossed over with Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Batman Beyond had more comic adaptations than any other DCAU series: A six-issue miniseries where the first two issues adapted the series' premiere two-part episode "Rebirth", an ongoing that lasted 24 issues, a one-shot adapting Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a 2010 miniseries taking place in a Broad Strokes take on the DCAU canon, a 2011 miniseries that was a more legitimate continuation of the cartoon, digital-first comics Justice League Beyond/Justice League Beyond 2.0, Superman Beyond and Batman Beyond 2.0 (which were published in print through the comics Batman Beyond Unlimited and Batman Beyond Universe), a 2015 series where the mantle of the future Batman was taken by an alternate timeline incarnation of Time Drake, a 2016 series where Terry McGinnis once again becomes the future Batman and the miniseries Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, where Terry had to face being Batman without the guidance of the deceased Bruce Wayne.
  • Justice League had Justice League Adventures (which lasted 34 issues), a tie-in to the Justice League Unlimited retool that lasted 46 issues and a miniseries taking place after the events of Unlimited titled Justice League Infinity.
• Compound Title: Kyle Rayner's introductory episode "In Brightest Day" and John Stewart's first solo episode "In Blackest Night" form the first part of the Green Lantern oath
• Continuity Snarl: The Superman & Batman Magazine and Adventures of the DC Universe comics are supposedly canon to Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, but there are a number of continuity issues, usually resulting from the comics making a call on something that hadn't appeared in the TV series yet, and the TV series subsequently deciding to go a different direction. Even those two comics are apparently incompatible with each other, as Superman & Batman Magazine was published before Superman got his own series and Adventures of the DCU was published after.
  • Issue #5 of Superman & Batman Magazine features Katar Hol as he appeared in the post-Hawkworld comics, even having the same backstory. His profile in that same issue even acknowledge her partner being Shayera Thal, Hawkwoman. This is before Hawkgirl appeared in Justice League, Shayera Hol is her birth name, she was engaged to Hro Talak (anagram of Katar Hol^note though he was originally intended to be Katar Hol) and that it's revealed all Thanagarians are born with feathery wings. The Hawkman that does appear in Justice League Unlimited is a human named Carter Hall who believes he's a reincarnation of a Thanagarian named Katar Hol who arrived in ancient Egypt.
  • The Justice League was formed in Adventures of the DC Universe before Justice League premiered. Ironically, Katar Hol's arrival to Earth would have coincide with Shayera Hol's.
  • Kyle Rayner and Aquaman appeared in Adventures of the DC Universe before their debut in Superman: The Animated Series. Rayner was in the same costume he wore in the comics, while Aquaman was in his 90's long-haired barbarian look which he ends having in Justice League while he initially had his classic look with short hair and orange shirt.
• Demographically Inappropriate Humor: The cartoons have plenty of innuendos. Averted big time with Lobo due to the TV-MA rating.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Averted in most cases, making the DCAU installments unique among animated TV shows and feature films of the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s eras. Although it's pretty rare for anyone (other than Superman) to actually get shot, as most bad guys who use guns seem to have graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
• The Future: Superman: The Animated Series introduces the Legion of Super-Heroes while an episode of Unlimited shows Supergirl, Green Arrow and Green Lantern travelling to the 31st century. Much like in the comics, heroes and villains are still fighting each other.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Compiled here (as well as Curses Cut Short). The only one that doesn't count is the Lobo series because it is very R-rated.
• Growing with the Audience: Especially Justice League Unlimited.
• Happily Adopted: Comes up for a lot of characters:
  • Superman is the most obvious example. Supergirl is also happy living with the Kents.
  • Stargirl's relationship with her stepfather is pretty much the same as any father-daughter relationship.
  • Ro's brother Casey grew so close to his foster mother that he took her last name.
  • Played with in the Bat-family. Although Bruce misses his parents, he and Alfred have a very close father-son type relationship. The same was true for Dick and Bruce until they grew apart. Tim clearly preferred Bruce to his deadbeat biological dad, though they eventually grew apart too. Terry continued thinking of Warren as his father, even after finding out he wasn't his biological father.
• Leitmotif: A constant element of the universe's musical scores - Batman: The Animated Series famously had motifs for every major character, including full themes for every member of his rogues gallery. Superman had them less often, but most villains and heroes still had their own themes. The most famous themes from both of these installments remained with the characters for the entirety of the DCAU, and this practice continued on to Justice League (along with Justice League Unlimited), which gave several of the most important heroes themes.
• Loose Canon: invoked The animated installments are the only "definitive" part of the DCAU. Any comics set in the universe have very little importance to the larger story, and when they do, they can be overwritten if the author sees it fit. If you count them, then fine, if you don't, fine too.
• Motif Merger: In the DCAU crossover "World's Finest", the Bat-Signal (Batman's emblem) is broadcast onto the globe on top of the Daily Planet Building (Superman's).
• Motive Decay: In both Batman: TAS and Superman: TAS, you had this happen quite a bit with villains like the Mad Hatter, Metallo, Toyman, Volcana, and a few others. They start out with some more sympathetic motives of wanting to avenge themselves against people who wronged them and/or trying to cure their conditions. But in subsequent appearances, the sympathetic depths and tragic elements presented in their initial appearance disappear and all they seem to be focused on is being full-time bad guys who want Batman or Superman's head on a stick.
• Ms. Fanservice: The DCAU has several, SEVERAL attractive women (main, secondary, and background) that it'd probably be impossible to list them all here.
• Not His Sled:
  • Bane and Doomsday don't do what they're best known for (respectively breaking Batman's back and killing Superman).
  • Hawkgirl is a spy and a soldier, not a space cop. For that matter, unlike Batman, the majority of the League voted for her to stay instead of kicking her out for a while.
  • The Joker doesn't outright murder the second Robin, instead coming up with something much worse...
• Race Lift:
  • Angela Chan is an Asian-American expy of Cat Grant.
  • Likely inspired by getting Mel Winkler to reprise his Lois & Clark role as William Henderson (albeit here, according to the credits, at the character's then-current rank in the comics as Metropolis's police commissioner), Henderson is now black.
  • Puff is reimagined from a white blonde into an African-American.
  • Copperhead is Latino instead of white just like his comic book counterpart.
• Ruritania: Kaznia, a Balkan nation that is referred to multiple times in several DCAU installments. It eventually joins the European Union by the final season of JLU.
• Running Gag:
  • Someone making an exit without being seen, usually Batman doing this to commissioner Gordon.
  • Batman mentioning that he's a part-time member of the League.
  • Someone is making fun of Luthor's baldness.
• Shared Universe: The DCAU is a famous example. It was Superman: The Animated Series that really built it, since Batman: The Animated Series (barring Zatanna and Jonah Hex) did not feature or acknowledge other heroes, whereas Superman's three-parter pilot had Martha Kent mentioning "that nut in Gotham City", and had Superman meeting the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Lobo and of course, several cross-overs with Batman, which ultimately led to Justice League.
• Serial Escalation: It’s obvious in the two most common recurring villains of the DCAU:
  • The Joker in Batman: TAS started off kidnapping and murdering people, but he was still solidly Laughably Evil with schemes like tormenting stand-up comics and trying to copyright Joker-poisoned fish. However, he becomes more obsessive and vindictive over time as Batman successively shuts him down. By the time of The New Batman Adventures, he was still willing to make a play at "going legit" in the episode "Joker's Millions", but eventually he is forced to leave for Metropolis (for "World's Finest" and the Justice League episode "Injustice for All"), then to Dakota (for the Batman: TAS/The New Batman Adventures-Static Shock crossover), and later Las Vegas (the Justice League episode "Wild Cards") and each time he is thwarted, ultimately leaving him with such hatred for Batman that he crosses all kinds of lines in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
  • Lex Luthor in Superman: TAS was The Man Behind the Man and Greater-Scope Villain. Rather than fighting Superman one-on-one, he would instead fund supervillains through Lexcorp and often Superman had to show up and rescue him from his own stupidity. By the end of the series, Luthor was overshadowed by Darkseid, Joker, and Brainiac in terms of menace and personal feud. By the time of Justice League, he loses his company and gets imprisoned in addition to becoming a fugitive and important antagonist in the installment. He also gradually becomes a more desperate, dangerous, and impressive villain than he was back in Superman: TAS, which results in him finally becomes a Villain Protagonist in the final season of Justice League Unlimited.
• Story Arc:
  • Batman: TAS had a few story arcs, namely Selina Kyle's obsession with Batman but dislike for Bruce, her Chronic Villainy and finally her Redemption Rejection by the end of the series. Other arcs also dealt with corrupt businessman Roland Daggett and the final episode of the series ("Batgirl Returns") had him finally arrested for his crimes.
  • The New Batman Adventures had largely standalone episodes, but the main story-arc was the Joker losing his influence in Gotham thanks to Batman shutting down his operations and being on the verge of being chased out of Gotham. The Joker's story-arc of going broke was used to explain his crossing over in the subsequent DCAU installments since being shut down in Gotham means he has to go to Metropolis and team up with Luthor (for the "World's Finest" crossover), and later to Dakota where he engages with Static Shock and finally in the Justice League where he becomes a national level threat, and also informs his actions in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
  • Superman TAS and Justice League (Unlimited) were very arc-based in structure, and related since the former built the Shared Universe of the DCAU. Key arcs include Luthor going from businessman to criminal to politician and finally aspiring God, and the government's growing distrust towards Superman and superheroes in general. The other arc was the Fourth World / New Gods with Superman's rivalry with Darkseid which had long term consequences on the entire franchise.
  • The Cadmus Arc in Justice League Unlimited more or less brought all the story arcs not only in Justice League but across Batman: TAS and Superman: TAS together, Arc Welding Darkseid's brainwashing of Superman which directly created Cadmus, Joker's stealing of Cadmus tech which led to his return decades later, Terry McGinnis becoming Batman and Bruce's successor, and finally Luthor's transformation and Character Development.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The vast majority of the DCAU installments feature scenes with the villain's hideout exploding, for reasons ranging from self-destruct devices to joy buzzers falling into loose wiring.
• Timm Style: Trope Namer, Maker, and Codifier.
• Unknown Rematch Conclusion:
  • Justice League Unlimited: In "Grudge Match", Huntress encounters a brainwashed Black Canary who attacks her. After the villains' plot is resolved, the two heroines decide to have a re-match to settle the previous two fights they've had but the conclusion is never shown.
  • Superman: The Animated Series: "Speed Demons" has a charity race between Superman and The Flash to see who is the fastest, but it gets pushed aside when they have to deal with the Villain of the Week. At the end, Flash points out that they never got to see who was fastest, and the episode ends with him and Superman starting the race over again. While left unresolved in the series, background details in one episode of Justice League Unlimited imply that Flash won.

---