Meet Ethan Hawke’s Batman in First Clip From ‘Batwheels’

Finally, a show that takes place before sunrise in Gotham City.

That’s the setting of a new show called Batwheels coming to HBO Max next month. It’s essentially a Batman cartoon for the very youngest viewers; rather than Batman himself, the focus is on a sentient version of the Batmobile (dubbed “Bam”) and some other Batman-themed vehicles. It looks like Cars crossed with DC Comics, spliced with a dash of Paw Patrol.

The surprising part of all of this is that the voice of Batman on the show is none other than Ethan Hawke, the star of the Before trilogy, Boyhood, and stuff like The Black Phone, Sinister, Gattaca, Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, and Marvel’s Moon Knight series. He’s not necessarily known as a guy who makes shows for preschoolers, but you know what? In the first released clip from the series, he does make a good Batman. (In recent years, his voice has gotten lower and raspier, to the point where he doesn’t have to do much to sound like most modern versions of the Caped Crusader.)

Take a look and a listen and see what you think.

In that clip, Batman and Joker are the focus. This next video gives you a better sense of the show is really about the vehicles. (It also has a song that you need to hear for yourself.)

Here is the series’ official synopsis:

Batwheels are a team of incredible crimefighters who have banded together to oppose evil, combat crime and clean up the streets of Gotham City. They are…okay, they’re NOT Batman and Robin. They’re the Batwheels – an awesome group of sentient super-powered crime-fighting vehicles defending Gotham City alongside Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. Having just been created by the Batcomputer, our heroes are essentially kids with little to no life experience. Led by Bam (the Batmobile), the Batwheels – Bibi (the Batgirl Cycle), Redbird (Robin’s Sports Car), Batwing (the Batwing Jet Plane), and Buff (the Bat Truck) – must navigate the growing pains of being a newly formed super-team as well as the growing pains that come with just being a kid.

Batwheels premieres on HBO Max on September 17, which also happens to be Batman Day, which is an extremely real holiday.