Supernatural fans are getting their first taste of what Dean Winchester sounds like as the Dark Knight.
DC has unveiled the first clip of Jensen Ackles voicing Batman in the upcoming The Long Halloween Part 1 direct-to-video movie.
It shows the Supernatural star is a fantastic choice to play a younger Caped Crusader.
The Long Year Coming
Published as a thirteen-issues maxi-series in 1996-97, The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale remains one of the most acclaimed Batman stories of all time.
It tells of a younger Batman, just starting his career and targeting the Falcone crime family. He works alongside newly appointed Commissioner James Gordon and idealistic District Attorney Harvey Dent.
The case is thrown by a deadly serial killer named Holiday, so named because he only strikes on holidays from Halloween to Christmas to St. Patrick’s Day, etc.
Meanwhile, both the cops and the mob have to contend with the rise of bizarre new criminals like Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy, who transform Gotham City into a darker place.
A night in
The clip opens on Halloween with Alfred (Alastair Duncan) annoyed he has a bowl of candy but no trick-or-treaters at Wayne Manor.
Bruce comes down, and they banter a bit with Alfred mentioning that Selina Kyle called for a possible date. Bruce is more concerned about having the manor’s gates open, with no one ever showing up.
It touches on how Gotham has fallen to darkness, but Alfred encourages his boss to keep up his work in helping to turn it around.
It ends on a funny note with Bruce complaining about Halloween being “an absurd holiday” and Alfred’s excellent rejoinder, “Ah, yes, putting on costumes and striking fear. Quite absurd.”
The year to come
The movie boasts a great cast besides Ackles. That includes the final performance of Naya Rivera as Catwoman (the actress tragically passed away in July of 2020 in a drowning accident).
There is also Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Billy Burke as Commissioner James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man & The Penguin, and Troy Baker as The Joker.
In a surprise, DC has also released the trailer for Part 2 of the saga, including Robin Atkin Downes as the Scarecrow & Thomas Wayne, John DiMaggio as the Mad Hatter, and Katee Sackhoff as Poison Ivy.
Besides hunting for Holiday, Part 2 will show how Harvey Dent transforms into the murderous Two-Face.
With such an epic storyline, it makes sense DC is breaking it into two parts to do justice to the tale, which celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The clip proves Ackles has what it takes to be a fantastic Batman who tackles his darkest mystery.
Batman The Long Halloween Part 1 releases on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital on June 22. Part 2 releases digitally on July 27 and Blu-Ray/DVD on August 10.