DC Universe announced at New York Comic-Con 2019 that its upcoming new TV shows will include BizarroTV, a mixed-media anthology series featuring characters from obscure corners of DC Comics. The show will be produced by Blue Ribbon Content, a digital production unit of Warner Bros. Television, and will feature animation, live-action, puppets, and other media.
It was revealed that BizarroTV will feature Slam Bradley, Creeper, Ambush Bug, Space Cabbie, and other strange and unexpected characters from DC's library. The show takes its name from Bizarro World, or Htrae, a cube-shaped version of Earth where strange versions of the usual DC characters live - including Bizarro himself, who is a "bizarre" version of Superman who resembles Frankenstein's monster. He's married to Bizarro Lois Lane, and in the comics the two of them have a son called Bizarro Junior, who is tragically born "ugly" (i.e. he looks human).
BizarroTV looks to be DC Universe's answer to Marvel's What If...? - an animated series coming to Disney+ that will explore alternative versions of past Marvel Cinematic Universe adventures. However, while What If...? will draw its strangeness from remixing stories that fans already know and love, BizarroTV will forego the better-known superheroes of the DC universe in favor of highlighting the stranger characters that have been introduced in the pages of DC Comics over the years.
BizarroTV is expected to launch on DC Universe in 2020, so we can expect to learn more about it in the coming months. Based on the name, it may well have some kind of framing device with Bizarro setting up the different stories, similar to how What If...? will be tied together by The Watcher (voiced by Jeffrey Wright). Given the mixed-media approach of the show, it will be interesting to see how different animation techniques - from puppets to CGI - are used to bring the stories to life and give each episode its own unique feel.
It has been a little over a year since DC Universe, Warner Bros.' all-in-one streaming service for DC comics, TV shows and movies, launched on September 15, 2018. The lineup of original shows already includes Titans, Doom Patrol, and the sadly short-lived Swamp Thing, while upcoming shows include a Harley Quinn animated series that's premiering on November 28.
It's promising to see DC Universe diversifying with more out-there TV projects, especially as the landscape of streaming services continues to grow ever more competitive. We'll bring you more news on BizarroTV and other DC Universe shows as it becomes available.