'Batman: Hush' Animated Movie Announced

03/06/2019 10:49 pm EST

Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Batman: Hush, one of the most popular Batman stories of all time, is getting the DC Universe Original Movie animated treatment.

Announced during San Diego Comic-Con, Batman: Hush will release in the summer of 2019. The film will feature a gauntlet of Batman villains, including Poison Ivy, Ra's al Ghul, the Joker, and, of course, the bandage-faced mystery villain Hush. This will be the first time that the villain has ever appeared in a DC Universe Movie before.

The original Batman: Hush story ran in the early 2000s, with renowned artist Jim Lee jumping to DC Comics after making his name at Marvel and helping to found Image Comics and his own superhero universe imprint, WildStorm. He teamed with Jeph Loeb, who was a fan favorite Batman writer after penning Batman: The Long Halloween. Hush featured not only nearly all of Batman's villains, but almost the entire Bat Family as well, and was one of the first stories to hint at the romantic tension between Batman and Catwoman.

If you haven't read Hush and don't plan to do so before the animated movie releases, then some SPOILERS follow.

The titular Villain, Hush, first appeared in Batman #609 (though not in his full supervillain regalia until Batman #619). Hush is Tommy Elliott, one of Bruce Wayne's few childhood friends. When Tommy's parents nearly died in a car accident, Bruce's father, the surgeon Thomas Wayne, performed an emergency operation that saved the life of Tommy's mother.

However, it turned out that Tommy actually severed the brake line of his parents' car himself, intentionally causing the accident in the hopes that his parents would die and that he would be left young and wealthy. That Thomas Wayne saved Tommy's mother foiled those plans, and Tommy never forgave the Wayne family. He learned that Bruce Wayne was Batman from the Riddler and set about manipulating Batman's enemies and allies to finally achieve his revenge.

When this plan was foiled, Hush returned in the "Heart of Hush" storyline after surgically altering his own face to be identical to Bruce Wayne's, allowing himself a way to torment Batman and his allies from within.

Batman: Hush is one of four DC Universe Original Movies releasing in 2019. It will be the third, releasing after The Reign of the Supermen and Justice League vs. The Fatal Five and before Wonder Woman: Bloodlines.

Are you excited about the Batman: Hush animated movie? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.