Warner Bros. Discovery could take the action animation crown back from Netflix

Image: Cartoon Network

In the late 1990s and the better part of the 2000s, Warner-owned platforms dominated the action animation landscape on television. Whether you were watching action cartoons with either the over-the-top energy of The WB's Kids' WB block or the chill, hip-hop-laced vibes of Cartoon Network's Toonami block (or any of the Toonami-esque blocks over the years, like Miguzi or Saturday Video Entertainment System), the Warners usually had you covered if you wanted your weekly dose(s) of action animation. Between Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) and Cartoon Network Studios (CNS), viewers were treated to the likes of beloved shows like Batman Beyond, Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, Megas XLR, and Static Shock, among many others. This would continue until the early 2010s, where the era of the televised action cartoon would unofficially end with shows such as Young Justice, Sym-Bionic Titan, and the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats from WBA and CNS. Things would only get worse for action animation on television from here.

Image: Netflix

During the early 2010s, viewers' habits were shifting from television to streaming and from Western action animation to anime, and there was one company who happened to position itself in the place where it could have its hands in the latter three of those entertainment categories. Enter Netflix. During the early 2010s, Netflix started producing original content, which was relatively new territory for streaming services at the time. In the mid-2010s, Netflix started producing and licensing its own anime, such as Knights of Sidonia and Ajin: Demi-Human. In the late 2010s, Netflix started to become the de-facto platform in the action animation landscape with its hit 2017 adaptation of the Castlevania video games, as well as other series, like Voltron: Legendary Defender and Seis Manos. Meanwhile, Warner platforms had all but given up on televised action animation. Cartoon Network had barely any action cartoons on its lineup, and Adult Swim's Toonami block had become exclusively anime-focused due to the lack of Western action animation on television.

Image: Adult Swim/Cartoon Network Studios

Looking at where we are now in the early 2020s, with Netflix starting to fall from grace with its animation efforts, the newly-formed Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is uniquely positioned to take back the action animation crown. First, WBD has many intellectual properties (IP) that would lend themselves very well to action animation, such as Mortal Kombat, Mad Max, The Matrix, and any number of superheroes in the DC Comics universe. Not to mention the original IP that could be created at the company, such as Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal (pictured above). WBD also has studios that are more than capable of producing great action animation, such as Cartoon Network Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe (formerly Cartoon Network Studios Europe), and Rooster Teeth. Finally, WBD has platforms that are ripe for action animation, such as HBO Max, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Toonami. All of the pieces are there, but Warner needs one more thing that it has, unfortunately, struggled with for decades: synergy. 

Image: Warner Bros. Animation

From Warner Bros. Animation's shows (that aren't named Teen Titans Go!) being given terrible airing times on Cartoon Network to the complete lack of any new action animated series produced by WBA for Adult Swim's Toonami in the block's entire decade-long existence, Warner's synergy struggles have become well-known in the animation fanbase throughout the years. Things got better on that front during AT&T's recently-ended ownership of Warner, largely because in 2019, AT&T moved Cartoon Network and its sub-brands, Adult Swim and Boomerang, from Turner Broadcasting to Warner Bros., which more closely aligned those networks with studios like Warner Bros. Animation. Fans have started to see the benefits of this reorganization in recent years, with efforts like DC's animated movies airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block as special events, and Warner Bros. Animation's upcoming Cartoon Network and HBO Max series, Batman: Caped Crusader (pictured above). Even with this progress, WBD still has a long way to go if it wants to reclaim the action animation crown from Netflix. With Jason DeMarco, the co-creator of Toonami, now being in charge of action animation and anime at Warner Bros. Discovery, I hope that the company fully utilizes the resources it already has at its disposal in order to give action animation fans more of the content they love.

What do you think of Warner Bros. Discovery's potential to become the dominant force in action animation again? Drop your thoughts in the comments below. For more updates on animation, tech, and where both intersect, listen to my podcast, The Cels & Circuits Podcast. You can also follow me, Chibueze Anakor, on Twitter, for more of my thoughts.