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Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza Leaguethe follow-up to the immensely popular 3D-animated Batman Ninja movie, will finally release on HBO Max this summer. The film was released on physical and digital platforms on March 18th, 2025, boasting an updated take on the Batman Ninja world with updated CGI. Deadline confirms the Batman Ninja sequel will arrive on the Warner Bros.-owned streaming service, Max, on July 3rd, 2025. Max, which will be returning to its original HBO Max moniker, houses a majority of the DC Comics motion pictures. The streaming service includes nearly every DCU, animated, and classic DC movies, including the iconic Christopher Reeve Superman franchise and the direct-to-video animated features.
Batman Ninja is part of the long line of DC standalone animated films that began with Superman: Doomsday in 2007. These animated films were all straight-to-video, home releases, and are generally more comic-accurate adaptations. Batman Ninja was an original idea and concept created by Warner Bros. Japan likely invented it to exploit the ongoing anime boom. The first film was released in 2018 and became massively popular because of the anime aesthetic. However, some fans criticize the CGI look as being janky and not as polished as other 3D-animated films. Many view the movie as highly ambitious but didn’t have the budget to match.
Should You Watch Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League?
Batman Ninja stars the Caped Crusader getting transported to an alternate version of feudal Japan, where he meets Japanese variants of his superhero partners and villains. The first film stayed firmly within Batman’s world and supporting characters, whereas Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League expands the series to include Justice League heroes. Batman now faces alternate versions of the League members in the sequel, including Wonder Woman, Barry Allen as the Flash, Aquaman, the Jessica Cruz version of Green Lantern, and Superman. The league is part of the Hagane Family, a Japanese crime family.
The sequel features an all-star cast of Japanese voice actors, including Koichi Yamadera as Batman and Romi Park as Wonder Woman. Yamadera is a voice acting veteran, best known for playing Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop and Beerus in Dragon Ball Super. Park is one of the most popular voice actors in Japan, having starred in multiple Japanese projects, but is most famous as Edward Elric in both anime adaptations of Fullmetal Alchemist. Most of the English voice from the first Batman Ninja does not carry over to Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League.
Director Junpei Mizusaki and screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima return for the sequel. The biggest selling point for both Batman Ninja films is the anime redesigns, with the first film’s character designs created by artist Takashi Okazaki, best known for Afro Samurai. While some fans find the 3D animation off-putting, the movies have a specific artistic style that helps differentiate them from the other DC Animated features. With Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part III serving as the grand finale for the DC Animated multiverse, it’s unknown how common direct-to-video DC animated movies will be moving forward. It appears, at the moment at least, that future animated projects will be part of the burgeoning DC Film Universe, like Creature Commandos.
H/T: Deadline
