'The Batman', 'Justice League', And 'Justice League Unlimited' Return To Netflix In May

The DC animated series return to Netflix after having departed in 2017. They will remain on HBO Max

After making dozens of shows less available by vaultings and write-offs in 2022, 2023 has seen David Zaslav’s reign over Warner Bros expand the availability of many shows across multiple platforms beyond HBO Max, or just Max as it will soon be. The latest examples? The 2001-2004 Justice League cartoon, its follow-up Justice League Unlimited, and the 2004-2008 The Batman animated series are headed back to Netflix next month.

Headed back? Indeed. While finding when The Batman first arrived on the service has been difficult, both Justice League series arrived on Netflix in March 2013, with Batman Beyond and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This makes sense for back when the streaming market was smaller and Netflix was the biggest player in town. They left in August 2017, while The Batman left the next month. Pretty sure I binged the Justice Leagues twice each and The Batman once before they left. But when exactly are they coming back? Both seasons of Justice League and the first two(?) seasons of Unlimited will arrive on May 8. It’s unknown if the arrival will lack the third and final season or if there’s some sort of wonkiness in the listing, like how The Spectacular Spider-Man's two seasons are listed as one. All five seasons of The Batman will arrive two weeks later on May 22.

One might notice that the 2017 departures from the platform would cause quite a limbo for these series when HBO Max didn’t launch until 2020. That’s because they headed for DC Universe, which launched in September 2018 as a streaming service for TV series and films based on DC comics and a place for digital comics. This by no means marks departures from HBO Max, as the Justice League series were set to expire on February 1 with Batman: The Brave and the Bold and the 1967 Aquaman cartoon. The end of what had been a two-year initial stint was renewed before anything could happen.

These three shows join the original The Powerpuff Girls, whose Christmas and tenth-anniversary specials were added to Netflix at the end of March before the rest of the series joined a few days later. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has also returned, with its previous Netflix stay overlapping with HBO Max’s existence. The year began with Prime Video receiving Teen Titans, Justice League Action, Dexter’s Laboratory and Ed, Edd n Eddy

Sources: ComicBook (1, 2), Batman News, Refinery29