Ever since the classic Batman: The Animated Series exploded back in the '90s, DC Comics and Warner Bros have been renowned for their well-written, faithful, and entertaining animated TV shows based on the DC universe. These shows have always been made at an exceptional level of quality and love, and none more so than the DCAU: Batman, Superman, Justice League, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Batman Beyond, and Justice League Unlimited.
Nevertheless, while many fans just think about the DC Animated Universe when they think of superhero cartoons, there are actually many fantastic animated series featuring DC characters that have nothing to do with the DCAU.
The Batman
In 2004 The Batman had the unenviable task of being the first Batman cartoon to follow Batman: The Animated Series. Not only that, it was sort-of tied into The Dark Knight trilogy, which is why Scarecrow, Ra's Al Ghul, and Two-Face never appeared on it. While not quite as beloved as BTAS, The Batman is a unique take on the mythos with a younger, less experienced Dark Knight. The series also featured some fantastic voice work, including Spongebob's Tom Kenny as Penguin, Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund as a creepier Riddler, '60s Riddler Frank Gorshin as the sinister Dr. Hugo Strange, and even the original Batman Adam West as the Mayor.
Teen Titans Go!
As of the end of February 2021, Teen Titans Go! has 308 episodes broadcast, two movies, several mobile games, and a spin-off series on the way, and it stands as the longest-running and most successful comic book TV series of all time. This bizarre, humor-focused take on the Teen Titans outraged many fans because it brought back the voice actors from the Teen Titans animated series and turned them into parodies of themselves. Nonetheless, Teen Titans Go! has a gigantic fanbase and continues to introduce many younger fans to the DC universe.
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
Back when the Ryan Reynolds-starring Green Lantern movie was on the way, Warner Bros brought in Batman: The Animated Series producer Bruce Timm to help create a CG Green Lantern show. The show would be set after the movie and feature Hal Jordan, Kilowog, and an advanced AI called Aya going up against new threats such as the Red Lanterns and even the Anti-Monitor, the ultimate destroyer of the DC universe. The show was well-written and had some great storylines, but sadly the failure of the movie and some internal politics got it canceled after just one season.
Harley Quinn
While the character Harley Quinn originated in the DCAU, her first animated series is entirely separate from that shared universe, which is a good thing because it allows the showrunners to have the freedom to do whatever they want. Harley Quinn Seasons 1-2 are loud, hilarious, rude, exciting, shocking, and yet surprisingly emotional in parts.
Audiences also get to see different takes on classic characters, such as a drunk Commissioner Gordon who's obsessed with getting Batman's approval. At the center of it all, though, is the relationship between Harley and Poison Ivy, and watching the pair go through what they do and still end up a strong but dysfunctional couple is what makes the series as essential as it is.
Batman: The Brave And The Bold
The three-season run of Batman: The Brave and the Bold is wildly different from any Batman animated series before or since, and it's all the better for it. Instead of trying to directly adapt the comics and their darker, more serious style, The Brave and the Bold had fun with the whole concept of Batman. While Batman and his allies take their roles as superheroes seriously and the events were often perilous, the stories are wild, colorful, and incredibly over-the-top. Episodes include a musical epic, a parallel dimension story where Batman has Superman's powers, a team-up with Sherlock Holmes, a Wacky Races homage, and fourth-wall-breaking imp Bat-Mite trying to get the show canceled.
Legion Of Super-Heroes
The first DC animated show to appear immediately after the conclusion of the DCAU with Justice League Unlimited was Legion of Super-Heroes, which launched on Kids WB just four months after the final episode of JLU was broadcast. Despite the Legion having been introduced in the Unlimited episode "Far From Home" that same year, Legion of Super-Heroes was separate and designed to tie into the marketing for both Superman Returns and Smallville. While its two seasons were generally well-received, the show was canceled after Kids WB got taken over by 4Kids in 2008.
Teen Titans
The original Teen Titans show ran entirely alongside DCAU shows such as Justice League but was never part of it, despite several references to the Titans such as in the Static Shock cartoon. It was also popular enough to survive the transition from Kids WB to Cartoon Network, running for five seasons up until 2006.
Similar to Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the characters took themselves seriously but the events they faced were usually more light-hearted, although the show would get darker as it went along. It has a large fanbase, most of whom were disappointed when the show spun off into the sillier Teen Titans Go!.
DC Super Hero Girls
Not to be confused with the web-series of the same name, which was created primarily to sell a toy line, the DC Super Hero Girls animated series is a fun, colorful look at the DC universe. It's similar in some respects to Teen Titans Go!, so it's appropriate that the series debuted as a short featuring Batgirl that played before the theatrical run of Teen Titans Go To The Movies. The series is still going strong on Cartoon Network and a new open-world videogame based on the show entitled DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power is due this June for Nintendo Switch.
Young Justice
One of the greatest comeback stories in DC history, on-par with the Zack Snyder's Justice League revival, was Young Justice. The series debuted in 2010 to rave reviews and is set in a DC universe where the Justice League exists, but superheroes are still a recent phenomenon. The series focuses on the younger DC heroes such as Robin, Aqualad, and Miss Martian, and sees them as part of a covert operations team. While the show was canceled following Season 2, continuing fan persuaded Warner Bros to renew the show for a third season, with a fourth currently on the way.
Beware The Batman
The most recent animated series featuring the Dark Knight is Batman's only CG show and also probably the most underrated. Unfortunately, Beware The Batman became a victim of the Cartoon Network DC cull, where it got canceled along with Green Lantern and Young Justice. Which was a shame, as Beware The Batman was something truly different. It was darker, and not only focused on Batman's early years, but it also added lesser-used villains such as Anarky, Professor Pyg, and Magpie. Furthermore, the show was roughly based on the Batman And The Outsiders comic, as it featured Katana as Batman's sidekick alongside appearances by Metamorpho. Sadly, the show probably won't be getting the same comeback as Young Justice and will remain as just an intriguing one-season DC show.