DC Reimagines Batman in Aztec Empire While Latin America Celebrates and Spain Cries ‘Hispanophobia’

Batman reappears, although not in the version most would expect. This time, he enters through animated stone corridors and sacred sites drawn from the Mexica Empire. Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires, produced by Ánima Estudios with Warner Bros Animation and DC Studios, introduces a version of the character shaped by temples, deities, and ancestral revenge. Across Latin America and Latino communities, the trailer arrived with an unexpected sense of pride, especially as the visuals embraced Mesoamerican myth over European invention. The image of Batman formed through Mexica tradition gave many a moment of cultural recognition rather than erasure.

Critics in Spain, however, responded quickly. The trailer’s depiction of Hernán Cortés as a brutal invader prompted accusations of “hispanophobia”, a word frequently used in Spain to describe portrayals that challenge colonial “legacy”.

The film’s narrative, which places Spanish conquest at the center of its violence, was described in several Spanish outlets as biased and politically motivated.

Spain Confronts Its Own Story and the ‘Black Legend’

The term “Black Legend” refers to a historical narrative that presents the Spanish Empire as exceptionally violent, often used by rival powers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to discredit Spanish colonization. In recent years, Spanish commentators have used the term defensively to push back against films, books, or academic work that centers Indigenous accounts of conquest. For many in Spain, portraying Cortés as a villain and Mexico as the heart of the story represents a political distortion rather than historical fiction.

Some viewers in Spain reacted with discomfort, describing the project as hostile toward their national identity. The term hispanophobia surfaced in conversations that questioned the film’s portrayal of colonial figures. What unsettled many was the decision to present conquest through the lens of those who suffered it. The objection seemed tied to the film’s refusal to treat colonization as a neutral encounter.

LA ACUSAN DE HISPANOFOBIA 🇪🇸 Usuarios de #X en España están arremetiendo en contra de la película #Batman Azteca, ya que consideran que alimentará la hispanofobia de la comunidad latinoamericana, un tema social que ha estado presente en los últimos años.

“Es una locura con… pic.twitter.com/2TDrEiwCLM

— Gaby Meza 🍿 (@GabyMeza8) July 28, 2025

Meanwhile, viewers across Latin America and Latino audiences in the United States read the project as a rare gesture toward historical balance. The use of Náhuatl, the presence of gods like Tzinacan, and the reimagining of Gotham’s characters within a Mesoamerican context gave the film a sense of cultural self-authorship.

Aztec Batman Is a Story Told in Stone, Not Steel

The film follows Yohualli Coatl, a young noble from the Mexica Empire who watches his father murdered by Cortés. He flees and finds refuge in a temple dedicated to the bat god Tzinacan. There, through discipline and ritual, he becomes a guardian rather than a vigilante. His tools are not gadgets, and his training unfolds through spiritual memory instead of high-tech precision.

Director Juan Meza-León and writer Ernie Altbacker rely on cultural rhythm rather than franchise tropes. Batman forms through responsibility. Horacio García-Rojas, who voices Yohualli, spoke about the role at Comic-Con. “It is the story of the best detective in the world, but at the same time it is the story of a soldier, of a warrior who makes the decision that vengeance is not the way, justice is the way, and that is what Batman means to me.”

The film reimagines well-known characters from DC Comics within this world. Cortés shares traits with Two-Face. Yoka, the high priest voiced by Omar Chaparro, mirrors the Joker. Versions of Catwoman and Poison Ivy appear as well, each reshaped by Mesoamerican form and function.

Cultural Memory Without Permission

Aztec Batman refuses to conform to expectations built around European history. The story begins with conquest and continues with resistance shaped by memory and belief. This version draws from a Mexica worldview and moves with its own rhythm, built without apology.

Conversations around the Black Legend and accusations of hispanophobia have only increased interest. Yet, across Latin America, many view the film as a gesture toward cultural authorship. It does not seek to correct every account of the past. Instead, it tells one that has rarely held space at a global level.

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