Can Batman and Nightwing survive a road trip with the notorious Harley Quinn? The world will find out later this summer, when "Batman and harley quinn" makes its debut early for super fans at San Diego Comic-Con International in July.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) will continue in their decade-long tradition of offering fans the first peek at the latest animated feature in the DC Universe Original Movie world at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, or SDCC. "Batman and Harley Quinn" will be screened on Friday July 21, 2017 at SDCC for its world premiere, including a post-screening panel discussion with cast members and filmmakers.

The movie

The new movie features Kevin Conroy returning as Batman, along with Melissa Rauch of "The Big Bang Theory," who is making her DC Universe debut in the role of Harley Quinn. Loren Lester, who voiced the role of Robin in "Batman: The Animated Series," returns as Nightwing. Poison Ivy is voiced by Paget Brewster of "Criminal Minds," while Kevin Michael Richardson of "The Cleveland Show" plays Jason Woodrue, a.k.a. The Floronic Man.

The story is a classic Batman adventure. When Poison Ivy and The Floronic Man go on a mission to save the planet -- by killing off all the people, naturally -- Batman and Nightwing make the unusual choice of teaming up with Harley Quinn to stop them. It results in a road trip from hell, mixing suspense, action, and comedy as the Dark Knight and Nightwing struggle to keep up with Harley Quinn and her antics, and, of course, save the world.

DC animated films & SDCC

Fan response to the DCEU live-action movies has been mixed. The latest, "Wonder Woman," has been a huge hit, contrasting with the poor showings of 2013's "Man of Steel," 2016's "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," and "Suicide Squad." DC's animated films, however, have usually been well received -- the exception being last year's release of "Batman: The Killing Joke" and the ensuing controversy over its treatment of the Batgirl character.

There have been 28 movies in the DC Universe Original Movies series so far, beginning with 2007's "Superman: Doomsday." While the animated movies are usually released straight to digital/DVD, and while they don't generate as much publicity and/or revenue as their big budget, live-action counterparts, they are still a solid source of revenue for DC and Warner Bros., along with the video games in the "Batman: Arkham" series.

SDCC has been the preferred venue to premiere these films since the 2007 screening of "Superman: Doomsday." SDCC also hosts the Harleypalooza gathering of Harley Quinn cosplayers, which makes this year's premiere a hotly anticipated event. "Batman and Harley Quinn" is directed by Sam Liu and written by Bruce Timm, while the teleplay duties were handled by Timm & Jim Krieg.

The digital version of "Batman and Harley Quinn" drops on August 15, 2017 via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED