As the man behind critically acclaimed "Batman: The Animated Series" and the wider DC Animated Universe of the '90s and early 2000s, Bruce Timm introduced a lot of young fans to the DC Universe. Young fans, however, should probably stay away from his latest DC creation. Probably old fans too, if they're squeamish. Because boy, does it get super dark. "Justice League: God and Monsters" is Timm's latest work, a shocking reinvention of the Justice League that's a complete 180 from his iconic DC Animated Universe. In this version, Batman is a vampire, Superman is the son of General Zod, and Wonder Woman is descended from Jack Kirby's New Gods as opposed to Greek Mythology. While "Gods and Monsters" won't be available to watch until July 28, 2015, Timm will be rolling out three installments of "Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles" in the meantime — a series of animated shorts released on YouTube channel Machinima. The first, "Twisted," has Batman (who is Kirk Langstrom aka Man-Bat here, not Bruce Wayne) hunting down Harley Quinn, who is more demented (and scantily clad) than ever before. As the title for the short suggests, it is messed up. No, those aren't Batman's disembodied heads or limbs. That's a torso in a Jack-in-the-Box! And Harley Quinn looks even crazier than usual! Here's how she typically looks in other iterations. Again, here's another shot of her from "Twisted": Turns out Harley's not only using corpses for play things, she's also using them to create a fake family.Nothing screams creepy like taking a selfie with your dead pretend family. It's also quite violent. Vampire Batman? This is bananas. "The three shorts airing on Machinima were deliberately designed to be a bit shocking," said Bruce Timm in an interview with Kotaku's Evan Narcisse. "I wanted to smack people upside the head and say, 'Wake up! These are different characters.'" While "a bit shocking" might be kind of an understatement, Timm has certainly gotten his point across. We're kind of scared to see what Superman and Wonder Woman are going to do in the next few shorts. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters" will be available on July 28. For now, check out "Twisted" below: SEE ALSO: Why the new DC Universe revamp is worth checking out Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's the best look yet at the next big game starring Batman
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