Dredd producer Adi Shankar recently announced his plan to create an unofficial spinoff of his violent 2012 adaptation of the celebrated British comic book series. The first trailer for the project — titled Judge Dredd: Superfiend — arrived online this week, offering a glimpse at the weird, brutal story that will unfold in the animated digital series that premieres later this month.
Described as “an origin story of Judge Death,” the series promises to explore the story of the “Dark Judges” — a group of Judges who strayed from the Law for various reasons and became some of the post-apocalyptic future’s most dangerous villains and Judge Dredd’s arch-enemies.
Related: The Judge is back, and better than ever in Dredd (review)
“I thought I’d give my friends (I mean that figuratively as I don’t know anyone at Marvel) at Marvel a break and myself a taste of my own medicine by ‘bootlegging’ Judge Dredd,” writes Shankar in the description of the video on YouTube. He then jokes, “Just so that we are clear, this is a different interpretation of the character and the universe, an interpretation that is family friendly and geared towards little children.”
To be clear, the video is definitely not “family friendly and geared towards little children,” as it features some pretty intense animated sequences and looks to draw heavily from the over-the-top violence of the Judge Dredd universe despite its animated format.
You can watch the trailer below, which features an introduction from Shankar. The series is expected to debut before Halloween 2014.
