Among Kids WB’s many accomplishments, it ended up being a boon for cartoons based mostly on DC Comics characters, in the end contributing to the creation of the DC Animated Universe. While DC exhibits would later transition fully to Cartoon Network for animation, the superhero exhibits on the community have been nothing to shrug at. But whereas Static Shock and Batman Beyond are all the time fondly remembered, and 2004’s The Batman deserves its personal serving of affection.

In rewatching The Batman by way of HBO Max, it rapidly turns into clear how irregular it was on the time and stays nonetheless as each a Batman present and within the common superhero house. One of the issues that instantly stands out in regards to the present is its title character, who’s only some years into being a vigilante. Hearing Rino Romano’s voice—just some years prior, he voiced Spider-Man on Spider-Man Unlimited over on Fox Kids—actually places into perspective how a lot youthful this tackle Bruce Wayne is. He has a laidback vibe befitting a man in his mid-20s, and the present’s first season highlights this in moments the place he builds new tech only for enjoyable or can’t listen throughout an opera live performance. Not inexperienced, and never fairly comically overpowered, he’s a Batman that’s snug in his place as Gotham’s protector, which makes it an ideal time for some precise villains to enter the image.

The rogues are an necessary a part of any Batman story, and there’s a shocking quantity of vary on this present as a substitute of counting on heavy hitters. As odd because it first appears for nearly all of them to be stable melee fighters, the present commits to this alternative, and it retains the motion beats thrilling. There’s some enjoyable fights throughout the present’s run, from a three-way brawl between Batman, Catwoman (Gina Gershon), and Ragdoll (Jeff Bennett) in a clocktower to a late recreation episode the place Batman and Robin (Evan Sabara) face off towards the villains throughout the present’s historical past.

Much of the enjoyable of the villains could be owed to their designs. Jeff Matsuda of Jackie Chan Adventures fame served because the present’s artwork director, and there’s a definite type to everybody that also has some attraction right now. Making Bane into principally Red Hulk when he makes use of his Venom or portraying Riddler as a goth twink on his technique to the membership are the type of seems that DC tales simply aren’t capable of do anymore until they’re explicitly AUs, like a cell recreation. Regardless of how they appear and battle, their voice actors largely do an incredible job in making every villain really feel like they belong on this particular model of Batman’s world.

But Penguin and Joker are the spotlight of the bunch, and each are among the extra recurring villains of the collection. Mainly identified on the time for voicing good or dopey guys, Tom Kenny’s having plenty of enjoyable with Penguin as an absolute sleazebag who repulses everybody he meets. Meanwhile, Kevin Michael Richardson’s deep voice and booming snicker give the present’s Clown Prince a extra playful however nonetheless lethal edge that stands proudly alongside the raspy wit of Mark Hamill. Since this was earlier than the villain transitioned into being principally a serial killer, his crimes are sinister whereas nonetheless being extremely goofy, and the present is aware of the best way to make him menacing in some fairly creative methods.

Just from the present’s intro for its first two seasons, you’d suppose this was a darker tackle the Dark Knight for teenagers, as bat screeches and guitar strums from The Edge give the present moody, noir-ish vibe the place Danny Elfman’s theme for Batman: The Animated Series felt grand and adventurous. Often throughout these first two seasons, that unique intro is a misdirect, and an episode could be goofier than you’d imagine. While the primary two seasons are fairly robust, introducing Danielle Judovitz as Batgirl in season three (and later the aforementioned Robin in season 4) helps the present discover a higher concept of its tone. Both younger heroes are enjoyable additions to the solid, and the new energetic opening feels prefer it higher suits the episodes for the present’s following three seasons.

For as usually as folks complain about Batman being “too dark,” The Batman manages to discover a robust steadiness between playful and gritty more often than not. When it hits its steadiness, you get enjoyable episodes such one early into season two the place Joker’s dressed as Batman, attacking civilians for minor crimes whereas Batman’s in peril of laughing himself to dying after being hit with a brand new dose of Joker Venom. (Romano’s recreation of the Joker snicker is its personal type of unsettling.) Another excessive level is the finale to season one; after the clown kidnaps Batman’s childhood pal turned cop Ethan Bennett (Steven Harris), half one abruptly ends on the nonetheless fairly horrifying visible of Bennett’s face sliding off his pores and skin. Part two, fittingly titled “The Clayface of Tragedy,” opens like a mini-monster film as Bennett tries to ask for assist, solely to be attacked and prevented by anybody who catches sight of him. But Bennett disappears for respectable stretches of time all through the present’s run, considerably neutering the impression of his and Bruce’s relationship. But no less than he will get one thing of a conclusion to his arc, not like his fellow cop Ellen Yin. Voiced by Ming-Na Wen lengthy earlier than she grew to become the de facto Competent Woman, she’s set as much as be a long run ally (and perhaps a love curiosity?) for Batman earlier than she’s simply straight up gone after season two.

With how fashionable Batman is and all the time has been, it’s genuinely shocking how The Batman simply barely prevented the trendy day superhero growth. A number of episodes into its second season, Batman Begins debuted in theaters, and the collection would finish in March 2008, a pair months earlier than The Dark Knight would develop into a field workplace juggernaut. From there, Christopher Nolan’s extra grounded tackle the superhero would assist chart the character’s path going ahead. Rocksteady’s beloved Arkham video games drew upon the Nolan for a lot of its tone and magnificence, and so does Titans, ridiculous of a present that it’s. 2013’s Beware the Batman animated collection, the speedy successor to the extra lighthearted Brave & the Bold, was marketed as being extra severe, little doubt due to The Dark Knight Rises. 

Meanwhile, each Brave and Lego Batman served as counterarguments to Nolan’s trilogy, displaying the Caped Crusader as a light-hearted adventurer or goofy father and intentionally poking enjoyable on the extra “adult” tackle the character. Even Batman’s handful of appearances over in Teen Titans Go poke loads of enjoyable on the notion of the hero that Nolan helped popularize. Whether you want Nolan’s trilogy or not, the Batman work that’s adopted it since 2005 hovers over Batman and anybody in his orbit like an extended shadow, for higher and worse.

But The Batman isn’t actually in dialog with how the world has seen its Caped Crusader, and in plenty of methods is all the higher for it. While it might probably’t assist however really feel like a relic of a bygone age, it was a fairly good age the place superhero exhibits simply ran off of vibes and experimentation. Similar to Kids’ WB’s different beloved cape collection Spectacular Spider-Man and X-Men: Evolution (or arguably Young Justice right now), it was free to do its personal factor with out being caught up in company nonsense, nostalgia of doubtful advantage, or cultural pissing contests. At the tip of the day, it’s only a present whose pitch started and ended with: “Batman’s pretty cool. You wanna see him be pretty cool?” And to The Batman’s credit score, it was proper. He is fairly cool.

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