There's an episode in which Batman meets Catwoman in the snow, and she has to ask, "Are you getting soft on criminals, or just on me? Granted. When Charlie, the timid accountant that the Joker has been tormenting for the entire episode, decides to stand up he grabs a bomb out of the Joker's vehicle and threatens to kill him. I. An ever more complicated-looking array of flasks, test tubes and beakers connected by spiraling glass tubes is seen in "Terror in the Sky." Chandell only commits crimes in order to pay off his blackmailing brother, and seems deeply distressed at having to do so. He turns up again in "Over the Edge.". Donna Day, the fashion designer Calender Girl kidnaps in "Mean Seasons", was modeled after iconic fashion editor Carrie Donovan. By Grant Playter Staff Writer. Instead of owning up to it, he evidently swept it under the rug so well that he was almost given a humanitarian award without anyone even bringing it up. She was hiding that. In "That Darn Catwoman"/"Scat Darn Catwoman" her goons are named after famous literary detectives (Marlowe, Spade, & Templar). One of Catwoman's henchmen throws one to activate the pattern cutter saw that is supposed to slice Batgirl in half. If you've seen Batman: The Animated Series, or even read its entries on the Tear Jerker page, then you should know about how the tragedy of Dr. Fries' wife's illness and then apparent death turned him into the tragically emotionless Mr. The Gotham cops are stupid in general, really, state of the comics at the time of the TV series. The Penguin is especially fond of alliteration, calling Catwoman a "Felonious Feline" and the Joker a "pompous popinjay". Between Batman and Julie Newmar's Catwoman, much to her dismay. Baby's catch-phrase on the show (after causing some mayhem) was "I didn't mean to!". In "Prophecy of Doom", Ethan Clark is modeled after his voice actor William Windom. A tranquilizer dart takes a few minutes to affect Killer Croc at all, and he has plenty of time to stumble about looking for a place to hide before finally passing out. The other kids dismiss his theories, and him, out of hand. In "Lock-Up," the eponymous villain was formerly a guard at Arkham Asylum who got his position due to endorsement and support from Wayne Enterprises. The mine is being operated illegally and the operators do not care if their employees live or die, a few minutes later he intimidates a drug dealer for information by dangling him in front of a car, The fire does not quite illuminate the entire room, even though this does not match the descriptions the police give their superiors, Nightwing has a completely gratuitous one. Alfred also qualifies since, though not wearing a costume, he is both Bruce Waynes butler who answers his phone for him and the man who answers Batmans phone for him too. Gotham is watched over by a new Batman. Played straight when Harley Quinn asks this verbatim in "Mad Love". This show now has a rough episode guide (help is needed) and a Best Episode Crowner. The ending of The Killing Joke is a bizarre combination of this trope and Nightmare Fuel, in which the Batman makes a genuine offer of help, which the Joker almost tearfully refuses. Sometimes averted when villains like Joker and Catwoman use active businesses such as … Thus preventing accidental human deaths, which is what happened to Karl's wife and daughter. Batgirl, who only had three appearances in the original series, became a recurring character and Batman's primary assistant. Real medical terminology for a non-existent condition (hypoplasia is when someone is born with an organ that isn't properly developed), his hands do not bleed despite breaking glass with his bare hands. The project was completely unauthorized, and that's not even going into the ethics and legal ramifications of using a human subject in a secret experiment. Done in-universe in "The Penguin is a Girl's Best Friend", where The Penguin is directing a movie set in Ancient Rome, yet Batman and Robin appear in the film in their usual costumes complete with their usual gadgets. Alfred insists that it's out of the question. It featured Batman (played by Adam West) and Robin (played by Burt Ward) foiling daffy and innocuous criminals via detective work and slow fist-fights which were punctuated by large comic-style POW!s, BAFF!s and ZONK!s. "You are not my father. After Harvey Dent is transformed into Two-Face he leads an extra-legal war on Rupert Thorne's criminal organization, robbing his operations throughout Gotham, but his ultimate plan is to expose Thorne's activities and get him arrested by the police. Every villain paroled, released, or deemed "rehabilitated" ends up back in Gotham Prison within two days of being deemed fit for society again. Averted by Batman who is running against him. Catwoman, who seeks to protect endangered wildlife and really only wants her freedom. The series switched to airing once a week in the final season. Aunt Harriet of all people during the two-part Chandell episode where she pulls a, Alfred, at the end of "Flop Goes the Joker!" "Batman Displays His Knowledge". Averted in "On Leather Wings." In "Harley's Holiday", Harley Quinn receives a clean bill of mental health and is thus paroled. This occurred in "Harlequinade," where Harley was helping Batman find the Joker. Episodes featuring Catwoman altered the phrase to "Same, The cliffhanger of the Minstrel episode had the Dynamic Duo roasting on a spit. And then there's Batgirl. His past is well-known to Batman and the police department, though the viewer is only told that he was once a conjurer and hypnotist of repute. What one of the train security guards says in "The Great Train Robbery". Batman '66 has a number of inversions, reworking villains that post-date the series into the '66 milieu: One issue introduces Batman '66's own version of The Red Hood (the original version, not. Two-Face Part 1: Kenji Hachizaki; In house. Four kids share their views of the Bat. Possibly the most well-known thing about this show are the cards with sound effects that appeared when someone landed a big hit. In the early 2000s, West and Ward (again joined by Gorshin) portrayed cartoonish versions of themselves in the CBS movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, consisting of a modern day plot to find the stolen Batmobile mixed with flashbacks to the events behind the scenes of filming the series in the 60s. The series still tends to be polarizing. He appears fully transformed into Killer Croc some issues later. Freeze's heavy change in backstory and characterization being so acclaimed and iconic that it was repurposed for all later versions of the character. The resulting product, revolutionary for its time, was dubbed "dark deco"; it was also the result of co-producer Eric Radomski's standing order to the animators that all backgrounds be drawn with light colors on black paper (instead of dark colors on white paper, as is the industry standard) to ensure that the artwork stayed as dark as possible. An extremely subtle one: "Double Talk" reveals that the warden of Arkham is named Crichton, the same as the prison warden from, Another subtle one (and possibly just incidental), but Batman's reason for giving Harley Quinn the benefit of the doubt in "Harley's Holiday"? Whenever an episode focused on Roland Dagget, this exchange would usually occur: Batman will almost always disappear inexplicably when talking to Gordon, who then expresses his confusion. sometimes assisting Batman, sometimes working against him. Batman (Telltale) Lucius Fox (Telltale) The Penguin (Telltale) Alfred Pennyworth (Telltale) Four movies based on the series were produced: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (which had a limited theatrical run), Batman & Mr. In 2015, Ward revealed he and West would be returning for a full-length animated movie for the series' 50th anniversary in 2016. The Joker creates a flying saucer that can (based on the Joker's comments) travel through outer space to other planets. Facebook. The status quo of this show was close to the comics of its time, as Batman was partnered with a younger Robin named Tim Drake, although Tim's origin in the show was taken from the character of Jason Todd, and Dick Grayson was the independent hero Nightwing due to a falling out occurring during the interim between the two series. The game is based on Bob Kane and Bill Finger's Batman character, though not tied to any previous adaptation of the work in film or other media. As the title suggests, the series is an animated adaptation of the adventures of the popular comic book character Batman. As a psychiatrist working at Arkham Asylum she was a naive and reserved doctor, inexplicably drawn to the Joker and hoping to eventually cure his rampant insanity. In "Harley's Holiday," Boxey points out that the last time Harley Quinn showed up at his door she not only destroyed his club, but brought Batman down on him as well. When Batman tracks down the stolen Batmobile in "The Catwoman Goeth", In "The Cat and the Fiddle", even though no Gotham cops would give them a ticket for it and the Dynamic Duo are rushing to a potential crime scene, Batman still takes the time to feed the parking meter. More tragically is Warden Crichton, who makes earnest attempts to rehabilitate his inmates, with little success. Non-villain example: Miss Iceland is only ever referred to by her title, not her name. Sadly, it is quite a small chandelier and he survives. "The Cat and the Fiddle". When told that he cannot trademark fish he retaliates by carrying out an elaborate scheme to murder everyone in the Gotham City patent office until he gets his way. Batman: "According to my Bat Compass, north-by-northeast is in a general north-northeasterly direction. Barbara Gordon initially appears only as Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Grant Walker, a character played by Daniel O'Herlihy, has decided that things are too rough and wants to implement a new city to replace an old society, but is willing to destroy the old one first? Ironically. kept a bunch of runaway children as his thieving underlings, nearly everyone here would have ended up exactly the same, Batman or not, his family's lawyers will undoubtedly get him off, dealing at one of the casino tables as if he's a costumed employee, she considers herself ugly, which Batman states is because she can only see her minor "imperfections.". At the beginning of a battle between the Dynamic Duo and the Joker's gang, the Joker throws a barrel at Batman and Batman throws it back at two of the Joker's minions. Characters could and did die in the early days. (And this version wears obvious lipstick!). ", Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup had no villain names at all, although, The ice skater Glacia Glaze (one of Mr. In "P.O.V. No "Bat-". During the fight with the Joker and his henchmen, Bruce Wayne (Batman's secret identity) throws a small barrel at a henchman. Both are references to "Pretty Poison", Ivy's debut episode. "The Duo is Slumming". Multiple ricochets spark off the wall behind them but neither of them are hit. The most triumphant example of the latter is probably the series' penultimate episode, "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra", where half the villains' gimmick consists of speaking in painful amounts of Hippie slang. was a key inspiration for the character of Harley Quinn. "Batman Stands Pat". One boy says he is a metahuman with wings. Averted in "Sideshow". The Dynamic Duo, the Caped Crusaders, etc. "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away". He doesnt appear to make any attempt to disguise his voice while doing this. Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Penguin, and Killer Croc. It takes two years for "Mistah J." If I still had tears to shed. This bumbling wannabe crook, through several bizarre twists of fate, experiences incredible good luck throughout the entire episode, managing to make monkeys of Rupert Thorne, the Joker and (temporarily) Batman and earning widespread praise he doesn't deserve for an incredible feat that, due to a freakish coincidence, he only, In "Almost Got 'Im", we hear Killer Croc's story, The line in "Almost Got 'Im" itself was a callback to "Sideshow," where Croc really. Zap! Inverted with Catwoman. Clayface lent himself to scenes like this. Most of his crimes revolve around him regaining his humanity and living a normal life. Catwoman throws one to turn off an elevator so Batman can't easily reach a high floor in a building. In "Fine Feathered Finks"/"The Penguin's a Jinx", Robin freaks out when he sees Alfred doing maintenance near the Batcave's nuclear reactor, which is where Molly, the Riddler's girlfriend, was killed in the previous week's storyline. Though many episodes are dark in tone, few can compete with the episode where the Joker manages to infect all of Gotham City with his Joker poison on April Fool's Day, rendering all residents of Gotham City into laughing fits with huge, grotesque smiles as they slowly die. One episode ("The Curse of Tut") even had the Commissioner calling Bruce Wayne, Alfred answered and then went and got Bruce, then straight after they were done the Commissioner called Batman and Alfred answered again and got Batman. This comes to a head for Dagget in "Batgirl Returns" where he's finally arrested, "It's Never Too Late" sees Stromwell have a change of heart and turn himself in, and Thorne himself gets arrested in "Shadow of the Bat" after another of his criminal operations is busted and it's revealed that Two-Face has been taking control of Gotham mobs behind the scenes. An inversion occurs in "Beware the Creeper": A villain (The Joker) creates his own hero (the Creeper). She guesses the two of hearts, hoping for romance, but the card he pulled was, From the cutscenes of the Sega CD game, which plays like an episode of the series(they were animated by the same studio), we have Poison Ivy's plant monster that looks like, "Pretty Poison" has Poison Ivy induce Harvey Dent into proposing to her a, In "Chemistry", Veronica Vreeland marries her fourth husband after two weeks of dating. The episode, Poison Ivy somehow managed to afford a gigantic mansion with its own power plant and extensive grounds in order to set up a fake health spa for one episode... complete with a staff of women loyal enough to kill on her part, Sometimes Batman and Robin took turns in this role (With Robin sometimes giving. Robin's bird call skills save them from a balloon in "The Duo is Slumming". Freeze speaks to his wife, Nora Fries, who had a terminal disease and was placed in. This was followed by a sequel in 2017, Batman vs. Two-Face, where Two-Face (who had never appeared on the show) was played by William Shatner. "Sid the Squid," in "The Man Who Killed Batman." "The Joker's Wild": An entrepreneur opens a casino in Gotham City based on the Joker's likeness and gimmicks. Freeze's henchmen throws a barrel at Batman during a fight in Freeze's lair. The Ventriloquist deals with all the abuse Scarface inflicts on him, until his final appearance when he stands up for himself. Once the man has done this favor (which makes him an unwitting accessory to the attempted assassination of Commissioner Gordon), Joker tries to do him in for good. Episode "Smack in the Middle". Tropes used in Batman Forever include: Adaptation Distillation: The integration of Robin merged together his younger, more carefree days with his older incarnation ... One of the alter-egos Nygma came up with was "The Puzzler", who was a villain the 1960's Batman series. "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill". In "On Leather Wings," when Batman confronts Dr. Kirk Langstrom, there's a long table covered in lab glassware, in particular two huge globes of purple liquid that connect to one another and nothing else, seemingly serving no purpose. Mary Dahl, who only wanted to be taken seriously as an actor despite being trapped in the body of a child. "Heart of Ice". His standard weapon is a rifle-like device that spews out a stream of freezing gas at short range. The show's style also influenced Superman: The Movie, the first ever big-budget superhero film. It drew heavily from the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams era in the 70s and the live-action films directed by Tim Burton (although some of the latter's baggage, such as the mutated version of the Penguin, caused them some problems). In "Harlequinade," Harley swings atop a chandelier with a significant suspension cord, severs it, and sends it crashing onto baddies with an accuracy worthy of the Batman himself. Batman puts it well: "Only you would ruin three lives for a silly piece of tin.". When O'Hara orders his men to allow Marsha inside the diamond exhibition, they are surprised, but neverthless follow his orders. Joker is a psychopathic criminal who commits heinous crimes on insane levels, but he won't commit tax fraud. She saved the flower before trying to kill him, anyway. Once the "bodies" were discovered, a wave of horror and grief swept the entire world; even Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara burst into tears. Christmas with the Joker ". Harley Quinn most of the time (unless she's. "Mean Seasons" also features the GWB network, which even has a WB-style water tower. The female villain Venus deserts the Joker and falls in love with Batman. "The Joker Is Wild". "Over the Edge" shows just how far Jim Gordon will go for his daughter. One of the Riddler's henchmen throws a switch to drop a net on Batman and Robin, and one is later thrown to start the spinning. In the Scarecrow's first appearance, Batman checked a list of places where the villain could have acquired the chemicals used for his crimes. "The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns". In "Bane", Killer Croc wears a hat and trenchcoat, like in his pre-Crisis debut. Ivy has several in her first appearance. Batarangs can casually slice through metal like a hot knife through butter, even by someone with no training with them (like Alfred). Batman: The Telltale Series is an episodic Adventure Game by Telltale Games.The game is based on the Batman character by DC Comics, and takes place early in the Caped Crusader's career.. In the episode "Birds of a Feather" at least, he is a courageous fighter, Ra's al Ghul. will enact if she would be a casualty of the collateral damage from a super - battle: He is being framed by his own Deputy Commissioner, a straight example of this trope, who is working for Two-Face, to clear the way for him to become commissioner. Unlike many examples of the trope, however, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson seldom feign weakness. ", "ETC.!" Played with in "Death in Slow Motion": The Riddler has an evil filmmaker shoot his crimes so he can screen them for a Hollywood producer as a silent-movie comedy. "A Riddling Controversy". The girl in "Legends of the Dark Knight" is modeled on Carrie Kelley, the Robin from, The fourth child in "Legend's of the Dark Knight" is an. Occasionally subverted, as in the Liberace episode, where a strong bare bulb in police headquarters is labelled "Subtle Interrogation Lamp", Almost everything in the Bat Cave had a label on it, especially with. ". King Tut finally appeared in the comics in 2009. Reasons for this varied, with some of the issues cited being music licenses, royalties for the numerous "Bat-walk" cameos, and the fact that Bat-media as a whole is owned by Warner Bros. while the series and its various elements are owned by Disney (through their acquisition of original owner 20th Century Fox in 2019), which by coincidence owns DC rival Marvel Comics.