NOTE: This article obviously contains SPOILERS. Proceed at your own risk!
Official Summary
When a glamorous movie star disappears, Batman and Detective Montoya find themselves tangled up in the dark web of a mysterious avenger haunting the soundstages.
My Summary
When celebrated movie star Yvonne Frances is abducted after a date with Bruce Wayne, both the Dark Knight and Detective Renee Montoya independently investigate her disappearance. Their collective inquiry leads to the discovery of a string of murders around Monoscope Pictures, as well as what appears to be the grotesque, masked killer responsible. They quickly learn, however, that it isn't a mask.
Voice Cast
Hamish Linklater as Batman / Bruce Wayne
Dan Donohue as Basil Karlo / Clayface
Michelle C. Bonilla as Detective Renee Montoya
Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent
John DiMaggio as Detective Harvey Bullock, Lew Valentine
Eric Morgan Stuart as Commissioner James Gordon
Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth
Gary Anthony Williams as Detective Arnold Flass
Jeff Bennett as Jack Ellman
Kimberly Brooks as Ramona
Lacey Cabert as Yvonne Frances
Yuri Lowenthal as Darryl Manning
Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox
Alex Wyndham as Edmund Haynes
Commentary
After a solid first episode, “…And Be a Villain” pulls the camera away from Batman and shines the spotlight on Renee Montoya and her duel with Basil Karlo, the mysterious villain that we know as Clayface. Unlike some viewers, I have no problem with Batman stories that focus on the villains and the supporting cast. I know it sounds contradictory, but some of the best Batman narratives have little Batman in them. After all, consider the highlights of the original BTAS—“Mad as a Hatter,” “Almost Got ‘Im,” “Harley and Ivy,” “Birds of a Feather,” etc.—many of them were ones where the Dark Knight took a backseat. Also, as the creative team is deliberately trying to keep this Batman remote and unsettling to both Gotham City and the audience, the supporting cast has to pick up the slack.
Apparently just promoted as a detective by Commissioner Gordon, this appears to be Montoya’s first big case. She’s certainly up to the task—Batman applauds her skill and incorruptibility—but she’s carrying a lot of anxiety with her, particularly when it comes to proving herself to Gordon. In “The Stress of Her Regard,” she refers to the commissioner as “more of a father” to her than her real one, and in this episode she states how he “took a big risk” promoting her. Despite the tolerant atmosphere, could it be because she’s a woman? Could it be because she’s a lesbian? In an August 3rd post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm expanded on this world’s verisimilitude:
We’re definitely having our cake and eating it too by how we “anachronistically” treat the general acceptance of working women, LGBT persons, and People of Color in positions of authority in a 1940s environment, but there are a few (possibly too subtle) signs that sexism, racism, and homophobia are still around—as they obviously are today, unfortunately.
In “Night of the Hunters,” the mayor snidely suggests in the middle of his rant that Gordon was only appointed commissioner for PR purposes. And, earlier in the same episode, when Bullock complains to Gordon about Montoya being in charge of the task force, “Do you really think the men are gonna take orders from that—” We can only guess what the next word out of his mouth would have been if Gordon hadn’t cut him off, but I guarantee it would have been something very ugly. (b.t.)
While both are certainly possible, there might be a simpler explanation: Gordon took a risk with Montoya simply because she’s a good cop. In a police department where half of the officers are in bed with the mob, being an honest cop can be dangerous, especially if the crooked ones make them a target if they don’t play ball. Note how Flass and Bullock agree to provide backup when Montoya goes to investigate Jack Ellman, but then they switch off their police radio and dawdle for what appears to be hours, depending on how long Montoya was knocked out. Most likely, they were hoping that the killer would take her out before they arrived to make the collar.
As for the killer himself, this new interpretation of Clayface makes for a great, tragic villain. Being denied leading roles due to appearance by an uncaring Hollywood is not new to a Bruce Timm-created series (similar things happened to Matt Hagen in “Feats of Clay” and Paige Monroe in “Mean Seasons”), and—like Hagen—he sought a cure through unconventional methods. However, unlike Hagen, he wasn’t disfigured in an accident—he merely hated his looks and longed for the love of his frequent costar, Yvonne Frances. However, while friendly and polite to Karlo, the affection just wasn’t there, but in his mind it was, leading to the false belief that a change of appearance would fix everything. Needless to say, it didn’t.
Also, unlike Hagen—who sought revenge against Roland Daggett and ways to manage his condition—this Clayface’s plot may have started out as payback against a romantic rejection, but eventually it became something else entirely. Forced to “kill” himself to throw Montoya off his trail, it seems that Karlo found this a form of liberation, allowing him to “commit” fully to the role of Clayface by going on a killing spree within a studio system that had “wronged” him. But even that is up to question, as—by his own admission—he discovered that he simply loves playing the bad guy. Instead of resisting the typecasting Hollywood has labeled him with, he now embraces it.
This revelation extends to his “Clayface” identity. Unlike my previous theory, that the sculpting to his face is temporary and will eventually devolve back into the shapeless “Clayface” visage over time, it appears that Ellman’s serum works just fine (note how Ellman’s sculpted “Karlo” face lasted for days even after his death). Save for situations where Karlo is under duress, it looks like his elastic features maintain their integrity. Instead, he deliberately chooses to “wear” the “Clayface” face both as an intimidation tactic and, in his way, a method acting choice. He (or possibly Ellman) designed the look to be horrific, so much so that he covers part of it with a scarf so he can periodically do a “dramatic reveal” to shock his victims. And while it's possible that Ellman's serum may have caused Karlo brain damage (not having seen him prior to injection, we cannot be certain), it is equally likely that, in his heart of hearts, he was always a monster. Finally, after years of playing the heavy, now he “disfigures” himself to commit to what he sees as the role of a lifetime.
Finally, it must be said that, in the decades since the Golden Age of Hollywood, the villains of cinema have become much more celebrated on the silver screen, and more and more actors have been lining up to play them over the heroic leads. Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter, Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki—they are becoming the characters that audiences go to the movies to see. In his way, Basil Karlo just jumped on that trend early.
Stray Observations
The episode's title, “…And Be a Villain,” is a reference to a line from Act One, Scene Five of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. In the play, Prince Hamlet is referring to Claudius, his uncle / stepfather and new king of Denmark, when he says “[t]hat one may smile and smile and be a villain,” referring to how a man may be outwardly moral and upright while being secretly villainous inside his heart (1.5.115).
Basil Karlo's backstory is reminiscent of actor Laird Cregar, who had a promising career due to his qualities that made him a dependable villain, but he was obsessed with becoming a leading man. Bruce Timm had this to say about the parallels in an August 4th post on Anime Superhero:
Karlo’s origin story does have faint echoes of Laird Cregar’s relationship with [actor] Merle Oberon while they were filming The Lodger. Cregar became obsessed with losing weight after Oberon suggested that he could be a romantic leading man instead of always being typecast as villains. The stress that the crash-dieting put on his body probably led to his tragically early death from a massive heart attack. Karlo’s address on “Slade Terrace” is an oblique nod to Cregar and The Lodger, Slade being the name of Cregar’s Jack the Ripper-like character in that movie. (b.t.)
Yvonne Frances' name derives both from actress Frances Drake and the character she played in Mad Love (1935), Yvonne Orlac.
Bruce Wayne’s date with Yvonne Frances has an interesting symmetry to it. On one hand, Bruce Wayne must present himself to Gotham City and the word in his “millionaire playboy” persona in order to obscure his true self. On the other, considering the “star system” at play in the 1940s, it is certainly possible that Monoscope Pictures set up Yvonne's date with Wayne in order to generate publicity for her next film. In effect, they are both using each other in a showy fashion for ulterior motives.
Bruce Wayne didn’t walk Yvonne to her door, electing instead to drop her off at the curb. Not only did it allow Basil Karlo to kidnap her, but it was totally unchivalrous. Not cool, Bruce.
Yvonne Frances’ outfit at the beginning of the episode was based on one of Zita Johann’s costumes from The Mummy (1932).
Wait, didn't the Penguin blow up police headquarters last episode? They rebuilt it pretty quick.
As Wayne Enterprises does not exist in the world of Caped Crusader, its CEO and president, Lucius Fox, has been repurposed as Bruce Wayne’s attorney and financial advisor for this series.
In an August 5th post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm revealed that naming the movie studio Monoscope Pictures was a bit of a hassle with their legal department:
Finding a name we could use for the movie studio in “…And Be a Villain” was one of the toughest naming challenges we had on the show. The first fifty or so names we tried had already been used by real movie studios. We finally came up with a name that didn’t pop up when we googled it, “Monochrome Pictures,” but then the legal department found a studio with that name from the ‘20s, [if I recall correctly]. I think [executive producer and head writer] Ed [Brubaker] or [writer] Jase [Ricci] finally came up with “Monoscope.” (b.t.)
As Basil Karlo takes his leave of Renee Montoya, one can see the name “Dwayne Freed” on the dressing room door opposite Karlo’s. According to another August 5th post on Anime Superhero, it is meant to be a non-litigious analogue for Dwight Frye, the character actor best known for playing supporting villains in Universal horror films such as Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931; b.t.).
According to an August 17th post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm revealed that, in addition to “Dwayne Freed,” the other stars in the hallway feature “similar anagrammatic or misspelled versions” of names for Universal actors Edward Van Sloan and Michael Mark, but “they're way too small to be legible, even in HD” (b.t.).
When Montoya meets with the secretary of Edmund Haynes, she shows her pictures of Yvonne Frances attending the movie premiere of Gangbuster, starring Matt Hagen who, of course, became Clayface in the original Batman: The Animated Series.
It is also worth mentioning that Gang Busters was the name of a DC Comics’ series that ran from 1947 to 1959.
The secretary also mentions how Yvonne wore an “Edith Head” dress to the premiere of Gangbuster. Edith Head was a legendary costume designer best known to contemporary audiences as the model for superhero costume designer Edna Mode, from Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018).
To placate film trivia completists, according to an August 5th post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm claims that the Basil Karlo and Yvonne Frances movie poster Return from the Grave “is just a generic title with no significance (for once)” (b.t.).
Clayface’s design is obviously based on The Shadow, a pulp hero often cited as one of the inspirations for Batman himself.
Greg Rucka, the author of the script, gave Detective Montoya the badge number 742, which is the issue number that he took over writing duties for Detective Comics (March 2000).
Prior to his electrocution, Lew Valentine references acclaimed electrical special effects creator Kenneth Strickfaden, according to Bruce Timm’s August 5th post on Anime Superhero:
[W]hen Lew Valentine is chewing out his casting director over the phone, he mentions renting “mad scientist gizmos” from someone named “McFadden,” which is a legal clearance-approved nod to the famous Kenneth Strickfaden, whose dazzling electrical devices graced many, many classic horror films, including Bride of Frankenstein and Mask of Fu Manchu. (b.t.)
While watching a Yvonne Frances film for research purposes, Alfred mentions how she’s “no Gloria Swanson,” referencing the famed actor and producer.
I’m amused at how Basil Karlo, Darryl Manning, and Edmund Haynes all choose to speak with a Mid-Atlantic accent, a blending of American and English accents popular among actors during the time period.
According to an August 17th post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm revealed that Darryl Manning's name is “somewhat suggestive” of David Manners, who played the “handsome-but-largely-ineffectual” hero in the Universal horror movies Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932), and The Black Cat (1934; b.t.).
When Darryl Manning (who is actually Karlo in disguise) claims that Yvonne Frances is “not his type,” he is alluding to the fact that he was gay (or, at least, Karlo is implying that he was gay). According to Bruce Timm in an August 3rd post on Anime Superhero, this was “an allusion to the Old Hollywood practice of having queer leading men disguise their sexual orientation by being seen in public dating beautiful young starlets” (b.t.). In a later post that day, he continued:
[S]ince it wasn’t really Manning speaking, we don’t even know for sure if he actually was gay, or if it was just Karlo vindictively thinking he could smear Manning by insinuating that he was—not realizing that he was speaking to a gay police detective.
(Narrator voice: he was absolutely gay; b.t.)
In regarded to Darryl Manning’s sexuality, it’s worth noting that—even in an accepting society—there will be LGBT+ people who choose to be closeted. Also, considering the time period, it’s possible that Manning hid his sexuality due to a “morality clause” that the studio may have put in his contract forcing him to adhere to their lifestyle demands.
During Detective Montoya's questioning of the costume designer, she mentions that Karlo and Frances' last film together was called Tower of Fear. This is a reference to a fictional, lost horror film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi that was a plot point in Ramsey Campbell's 1990 novel Ancient Images.
Director Edmund Haynes was modeled after James Whale, the English film director and actor who directed several Universal horror films, including Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), and Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
Okay, this is a stretch, but Edmund Haynes' last name may be a reference to the Hays Code, the draconian self-censorship rules adopted by the motion picture industry in 1930. Fearing government censorship, the studios imposed rules on itself regarding appropriate and inappropriate content in a manner similar to the Comics Code Authority in the 1950s.
Jack Ellman, the the makeup artist who creates the serum allowing Karlo to mold his face, is modeled after makeup artist Jack Pierce, the famed makeup artist who co-created the iconic Frankenstein makeup design with its wearer, actor Boris Karloff. Pierce is also the creator of the makeup for the character Gwynplaine, from The Man Who Laughs (1928), who would become an inspiration for the Joker.
The actor that Edmund Haynes yells at on set is dressed like Lon Chaney's vampiric Man in the Beaver Hat, the monster from the lost 1927 film London After Midnight.
The castle set, as well as the sword fight between Batman and Clayface, may be a reference to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), starring Errol Flynn. In addition, the castle itself may also be a reference to Dread Castle, the fictional setting and movie from “The Murders of Clayface,” the first story Basil Karlo appeared in back in Detective Comics #40 (June 1940).
The Basil Karlo movie posters in Jack Ellman's studio, The Crimes of Doctor Z and Murders in the Wax Museum, appear to be references to Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), respectively.
According to an August 17th post on Anime Superhero, Bruce Timm revealed that the scene of Montoya leaving a fist imprint on Karlo's face (when he was disguised as Ellman) is a reference to the the pulp hero The Avenger. Possessing a similarly malleable face for the first dozen issues of his title (1939-1940), he would periodically find himself with similar imprints on his visage.
When masquerading as Clayface, it appears that Karlo utilizes some kind of coloring makeup to give him the appropriate clayish hue.
Karlo's line, “one man in his time plays many parts,” is a quote from Act Two, Scene Seven of As You Like It, another play by William Shakespeare. Part of the opening of what is often referred to as “Seven Ages of Man” speech, it begins thusly: “All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances, / And one man in his time plays many parts” (2.7.139-142).
Would Yvonne's criticism of Karlo's “performance” as Clayface being “weak” and “insincere” be considered a fourth wall-breaking moment?
Technically speaking, Yvonne could have moved off the platform after Montoya untied her feet and right wrist. Guess those old acting instincts die hard.
I love how Batman's punch literally rearranged Karlo's face.
Unlike the Penguin from the pilot, Basil Karlo was never actually referred to as “Clayface” in this episode.
Works Cited
b.t. Comment on “’Batman: Caped Crusader’ Season One Talkback (Spoilers).” Anime Superhero. XenForo Ltd. 3 Aug. 2024. <https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/batman-caped-crusader-season-one-talkback-spoilers.5799833/post-87961147>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
---. Comment on “’Batman: Caped Crusader’ Season One Talkback (Spoilers).” Anime Superhero. XenForo Ltd. 3 Aug. 2024. <https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/batman-caped-crusader-season-one-talkback-spoilers.5799833/post-87961162>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
---. Comment on “’Batman: Caped Crusader’ Season One Talkback (Spoilers).” Anime Superhero. XenForo Ltd. 4 Aug. 2024. <https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/batman-caped-crusader-season-one-talkback-spoilers.5799833/post-87961277>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
---. Comment on “’Batman: Caped Crusader’ Season One Talkback (Spoilers).” Anime Superhero. XenForo Ltd. 5 Aug. 2024. <https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/batman-caped-crusader-season-one-talkback-spoilers.5799833/post-87961494>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
---. Comment on “’Batman: Caped Crusader’ Season One Talkback (Spoilers).” Anime Superhero. XenForo Ltd. 5 Aug. 2024. <https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/batman-caped-crusader-season-one-talkback-spoilers.5799833/post-87961532>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
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Shakespeare, William. “As You Like It.” Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger Shakespeare Library. n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2024. <https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/as-you-like-it/read/>.
---. “Hamlet.” Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger Shakespeare Library. n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2024. <https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/>.
Images courtesy of Prime Video, Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, DC Comics, Universal Pictures, and Amazon MGM Studios.
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