With a month to go before Batman: Caped Crusader hits streaming, let’s take a look at what we already know and speculate on what it could mean.
For several years, information about Batman: Caped Crusader, the Prime Video series set to debut on August 1st, has been scarce, but as of May 2024 the seal was broken, allowing fans a chance to get an advanced peek at the eagerly anticipated series. Previously, we’ve discussed the history of the show’s development, and now we can turn an eye toward the contents of the show itself.
Initially reluctant to do a simple reboot of BTAS and TNBA (Schedeen), Executive Producer Bruce Timm came around when he realized that he had the opportunity to not only tell stories that he wasn’t able to tell the first time, but also make adjustments to the series that he wasn’t able to do before. As Timm put it during DC FanDome 2021, “Okay, it’s 1990 again, I get to do what I want to do this time, and I got [Co-Executive Producers] J.J. [Abrams] and Matt [Reeves] backing me up” (qtd. in “DC FanDome 2021”).
Apparently the biggest selling point is the fact that Caped Crusader was not being made exclusively for a children’s audience, as previous series aired afternoons and Saturday mornings, and there was an expectation for them to sell action figures. Previously, it’s been revealed that the ideal demographic that Fox Kids and Kids’ WB! wanted was 6 to 11-year-olds (qtd. in Allstetter, “Alan”), but Timm’s series tended to attract an older demographic In fact, DCAU alum Paul Dini had this to say specifically about the suits at Kids’ WB! during the Batman / Superman Adventures days:
A lot of the executives we found we were dealing with; their mind-set was completely anti-everything that we had been doing with the characters. There was a different approach to story, and to character, and to the way of looking at these shows, that we felt frankly was passé, old-fashioned. Their approach was: “This is for kids, and the idea of doing a show that is a crossover for an older audience, even a college-aged audience, really does not appeal to us, and we don’t even want to think along those lines.” (qtd. in Riesman)
Now that they’re on a subscription-only streaming service and away from the restrictions of children’s programming, Timm’s free to do pretty much anything he’d like to do, provided that he doesn’t go off the rails. Or, as he himself put it:
We didn’t have the same kind of limitations that we had back in the ‘90s where it was made specifically for a children’s audience, and we had to worry about making sure that would sell a certain number of toys. […] So, that was also appealing. Getting a chance to do the show without the same kind of limitations was also very, very exciting. (qtd. in Schedeen)
With that in mind, let’s take a look at what else has changed.
GOTHAM CITY
To begin, here is a description of Batman’s stomping grounds, provided by The Hollywood Reporter:
Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant, and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the Batman. His one-man crusade for justice attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications. (Hibberd)
In truth, the above could be the throughline for any Batman-related animated series. It sets a tone, but it doesn’t do enough to establish how different it is from BTAS (1992-1995), TNBA (1997-1999), The Batman (2004-2008), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-2011), and Beware the Batman (2013-2014). That said, a careful analysis of recent reports lays bare its subtle variations.
First, the new Gotham City of Caped Crusader is actually an older, vintage one. Eschewing the look of previous Gothams in BTAS and TNBA, this series envisions a world specifically set in the past, complete with fedoraed gangsters, tommy guns, and antiquated technology. But wait … didn’t we already have that in BTAS?
Well, yes and no. While TNBA and the other DCAU series were set in the contemporary world—or an alternate history contemporary world with advanced technology (see the manned mission to Mars in Justice League’s “Secret Origins”)—the original BTAS Gotham City was an ageless mashup of the classical and the contemporary. Said Paul Dini in his 1998 book Batman: Animated:
Refusing to put their hero in a completely contemporary world, […] Bruce [Timm] and Eric [Radomski] fashioned a Gotham City that was stylish but dangerous. It could be identified as twentieth-century America, but it was impossible to pinpoint it to an exact decade. Batman would often be shown working at his super-sophisticated Batcomputer, but televisions would broadcast only in black and white. Likewise, Batman might fly the futuristic Batwing, but Bruce Wayne would drive a Cord. Tommy guns, VCRs, lasers, and zeppelins all happily coexist in Batman’s technologically unified world. Bruce and Eric did not want the series to visually date itself, as many cartoons do when they try too hard to ground themselves in contemporary culture. Instead, they looked back over sixty years, took what had endured, and made it their own. (Dini and Kidd)
However, whereas BTAS was timeless and stylized, Caped Crusader appears to be chronologically in the indeterminate 1940s. Said Timm at DC FanDome 2021:
The show will definitely [be] heavy on the German expressionism / film noir kind of styling, set in a kind of timeless ‘40s world. If anything, we’re probably going to lean into that even more in terms of authentic clothes and hairstyles and hats and vehicles and architecture. (qtd. in “DC FanDome 2021”)
And again, in a recent Entertainment Weekly article:
[Co-Executive Producer] James [Tucker] and I are both really big fans of movies from that era, so we decided to really lean into that in terms of the clothes, the cars, the architecture, and the level of technology. […] Early on, we decided there would be no computers and no cell phones. That changed everything. (qtd. in Holub)
However, while the physical setting is in the past, the cast is actually set in the present. While the original characters of BTAS were largely white with a few Latinx sprinkled in (Renee Montoya, Bane), Caped Crusader is aiming for stronger inclusivity, including a Black Commissioner James Gordon and Barbara Gordon, an Asian Harley Quinn, and a fully LGBT+ Renee Montoya (her sexual identity became part of her character in Gotham Central #6 [June 2003], long after BTAS and TNBA ended). This facet was actually announced at the beginning, with Timm saying, “The way we deal with the characters, [however], is going to be quite a bit more modern in terms of inclusivity, representation … things like that. (qtd. in “DC FanDome 2021”)
That said, I cannot help but wonder if “representation” on behalf of the 21st century viewership is the same as “representation” on behalf of the 1940s-era cast. Traditionally, the ‘40s were not well known for acceptance of Black, Latinx, or LGBT+ peoples, so either 1) subtle racism and sexism may come into play, depending on the characters exhibiting them, or 2) this is an alternate history where such prejudices don’t exist. While some people might consider the latter a cheat, there is precedence for this: the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020) was lauded for its portrayal of LGBT+ characters and couples, and part of that may have come from the creative team forbidding homophobia storylines from the series (Ivie; Pandey). In an interview with Vulture, LGBT+ series co-creator Dan Levy explained his reasoning:
I have no patience for homophobia. […] As a result, it’s been amazing to take that into the show. We show love and tolerance. If you put something like that out of the equation, you’re saying that doesn’t exist and shouldn’t exist. (qtd. in Ivie)
And while there should be television series that deal with racism and homophobia as cultural issues, not everything must be Queer as Folk or Lovecraft Country. I will gladly watch a show featuring a Black Commissioner Gordon who is as powerful and influential as his BTAS counterpart but, at the same time, doesn’t have to spend part of his screen time justifying his status and position. Furthermore, I have little interest in watching him deal with racism in the ranks of his own police force, and I have no interest in watching him have to deal with the threat of being lynched for his support of the Dark Knight. Hopefully, the issue of tolerance and acceptance will extend to the show’s cast of characters and be treated as standard.
BATMAN
As before, there is little initial difference between the DCAU version of Batman and his Caped Crusader counterpart. Here are the descriptions of both Batman and Bruce Wayne, as provided by The Hollywood Reporter:
A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man. Forged in the fire of tragedy, every fiber of his being is dedicated to the eradication of crime. […] To the public at large, Bruce Wayne is a shallow dilettante, apparently wasting his parents’ vast fortune on frivolous pursuits and hedonistic pleasures. In fact, he’s an elaborate façade, carefully constructed to divert attention from his activities as Batman. (Hibberd)
Interestingly, the concept of Batman as the real identity and Bruce Wayne being the façade is something that, arguably, began in BTAS or was popularized by it. However, how both series go about characterizing these personalities will greatly differ.
In BTAS, Batman is often depicted as a force of nature, delivering divine—but compassionate—justice to those who seek to upset the natural order. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is a necessary performance that keeps him present in the “normal” world, allowing him to supply Gotham with needed industry and jobs, as well as providing for the impoverished through the Wayne Foundation. In terms of characterization, however, Wayne presents himself as a lovable and well-meaning oaf—a take on Superman’s old “mild mannered Clark Kent” persona—where he pretends to clumsily stumble through life in order to deflect attention from the ninja within. The creative team stepped back from this in TNBA and later DCAU shows, but it was most on display in the initial series.
Another take here is that both Batman and Bruce are mere personas, and the real identity is one only seen by Alfred and Robin in private, as outlined by Paul Dini in a 2006 Wizard Magazine interview:
I think there are actually three personas. There’s the Bruce Wayne that the public sees at corporate meetings or social events, the Batman face he allows criminals to see, and then there’s this weird third person who is closer to Batman but he’s Bruce Wayne as well—that’s who Batman really is. (qtd. in Morse)
At any rate, one of the requirements for Caped Crusader was to find a new take on the character[s]. Now voiced by actor Hamish Linklater (The Crazy Ones, Midnight Mass), Timm literally went back to the pulp heroes to draw inspiration for his new incarnation of Batman:
Originally, I’d had an idea about Batman where he was much inspired by the old pulp heroes like Doc Savage and the Shadow and the Avenger. […] And the thing those three guys had in common was that they were all very remote. They were not nice guys, they weren’t like people you’d want to hang out with necessarily. They weren’t cuddly and cracking jokes and stuff. They were very kind of superhuman to the point of not being human. And so, that’s kind of how I always wanted to present Batman.
[In Caped Crusader, h]e’s literally Batman, like 24/7. When he’s out and about in Gotham City, supposedly as Bruce Wayne, it’s a construct. That’s a completely fake person suit that he’s created. That version of Bruce Wayne and his voice is extra charming. It’s like he’s watched a million Cary Grant movies to study how to be a dashing, upper class playboy. So, his Bruce Wayne voice isn’t just okay, that’s what he sounds like when he takes the mask off. No, that’s a fake voice. He’s pretending to be a charming playboy. (qtd. in Schedeen)
Described by Timm as an “emotionally messed-up version of Batman who’s extremely aloof and almost inhuman” (qtd. in Breznican), this new Bruce Wayne is “not obsessed with his parents’ murder, but it changed him in a way where he’s still not adjusted to being a human being” (qtd. in Holub). “Deep down inside, he’s not a fun guy,” Timm continued. “He’s not charming, he’s not sexy or anything like that. He’s devoted to warring on crime 24/7” (qtd. in Breznican). Unlike, the DCAU Batman, this one is described to be genuinely psychologically aberrant, a scribble masquerading as a straight line.
After reading these descriptions of Batman and Bruce Wayne, I’m immediately reminded of Grant Morrison’s annotations from the 15th anniversary edition of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, where they describe the 1980s Batman as “violent, driven, and borderline psychopathic” as well as a “repressed, [armored], uncertain, and sexually frozen man” (Morrison). I also thought of Christian Bale’s portrayal of Patrick Bateman, the maniacal serial killer posing as an ‘80s yuppie investment banker in the 2000 movie American Psycho, a comparison that Bruce Timm graciously responded to on the Anime Superhero message boards on June 21st:
I’ve never seen American Psycho or read the novel, but I’m familiar with the basic concept, I think. The TV series Dexter did come up several times as a reference in our early Writer’s Room discussions. In fact, I sometimes refer to Bruce Wayne as being Batman’s “person suit,” which I used to think was a term that originated on Dexter, but it turns out I got it from Bryan Fuller’s wild Hannibal series.
Not that I think of Batman as analogous to a serial killer or a borderline psychopath or anything like that! I just want him to be spooky. Unsettling. For me, it’s not enough to have his costume doing all the heavy lifting to inspire fear in the hearts of superstitious and cowardly criminals. I want his whole persona to feel weird and vaguely unearthly.
One of my favorite things about Matt Reeves’ The Batman is how freaked out everybody is when Batman is around. That one scene with the cop loudly complaining about him being at the crime scene and Bat-Pattinson just slowly turns his head around and stares at him and shuts him up without saying a word? [CHEF’S KISS.] (b.t.)
Visually speaking, the new Batman is a little thinner than his top-heavy DCAU counterpart, and his costume is a mélange of his TNBA and Justice League duds. The only major difference are the shorter gloves, which were worn by the Dark Knight in his earliest appearances (thankfully, they’re not purple). Following the strict “no computers” edict, the new Batcave is a stripped down affair, primarily containing bookcases, laboratory equipment, and scientific apparati that would not look out of place in Dr. Frankenstein’s castle. And the new Batmobile follows that pattern, looking less like the highly stylized BTAS / TNBA version and more like “a ’real world’ roadster […] kinda like the front end of a ’37 Cord mashed up with the back end of a ’63 Corvette,” as described by Timm in a June 26th post on Anime Superhero (b.t.).
ALFRED PENNYWORTH
Voiced by English stage actor Jason Watkins, visually Bruce Wayne’s steadfast manservant resembles Alfred Beagle, the shorter, rotund version of the butler that first appeared in Batman #16 (May 1943). A more comedic figure and amateur detective, he would later be redesigned to his current form in Detective Comics #83 (January 1944) and was eventually rechristened as the more familiar “Pennyworth” in Batman #216 (November 1969). While keeping the more familiar name, the only reason I can think of for the change is to break the monotony of seeing the same thin Alfred for the past 30 years both in the DCAU and in the DC Universe animated films. Here is the description of Alfred Pennyworth, as provided by IGN: “Bruce Wayne’s loyal and invaluable aide. The one person who has a window into the man behind the mask” (Vejvoda).
COMMISSIONER JAMES GORDON
Voiced by Eric Morgan Stuart, The Hollywood Reporter described his character in the following manner:
Former beat cop close to retirement, Gordon was hired to play along with the corrupt system and run out the clock till he can draw a pension. But they’ve sorely underestimated Jim Gordon. His unassailable character brings him into conflict with dirty cops and crooked politicians alike. Not to mention, he has to reckon with a deranged vigilante beating up Gotham’s criminals. (Hibberd)
Aside from his new physical appearance, there’s not much to say about the commissioner, but it is worth mentioning here that the creative team is playing up a more adversarial relationship between Batman and the Gotham police. According to Bruce Timm:
Again, that goes back to what I wanted to do on BTAS. […] I really like those first couple of episodes of BTAS where he’s chased around by the cops. They look at him and go, “What is this guy? He’s getting in our way. We’re chasing after these villains and this guy in the Dracula costume shows up and gets in our way.” And again, that goes back to the comics. I liked that the Shadow and the Spider were always on the run from the cops. (Schedeen)
Overall, Batman’s moments with the police in BTAS were tense, but respectful. Gordon trusted the Caped Crusader to do the right thing, but other officers—particularly Detective Harvey Bullock—were openly hostile to his presence. At worst, there were only two instances where the police openly hunted Batman—the pilot “On Leather Wings” and the 1993 film Mask of the Phantasm—and this was only due to him being falsely accused of actions taken by the Man-Bat and the Phantasm, respectively. At no point was he pursued simply for being a vigilante.
Another factor to consider is the description above referring to “the corrupt system” and “dirty cops,” something entirely absent in BTAS and TNBA. There were hints of it, of course—false accusations in the BTAS episodes “P.O.V.” and “Vendetta”—but no actual police corruption. In fact, the only instance in the DCAU of a criminal officer was Detective Bowman, from the STAS episodes “Target” and “The Late Mr. Kent,” and he was a plain murderer rather than an officer on the take (he got the death penalty too). No doubt the edicts of children’s programming wanted to reinforce the idea among its viewership that the police are there to help people but, again, now that the show is off network television and on a streaming service, they are able to broaden their storytelling options. Taking into account decades of headlines involving corruption and police brutality, I posed these questions in my initial BTAS reboot essays back in 2021:
Consider: when a surrendering costumed villain approaches a GCPD cop, do they panic and open fire? Do the police give a supervillain a “rough ride” to the precinct? […W]hat if there’s a group of cops on the force who embraces Batman’s ability to beat up criminals? Do they have Bat-symbol stickers on their police cars, much like real-life cops have appropriated the skull symbol representing Marvel Comics’ Punisher? For that matter, what would Batman do if confronted by a racist cop attacking an African American? Would Batman take that officer down to save a life? Who would Gordon side with? And how would the city (and the police) respond if he sided with Batman? (Davis)
These are some of the issues that could come into play on Caped Crusader, especially considering the presence of crime fiction veteran (and executive producer / head writer for Season One) Ed Brubaker.
DETECTIVE RENEE MONTOYA
A character created for BTAS, Renee Montoya nonetheless was preemptively introduced in the comics first, having appeared in Batman #475 (March 1992). At any rate, it is fitting that she be added to the cast of Caped Crusader. Voiced by Michelle C. Bonilla (Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1: Lone Star), this is how she was described in a recent IGN article:
Detective Renee Montoya grew up in Gotham City and believes it’s her obligation to change her city for the better. She looks up to Commissioner Gordon as a mentor, and he views her as a rare and trustworthy ally in the corrupt department. Thought at first, she doesn’t trust the masked vigilante, Montoya gradually becomes a member of Batman’s inner-circle of semi-reluctant allies. (Vejvoda)
Otherwise, the only other thing worth mentioning here is that, in this series, Montoya is in a relationship with Dr. Harleen Quinzel (aka Harley Quinn; Breznican). She will reportedly be unaware of her partner’s costumed activities, so that will be fun … especially if Quinn is arrested and unmasked.
BULLOCK
Initially omitted from press materials related to the series, we can now confirm that the character will appear in Caped Crusader, voiced by veteran voice actor John DiMaggio (Futurama, Adventure Time, several DC Universe original movies; Spry). That said, it should be noted that the magazine announcing his presence only identified him as “Bullock” as opposed to “Harvey Bullock.” Perhaps this is nothing—Alfred Pennyworth was originally listed only as “Alfred,” leading to speculation that he might have been Alfred Beagle—but it is worth noting that before Detective Harvey Bullock’s first official appearance in Batman #361 (July 1983), there was a Lieutenant Bullock, who first appeared in Detective Comics #441 (June 1974), who some consider to be a separate character. Initially portrayed as a crooked cop under instruction from Mayor Hill to sabotage Commissioner Gordon before he was revised into an honest one, it will be interesting to see how Bullock evolves on the series.
BARBARA GORDON
Voiced by Krystal Joy Brown, T.V. and stage actor (Hamilton), Babs’ description in a recent IGN article is as follows: “Raised with a strong sense of justice and right and wrong by her police commissioner father, Barbara grew disillusioned with the corruption in the police force and went into Law instead. She’s currently an overworked, underpaid Public Defender” (Vejvoda). While to the casual observer this is new, there is actually precedent in the comics: in Batman: Gotham Knights #25 (March 2002), it was revealed that Ms. Gordon is a licensed attorney, having obtained a master’s degree from Harvard and successfully passed the state’s bar exam. This is par for the course for the character, whose historical resume also includes librarian, congresswoman, information broker, and IT expert for the GCPD.
As a public defender, Barbara Gordon will, no doubt, play an interesting role in Caped Crusader, her position allowing her valuable connections to both Batman, her father, and District Attorney Harvey Dent. It’s also worth noting that she appears to be roughly the same age as Bruce Wayne, so any potential relationship between the characters would not be as complicated as the ones seen in Batman Beyond or 2016’s Batman: The Killing Joke (although Timm has apparently taken the prospect of a romance off the table, saying that it’s “[r]eally not a problem,” in a June 26th post on Anime Superhero; b.t.).
On a final note, don’t expect her to appear as Batgirl any time soon, as Timm announced that they did not want to repeat themselves: “I’ll just say that the current plans are for there to not be any other costume superheroes in this world. At all” (qtd. in Schedeen).
CATWOMAN
As previously discussed on this website, the original DCAU Catwoman was a character that Bruce Timm was never quite satisfied with. Forced to design Selina Kyle to physically resemble Michelle Pfeiffer’s character from 1992’s Batman Returns, Catwoman more often than not was saddled with “damsel in distress” roles (“Cat Scratch Fever,” “Tyger, Tyger,” and “Almost Got ‘Im”) that kept her from being the jewel thief from the comics (after all, Catwoman is a cat burglar). Taking advantage of Caped Crusader, Timm not only took Selina back to her roots, but also put her back into her classic, green-and-purple costume created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and first worn in Batman #35 (June 1946). Timm expanded on his thinking in a recent interview with IGN:
Catwoman, in most mass media lately, is kind of descended from the version that Ed Brubaker came up with, with Darwyn Cooke, where she’s not as much of a villain as more of a dark adventuress with the leather costume. She’s more of an anti-hero than a villain. […] And that’s great. We love that version of the character too, but we just didn’t want to do that, because that’s kind of the same version that Christopher Nolan did in his movie and Matt Reeves is doing in his movie. (qtd. in Schedeen)
Timm went on to say—this time in an interview with Entertainment Weekly—that "we wanted to do something different. So, we thought, well, let’s go all the way back to the beginning. I love the original look that she had in the ‘40s” (qtd. in Holub). Adding, “We wanted [Selina Kyle] to be not too dark and serious, as most Catwomans have been for the last 20 years or so. We wanted her to be … not ditzy, but just not serious. […] Flighty is a good word” (qtd. in Breznican).
Voiced by Christina Ricci (The Addams Family, Yellowjackets), The Hollywood Reporter described her character in the following manner:
Selina Kyle is a blithe and pampered heiress whose family lost their fortune after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement. Despite having the silver spoon yanked from her mouth, Selina refuses to quit living in the lap of luxury and becomes Catwoman as a “fun” way to maintain her lavish lifestyle. (Hibberd)
Seeking to maintain the quality of life she has become accustomed to, her burgeoning career as a cat burglar obviously puts her at odds with Batman, only this time it’s hardly the tragic, on-again, off-again romance viewers have seen for decades. According to Timm, for this driven, emotionally stunted Batman, her very presence is a distraction:
There’s something going on there, and he doesn’t really know how to deal with it. […] Our Batman is closed off emotionally, all the way down to the ground. We jokingly kept saying throughout the show that he makes Mr. Spock look like the life of the party. As much as he tries to tamp down all of his emotions, [Catwoman] throws him off. He becomes obsessed with catching her and putting her away in prison just so he can kind of stop thinking about her. (qtd. in Breznican)
Thus, the rooftop ballet between Cat and Bat is now reimagined as a classic screwball comedy, complete with a criminal femme fatale and the sexually repressed crimefighter who suddenly finds his hormones carbonated by her very presence.
HARLEY QUINN
We are currently entering decade two of Harley Quinn mania. Don’t get me wrong: Harley’s always been popular, but sometime around the 2010s something clicked, and then she went mainstream like wildfire. It might have been her appearances in Paul Dini’s Arkham video games (the first one featuring her “slutty nurse” outfit) or her 2013 Deadpool-esque makeover at the hands of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti in her ongoing comic book series (it was definitely cemented in pop culture when Margot Robbie played her in 2016’s Suicide Squad), but since then her celebrity has only been ascending. And while I’m happy that she has gained visibility, it has only highlighted how sparse the character has become.
I would argue that new Harley Quinn—the kooky antihero with the fetish model wardrobe—lacks a lot of the warmth and vulnerability of her original jester costumed, Brooklyn-accented self. In addition, when it comes to storytelling, she’s been shown to only really have two good stories in her: 1) her origin and 2) leaving the Joker and becoming her own person (the latter story often involving falling in love with Poison Ivy, another great villain who has backslid into anti-heroism). These are the stories we’ve seen over and over again in the comics, television, films, and other multimedia for the past thirty years. Fortunately, for Caped Crusader, Bruce Timm—one of Harley’s original three parents (along with Paul Dini and the late Arleen Sorkin)—is attempting something new: a Harley Quinn without the influence of the Joker:
I co-created the character, so I have a lot of love and affection for her, but I thought there might be something interesting about bringing her on the show, just not as Joker’s girlfriend. […] So, how do we do that? A big part was just doing a basic flip. The original Dr. Quinzel was a little bit more serious, and then when she became Harley she got really goofy and weird. So, we thought, what if we reverse that? When she’s Dr. Quinzel, she’s a little bit more whimsical and fun, and then when she’s Harley Quinn, she’s scary. (qtd. in Holub)
In the new series, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, now an Asian psychiatrist, is described thusly by her profile in The Hollywood Reporter:
Despite a personable and bubbly demeanor, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a brilliant psychiatrist who treats some of Gotham’s elite. However, as Harley Quinn, she is a different person entirely. A creepy, quiet, calculating menace who secretly dispenses her twisted justice to the truly despicable among her elite clientele. (Hibberd)
According to Timm, her position as counselor to the wealthy elite is affecting her own mindset:
We figured, as a psychiatrist, her clientele are some of the richest, most powerful men in Gotham City, and they dump all of their crap on her. It’s driving her crazy. She hears all this stuff, but because of psychiatrist-client privilege, she can’t do anything about it. She can’t tell anybody. We figured some of these guys have probably confessed some really horrible things to her, and she’s just like, “Well, I can’t just turn this guy loose out on the streets, but I can’t turn him into the cops either.” (qtd. in Breznican)
Her decision? To weaponize patient confidentiality by visiting them at night as Harley Quinn, this time as a yellow-and-green clad jester, to punish them for their actions. Said voice actor Jamie Chung (Lovecraft Country), “It’s kind of creepy. They really wanted [Harley Quinn] to be very menacing—a bit more quiet and calculating. In a weird way, she’s like a dominatrix. You’re in all this pain, and yet she’s telling you what to do, and ‘You’ve been a bad boy…’” (qtd. in Breznican).
Finally, as previously stated, Dr. Quinzel is now in a romantic relationship with Det. Renee Montoya, a pairing described as tempering “her more vicious leanings” as Harley (Breznican). Torn between her own moral crusade and her love for an officer of the law, I greatly anticipate watching a take on the Maid of Mischief that breaks the old molds.
TWO-FACE
While a major player in the Batman mythos, Two-Face spent decades as a second-stringer, mainly for the crime of not appearing in the campy, ‘60s Batman series. That changed with the debut of BTAS, where he not only received a major boost, but his design (bright blue scarring with a shock of white hair, the bifurcated black-and-white suit), became popular both in the comics and animation. But the time has come to redesign Harvey Dent anew, and the results are … rather understated.
Based on the above picture, I suppose the creative team is going for a very realistic level of damage—usually Two-Face’s scarred side looks like caked on bursts of red, blue, green or purple, depending on the artist. Here, his right side (!?) looks almost like a zombie or ghoul … and it appears to only be limited to his face, rather than 50% of his body.
Voiced by Diedrich Bader—a DC animation veteran, as he voiced Batman on The Brave and the Bold—Two-Face’s arc appears to be a reversal of his BTAS roots. Here, rather than a honest district attorney who turns to crime, here he appears to be a crooked one who decides to “do the right thing” after his accident. Or, as Bruce Timm put it, “We thought, Well, what if he starts off as kind of a schnook? And then, when he gets his face disfigured, for the first time in his life he actually feels empathy for other people” (Breznican).
THE PENGUIN
In contrast, the Penguin is a character here that we know very little about; even the image in the sizzle reel was only a silhouette. There were some uncorroborated rumors that the character was changed to be a woman, but these rumors have since been confirmed, with actor Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting, The Beekeeper) voicing Oswalda Cobblepot (Spry). All I can say for certain is that, like Catwoman, the Penguin was another character I’m certain that Bruce Timm would want another crack at (considering how the BTAS version had to resemble Danny DeVito’s Batman Returns character), and this incarnation appears to run the Iceberg Lounge, this time presented as a weaponized yacht.
CLAYFACE
Before discussing the new Clayface, It is important to remember that—unlike Batman villains like Joker and the Penguin—there have been three distinctly different villains to use the identity. The first to take the mantle in Detective Comics #40 (June 1940) was Basil Karlo, a fading actor who, upon hearing that one of his classic films was being remade featuring someone else, reprised another role from a feature film (a killer who wore an ugly clay mask) and embarked on a Phantom of the Opera-like campaign to sabotage the film by killing the cast members. Appearing in only two stories, he was replaced in the Silver Age by Matt Hagen (Detective Comics #298; December 1961), a treasure hunter who discovered a glowing pool of radioactive mud that, when bathed in, transformed his body into a clay-like substance that gave him shapeshifting abilities. Later, he was replaced by Preston Payne (Detective Comics #477; June 1978). A victim of chronic hyperpituitarism, Payne was a research scientist who attempted to cure his condition by injecting a sample of Hagen’s body into his own. Briefly gaining similar powers, Payne was later horrified to learn that, as further catabolic changes occurred, his clay-flesh lost its consistency and developed a lethal touch, which reduced human flesh to protoplasm. Forced to wear a containment suit to hold his melting form, Payne went mad when he learned that he periodically had to use his touch on others, lest he melt away completely.
Much like for BTAS, it appears that the creative team has decided to cherry pick details from all three characters for create their new villain. However, whereas previously they took actor (Golden Age) Matt Hagen (Silver Age) and had him undergo an experimental treatment to cure a physical deformity (Bronze Age), they went another route, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
Thanks to his “unique” facial features, screen actor Basil Karlo has been forever typecast as a B-movie heavy. Frustrated by the limitations his appearance put on both his career and personal life (He fell hopelessly in love with his co-star), Karlo turned to an experimental serum that promised to change his face. However, not only does this serum ultimately disfigure his face, but it ruptures the last of his sanity—creating the tragic, vengeance seeking villain, Clayface. (Hibberd)
Based on the description above, I suspect that this incarnation of Clayface is more a mashup of the Basil Karlo and Preston Payne characters. The sizzle reel shows two scenes with Clayface, as well as a shot with what appears to be a doctor who also undertook the treatment, resulting in a malleable face that features the imprint of a fist when someone punches him. And while the images released thus far only show traces of his face behind a red scarf (in fact, this Clayface is obviously dressed to resemble pulp hero the Shadow), but the July 25th DiscussingFilm post on X (formerly Twitter) shows a visage literally melting away. If I could make any comparisons, I’d say Karlo looks like the Melting Man from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Call it a hunch, but I suspect that when this Clayface (voiced by actor Dan Donohue) kills someone, it won’t be with a blade, but simple physical contact.
NATALIA KNIGHT
As previously stated, one of the reasons that Bruce Timm decided to do Caped Crusader was to go back and do stories he couldn’t tell on BTAS, and apparently on the top of his list was his long-gestating vampire story.
You see, back in the BTAS days, Bruce Timm and company wanted to do a two-part story about Nocturna, a light-sensitive villain who first appeared in Detective Comics #529 (August 1983) that Timm apparently reimagined as a vampire (possibly combining her with Dala, a Golden Age Batman villain [Detective Comics #32; October 1939] who actually was a vampire). Bruce Timm provided a summary of the episode’s plot in a 1994 interview with Comics Scene:
For the second season of Batman, we wanted to do a “vampire show.” There was a character from the ‘80s named Nocturna, a female vampire. We really wanted to use her in the worst way and I came up with a really neat design for her.
It was going to be a two-part episode involving a really sick love story. Nocturna falls in love with Batman and wants to vampirize him so that they can live together eternally as vampires. She puts the bite on him at the first episode’s end.
Bruce Wayne wakes up the next morning, and says, “Oh boy, how did I ever get home?” Alfred tells him, “I found you and dragged you home. Good thing you’re safe now.” Bruce feels like he as a really bad hangover, Alfred pulls open the blinds and Bruce starts shrieking because his skin is on fire! He looks in the mirror and sees that he has vampire fangs.
The second episode was going to focus on Batman trying to cure himself of the vampire taint. We were going to say he wasn’t a supernatural vampire but a biological vampire, with a chemical substance in his bloodstream. He’s in the Batcave frantically trying to cure himself and at the same time he’s looking at Alfred, thinking, “God, he looks really tasty.” He’s about to attack Alfred, when he realizes, “This is horrible, I’m not gonna have time to cure myself of becoming a vampire; I’ll have to destroy myself before I’m a danger to anybody!” Alfred says, “Just calm down. You’re too distraught to cure yourself. I’ll go get Kurt Langstrom [the scientist who turns into Man-Bat]. He’s the best guy to help you. Just lie down and relax.”
Bruce tries to relax, but he can’t control the bloodlust. Batman goes out to Gotham City looking for victims when he realizes that he must cure himself. That was a far as we got, but we thought that would make a great two-parter.
The Fox Network said, “Nope, can’t do it! First of all, you can’t do vampires. You can’t have anybody sucking anybody’s else’s blood. You also can’t have Batman as a vampire looking for victims, you can’t have biological vampires, because you can’t have a disease that’s transmitted through blood, it’s too much like AIDS.”
We went back and forth with them on this. We really wanted to do it and they really didn’t want us to, so we didn’t, but it would have been fun. […] I’m sure we would have played up all those traditional vampire clichés and put some kind of spin on them, but we never got past the development stage. […] Still, Nocturna would have made a really interesting story. (qtd. in Jankiewicz)
Now, we do have confirmation of this character appearing, but there’s a hitch: the materials identify her as “Natalia Knight,” not “Nocturna.” And while the only immediate visual reference was the aforementioned March 2024 leak, a July 22nd DiscussingFilm post on X (formerly Twitter) shows that she is distinctly different from Timm’s original 1994 design. Now more resembling Wednesday Addams than Morticia Addams, the clip portrays her as more of an energy vampire rather than the traditional, blood-sucking variety. Based on her targeting of children in the clip, her characterization may have been inspired by the vampire Eli, from the 2004 novel Let the Right One In (or one of the two film adaptations).
This lady of the evening is voiced by actor and singer Mckenna Grace (The Bad Seed, The Haunting of Hill House).
THE GENTLEMAN GHOST
We’ve previously discussed this character’s denied admission into BTAS, so I suspect the “no ghosts” rule held by the previous series has been rescinded. Appearing only briefly as an individual engulfed in spectral blue flame in the initial trailer, we originally saw little of this character. However, based on the July 22nd DiscussingFilm post on X (formerly Twitter), the character (voiced by British actor Toby Stephens) appears less as an invisible man in a white suit and top hat and more of a masked pirate or highwayman. Frankly, I’m happy to see that both Gentleman Ghost and Natalia Knight have a second chance to be “Dark Deco.”
FIREBUG
According to Paul Dini, back in the BTAS days, the creative team wanted to use a “a character who uses fire as a weapon and Fox said ‘no’ completely“ (qtd. in Allstetter, “Dark”). They were later able to introduce Firefly as a villain in TNBA on Kids’ WB!, but there is more than one fire-related villain in the Rogues’ Gallery archives. Enter Firebug, voiced by Tom Kenny (according to the DiscussingFilm post on X [formerly Twitter]).
Featured prominently in the trailer and identified specifically as “Firebug” in the teaser, there have been two Firebugs of note. The first, Joe Rigger, was introduced in Batman #318 (December 1979) as a soldier and demolitions expert who sought to burn down the buildings where his family died; he would later retire after becoming a victim of one of his fires. The second Firebug was named Harlan Combs, who acquired the original villain’s costume and armor, who first appeared in Gotham Central #3 (March 2003), in a comic written by Ed Brubaker. Hmm…
ONOMATOPOEIA
Finally, what’s a Batman animated series Rogues’ Gallery without someone borrowed from Green Arrow? But while BTAS introduced their own takes on [Count] Vertigo and the Clock King, Caped Crusader is introducing a relatively recent villain, Onomatopoeia.
(For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “onomatopoeia,” as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it [such as buzz, hiss].”)
Co-created by Kevin Smith and introduced in Green Arrow #12 (March 2002), the character was introduced as a sort of serial killer who specialized in non-superpowered heroes. Wearing a black mask with a stylized “O” on the front (which resembles a bullseye), he is largely silent, save for when he imitates noises either around him or caused by him. Following his bout with both Green Arrows (Oliver Queen and his son, Conner Hawke), we went on to target Batman himself in Batman: Cacophony (2008-2009) and Batman: The Widening Gyre (2009-2010), both penned by Smith. When asked about his creation in a 2007 interview, Smith had this to say:
When I did Green Arrow, I went with Onomatopoeia for a villain, just because I loved that word, and it kind of formed the character inasmuch as he would say sounds out loud. It only kind of works—I think—on a comic book page because if you have a gun going off, they usually write BLAM!, and then you can have, you know, the character saying “BLAM!” in a word balloon but, like, if you tried to do that cinematically, you can’t really rock it. A gun in a film sounds completely different. It doesn’t read as BLAM! and so to have a dude say “BLAM!” after a true gunshot, all these people would be like, “He’s just [stupid].”
[…] I think it works great in print and on a comic book page. I don’t think that character would translate very well outside of that. (qtd. in Mayo)
Well, the creative team of Batman: Caped Crusader is ready to call your bluff. As seen in the trailer (and the July 25th DiscussingFilm post on X [formerly Twitter]), it appears that the villain (voiced by Reid Scott) has traded his spandex for a stylish black suit and fedora (he kept the mask and trench coat from the original design). Here, he looks less a serial killer and more of a hit man, no doubt using his gimmick to make his bones with the Gotham mob. An elegant adjustment, if I may say.
On a final note, Kevin Smith is excited to see his creation picked up for Caped Crusader, saying on X (formerly Twitter) that “[a]s a longtime fan of The Animated Series, it’s crazy to see my bad guy in Bruce Timm’s return to Gotham!” (qtd. in Flook).
THE FUTURE
As previously stated, all ten episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader will drop on Prime Video on August 1st. But what then? Well, the initial deal with Amazon was for two seasons of (presumably) twenty episodes total, so there will be ten more episodes in our future. After that, it’s hard to say.
On one hand, if the show is popular—and I see no reason why it wouldn’t be—the series could go on for years to come. Right now Invincible, the Prime Video animated series based on the long-running Image comic book series, has had two successful seasons and was renewed for a third, and apparently Hazbin Hotel has also been renewed for a second season. Generally speaking, it appears that Prime Video is a platform that treats mature animated content quite well.
On the other hand, things are changing at Warner Bros. Discovery. In October 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed co-heads overseeing the DC properties, and one of the changes being made is syncing up the live-action and animated productions into one shared universe (Lang). And while Gunn has stated that some “non-DCU” productions will continue to be produced outside of continuity, such as Teen Titans Go!, and would be labeled as “DC Elsewhere” (Lang), I cannot help but wonder if they might not want Caped Crusader competing with Reeves’ upcoming sequel to The Batman and the unrelated, but in continuity with Gunn’s new DCU, Batman: Brave and the Bold. Still, time will tell.
As for Season Two, nothing is currently known, but fans are talking, especially about the unknown gangster in the trailer—seen above—with the purple band on his fedora. Some are speculating that he may turn into the Joker at some point in the future. And while it’s certainly possible—I doubt that the creative team would consciously omit the Joker from the series (look at what happened to Beware the Batman), but—again—this is all speculation.
In terms of guest stars, as previously stated, Bruce Timm claims to have no interest in bringing in other costumed heroes. It’s understandable, considering that we currently only have twenty episodes, whereas in the original 85 episodes of BTAS we only got visits by Zatanna and Jonah Hex. Even so, when asked the same question, James Tucker was slightly more open to it, saying that “[i]f we get to 100 or however many BTAS got to, then maybe yeah, who knows? […] But we’re nowhere near that yet. So, people forget these are shorter seasons, and we want to spend time with Batman being the guy for as long as we can” (qtd. in Schedeen).
***
And that’s our breakdown of what we currently know.
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Images courtesy of Prime Video, Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and DC Comics.
Very well-thought out and researched.