Seriously Though, This Might be the Best Animated Batman Ever

I know fam. We have SO MUCH Batman. There’s always more than one Batman comic going at a time (two really, freaking good ones from Snyder and Fraction right now, FYI). A live action is always in mid series or about to be rebooted. They’ve done Batman series where Batman isn’t even the focal point. An animated? We are always no more than 18 months away from the next new Batman animated series. In a cross-over reference, he is inevitable.

But here’s the thing. This newest joint, Batman: Caped Crusader? It’s really fucking good. Not like, ahh, that’s cool to see some well-produced Batman, good. Like, I’m not sure how another iteration tops this, fucking good. Though, they will certainly try. Technically speaking, Caped Crusader isn’t “new”, just that Season 2 pack that dropped early this month. And this isn’t a come up, learned what we messed up on from the first season type of gather. Season 1 was monumental. I’m just late. Forgive me, it was cloudy in Ohio, I didn’t see the Batsignal till late.

Aiight, a lot of cowl and circumstance. So why is this Batman different from the 780 versions that came before him? Well, those previous versions are kind of the point. You know why there is always new Batman? Beyond the totally cynical but also totally valid, capitalist answer? Because Batman’s identity is so cemented that we all know it, every possible way. Bruce Wayne. Parents spilled those pearls in crime alley. Genius Bruce is vengeance. Gotham is his home. Fuck that, he is Gotham. Wayne’s were super rich. He uses his assets to build better crime slayer and protect Gotham. Flippant playboy by day. The terror by night. The Joker, Two-Face, Catwoman, The Riddler, Bane. We haven’t even went in on the Robins. You get the point. We know the players. We know their aliases and origins.

That’s why every new Batman we see is less about repeating the formula and more about how much they can tweak the formula without destroying it. Think Robert Pattinson in The Batman‘s Bruce Wayne being more of a broody, apathetic rich kid that would rather sept in front of a speeding Batmobile than pretend to be a philandering playboy. Or Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman being a 6’9″ inch behemoth who boobytraps his suit AND body like a Jack Reacher / survivalist hybrid with who befriends most of his rogue’s gallery.

The Caped Crusader messes with Batman himself less but recreates almost everything else around him. Set in prohibition-type era Gotham, this is an analog type of story we rarely see Batman in. The tech is very limited so the utility belt is basically just keeping the tights up fam. No infrared built into cowl. The Batmobile ain’t even got GPS. There are tommy guns, and diesel-ass cars, phone booths and you gotta hit Batman on the rotary phone.

These days, the strength of a longer form Batman story lies in the supporting characters, heroes and villains alike. This is probably the best cumulative version of both. Gotham has most of the typical characters you know. Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Renee Montoya, Officer Bullock, etc. But they are different here. Some just a little, some much more aesthetically. But even in their most familiar version, the naturalist writing and how they interact with Batman is fresh. And to quote Ava Coleman, “Black?!” Yes, a lot of characters are people of color here. Not super shocking. We’ve seen Jeffrey Wright play Commissioner Gordan and even Billie Dee Williams play Harvey Dent, but instead of one-offs, they are building communities with these characters. In Gotham, certain ecosystems make sense.

I have some criticisms of that I’ll touch on soon, but the character portrayals aren’t just the shade of the pencil. The voice acting and written dialogue is perfectly balanced. There was no onus to make a Black character sound or look Black, but they do *feel* Black by being, ya know, normal. Sometimes annoyed or exasperated dialogue. The desperation of the situation while trying to keep it together. The performers wear these performances out every episode. Trying to keep a corrupt city from overflowing on a normal day, but dealing with a meddling, but ultimately helpful, vigilante on top of that.

Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon, Michelle C. Bonilla as Renee Montoya and Gary Anthony Williams as Flass are the highlights for the bulk of the two seasons. The back and forth, the ever changing dynamic and how they react to the world and each other is often the highlight of the non “Batman do cool shit” part of the show. The first dealing with the super-corrupt and misogynist Flass make for some of the best character moments the show has to mention (including one other I really don’t want to spoil, especially in season 2).

Speaking of misogyny…

How the show handles the social environment is a bit of a mixed bag and really my only detraction of the show on the whole. We are talking about Gotham in the early to mid-1960s? Women are absolutely treated as less than, pawns, broads, etc., etc. And as real-world disgusting as it is, it feels accurate in this environment. So, about these Black people…

You’ll be happy to know that Gotham, before the invention of the cell phone, has at least solved racism. There is a lot of “woman don’t speak when the men are talking” moments, but zero “you aren’t allowed to use that bathroom” situations despite the fact that probably 50% of the cast are portrayed as people of color. Can you make the argument for why they didn’t want to put racism in their Batman show? Yes, its just not a very good one. And it would have been an easy win, honestly. Some of these villains are just terrible people, lol. You’re going to tell me that the Riddler who guns people down in the street and lusts after every woman with a dress above the shins feels no animus for the Black cop trying to shake him down? See what I’m sayin’. With the amazing character portrayals, voice acting, and environment they’ve created, it just rings a bit hollow for that to not exist, even in the most infantile state.

But again, that is just about my only beef with an otherwise perfect adaptation of the Bat. Checking back in, the voicework of Batman by Hamish Linklater as both Batman and Bruce is good, even if not quite on the level of some of the standouts I mentioned before. What is most impressive is the resourcefulness deployed by this scaled down Batman. Is he still beating everyone’s ass? Absolutely, but they lean into the detective work and even more reliance on the Gotham PD, especially since he doesn’t have the tech and resources to solo everything.

Sorry, I’m not going to spoil anything, but I have to say, one of my favorite all time Joker performances? The buildup, the crime, the stakes and the voice acting (from your favorite coward Lord Larys Strong, voiced by Matthew Needham). The accent and demeanor really owns the mysterious origins of the Joker, making him even more alien and detached in a very cool way. But I will write about that separately.

As for season 2, Batman: Caped Crusader follows a Batman that is both growing in experience but also notoriety. From being a myth in the first season, now he is genuinely the force that creates fear in your average criminal and a challenge for the known rogues. The Gotham PD has went from trying to arrest him to reluctantly sharing power with him (to a moment of straight up ordering the code red from him eventually). That isn’t knew to Batman lore, but it’s nice to see that relationship play out over a couple of seasons as opposed to a two-hour film.

Evil and Crime

The villains, yo! The villains. And honestly, it’s hard to talk about this without spoilers because of the unlikely villains that show up when you assumed someone else would. Or the villains we know may take a completely different path in the story. There’s a big focus on The Riddler this season as he takes over for a crime boss that has mysteriously gone missing. A storyline that plays throughout the entire season. This Riddler reminds me a bit of the Jokes and Riddles storyline. The self-important cleverness is there without the less fanged riddle traps. He’s just a gangsta. Straight up and down. But reimagined versions of Spectre, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn and some others I don’t want to spoil. But they are all fresh and all menacing in ways that really threaten the characters since Caped Crusader is not precious about its characters.

I know, Batman is AYEWHERE. I get it. And this probably won’t be the last time I’m saying, I know it’s Batman but hear me out. But seriously, hear me out. This shit bangs. Batarangs. Turns the beat up in the Batcave. All of that. So many Easter eggs, so many ways the story subverts our expectations. I’m usually one that wants good things to quit while they are ahead, but I’m sorry, I’ll take three more seasons of this, Prime.

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