When Warner Bros. approached Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm about doing a revival/continuation of the popular series, he wasn’t interested. But with J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Matt Reeves (The Batman) attached as executive producers, Timm and his producing partner James Tucker (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) came up with something completely different that blended film noir, Golden Age comics, classic horror films, and Universal monsters.
Timm has made it clear that the series is a “remix … not a remake or reboot” of BTAS, beginning with the setting. Previous depictions of Gotham City leaned into the grittiness and timeless, whimsical aesthetic (Gotham, Batman Returns). However, the overall design (wardrobe, architecture, lack of technology) of Caped Crusader is heavily inspired by the 1940s.
Set to composer Frederik Wiedmann’s (Batman: Hush, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) haunting, epic score, the black-and-white opening title sequence is pure noir greatness. Some of the style and spirit of BTAS are there, enough that this take doesn’t feel radically different.
In Caped Crusader, Batman (Hamish Linklater) is a myth among Gotham City criminals and law enforcement alike. He’s not yet working with Commissioner Jim Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart), and the GCPD see him as a menace, who isn’t so different from the masked criminals they come across.
Unlike many portrayals of Bruce Wayne, this series doesn’t focus on his humanity. He has an obsessive need to take out criminals that plague Gotham. Although he’s dealing with obvious repressed trauma that he refuses to confront, he doesn’t really dwell on the murder of his parents. He doesn’t treat Alfred (Jason Watkins) as a father figure. In fact, he calls him Pennyworth a lot of the time. He wears his billionaire playboy mask in public, mostly to keep up appearances but masquerading as a normal person also comes in handy when he’s investigating.
Batman’s rogues gallery is still populated by weirdos with a flair for the dramatic. Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Christina Ricci) is still flirty with Bruce and Batman, but she isn’t a broke antihero stealing to survive but a spoiled heiress addicted to luxury, jewels, and stray cats. Instead of her usual black leather catsuit, she throws together a getup more reminiscent of her Golden Age look — an impractical but stylish long purple dress with a high slit and green cape and heels.
Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung) isn’t a lovesick henchwoman for the Clown Prince of Crime. She’s an intelligent, upbeat psychiatrist who’s friends with defense attorney Barbara Gordon (Krystal Joy Brown). In reverse to her origins, she’s a villainess utilizing her expertise in psychology for a different kind of torture. Chung infuses Quinzel with a less manic Harley energy and gives her a hint of the accent.
A couple of episodes are dedicated to the deeply psychological exploration of the arrogant and ambitious Harvey Dent’s (Diedrich Bader) transformation into Two-Face. Other notable villains, though less recognized in mainstream media, include Firebug (Tom Kenny) (not to be confused with Firefly), Gentleman Ghost (Toby Stephens), Onomatopoeia (Reid Scott), and a young Natalia Knight/Nocturna (Mckenna Grace).
The show goes into the origin of Clayface (Dan Donohue) aka Basil Karlo, one of the first iterations of the villain. Instead of an oversized, shapeshifting mud monster, Karlo is a B-movie actor limited by his unfortunately ghoulish face. His episode is an exciting Hollywood-esque mystery investigated by Detective Renee Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla).
While many, if not most, fans never want their favorite characters and storylines messed with, the new direction makes it exciting. We expect a certain trajectory for characters like Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s evolution into Harley Quinn and Selina Kyle’s dark romance with Bruce/Batman, stories that we’ve seen play out several times before.
Thanks to Season 1’s writer-producers — Ed Brubaker (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Greg Rucka (Harley Quinn), Jase Ricci (Merry Little Batman), Halley Wegryn Gross (Westworld), Adamma and Adanne Ebo (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), and Marc Bernardin (The Legend of Vox Machina) — the show strikes a tricky balance of keeping some familiar plot points and looks, while subverting expectations and not having their stories unfold exactly as they have before, adding a new element of fun and mystery.
The show is already being compared to X-Men ‘97 but it’s much less serialized. The ten episodes have a mostly self-contained, villain-of-the-week structure with narrative throughlines. It’s a relatively quick, 5-hour binge but you’ll want to watch it more than once.
Batman: Caped Crusader gave Bruce Timm a chance to create the Batman he always wanted without the limitations of appealing to a young audience. The result is a noir-infused visual treat that reimagines the familiar mythology in surprising and intriguing ways.
Batman: Caped Crusader premieres all 10 episodes August 1, 2024, on Prime Video.
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