The Batman set the stage (and paid the price) for DC’s endless potential for adaptation

When it comes to DC Comics characters, the mid-2000s were years of tumultuous changes in almost every medium in which they could be found. the continuity issues that have become a standard for the publication. In the movies, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. the Caped Crusader with the highly acclaimed Batman begins, eschewing all hints of the maligned efforts of the late ’90s and bringing audiences a grittier, frownier Dark Knight. On TV, Smallville was still towing, and the producers were eager to mine it for spin-off potential (although there are separate ones with Aquarius, Green arrow and the Justice League never realized).

And in the realm of animation, the DC Animated Universe, a sprawling mythology that had begun with the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Seriescame to an end with 2004’s Justice League unlimited. Debuts that same year (and now streaming in its entirety on Netflix) was The battera new origin story for the titular hero that would take him out of his rookie years and his first encounters with mortal enemies like Joker and Penguin everything the path to becoming a fundamental member of the Justice League. In the span of five seasons, it basically tells the entire story of Batman.

The fans’ immediate reaction to it was scathing. But still, The batter remains an interesting show to revisit and reevaluate, mainly thanks to the way it reflects the rapid metamorphosis of the time period and the endless potential that Batman has for customization.

That is clear from the first episode The batter does not strive to be like Batman: The Animated Seriesa cartoon that is often regarded as one of the best ever. BTAS had combined its noir roots with superhero smut in a way no other series has since, and it had ended the 50-year drought of solid superhero cartoons since the Fleischer Superman shorts back in the 1940s. And BTAS had been such a broad demographic success that it briefly became a primetime slot to compete with 60 minutes. Sunday night viewers could choose between the fantastic adventures of Batman and Robin and the less fantastic adventures of Leslie Stahl and Mike Wallace.

But a lot had changed since 1992, and The batter reflected that. Most notably, the influence of anime was everywhere, from the angular character designs (the work of Jeff Matsuda, fresh from the underrated Jackie Chan Adventures) to the hyperkinetic fight scenes. Even the Penguin does backflips and roundhouse kicks here. The batter was for kids who had grown up on a diet of Toonami, the ones who were likely to eventually gravitate Naruto And Bleach. It was also inherently toyetic (although later seasons would cut back on this), and many episodes of The batterThe first seasons are marked by the appearance of a cool new action figure-ready suit, vehicle or robot.

Combine all this with an initially diminished focus on pathos (BTASMr. Freeze was a tragic figure, unable to feel yet desperate for connection; The batterFreeze had some dope ice powers and enough ice puns to put Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame) and you have a series that was almost destined to be seen by older fans as the lesser Batman outing. It didn’t help that it also had to compete Unlimiteda show that treated DC’s expansive mythology with a kind of dignified grandeur, full of characters we’d come to know over the past 12 years. Unlimited was a full universe, rivaling and often better than the stories from the comics on which it was based. In its shadow and often seen as little more than a 20 minute toy commercial, The batter would get terrible reviews; one of the first to appear on Toonzone called it “an unmitigated disaster and a blight on the Batman name.”

Image: WarnerMedia

Image: WarnerMedia

It’s clear that this kind of online hand-wringing is now a staple of any beloved character reboot. And The batter would evolve over time, especially when it weeded out a full season of villain origin stories. Then, in the first-season finale, it took a 180 out of the relatively superficial storytelling of the first 11 episodes and gave us the anguished transformation of one of Bruce Wayne’s close friends into the vengeful Clayface. Batman’s rogues gallery has always been a collection of pathetic people driven by personal obsession and paranoia and finally, The batter delivered for those looking for it.

The batter should always struggle with being a Saturday morning cartoon with a heavy toy line, but the storytelling would only get more inspired from there. Over time, we’d see legitimately awesome stuff like “Night and the City” (Joker, Penguin, and Riddler scrap control of Gotham as the police close in on Batman); “A Fistful of Felt” (the ventriloquist leaves Arkham with a clean bill of sanity, only to play corrupt psychologist Hugo Strange with him); and “A Matter of Family” (Robin’s introduction to the show in a heartfelt episode featuring BTAS mainstays such as Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who play Dick Grayson’s father and Grayson family killer Tony Zucco, respectively). They’d all be filled with the thrilling anime-inspired action, but now there was the emotional curiosity that’s the foundation of any good Batman story: who are these characters and what do they want outside of an endless “villain does things” cycle? and Batman stops them”?

Throughout its run, we got visual overhauls from most of the major villains in addition to everyone who now seemingly knows karate. Bane would transform into a hulking, radical behemoth, while Riddler would dress in gothic cyberpunk style, with the latter’s voice actor, Robert Englund (of Freddy Krueger fame) gleefully hissing his lines. As the show grew in popularity, fans began to look forward to seeing what these new incarnations would look like, especially when compared to their often comedic friendly BTAS forms.

Image: WarnerMedia

But not all of Batman’s villains would experience a transformation. With so many reboots and game-changers in the air in the mid-’00s, that meant DC was going to get a little apprehensive about presenting it. The fear of a kid checking in on a cartoon and suddenly getting confused about what Batman thing they were actually watching hit executives. In 2023, where we have more than half a dozen Batmans on screen or in production in film and television, that kind of thinking seems old-fashioned. The kids are smart. They’ll work it out.

In 2004, this would lead to what became known as the “Bat embargo.” Under the direction of then DC Comics president Paul Levitz, the characters from the Batman universe would be dissected into various projects. Justice League unlimited, from the middle of the second season, would get to keep Batman and a few of his lesser foes and colleagues like Clock King and KGBeast. In animated form, the heavyweights of his world would belong exclusively to The batteras a new show on Kids’ WB would likely gather little public steam and promise exciting new versions of Electrocutioner and Kite Man.

Despite seemingly holding the keys to the Batman Kingdom, The batter wouldn’t have carte blanche everyone. Of Batman begins during production, it seemed that characters like Ra’s al Ghul and Scarecrow (and rumored Nolan futures like Two-Face) were off limits to them, further complicating the screenplay. Two-Face would have been a pain anyway, given the fact The batter‘s less violent fare, so it’s quite fitting that his narrative duties of “trusted friend turns hostile foe” were passed on to Clayface. But overall, it made for a very frustrating situation for Batman fans, especially those who wanted to see his main opponents reappear in the final round of Unlimited.

finally, vain petitions were createdbut it was perhaps Bruce Timm, lead developer of the DC Animated Universe since its inception, who was most clear-headed:Batman’s only ingredient in the Justice League… I don’t mind taking a break from those characters after working on them for so many years. While limiting the number of villains that could appear, the Bat embargo allowed for a deeper dive into the pantheon of interesting DC villains. After all, this was a Justice League show, wasn’t it Batman: The Animated Series Part 8.

The “Bat embargo” would be a thorn in the side of those working on the show at the time and a serious fandom wound for a subsection of the public, and we’re not quite sure what either Justice League unlimited or The batter would have looked like if they had had complete freedom in that area. Still, Justice League unlimited would go down in the books as a spectacularly fitting end to the DCAU, while Batman begins would set a precedent for DC Comics movie reboots that it still tries to follow today. And The batter would leave behind its snark-fueled backlash in its early days and take a certain step that would make it all its own. There it would create a whole new generation of fans, its mission from the beginning.

All five seasons of The batter streaming now on Netflix and HBO Max.