Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. To be sure, this is a lighter incarnation, but it's certainly no less valid and true to the character's roots than the tortured avenger [[Parental Abandonment|crying out for mommy and daddy]]."''|'''Bat-Mite''' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb9VSIT8lY8 defends this incarnation of Batman]. [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|During the show.]]}}

Taking its [[The Brave and the Bold|name]] from DC's traditional [[Team-Up Series]], '''''Batman: The Brave Andand Thethe Bold''''' has Batman partnering with a different superhero or superheroes every week. With a [[Limelight Series|focus]] on rarely used (but classic) characters such as [[Red Tornado]], Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man and Detective Chimp, the show deliberately picks a lot of its plotlines from old [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] stories, ''many'' of which have already been widely mocked by the fandom for years. Very much aware of this, ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batmanand the Brave And The Bold]]'' actually succeeds in making these old [[So Bad It's Good]] stories [[So Cool Its Awesome]], and almost every episode has an [[Ascended Meme]] or two. The show's creators aim to spotlight every possible underrated aspect of the DC universe. In order to introduce and showcase as many heroes and villains as possible, the [[Cold Opening]] is often a standalone mini-adventure in itself, giving every character a chance to shine --— and if the audience likes them, they'll be used again in the main plotline.

It's a [[World of Ham|light-hearted take]] on the DC Comics mythos, with a high gag-per-minute level, very little secret-identity drama, and mainly goofy villains like Clock King and Gorilla Grodd. In general, it's not that far from the style of the [[Batman (TV series)|'60s Batman show]]. The show is ''way'' over on the silly side of the [[Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness]], but it also has a number of [[Wham! Episode|Wham Episodes]]s: the show provides its own versions of ''The [[Silver Age|Rainbow Batman]]'' and ''Bat-Manga!'' just as happily as it references ''[[The Killing Joke]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''.

The show is notable for having the first animated appearance of the [[Blue Beetle]], specifically the third Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes (though Dan Garrett and Ted Kord also make posthumous appearances). It's also the animation debut of [[Batman and the Outsiders|the Outsiders]] (as a team, anyway; [[Metamorpho]] had a supporting role on ''[[Justice League]]''). One of them is [[Black Lightning]], finally making it to animation. It also marks the first television appearance of the original [[Flash]], Jay Garrick, as well as the [[Jack Kirby]] creations [[Kamandi]], The Last Boy On Earth and [[OMAC]]: One Man Army Corps. And when A-lister Superman finally appears in season three, his character-centric episode consists of half an hour of [[Ascended Meme|nods]] to [[Superdickery.com]].

Considering there are several, more serious Batman cartoons still in recent memory, this series can be considered fairly polarizing. Many fans feel that it's a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek throwback to [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] and animated adaptations thereof as well as a way to showcase otherwise less marketable characters. Others think think it's a step backwards from the writing, voice acting, and animation style of the [[DCAU]] shows, and feel that it's dumbing things down a little. <ref>Particularly, the episodes written by J.M. DeMatteis are ''significantly'' weirder than the other ones and have caught some flak for it.</ref> In either case, the massive number of obscure cameos and canon throwback jokes make the whole series into a big, campy collection of [[Continuity Porn]].

There's a [[Musical Episode]] starring [[Neil Patrick Harris]]. And there is a crossover with ''[[Scooby Doo]]''. Which also animates an old [[Mad Magazine]] parody. And stars [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]. And there's also a crossover with ''[[Space Ghost]]''.

* [[The Ace]]: This take on Batman returns him to the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] roots, where he has a gizmo for every circumstance, defeats every foe (most of the time single handed, regardless of his partner of the week), almost never has any real challenge from the villains, and every female super hero is madly in love with him.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', [[Will Friedle]] played Terry McGinnis, a high-school student who recently became a [[Power Armor]]-wearing hero and had to learn the ropes from Batman. In this series, Friedle plays Jaime Reyes, a high-school student who recently--yourecently—you get the idea.

* [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration]]: Batman appears to be taking speech lessons from [[Fairly Oddparents|The Crimson Chin.]]

* [[Adam Westing]]: "Chill of the Night!" goes [[Serial Escalation|the extra mile]]. We have Adam West and Julie Newmar [[Batman (TV series)|(Batman and Catwoman)]] as Thomas and Martha Wayne. [[Batman: The Animated Series|Kevin Conroy]] plays the [[The Phantom Stranger]] and [[The Joker|Mark Hamill]] plays [[The Spectre]], making a wager for Batman's soul. In a story focused on the death of Bruce Wayne's parents, written by [[The DCAU|Paul Dini]].

* [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: As seen when the Red Tornado attempts to build a son with emotions.

* [[Antagonist in Mourning]]: Barry Allen's entire [[Rogues Gallery]]. Subverted in "Emperor Joker!" - after killing Bats, Joker gives him a brief eulogy, then promptly resurrects him and puts him through a [[Death Montage]].

** Blue Beetle also seems to be the only one excited to work with [[Large Ham|AQUAMAN]].

** "Darkseid Descending!" has Booster Gold stealing Green Lantern's bedroom on the Watchtower.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Wildcat. He battles against a giant blob man with his bare hands, and still fights crime despite an ailing heart, and being at least 60.

* [[Bad Santa]]: Fun Haus uses evil robot Santas--whichSantas—which are swiftly [[Doctor Who|becoming their own subtrope]]-- as—as [[Mecha-Mooks]].

* [[Batman Cold Open]]: Each episode begins with one, appropriately enough-- theenough—the only exceptions to date being "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", "Deep Cover For Batman!" and "Game Over For Owlman!" (which is the sequel to "Deep Cover")

* [[BLAMNon Sequitur Episode]]: "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" It features [[Scooby Doo]] dancing the polka... and that's one of the more sane moments.

** Billy Batson gets gagged by Dr. Sivana's children in "The Power of Shazam!" to prevent him from sayng "Shazam".

* [[Busman's Holiday]]: "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!", a little different in that AQUAMAN willingly goes looking for adventure while on his family vacation.

** The Faceless Hunter is an obvious [[Captain Ersatz]] of the [[Silver Surfer]], with an almost completely identical backstory. Played for laughs at first, then subverted when {{spoiler|his master is killed, when it turns out that the Faceless Hunter ''isn't'' trying to save his home planet. He just genuinely likes destroying things. And then B'wana Beast ''dies''.}}

*** It's even worse than that. {{spoiler|He came from a completely peaceful planet, and as a hunter, he was a societal outcast. ''So he arranged for Starro to destroy his planet'' in exchange for letting him (the Hunter) work for him.}} That reveal served as a retroactive [[Moral Event Horizon]] for him.

* [[Casting Gag]]: [[Adam West]] and [[Batman (TV series)|Julie Newmar]] as Batman's parents. [[Batman: The Animated Series|Kevin]] [[Justice League (animation)|Conroy]] as the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.

** Tom Everett Scott and Billy West reprise their roles as Booster Gold and Skeets from ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]''.

** John Welsey Shipp played Barry Allen on the short-lived ''[[The Flash (TV series1990)|Flash]]'' live-action series in the 90s. In "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", he voiced the [[Evil Counterpart]], the Reverse-Flash/Professor Zoom.

* [[Cell Phone]]: Booster Gold has his on at all times to text his publicist, and texts during missions.

*** Blocking mind control is simple, all he has to do is [[Justice League (animation)|hum "Frere Jaques"]].

** There's also Wong Fei, the martial arts master he studied under, and his other students, the first of which can knock people around by ''[[Finger-Poke of Doom|poking them]]''.

** Their [[Mirror Universe]] counterparts use different colors, but with [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration]]: the three we meet are Blue Bowman, Scarlet Scarab, and Silver Cyclone. There's also Red Hood, counterpart to {{spoiler|the Joker}}.

** Owlman's design seems to be a mix between the Justice Lord Batman from [[Justice League (animation)|the Justice League animated series]] as well as his own from the comics.

** Black Mask's design mixes the fedora and brown suit of the original [[Bronze Age]] version with the skull-like mask of the [[Modern Age]] version.

{{quote|'''Jimmy Olsen:''' "[[Super Dickery|Superman's turned into a real d-]]"<br />

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Old Joker in "The Knights of Tomorrow".

** Mister Mind, who correctly predicted that his supervillainous minions were going to betray him once he completed the death ray he was building. Turns out it was a growth ray all along, so [[Batman Gambit|when they shot him with it it was exactly what he'd planned]] and [[Kaiju]] ensued.

* [[Deadly Dodging]]: Slacker Batman's mode of fighting.

** Subverted again in "The Mask of Matches Malone", which has Black Canary, Catwoman and Huntress tied up (and in Canary's case gagged) over a death trap, only for them to pull off an awesome last minute escape. Unsurprisingly, the episode was scripted by longtime "Birds of Prey" writer [[Gail Simone]], who has more than once stated in interviews that she detests the perception of Black Canary as a damsel in distress.

** And Proto.

** Ted Kord's heroic death has much more in common with that of [[Captain America (comics)]]'s sidekick Bucky than his actual death in the comics.

* [[Eye Lights Out]]: How we know Tornado Tyrant is "dead". Similarly, how we know Red Tornado is "dead" when the Faceless Hunter is shown dispatching the heroes that Starro couldn't control.

** It's reappeared since. Becoming the [[The Worf Effect|Worf of Batman's arsenal.]]

* [[The Gimmick]]: The Weeper is the [[Trope Maker]] in this continuity.

** In "Night of the Batmen", Plastic Man (in his own Batman outfit) has this reaction when he comes across Catwoman in her new 70's-era outfit. Catwoman herself is not too happy about this, since she was hoping to get this reaction from the real Batman.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Ted Kord.

* [[Hot Amazon]]: Huntress-- atHuntress—at least as far as Jaime's.

* [[Humans Are Special]]: Red Tornado's observation, opposite of Tornado Tyrant's [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]] perspective.

* [[Jumping on a Grenade]]: In "Plague of the Prototypes", G.I. Robot saves Batman and Easy Company by jumping on top of a landmine while storming the beaches on D-Day.

** "{{spoiler|PLATELET!}}" (cue [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]])

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: In spades, some instances of which are also [[Mythology Gag|Mythology Gags]]s (see, for example, the comment about Batman's utility belt in the first episode).

* [[Laser Hallway]]: One of the actively-hazardous variety, guarding the villain's air ducts in "Fall of the Blue Beetle!". (He could have just made the ducts too small for a superhero to fit through -- butthrough—but this isn't that kind of show.)

* [[Legacy Character]]: There've been two [[Blue Beetle|Blue Beetles]]s before Jaime: Dan Garrett and Ted Kord. Lampshaded, of course:

** [[Black Canary]] inherited her title (and, unlike in the comics, power) from her deceased mother.

** The video game has a scene in which Bane picks up Batman, [[Continuity Nod|as if to break his back...]] when suddenly, Green Arrow shows up and defeats Bane with a single arrow, then proceeds to comically tease Batman about always having to save him.

* [[Mirror Universe]]: "Deep Cover for Batman!" has a world where the heroes of Batman's earth form the evil Injustice Syndicate. Batman, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado are replaced by Owlman, [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|Scarlet Scarab, Blue Bowman, and Silver Cyclone]]. The Atom, AQUAMAN, Plastic Man, and Fire's doubles are also seen, but not named.

* [[Myth Arc]]: Or something like it. A story told entirely in [[Batman Cold Open|Batman Cold Opens]]s. Look for seastars with eyes.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: All over the place-- butplace—but now in [[Mythology Gag/Western Animation/Batman: theThe Brave Andand Thethe Bold|their own page]] for ease of reading.

* [[Obviously Evil]]: Batman, post vampirism. It doesn't stop [[Cloudcuckoolander|Ice]] from being overjoyed at the prospect of a 'sleepover' in the Watchtower.

* [[Robo Speak]]: Red Tornado has a tendency to begin his sentences with prefixes like "Observation:" and "Query:" -- although—although it doesn't seem to be an obligatory tic, because his faux-human alter-ego doesn't do it.

*** And silverfish!

** The [[Grand Finale]] opens with Batman teaming up with [[Abraham Lincoln]] to fight a [[Steampunk]] [[Cyborg]] John Wilkes Booth.

** The Haunted Tank... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuO0Gq_xO5U&playnext=1&list=PLCACB2B260E6098CC just watch]

** The video game has Gorilla Grodd turning Batman into an ape. After which AQUAMAN rides on Bat-Ape's back. And Bat-Ape swings AQUAMAN around as a ''weapon''. Their special attack consists of AQUAMAN, riding Bat-Ape, riding a ''whale''. ... Fighting armored sharks.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Enough for [[Batman: theThe Brave Andand Thethe Bold (Animation)/Shout Out|its own page]].

* [[Stock Dinosaurs]]: Dinosaur Island is stocked with triceratops, pterosaurs, and -- ofand—of course -- [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]].

** The Season 3 premier pays homage and parodies the various classic Golden Age "Super Dickery" covers after Superman gets affected by Red Kryptonite and becomes a dick.

* [[Take Care of the Kids]]: The original Black Canary's Final Speech exhorts Wildcat and the Justice Society to take care of her "little angel"... who then grows up to be the next Black Canary.

'''Bat-Mite''': Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. To be sure, this is a [[Lighter and Softer|lighter incarnation]], but it's certainly no less valid and true to the [[Batman|character's roots]] as [[True Art Is Angsty|the tortured avenger crying out for Mommy and Daddy]]. ''[makes the paper disappear]'' And besides, those Easter Bunnies looked [[Watership Down|really scary]], right?! <br />

** The finale uses Bat-Mite to parody viewers begging for a darker take on Batman.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: See AQUAMAN in [[Superfriends]]... Now see him in ''this'' series. Do I even have to spell it out? There's also the flashback teaser of "Sidekicks Assemble!", where we see a clean-shaven Aquaman say "This is outrageous!" without much emphasis and with a lighter voice. Clearly he wasn't the coolest guy ever quite yet.

** The witch-burning makes some sense, as the villagers point out that Jason Blood is constantly going on about "Black Magic". Then when they come in to arrest him, he's halfway through becoming Etrigan, thus revealing he's not ''completely'' human.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Inevitably Robin. And his fellow sidekicks Aqualad and Speedy. To some extent both Batman and Black Canary to their teachers, the JSA. And Damian to Nightwing.

* [[What Does This Button Do?]]: In "Game Over for Owlman!", Joker pesters Batman with this -- untilthis—until he encounters the [[Big Red Button]] that {{spoiler|sprays knock-out gas at the person who presses it}}.

** "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", which reveals the fate of the previous Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, borrows heavily from the comics -- notcomics—not from Ted's fate in ''Countdown to Infinite Crisis'' (2005) (which wouldn't really have fit the vibe of this series), but from the fate of ''Ted's'' predecessor, as revealed in ''Blue Beetle'' #2 (1967).

[[Category:Batman: The Brave And The Bold{{PAGENAME}}]]