The Batman

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"They all said I was sick in the head... They said, I needed help. Well, maybe I am a bit batty. Blame it on the bats in my belfry." (Evil Laugh)

—The Joker

An Animated Adaptation of Batman that aired between 2004 and 2008, The Batman is the story of a young Bruce Wayne solving crimes and beating up villains. It was the first Batman cartoon made outside the DCAU since the latter debuted with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Tending to be much more action-oriented than plot-oriented, the show lasted for five seasons. It was the first Batman series to show certain obscure comic villains such as Cluemaster.

The series also did a mix up of traditional DC Comics lore, primarily that Batgirl shows up as Batman's partner before Robin. Later on it showed Batman as being the primary organizer of the Justice League and convincing Superman it was a good idea. (Normally Superman and Martian Manhunter are credited with the League's concept and formation.)

The show was produced by Duane Capizzi and characters were designed by Jeff Matsuda, most famous for their work on Jackie Chan Adventures and there is plenty of resemblance between the two shows, mostly the art style and the frantic action scenes. In the fourth season Alan Burnett of B:TAS was brought in as showrunner, resulting in a dramatic shift into exploring the greater DCU universe outside of specifically Batman and his Rogues Gallery.

Also notable in regards to its movie, The Batman vs. Dracula. It spun a comic series, "The Batman Strikes", which lasted for 50 issues. Not to be confused with the Columbia Pictures 1943 serial The Batman. Also not to be confused with the 2022 film.

Not to Be Confused With an Expy OF Batman.


Tropes used in The Batman include:
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Everything. Batarangs can casually slice through metal like a hot knife through butter, even by someone with no training with them (like Alfred). Likewise, pretty much any bladed weapon is capable of slicing through steel or whole trees with no effort.
  • Acrofatic: The Penguin Took a Level in Badass compared to his other incarnations; this was downplayed in later episodes due to the controversy this caused.
  • Adam Westing: A rather epic example, as Adam West himself appears... as the mayor of Gotham.
  • Adaptational Badass: The Penguin benefited the most from this, being transformed from a guy with a deformity using gimmicky umbrellas into an Acrofatic martial artist who happens to be a criminal mastermind to boot. And somehow has control over the kabuki twins.
    • The Joker also got this treatment, especially early on. His overall design (he started out pretty much barefoot) and way of movement made him seem more like a criminally-insane Tarzan (it helps that his first outfit was basically a straitjacket with tie-dyed sleeves); his ape-like nature lent itself to his fighting style. Later on, he became more like his Batman: The Animated Series incarnation, standing up straighter, wearing the trademark purple suit (though he still goes shoe-free) and generally acting more like that incarnation. On the other hand, he does go the extra mile to inflict his own brand of Mind Rape.
  • Adaptation Distillation: Several villains including Clayface, The Riddler, Poison Ivy, and Professor Hugo Strange, who was featured as a major villain for most of the show. While the B:TAS version of Clayface was as at most sympathetic, The Batman made him to be an outright tragic figure.
    • Harley Quinn came through with only minor differences to her TAS incarnation (not surprising, as her original creator Paul Dini wrote her episode.)
  • Adaptational Weakling:
    • Rupert Thorne in Batman: The Animated Series was a formidable crime boss, one who kept both Batman and Bruce Wayne on his toes owing to how many fingers he kept in pies. He was indirectly responsible for Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face, and bringing Bane to Gotham City. The Batman pilot shows Batman tracking down and arresting Rupert Thorne within three years of crimefighting, as the latter can only beg for mercy. During the show's tie-in comics, however, Thorne got more to do.
    • Harley Quinn didn't fare well during her debut "Two of A Kind". Like Rupert Thorne, she was shown to be a Hypercompetent Sidekick and Number Two during the Joker, outsmarting people around her while showing she could kick their ass, either with her gymnastics skills or hyenas. While The Batman's Dr. Harleen Quinzel impresses "Mr. J" when she orders the hyenas to sit, she's nowhere near as badass as the original Harley. For one, she's not an actual MD, having gotten an online degree, while original Harley got her MD and was completing her intern year at Arkham before Joker seduced her to a life of crime. The Batman version of the Joker even lampshades while watching her talk show that she has no training or professional manner. For another, she can't even throw a punch at Batman when he crashes the "date" she's having with the Joker. He unmasks her easily. And for a kicker, she openly announced to the Joker that her plan was to use him as a subject in an upcoming book, and would split the profits with him if he revealed all his secrets to her. Joker used the opportunity to convince her to go on a crime spree for "research". "Mad Love" Dr. Quinzel was aware that Joker was a trickster, and he needed to use more subtle means to get her on his side. Batman was sympathetic during his Brutal Honesty that Joker groomed Harley, while Harley was holding Batman in a Death Trap, telling her that Joker has a habit of telling convincing sob stories to anyone who could help him evade prison or Arkham.
    • Comic and BTAS Poison Ivy is a Well-Intentioned Extremist and eco-terrorist who alternates between wanting to punish humanity for hurting the planet and using her brainwashing powers to commit crime or get revenge on people who crossed her. Just ask BTAS Harvey Dent, who still hates her in his Two-Face form because she tried to kill them while they were engaged. She's nearly killed Batman a few times, usually with poison. The Batman iteration of Poison Ivy is a teenager named Pamela Isley that was still an eco-terrorist, but more dumb and impulsive than competent, and that's before she gets coated in corporate chemicals that give her plant powers. Batman and her former best friend Barbara Gordon recognize that the chemicals may be affecting her brain, and try to reason with her. She still has her vines, mind-control powers, and ability to clone people using plants, but not-so much the capability for long-term reasoning. A tie-in comic even lampshades this when she and Harley Quinn bust out of Arkham; despite the two butting heads, Harley recognizes that Ivy is just a "kid" compared to her and tries to be a mentor during their night of crime. Batman and Commissioner Gordon lampshade that compared to how dangerous Ivy could be, they were lucky that the worst the two did was brainwash a restaurant into serving them a fancy dinner and growing a forest in a football field.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: D.A.V.E, though subverted later in the episode.
  • Alien Invasion: The Joining
  • Animesque: Not as much as Teen Titans, but still noticeable. Comes from the same animators as Jackie Chan Adventures.
  • Art Evolution: Batman originally had a very pointed chin (which is much different than almost any other incarnation where he has a Lantern Jaw of Justice) but when Robin came into the picture they gave him a slightly more square jaw.
  • Asshole Victim: Both Chief Rojas and the Joker almost become this, both at the hand of Ethan Bennett/Clayface I. Rojas for basically treating Ethan like crap and the Joker for the Mind Rape he put Ethan through and the fact that the chemicals the Joker exposed him to basically was what made him into Clayface.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever - Joker 2.0 decides that size does matter.
  • Badass Boast: Traction;

Bane: I am Bane. The last opponent you will ever face.

  • Badass Longcoat - D.A.V.E from the episode "Gotham's ultimate criminal Mastermind
  • Bad Boss - Scarface... even to his own ventriloquist.
    • Black Mask, too.
  • Basement Dweller - Cluemaster
  • Batman Gambit: Riddler has set fake bombs all over the city that can only be deactivated by solving various puzzles. This is actually a diversion so that he can break into the City Hall database undisturbed and steal important information. He actually got away with it!!! (Until he had a Villainous Breakdown)
  • Bedlam House: Three guesses, first two don't count. Arkham! This time it's portrayed as an extremely tall gothic building complete with prison cell-like rooms and padded walls. Oh, and the guards pretty much have the authority to carry around tasers and dress in robes that make them look like they're prepared to do a lobotomy on a second's notice.
  • Berserk Button - Don't ever call Scarface "dummy"...though, of course, he has no problem calling his ventriloquist this.
    • The Riddler doesn't like being called "Champ".
  • Betrayal Insurance: When Batman got a piece of kryptonite off of Metallo, not only did he keep it, he lied about giving it back (he gave Supes a fake one and kept the real one). He did it to "get even" with Superman for finding out his identity. However, by the end of the episode, it's the idealistic version, as they have settled their differences, and when Batman offers to give Supes the real kryptonite, Superman says to keep it. It still goes to show you that Batman really doesn't like anyone being nearly as Crazy Prepared as him.
  • Big No: When, as a result of his plan ends with the death of his son (and everyone else) Francis Grey shouts one so powerful that it causes him to travel back in time 17 years (as opposed to his normal ability of 20 seconds) and avoid making every mistake that led to him becoming a criminal, and having his life turn out OK in the "present".
  • Bittersweet Ending: The show tended to pull these off as seasons went on.
  • Bodyguard: GCPD assigns a cop as a bodyguard for Bruce Wayne in "Cash for Toys", because the villain of the week, Krank, was trying to murder Wayne in revenge for shutting down his company down on the grounds that the toys endangered kids. Only problem is that the bodyguard was Cash Tankinson, probably the worst guy for the job as a Small Name, Big Ego cop. Bruce has to figure out how to ditch Cash, who is more competent than he looks at bodyguard duty, so as to catch Krank.* Bond One Liners all over the place, though the people so mocked never actually die. This, coming from the traditionally grim and silent Batman, may have caused some distaste in more militant fans (thankfully, he generally stopped these once Batgirl and Robin appeared to take them over.)
    • It gave us this:

A man walks into a bar and says "Ouch". - Batman, to the Joker.

    • Alfred gets one of the above, and Batman gets a traditional one in The Movie before Dracula perishes.
    • Played with in the episode Seconds, where the Save Scumming villain actually rewinds time until he can give a good one-liner.
  • Brother Chuck - Detective Ellen Yin never appeared after the second season. She's only even mentioned in one episode set in the future, though she has a pretty awesome apparent future. Likewise, Chief Rojas isn't seen or mentioned since Season 2.
    • Marion Grange had gotten reelected as Gotham's Mayor in Season 3, but by the time we see the mayor of Gotham again (in Season 5), Grange was replaced by Hamiliton Hill.
  • Butt Monkey - The Penguin seems to be the Butt Monkey of almost every episode he's ever made an apearence in, no matter how short it was. Heck, he was the movie's Butt Monkey!
    • Actually, he wasn't the Butt Monkey (for once) in "Team Penguin" (which is slightly ironic), and that was because Killer Moth was!
  • Canon Foreigner - Ethan Bennett, Chief Rojas, Tremblor, The Kabuki Twins, Krank, D.A.V.E, Scorn.
    • Scorn is an odd case. A recent Batman Confidential arc had the Wrath's sidekick taking over the mantle. He was never named, but Scorn predated him... So he's still a canon foreigner, but much less so than the others.
  • Captain Ersatz - Quite a few
    • The Joining's MO seemed a lot like Braniac's.
    • Rumor was very similar to Lock-Up
    • If Tony Zucco's "family" of goons reminded anyone of the Spider-Man villain group, the Enforcers, well, Jeff Matsuda confirmed that were based on them.
    • Chief Rojas seemed to be Harvey Bullock with a higher rank (both are overweight cops who hate Batman). That said, Harvey was is less of Jerkass than Rojas.
    • D.A.V.E is an expy/homage to H.A.R.D.A.C from Batman: The Animated Series with a name based on Dave Bowman from 2001ASpaceOdyssey. Might double as a Mythology Gag under some interpretations.
  • Cardboard Prison - Arkham Asylum, in classic tradition.
  • Chekhov's Gunman - Hugo Strange makes his first appearance in one brief scene in season 2's "Meltdown", testifying for Ethan Bennet's sanity. He would go on to become a villain of nigh Big Bad levels in the next few seasons.
  • The Chessmaster: Riddler, Hugo Strange, Black Mask
  • Composite Character - Firefly becomes this is Season 5, when he came into contact with an isotope and gained the powers and (partly) the codename of minor Batman baddie Doctor Phosphorus. Additionally a couple of the characters, namely the Penguin and the Flash (confirmed by Word of God) are Composite Characters of different incarnations and adaptations of themselves throughout the years.
    • Both Batgirl and Robin appear to be composites of two different characters to hold their title. Robin has the identity and back story of Dick Greyson, while the suit and aspects of the personality of Tim Drake. Batgirl has the name, hair color, and family ties of Barbara Gordon, but the personality and age of Stephanie Brown (her costume however is completely unique, but bares ome esemblence to Spoiler, Brown's pre-Batgirl name, and partial aspects of her Robin costume).
  • Media Research Failure: Several online descriptions for DVD sales of season one would describe the series as taking place after Batman Begins. Here's one of them.
  • Criminal Mind Games: Riddler's hobby. Hugo Strange also loves playing mind games.
  • Crossover - The DVD movie, The Batman vs Dracula. And it is awesome.
  • Curb Stomp Battle - Batman's first fight with Bane, which likely averts a number of tropes for fictional violence, ends with Batman badly injured. Both Alfred and the cops assume Batman suffered multiple fractures, Alfred even suggests internal bleeding, and Batman is out of action for weeks until he can recover.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check - Deconstructed with the Riddler. His Start of Darkness shows how people would just take advantage of the supervillain's intellect for their own ends and throw him away. Comes with the double burn points that the Riddler initially tried to get public acknowledgment for his inventions instead of selling them for profits.
  • Dating Catwoman - It just wouldn't be Batman without it.
  • Darker and Edgier: The Batman vs Dracula was this to the main series when it was released, with Nightmare Fuel by the gallons. When season 4 came along, the episodes were generally considered to have a much better written and more mature tone.
  • Destined Bystander - Ethan Bennet
  • Does Not Like Shoes - The Joker
    • And Poison Ivy
  • Driving Test Smashers - To Barbara Gordon
  • Drop What You Are Doing - The old lady twins drop their teacups to shatter when Solomon Grundy shows up.
  • Early-Bird Cameo - According to Jeff Matsuda, while Gordon officially debuted in "Night and the City", Gordon was also the young officer that comforted Bruce in the flashback in "Traction," but said it wasn't a tie-in to Batman Begins.
  • Enemy Mine: The invasion of the Joining in season 4's finale forces the Arkham crowd to work with the police: the Joker sees terrorizing Gotham as his job, while the others just want to stay alive. This leads to scenes like Gordon and Freeze working together to take out an alien.

 'Joker: This town's gone MAD! (laughs}

  • Entertainingly Wrong: A couple of far-future archaeologists who are excavating the Batcave have a few conclusions like this. They think Oracle's wheelchair belonged to Alfred, for example, and after seeing a portrait of the Wayne family (Bruce and his parents), they conclude that Thomas Wayne was Batman, and Bruce was Robin.
  • Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting - Despite common exaggeration, mostly just present with Penguin and the Joker in earlier appearances.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - Hawkman and Flash were never referred to by their real names. However, comments made by Hawkman about fighting criminals on two planets and the Batcave looking like Thangar Police headquarters hint that Hawkman was Silver Age alien cop Katar Hol and Word of God said Flash, despite his personality, was Barry Allen.
  • Evil Albino - Man-Bat and his human form are both albinos.
  • Evil Counterpart: Wrath and Scorn for Batman and Robin, respectively.
  • Evil Laugh - The Penguin's evil laugh is all kinds of crazy awesome.
  • Executive Meddling - Some of the intellectual property from Batman was being used in multiple adaptations (all owned by the Warner Brothers, however). Not wanting to create conflict between different adaptations' interpretations of characters, some things were off-limits for the writing staff. Here are specific examples:
    • Robin was forbidden from appearing until Teen Titans was canceled, meaning Batgirl actually becomes a sidekick first, which makes for an interesting mythology shake-up and promotes her from the usual third-fiddle.
    • Some of the villains used in the Dark Knight Trilogy, most notably Scarecrow and Two-Face, were also forbidden from appearing. Clayface was used in place of Two-Face for the "best friend turned into a criminal" schtick. The episode "Strange New World" was written to introduce Scarecrow, but once the writing staff found out that he was still off-limits, they opted to go with Professor Hugo Strange instead.
    • All of the above is very ironic, considering the "Bat-Embargo" this series imposed onto Justice League Unlimited (another reason for the dislike The Batman gets)
  • Express Lane Limit: When Joker goes Bat-mimic he Joker-gasses people for whatever 'crimes' he notices. Littering (can hits the bin and bounces out), jaywalking, and 11 items at a ten or fewer checkout; tsk tsk.
  • Expy - Ellen Yin and Ethan Bennett are more or less counterparts of Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. Which is a bit funny because Renee Montoya originated in B:TAS and became a Canon Immigrant.
    • Detective Ellen Yin also heavily resembles Elisa Maza transposed into the Batman universe. She even wears the same outfit. Interestingly, Greg Weisman also wrote a handful of episodes for the series.
    • Also, Ethan Bennett is Harvey Dent. From the long friendship with Bruce right down to calling Batman "Bats," a la Harvey from The Long Halloween.
      • A interesting case of the Bat embargo. During the "interviews" segments they reveal due to Teen Titans they were restricted in who they could use.
  • Exty Years From Now - half of the episode "Artifacts" takes place in the year 3027 where a team of archaeologists find the Batcave in hopes to stop a still-living Mr. Freeze.
  • Face Heel Turn - Clayface AKA Ethan Bennet, after trying hard to go back to his normal life, becomes Clayface after being prodded by the Joker. He later does a Heel Face Turn.
  • Family-Friendly Firearms - Played straight throughout the series itself as the guns used were pretty futuristic-looking and on the few occasions handguns were fired, they sounded like lasers or silenced shots. Lapses into Abnormal Ammo in "Night and the City," when Rojas and a SWAT team uses guns that fired what could be called "tiny tasers." Subverted in The Batman VS. Dracula, where the GCPD SWAT team still had futuristic-looking machine guns, but the guns fired normal bullets and the gunshots sounded more like actual machine gun fire.
  • Fainting: Completely justified for Tony Zucco in "A Matter of Family". He's just had his ass handed to him by a very angry Batman, then fallen from the top of a trapeze, only to be caught by Robin before he hits the ground. Once he's back on solid ground, he understandably faints dead away.
  • Fat Bastard: The Penguin. No surprise there.
  • Foe Yay: In finest Batman tradition. Joker creepily told Bats "You complete me"
    • Also somewhat between Pamela Isley and Barbara Gordon, even moreso in "The Batman Strikes".
  • Freud Was Right: Invoked in Harley Quinn's introductory episode, after Batman points out the reasons for Joker's interest in Harley.

 Batgirl: And join us next week, when Batman analyzes the Freudian implications of Penguin's umbrella.

  • Future Badass - Robin Nightwing.
  • Future Imperfect: They don't quite get the details of Batman's life right in "Artifacts".
  • Gender Flip - Marion Grange. While the show portrays Grange as a man, the comics version was a woman.
  • Genius Bruiser - Killer Croc, especially when compared with his Dumb Muscle portrayal in Batman: The Animated Series. Ironically, this is much closer to his original comic characterization, before Flanderisation kicked in.
  • Genre Savvy DAVE pretty much saw everything Batman threw at him coming, including the great line "I guess you want your tracking device back" to Batman, who is not only behind him but has not revealed himself yet.
  • Genre Blindness - Characters make numerous infractions in logic and judgment during the early seasons. However since the show was supposed to be about younger, less experienced characters, that may have been the idea.
  • Gentleman Thief - Ostensibly the Penguin, though "gentleman" probably isn't the word for him.
  • Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: In one episode, Batman actually tries to make sense of The Joker. By the end, it is safe to say that Batman figures out that doing this is an exercise of futility and madness.
  • Groin Attack: Vicki Vale does one on The Penguin in The Batman vs Dracula. And his reaction is hilarious.
  • Hatedom: This series has a hard time living in the shadow of Batman: The Animated Series and the DCAU in general.
  • Hand Wave - The Penguin was noted to have masterminded a crime spree across Asia prior to his introductory appearance, allowing his inexplicable fighting ability to be chalked up to having "picked up a few things" while there.
  • Heel Face Turn - Kirk Langstrom, Francis Grey, Ethan Bennett.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity - Batman, before the end of the second season when Gordon becomes commissioner.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: When Gearhead tries to hijack the new Batmobile in his debut episode, he gets nonfatally electrocuted because Bruce equipped it with nanotech defenses reverse-engineered from Gearhead.
  • Humongous Mecha - Mr. Freeze's exo-suit in "Artifacts," Scarface's new body in "The Big Dummy", and even the Batman has a mecha of his own.
  • The Hyena: The Joker, of course, and he does a hell of a lot more laughing for no reason at all.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: One of the biggest gripes the Hatedom repeated eternally was that every Batman villain now seemed to know martial arts. Others appreciated that it was to give him more direct, action-filled conflict with the villains instead of trailing around after them, running through a death trap, and then taking them out after two dodges and a single punch and/or Batarang.
  • Ironic Echo: Sort of, the Joker says it twice but The Joker Moon in the episode "Strange Minds" yells out "Egad! A Batman in my belfry!" which brings the second quote of this page's quotes to its literal meaning.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: As with his predecessor, this Freeze peppers his speech with ice puns in most of his appearances. Luckily, it's not nearly as jarring most of the time. Maybe it's the voice?
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Penguin, as usual.
  • Ink Suit Actor - From "The Everywhere Man," John Marlowe and Clea resembled their respective voice actors, Brandon Routh (albeit with red hair) and Allison Mack.
  • It Got Worse - The episode "The Metal Face of Comedy." All of it.
  • The Jailer - Rumor
  • Jerkass - The Penguin, in sharp contrast to his usual polite personality. Chief Rojas is one, too, seeing his treatment of Ethan Bennett and to a lesser extent Yin. And oddly enough Superman,of all people, was one in his debut, though he does learn to get over it.
    • To be fair, The Penguin in this version seems to be based more on the Batman Returns incarnation, and we all know that he was no gentleman in that.
  • Jobber - Bane in most every fight with Batman and his allies after his first appearance.
  • The Juggernaut: Bane in his debut.
  • Knife-Throwing Act - There is an episode where Batman is captured and the villain proves to be an amazing knife thrower, first intentionally missing the pinned Batman in the typical circus act manner before going for a killing shot.
  • Large Ham - The Joker. And how.
  • Laser-Guided Karma - In TBvD, when Joker shocks Penguin with two joy-buzzers and tosses him in the river, Penguin recovers just in time to see Batman swing after a retreating Joker. He nearly drops the trope name!:

  Penguin: Instant karma, Joker!

  • Leitmotif - Several, most noticeably Batman's theme, which is everywhere, and The Joker's which is almost as prevalent, in his appearances anyway.
    • Robin also has a very brief but very noticeable (as it pretty much plays whenever he does anything) twinging riff associated with him.
  • Lock and Load Montage - Every. Freakin'. Episode.
    • Even the Joker got one the episode he decided to try being Batman.
    • A particularly awesome one occurs in The Batman vs. Dracula when Batman suits up with all his new vampire-busting gear.
  • Mad Doctor - Hugo Strange.
  • Merchandise-Driven - The first season, anyway. It got better afterwards.
  • Mind Rape - Ethan Bennett undergoes this at the hand of the Joker shortly before his transformation into Clayface.
  • Mini-Mecha: The Bat-Bots.
  • Mismatched Eyes - Gearhead
  • Monster Clown - He seems to have dreadlocks this time around. Makes a certain sense, as this version doesn't seem to wash.
    • His wild hair also resembles a Jester's hat.
  • Mythology Gag - It is, after all, Batman. There's tons to draw from in terms of mythology gags.
    • The future-based episode "Artifacts" has a scene where an aged Batman (looking similar to Millerverse old Batman) steps out of his Batmobile to fight Mr. Freeze. Freeze greets him with the words: "The Dark Knight Returns!".
    • Alfred also resembles his countperart from the story, being a lot older and needing to use a cane to walk around.
    • There's also a tank-like Batmobile ala TDKR.
    • In the same episode, Robin and Batgirl assume their present-day comic identites of Nightwing and Oracle respectively.
    • One of the future cops (incorrectly) suspects that Thomas Wayne was Batman and his son Bruce was Robin due to records lost or incomplete. In several versions of the comics, Thomas dressed as a "Bat-Man" (resembling 1930s Batman) during Halloween and a costume party, while in early comics, a young Bruce briefly dons a costumed identity as Robin.
    • Ellen Yin seemed to be based off on Ellen Yindel. from The Dark Knight Returns and is hinted in "Artifacts" to have replaced Gordon as Commissioner like Yindel did in TDKR.
    • In the same episode during some speculation, Robin and Batgirl are referred to respectively as Red Robin and Batwoman.
    • Mr. Freeze suffered a similar, though less severe, deterioration as his Batman: The Animated Series incarnation and hence has replaced his legs with robotic spider legs.
    • The Bat-Bot resembles the Bat-Knights from Kingdom Come.
    • The design for Commissioner Gordon is very reminiscent of how Tim Sale drew him in The Long Halloween.
    • The season one finale gives the Joker some very similar lines to those of his counterpart in The Killing Joke:

 "A very thin line separates normality from insanity."
"All it takes is one rotten day to transform a normal man into a monster... Well, in my case, a rotten day and a chemical bath!"

 Catwoman: (driving the batmobile) What's this do?
Batman: Curiosity killed the cat.
Catwoman: Kitty's curious about more than just your wheels... Come on, what's under the hood, handsome?
Batman: Ladies first.

  • Race Lift: Mercy Graves turns from Caucasian to half-Asian thanks to the casting of Singaporean actress Gwendoline Yeo. Hamilton Hill and Mark Desmond (the alter-ego of the original Blockbuster) are African-American. Ellen Yin seems to be an Asian-American version of Ellen Yindel fron The Dark Knight Returns
  • Reasonable Authority Figure - Mayor Grange and, of course, Commissioner Gordon.
  • Recursive Adaptation - Lucius Fox. The show version of him is based on his incarnation in The Dark Knight Saga--he's an old friend of Thomas Wayne's, is an armorer for Batman, knows Bruce Wayne is Batman (though not just implied like in Begins, but openly stated by both Lucius and Bruce themselves), and is modeled on Morgan Freeman.
  • Remember the New Guy? - Subverted. Commissioner Gordon, of course, and Lucius Fox are fixtures from the comics, but in the terms of the show, aside from a (generally-believed and later confirmed) cameo of a young Gordon, they fit this trope to a T.
  • Retool: The third season takes a notable turn in terms of the feel of the show, a new retro 60s go-go Adam West meets Hawaii 5-0 themesong, turning it into the Batgirl show introducing sidekicks, and adding other superheroes.
  • Rich Idiot With No Day Job - Batman and the Penguin (granted, he's not really rich but maintains the appearance of being rich) to some extent.
  • Rogues Gallery - Wouldn't be Batman without it.
  • Rule of Cool - Seriously, The Batman vs. Dracula.
  • Sadistic Choice - D.A.V.E offers on to Batman in the season three finale. Batman decides to Take a Third Option....only for D.A.V.E to have anticipated it.
  • Sdrawkcab Name - Dr. Alucard, anthropologist, complete with displays of Genre Blindness all around.
  • Shout-Out - D.A.V.E., a corrupted AI, to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also, the passengers and crew on a yacht in the opening of "The Big Chill" are parodies of Gilligan, the Skipper, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, and Ginger. (The Professor and Mary Ann presumably aren't wealthy enough to make the trip.)
    • More shout outs are done with Gearhead who's costume is a reference to Enter the Dragon and his face behind the mask harkens back to another character voiced by Will Friedle.
    • Tony Zucco has three henchmen - his brothers. They consist of a dapper looking gentleman who is good with a whip, a big man who is very strong, and a very short but very agile scrapper: a reference to Marvel comics' trio of henchmen-for-hire, The Enforcers.
  • Slow Clap - The ending of "Fire and Ice".
  • Smarter Than You Look: The Penguin is actually not entirely as idiotic as he let's on...
  • Stop Copying Me: One of Robin's lines when he's dealing with a mirror clone of himself mimicking his words.
  • Time Skip - Season 5 picks up a year after Season 4. As a result Batgirl's in college and Gotham has a new mayor. Before that, Season 4 started sometime after Season 3, which is why Batman is now drawn as older looking.
  • Title Drop - Nearly everyone, from civilians to the cops to his biggest enemies to the man himself tends to use "The Batman" as apposed to just "Batman" when talking about him. It's a lot more noticeable in the earlier episodes, though.
    • In "Artifacts", they say that they didn't find Batman, all they found was Artifacts.
    • Penguin does this quite a bit in "Team Penguin".

  Penguin: Team Penguin is not up for debate!

  • They Plotted a Perfectly Good Waste - Chief Rojas is probably one of the most unlikable and unreasonable characters in the show, which was probably used to establish that the Gotham Police are unpleasant at best, corrupt at worst.
  • Those Two Bad Guys - Punch and Jude, the Joker's two henchmen.
  • Tomato Surprise - The episode 'Strange New World'.
  • Twenty Minutes Into the Future - The other half "Artifacts" takes place in 2027, detailing Batman (looking much like his counterpart in The Dark Knight Returns and driving a tank-like Batmobible ala TDKR) and Robin Nightwing confront Freeze (resembling a less-severely deteriorated version of the latter version of Batman: The Animated Series Freeze in a giant exo-suit) for the last time with Batgirl Oracle and an older Alfred (also ala TDKR.) helping them from the Batcave and Gordon's retired from the force. It's also said in this segment that Ellen replaced Gordon as Commissioner and Ethan Bennett rejoined the force and replaced Rojas as Chief.
  • Two Words: Obvious Trope - invoked in-show when the Batmobile missed ramming Mister Freeze. "Two words, Batman: snow tires." At least it appeared to miss ramming Mister Freeze.
  • Ultimate Universe - Quite possibly, the show may have meant to be this.
  • Unflinching Walk: Penguin does this after he blows up a TV display in Bird of Prey.
  • Ungrateful Bastard - Chief Rojas and other police officers are rescued by Batman on multiple occasions. Does Chief Rojas give a damn? Batman may be a vigilante, but really now, there's no need to be such a Jerkass to him over it...
  • Vein-O-Vision - in The Batman vs. Dracula, how vampires see their prey.
  • The Villain Must Be Punished: In Dick Grayson's debut, he and Bruce Wayne agree on one thing: Tony Zucco must be brought to justice after he kills the Flying Graysons; Dick was only spared by sheer luck of hearing the unscrewed trapeze bolts just as he was about to go onstage. Bruce says that he never found his parents' killer, and wants to give Dick the closure he never received. This of course leads to Dick finding out that his new adopted father is Batman while wandering around Wayne Manor and insists that he needs to come along to make sure Zucco is caught. Bruce refuses because Dick is a kid, it's past the boy's bedtime, and Tony Zucco is too dangerous for a child to confront. Dick of course tracks down Batman just as Zucco is having some fun tossing knives at a captive Bat, and manages to rescue Zucco from a deadly fall while disguised with a mask and his trapeze uniform. When Batman asks why Dick did that, Dick said that he wanted Zucco to receive justice, as the man is led away in handcuffs. Batman says Dick can become his sidekick; he just needs a name.
  • Villain Team-Up - Mister Freeze and Firefly decide that fire and ice would be a winning combination in one episode. Later, "Team Penguin" is formed when the Penguin gathers several second-tier villains into a criminal gang, pooling their talents to even the odds against Batman and his sidekicks.
  • Villainous Harlequin - Harley Quinn, naturally.
  • Waif Fu - Batgirl and Robin are pretty small. However with their incredibly agile skills, they're pretty formidable and effective crime fighters. Also, Penguin's hench wenches, the Kabuki Twins. Slender and elegant yet lethal killing machines.
  • What Could Have Been: As mentioned in Executive Meddling, the original idea of what became Strange New World, the villain was the Scarecrow, but as he was still off-limits, he was replaced with Hugo Strange. However, given the episode's plot, it was probably for the best as he'd have given the twist away. Likewise, a proposed but rejected idea of a follow-up DTV to The Batman VS. Dracula would be an adaption of Hush. Likewise, the villain on Rumors was originally supposed to have been Hush, too.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: While most villains who came into great power were pieces of work before then, this is still used occasionally, particularly with Clayface, with whom it's all but outright stated that the use of his power causes him to becomes unhinged, unstable and destructive, unless he works very hard at controlling himself (which fails. A lot).
    • This depends greatly on the Clayface in question however. Clayface I's insanity is derived mostly from the horrific mental trauma that he suffers from Joker before becoming Clayface. The second one plays this straight.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: As Batman puts it in the spin-off "The Batman Strikes" comic series, Poison Ivy means well but her methods are insane.
  • While Rome Burns: The Season 4 finale has Alfred and Lucius Fox drinking tea as the Joining destroys Gotham and ash falls like snow before deciding that they still can help Batman, albeit from the Batcave.
  • Wilhelm Scream: In "The Breakout" one of Black Mask's henchman takes a fall and makes a very familiar shriek on the way down.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Behold! Batman punching an old lady in the face!

 "You...did know she was a plant...right?"

  • silence*
  • You Just Told Me: This clip from the episode "Strange Minds".
  • Zombie Apocalypse: In the episode "Strange New World", Professor Hugo Strange releases a toxin that tranforms everyone into zombies into Gotham. Batman does all he can to find an antitode, only to realize at the last moment that the zombies are just an illusion Strange created and the antidote he created is actually Strange's real toxin. Dracula tried to start one in The Movie, if you count vampires as zombies.
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