A Gotham police blimp picks up a blip as a bat-winged figure flies by. The figure flies to Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, robs the place, and assaults a guard. A tape recorder the guard was fooling around with picks up a loud screech.
The next day, Commissioner Gordon reprimands detective Harvey Bullock for giving an unauthorized interview in which he names Batman, a mysterious, costumed vigilante, as the police's main suspect. Bullock insists that he'll catch Batman regardless and appeals to Mayor Hill for a tactical squad to assist in the capture. The mayor approves the squad, despite Gordon's objections. D.A. Harvey Dent promises to build an airtight case against Batman if Bullock can bring him in.
Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Batman discusses the attack, newspaper headline, and a series of burglaries on other pharmaceutical companies with Alfred. He goes to Phoenix Labs to investigate the scene of the crime, but is spotted while entering the facility.
Batman investigates the scene of the attack and recovers a hair-like filament and the tape recorder. However, Bullock's SWAT team arrives and he is forced to fight his way out. Commissioner Gordon arrives midway through the raid and reveals that Bullock is chasing the wrong suspect—another robbery has just taken place in a pharmaceutical lab on the opposite side of town.
Bruce Wayne takes the hair and a copy of the recording to Gotham Zoo and gives them to chiropterologists (scientists who study bats) Dr. March; Dr. Francine Langstrom, March's daughter; and her husband, Dr. Kirk Langstrom. Dr. March later calls Wayne and claims the hair belongs to a common brown bat, while the recording is of brown bats and starlings fighting. Bruce immediately recognizes this as a lie; he had already analyzed the sounds and hair in the Batcave without success. When he rechecks the sample, his computer confirms that the hair and sounds do not match either starlings or brown bats. The scene cuts to one of the scientists destroying the hair and recording.
Dr. Kirk Langstrom is shown taking drugs from Phoenix Labs, apparently struggling to suppress something. Batman arrives and confronts him. Langstrom reveals that Dr. March developed a formula to create a bat-human hybrid. He was unwilling to actually test it, however, so Langstrom volunteered. However, Langstrom became addicted to the formula and began stealing the chemicals needed to continue making it. Dr. March and Francine have both been lying to protect him.
Langstrom gives in to his addiction and transforms into Man-Bat. Batman chases him in a wild flight across the city, including a second encounter with the police blimp from the beginning of the episode and a run-in with a police helicopter manned by Commissioner Gordon and Bullock. Batman eventually subdues Man-Bat and takes him back to the Batcave.
Batman succeeds in restoring Langstrom to his human form and flushing the formula from his system, breaking his addiction. He brings Langstrom back home to his wife, promising that he should not be able to transform again.
This episode was the first produced of the series, but became the second to be aired. Much later, "Terror in the Sky" becomes a sequel of sorts.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Animation Bump: Noticeable—this episode contains some of the best animation in the series. There's a reason for this: this was the episode made to show what BTAS was capable of, and having the animation be top notch was a big part of that.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Batman pries an elevator door open with his bare hands.
- Clear My Name: Batman does this due to the city believing he robbed a pharmaceutical company and assaulted a security guard.
- Clear Their Name: Gordon firmly believes that the robbery and assault at the beginning of the episode are not Batman's style. This is borne out when another pharmaceutical break-in takes place on the far side of town while the police are chasing Batman through Phoenix Labs, and confirmed when the police finally catch Batman and Man-Bat duking it out.
- Destination Defenestration: The Man-Bat tosses a security guard out of a window and into the river. Batman even has a talk with Alfred about it.Alfred: You mean it wasn't you tossing guards out of windows last night?
Batman: I only toss butlers, Alfred. - Didn't Think This Through: One of the SWAT cops attempts to flush Batman out of a room by tossing in a tear gas grenade. Unfortunately, he failed to notice the warning signs that there was flammable material in there.
- Dramatic Irony: Dr. March gives Bruce, of all people, a lecture on bats. Of course, Dr. March had no idea that Bruce was Batman.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Alfred is voiced by Clive Revill rather than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
- Establishing Character Moment: Several.
- Bullock is rebuked for making a public statement against Batman without Commissioner Gordon's approval, showcasing his habit of bending the rules and dislike of the caped crusader.
- Jim Gordon takes Bullock to task for revealing to the public (and by extension, Batman) that the police are looking to bring him in. He also opposes Bullock's proposed anti-Batman strike force and tries to reason with Mayor Hill regarding it, making his sympathy for Batman and status as a Reasonable Authority Figure clear.
- Alfred's very first line makes it clear that he is a Deadpan Snarker who isn't afraid to make quips at Bruce's expense.Alfred: (in response to the headline "Gotham Police Declare War on Batman") I gather you've been reading How to Win Friends and Influence People.
- Evil Laugh: Langstrom does this as he transforms into Man-Bat.
- Foreshadowing: Harvey Dent repeatedly flips a coin during the discussion at City Hall.
- Frame-Up: Batman, albeit unintentionally on Man-Bat's part.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: Langstrom believes he and Man-Bat are two different people, and Langstrom believes that Man-Bat is trying to make the transformation permanent.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Langstrom is trying to suppress Man-Bat, while Man-Bat is trying to make the transformation permanent.
- Jump Scare: Batman slamming against the glass of the blimp's cockpit is quite sudden, even if it is preceded by Man-Bat passing by a few seconds prior.
- Knockout Gas: Batman takes out one group of SWAT officers with gas grenades. They have gas masks, but not the time to put them on before the gas takes effect.
- Magic Pants: The only article of clothing that remains when Langstrom transforms into Man-Bat.
- Morality Chain: While in his Man-Bat form, Langstrom has Batman at his mercy and no doubt would've mauled him. The only reason he didn't finish off the Dark Knight was because he heard his wife Francine call out to him and was shamed by her shock of what he'd become.
- Mythology Gag: Dr. March's line "They're survivors" of referring to bats was similarly said by Batman in the Tim Burton film.
- Not Again: Voiced word for word by the blimp radioman when the pilot realizes he's getting a strange blip on his radar for the second time.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Harvey Dent and Harvey Bullock.
- Pet the Dog:
- Batman saves one of the SWAT cops trying to capture him from an explosion midway through the episode. He even pulls the man back to his feet and takes a moment to make sure he's okay before fleeing down the nearest alley.
- There is enough of Kirk Langstrom left in Man-Bat that when his wife walks in on the tussle between him and Batman, he immediately stops fighting and cowers in shame. It's only a momentary hesitation, however, before he flees and Batman takes off in pursuit.
- Pin-Pulling Teeth: A SWAT cop does this with a tear gas grenade.
- Red Herring: Dr. March likes bats more than people, to the point of misanthropy. It would be easy to suspect he's the Man-Bat, but in reality, it's actually Dr. Langstrom who's been taking the serum.
- Secret Relationship: Two employees at the Phoenix Laboratories are looking for a place to make out when they spot Batman sneaking in and call the police.
- Seen It All: Alfred's reaction when he sees the unconscious Man-Bat in the Batcave:Alfred: Two for dinner, sir?
- Shout-Out:
- When Dr. March calls, Batman answers, in his friendly Bruce Wayne voice, "Hey, what's up, doc?"
- The cop watching the crime scene that gets hit with Batman's knockout gas is reading a book called P.S. Your Dog is Gone, a play on James Kirkwood's play and novel P.S. Your Cat is Dead.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Man-Bat is trying to dominate Langstrom and transform him permanently into a monster.
- Voice of the Legion: Langstrom's voice becomes deep and multi-layered as he transforms into Man-Bat, eventually devolving into feral screeching and guttural growls.
