Goofy as it is, Batman & Robin has plenty of sad moments.
- Mr. Freeze's reaction after Poison Ivy falsely informs him that Batman killed Freeze's wife is genuinely touching. He sheds a single tear, which freezes on his cheek.
- And it becomes even worse for the Batman: The Animated Series fans who know that that scene was part of the planned ending of the episode "Heart of Ice".
- At the end, Batman reveals to Freeze that he saved his wife in time after Poison Ivy tried to kill her, and has moved her to a secure facility where Freeze can continue his work for a cure during his sentence. In the meantime, he tells Freeze that Alfred also has MacGregor's Disease — in an earlier stage that Freeze had previously developed a cure for — and invokes a "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight moment when he encourages Victor to remember the good man inside whom his wife loved, and help him save another life. Freeze thinks it over a moment, and then gives Bruce the cure he needs to save Alfred.Batman: Vengeance isn't power. Anyone can take a life, but to give one... that's true power, a power that you once had.
- During the scene, before Bruce can tell Victor that he had in fact saved Nora, the crippled Freeze bitterly asks Batman to kill him, still believing him to be responsible for her "death". And then afterward, there are his genuinely pained howls of despair when Batman shows him the footage from the Turkish Baths proving Poison Ivy betrayed him and was in fact the one who did it.
Batman: I'm taking you back to Arkham Asylum.Freeze: (gasping for breath from the excessive heat) Go on. Kill me, too. Just as you killed my wife.Batman: I didn't kill your wife. (takes out a video recorder device, and plays back the footage)Poison Ivy (video): As I told Lady Freeze when I pulled her plug, this is a one-woman show!Freeze: (has a brief, silent look of horror, before breaking down) - The conversation between Bruce and the ill Alfred, in what might have been their last moment together, and thus, tell each other what the other has meant to them in their lives. Say what you like about the rest of this movie, but the prospect of Alfred dying is genuinely sad, especially as played by master thespian and professional Cool Old Guy, Michael Gough.Bruce: I still have you, Alfred.Alfred: I shan't be here forever.
- The brief scene of Mr. Freeze in his prison cell, carving a tiny sculpture of his wife and using a nearby clock and glass to turn it into a makeshift music box is rather touching amidst the sound and fury, and is a nice reference to the beginning and ending scenes from his first episode of the animated series.
- Freeze watching home movies of his wedding alone in his lair, and sadly reminiscing the happier times in his life; before Nora began dying from an incurable disease before his eyes, and he ended up horribly disfigured while trying to save her. Despite how much of a goofy Card-Carrying Villain he appears to be on the surface, this moment is one of the early indicators that there's a lot more to Freeze and his motivations for what he does, and is another surprisingly moving Call-Back to "Heart of Ice".
- After The Dynamic Duo suit up and have the usual banter with Alfred, as soon as they leave, the once composed Alfred starts looking as if he's in pain. This is the first sign that there's something very wrong with him.
- Robin being manipulated by Poison Ivy for most of the film. He really thinks she loves him and is ready to leave Batman to be with her, and she is really just trying to kill him with her poisoned kiss. It all eventually culminates in the two meeting alone in Ivy's lair, where they declare their love for each other and share a passionate kiss. In any other case this scene would be a romantic moment, with Ivy redeeming herself and wishing Robin luck against Freeze and sealing her relationship with him with a kiss, but instead Ivy's sinister motives twists what would normally be an act of true love into a means of killing the one who loves her. Robin might have trusted Batman in the end, but maybe there may have been a part of him that was sad to find out Poison Ivy had been lying about loving him, and hoped that a kiss with her would prove their love was real. It is also subtlety implied by Robin telling Ivy that he "wants them to be together," that had Ivy’s love been real, he was going to ask her to marry him, maybe even tell each other who they really are so they can be more than just Robin and Poison Ivy, but Dick and Pamela too. Instead, immediately after their kiss, Ivy taunts him by saying their kiss was for "bad" luck, revealing her true colors and mocking him by continuing to flirt in a mock sad tone. There was more of this in an unused part of the script, where she tells Robin she never loved him at all.Ivy: (grabs Robin as he leaves and speaks sweetly) One kiss, my love. (whisper) For luck.
(Robin leans in — seemingly unaware of Ivy's evil intentions — and they share a romantic, passionate kiss)
Ivy: (mock sadness) Bad luck, I'm afraid. Time to die, little Robin! (leans back with a smirk, anticipating her newest victim's death)- Then after Robin reveals he managed to survive her kiss by wearing rubber lips, Ivy angrily leaps forward and shoves him off the romantic rose throne they had been sharing, the place they had just been flirting on and shared their first kiss, and he splashes into her pond where her plants immediately turn on him and try to drown him. As Robin struggles for air, Ivy just walks off with a smirk, mockingly waves him goodbye and taunts him by shouting "See ya!" in a condescending voice. In short, she was "breaking up with him." Not only was Robin tricked and manipulated by Ivy for most of the film, he finds out her love was a lie and she dumps him by trying to drown him immediately after finally sharing a kiss with her.
- When he pulls the false lips off, you can even hear his voice waver and crack a bit as he tells her "Rubber lips are immune to your charms," as if even after he's accepted that her flirtation was a ruse, he still loves her and it still kills him to have to potentially hurt her by fessing up to his own trick.
