Western Animation / The Batman

An Animated Adaptation of Batman that began airing on Kids' WB! in 2004 and ended its run in 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 DC Animated Universe since the latter debuted with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. It was also the first Batman series to feature 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 immediately on board with the Justice League and convincing Superman it was a good idea, as normally Superman and Martian Manhunter have some difficulty getting Batman to commit to the League.

Eventually, 4Kids Entertainment's takeover of Kids' WB! led to the show getting cancelled among other Kids' WB programs. However, the series ended in a more ceremonious tone by ending with a 40-minute TV movie, a treatment most of the other canned Kids' WB programs did not receive. The series was also allowed to run on Kids' WB!'s successor, TheCW4Kids, for a few more months before quietly disappearing.

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 or the 2022 film.

Also has a recap page.

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This show contains examples of:

A-C

• 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, any bladed weapon is capable of slicing through steel or whole trees with no effort.
• Accidental Misnaming: Played for Drama in "JTV", after Joker announces Detective Yin's new partner, Cash Tankinson, as his next "co-star". When Yin warns Cash not to get emotionally involved in the case, he brings up Ethan, who had become Clayface thanks to Joker, but gets his name wrong.
  Yin: If you let this get personal, it will impair your ability to do your job!
  Cash: Hey, come on, Yin, doesn't some part of you wanna slap that grin off of Joker's face? At least for Burnett?
  Yin: Bennett. (to herself) I'm not losing another partner to this madman…
• 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. The creators said it was based on Asian films where various heavy characters can pull similar feats.
• Actor Allusion:
  • "The Big Dummy" sees Bruce putting off a date with a woman named Becky, voiced by Jennifer Hale. It isn't the first time a character voiced by Hale served as a love interest to a superhero voiced by Rino Romano, but in those other cases, they did hook up and actually had a relationship.
  • Kevin Conroy plays John Grayson, Dick Grayson's biological father after famously playing his surrogate father Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Animated Series. His killer Tony Zucco is played by Mark Hamill who played his archnemesis in that series. Looks like the Joker finally got Batman.
  • John Marlowe, voiced by Brandon Routh, who plays Superman in Superman Returns, mentions how he has a confident, cool persona when he is more comfortable being the shy geek. He is also in a relationship with Clea, voiced by Allison Mack, who plays Chloe Sullivan in Smallville, who had a long-time crush on Clark.
  • Jeff Bennett voices D.A.V.E. a rogue Artificial Intelligence. He had also previously played one in the previous Batman cartoon.
  • Phil LaMarr, who voices Static in the DCAU, voices Maxie Zeus here.
  • A likely unintentional one, but in "Topsy Turvy" Bennett tells Yin that they need to free Joker's hostages from the Palace Theater before Batman and Joker "bring down the house." Steve Harris, Ethan's voice actor, played the antagonist Widow in the 2003 film Bringing Down the House.
  • A two-for-one. Not only does Adam West once again star in a Batman production, but he also plays the mayor.
  • The penultimate episode "What Goes Up..." sees Black Mask team-up with Shadow Thief and fight against Hawkman. In Justice League Unlimited, both Hawkman and Shadow Thief were voiced by James Remar, who voiced Black Mask in this series.
  • The Riddler is voiced by Robert Englund. In his debut episode, he asks Batman, "What question can you never answer 'Yes' to?" before spraying him with a knockout gas. And as Batman loses consciousness, Riddler provides the answer to the riddle; "Are you asleep?" This was most likely a subtle reference to Robert's most famous role, Freddy Krueger.
• 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).
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • In "Vertigo", Count Vertigo was an ex-employee of Queen industries and the cause of Oliver being stranded on an island, leading him to become the Green Arrow, rather than an accident like the comics.
  • "Attack of the Terrible Trio" sees the titular trio use versions of the serum Kirk Langstrom used to make himself Man-Bat, as opposed to be normal people in the costumes as in the comics.
• 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 barefoot) and way of movement made him seem more like a criminally-insane Tarzan (it helps that his first outfit was 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.
  • A slight case with Mr. Freeze, whose powers are more biological instead of depending on Powered Armor and a Freeze Ray. All he has to do is raise his hand to cause mini-blizzards, and smashing his "helmet" no longer guarantees victory, since he can re-grow the crystals in an instant.
  • Riddler still relies heavily on his puzzles and gadgets but is also much more adept at hand-to-hand combat than most of his incarnations and can hold is own against Batman in a fist fight.
• Adaptational Friendship: Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl) and Pamela Isley (AKA Poison Ivy) are introduced as activist friends who would team up to protest corporations involved in genetic experimentation and harm to the environment, unlike the comics where the two were never close before they became supers.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Joker, if you can believe it. In keeping that his version is more genuinely affable than most versions and his laughing gas is non-lethal meaning he’s never (successfully) killed anyone in this version, here he was simply a boring office drone who dreamed of making people laugh as opposed to a gang member who in some versions even murdered Bruce’s parents.
  • Joker's abusive traits are also considerably toned down. For example, not only does he never abuse Harley, he treats her with much more genuine kindness that his TAS counterpart. For example, stealing her a diamond the size of a softball, and choosing to indulge her simply because he can, as opposed to manipulating her to get out of Arkham.
• Adapted Out:
  • Quite a few iconic Batman villains such as Ra's al Ghul, The Scarecrow, and Two-Face never made a single appearance in this show. In the case of those three guys, it's because they appeared in the then-recent films Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), invokedand DC had a policy at the time that was against having them appear simultaneously in different works.
  • Also, Wonder Woman is conspicuously absent in all of the episodes that involve the Justice League, for similar reasons (namely, some red tape that restricted Wonder Woman from appearing in any work where she wasn't the main character).
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: D.A.V.E, though subverted when it turns out he was purposefully programmed to become evil.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: "Rumors." Without his Invisibility Cloak and the element of surprise, Rumor isn't such a One-Man Army after all — hence why, when all his captured Rogues Gallery are accidentally freed, he immediately resorts to this around Batman and Robin.
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Maxie Zeus's flying fortress, New Olympus, and its aerial defence drones, the Harpies.
• Alien Invasion: The Joining try to take over Earth.
• All There in the Manual: Gearhead's real name and origins aren't mentioned in the episode where he appears, but the tie-in comic tells them (his name is Nathan Finch, just like the mainstream comics version).
  • Penguin's Kabuki Twin accomplices were unnamed in the show, but tie-in material named them "Peri" and "Gale."
• Ambiguously Human: Peri and Gale, the Kabuki Twins. There's nothing outright indicating that they aren't human, but they never speak, are never seen without their masks and catsuits, move strangely, and survive things that they probably shouldn't.
• And I Must Scream: The fate of Hugo Strange because he gets all of the universe's knowledge from the Joining and can barely move after his head becomes full of the knowledge.
• Animesque: Not as much as Teen Titans, but still noticeable. Comes from the same animators as Jackie Chan Adventures.
• Animorphism: Fox, Vulture and Shark were three college campus outcasts who stole Man-Bat's formula and tweaked it to transform themselves into animals while keeping their sentience. They were planning on doing this to the whole school ^note  though it is unknown if they were going to allow everyone keep their sentience, or turn them into feral beasts, though seeing what they did to a student earlier it seems the latter with the "If everyone is a freak, then no-one is" excuse.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Batman gives one to D.A.V.E., who had him completely dead to rights, which triggers a Logic Bomb.
• 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. The eye slits in his cowl also became smaller and more angular.
  • In the first episode, Joker's hair animation was much more fluid. He also lacked the black rings around his eyes, and his lips were a much brighter red.
• Artistic License – Chess: In "Q&A", a chess tournament is seen in which competitor Yelena Klimanov orders her bishop moved one square up and two squares right. This is a move that is legal for a knight, but not for a bishop.
• Asshole Victim: Both Chief Rojas and the Joker almost become this, both at the hand of Ethan Bennett/Clayface I. Rojas for treating Ethan like crap, and the Joker for the Mind Rape he put Ethan through, plus exposing him to the chemicals that turned him into Clayface.
  • Wrath and Scorn suffer this via Joker gas. They knew who Batman and Robin were, but Joker gasses them as he refuses to let anyone take away the fun of defeating Batman from him.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Joker 2.0 decides that size does matter.
• Attention Whore: A major defining trait of Basil Karlo, the second Clayface. As in "immediately goes on a crime spree once he realizes that it would make him world famous." His motives are notoriety-based.
• 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 Liar: When Batman had already deduced Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, she tries and fails to convince him otherwise.
  Batgirl: Uh... you must have me confused for someone else.
  Batman: (beat)
  Batgirl: Ugh! Dude! You just broke the superhero secret identity code!
• Bad Boss: Scarface... Even to his own ventriloquist.
  • Black Mask, too.
  • Before them Chief Rojas.
• Basement-Dweller: Cluemaster still lives with his mother and has his lair in her basement. Batman even figures out that his mother's house was where the villain would be, rhetorically asking Alfred where a man who never grew up would be.
• Batman Gambit: Riddler sets 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, that is.
• 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 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.
  • It also features water flowing through open trenches in the middle of the hallways, making one wonder what the building could possibly have been originally built for.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't ever call Scarface "dummy"... Though he has no problem calling his ventriloquist this.
  • The Riddler doesn't like being called "Champ."
  • Do NOT try to destroy Batman around The Joker. As far as he's concerned, that honor goes to him and him alone! Wrath and Scorn learned this the hard way...
• 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 ending 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."
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Julie in "Riddler's Revenge".
• Bittersweet Ending: The show tended to pull these off as seasons went on. The two most notable examples would be "The Clayface of Tragedy" and "The Joining." The former has Ellen Yin finally trust Batman while also having Ethan Bennett become Clayface, while the latter has Batman succeed in thwarting the invasion of the Joining, but the world still has to recover from a lot of damage at the Joining's hands.
• Bond One-Liner: All over the place, though the people so mocked usually never actually die. This, coming from the traditionally grim and silent Batman, may have caused some distaste in more militant fans. He generally stopped these once Batgirl and Robin appeared to take them over.
  • It gave us this:
    A man walked into a bar and said "Ow." (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.
• Butt-Monkey: Penguin seems to be the Butt Monkey of almost every episode he's ever made an appearance in, no matter how short it was. He was the movie's Butt Monkey!
  • Though oddly enough, he wasn't one in "Team Penguin," simply because Killer Moth was.
• Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards: The Penguin has just returned from a trip to eastern Asia where he acquired two ninja-like bodyguards wearing kabuki masks that he loves to flaunt.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Donnie, the who becomes the Joker's sidekick Prank in "The Apprentice," suffers from this, and manages to empty a comedy club with his lame material. The Joker seems to like his stuff, however.
  So the mathematician says: "X equals P.U.!"
• Canon Foreigner: Ethan Bennett, Chief Rojas, Temblor, The Kabuki Twins, Punch and Judy, Krank, D.A.V.E. Granted, in the case of the former two, they're Composite Characters (Bennett being a blend of Crispus Allen, Two-Face and Clayface, and Rojas being Gillian Loeb in Harvey Bullock's body).
• Canon Immigrant: Scorn made the leap to the DC Universe when Wrath made his The New 52 debut.
• 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 they were based on them.
  • Temblor is a dead ringer for minor Spider-Man villain The Shocker, down to being voiced by Jim Cummings.
  • Chief Rojas seemed to be Harvey Bullock with a higher rank (both are overweight cops who hate Batman). That said, Harvey was less of a 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 2001: A Space Odyssey. Might double as a Mythology Gag under some interpretations. In addition, both shared the same voice actor.
• Cardboard Prison: Arkham Asylum, in classic tradition.
• Casting Gag:
  • The Flash is voiced by Charlie Schlatter, who voiced the Flash on Superman: The Animated Series, though the S: TAS Flash was Wally West.
  • Dorian Harewood has played a Martian hero before.
  • Ian Abercrombie appeared in "The Icy Depths" as Ewan Fripp, an old friend of Alfred's. On the short-lived Birds of Prey (2002), Abercrombie played Alfred.
  • Kevin Conroy, who previously voiced Batman, voiced John Grayson in "A Matter of Family."
    • Likewise, Mark "The Joker" Hamill as "Boss" Tony Zucco.
  • Rino Romano did play a superhero before.
• 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, and Black Mask.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Detective Ellen Yin never appeared after the second season. She's only even mentioned in the episode set in the future, Artifacts, with a pretty awesome apparent future as it hints that like her comic counterpart, Ellen Yindel, she'll replace Gordon as Commissioner. Chief Rojas isn't seen or mentioned since Season 2 as well.
  • 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 Hamilton Hill.
  • The Kabuki Twins eventually just stop appearing.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
  • Lucius Fox looks a lot like Morgan Freeman.
  • Likewise, Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn emulated original Harley voice actress Arleen Sorkin.
• 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 are confirmed by the show's creators to be 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 Grayson, 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 bears some resemblance to Spoiler, Brown's pre-Batgirl name, with the bright purple color scheme Barbara had in the Adam West Batman series).
  • Wrath is mostly like his comics self, but offers his services to criminals to protect them from Batman and the police, like Killer Moth. He also has a more Catman-like color scheme.
  • Ethan Bennett has the powers and codename of Clayface, the backstory of Two-Face (is a friend of Bruce Wayne's, supports Batman, and is a law enforcement official gone bad), and the general appearance and job of Crispus Allen (a bald African-American police detective).
  • Chief Rojas is basically Gillian Loeb (a Bad Boss with shady undertones in charge of the GCPD before Gordon is Commissioner) with Harvey Bullock's overweight build, and given a Race Lift to Latino.
  • Ellen Yin is based on Ellen Yindel from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, but combines elements of Renee Montoya from Batman: The Animated Series and Gotham Central, including acting as Bennett's partner like Montoya did with Allen. And much like with Rojas, she was given a Race Lift, in her case, to Asian-American (the original Yindel being white and Montoya being Latina).
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: At the end of "Rumors," Batman and Robin take on their entire rogue's gallery, and win. However, this instance comes with a few justifications. For starters, half of them are taken out in the crossfreeze by Mr. Freeze at the start. The remaining villains step on each other's toes a fair bit as well. To top things off, the duo doesn't have to completely defeat any of their foes. Thanks to the fight going down in Rumor's prison facility, they just have to trap them.
• Continuity Cameo: Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya as they appear in Batman: The Animated Series make brief appearances in the 47th issue of the tie-in comic The Batman Strikes.
• Contortionist: Rag Doll takes this to its logical conclusion. He can hide in any space that is even slightly larger than his head as long as he can fold up his body.
• Creepy Circus Music: Joker's Leitmotif is an eerie tune played on a distorted circusy-sounding organ. In some parts, it even sounds a bit like Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor!
• 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.

D-F

• 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 story and more mature tone. Although before that the series villains are also darker with them having more monstrous designs (Bane, Joker, and Killer Croc).
• Decomposite Character: The show divides the character of Basil Karlo, the original Clayface. Ethan becomes the first Clayface, and Karlo shows up much later to become the second.
• Deducing the Secret Identity:
  • When Ethan Bennett is mutated into Clayface, after exposed to a chemical the Joker created called "Joker Putty", and Batman is able figure out that Ethan is Clayface when analyzing a staple he got from him during a fight, and remembering how Clayface was first spotted in Ethan's neighborhood, and how Clayface attacked Chief Rojas, who Ethan has been at odds with before the former suspended him before his mutation. The same goes for Detective Ellen Yin when she talks to her former partner.
  • When Barbara first becomes Batgirl, or "Batwoman" as she originally preferred, the costume she made covers her eyes and most of her hair, so that her dad doesn't recognize her without his glasses. Batman, however, figures out immediately that "Batgirl" is Barbara Gordon for a good number of reasons: her hair color and voice are the same, and they move with a gymnastics style while fighting. Plus, Barbara said she wanted to help Batman save her friend Pamela. Pamela became Poison Ivy when she called him for help, and he rebuffed her.
  • Barbara manages to figure out Batman's identity in a later episode. But, thanks to the Contrived Coincidence, Batman lost his memory about being Batman. The result: Barbara decides that she made a mistake. Batman later told her his secret identity when he made her his official sidekick.
    • When Barbara is finally brought to the Batcave and sees that Batman is Bruce Wayne, she is able to connect that Robin is Dick Grayson, recognizing him as the orphan Bruce recently took in.
  • In one episode Joker tries to take in Donnie, a failed comedian and classmate of Barbara, as his own Kid Sidekick, Prank, she is able figure out that Donnie is Prank by his Annoying Laugh.
  • D.A.V.E., a super-intelligent robot, deduces Batman's identity by cross-referencing everyone in Gotham City against Batman's gender, approximate age, build, resources, and motivation to fight crime, and attempts to use this to manipulate him.
  • Batman is able to deduce Superman's identity by tracking the trail of micro-sonicbooms he makes and notices he frequents two locations in particular; the Daily Planet building, and an apartment building that's home to Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent.
  • After seeing that Batman’s butler is Bruce Wayne’s chauffeur, Green Arrow realizes that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same.
    Batman: Now do you see why I’m so sure of him, Ollie?
    Green Arrow: How did-?
    Alfred: He is the Batman, after all.
  • Barbara is able to figure out that David, Justin, and Amber, three outcasts at her school, Gotham University, are the Terrible Trio when Amber closes the door on her and she finds a feather, which she takes back the Batcave and it gets identified as a vulture feather.
• Destined Bystander: Ethan Bennet.
• Deus ex Machina: The Batsuit is able to detect when Batman's body patterns are abnormal, and automatically administer the best solution to get Batman out of a jam. This has saved his life on a number of occasions, such as when unconscious and drowning, or frozen, or placed under the control of toxic spores.
• Disposable Decoy Doppelgänger: In the episode "The Everywhere Man", the titular villain can create and destroy temporary copies of himself, hence he can be "everywhere". Problems arise if a copy is active for too long, as they gradually become more intelligent, self-aware, and megalomaniacal, with them eventually starting to revolt against the original for killing them off.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Batgirl at one point mentions “The Freudian implications of Penguin’s umbrella”.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: D.A.V.E. does this in "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind," interrupting Gotham's television broadcasts to announce that it is about to launch Gotham's ultimate crime wave.
• Dramatic Drop: The old lady twins drop their teacups to shatter when Solomon Grundy shows up.
• Driving Test Smashers: To Barbara Gordon.
• 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. (Despite Thomas Wayne being murdered decades before Batman started showing up)
• Episode of the Dead: "Strange New World" has Gotham seemingly succumb to a Zombie Apocalypse due to the populace being infected by a toxin created and spread by Hugo Strange. Batman and Robin are left as the only two survivors as all of their allies have been transformed into zombies subservient to Strange, with all of them seemingly trying to capture Batman and infect him with toxin too, with Robin ending up falling victim. Managing to get Strange to divulge where the rest of the antidote was located, Batman works endlessly to create vapor bombs, which he plants over Gotham and when detonated will aerosolize the antidote. However just when Batman is about to detonate, he pieces together various clues that leads him to conclude that the 'antidote' was actually a hallucinogenic toxin that Strange had drugged him with at the start, and led him to hallucinate everyone as zombies. Finally realizing the truth, he stops fighting against the zombies and allows them to spray him with the real cure, breaking the zombie illusion.
• 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 Thanagar 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 Counterpart: Wrath and Scorn for Batman and Robin, respectively.
• Evil Laugh: The Penguin's evil laugh is all kinds of crazy awesome. Then we have the Joker as usual.
• 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.
  • Ethan Bennett is Harvey Dent. From the long friendship with Bruce right down to calling Batman "Bats," a la Harvey from The Long Halloween.
  • Francis Grey’s obsession with time and clocks essentially makes him the series’ version of Clock King.
• Exty Years from Publication: Half of the episode "Artifacts" takes place in the year 3027, 1020 years after the episode's 2007 airdate, 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 might be taser rounds. 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.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: When Black Mask pulled a You Have Failed Me on his Number One by using Nth metal to make him float upward until he's stopped by a ceiling window, talking to him for a bit, then opening the window. It would probably be a lot worse if Mask's next action (picking a new Number One with the exact same line as the one he just killed) wasn't completely hilarious.
• Fat Bastard: The Penguin. No surprise there. Rojas as well.
• Flying Firepower: Firefly has a jetpack and a heatray.
  • In this series, Batman himself counts. He at times uses a jetpack as well, along with throwable explosives in his utility belt.
• Forgotten First Meeting: The season 4 episode "Riddler's Revenge" retconned that season 2's "Riddled" wasn't the first time that Batman met the Riddler, as "Riddler's Revenge" sees a flashback to a meeting between Batman and a pre-Riddler Edward that Bruce has forgotten about, but Edward reveals inspired the use of the Riddler's costume.
• 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.
• From Bad to Worse: The episode "The Metal Face of Comedy." All of it. Joker, with the help of Hollywood hacker Slacker and Harley Quinn, tries to hack into the Gotham banking system via a magical virtual reality helmet. When Batman shows up and interrupts the process, it results in the creation of Joker 2.0. Who then escapes into cyberspace. And downloads himself into an experimental swarm of nanobots. And teams up with the original Joker. Sounds bad? Turns out the nanobots are self-replicating, meaning that Joker 2.0 can create weapons out of his body, impersonate anyone and anything, and grow to the size of a small building. And, being the Joker, he does all of the above.
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • Killer Moth started out as some pathetic schmo in a badly designed costume who was The Load. That was until he accidentally gets mutated into an actual giant killer moth.
  • Judging from this brief scene in "Strange Minds", it's heavily implied that The Joker of all people was this.
• Future Badass: Nightwing (formerly known as Robin).
• Future Imperfect: They don't quite get the details of Batman's life right in "Artifacts."

G-I

• Gender Flip: Marion Grange. While the show portrays Grange as a man, the comics version was a woman.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: D.A.V.E may well be a deconstruction. He is a robot programmed by Dr. Hugo Strange with the memories and abilities of Batman's worst foes for the sole purpose of giving Batman a challenge. He proceeds to easily curbstomp Batman and steals ALL of Gotham's money just to commit the ultimate crime, but is defeated when Batman asks him to explain his origin story. Since D.A.V.E believed that he used to be a person, he went catatonic after realizing that he had no backstory of his own.
• 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 Flanderization kicked in.
  • Riddler relies heavily on his intellect to create traps and gadgets but is also a competent martial artist.
• 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.
  • Wrath and Scorn are a case of "Knight Templar Cannot Comprehend Chaotic Evil". They honestly believe Joker is just trying to make a living. As such, they expect him to free them from the police, especially since they now know who Batman and Robin are. Their mistake costs them. Dearly.
• The Good Guys Always Win: Invoked by Batman in issue #36 of the Comic-Book Adaptation. When Gearhead says Batman can't win this time, Batman guesses Gearhead hasn't heard he's the good guy.
• Grand Finale: "Lost Heroes," the two-part finale of Season 5, has Batman and the Justice League thwart the alliance of Hugo Strange and the Joining.
• Green Gators: Killer Croc, a crocodile man, has dark green scales. This version of Killer Croc also looks much more like an anthropomorphic crocodile than other versions, which look more like a crocodile-human hybrid.
• Groin Attack: Vicki Vale does one on The Penguin in The Batman vs Dracula. And his reaction is hilarious.
• 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.
• Harmless Liquefaction: In "Meltdown", Joker manages to capture Ethan Bennett while robbing a WayneTech building using a pair of extending shoes. As a giggle, Joker extends the shoes to their maximum height as Bennett dangles by a leg before dropping the man. The Clown Prince of Crime is quite surprised when Bennett hits the pavement with a literal splat, seemingly reduced to a puddle of goo. Of course the audience knows Bennett is actually the villain Clayface, whom Joker created in a previous episode and who does not harbor friendly feelings towards the Harlequin of Hate.
• Heel–Face Turn: Kirk Langstrom, Francis Grey, Ethan Bennett.
• The Hero Dies: Subverted in the episode "Seconds"; Batman, Robin and Batgirl are killed along with Gotham by Francis Grey. However, Grey also sees his son die and therefore uses his time travel power to go back in time and prevent any of the events that ruined his life and led to him trying to destroy Gotham from ever happening.
• 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.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: Invoked in "Fleurs du mal" where Batman punches an old lady florist (actually a Plant Person guarding Poison Ivy's lair.) Batgirl is surprised Batman knew she was a fake. Batman is silent as usual as Batgirl continues questioning.
• Humongous Mecha: Mr. Freeze's exo-suit in "Artifacts," Scarface's new body in "The Big Dummy," and the Batman has a mecha of his own.
• The Hyena: The Joker and he does a lot more laughing for no reason at all.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Every Batman villain now seemed to know martial arts.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: There are a lot of these in the earlier episodes (usually on the part of villains). It gets toned down in later seasons.
• In Name Only: In the comics and other versions, The Terrible Trio consists of three famous male inventors named Warren Lawford, Armand Lydecker, and Gunther Hardwick who sought new challenges by starting a criminal career. As a gimmick, they dress up in business suits while wearing cartoon masks of animals. From this, they become known as the Fox, the Shark and the Vulture. The Terrible Trio here consists of two guys and a girl who are university students and social outcasts named David, Justin, and Amber. Instead of costumes, they mutated by using formulas stolen from Dr. Kirk Langstrom's computer.
• 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. Also, Ethan Bennett is a blue-eyed version of his voice actor, Steve Harris.
• Inspector Javert: Yin and Rojas are this towards the Batman.
• Insult Misfire: To compound who's in control of the Ventriloquist/Scarface duo, this tends to happen whenever they're on the scene.
  Batman: I see you're still carrying that dead weight around.
  Scarface: Believe me, Batman, I tried ditching the bum — but he follows me everywhere I go!
• Intended Audience Reaction: 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.
• 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.

J-N

• The Jailer: Rumor
• Jerkass: The Penguin, in sharp contrast to his usual Gentleman Thief 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.
  • Wrath and Scorn immensely as they "fight for the rights of innocent criminals trying to make a living." Including the Joker, failing to understand that he commits crimes simply For the Evulz.
• 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.
  • Basil Karlo is considered one in-universe, complete having starred in a Stylistic Suck B-Movie Parody in which he hams like you wouldn't believe. Becoming Clayface only made it worse, really.
• 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 plays whenever he does anything) twinging riff associated with him.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: In the comics, late Night show host Corwin O'Dooley dares a heckler to host his show. Unfortunately, the heckler is The Joker.
• Lock-and-Load Montage: Every. Freakin'. Episode.
  • Even the Joker got one the episode he decided to try being Batman.
  • In "Ragdolls to Riches", Selina and Bruce perform mirrored suit ups when they both try to go after Ragdoll at the same time.
  • A particularly awesome one occurs in The Batman vs. Dracula when Batman suits up with all his new vampire-busting gear.
• Lying Finger Cross: The Joker does this in an episode when making a deal with his nano-tech clone—who does it as well. No points for guessing how the deal went.
• Mad Doctor: Hugo Strange.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Before it even got started in "The Big Dummy."
  Alfred: I'm sorry, but Bruce is unable to attend.
  Becky: He's married, isn't he?
  Alfred: Yes. To his work.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Halloween Episode "Grundy's Night" centers around Solomon Grundy rising from Gotham Swamp and taking his revenge on the descendants of Gotham's founding fathers. During the episode, Batman remains unconvinced that something like a reanimated zombie could actually exist, and concludes that it's merely an imposter using the legend to target the supposedly rich descendants. He's ultimately proven right about an imposter (Clayface) using the legend, but the end of the episode shows something rising out of Gotham Swamp.
• Merchandise-Driven: The first season, anyway. It got somewhat 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.
• Monster Clown: Joker seems to have dreadlocks this time around, which resembles a jester's cap.
• More Diverse Sequel: Compared to TAS, at least early on. Most of the new characters like Bennett, Rojas, and Yin were minorities. It got more monochrome as it went on, though, as most of these characters were written out - compare the cast of Season 1 to Season 5.
• Mysterious Past: Killer Croc's origin in this version is never explained, the only hints we have is either that he was born with a deformity, a crocodile mutated by toxic waste, or had a run-in with some Voodoo in the Bayou ^note  he's Cajun in this version
  • The tie-in comic seems to imply he was a military experiment, though it's very obscure and those who know about it apply Fanon Discontinuity as they please.
• 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 counterpart 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 identities 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 some versions of the comics, Thomas dressed as a "Bat-Man" (resembling 1930s Batman) during Halloween and/or a costume party; while in early comics, Bruce briefly dons a costumed identity of Robin as a child. During an Age Swap story, young Bruce becomes Robin while adult Tim becomes Batman to maintain the illusion.
    • Ellen Yin seemed to be based off on Ellen Yindel from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and is hinted in "Artifacts" to have replaced Gordon as Commissioner like Yindel did in TDKR. Also like Yindel, Yin has been trying to arrest Batman for being an outlaw vigilante until she realize Gotham needs him.
    • 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.
  • As per tradition for Batman television shows at this point, Adam West plays a character. This time he isn't Adam Westing, but he does play the Mayor of Gotham.
  • 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!"
  • "Same Joker crime, same Joker channel!"
  • In the Gearhead episode, after the Batmobile 1.0 is trashed Bruce says he will have to refit one of his prototypes, as he enters you can clearly see the 1989 live-action movie Batmobile.
  • The episode, "Batgirl Begins," is a reference to Batman Begins.
    • Taken even further this seems to also be a nod to an episode title from Batman: The Animated Series which was called "Batgirl Returns"
  • In an episode, Joker has his goons beat up Batman while he televises it. Whenever someone lands a punch or any other attack, a big onomatopoeia shows up on screen.
  • In "Team Penguin," Ragdoll suggests "Villains United" as a potential name for the villains team. One version of Ragdoll is known for starring in a series with just that name.
  • In his debut episode, Kirk Langstrom lies to Bruce Wayne that he is doing research on bats to find a cure for deafness. This is a reference to the comics, where Langstrom's transformation into Man-Bat was a side effect of curing his own deafness.
  • In the first episode, Joker says "Blame it on the bats in my belfry." A nod to the 1989 film where he said "It can be truly said, that I have a bat in my belfry."
  • Season 3's opening theme had a hidden back-beat that should be all too familiar to fans of Batman in a past generation.
    • Likewise, Robin's introduction in opening has emerging from a breakaway banner hoop, much like the cover◊ of his first appearance.
  • The episode "Ring Toss" has Batman use Green Lantern's ring, which could be a nod to the Elseworlds story Batman: In Darkest Knight, where Bruce Wayne got Abin Sur's ring instead of Hal Jordan.
  • The Joker is responsible for creating Clayface in this continuity, and as a result, they have an intense hostility towards each other. There was a 1960's comic story entitled "The Great Clayface-Joker Feud," which also depicted Joker and Clayface as rivals.
  • Lucius Fox is a big one to The Dark Knight Trilogy's version of the character, including being modeled on Morgan Freeman.
  • In "The Icy Depths," the Penguin is mentioned to have an ancestor named Chesterfield Cobblepot. In the comics, Chesterfield was the Penguin's middle name.
  • Much like in the 1960's Batman series, Barbara Gordon is mentioned at the end of the second season before actually appearing in the premiere of the third season.
  • In "The Metalface of Comedy," Robin has an online gaming avatar named Nightwing, whose appearance is based off the costume Dick Grayson used when he first used the identity in the comics, to boot.
  • In "The End of the Batman," Robin speculates that Wrath and Scorn can be evil versions of him and Batman from another dimension or their antimatter counterparts, a reference to Owlman and Talon, the Dynamic Duo's Crime Syndicate counterparts.
  • "Lost Heroes" involves the super-powered members of the Justice League having their powers transferred to android duplicates and the Joining's robotic shell later gaining the League's powers after being exposed to some residue from the power-extracting machine. This is very likely a nod to Justice League villain Amazo, also an android with the combined powers of the Justice League.
  • The Justice League Watchtower here resembles a domed version of the Hall of Justice residing on an asteroid.
  • The story of the 38th issue of the tie-in comic The Batman Strikes! is titled "Pretty Poison" and features Poison Ivy, whose debut episode in Batman: The Animated Series was also titled "Pretty Poison".
  • One scene has Robin and Batgirl joke about whether waxing the Batmobile will be a task that Batman will foist on them. The 1966 incarnations of Batman and Robin were TV pitchmen on a commercial for "Rally Car Wax". Really!
• Named by the Adaptation: The original Wrath's real name was never revealed. The show gives him the name "William Mallory".
• Never Say "Die": Surprisingly enough, occasionally averted. While the show tended to play this straight early on, it was less likely to do so in later seasons. In particular, Robin's debut episode references the deaths of Bruce's parents (and the resulting angst) in no uncertain terms. Plus the deaths of his own parents.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The aforementioned Vampire Joker and the Joker 2.0.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: More than a few times:
  • This version of the Riddler looks quite a bit like Marilyn Manson.
  • In "Two of a Kind", a psychologist commenting about Harley Quinn resembles and sounds like Dr. Phil. Vocally, Hynden Walch's portrayal of Harley doesn't sound too different from Arleen Sorkin's.
• Not as You Know Them:
  • More or less Superman and Batman in the season 5 premiere, "The Batman/Superman Story," which has Batman the more willing of the two to team up and Superman being the one who's initially against it, as opposed to the other way as usual.
  • The tie-in comic gives the usual team-up Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, but switches the roles around: making Harley the (relatively speaking) level-headed brains of the operation, while Ivy is the unstable one. It helps that Ivy is an impulsive teenager in this continuity, while Harley: while still a daffy hedonist: is a bit more independent and cunning than usual.

O-R

• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Both Batgirl and Batman still call Dick "Robin" a good decade after he's established himself as Nightwing.
• One-Word Title: Traction, Riddled, Swamped, Pets, Meltdown, JTV, RPM, Brawn, Thunder, Clayfaces, Artifacts, Seconds, Rumors, and Vertigo.
• Pac Man Fever: Robin's on the last level.
  • Averted in Season 5 episode Metal face of Comedy.
• The Paid-For Harem: The Kabuki twins for the Penguin. Though it's a very particular example, as there's no real way to know exactly what they are. Humans? Robots? Mutants? Are they even actually female?
• Perky Female Minion: Harley Quinn, as always.
• Perpetual Frowner: Clayface, put in contrast to the Joker's perpetual Slasher Smile. The only time he smiles is when he's about to finally give him his life of crime.
• Personal Arcade: The secret access to the Batcave is hidden behind a coin-op video game cabinet.
• Petty Childhood Grudge: The episode "Q&A" has the villain Cluemaster. This version of Arthur Brown was a Child Prodigy who maintained a 12-week winning streak on a Game Show called "Think, Thank, Thunk" when he was 10. When he got a question wrong on his thirteenth week, he threw a temper tantrum, and his mother filed a lawsuit on the grounds of the show being rigged. Arthur then dropped out of school and spent the next 30 years stewing in his anger and eating Kremelos (a cream-filled candy bar whos company sponsored the show at the time), eventually setting in motion a plan to beat the people from the show, as well as the contestant he lost to, in a life-or-death parody of Think Thank Thunk, and then drown them in acid.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Chief Rojas, who is an incompetent boob and an asshole to the people who work for him.
• Police Are Useless: The basic format of some episodes is: Villain is revealed, beats police stupid, and then is cleverly beaten by Batman.
  • This is subverted in the case of Ellen Yin and Ethan Bennett although Ethan Bennett eventually turns evil and becomes Clayface. However, he later becomes good again and is implied in Artifacts to be a cop again in the future. Commissioner Gordon is sometimes helpful, like when he teams with the Arkham rogues to defend the city in "The Joining" against an alien invasion, but most often he is not.
• Powered Armour: Batman creates a set in order to fight Bane.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: As per usual with an adaptation of a comic that has existed for decades. A lot of changes were made to the designs and backstories of characters. A good example is the episode that introduces Clayface, as it manages to include important elements of Clayface, Two-Face and The Killing Joke at the same time.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When an Alien Invasion occurs in Gotham, most of Batman's Rogues Gallery try to stop the invaders, presumably due survival instinct. Joker sums up his reason perfectly:
  Joker: Terrorizing Gotham is my job!
• Pungeon Master: Penguin. (shouldn't that be Punguin Master?) Sorry. Batman also, to a lesser extent.
  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.
  • 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?
• Race Lift:
  • Mercy Graves turns from Caucasian to half-Asian thanks to the casting of Singaporean-American voice 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 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
  • Chief Angel Rojas is basically a Hispanic blend of Gillian Loeb and Harvey Bullock.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mayor Grange and Commissioner Gordon.
• Remember the New Guy?: Subverted. Commissioner Gordon 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.
• Re-Power: When Sinestro visits Gotham to hunt down Hal Jordan and steal his Power Ring, the nearly-depleted ring eventually winds up on the hand of Batman. The moment was brief, but it's as good as it sounds.
• 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 theme song (using the '60s Batman theme song as a back-beat melody), introducing a sidekick (Batgirl). Two of the main police characters, Ellen Yin and Chief Rojas, are replaced with Commissioner Gordon.
  • The fourth season adds Robin and goes much more Darker and Edgier than before with scenes like Robin's parents being killed or seeing Gotham get gassed with nerve gas along with Batman, Robin and Batgirl dying, though there's a Reset Button in "Seconds." It also ends with the Justice League forming.
  • The fifth season adds many other heroes and villains from all over the DC Universe.
• Rich Recluse's Realm: Killgore Steed is a former big game hunter that maintains his own island to hunt with now that he's old. And of course he's set it up as a labyrinth with traps to hunt the most dangerous prey. Joker takes it over and hunts Batman, Batgirl, and Catwoman.
• Rogues Gallery: Wouldn't be Batman without it.
• Rule of Cool: Seriously, The Batman vs. Dracula.

S-U

• 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.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: In "Grundy's Night", courtesy of Clayface.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Dr. Alucard, anthropologist, complete with displays of Genre Blindness all around.
• Secret Identity Apathy: The Joker drives Wrath and Scorn insane with Joker gas when they threaten to reveal Batman's identity to Gotham's criminal community, because if anyone's going to bring about Batsy's downfall, it's got to be Joker.
• 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.
  • When Commissioner Gordon is replaced with a plant-person, he turns green right after declaring that he is angry.
  • 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.
  • In "Superman Story," to "Rocket Robinhood." Lampshaded by Robin.
  • One story in the comic book spin off features a wall with "El Barto" spray painted on it.
  • In "The Joining" episode, the sound effects for the titular aliens' attack crafts and ray blasts are from the 1953 film of The War of the Worlds.
  • Mr. Freeze and Firefly's debut episodes are titled The Big Chill and The Big Heat, respectively.
• Skewed Priorities: Rojas is more focused on trying to catch Batman than deal with the supervillains Batman fights against. Joker's so incensed at the idea that he kidnaps and tortures Ethan Bennet for it.
• Skyscraper Messages: The Riddler hijacks the skyscraper lighting in order to display his green question mark symbol across the city.
• Slasher Smile: The Joker, naturally. Batman also wore one when poisoned by the Joker Venom.
• Slow Clap: The ending of "Fire and Ice." After saving Gotham City from Mr. Freeze and Firefly, Batman is suddenly caught in the spotlight of the police — led by Chief Rojas, who has been gunning for his arrest his whole career. After a pause, one of the officers begins to clap. Over Rojas' protests, the rest follow suit. Never mind that someone probably got fired over that, it works.
• Smarter Than You Look: The Penguin is actually not entirely as idiotic as he lets on...
• The Smurfette Principle: Ellen Yin for seasons 1 and 2, Batgirl for the rest.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Everyone seems to call him "The Batman," presumably because he has very little public consciousness at the time and thus is seen more as an entity rather than an individual. Kids' WB! even lampshaded this in one of its promo spots, where Batman socks the Joker and shoots a Death Glare at the narrator for forgetting the "the".
  • Inverted for Joker, who unlike most other versions of the character is not called "The Joker."
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Joker and Penguin are by far the most recurring villains in the series ^note  tellingly, they're the only two who appear in the movie , appearing multiple times throughout each season while most other villains were lucky to get two or three focus episodes.
• Stealth Sequel: Some fans have speculated that this show is actually a prequel to Teen Titans due to a number of consistencies between the two.
  • Dick Grayson's Robin has a design, fighting style, and weaponry closely resembling his older counterpart. Not to mention, the timeline works perfectly between the two shows. Dick begins fighting crime with Batman at age 12, leaves to go solo at age 15, forms the Titans shortly after, and becomes Nightwing in the future. Although Robin's origin in Titans may conflict with Robin's backstory as shown in The Batman, it's possible that specific details were changed with a good old-fashioned Retcon.
  • Glen Murakami, a co-creator of Teen Titans, served as a producer for this show up until Robin's debut. It's worth noting, however, that Robin was kept from appearing until that point because the shows were on different networks, and it is still highly possible that he was involved with this version of the character.
  • In the season 5 episode "A Mirror Darkly," Mirror Master's Flash clone messes with Robin's hair, giving it a similar spiky quality to the older Robin's iconic haircut.
  • Barry Allen is The Flash in this show instead of Wally West, a detail which separates both shows from the DC Animated Universe. Although neither series explains the origins of these characters, the comics tell us that Allen is West's similarly-powered uncle, leading Wally to don the "Kid Flash" persona.
  • Aside from a one-panel Fantasy Sequence in Teen Titans Go! #45, Aquaman has never physically appeared in either show, but has also never been de-confirmed. When discussing fan theories, supporters of this continuity usually consider this sequence to be non-canon, as it features the DC Animated Universe version of the Justice League.
  • Batman himself actually appears in Teen Titans Go! #47. He is seen checking in on Robin and Starfire through binoculars, proud of what Robin's become after going solo. Although only his cowl is showing, its shape matches that of Rino Romano's Batman.
  • Throughout both shows, only one character doesn't seem to line up: Killer Moth. Fan theories range from a drastic retcon that makes him a Mad Scientist with a Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter, to a Collective Identity situation. The latter actually has a strong precedent in The Batman thanks to "Clayfaces," which features both Clayface I and II.
• Stock Scream: In "The Breakout" one of Black Mask's henchman takes a fall and makes a very familiar Wilhelm shriek on the way down.
• Stop Copying Me: One of Robin's lines when he's dealing with a mirror clone of himself mimicking his words.
• The Story That Never Was: An episode revolves around Francis Grey, a clock-repair man who, because of his family's dire financial straits, stole an expensive watch. Leading to a cavalcade of Disaster Dominoes which landed him 20 years in prison. After developing Time Master powers and using them to lash out with an Evil Plan, he accidentally kills his son, supercharging them and going back to the moment before he stole the watch; wisely deciding to just work overtime instead. The episode ends as it began; with the bat-family discussing new years resolutions, but a clock that Alfred had trouble repairing has been fixed by none other than Francis himself. The episode ends less than a few minutes after it chronologically started with Francis returning to his van labelled "Grey and Son, watch repair" to spend Christmas with his family.
• Stuffed into the Fridge: Surprisingly literally, but fit for the demographic. The Ventriloquist goes through special therapy to shed his Scarface split personality by replacing the puppet with a friendly one, Mr. Snoots. When Hugo Strange wants Scarface back, he "kills" Mr. Snoots and puts him in the Ventriloquist's fridge.
• Suddenly Speaking: Punch and Judy in "Clayfaces" (Justified, as Clayface was impersonating them at the time).
• Superhero Paradox: It's acknowledged several times that Gotham didn't have supervillains before Batman showed up. However, the pilot soft-pedals this by establishing that before Joker and the rest made the scene, Batman had rendered Gotham America's most crime-free city. Gotham.
• Take a Third Option: In Issue #41 of the comic book adaptation, Harley and Ivy hold someone as a hostage and threaten to kill him if Batman doesn't let them escape. He uses a gadget to quickly rescue the hostage.
• Terrible Trio: The Terrible Trio.
• 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 opposed 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!
• Token Good Teammate: Ethan Bennet was one to the GCPD before he became Clayface.
• Tomato Surprise: The episode 'Strange New World'.
• Too Dumb to Live: Real smart Yin, going after Bane alone without reinforcements armed with just a pistol. If it weren't for Batman she would've been smashed into a mush.
• Tranquil Fury: Batman is slightly more visibly angry and aggressive when attempting to capture Tony Zucco and his brothers, which means he's absolutely furious.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: The other half of "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 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 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: Added Emphasis: invoked in-show when the Batmobile missed ramming Mister Freeze. "Two words, Batman: snow tires." At least it appeared to miss ramming Mister Freeze.
• 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...
  • Rojas showed to really push it in the ep with Mr. Freeze and Firefly. He and the rest of the police were all frozen solid, and Batman thawed them out. When Batman was seen, Rojas ordered his men to capture him, but instead they all applaud him for saving them from freezing to death.
• Unhand Them, Villain!: Happens in "The Apprentice" when the Joker is attempting to drop his sidekick Prank into a vat of the same toxic waste that transformed him into the Joker:
  Batgirl: Let him go, Joker!
  Joker: (exasperated) I'm trying to!
• Useless Without Powers: Superman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman had their powers stolen by some androids. After this they became completely useless against the villains and dependant on the local Badass Normals in order to regain their powers.

V-Z

• Vein-o-Vision: in The Batman vs. Dracula, how vampires see their prey.
• Viewer-Friendly Interface: The Batwave display on Bruce's cell phone is rather large and prominent for a bit of iconography linked to his Secret Identity.
• Villain Ball: The bad guys always without fail design some elaborate deathtrap or otherwise don't make sure Batman and his allies are dead before just walking away, allowing Batman to escape unimpeded in a matter of seconds.
  Firefly: Bats sure went out with bang!
  Killer Croc: Yeah, we always think that.
• Villain Decay: Bane probably gets this the worst, but the entire cast (minus Catwoman) qualifies. In a later episode, Batman and Robin manage to defeat all of them at once within a few minutes (although part of this was because the villains got in each others' way a lot and so defeated each other).
• Villainous Harlequin: Harley Quinn, naturally.
• Villain Has a Point: Francis Grey's complaint about his sentence:
  Francis: I took a watch! Everything else was just an accident.
• 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.
• Villain Song: During a montage of Joker and Harley causing mayhem, a song performed by the two characters called “Setting the woods on fire” is played as the soundtrack.
• The Voiceless: Penguin's Kabuki Twins, and the Joker's henchmen, Punch and Judy. Lampshaded in one episode where Joker is telling them his plan, in which one of them Actually Clayface questions the plan further, which the Joker continues before realizing:
  Joker: Okay, one, you never EVER talk to me like that! And two... when did you two ever talk at all?
• 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.
• Weaponized Exhaust: How Mr. Freeze was ultimately beaten in his debut. Batman uses it a few more times in the series, but usually not to such great effect.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: There's plenty of cartoony violence and brutality going on, but anything even remotely indicated to be fatal is reserved for non-humans, even if they indicate self-awareness.
• 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).
  • Phosphorous is another good example, with his developing nuclear powers not meshing well at all with a short-temper and a bad attitude.
• 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.
  • Before Gordon takes command, the GCPD was this at their worst.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Once Commissioner Gordon takes command, Chief Rojas is never seen or mentioned again. It's likely implied that Gordon demoted or transferred him. Ellen Yin is also absent, but she gets a very brief mention in "Artifacts" indicating she was promoted.
• 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.
• Wicked Toymaker: In "Toys for Cash," we have Cosmo Krank. After his production was shut down because his toys were unnecessarily dangerous, he starts making deadly toys to get back at Bruce Wayne.
• 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 transforms everyone in Gotham into zombies. Batman does all he can to find Strange's antidote, only to realize at the last moment that the zombies are just an illusion Strange created and the "antidote" is actually the real toxin. Dracula tried to start one in The Movie, if you count vampires as zombies.

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