http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE19LegendsOfTheDarkKnight
Three young Batman fans discuss what they think he's really like, unknowingly stumbling into an arson by the villain Firefly. Based off
The Silver Age of Comic Books and
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Carrie is braver than the others, and is based off Robin (who she plays in her story) from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
- Ambiguously Gay: One of the kids, named Joel, is a not so subtle parody of Joel Schumacher, who actually was gay. He has pretty feminine mannerisms and seems to have some erotic fixation on Batman.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Carrie's reaction as the first story is introduced:
Matt: He's got a lot of cool equipment, and he and Robin are real funny.
Carrie: And my dad's a spy with the CIA.
- Art Shift: Each story has its own visual style which corresponds to different past incarnations of the Batman character.
- Badass Adorable:
- Before the Joker incapacitates him in Matt's story, Robin successfully takes down several mooks using oversized instruments.
- Carrie's version of Robin can also go toe-to-toe with Mutant gangs while armed with a slingshot.
- Barrier-Busting Blow: Batman does this to a mook in a sequence based on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Carrie's version of Batman assures her that the tank's bullets are rubber. Honest.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: A thrown batarang is clearly shown lodged in the mook's hand. This is a sequence homageing Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which has that happen regularly.
- Broad Strokes: Flanderized and inaccurate versions are told of Batman's Silver Age adventures and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns respectively.
- Casting Gag: Michael Ironside voices the Dark Knight Returns version of Batman, who was also voicing Darkseid in Superman: The Animated Series at the same time BTAS was airing.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Dark Knight Batman and Robin engage in his; after he saves her, Robin asks sarcastically if he figured she had all night. Then when the mutants fire on their tank, Batman only remarks, "Kids these days. No respect."
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The operating table scene from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns makes the cut! Robin/Carrie is apparently quite impressed by this scene.
- Combat Pragmatist:
- In line with Matt's story, Joker acts this way towards Batman and Robin, ambushing Robin in a sneak attack when the latter is distracted.
- Carrie's version of Batman uses military power and brute force.
- Dynamic Entry: In the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns section, Batman first appears by crashing through a wall to grab a thug.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Kids tell each other what Batman is really like — one says he's like the Dick Sprang version from the 50s, one argues for the style of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and all dismiss the kid who likes Joel Schumacher's version.
- Homage:
- I'll Kill You!: The sequence taken from Dark Knight Returns that used this phrase.
- Instrument of Murder: The 1950s' Batman has a giant piano Death Trap, as well as other musical implements used as weapons.
- Motive Decay: Back on his first appearance, Firefly wanted revenge against his ex-girlfriend. Now he's an arsonist for hire. As with The Mad Hatter previously, Batman calls him on this, and he tries to justify it, saying "Fire needs fuel. Chemicals are expensive."
- Mythology Gag:
- Rashomon Effect: The different versions of Batman told by the kids. Referenced at the end when the kids witness Batman himself battling the pyromaniac villain Firefly — each of them concludes that what they saw proves that their version is the accurate one.
- Self-Deprecation: The show pokes fun at some of Batman's campier eras and periods.
- Self-Insert Fic: Carrie apparently puts herself in her story in the role of Robin, under the assumption that Robin is a girl. Also somewhat doubles as an inversion since her name and design are both lifted straight from Carrie Kelly, who actually was a female Robin in The Dark Knight Returns, which her section is modeled after.
- Shout-Out:
- Aside from the homages that are used to tell the story, at the beginning one of the boys describes Batman as an inhuman monster. The girl says he needs a reality check. She is based off Robin in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, who says the same thing when her friend describes Batman the same way after he saves them from mutants.
- The episode resembles a classic comic book story ("The Batman Nobody Knows") where kids around a campfire tell each other — and a bemused Bruce Wayne — their different takes on Batman.
According to the DVD Commentary, this is an accidental resemblance caused by coming up with the same basic idea independently.
- Shown Their Work: Unlike the original comic, the TDKR version of Batman makes sure his rubber bullets ricochet off the ground before striking their targets; this is how they are meant to be used as doing so reduces the risk of permanent injury and even death.
- Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: The kids find the first boy's story ridiculous. One of them even scoffs at the idea of Batman calling Robin "old chum". They are even more dismissive of Joel's version.
- Stylistic Suck: The segment based on the 1950s era. The synchronization between lip flaps and dialogue is poor, the background music cuts between tracks suddenly, and the animation quality fluctuates wildly.
- Take That!: The group scoff at a fourth boy who loves Batman's muscles and leather armor and claims the Batmobile can drive up walls. He is extremely flamboyant, is standing outside a Shoemaker store, and his name is Joel. Joel Schumacher was actually amused by the reference.
- Unreliable Narrator: Invoked by the group concerning the first boy's story, which he heard from his uncle. The uncle was a security guard who happened to witness one of Batman's exploits but it turns out he was hit with Knockout Gas early in the fight and missed the whole thing.
Carrie: The whole story's bogus, your uncle was asleep half the time!
Matt: Well, like I said, that's how he tells it.
