The DC animated universe created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm was not only the most influential corpus of superhero media outside the funny pages; it also raised the bar for comic-book adaptations to such an extent that not even the multi-billion-dollar-earning mega franchises nowadays could even come close. The foundation of DCAMU was laid by the pioneering masterpiece, Batman: The Animated Series, a timeless saga featuring the Dark Knight that seamlessly integrated brilliant character work, dynamic animation, iconic voice acting, evocative art style, nuanced, thought-provoking narrative, and an unforgettable background score by Shirley Walker, resulting in a surreal, poignant, and unmatchable experience. When Bruce Timm was later approached for further continuation of the series, he rejected the idea but agreed to use the original series as a groundwork for another Batman animated series, set as a period piece, which allowed him the freedom to utilize a number of unused ideas from the original series. Along with some of the most prolific creative minds like Matt Reeves, Ed Brubaker, James Tucker, and J. J. Abrams, Bruce Timm produced Batman: Caped Crusader, an intriguing, moody, neo-noir venture that combines the adventures of the Dark Knight with shenanigans adopted from Gotham Central.
The first season of Caped Crusader, consisting of ten episodes, ends in a flurry, but in that brief span of time, it gives us a glimpse into a redefined version of Gotham, Batman, and his iconic rogue gallery that retains the charm of the original series. Hamish Linklater honors the legacy of Kevin Conroy by taking on the role of the Dark Knight, and Caped Crusader truly ends up being a spiritual successor to the original series.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 1: In Treacherous Waters
Set in the early 40s, Caped Crusader follows the billionaire socialite Bruce Wayne in his early years as Batman and represents him as an even more broody, emotionally distant, and distrusting figure than usual. So much so that he cannot allow himself to call his trusted butler, his only guardian figure, Alfred Pennyworth, by his first name—fearing the emotional connection will lead to the destruction of his already broken psyche. Gotham City Police Department is given secondary focus in the series, and we meet Jim Gordon as the hard-boiled police commissioner, Renee Montoya as a straight-arrow cop, and detective duo Flass and Bullock as crooked cops, working alongside the mob. James Gordon’s daughter, Barbara, is introduced as an honest, idealist criminal lawyer, while Harvey Dent is the slick, opportunist DA who is aiming to win the mayoral election and isn’t adverse to bend the law in his favor if need be. In the first episode, Batman investigates an ongoing gang war between the rival crime families of Rupert Throne and Oswalda Cobblepot, a reimagining of iconic Batman villain Penguin as a cabaret singer/casino cruise owner whose criminal empire grows stronger outside the reach of the law. After one of her sons rats her out to the police, Penguin tries to take down the GCPD using a long-range missile, but a timely evacuation by James, Renee, and Barbara prevents the loss of lives while Batman manages to bring Oswalda to justice. However, in doing so, Rupert Thorne gains complete control over Gotham’s underworld, something Bruce realizes all too late.
Episode 2: And be a Villain
After prominent actress Yvonne Frances goes missing, Renee Montoya is tasked with investigating, and as she interrogates Bruce, who was the last person the actress had met, Bruce secretly latches a bug onto her coat to get intel for his own investigation. Renee’s investigation leads her to Monoscope Studios, and the clues found during the interrogation of a number of Yvonne’s associates point towards a veteran actor, Basil Karlo, as a possible suspect. However, as Basil is murdered, followed by a string of murders in the industry by a gnarly, disfigured-looking killer, the investigation takes a turn. It is revealed that Basil was stuck with villain roles due to his appearance, never getting the chance to utilize his potential as an actor, and was rejected by Yvonne as well. In a desperate attempt to change his fate, Basil sought the help of a dubious make-up artist, Jack Ellman, whose experimental procedure allowed him to change the shape of his face any way he liked—and thus the series introduces its golden age version of Clayface. With a changed appearance, Basil had approached Yvonne once again, only to be called a monster, and his insecure mind got the better of him. Eventually, he abducted Yvonne, killed all those who wronged him, and led the investigation on a merry chase by taking their appearance, and finally abducted Renee. Basil tried to recreate the entrapment scenario from the horror movies where he had played the role of villain for so long. Finally, Batman’s timely intervention results in Clayface getting captured and Renee and Yvonne escaping with their lives. However, Renee knows that Batman was using her as his source of intelligence and pledges to apprehend him sooner or later.
Episode 3: Kiss of the Catwoman
In the third episode, Caped Crusader introduces a reimagined, golden age-inspired version of Catwoman in the form of socialite thrillseeker Selina Kyle, who resorts to a life of crime to sort out her expenses after her billionaire father gets imprisoned for tax fraud. Taking inspiration from Batman, Selina creates the persona of Catwoman by donning a cape and cowl and uses her athletic abilities to become a jewel thief. The frenmity between Batman and Catwoman remains a constant, and Bruce manages to put her behind bars—only for Harvey to convince the jury to acquit her. The next time, Bruce takes reporter Bill O’Brian along with him to capture Selina with proper evidence, and incidentally, the reporter manages to get evidence of Flass and Bullock trying to kill Selina, while Bruce rescues her by beating up the detective duo. Selina gets imprisoned and also gets betrayed by her housekeeper, Greta, who refuses to bail her out and leaves Gotham. Bill O’Brian publishes a story about the clash between police and Batman, which creates quite a ruckus in Gotham in the next episode. The third episode also introduces psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who is redefined as a Hugo Strange-like figure who diagnoses Bruce’s repressed childhood trauma of losing his parents after Bruce attends her therapy sessions to make amends for lashing out at a reporter publicly.
Episode 4: Night of the Hunters
The news of Flass and Bullock getting a due beating by Batman creates a divisive reaction among the people of Gotham, leading to Mayor Jessop creating an anti-Batman task force, making James Gordon the leader of it. However, after the amateurish traps set by police to capture Batman miserably fail, Renee brings on Barbara’s friend, Harley, who suggests the police set a similar costumed criminal as bait to lure Batman out of hiding. Flass and Bullock quite recklessly let the mentally troubled, pyromaniac Firebug loose—who sets the impoverished East End section of Gotham on fire—and as Batman arrives to apprehend the criminal, the detective duo calls in the task force to capture him. James, Renee, and Barbara rush to the spot, fearing the fire breakout will cost numerous lives—something that James is willing to stop at any cost, and as he begins to rescue the trapped civillians from the apartments, he finds Batman engaged in the rescue efforts already. Eventually, to cover up their dirty deeds, Flass and Bullock kill Firebug by throwing him off a building—and get celebrated as heroes by the media and the mayor, who reinstate them as the chiefs of task force, replacing James in the process. In the episode, Bruce’s troubled past stemming from witnessing the murder of his parents gets addressed as his therapy sessions with Harleen finally end.
Episode 5: The Stress of Her Regard
After billionaire Fletcher Demming nearly kills himself by rushing onto the main street dressed up as Tutankhamen, Batman gets into an investigation, which leads him to a strange case of billionaires taking their lives after donating their wealth to charities. Later, as Bruce and Barbara learn Harleen Quinzel being their psychiatrist the common factor in all the cases, their suspicion leads them to the villa of William Hastings, where dressed in a jester costume, the psychiatrist’s alter ego Harley Quinn is trying experimental, nefarious methods of reforming billionaires through torture, role playing, and isolation. Batman gets trapped in one of Harley’s cells while the villa is set to self-destruct by Harley, but as Barbara arrives to rescue Batman, Harley is forced to release Batman, and the trio get caught up inside the collapsing villa. Batman manages to save Barbara, while Harley seemingly falls to the ocean to her death. However, as Harleen calls Renee to cancel their second date for the time being, her survival is confirmed.
Episode 6: Night Ride
The much-needed supernatural, gothic flair of Batlore is addressed in the sixth episode, where Bruce encounters the spirit known as Gentleman Ghost, who starts terrorizing Gotham by stealing from the poor. With the help of his associate, a kind librarian named Wilma, Bruce identifies the spirit as James Craddock, a former nobleman and one of Gotham’s founding fathers, a loyalist during the Revolutionary War who preyed on the impoverished by becoming a Highwayman. Initially unwilling to believe in spirits and otherworldly beings, Bruce decides to take on the situation in the old-school way, using brain and brawn, and engages in a battle with Gentleman Ghost while rescuing his lawyer, Lucius Fox, who had gone to buy Craddock family property at Heritage Hill. Realizing that he indeed is out of his depths at this point, Bruce seeks Alfred’s counsel, who directs him to a mysterious bookshop owner (secretly a voodoo shaman) named Linton Midnite, who guides Bruce through a rite of passage and instructions to entrap Craddock’s spirit. During the ritual to capture Craddock’s spirit, Alfred jumps in to save Bruce’s life and puts himself in mortal peril, which almost leads to Bruce’s taciturn, emotionally disconnected persona cracking. However, upon completing the ritual, Bruce traps the spirit of Craddock and gives it to Midnite as per their agreement.Â
Episode 7: Moving Target
After a hitman, Floyd Lawton (Deadshot in the comics), tries to kill police commissioner James Gordon outside city hall, Barbara and Renee convince James to take shelter in a safehouse outside of town. Batman investigates by following a trail to Blackgate Penitentiary and learns one of Barbara’s former clients, a mob boss known as Muller, had put a hit on him—and following his orders, a dreaded assassin, Onomatopoeia, and his crew have arrived in Gotham to hunt down the commissioner. The master assassin and his crew manage to flank Gordon in Wayne Gardens, but Batman interferes to sabotage their plan. Eventually, police officer Jim Corrigan (not Spectre), who was pretending to be an honorable cop and was part of Gordon’s security detail, turns on Barbara, as it is revealed that Muller had targeted his lawyer simply to seek revenge for her not being able to reduce his sentence. Barbara manages to hold her own and incapacitates Corrigan, and the episode ends with Barbara refusing to help Muller any longer. Throughout the course of this episode, Barbara had argued with her father regarding his simplistic, absolute binary sense of morality, as she wants to bring out good even from the most heinous lot, but now she realizes that some people are truly irredeemable.
Episode 8: Nocturne
The eighth episode of the series, once again with supernatural flair, is centered upon the mysterious teenager Natalia Knight/Nocturna, who assists her brother Anton, a carnival showman. Bruce’s guardian figure, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, loses a number of children from her orphanage at the carnival, which prompts Bruce to begin investigating on his own. It should be mentioned that all the missing kids, Dickie, Jason, Stephie, and Carrie, will take up the mantle of Robin someday in the near future, and this was a nice bit of foreshadowing on the showrunners’ part. It is revealed that Natalia, who suffers from a vampirism-like affliction, was abducting the kids to consume their life essence to sustain herself—and as her brother, Anton, tries to stop her, an unhinged Natalia fatally wounds him by accident. Batman manages to apprehend Natalia, and as he breaks the tragic news of Anton’s death, Natalia breaks down in guilt and agony. Bruce rescues Natalia by guarding her from sunlight and takes her to Leslie’s orphanage for rehabilitation.Â
On the other hand, with the election approaching, and losing public confidence, Harvey Dent decides to take Rupert Thorne’s help to win the mayoral election but decides to double-cross the mob boss by staying true to his ideals when he refuses to bail out a scammer. As a result, Tony Zito, Thorne’s right-hand man, returns the favor by splashing Harvey’s face with acid, resulting in the birth of Harvey’s sinister alter ego, Two Face.
Episode 9: The Killer Inside Me
Driven to derangement by his insecurities, failures, and present predicament, a vengeful Harvey fails to gain control over his broken psyche, and as Bruce decides to pry out information about the perpetrator with no regard for Harvey’s mental state, the situation gets way worse. Harvey surrenders to his negative instincts and goes on a killing spree, and after taking his revenge on Zito by burning him alive, he targets Thorne. After having a conversation with Alfred, Bruce realizes his mistake, which led to Harvey going over the edge, and he tries to rectify that by apprehending his old friend before it gets too late. Bruce manages to stop Harvey from killing Thorne, but it seems his mind is too far gone to be healed.
Episode 10: Savage Night
A captive Harvey is assisted by Barbara, who believes that he can turn a new page, but Harvey is too guilt-ridden for his recent and earlier actions and firmly believes that he cannot be absolved. Fearing that Harvey might expose his crime operations, Thorne sends his squad of hitmen led by Flass and Bullock to eliminate the former DA, and as Batman, Barbara, James, and Renee try to protect him, a fiery battle ensues near Gotham Waterfront. Eventually, Harvey sacrifices his life while saving Barbara, who was targeted by Flass. Despite being irredeemable, Harvey’s tragic end at least allows him to die honorably. An enraged Bruce threatens Flass and goes on to threaten Thorne as well, as he is adamant he will bring his friend’s killers to justice. In a conversation with Alfred, Bruce acknowledges that he fears that he too might go over the edge in his obsessive war against crime, but Alfred reassures him by putting his faith in Bruce’s humanity, his inherent goodness. For the first time, Bruce seems to be learning to open up and acknowledge his emotions as he addresses Alfred by his first name.
In a rundown shack, an unknown figure is revealed to be experimenting with dastardly chemical concoctions, the likes of which result in agonizing deaths with permanent grins in victims’ face— this scenario along with the silhouette in the shadows, it doesn’t take much imagination to identify the figure as Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker—who will presumably serve as the prime antagonist in the second season of Caped Crusader.
