Key findings

• Batman: The Animated Series changed the rules of the game with its retro-future setting and art deco style
• The series focused on Batman’s villains and often gave them emotional backstories
• The show had a direct influence on the new series Batman: Caped Crusader by creator Bruce Timm

Batman fever is reaching its peak again. The spin-off series The Penguin starring Colin Farrell is set to premiere on September 19. The highly anticipated sequel, Joker: Foil for Two hits theaters on October 4. And this summer, Prime Video released the new animated series Batman: Caped Crusader.

The new show was created by Bruce Timm, best known as the creator of the ’90s classic Batman: The Animated Series. In fact, Batman: Caped Crusader is directly inspired by TAS, bringing back the old show’s art deco look and retro-future style, updated with a darker, often more adult tone. TAS was a groundbreaking animated series for its time, bringing the superhero to the screen with great respect for the comic book source material, using black paper to draw backgrounds in an instantly distinctive style, introducing incredible new characters like Harley Quinn, and beautifully reinventing others like Mr. Freeze. The show also took the time to really explore the psychological makeup of Batman’s rogues gallery, making some of the villains downright sympathetic.

To celebrate the Caped Crusader and all things Batman, we take a look back at the 10 best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.

11 10. “Baby Doll”

Season 3, Episode 4

Batman must confront Mary Dahl, a former child star driven to madness by remaining completely childlike in appearance and size well into adulthood. Her career is over and all she has left is revenge. As Batman tries to stop the violence Baby-Doll unleashes on Gotham, he also tries to reach her soul. The end of the episode is one of the most emotional of the entire series. Dahl is forced to confront what she has become, breaks down in tears, and Batman offers her genuine compassion and a helping hand.

10 9. “Robin’s Reckoning”

Season 1, episodes 51 and 52

Dick Grayson, aka Robin, has always been a difficult character to portray, but Batman: The Animated Series proved it can be done with its standout two-part episode in which Batman’s young sidekick deals with the loss of his family. In a flashback, the episode shows how the acrobatic family “The Flying Graysons” were killed during a performance by the villain Tony Zucco. When Robin learns where Zucco is currently located, he goes behind Batman’s back to find Zucco for revenge. Until Batman finally manages to stop him by reminding him of the difference between vengeance and justice, bringing them back together over the shared trauma of losing their families.

9 8. “Harley and Ivy”

Season 1, Episode 47

There are few things more exciting than watching two villains team up, and no episode does it better than “Harley and Ivy,” in which Harley Quinn is kicked out by her boyfriend, the Joker, and ends up staying with Poison Ivy. The two develop a great bond, with Ivy pushing Harley to become more confident and independent and stop putting up with Joker’s constant abuse. The pair quickly became fan favorites thanks to their great chemistry, although of course Harley can’t stand being without her true love by the end.

8 7. “Nothing to fear”

Season 1, Episode 10

Batman has always been a hero defined by fear, both the fear he instills in his enemies and the fears he has long harbored over the murder of his parents. TAS used the classic villain Scarecrow to force Batman to face his fears with its fear toxin. The caped crusader begins to hallucinate his worst nightmares, including the emotional devastation that his parents may not be proud of what he has become. All of this leads him to a final realization and one of the series’ greatest lines: “I am the night! I am vengeance! I am Batman!”

7 6. “The Last Laugh”

Season 1, Episode 15

Everyone loves a good Joker story, and TAS had plenty of them, thanks to voice actor and Star Wars star Mark Hamill’s great portrayal of the classic villain. Perhaps its most iconic episode is the one in which the Joker poisons Gotham City with laughing gas as a big April Fools’ joke. The episode also spends a lot of time with Alfred, who has realized how much Batman’s crime-fighting is taking a toll on him.

6 5. “The Man Who Killed Batman”

Season 1, Episode 49

Batman’s rogues gallery is full of big, famous villains, but sometimes it’s the little guy who gets it the hardest. When Batman is seemingly accidentally killed by small-time gangster Sydney “The Squid” Debris, he is celebrated for it despite protests from the likes of the Joker. The beauty of the episode is how it paints a picture of the lives of Gotham’s less notable characters and how Batman shaped their world. Plus, it turns out Batman wasn’t dead, so all’s well that ends well.

5 4. “Beware of the grey ghost”

Season 1, Episode 32

TAS pays homage to the classic 1960s Batman series, starring Adam West in this emotional story about an aged television star who once played a hero known as The Gray Ghost. When a series of remote-controlled bombings plague Gotham, Batman realizes it’s a copycat crime similar to the plot of an episode of an old show from his childhood. The episode takes a very serious look at what it’s like to watch the culture leave you behind as you get older, and works as a reckoning with the series’ relationship to the much cheesier ’60s series.

4 3. “Heart of Ice”

Season 1, Episode 14

This episode about Mr. Freeze appeared early in the series and served as a sort of mission statement for the depth that could be achieved by really delving into the emotional lives of Batman’s villains. While Freeze was more of a joke character in the comics, TAS gave him real dignity. In the episode, Victor Fries becomes a villain in order to find a cure for his terminally ill wife, whom he keeps cryogenically frozen, while also seeking revenge on the man responsible. It’s a beautiful, emotional story and one of the most critically acclaimed for good reason.

3 2. “I almost caught him”

Season 1, Episode 35

Batman: The Animated Series has always put its villains front and center, but few episodes have done that better and more cleverly than “Almost Got ‘Im,” in which Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc meet for a game of cards while hiding from the police. During the game, they tell their own stories about how they almost, but never quite, defeated Batman. Unlike some other episodes that humanize the villains through tragic stories, this episode is more relaxed and humorous, treating the classic villains like a bunch of friends swapping anecdotes.

2 1. “Two Faces”

Season 1, episodes 17 and 18

The story of Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, has always been one of the central stories in the Batman canon and has never been better portrayed than in this two-part TAS episode. Scarred by a horrific attack by a gangster, the noble District Attorney of Gotham begins his tragic descent into villainy as he attempts to take the law into his own hands. Echoing Batman’s vigilantism, Bruce Wayne must come to terms with his former friend seeking vengeance instead of justice and must reckon with the consequences of his own fight against crime in Gotham. It’s an example of how Batman: The Animated Series can be at its best, giving all the characters real emotion and depth in a way that audiences and even comic readers have never experienced before.

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