A pair of crooks have just mugged a family walking the streets of Gotham. As they sit on a rooftop counting their ill-gotten gains, one of them asks the other about the posibility of The Batman catching them. "There ain't no Bat," the other crook assures his partner. Then, out of the shadows, comes a tall, dark avenger of the night. With some gadgets from his belt, he quickly defeats the two cowardly crooks. He grabs one of them by his jacket and holds him over the edge of the roof. The punk begs the man not to kill him. "I'm not going to kill you," the man says, calmly. "I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me." Scared out of his wits, the punk blurts out, "What are you?!" Two words. "I'm Batman."
Batman has followed The Joker to Metropolis, and busts into a seedy nightclub to ask some questions. He has one man up against the wall, interrogating him. When the goon insists he doesn't know anything, Batman continues to threaten him. Suddenly, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Superman. "I think you got your answer," Superman says. Outraged at this interference, Batman grabs Superman's arm, and flips him over his shoulder into a table. This ain't no SuperFriends, folks.
In the near future, a retired Bruce Wayne watches the Gotham he once protected fall victim to a vicious gang known as The Mutants. Crime runs rampant everywhere, muggings and murders filling the headlines. Then, one night, as visions of his parents' murder fill his dreams once again, he decides to don the Bat suit once more. "This should be agony," Bruce thinks as he leaps across rooftops. "I should be a mass of aching muscle, broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would. But I'm a man of thirty, of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism. I'm born again. I smell their fear, and it is sweet." A squad car is chasing a group of ciminals through the streets, when Batman lands on the windshield of the getaway car, causing it to crash into the side of a building. The cops pull over and stare in amazement, as Batman stands before them. "These men are mine!" he thunders. The Dark Knight has returned.
When the US Government does not approve of Batman's vigilantism in Gotham, they call in Superman. Superman is ordered by the president to bring Batman to justice, and the two heroes realize that sooner or later it's going to come down to the two of them. In the alley where Bruce's parents were murdered, the two confront each other at last. Using a special hi-tech suit, a sonic gun, and synthetic kryptonite, Batman proceeds to knock the stuffing out of Superman. At the very moment of victory, the strain on Bruce's heart becomes too much, and he falls to the ground, both men totally spent.
Batman The Animated Series writer/producer Paul Dini has said that it's probably the most violent scene they ever got away with on the show. Bane lifts Batman over his head (in a reference to their confrontation in the Knightfall storyline in the comics, where Bane breaks Batman's back), and tells Batman to beg for mercy. Batman responds by plunging a batarang into the controls on Bane's wrist that pump the Venom drug into his brain. The controls go haywire, pumping Bane up with way too much Venom. Batman watches as Bane falls to his knees, screaming, his veins and eyes bulging, his muscles spasming. The viewer is treated to a close up view of his suffering. This is actually uncomfortable to watch, it looks like the eyes are going to pop right out of Bane's head. Intense stuff.
Bruce goes to visit Vicki Vale, planning to tell her about his double life as Batman. Before he can reveal his secret, their little meeting is interrupted by the Joker. Outraged that this madman would threaten the woman he cares about, Bruce takes a poker from the fireplace and smashes a vase with it. "You wanna get nuts?" he screams at the evil clown. "Let's get nuts!" Joker takes out a gun and points it at Bruce. "Tell me something, my friend," he says. "Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" Bruce narrows his eyes. He's heard this line somewhere before.
"I always ask that of all my prey," Joker explains. "I just like the sound of it." And then he shoots Bruce.
The frozen Victor Fries wants nothing more than to get revenge on Ferris Boyle, the man who ruined his experiment to save the life of his cryogenically frozen wife, Nora, and caused the accident that transformed him into Mr. Freeze. Batman hangs upsidedown, frozen to the cieling, as Freeze tells him his plan to murder Boyle. "Think of it Batman," Freeze says. "To never again walk on a summer's day, with a hot wind in your face, and a warm hand to hold. Oh, yes. I'd kill for that."
A gang of Gotham's worst has gathered at The Stacked Deck Club for a game of cards. The Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy and Killer Croc swap stories about how close they've all come to killing Batman while they play. Ivy and her exploding pumpkins, Two-Face's giant penny, and Penguin's Aviary of Doom don't even come close to Joker's trump card. After Catwoman saved Batman from Joker's deadly take-over of a late night talk show, Joker took her hostage and planned to have her killed. "First thing tomorrow I'm sending a nice bag of cat food to Batman," the clown laughs with evil glee. Killer Croc stands up and grabs Joker by his jacket. "I don't think so," he growls, then throws him across the room into a table. The light sways back and forth, and reveals Croc's silhouette... it's not Killer Croc at all, but Batman, in disguise, and the place is filled with cops. "I'm not so bad with traps myself," Batman muses, as he leaves to save Catwoman from an untimely death.
For years, Dick Grayson was Batman's sidekick, Robin. So why did he leave to become Nightwing? The years of fighting crime weighing heavy on his shoulders, Batman had become even darker. Robin watches in horror as Batman beats and threatens a member of Joker's gang in front of the man's wife and young son. Then, when Dick discovers that Bruce knew that Barbara Gordon was Batgirl, and put her in danger without telling him, he grows furious. Standing on a rooftop, Robin tells Batgirl about the Batman he has come to know lately. "He manipulates, pulls strings, anything to get what he wants," Robin steams. "The game's over, Batman. I quit." As he turns to leave, Batman tries to stop him. With all the anger he's built up, Dick turns back around, and punches Batman in the face, knocking him to the ground. He walks away, leaving his mask and cape behind.
Wearing a new, sleek, hi-tech suit, Batman saves Veronica Vreeland's daughter from being killed by a group of kidnappers. Bruce begins having heart trouble and is caught off guard by one of the thugs, who beats him mercilessly. Close to death and seeing no other way out, Batman grabs a gun that is laying on the floor, dropped by one of the other kidnappers, and points it at his assailant. Fearing for his life, the attacker runs away. Bruce takes off his mask and looks down at the gun in his hand, horrified. Returning to the Batcave, Bruce puts the suit away in a case, then stands at the top of the stairway leading up to Wayne Manor. As he turns off the lights in the cave, he declares, "Never again."
Teenager Terry McGinnis has stolen the robotic Batsuit from the Batcave, and uses it to avenge the death of his father at the hands of Derek Powers and Mr. Fixx. At first Bruce is angered by the theft, but is eventually impressed with the boy's work, and sympathizes with his loss. The next morning, Bruce shows up at the McGinnis home, telling Terry's mom that he would like to offer Terry a job. "I warn you," Bruce tells Terry. "I can be a difficult taskmaster." Terry smiles. "I think I can handle it," the boy replies. "Very good then Mr. McGinnis," Bruce says, offering Terry his hand. "Welcome to my world." They shake hands, as Terry becomes an official part of the legend that is Batman.
This may sound like an odd thing to include, but anyone who saw the commercial knows what I'm talking about. When Batman The Animated Series first came to Cartoon Network, they put together a commercial for it that just about made viewers wet their pants. "What hidden terror keeps the Batman awake at night?" poses The Scarecrow. We see a glimpse of the Wayne grave, a shot of Bruce as a sad, frightened child. "Is there some past tragedy...?" asks Dr. Hugo Strange. "I was only a child," Bruce says. Thomas and Martha Wayne, shaking their heads, sadly. "Why couldn't you save us, son?" Batman, screaming, hurling punches at unseen enemies, throwing over tables, breaking things. "A need filled you, all consuming, all controlling..." Batman, throttling a punk. "What are you?" "I'm your worst nightmare." The Batmobile, racing into action. "It ain't human!" Batman, rising up out of flames. Finally, the shot pans up to see Batman standing atop a building, a flash of lightning behind him. His voice, menacing, over the haunting theme. "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!" The coolest thing of all? Cartoon Network showed Batman TAS episodes once in the evening, and then again at midnight. The perfect time to watch Batman. The commercial ended with Batman's eyes, staring out of the darkness, as he growls, "It's payback time."
Russ Dimino 2000