History CharacterizationMarchesOn / Batman

* Selina's whole backstory has changed since she was first created as well. Especially now that she and Batman are more often than not an OfficialCouple after she learned his secret in ComicBook/BatmanHush (that ran from 2002-2003). She used to be a rich socialite as well who robbed because she was bored. Now she's a poor street orphan who robbed to take care of her sister as a way to play up the UptownGirl angle in their relationship.

* ComicBook/TheJoker was originally a sneering criminal mastermind instead of the cackling lunatic we know today, telling fewer jokes and laughing only once. He was named after the Joker in playing cards. ''The Man Who Laughs'' later rewrote the Joker's first story with the current portrayal of the Joker. The Joker wasn't intended to be insane by Finger and Kane. Even during the Silver Age where the Joker became his Clown Prince of Crime version, the Joker was sent to prison when he was defeated instead of an asylum or otherwise remotely treated like a criminal who could get an insanity defense.

* ComicBook/TheJoker was originally a sneering, humorless criminal mastermind instead of the cackling lunatic we know today. He was named after the Joker in playing cards, seeing as how he never told a single joke, and never laughed in his initial appearance (though he did smile, rather terrifyingly). ''The Man Who Laughs'' later rewrote the Joker's first story with the current portrayal of the Joker. The Joker wasn't intended to be insane by Finger and Kane. Even during the Silver Age where the Joker became his Clown Prince of Crime version, the Joker was sent to prison when he was defeated instead of an asylum or otherwise remotely treated like a criminal who could get an insanity defense.

** Cold Comfort" depicts Mr. Freeze as a more typical villain, going about trying to make other people miserable after losing Nora forever and having his body degenerate into just a head. "Meltdown" goes back to depicting him as a sympathetic and tragic AntiVillain.

---> '''Batman:''' ''[as he watches the man in question '''burn to death''']'' Death... to Doctor Death!

* Alfred is remembered as the Wayne family's loyal butler, however he was originally written as a CluelessDetective who wasn't quite up to par with the World's Greatest Detective, Batman. Rather than swear revenge, he ended up serving in the Wayne Manor and the Batcave. Nowdays Alfred is just written as TheJeeves. Alfred was also originally overweight and clean shaven, but adopted his iconic thin, mustached appearance after a stay at a health spa. Alfred also didn't become a major character until Denny O'Neil's run in the 70s. His role as Bruce's ParentalSubstitute was only introduced in ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' Post-Crisis. Bruce had previously been raised by an uncle and his housekeeper.

** In much of the first two seasons, Batman is fairly approachable and affable (though he certainly doesn't take criminals lightly), and has something of a BigBrotherMentor relationship to his partners. This can be rather jarring for people used to his characterization by the time of ''The New Batman Adventures'' and ''Justice League'', where he generally comes across as rather cold, distant, overly serious, obsessed with the cause, and unwilling to let people in (though still having his DeadpanSnarker moments). ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' in particular has a major conceit being that Terry is the first person Bruce has been particularly close with in years, if not decades, and when his old partners appear, they generally have few nice things to say about him.

** Bane first appearance depicted him as a LargeHam with a pseudo-Hispanic accent with a tendency to scream at the top of his lungs. Following “Over The Edge”, he adopts a soft-spoken, FauxAffablyEvil demeanor and drops the accent. ''Mystery of the Batwoman'' has him gain a tendency to use GratuitousSpanish.
** Firefly first appearance depicted him as a deranged StalkerWithACrush, while his second appearance depicted him as an arsonist-for-hire more in line with the deranged pyromaniac he was in the comics.

!!''Franchise/{{Batman}}''

** His first appearance depicted him as a LargeHam with a pseudo-Hispanic accent with a tendency to scream at the top of his lungs. Following “Over The Edge”, he adopts a soft-spoken, FauxAffablyEvil demeanor and drops the accent. ''Mystery of the Batwoman'' has him gain a tendency to use GratuitousSpanish.

*** Harley's line about beauty school may suggest that her origins as a psychiatrist may not have been cemented at the time.

** In much of the first two seasons, Batman is fairly approachable and affable (though he certainly doesn't take criminals lightly), and has something of a BigBrotherMentor relationship to his partners. This can be rather jarring for people used to his characterization by the time of ''The New Batman Adventures'' and ''Justice League'', where he generally comes across as rather cold, distant, overly serious, obsessed with the cause, and unwilling to let people in (though still having his DeadpanSnarker moments). ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' in particular has a major conceit being that Terry is the first person Bruce has been particularly close with in years, if not decades, and when his old partners appear, they generally have little nice to say about him.

* Alfred is remembered as the Wayne family's loyal butler, however he was originally written as a CluelessDetective who wasn't quite up to par with the World's Greatest Detective, Batman. Rather than swear revenge, he ended up serving in the Wayne Manor and the Batcave. Nowdays Alfred is just written as TheJeeves. Alfred was also originally overweight and clean shaven, but adopted his iconic thin, mustached appearance after a stay at a health spa. Alfred also didn't become a major character until Denny O'Neil's run in the 70s. His role as Bruce's ParentalSubstitute was only introduced in ComicBook/BatmanYearOne Post-Crisis. Bruce had previously been raised by an uncle and his housekeeper.

** In the early episodes, Harvey Bullock and Gordon were constantly at each other's throats, with Gordon even threatening to have him fired a few times. Later episodes portrayed him as being fiercely loyal to Gordon.

* Alfred is remembered as the Wayne family's loyal butler, however he was originally written as a CluelessDetective who wasn't quite up to par with the World's Greatest Detective, Batman. Rather than swear revenge, he ended up serving in the Wayne Manor and the Batcave. Nowdays Alfred is just written as TheJeeves. Alfred was also originally overweight and clean shaven, but adopted his iconic thin, mustached appearance after a stay at a health spa. Alfred also didn't become a major character until Denny O'Neil's run in the 70s. Bruce had previously been raised by an uncle.

** Zatanna was an exceptionally talented but otherwise non-powered stage magician in ''Batman: TAS''. A subsequent appearance in ''[[Comicbook/TheBatmanAdventures The Batman & Robin Adventures]]'' featured her unwittingly using an actual magical spell and by the time of ''Justice League Unlimited'', she had gained full-fledged spell-casting like her comic book counterpart.

*** Harley's line about beauty school may suggest that her origins as a psychiatrist may not have been cemented at the time.

** When first introduced in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE22JokersFavor Joker's Favor]]", Harley Quinn was originally introduced as nothing more than a minor henchwoman working for ComicBook/TheJoker, once muttering, "Oy, beauty school is starting to look pretty good about now," after being caught by Batman. The producers envisioned her as a one-shot character. However, she turned so popular [[CanonImmigrant that she became part of the Batman comics]], which led to the comic "Mad Love," later adapted on BTAS, which revealed that she was an intern at Arkham Asylum who was seduced by the Joker during psychiatric sessions.

*** Her earlier appearances - especially "Joker's Favor" - also implied she had no real fighting skill and was mostly in Joker's gang for infiltration purposes (and standard {{Moll}} duties like cutting Joker's hair). A far cry from later seasons and ''especially'' the comics, which portray her as one of Batman's most athletic foes, on par if not ''surpassing'' Catwoman and usually the Joker's muscle if he doesn't have any other henchmen around.

* Renee Montoya's sexuality is a defining character trait for her under Creator/GregRucka, but when she was originally created for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' the plan ([[AllThereInTheManual according to background info in the series bible]]) was that she was intended to be driven in her own fight on crime by the memory of her dead ''husband''. It was not until ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'' that she was outed as a lesbian, which would become an integral part of an award-winning arc of that series and several [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo follow]] [[ComicBook/TheQuestion up]] comics. The same source also says that she would butt heads with Batman over his methods, whereas in almost all her appearances Renee admires him and understands why he acts outside the law.

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* When her origin was first established, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn didn't take her profession as a psychiatrist seriously, as her motivation for becoming one is to successfully rehabilitate high-profile Arkham inmates like the Joker and write a tell-all book. In fact, she resorted to SextraCredit to make up for unsatisfying medical school grades. Later writers made her much more passionate about her career, with ''ComicBook/{{Harleen}}'' recontextualizing the school incident as a TeacherStudentRomance in a way that doesn't rely on her grades.