History NightmareFuel / BatmanTheanimatedseries

** As mentioned above, the Joker goes to the mayor's house disguised as a party clown. However, he doesn't go to kidnap the mayor's son. His original intent was to blow the garden up with dynamite, along with the mayor's social circle and ''the children attending his son's birthday party''.

* The episode ''Torch Song'' introduces Garfield Lynns aka Firefly. Lynns is a pyrotechnic expert/ex boyfriend for the pop star Cassidy and from the very beginning, we get strong StalkerWithACrush. After she fires him, he sabotages the pyrotechnics display, ''nearly resulting in Cassidy, her band and those watching her show getting burned to death''. When the police go to his apartment to find him, they find a creepy StalkerShrine of promotional materials and half-lit candles. He even manages to severely injure Batgirl during her quest to find his hideout. ItGetsWorse when Lynns kidnaps Cassidy and plots to flood the sewers with a flammable gel and escape with Cassidy during the chaos. Fortunately, Batman saves the day just in time...but not before Cassidy is left with a severe case of pyrophobia. The guy is a '''very''' big IfICantHaveYou.

* "Heart of Steel"! To count the ways: HARDAC is a cold, emotionless A.I. created by a scientist who wanted to eliminate the pain of loss after the death of his daughter. Its plan is to "replace" humanity with robots. To this end, he starts by replacing key figures in Gotham, like Gordon and the Mayor... the robots, when threatened can move in positively insectine ways, and while the animators may have wanted to make their movements inhuman to illustrate the fact, their success means we have horror on the screen. All that, plus, the interesting little scene where Batman and Barbara collectively hurl Harvey Bullock into the bat signal.... thankfully, it was a robot replacement, but for all they knew, that was the real Harvey Bullock and they just killed him.

** "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE3ColdComfort Cold Comfort]]" is a pretty disturbing episode in itself. After being accustomed to Mr. Freeze as an AntiVillain who just wants to see his wife healthy and alive again, he's become even more emotionless and cruel, in addition to being hellbent on destroying everything Gothamites hold dear just because he can no longer be happy. Then there's the revelation that his condition has destroyed most of his body, rendering himself just as a living head in a robotic suit. Not to mention when Batman tries to ambush Mr. Freeze as he pilots his craft, only for the latter to suddenly [[JumpScare whirl his head 180 degrees onto him with an enraged glare]].

*** This episode was animated by [[Creator/TMSEntertainment Tokyo Movie Shinsha]], who also did ''Anime/{{Akira}}''. Nuf sed.

As one of the darkest, most mature children's cartoons, it comes as NO shock that this incarnation of the Dark Knight's adventures have their fair share of nightmarish moments.

** There's a follow-up episode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE8GrowingPains Growing Pains]]" which introduces us to Annie, an amnesiac teenage girl, scared by a man who's stalking her... [[spoiler:she's actually a drone of Clayface which somehow gained sentience out of his substance to act as a "lookout" to see if it was safe for him to come out of hiding. Just imagine being lost, stalked, and then learning you're not even a real person. And if this wasn't enough, Annie, after she acquires a self-identity, tries to escape and ends up befriending Robin has to sacrifice herself to save Robin from Clayface, and we actually '''see''' Clayface forcefully reintegrate her into himself; the only thing dulling the shock is that any of the implicit BodyHorror Annie suffers as she is unmade is obscured by Clayface's own body.]] This is both nightmarish and a massive TearJerker, and was considered by many to be one of the darkest episodes in the series.

* The end of "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE13Showdown Showdown]]". In this episode, Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins kidnap a resident from a Gotham rest home, and leave a tape for Batman, on which Ra's Al Ghul relates a story about how in 1883, his plan to take over America was thwarted by none other than ComicBook/JonahHex, who was seeking to claim the reward for Ra's' lieutenant, Arkady Duvall. In the end, Hex captures Duvall and turns him over to the authorities. After this story concludes, Batman and Robin catch up with Ra's and his still-unknown captive... [[spoiler:who turns out to be an impossibly aged and senile Duvall. Ra's explains that Duvall is his son, that his longevity is due to bathing in the Lazarus Pit as a young man, and that his mind was completely shattered by his 50-year sentence of hard labor. Even though Duvall was cruel, arrogant, and completely loathsome in the flashback, that's still [[AFateWorseThanDeath pretty rough]], especially when you consider the chances of many of ''us'' in this day and age living to extreme old age and [[AndIMustScream ending up like Duvall]] can't be ignored, and that it's already happening/has happened to many people.]]

* "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE17SeeNoEvil See No Evil]]". A psychotic man used an invisibility suit to secretly trick his daughter to leave with him. The man in question was [[spoiler:an ex-con whose wife had divorced him, and judging by the restraining order and her violent reaction to his company, he was most likely abusive. He becomes invisible in order to pose as his daughter's imaginary friend, steals expensive jewelry for her, and finally attempts to kidnap her - but is then exposed. Bats intervenes, and the episode ends with the little girl telling him that she and her mother are going to move away, "somewhere Daddy will never find us"]] - it's not just scary, it's a TearJerker.

** This is lessened slightly if you've read the Neil Adams comic it was based on. [[spoiler:Romulus moves to Alaska where he makes a living as a hunter and trapper, except three days out of the month, when his wolf form runs with the wolf packs.]]

*** In ''Mask of the Phantasm'', [[spoiler:the corpse of the mob boss the Joker killed, the discovery of which sets off a bomb that the Phantasm barely escapes.]]

** "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE14RiddlersReform Riddler's Reform]]" shows what would happen if Riddler decided to [[NotSoHarmlessVillain stop all the games]] [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim and just kill Batman once and for all]]: He tricks Batman into a building, seals all the exits, then blows it up. [[spoiler:If Batman hadn't found the safe, or if the safe didn't withstand the blast, ''Batman would be dead''.]]
* Batgirl's [[spoiler:dream sequence death]] in "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE12OverTheEdge Over the Edge]]" was particularly traumatizing, as [[spoiler:she falls from a high rise, onto her father's car. Made even worse by a censorship edit that put the camera inside the car with Jim Gordon as his daughter hits his hood.]]

--->'''Batman:''' [[spoiler:It makes no difference now.]]

** "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE3ColdComfort Cold Comfort]]" is a pretty disturbing episode in itself. After being accustomed to Mr. Freeze as an AntiVillain who just wants to see his wife healthy and alive again, he's become even more emotionless and cruel, in addition to being hellbent on destroying everything Gothamites hold dear just because he can no longer be happy. [[spoiler:And then there's the revelation that his condition has destroyed most of his body, rendering himself just as a living head in a robotic suit.]] Not to mention when Batman tries to ambush Mr. Freeze as he pilots his craft, only for the latter to suddenly [[JumpScare whirl his head 180 degrees onto him with an enraged glare]].

* "Heart of Steel"! To count the ways: [[spoiler:HARDAC is a cold, emotionless A.I. created by a scientist who wanted to eliminate the pain of loss after the death of his daughter. Its plan is to "replace" humanity with robots. To this end, he starts by replacing key figures in Gotham, like Gordon and the Mayor... the robots, when threatened can move in positively insectine ways, and while the animators may have wanted to make their movements inhuman to illustrate the fact, their success means we have horror on the screen.]] All that, plus, the interesting little scene where [[spoiler:Batman and Barbara collectively hurl Harvey Bullock into the bat signal.... thankfully, it was a robot replacement, but for all they knew, that was the real Harvey Bullock and they just killed him.]]
** [[spoiler: The robot Rossum accidentally getting hit with Randa's stungun when Batman ducks out of the way. Its ''[[HellIsThatNoise scream]]'' as it dies will haunt you.]]
** The follow-up episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE62HisSiliconSoul His Silicon Soul]]" introduces [[spoiler:the Batman duplicate]] isn't anymore ''pleasant''.

* The climax of "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE30PerchanceToDream Perchance to Dream]]" [[spoiler:where Bruce is trapped in his mind thanks to an invention of the Mad Hatter's which gives the dreamer/victim what they most desire. In Bruce's case, his parents are alive, he's engaged to Selina Kyle and somebody else is Batman. At the end, he realizes that he's trapped and unable to wake up... until he realizes that his mind can't imagine his life if he were dead. The Mad Hatter confronts him, saying "What if this is real?" Bruce coldly responds "Then I'll see you in your nightmares!" Before hurling himself ''off the church bell tower''. Yes, Batman was prepared to commit suicide and if he ''did'' die, he'd haunt the Mad Hatter from beyond the dead.]]

** The fact that the Penguin will kill or attempt to kill anyone who insults him. "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE47BirdsOfAFeather Birds of a Feather]]" is proof of this. He still tried to kill [[spoiler: Veronica]] even after she admitted that she genuinely liked him.

-->'''Anthony Romulus:''' You fool! There's not telling what the werewolf might do!
-->'''Dr. Milo:''' [[TooDumbToLive Hey, ask me if I care.]]

-->'''Bruce:''' [[ParanoiaFuel How much is a good night's sleep worth?]] Now ''there's'' a riddle for you...

-->'''Bane:''' A fight to the death?
-->'''Batman:''' [[spoiler:It makes no difference now.]]