Line #37 Trivia/TheBatman


1	For the [[Film/TheBatman2022 2022 film]], see [[Trivia/TheBatman2022 here]].
2	----
3	!!Trivia for the animated series ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman''
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5	* ActingForTwo:
6	** Creator/RinoRomano (The Batman), Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson (Joker) and Creator/AlastairDuncan (Alfred), voiced several minor characters in addition to their main roles.
7	** In "Q&A", Creator/KathSoucie voices both Young Arthur Brown and Yelena Kliminov.
8	* ActorExistenceLimbo: Due to having numerous {{Celebrity Voice Actor}}s, some villains were reduced to cameo roles after their debut episodes.
9	* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: Several online descriptions for DVD sales of season one would describe the series as taking place after ''Film/BatmanBegins'', when the series is in fact a completely different continuity from ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', which in turn began a year after the series.
10	* ExecutiveMeddling: Some of the intellectual property from Batman was being used in multiple adaptations (all owned by the Warner Brothers, however). Not wanting to create conflict between different adaptations' interpretations of characters, some things were off-limits for the writing staff. Here are specific examples:
11	** Robin was forbidden from appearing until ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans\|2003}}'' ended, meaning Batgirl actually becomes a sidekick ''first'', which makes for an interesting mythology shake-up and promotes her from the usual third-fiddle.
12	** Some of the villains used in the ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', most notably Scarecrow and Two-Face, were also forbidden from appearing. Clayface was used in place of Two-Face for the "best friend turned into a criminal" schtick. The episode "Strange New World" was written to introduce Scarecrow and there was even a Design made of him, but once the writing staff found out that he was still off-limits, they opted to go with Professor Hugo Strange instead.
13	* ExiledFromContinuity:
14	** Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow, and Two-Face weren't allowed to show up due to their appearances in ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' and a Bat-Embargo being enforced at the time that forbade certain Batman characters from being used in more than one adaptation at the same time, which resulted in a rewrite for "Strange New World" that had Hugo Strange replacing Scarecrow and Clayface filling Two-Face's role as a criminal who used to be Bruce Wayne's closest friend. Interestingly enough, this doesn’t apply to The Joker, who appears as a reoccurring threat in the show, despite appearing in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
15	** Robin was not allowed to appear in the first three seasons because the show ran concurrently with ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans\|2003}}'', in which Robin had a starring role.
16	** Wonder Woman was forbidden from appearing with the Justice League in Season 5 because a rule for her character at the time was that she could not appear in any series in which she wasn't a main character.
17	* FakeNationality: The Scottish Creator/AlastairDuncan voices the English Alfred Pennyworth.
18	* TheOtherDarrin:
19	** Chief Rojas was voiced by Creator/EdwardJamesOlmos in his first appearance, then by Creator/JesseCorti in all of his other ones.
20	** Creator/RichardGreen replaced Creator/FrankGorshin as Hugo Strange after the latter's death.
21	** Bane was voiced by Creator/JoaquimDeAlmeida for his debut in "Traction," then by Creator/RonPerlman for his cameo in "Team Penguin," then his grunts by Creator/ClancyBrown in "The Batman/Superman Story."
22	* OutOfHolidayEpisode: Despite the episode ''Grundy's Night'' being the series' HalloweenEpisode, the episode aired in August, two months before Halloween.
23	* PlayingAgainstType:
24	** Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson as ComicBook/TheJoker. He normally voices villains that are deep voiced and intimidating, not brutish and insane.
25	** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn is something you normally don't expect Creator/HyndenWalch to do.
26	* RealLifeRelative:
27	** Robin and [[EvilCounterpart Scorn]] in "The End of The Batman" are played by real life brothers Evan and Creator/DarylSabara respectively. Even earlier than that, Daryl voiced one of Dick's classmates in "Riddler's Revenge".
28	** Hector Indriago, the Latin Spanish voice of Batman in this series [[RoleReprise and several others]], is the nephew of Frank Maneiro, who, in addition to voicing Mayor Marion Grange, was previously the voice of Batman in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse''.
29	* RecursiveAdaptation: Lucius Fox is based a good deal of ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'''s version of Lucius Fox--an old friend of Thomas Wayne, knows Bruce is Batman, and is an armorer for the Dark Knight. Goes into ComicBookFantasyCasting territory in that this incarnation looks a good deal like Creator/MorganFreeman.
30	* RoleReprise:
31	** During the fifth season, Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor were voiced by Creator/GeorgeNewbern, Creator/DanaDelany, and Creator/ClancyBrown respectively, reprising their roles from the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse. Averted, however, with Creator/CharlieSchlatter voicing The Flash, as while he did voice the Flash in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', that was Wally West and the Flash here is, according to WordOfGod, Barry Allen.
32	** In the French dub, several voice actors from previous adaptations reprised their roles here:
33	*** From the ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'': Creator/JacquesCiron as Alfred, Creator/PhilippePeythieu as the Penguin, and Emmanuèle Bondeville as Catwoman.
34	*** From the DCAU: In addition to Alfred and the Penguin, Creator/PierreHatet as the Joker, Jean-Claude Sachot as Commissioner Gordon and Mr. Freeze[[note]]third voice in the DCAU in the case of Freeze[[/note]], Creator/ChristopheLemoine as Jimmy Olsen, and Nicolas Marié as Hawkman[[note]]second voice in the DCAU in the case of Hawkman[[/note]]. Inverted in the case of Robin/Dick Grayson's voice actor, Creator/AlexisTomassian. While he did voice ''a'' Robin in the DCAU, it was Tim Drake, while Dick Grayson in that continuity was voiced by George Caudron as Robin and a few different voice actors as Nightwing.
35	*** From ''WesternAnimation/{{Legion of Super Heroes\|2006}}'': Creator/EmmanuelGarijo as Superman.
36	** The second Hungarian dub brought back Tomasz Galbenisz (the Joker in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'') and Róbert Kajtár (second voice of Alfred in the second dub of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'') for their respective roles. This makes the episode in which Joker masquerades as Batman an unintentional double-reprise for Galbenisz, as he's also dubbed Batman in ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies''.
37	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: While it wasn't suffering any ratings or timeslot issues, it was basically canceled by order of Creator/FourKidsEntertainment as the fifth season was in the middle of production. Why? [[Creator/{{Toonzai}} So that they could start their own block, of course]]. Luckily it managed to remain on Kids' WB replacement for a few more months, just for the sake of reruns, before quietly disappearing.
38	* TalkingToThemself:
39	** Both Ragdoll and Killer Moth are voiced by Creator/JeffBennett, and they shared quite a few scenes together in "Team Penguin".
40	** The ColdOpen of "Rumors", which had Killer Croc fighting Rumor. Both of them are voiced by Creator/RonPerlman.
41	** A more literal example was in both "Strange Minds" and "The Metalface of Comedy", in which there were multiple Jokers, all of them voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.
42	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
43	** As mentioned in ExecutiveMeddling, the original idea of what became ''Strange New World'', the villain was the Scarecrow, with concept art even being made believing they were allowed to use him after being off-limits for 3 seasons, but as he was still off-limits, he was replaced with Hugo Strange. However, given the episode's plot and Scarecrow's modus operandi, it was probably for the best as he'd have given the twist away.
44	** Likewise, a proposed but rejected idea of a follow-up DTV to ''WesternAnimation/TheBatmanVsDracula'' would be an adaptation of ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' (and was likely done pre-Season 4 given [[http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd486/HeroSupreme/Short%20Series%20and%20Crossovers/Junk%20Pile/HUSH.jpg the image]] made for it depicts [[spoiler:Ethan Bennett's Clayface]]). Likewise, the villain on ''Rumors'' was originally supposed to have been Hush, too.
45	** Creator/MauriceLaMarche mentioned at a Fan Expo that he auditioned to voice the Joker.
46	** It's been rumored that Music/MarilynManson was originally cast to voice The Riddler ([[InkSuitActor which would explain the character design]]), but had to drop out, so they cast Creator/RobertEnglund instead.
47	** Some of the concept art features [[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gM-n1e4tzOU/W5fVX_-3JUI/AAAAAAAADZc/lYyXO0Lx5vQZaL2A6T6bbYiKzQU0S9UeACEwYBhgL/s1600/The-Batman-Unused-Penguin-Design.jpg Penguin]] looking far more cartoonish, [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rG3bhx6DKdY/W5fVXuUNLdI/AAAAAAAADZk/RGWJVDGya7wcrURxYuKz0Ee8PO5WkaRCgCEwYBhgL/s1600/The-Batman-Unused-Joker-Design.jpg Joker]] and [[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rZz7EFP8TqY/W5fVXjeqaDI/AAAAAAAADZg/UMb5PGiA0aQsU2PeQJG750HZ85OefdaLwCEwYBhgL/s1600/The-Batman-Unused-Croc-Design.jpg Croc]] looking far more ghoulish, [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/fb/25/7efb25418ea18fd23290959c683eb0af.jpg the Riddler]] wearing a fullbody outfit with a [[FatBastard large frame]] (this design was very likely reworked into Cluemaster's), and the aforementioned [[https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/unpublished-villains/images/2/2a/The-Batman-Unused-Scarecrow-Design.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb%3D20191114215248&imgrefurl=https://unpublished-villains.fandom.com/wiki/Scarecrow_%28The_Batman%29&tbnid=oLBHiI8-XbE0tM&vet=1&docid=2LS7adOlaKvZ0M&w=360&h=450&hl=en-us&source=sh/x/im Scarecrow]], whose design implemented chains and a sickle.
48	*** The book ''Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyond'' also showed some more [[https://schemingminor.tumblr.com/post/189081960578/so-apparently-in-the-new-book-batman-the concept art from the series]], including a massive Scarface holding the Ventriloquist as if the roles were reversed, and an alternate design of Penguin with a more oriental aesthetic.
49	** Two Face was considered to appear in the tie in comic. Cover art depicting him was even made.
50	** Alan Burnett Wanted to use Wonder Woman in the final season but was unable to.
51	** Wonder Woman and Bizzaro were planned to appear in the tie-in comic, concept art was even made but the series was cancelled shortly afterwards.
52	* YouSoundFamiliar: Long-time ''Batman'' fans will probably recognize the first voice of Hugo Strange as the very first television actor for The Riddler.

Context Trivia / TheBatman