Awesome / Batman: The Animated Series

The series

You don't need a title card to know who he is.

Moment pages are Spoilers Off per site policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• The opening credits pulled off a crowning moment of awesome. By demonstrating everything you need to know about Batman in less than 30 seconds. The music and awesome animation (helmed by TMS, which also animated the opening sequences to Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs) helped, too. And, as the creators noticed after the fact, it never explicitly stated "Batman" anywhere in the credits. Its first scene also makes a clever use of Warner's logo, shaping a blimp's front view after it.
• From "Nothing to Fear", when Batman is facing a hallucination of his father, who is calling him a disgrace, he boasts to it with one of the most iconic lines in the entire franchise:
  Batman: No... no... you are not my father! I am not a disgrace! I am vengeance! I am the night! I... AM... BATMAN!!!
  • When the show reran on Cartoon Network, they turned the line into an advertising moment of awesome.
  • And from the end of that episode, Bruce visiting his parents' grave.
• In "Christmas with the Joker", we have the Joker's escape from Arkham on a Christmas tree rocket while singing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells", actually making his escape on the line "And the Joker got away." Incoming Hamill!
• The series also had numerous moments of awesome from a technical perspective; episodes done by Spectrum and TMS had some of the most ambitious made-for-tv animation ever made. The DVD Commentary for "Heart of Ice" mentioned that the episode was given such anal retentive attention to detail (I.e. Meticulously airbrushing the frost on Mr. Freeze's helmet and making sure it stayed consistent) that it nearly drove Spectrum into bankruptcy. "On Leather Wings" (also by Spectrum) has an entire flight scene animated in moving perspective. "Feat of Clay, Part 2" by TMS has downright stunning animation of Clayface, especially his climatic nervous breakdown.
• "The Clock King" is actually an incredibly impressive debut for the titular villain. While Temple Fugate might seem too neurotic and obsessive to take seriously at first, the guy is able to hold his own in a fight with Batman, because Fugate has studied Batman closely enough that he knows it takes him a twentieth of a second to throw a punch, and he dodges accordingly. He escapes from Batman simply by falling off a building at the exact second the train passes by beneath him. The crowning touch is when Clock King sets a Death Trap for Batman in a bank vault, with a big bomb and oxygen being rapidly drained from the room. Clock King even leaves a cassette tape that narrates, in real time, the precautions he took for every tactic Batman tries to get out. And he actually would've killed Batman too, if Batman hadn't MacGyvered the tape itself to his advantage. This guy somehow managed to turn his own Ludicrous Precision into Moments Of Awesome.
  • At the end of the episode, Batman barely escapes from a collapsing clocktower. The police report there's no sign of Fugate and ask Bats if he thinks Fugate survived. The response is pretty high praise for a villain without any special abilities.
    Batman: If I could, he could.
  • These are the reasons why Amanda Waller decides to recruit him for Task Force X in Justice League. His planning and attention to details was a key factor into why the planned break in worked.
• In "Appointment in Crime Alley", Batman is on his way to save Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who, on the night of his parents' murder, gave him complete emotional support and acted like a surrogate mother to the Caped Crusader. At the intersection of the street near the building in which said psychiatrist is being held hostage, a trolley just so happens to be going out of control, its driver knocked out, and the emergency brakes dangling by a wire, rendered completely useless. So, what does the Dark Knight do in this dire situation? He puts the emergency thrusters into full blast, ramming the Batmobile in front of the trolley, slamming down on the gas with all his might, causing one of its tires to be worn completely off of its axle, until the trolley comes to a complete stop. And then, despite getting his car destroyed, he still manages to get to Dr. Thompkins in time.
• In "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Batman and Robin spend the entire episode trying to save corrupt businessman Daniel Mockridge from Edward Nygma (aka the Riddler)- Nygma is out for revenge due to Mockridge screwing him out of the royalties and ownership of a successful video game that he created. Though the Dynamic Duo manage to rescue Mockridge and foil the Riddler's revenge, the Riddler is able to escape apprehension by conducting the entire operation remotely from a private plane. Dick Grayson later gripes about how the Riddler got away and Mockridge can't be charged with being a scumbag who cheated the Riddler. Bruce Wayne, however, has a different, darkly satisfying point of view of the entire affair—
  Dick Grayson: But that creep, Mockridge, got to pocket a cool $10 mil from the buyout. What a burn...
  Bruce Wayne: Maybe... but we've been searching for the Riddler for months. And he's still out there...
  (Cut to Mockridge bolting his door with several locks, holding a shotgun with a look of abject fear on his face as he creeps nervously through his own home.)
  Bruce: Mockridge may have his money— but he won't be sleeping well...
  (Mockridge climbs into bed reluctantly, pulling the sheets up to his face as he looks around, terrified)
  Bruce: (satisfyingly) How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now there's a riddle for you...
• "Lock-Up": The eponymous Lock-Up has several. First by tearing the authorities and reporters a new one by accurately stating how gutless and incompetent they all are, while he's being dragged away to the slammer for his treatment of the inmates. The second is him tearing freaking Batman a new one with his bare hands. The third, and perhaps the greatest, was when he himself was put in Arkham, with the inmates ranting and jeering at him, and Scarecrow joyfully proclaiming it'll be his turn to be tormented. Bolton, completely unfazed, remarks how they'll never leave his sight again.
  • That last one could be chalked up to Lock-Up going insane from the delusion that his imprisonment is the ultimate promotion to watch over his victims. But it's oddly refreshing to see that he's generally not just some Miles Gloriosus who cowers when the odds aren't in his favor.
  • Arguably, Batman rebuffing Lock-Up's attempts to get him on his side and advocating for compassionate treatment of his enemies counts as one.
  • When Bolton loses it and lunges after Harley and The Ventriloquist, Bruce Wayne just tips a chair over with his own foot, tripping Bolton up just long enough to be apprehended.
• "Almost Got 'Im":
  • Harley, Batman and Catwoman...
  "Gee, Batman, whatcha gonna do, kick me around or save your kitten? You've only got time for one."
  Batman reaches over and cuts the power to the conveyor belt without saying a word or releasing Harley.
  • "Croc" suddenly speaking in Batman's voice, his face turning into Batman's silhouette out of the light, and finally every single other person in the club being revealed as police as they turn their guns on the villains. Complete with ten full seconds of audible dramatic gun cocks.
• In "Two-Face: Part 1", Harvey is being blackmailed by Rupert Thorne, who's enjoying every second of watching the DA who's gunning for him squirm. A close-up of his face shows Harvey near a psychotic break, then... he calmly gets up, entering this exchange.
  Harvey: There's just one problem.
  Rupert: What's that?
  Big Bad Harv: You're talking to the wrong Harvey. (grabs Thorne and throws him over his shoulder)
• "The Man Who Killed Batman":
  • Harley getting Sid to the Joker... By walking in wearing a suit and without clown make-up and paying his bail, using her real name the whole time. And when Bullock realizes he's seen her somewhere, she just replies that she served him a subpoena— a small subpoena.
  • The Joker's eulogy to Batman Topped immediately after by Harley Quinn playing Amazing Freaking Grace on the kazoo. Apparently, it had to be done all in one take because everyone was cracking up way too hard to try it again. The Joker then concludes the eulogy with a cheerful "Well, that was fun! Who's for Chinese?" If you look closely, while the Joker is sending off the coffin, he is crying. While mourning his foe and killing his foe's vanquisher at the same time. Ultimate Joker moment right there.
  • The He's Back! moment, complete with Rupert Thorn's horrified "You!", awesome organ remix of the show theme, and Batarang straight into a gun barrel.
• In "Beware the Creeper", the title character gets two moments of awesome in one go:
  • For starters, he Offhand Backhands Batman. BATMAN.
    • The grunt of pain that Batsy makes when he's sent flying just makes it even better and funnier.
  • Reducing the Joker to a sniveling mess at the end, turning to Batman for help!
    Joker: HE'S A LUNATIC!
    • That's what he gets. You think he'd appreciate Jack's retrospective of him.
• In "Joker's Wild", the titular Joker-themed casino is opened, attracting the ire of the Clown Prince Of Crime himself, and Batman investigating incognito as Bruce Wayne. As the Joker commandeers a Blackjack table, Bruce decides to go and play a round, while at the same time taking several verbal jabs at the decor AND the Joker, while the Joker remains completely unaware that his own worst enemy is having a laugh at his expense. The kicker of the whole scene? He manages to out cheat the Joker.
• "Joker's Favor". Everyman Charlie Collins is having a bad day, so he curses out a guy who cut him off in traffic^note here's a secondary, smaller Moment of Awesome involved with this one: When Joker chases the guy, he goes completely under the speed limit and uses his turn signals all with a big Joker grin on his face. Unfortunately, that guy is the Joker. The Joker follows Charlie home, threatening the poor guy and his family, with Charlie pleading for mercy the entire time. The Joker agrees to leave him alone, in exchange for a favor to be cashed in at any time of his choosing. Cut to a few years later. Charlie's lived with the specter of the Joker over his head- and in spite of changing his name and relocating his family, the clown still finds him and calls in his favor, holding his family as collateral. Said favor turns out to be a suicide bombing in a police convention (he didn't even need to be there, Joker just felt like blowing him up, too). Here's where the awesome kicks in: Charlie first manages to construct a makeshift Bat-Signal out of items in a broom closet. Then, after the Bat arrives and chases the Joker out into the open, Charlie confronts him in the alley, holding one of Joker's bombs:
  "This is how it ends, Joker. No big schemes. No grand fight to the finish with the Dark Knight. Tomorrow, all the papers will say is that the great Joker was found blown to bits in an alley, alongside a miserable little nobody. Kind of funny! Ironic, really. See, I can destroy a man's dreams, too! And that's really the only dream you've got, isn't it?"
  • The initial confrontation itself deserves attention. As the Joker's running away, Charlie emerges from the shadows, having finally had enough of the Joker's psychological torment and tricks. So what does he do? He delivers a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner in a dangerously calm tone. And when the Joker laughs him off, Charlie rears back, grabs the Joker's arm, and punches him in the stomach with enough force to knock him to the ground. Charlie is perhaps the epitome of The Everyman—a paunchy, balding, middle-aged guy who's never been in a fight in his life—and still manages to stand up to the biggest psychopath in comics, armed with nothing but his fists, and win.
    Charlie: Hold it.
    Joker: Oh, come ON!
    (Joker laughs and tries to move past Charlie)
    Charlie: I said HOLD IT!
    (Socks Joker with enough force to send him tumbling)
  • And on top of that, Charlie managed to scare the Joker so badly with his bomb threat that the Clown Prince of Crime himself was screaming for Batman, terrified of being offed by a nobody. Icing on the cake? The bomb was fake. Charlie throws it at Joker's feet, leading him to cower behind Batman, and it just "pops" in a shower of confetti and a "Boom" banner. Batman can't help but laugh. It's just one more way Charlie managed to one-up the Joker; the Joker has never gotten a laugh out of Batman.
    • Cherry on top? Batman is deeply, respectfully impressed by this Badass Bystander who managed, in two minutes, to repay the Joker in kind for years of psychological torture — and without breaking Thou Shalt Not Kill, which was something Batman was worried about by Charlie's threats. Yes, Charlie even managed to fool Batman into thinking he was going to kill the Joker (and himself). Score one for the little guy.
    Batman: Go home, Mr. Collins.
    • The tie-in comic for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm puts this in further context where the Phantasm finally has the Joker at their mercy and realises that the Joker has no capacity to feel remorse at what he's done to them nor does he have any reason to fear his death given the circumstances—that's right, absolute nobody Charlie Collins out-psyched The Phantasm.
  • One for the Joker too: he didn't still manage to find Charlie even after he'd gone into hiding, he never lost him, not in two whole years.
  • Another smaller one for Joker. When Charlie cusses him out, Joker simply just smiles at him, a smile that screams out "You were saying?"
  • Charlie also proves himself competent before he makes Joker spill the beans: left to die with the police officers via his hand being stuck to a door handle, as soon as Batman shows up he immediately tells him that the main threat is the bomb pinned to Gordon's shirt. If he hadn't spoken up, everyone there would've probably died before the bomb was found: himself, Gordon, every single officer, and even Batman himself!
  • One comment in the video linked above puts it best.
    Charlie has pegged down the Joker, and discovered the means to truly destroy him. Batman could inspire fear in every thug he faced except the Joker- Charlie succeeded where Batman had failed. And by making Batman laugh, he also succeeded where the Joker had failed.
  • Subtle yet extremely awesome moment for Charlie. It's fairly well known that Joker has his "One Bad Day" philosophy: Essentially, that anyone can be become just like him with just one extremely bad day being all it takes. Well, Charlie didn't just receive one bad day, Joker gave him two bad days. Hell, if we're being honest, it's more like Charlie had two bad years worth of psychological torment and paranoia. And as Collins is about to get himself and the Joker killed, it seems that he's finally cracked as well... Except it was (at least mostly) an act to get Joker to give up on harming him and/or his family. Sure enough, the episode ends with Charlie reverting back to his normal bumbling self. In other words, not only did Charlie manage to scare the Joker, not only did get Batman to laugh, but, despite taking around two years worth of psychological torment, he also inadvertently proved Joker's philosophy wrong!
    • What makes this more awesome, Charlie doesn't return entirely to his normal bumbling self, but his normal bumbling self with a new-found appreciation for life. Yep, this guy walked away from two years of psychological torment for the better.
• In "Old Wounds", Dick finally gets sick of Bruce's obsessive and borderline abusive Jerkass behavior and quits being Robin. When Batman tries to stop him, Dick flattens him with one punch.
  • It's awesome because it's Dick finally standing up for himself and his own ideals rather than putting up with Bruce's crap like he used to. Even in the comics where their relationship isn't so broken, the first time Dick said "No" to him and stuck by it was his Moment of Awesome.
• The first part of "The Demon's Quest" features Ra's al Ghul and his Giant Mook Ubu, who's so loyal and devoted to his master that he keeps pushing Batman around for daring to walk ahead of Ra's. Batman spends the episode slowly counting the pushes he gets from Ubu: "I'll call that... strike one." "Okay, that's two." Finally, at the end of the episode (the first part, that is), Ubu throws a punch at Batman for trying to leave without his master's say so. He catches the fist with one hand and says, "And that's three!" Batman then squeezes Ubu's fist so hard that he cries out, then throws him over his shoulder, leaving Ubu a shivering mess on the ground.
  • This is directly adapted from the original O'Neill/Adams comic, and it was just as awesome there.
  • The part where Batman, shirtless except for his cape and cowl, and Ra's al Ghul, also shirtless, start SWORDFIGHTING in classic Errol Flynn style over a bomb set to halve the world's population— honestly, that two-part episode was one extended MOA.
  • Ra's gets one when he reveals his plan.
  Batman: But that will cost countless lives.
  Ra's: Actually, detective, we have counted: 2 billion, 56 million, 9 hundred and 86 thousand. A most impressive plan, would you not agree?
• "The Underdwellers" features a one-shot villain, the Sewer King, who runs an underground thieves' guild consisting of young homeless runaways, and of course, he verbally abuses them constantly. One of the young boys, Frog, brings Batman into the sewers, and Batman is horrified (more accurately, furious) when he discovers how the leader treats his "charges." So he uses the Sewer King's bell to lure all the kids into the hall, and once they're there, he rips the bell off and lets it slam to the floor— mostly as a symbolic gesture to the children, but it's easy to imagine he's also just that pissed off.
  • Earlier in the episode, a scared Frog thinks he has eluded the "Grup" Batman, only to learn the hard way how good he is at following him with a relentless skill when he appears out of nowhere.
  • Frog gets a Moment Of Awesome of his own: the Sewer King tries to get the upper hand on Batman by holding one of his children hostage, threatening to feed the poor kid to his alligators. Frog grabs a rope, swings from a platform, grabs his friend and pulls him to safety just like that. Batman gives the kid a well-deserved thumbs-up for that little display.
  • Then there's this whole part with Batman ALLIGATOR WRESTLING!!
  • The Sewer King gets one of his own. After fighting Batman, he fell into the Sewer Gator-infested waters.
    Batman: Give me your hand!
    Sewer King: NEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!!
    (Fell into the water. The gators quickly dive in, apparently eating him alive.)
    Batman: A gruesome fate for a gruesome man.
    Sewer King: (alive and well) ...hahahahahahaha! I rather enjoyed it! I told you— they're my pretties!
  • After chasing Sewer King into a subway tunnel, Batman still pulls him out of the way of an oncoming train, and when asked why, Batman puts the fear of God into him. (It should be noted that we never see that scumbag again after this episode.)
    Sewer King: Why? Why? Whyyyyyy??
    Batman: I don't pass sentence; that's for the courts! But this time... this time, I'm sorely tempted to do the job myself!
• Henry the security guard from the beginning of "The Terrible Trio" gets not one but two. After the Trio beat him up and loot the safe he's guarding, their ringleader the Fox mockingly congratulates him on his attempt to stop them and gives him a stack of the money they just took as "compensation". Henry angrily throws the money back into the arrogant little douchebag's face. His second, smaller MOA comes when Batman and Robin arrive and the Trio flee; he urges them to forget about him and go get the thieves. Not too shabby for an extra.
  • That cathartic moment when Batman has Fox at his mercy. After seeing the Terrible Trio look down upon "the little people" they rob and manipulate, the Dark Knight (a supposedly "poor man") has Warren reduced to a Dirty Coward trying to negotiate his way out of prison. Just goes to show, money can't buy you courage.
  • While it can't be assigned to any specific character, you really feel like cheering at the Gilligan Cut from Warren bragging that his family's lawyers will get him out of this, to his being thrown into a dingy, roach-infested prison cell, with a very scary cellmate.
    • Even better? Warren was bragging that he'll "get justice, the best justice money can buy." He never said it was justice in HIS favor.
• Dr. Harleen Quinzel's response when she is the Joker's psychiatrist and he notes that her name could be shortened to Harley Quinn? Never Heard That One Before. To. The. Joker.
• "Harlequinade"
  • After The Joker abandons her and tries to blow up a bomb with a plane. She shoots a Jester head and not only nails Joker but knocks him out, all after a "Laugh this off, puddin'!".
    • The second comes in using Joker's original plan in "Mad Love" in such a way that Batman goads Joker about it, saying she came closer to killing him than Joker ever did.
      Batman: She almost had me, you know. Arms and legs chained, dizzy from the blood rushing to my head. I had no way out other than convincing her to call you. I knew your massive ego would never allow anyone else the honor of killing me. Though I have to admit she came a lot closer than you ever did… Puddin'.
  • After the Joker's plane crashes, she holds him at gunpoint; when Batman rushes up to stop her, she warns him not to come any closer, and Batman backs down. The Joker is momentarily stunned, but quickly starts taunting Harley: "You wouldn't dare. You don't have the guts!" Harley starts to cry, her finger shaking on the trigger— but she pulls it... only to reveal that the gun is one of the Joker's fake weapons (three cards that say "Rat-Tat-Tat" pop out instead of bullets). The Jokey glares at Harley, only to suddenly smile and cry, "Baby, you're the greatest!", prompting the two to tightly embrace.
  • When Harley straight-up kicks the Joker in the face when he tries to keep her from going back to save their pet hyenas.
• "Read My Lips" was weird, but Bats still manages to score a Moment of Awesome. The main villain is the Ventriloquist, a little guy with a mousy demeanor who happens to have multiple personality disorder. His alternate personality is a cruel, angry and unstable mob boss ("Scarface") which he uses a puppet to express. Near the end of the episode, Bats has been bonked over the head one too many times and awakens tied up over a bizarre death trap. So how does he distract them long enough to escape? He convinces the "Scarface" personality that there's a traitor in the group, then throws his own voice to make it sound like the puppeteer is insulting him, causing an argument between the man's two personalities. Whoa.
  • And then that mousey little guy gets one of his own in season four, when he shoots his own puppet, banishing his second personality forever.
  • Scarface's henchmen, Rhino, Muggsy, and Ratso, also get an impressive Establishing Character Moment, overpowering five guards to rob the proceeds of a boxing match and then climbing down the side of a building. Later, when the three run into a fence, Ratso squirms through a hole in it, Muggsy nimbly vaults over it, and Rhino just runs through the fence. Still later, Rhino manages to push a massive stack of metal bars hard enough to knock it over and bury Batman.
• In "Never Fear", Bats breathes in an anti-fear gas and throws himself into a pond full of crocodiles. Guess who comes out alive. And he's not even in costume at the time!
  • Also, that might have been a Moment of Awesome for Batman, but the entire episode is a Moment of Awesome for Tim Drake. The no-fear gas makes Batman lose all fear... including the primal fear for self-preservation, so it makes Batman suicidally reckless. Tim manages to TIE UP BATMAN for his own good and take on Scarecrow by himself. Awesome!
  • Even better when Batman tell him that he's got everything under control and praises Tim for what he's done stopping him and he'll listen to what he says if he unties him. Tim's response?
  Robin: You almost fooled me. (Turns and walks away)
• "Harley and Ivy":
  • Poison Ivy. The Joker. Groin Attack!
  • After Harley and Ivy have made fools of both Batman and the Joker, and are in the process of making their getaway:
  Poison Ivy: No man can take us prisoner!
  *The Getaway Car has a blowout and swerves into a ditch*
  Renee Montoya: All right, ladies... Raise 'em.
  • Harley and Ivy are out for a drive when three obnoxious jerks pull up next to them and start catcalling...:
  Ivy: (Eerily calm) Excuse me, boys. Didn't your mommies ever tell you that's not a nice way to get a lady's attention?
  Man: What're you going to do? Spank us?
  Harley: That's right, pigs! (pulls out bazooka) And here's the paddle!
  (She proceeds to blow up the jerks' car with a single shot)
  • Ordinarily, Harley is shown to be a purely comic villain or an accomplice to the Joker. In this episode, though, we finally get a chance to see that she's a master criminal and Badass Normal in her own right: during a museum heist, she effortlessly uses her skills as a gymnast to avoid a laser security system, then cracks open a display case without setting off any alarms. Later, after meeting Ivy, Harley is able to quickly cover the pair's escape by using the plant toxins Ivy's stolen to create a poison smoke which incapacitates the cops.
• "Blind as a Bat". Batman subdues the Penguin and his goons after a scuffle in a factory, the day after an accident at an air show caused him to temporarily lose his eyesight ^note and moments after his specially-constructed visor goes dead. That's right; not even blindness stops Batman.
• "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy": Batman is forced to give up his cape and cowl to live after the episode's villain puts him into what appears to be an inescapable death trap. How does he protect his identity? HE HAS ON ANOTHER MASK.
  • What makes this even better? It was all part of a Batman Gambit.
  • "Now what will you do with the cape and cowl?" "I... am going... TO WEAR THEM!" * Boss reveals himself as Batman. And then he sends it to the guy in prison, to keep him warm.
    • There's a little hint which revealed the Boss to be Batman. The Boss hung up on the villain while he was still talking, which is an equivalent to Batman's Stealth Hi/Bye.
    • To explain, Batman in disguise sent a Trap Master against himself just so he could set up an Engineered Public Confession from the villain. AND IT WORKED.
• In Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero: Dick Grayson jumping his motorcycle, using a stack of wrecked police cars as a ramp. (On the last few frames before the jump, you can see him smiling.)
• In "The Forgotten", Bruce is struck with amnesia and imprisoned as slave labour at a gold mine. When locked in a hot box, the optimistic "inmate" next to him breaks down and cries when he finally realizes he'll never see his family again. This causes Bruce to remember his family he'll never see again, and as such his identity. Now speaking with his gruffer, determined Batman voice, he tells the guy they'll get out, proceeds to kick the metal box apart, scales a cliff to escape the guards, then comes back to open a bat-can of whoop-ass.
  • Meanwhile, Alfred has tracked him down by first finding the tracking device on the car Bruce was driving, transferring it to the villains' truck (including hiding underneath it as they get in and drive off), and finally flying the freaking Batplane to the mine.
• Alfred gets a sneaky one in "The Lion and the Unicorn". Alfred knows half of a plot-important password, and has been captured by Red Claw because of it. She shoots him up with truth serum; knowing it's only a matter of time, he states, "You'll get nothing but gibberish out of me!" and immediately begins spouting nursery-rhyme nonsense without pause. So when he falls under the effects of the serum and starts answering "The Lion and the Unicorn are Fighting for the Crown" to her question, she doesn't realize for several critical minutes that he is, in fact, telling her the password.
  • Alfred himself throughout the series is a stealth Moment of Awesome or a Funny Moment.
• "Riddler's Reform" grants the Riddler an interesting one. It isn't a Not-So-Harmless Villain moment, as we've already seen Nygma come close to taking Bats out in his two previous episodes. Rather, it's a tiny glimpse of what The Riddler could accomplish if he was ever able to put the gimmicks aside and really concentrate on a goal. When he wants to finally kill Batman, what does he do? Lures him into a huge building, seals the doors and windows, and starts counting down from ten. No mercy, no hidden exits (that he knew about, anyway), no last chances, just a locked door and a great big bomb. It came as close or closer to working as anything the Joker ever came up with.
  • Batman, not to be outdone, then gets two of his own when he first proves Nygma's guilt using the same trick Nygma had earlier used to make Batman seem paranoid and out to get him, then refuses to tell Nygma how he escaped the warehouse. The end result is the Riddler locked in his cell and screaming for someone to tell him how Batman escaped.
  • Which results in an accidental Moment of Awesome for Eddie, as his screaming is so annoying that the Joker can't stand it.
    • Doubles as a funny moment.
• In "The Laughing Fish", Batman fights a shark. Underwater. Handcuffed. And still has the energy to go beat up the Joker.
  • A smaller one, but Batman being able to quickly deduce that the Joker's first target was in danger of being poisoned by Joker toxins through a chemical reaction. If not in time to stop the chemical reaction in question, it was enough that he was able to administer the cure before it killed said-target.
• In "Christmas with the Joker", the Joker threatens hundreds of lives, takes prominent social figures hostage, blows up a railroad bridge as a trainful of passengers is about to cross, all so he can pie Batman in the face as a Christmas present.
• In "Showdown", Jonah Hex manages to destroy Ra's al Ghul's airship, defeat his army of mercenaries, and defeat Arkady Duvall (Ra's's son) in a sword fight, all by himself. And all of it to capture Duvall and bring him to justice for his assault on a woman back east, instead of being a railroad spy as they assume. What makes it even more awesome is that Hex is in his sixties, and does all this with his bare fists, a knife, and whatever explosives he finds, including the airship's own cannons.
• In "Joker's Millions", a rival gangster, Edward 'King' Barlow, dies and leaves the Joker a vast fortune (250 million!) in cash, jewels and gold. After splurging it on buying his freedom, a giant mansion and a new Harley (Quinn, not the motorcycle brand), Joker learns he has to pay inheritance tax. But while going through the vault, he finds bills with Barlow's face...and this video will:
  Barlow, on his deathbed: Hiya, Joker. If you're playin' this tape, you've probably figured out you've been had. Yeah, I left you some cash, but only ten million - which, knowing you, you've already blown. All the other stuff, the money, jewels, and gold, it's all fake. See, I always hated your guts, and this was the perfect payback. By now, you're probably out of real money, the I.R.S. is after you, and you can't admit I fooled you, or you'll be the laughingstock of the underworld. The joke's on you, sucker! I got the last laugh after all! [he laughs, then starts coughing and gasping and grabs for his oxygen tank, but he is still grinning into the camera. The TV is subsequently obliterated by a shot fired by a VERY pissed-off Joker]
  • Also most would say that fooling the Joker is the stupidest thing you could do, considering how dangerous he is. But Barlow's plan is instead ingenious for following one rule; If you plan on tricking the Joker, make sure you're dead before you carry out your plans. That's also one of the reasons Joker is ABSOLUTELY LIVID during that scene. Since Barlow is dead, he never has the opportunity to kill him now.
• Harley has an awesome moment when she whacks Joker with a nightstick as revenge for leaving her locked up in Arkham and replacing her with a fake Harley:
  Joker: You don't know how happy I am to see you!
  Harley: Welcome to the club.
  Joker: (laughs nervously) Now, baby, I can- (WHAM!) AH! - explain...! (POW!) OW! EEE! AH!
  • Even better - she does this by disguising herself as a police officer so she can get the Joker alone in the back of an armored prison van, and reveals herself to him shortly after the doors close. So we can assume that Harley was whacking him with that nightstick all the way to Arkham. Compounding this is the fact that she, a well-known wanted felon, successfully disguises herself as a police officer so well that it fools the entire Gotham police force.
• "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne": Hugo Strange discovering Batman's secret identity.
  • Even better is later in the episode where Doctor Strange tries to sell Batman's secret identity to the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin. After they pay up, he rolls the tape...which Batman overrides with one he had made showing Strange boasting about how he was planning to cheat the villains. Cue a massive Oh, Crap! from the good doctor.
• In "Perchance to Dream", there's that great moment where Bruce figures out how to escape the dream world, which prompts the following classic exchange between him and the dream Mad Hatter:
  Mad Hatter: N-now wait just a minute! Don't do anything foolish! This isn't an ordinary dream! What if you're wrong?
  Bruce: Then I'll see you in your NIGHTMARES!
  • Perhaps even more so was the original line, before the Moral Guardians had their way: "Then I'll See You in Hell!"
    • Since the episode was a dream, the altered line probably worked better to that theme.
• The flashback in "Robin's Reckoning" to Dick beating up a pimp using his acrobatic skills, before he even becomes Robin.
• "Beware the Gray Ghost". It's supremely awesome to see Batman work side-by-side, with his childhood hero, the titular Gray Ghost. And who voiced his hero? None other than another famous Batman, Adam West.
  • In fact, if they couldn't have gotten West to voice The Gray Ghost, the episode would have been scrapped. That should tell you something.
  • Because a big part of the episode's effectiveness is the reverence shown for Simon Trent/Adam West. West's career was seen as something as a lark after the campy 60's series, and the parallel between Trent's and West's career is certainly intentional. However, the respect and admiration Batman has for Trent seems to echo the team's and legions of fans who also hold Adam West in high regard. It works as a salute to the influence and impact West had on aspiring Batman fans and the Batman: TAS crew, just as Simon Trent had the same effect on a young Bruce Wayne.
  • Not to mention it being a simultaneous homage to the Proto-Superhero roots of Batman as a character, in radio and literary heroes like The Shadow.
  • Crossing over with Heartwarming Moments: At the end of the episode, Bruce Wayne goes to visit Simon Trent at a merchandise signing, as the recent crime wave has revitalized interest in the Gray Ghost and given him a new start to his career. As they talk, Bruce uses the same language he did while fighting alongside Trent. That's right—Bruce Wayne, who guards his Secret Identity so closely that only one villain ever figured it out, has enough respect and gratitude for Simon that he lets him in on the truth.
• With "Over the Edge", the Cold Open showcases just how effective Gordon and the GCPD could be if he ever put resources into finding and arresting Batman's Secret Identity.
  • "Mr. Grayson, you have the right to remain silent." "Waived."
• "Night of the Ninja" has a big moment of awesome where Bruce gets his "second wind" and shows his old nemesis Kyodai that despite being his better in their younger days, he's no longer that "rich man's pampered son" he once belittled.
  Kyodia: Gotten a second wind, have you? Good! This will make your defeat all the more satisfying!
  Bruce: (Batman voice) Shut up and fight.
  • And then there's the small moment of awesome. With Bruce Wayne and Summer Gleeson in his captivity, Kyodai In the midst of giving a monologue about how Wayne ruined his life and forced him to become a thief. Summer wakes from the knock-out gas just as Kyodai only mentions his plans, Summer voices how he's just a mere thief. Although he shrugs it off that he's at least the greatest thief, there's something to be said that Summer summed up Kyodai in a nutshell: ninja or not, he's nothing but a glorified petty thief.
• In "Day of the Samurai", Kyodai learns a forbidden art that can kill with just a touch. Batman proceeds to find the spot on Kyodai's practice dummy that's been hit the most and puts extra armor there, and when he appears to miraculously survive the fatal touch, they have a very dramatic battle on the side of an erupting volcano. Finally, Batman proves himself to be honorable enough to be a samurai rather than a ninja when he offers to help Kyodai escape (apparently) certain death.
  • Another moment for Kevin Conroy: Batman/Bruce Wayne has a few Japanese lines in this episode, and Kevin inflects them absolutely flawlessly, which can take one by surprise if they're used to gaijin using their native accent to pronounce Japanese words.
• "The Mechanic": Earl Cooper, the creator of the Batmobile, finds a way to covertly warn Batman when the Penguin forces him to sabotage it, then takes down one of his goons by squirting oil in his face and trapping him in a tire stack.
• Mary Dahl beating up a drunk asshole who keeps harassing her about her time as Baby Doll, capped off with "I didn't mean to."
• In "The Ultimate Thrill" Batman wins a game of chicken against a supposedly fearless stuntwoman, then still manages to take her down completely on his terms.
• The takeoff on The Dark Knight Returns in "Legends of the Dark Knight", widely considered one of the all-time best adaptations of a Frank Miller story. They even kept the gruesome implications of the "operating table" line!
  • What sells this is the three kids tell different stories. The ones about Batman being a vampire bat (based on the 60's show and the silly muscles and car) are scoffed at. So the girl recounts Batman as a grizzled, Sam Fisher voiced old man who tears apart mutant leaders in mud pits. The other kids buy it.
    • The Silver Age throwback segment that pays tribute to Dick Sprang and Bill Finger is awesome as well. Nothing like seeing Batman & Robin fighting the Joker and his goons amongst humongous instruments.
    • And then the real Batman shows up, and demonstrates exactly why many regard him as the definitive Dark Knight Detective: He's a very effective amalgamation of both versions from the stories, using brute force and stealth like the Dark Knight Returns Batman and pulling out a gadget and quipping a Bond One-Liner like the Silver Age Batman. The kids are notably stoked that their hero is just like they imagined him to be.
• "You may live forever, Grant Walker, but your mad dream dies now!"
• Badass Normal Spicy Latina cop Renee Montoya is suspended after a case she was working involving Batman ends with a building being blown up and none of the officers can get a straight story about what happened. So she investigates what happened off her own back, discovers Batman captured and rescues him. Renee Montoya. Saves. The Batman.
• In "Trial", new DA Janet Van Dorne convinces the Joker Jury of the Kangaroo Court of Arkham inmates that Batman is not responsible for their messed up lives. "The truth is, you created him."
  • Batman gets one for this Mook Horror Show:
  Two-Face: Nobody panic!
  (cut to Harley hanging from the ceiling, gagged and tied up in a straight-jacket)
  Joker: Okay. Start panicking.
• "See No Evil": Perhaps a minor one, but there's Batman's fight with Lloyd Ventrix, who's made himself invisible with a special suit. He has the upper hand in a fight with Batman, until Batman gets the idea to break open the water tower they're fighting underneath. This causes the water to fall out in a fine rain-like spray, which reveals Ventrix's invisible form as it falls and splashes on him.
  Batman: Peek-a-boo.
  POW!
  • And after Batman righteously kicks his ass, he hits him with this line, which, if said by Adam West, would've been corny, but when said by Kevin Conroy, sounds awesome:
  Batman: Get ready for your biggest disappearing act, Ventrix; the one where no one sees you for 10 to 20!
  • Earlier in the episode, Batman is sneaking around the laboratory where the Invisibility Cloak was manufactured, avoiding a solitary technician working at night. Said technician actually gets the drop on Batman and almost flattens him under a bookshelf, thinking he was burglar.
• In "You Scratch My Back", Batman and Nightwing team up to con Catwoman, even banking on her playing their bad blood and animosity towards one another against each other in order to keep her right where they want her. Even Barbara didn't see it coming.
• In "Chemistry", Poison Ivy gloats to a group of rich people that she created their so-called perfect husbands and wives in order to kill them off and gain their fortunes, including Bruce's new wife, Susan. When Ivy realizes Susan Wayne is missing, she has her other creations look for her. At which point, one of the rich people who fell for Ivy's plant men asks "Are we just gonna stand here while she does this to us?" and they decide to try and stop Ivy.
• In "Be a Clown" the mayor's son Jordan ran away with the clown Jecko, who just tricked Batman into a water trap. Jordan grabs an axe and tries to free him. Jecko stops the kid and then reveals himself to be The Joker. This is the point where most kids piss their pants and cry for mommy. Nope. Jordan sprays him in the face with seltzer and starts running, giving Batman the time to break free and the Joker quite a chase through a creepy abandoned amusement park. For a kid implied to be a preteen, that is freaking badass.
  • The finale is pretty great, too. It's arguably one of the lesser Joker episodes, but the finale has Batman and the Joker duking it out on a moving roller-coaster. With the Joker hurling bombs made out of baby-dolls at Batman.
• Scarecrow gets a good one in "Dreams in Darkness". How many other of Batman's rogues got Batman put in Arkham, and almost had him contained there long enough for the scheme to work?
  • Of course, not without Batman getting his, as usual. He managed to fight off the guards while bound in a straight jacket, stole a fire ax to cut himself out, made a guard take him to the basement and cuffed him so he couldn't warn anyone else, went after the Scarecrow, and ended the scheme with literally one second left before Gotham's water supply was tainted. And during all this, he was fighting MASSIVE fear serum solutions, some of which nearly got him killed.
• The Penguin gets one in "Birds of a Feather" in how far he goes to being reformed. During this episode he shows just how dedicated he is to turning over a new leaf, to the point where even Batman is impressed at how much effort he's putting in. If it weren't for Veronica's cruel prank, The Penguin probably would've been truly successful in his efforts.
  • He also fights off three street thugs to defend Veronica.
  • It's pretty ridiculous (fitting for opera), but Penguin riding out to finish his revenge on a fire breathing prop dragon while wearing a horned viking helmet and wielding a sword is also pretty goddamn awesome, especially because it almost works.
  The Penguin: And who says opera has to be boring?!
• The opening to "Heart of Ice", by extension being the introduction to the reimagined Mister Freeze that would soon become a Batman series mainstay:
  Mister Freeze: This is how I'll always remember you. Surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love- the monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish...best served cold.
  • The scene at the end of the episode, in which Freeze tries to kill Boyle by freezing him to death. Batman saves Boyle's life by stopping Freeze, but then gives a tape containing the evidence that he turned Freeze into the monster he is today to Summer Gleeson, thus ensuring his reputation as the head of the "People's Company" is tarnished forever. Batman met Boyle in disguise as Bruce Wayne earlier, and having learned what a nasty piece of work he is behind closed doors, he can barely contain the loathing in his voice as he leaves the room:
    Batman: Goodnight, humanitarian.
• In "Feat of Clay: Part 2", Batman chases down Germs (a member of Roland Daggett's criminal ring) into an area in the hospital that collects bacteria cultures. Need we mention that, true to his namesake, the guy is Terrified of Germs? Batman interrogates him by putting a jar precariously on a shelf over Germ's head, a jar he reads contains "Crimson Fever". Every time Germs withholds any information, Batman hits the wall, causing the jar to shake closer and closer to the edge. Just when he's about to get Germs to spill the last information he needs, a police officer ^note  It's really Clayface in disguise arrives and says he'll take it from here. Out of passive aggression, Batman hits the wall once more, sending the jar falling towards Germs. ...Only to catch it at the last instant, the label revealing it's only "Seawater Samples". Yep, Batman just bluffed^note  He never really said the jar contained Crimson Fever, he just mentioned it then described how deadly it was a guy into confessing. Bonus points if you imagine he even fooled the audience.
  • From later on the episode, Clayface infiltrating Daggett's TV interview and revealing what was done to him, live, beginning by asking questions about Renuyu Daggett can't answer, before the big reveal:
  Clayface: Why don't you show them what an overdose can do, Daggett? Why don't you tell them (turns back into Clayface) about ME!
• In "Off Balance", Batman has to get himself and Talia through a room full of booby traps while they're both affected by Vertigo's hallucinations. He pulls it off flawlessly... how? By KEEPING HIS EYES CLOSED and relying on his other senses.
• When Batman first fights the jaguar shaman in "The Worry Men," the shaman scores a minor victory when he hurls a rubber ball which seemingly misses Batman, only to bounce off multiple walls to hit him while he's off-guard. Later, after being freed from his brainwashing at the end of the episode, the shaman mails the Mad Hatter a miniature Batman doll.
• The entire series is awesome in its treatment of Bruce Wayne, Batman's "alter ego." In nearly every other incarnation, including the mainstream comics, and the Christopher Nolan trilogy (otherwise praised for its seriousness and adult treatment of the subject matter), Bruce feels it necessary to deliberately play up the role of the spoiled, self-absorbed, and clueless boy billionaire, to distract people from the thought that he might be Batman. In the series, however, Bruce is in every way a serious character, and there are plenty of moments which show that, while he may not be as gruff and menacing as Batman, Bruce Wayne is not someone to be taken lightly. Some highlights include:
  • "Eternal Youth": Bruce angrily orders one of his company's directors to immediately cancel a deal with a deforesting company in the Amazon jungle:
    Bruce: I don't care how much money we'll lose! I won't have Wayne Enterprises involved with an operation that destroys a rain forest! Shut it down, or you're gone!
  • "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?": During the negotiations to acquire Competitron, he interrupts Daniel Mockridge's pitch to say he wants to close the deal and move the company to Gotham City, which desperately needs the new jobs the move will create.
  • "Heart of Steel": While Commissioner Gordon is questioning Lucius Fox about the recent theft of prototype A.I. technology, Bruce puts in his own experience with Karl Rossum at Cybertron, who "taught me everything I know about electronics." Bruce is no figurehead, but is actively and knowledgeably involved with the day-to-day running of Wayne Enterprises.

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