Batman The Animated Series / Tropes N to Z

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N — O

• Near Misses: Whenever a mook firs a machine gun at Bats (a semi-frequent occurrence), he dodges to the side, while bullets ricocheted off the place where he's just been standing. The ground where he's just been standing, even if the mook was on the same level, and at close range.
• Nerd Hoard: Bruce has a dedicated room to "The Grey Ghost" TV show he loved as a kid and gets to show it to the actor (voiced by Adam West in a Casting Gag) who played The Grey Ghost.
• Never Found the Body: Joker pulled this off often during the series.
• Never Say "Die":
  • Averted, mostly. There is still the odd instance, like the Riddler threatening to "destroy" someone by stabbing him through the chest with a ten-foot sword. Word of God is that the Joker's Jokerizing gas was created because they initially were not allowed to kill people. It is arguably worse.
  • It is indicated in the two-part episode "Heart of Steel" that Karl Rossum outlived his daughter, but only has it stated that he "lost" her in the first part, while part two has HARDAC say that Rossum's daughter was "deactivated".
• New Year's Resolution: The Joker gives one in "Holiday Knights" not to kill people in the New Year—and plans to kill everyone in Gotham Square at New Year's Eve. Of course, even if Batman hadn't stopped his plan, the Joker would probably break it, anyway.
• Nice to the Waiter: Fox of the Terrible Trio is honestly shocked when Bruce Wayne thanks his golf caddy for his assistance, and sarcastically asks if Bruce also thanks the man who takes out his garbage. Bruce, being a genuinely nice guy, says that he would if he ever happened to run into him.
• Ninja: Kyodai Ken.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lisa Loraine / Mighty Mom is very obviously a Roseanne Barr.
• No Man of Woman Born: "No man can take us prisoner!" It is a good thing Renee Montoya is ready to step in and take up the slack.
• Non-Idle Rich: Bruce Wayne.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • In her first appearance Baby Doll looked suspiciously like a Tiny Toon Adventures character, specifically Elmyra (doubtless a Shout-Out by Paul Dini). Her TNBA redesign brings her more in line with other Bruce Timm characters.
  • The Joker's redesign made for TNBA made him look quite alien compared to the other characters because of his minimalistic features, solid black eyes and exaggerated smile (even for him), which contributed to its poor reception. He was redesigned again for other DCAU works because of it.
• No One Could Survive That!:
  • They Never Found the Body, but the criminals from "The Man Who Killed Batman" believe that not even he could have escaped the massive explosion that left only his cape and cowl behind.
  • When Temple Fugate made his first appearance, he was believed to have died in that episode's last fight. Batman pointed out that, if he survived, so could Fugate.
• No OSHA Compliance: In "The Forgotten", the chain-gang Bruce gets shanghaied into has workers in a mine without lights, helmets, or any sort of safety equipment. The mine is being operated illegally and the operators do not care if their employees live or die, since they are grabbing them off the street.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Within-the-show example: Baby Doll.
• Not Himself: Barbara Gordon is able to determine that her father has been replaced by something due to his suddenly strange persona and actions.
• Not His Sled: In "Bane," Bane lifts the worn and tired Batman overhead and breaks his back over his knee! No, wait, that was Knightfall. That said, unlike the comics, The Batman, and The Dark Knight Rises, this Bruce was well-rested (unlike the comics, where even shortly before Knightfall, Bruce was suffering from issues that Bane just made worse), had plenty of experience fighting super villains when he and Bane fought (unlike The Batman, where Bane was literally the second super villain its version of Bruce fought), and wasn't quasi-suicidal (Unlike in Rises, where Bruce was over the Despair Event Horizon thanks to the events of The Dark Knight).
• Not My Driver:
  • There's an episode where the Joker impersonates the helicopter pilot of Cameron Kaiser, a one-shot character, to try and kill him.
  • Also happens to Bruce and Summer Gleason in "Night of the Ninja," where they wind up getting in a cab driven by Kyodai Ken, an old rival of Bruce's who wants revenge for Wayne exposing him as a thief back when they trained under the same master.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Bullock suggests this to Batman in “A Bullet for Bullock” while explaining that he (Bullock) doesn't want Internal Affairs involved in a case because Bullock is implied to have leaked information to the press and violated the rights of suspects. Batman rejects it but considering that a few minutes later he intimidates a drug dealer for information by dangling him in front of a car...
• Not So Stoic:
  • "Two-Face, Part 1": Upon seeing the effects of the chemical explosion on his childhood friend (and one of few real friends "Bruce Wayne" has) Harvey Dent, Batman's anguish is palpable.
  • "Mad Love": Batman's reaction to Harley's idea of settling down with the Joker is to start laughing. Harley rightly points out how creepy it is to hear the Batman laugh.
  • "Robin's Reckoning": Batman purposely forces Robin out of an investigation that leads to Tony Zucco, the man who engineered the death of Robin's parents, and stonewalls him when he tries to interfere. At the end of the 2nd episode, Robin tells Batman that he understands now why Batman kept him out: because he knew Robin would make matters personal and try to kill Zucco. Batman replies, with palpable sorrow in his voice that his reason was completely different: that Zucco had already taken so much away from Robin, and he was afraid that he would take Robin's life as well.
  • Charles Collins' revenge on Joker in "Joker's Favor" gets a brief chuckle out of Batman — a two bit Joe Average had managed to completely freak out Joker — with one of Joker's fake bombs.
  • "Deep Freeze" sees Mr. Freeze express fear at a robot that breaks into Arkham to kidnap him.
• Nuclear Candle: In "The Trial", Two-Face lights up a room with his lighter. The fire does not quite illuminate the entire room, leaving the edges in shadow for Batman to hide in and grab the villains one by one.
• Offhand Backhand: To the point that a mook's chances of hitting Batman actually decrease if he attacks from behind. Also played hilariously with the Creeper, who uses it on Joker's mooks and Batman himself.
• Off on a Technicality: "Trial" demonstrates that Batman's vigilante work can lead to this.
• Offscreen Breakup: Dick and Barbara break up during the Time Skip, due to Barbara keeping her Batgirl identity a secret from him.
• Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Temple Fugate lost everything in his Start of Darkness (an appeal for twenty million dollars against his company seven years ago), but when he appears at the episode “The Clock King”, he has enough money to buy bombs and an Abandoned Warehouse Supervillain Lair at his name. At the episode “Time Out Of Joint”, he can throw off a clock valued at 600,000 dollars.
  Batman What kind of saboteur uses a $6000 Metronex to trigger a time bomb?
  Alfred: A saboteur with too much money?
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Charles Collins in "Joker's Favor" ironically gets The Joker to do this after the Joker tormented him for the entire episode. It becomes a truly satisfying conclusion.
  • Though, of course, Charlie has his own moment at the start of the episode when he realizes just who the other driver he was yelling at really is:
  Charlie: "That was the Joker! I just cussed out the Joker!"
  • During the Superman: The Animated Series episode Knight Time, Superman impersonates Batman, as Bruce Wayne has gone missing and Gotham's supervillains are getting bolder. Bane's face after seeing "Batman" throw a Moai statute across a room is a study in this trope.
  • Implicit in the show's opening sequence, when the two suspects are intercepted on the rooftop by Batman and their eyes get big.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Averted with the presence of Harvey Dent and Harvey Bullock.
  • Averted with Matthew Hagen (Clayface's real name) and the one-shot character Matthew Thorne from "Paging the Crime Doctor".
  • Averted with Thomas Wayne and the one-shot villain Thomas Blake from "Cult of the Cat".
  • Bruce Wayne himself isn't exempted. According to a short scene in "Torch Song", the DCAU has a famous action movies actor named "Bruce Wallas".
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: There are some eps that has Joker showcasing this trope:
  • In "The Man Who Killed Batman", Joker is really pissed at Sidney Debris because Sid killed Batman instead of him. (Batman got better).
  • Inverted in "Joker's Favor", when Joker gets a Villainous Breakdown being confronted with the mere idea of being killed by any other than Batman.
  • "Mad Love", especially when even Harley is not exempt from this.
• Oral Fixation: Harvey Bullock is perpetually chewing on a toothpick, and on one occasion was implicated in a crime because of its presence.
• Orphaned Punchline: In "Birds of a Feather", Penguin has one: "—and I said, 'But, warden—those aren't my pants!"
• Out-of-Character Moment: When Harley captures Batman, hanging him upside down over a tank of piranhas, she lavishes at how the Joker will be pleased with her for capturing his greatest enemy. Next thing she knows, Batman was LAUGHING. Not just laughing, but laughing HARD. Harley notes that Batman NEVER laughs, and that it creeped her out. Batman stops and stoicly tells her why he's laughing and proceeds to reveal the truth about Joker to her (See "Is That What He Told You?" above).
• Out of Focus: Dick Grayson was originally a Recurring Character, but after the first Retool, he earned Regular Character status. The second Re Tool, however, made Batgirl a regular as well and added Tim Drake, so Grayson as Nightwing was seen far less often. Regardless, he was still considered a regular character and treated as such by production. (Voice actor Loren Lester was consistently credited in the main cast, as opposed to with - say - recurring guest star Mark Hamill). Word of God flat-out admitted this trope as a blunder on their part.
• Out of Order: The original air dates don't correspond at all with the order that the episodes were written or recorded in. This resulted in a confused mishmash of continuity.
• Outliving One's Offspring: The two-part episode "Heart of Steel" strongly implies that Karl Rossum's daughter was killed in an accident.

P

• Pac Man Fever: The Riddler's "wildly popular" video game creation has graphics and gameplay at Intelli Vision levels around the time the Super Nintendo was hitting its stride, though it fits considering the 1930s aesthetic and deliberate Anachronism Stew of the series. It uses sound effects from the original Super Mario Bros., distorted a little bit to make them sound different.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Batman's one principle is to never take a life, but if you dare to enslave innocent children to steal for you like The Sewer King did, you better damn well pray that he does hold onto it.
  Batman: I don't pass sentence. That's for the courts to decide. But this time, this time, I am sorely tempted to do the job myself.
  • "Over the Edge" shows just how far Jim Gordon will go for his daughter. Or rather, what she fears he will do.
  • "Harley's Holiday" has General Vreeland. When his daughter Veronica gets accidentally kidnapped by Harley, his solution is pursue them in a tank.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Kyodai Ken was a model student of Yoru-sensei, but ultimately betrayed him when he attempted to steal a prized katana from him, and his enmity towards Bruce made him an enemy later in life.
• Parking Payback: In "Fear of Victory", Batman lies in wait inside the Gotham Knight's locker room, believing that Scarecrow would be coming to sabotage the game by delivering a fear drug-tainted telegram to a key player. A perfectly ordinary telegram delivery man shows up and is intercepted by Batman, who utterly freaks, thinking that Batman was waiting to ambush him because he had double-parked.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In "The Lion and the Unicorn", the two-part password to arm a nuclear warhead based in the UK is the address of the missile silo and "the lion and the unicorn", famous symbols of England.
• The Patient Has Left the Building: In one episode, an injured Bruce Wayne considered his Batman duties important enough to defy his doctor's orders to stay in bed and recuperate.
  • At the end of the first half of his two episode origin story ("Two-Face, Part 1"), Harvey Dent (as well as his fiancée Grace) freaks at the sight of his newly disfigured visage, fleeing the hospital in anguish.
• Perky Female Minion: Harley Quinn is a henchgirl of the Joker who's almost always cheerful and lively.
• Pet the Dog: In "Mad as a Hatter", the abrasive Dr. Cates sits down and commiserates with Alice over her breakup while Jervis Tetch, eavesdropping, reacts with glee that she's no longer attached.
• Phlebotinum Overdose: When Batman first defeated Bane, he broke the Venom pump, giving Bane a massive dose. Bane's eyes looked ready to pop out of his head before Bats managed to pull the line out.
• Photo Doodle Recognition: In "Make 'em Laugh", Joker is discovered to be the one responsible for brainwashing famous comedians into committing crimes when Alfred shows Batman and Robin a video tape of the previous Gotham Comedy Competition. When they realize one of the contestants sounds familiar, Batman edits the video to show the Joker's regular eyes on the contestant's face, showing a perfect match.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth:
  • A SWAT cop does this with a tear gas grenade in "On Leather Wings".
  • When told to "bury" Batman, Batgirl and Robin, a thug in "Shadow of the Bat, Part 2" pulls the pins off two grenades at once using his teeth.
  • Harley does this with a Joker grenade in "Harley's Holiday."
• Plot Parallel: "Mean Seasons" is about a former model who was fired because she was too old and avenges herself by kidnapping her former employers; in the B-plot, Bruce is upset at losing an employee because he has hit the mandatory retirement age (Bruce is also feeling a bit sluggish, and starts checking himself for gray hairs). In the end, Bruce does away with mandatory retirement.
• Plunger Detonator: In "Christmas with the Joker", the Joker's goons use such a detonator to blow up a bridge.
• Pop the Tires: Poison Ivy did that at least once with her wrist crossbow in "Harley and Ivy". At the end of the episode, her own tire is shot.
• Posthumous Villain Victory: Joker certainly didn't expect to inherit $250 million in cash and jewels from deceased rival "King" Barlowe, except that most of the inheritance was fake as laid out by Barlowe in his Spiteful Will. Barlowe knew Joker would binge-spend the money before the IRS would come in for the taxes, and by then, Mistah J would be in trouble. He even rubs it on Joker's face with a Morton's Fork: go to jail for tax evasion (which he can't do) or become Gotham's Butt-Monkey for admitting that a dead man scammed him (which he can't stand). Indeed, what a posthumous way to troll your most hated enemy, who can't go after you because you're already dead. Unsurprisingly, Joker is pissed off.
• Power Born of Madness: Harvey Dent appears to have this. In the episode where he finally snaps and transitions into "Big Bad Harv", he is strong enough to lift Rupert Thorne (an obese crime boss) clean off the ground and hurl him into three other thugs. The same episode sees him fling a doctor away with one arm and the next sees him as Two-Face hurl another thug like a sack of potatos. Considering this interpretation of Two-Face seems mostly based on being consumed by rage, maybe it is more "Power Born of Being Really Mad."
• Prefer Jail to the Protagonist:
  • In "Joker's Favor", the protagonist is an ordinary man who has the misfortune to become the Joker's "hobby". After a whole episode of torment, he seemingly snaps and confronts the Joker, frightening him so much that the Joker calls Batman for help.
  • After his encounter with the Creeper, the Joker surrenders to Batman, declaring the Creeper "a lunatic" without any irony whatsoever.
• Pretty in Mink: Quite a few of the society ladies in the background wear fur wraps.
• Product Placement: the Warner Bros. logo on the miniature skyscraper near the end of Mask of the Phantasm. Numerous episodes have either the Joker or one of his henchman reading Tiny Toon Adventures comic books.
• Proud Beauty: Poison Ivy is sexy and she knows it.
• Pulling the Rug Out: In "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Robin knocks a thug standing on a table off his feet by pulling out the tablecloth. "I love that trick, but I can never make it work."
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...:
  • Batman vs. Rhino (no, not that one). Also, vs. Bane.
  • "The Last Laugh" involves Joker's use of a Mecha Mook to drive a garbage barge oozing laughing gas across the city, which inevitably leads to this.
• Punched Across the Room: "Love Is A Croc" has Batman punch Killer Croc about a hundred feet across a spacious room at a power plant Superman-style that sent Croc crashing against pipework. The enraged Croc attempts to retaliate by ripping out a piece of pipe, but it was a steaming, hot water pipe, which erputs a near-fatal burst of water that delivers Croc right back to Batman's feet.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Batman is infected with Scarecrow's fear toxins and hallucinates a monstrous ghost telling him how much his father is disappointed in him.
  "You are not my father. I am not a disgrace. I am vengeance. I am the night. I. Am. Batman!"
• Punishment Box: Batman becomes a captive of a forced labour camp made up of homeless people. The main punishment for failure to work is being placed in the box.
• Punny Name: Temple Fugate, the DCAU's version of Clock King, is a pun on the Latin phrase Tempus Fugit ("Time Flies").
• Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": With Joker, when he is torturing, maiming, or driving someone insane.

R

• "Rashomon"-Style: The episode “P.O.V.” does this with Harvey Bullock, Officer Renee Montoya, and rookie Officer Wilkes explaining a failed sting operation. The events shown on screen play out the way they actually happened, even though this does not match the descriptions the police give their superiors. Bullock knows what happened, but makes himself appear as the competent hero while Batman screwed up. Wilkes is honest in his belief, but makes Batman come off as a supernatural being. Montoya more or less tells the truth, and believes that Batman died in the fire.
• Reckless Gun Usage: While being chased by Alfred in the episode "The Underdwellers," a young hooligan in the Wayne mansion discovers a collection of antique firearms. He grabs a blunderbuss off the wall and proceeds to wave it around like a toy. Alfred immediately backs off, but Batman jumps in and grabs the gun out of the boy's hands. Batman notes, "It's not loaded, but it could have been."
• Recurring Character: Although Batman's traditional Rogues Gallery and more famous supporting characters (Robin, Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl, etc) naturally tend to appear regularly, the show also creates or reintroduces several new or more obscure characters who appear regularly to fulfill certain roles. For example, Rupert Thorne acts as the recurring "untouchable crime boss" character, Roland Daggett the "unscrupulous Corrupt Corporate Executive / scientist" type, Veronica Vreeland the ditzy trust-fund heiress and Summer Gleeson the Intrepid Reporter.
• Red Pill, Blue Pill: In "Perchance to Dream", Batman awakens to a reality where Batman exists but it is not him; there's no Batcave under Wayne Manor; his parents are alive; and he is engaged to Selina Kyle. Despite this seemingly idyllic life, Bruce struggles to accept this reality, and in his quest for the truth, he confronts the other Batman and discovers he is being affected by the Mad Hatter, who was trying to make Batman lose interest in continuing his obsessive, vigilante life. Batman chooses to continue being Batman over the life that Bruce Wayne would have loved to have.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: The third and fourth seasons used red skies for the night scenes.
• Refuge in Audacity: Alfred's claim that HE is Batman in "Old Wounds".
• Replacement Goldfish: H.A.R.D.A.C. began his plan to replace the world with robot duplicates after its creator, Karl Rossum, tried to create a new version of his daugher, who had been killed in a car accident.
• Replacement Scrappy: "Fake Harley" in "Joker's Millions" is an In-Universe example. The Joker hired her because it was cheaper than paying for the real Harley's release from Arkham, but he grows to regret it and a pissed-off Harley gets back at him for it in the end.
• Repression Never Ends Well: Two-face's origin is a result of Harvey Dent repressing his anger since childhood. This resulted in a Split Personality, "Big Bad Harv", that he mostly kept under control. It isn't until his disfigurement during Rupert Thorne's attempt at blackmailing him that the Two-Face personality takes control with Harvey Dent occasionally breaking through. Gets exaggerated in the episode "Judgement Day" where Two-Face repressing Harvey Dent for so long, especially his passion for justice, resulted in a third personality forming. The Judge, a Vigilante Man that treats all crimes as punishable by death.
• Resurrection Sickness: Ra's Al Ghul experiences intense rage after resurrection.
• Ret-Canon:
  • Prior to Batman: TAS, Mister Freeze was a thug in a powered suit with an ice gun and actually was dead in the comics when the show first aired. The show gave Freeze a tragic past which DC promptly incorporated into the comics with the result of completely revitalizing the character.
  • The 2009 Batgirl series reveals that "The Gray Ghost" is now an old TV show within the DCU proper, and an ardent fan of hers assumes the "Grey Ghost" identity, complete with hat and mask, in an attempt to be her sidekick. Batgirl herself, Stephanie Brown, explains that she never watched the show, but she knows that the main character must have been smarter and saner than this guy.
  • After No Mans Land, Batman went back to wearing the costume without the yellow oval, like he did during The New Batman Adventures. Similarly, Tim Drake took to wearing a costume to the one from TNBA following Infinite Crisis's "One Year Later" Time Skip.
• Retired Badass: "The Lion and the Unicorn" reveals that Alfred spent time as a British government operative many years ago and, even though his primary duties were behind a desk, he amassed quite a few skills.
• Retro Universe: It is shown in "Cold Comfort" that that episode is set in August of 1997 and the technology is effectively that of the 1990s, but the industrial design is the Art Deco of the 1930s and 40s and people still wear hats. A particularly glaring example was seen in "Fear of Victory," whose plot hinges on a college football game. The athletes are shown playing without facemasks and wearing leather helmets, out of fashion since at least the 1950's. Televisions were typically black and white (though color ones existed). One episode showed that Bruce Wayne owns a black and white TV. Yeah, the billionaire with the massive, high-res computers in his basement.
  • Batman has the Batwing, a highly advanced jet (or possibly rocket) powered VTOL aircraft. All of the other planes in the series use propellers. Its also worth noting that the jet powered batwing can't outrun (but can out maneuver) the bulky retro-tastic helicopters that are popular in Gotham.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: In Heart of Ice, this is the main reason Batman tries to stop Freeze from killing Ferris Boyle. Even though the man ruined his and his wife's lives, Batman still tries to save him out of principle. The caped crusader does give evidence of Boyle's wrongdoings and leaves him to be arrested.
  Freeze: It can't end this way... Vengeance...
  Batman: No. Justice.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Most criminals use semi-automatic pistols, but whenever Commissioner Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock draw their weapons they are traditional revolvers. Justified in that, for many years, most police departments issued .38 Special revolvers (or occasionally, .357 Magnums loaded with .38 Special) as their sidearms - especially in the 1940s-50s era that the series somewhat emulates.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: Joker and Harley have a pack of hyenas.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Of all people, it is Commissioner Gordon who loses control in his thirst for vengeance (Or does he?) When Barbara/Batgirl is murdered he loses it and nobody is safe. No, not even Batman.
• Robot Girl: Randa Duane, H.A.R.D.A.C.'s dragon.
• Robotic Reveal: "Heart of Steel" has two. The first when Harvey Bullock is thrown into the Bat Signal, melting off his flesh to reveal the robotic skeleton, and the second when Randa Duane, the sexy lady Bruce has been flirting with the whole episode, has her skin burned off by an explosion to reveal her electronic circuits.
  • "His Silicon Soul" also has this at the beginning of the episode when a mook shoots Batman, only to find out that Batman isn't human, there's a hole of exposed circuitry in the robot's stomach.
• Robot Me: "Heart of Steel" revolves around a plot by H.A.R.D.A.C. to replace the entire world with robot duplicates, the episode itself features a robotic James Gordon, Harvey Bullock and Mayor Hill. The sequel, "His Silicon Soul," features a robot Batman.
• Rocket Ride: Roxy Rocket.
• Rogues Gallery: Featuring one of the most well-known examples of the trope, to date.
• Rogues Gallery Showcase: "Almost Got 'Im" and "Trial" feature this.
• Rope Bridge: "Two-Face" (during the nightmare in part 2).
• Rooftop Confrontation: A few examples, one being the opening sequence of the show.
• Rotoscoping: Used here and there, but especially obvious in "Pretty Poison" - Pamela Isley walking away from Bruce and Harvey at the restaurant was very clearly animated using footage of a real person.
• Rousseau Was Right
• Running Gag:
  • Whenever an episode focused on Roland Dagget, this exchange would usually occur:
    Alfred: You think Mr. Dagget is up to something then?
    Batman: That goes without saying
  • Batman will almost always disappear inexplicably when talking to Gordon, who then expresses his confusion.

S

• Sarcastic Confession: Alfred in "Old Wounds".
  Alfred: Ms. Gordon, I uh, see you've discovered our little secret. Yes, I admit it. I am Batman.
• Saved by the Church Bell: The episode "It's Never Too Late" ends with a cathedral bell ringing, just moments after the mob boss Stromwell hands himself to the police and repents of his life of crime.
• Save the Villain: In the climax of "Shadow of the Bat, Part 2," Batgirl says that she should leave Gil Mason to die in the speedboat that is on a collision course with the statue in Gotham Harbor, but cannot bring herself to do it.
• "Say My Name" Trailer: One TV commercial had a montage of several villains saying "Batman!" in varying degrees of disgust - followed by the announcer commenting: "See what everyone's talking about."
• Scary Scarecrows: The Scarecrow, as always, is dressed like a scarecrow to terrify.
• Scenery Porn: One of the most iconic examples in the history of TV animation.
• Schizo Tech: The weapons used by criminals is the tommy gun, TV is largely in black and white and the cars look like they come from the 1920s or 1930s, but this same setting gives us highly sophisticated computer equipment, sentient Artificial Intelligence, machines that can read peoples' minds and CCTV security cameras... and that is not even counting the stuff Batman himself has.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Even if he was not already crazy rich to begin with, you cannot bribe Batman to do anything, least of all look the other way. Warren of the Terrible Trio learns this the hard way as his money was completely useless on Batman.
  Warren: (gets unmasked by Batman) "Wait a minute wait a minute! We can make a deal! A million dollars just to let me go! (Batman angrily whirls him around) TEN MILLION! Think about it, that buys a LOT of batarangs!"
  Batman: "Your money's no good here."
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Quite awesomely subverted in "The Terrible Trio." Warren, the rich playboy who's spent the whole episode saying his money entitles him to not be held to any moral standards, is caught by Batman and smarms that his family's lawyers will get him off. This is followed by a Gilligan Cut to him being thrown in jail.
• Second-Person Attack: Done frequently.
• Second Super-Identity: In one episode, Batman faces a new vigilante in town who calls himself "The Judge", who is going after the city's criminal element and has a more violent manner of dealing with them. Batman tries to stop him as he targets Two Face, only to discover at the end that The Judge is really a new multiple personality of Harvey Dent.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: In "Over the edge", it's implied at the end that Jim Gordon fully well knows his daughter's Secret Identity.
• Seductive Mummy: Thoth Khepera from the episode "Avatar". She takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to drain mortals of their life energy, and in her true form she's very far from this.
• Self-Made Orphan: Jason Blood claims that Klarion turned his parents into mice. Then the camera zooms in on Klarion's cat...
• Self-Deprecation: Ted Dymer, the Loony Fan so obsessed with the Gray Ghost and toy collecting that he holds the city for ransom as "The Mad Bomber", just for more money to spend on pop culture memorabilia, is modeled after and voiced by Bruce Timm (see Creator Cameo). Notably, while Batman is used in the episode as a positive Author Avatar to pay tribute to the Adam West series, Ted is nothing more than a creepy little jerk.
• Senseless Violins: Used by the Jazzman in "I Am the Night".
• Serious Business: The Joker kidnaps and brainwashes three famous comedians all so that he can rig a comedy competition. As he explains, it is not about the trophy, it is about the title.
• Servile Snarker: Alfred has moments of this.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The Penguin, more often than not. This is lampshaded in "Almost Got 'Im", when Penguin is telling a story to Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Croc, a disguised Batman, and they complain that he is becoming hard to follow. Penguin grudgingly relents, describing his "Aviary of Doom" as a "big bird house."
• Sewer Gator:
  • Killer Croc generally uses the sewers of Gotham as a hideout and means of stealth travel.
  • The episode "The Underdwellers" has sewer gators in droves. They're actually the Sewer King's pets.
• Sexy Jester: Harley Quinn
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: Clayface at the end of his debut two-parter. He's faking.
• Shipped in Shackles: One episode opened with Killer Croc being transported to prison with his arms and legs in shackles. He escapes by biting through the chains. After Batman recaptures him he is taken away chained, straight jacketed and muzzled.
• Shirley Template: Mary Louise Dahl, aka Baby Doll, was a failed actress who was born with a rare medical condition, confining her into an apperance of a toddler despite her actually being in her thirties. Like most other examples, she also bears the hallmarks of a Shirley Temple Expy, having appeared in namby-pamby roles as well which she resented as it forever typecasted her, just as how the real Shirley's acting career declined as people associated her more with her younger roles than as a teen actress.
• Shirtless Scene: Both Batman and Robin get in on this, and in The New Batman Adventures season Nightwing has a completely gratuitous one.
• Shoot the Television: The episode "Joker's Millions" has the Joker shooting the Video Will in which his benefactor reveals most of the money is fake.
• Shout-Out: See the subpage.
• Silicon Snarker: When Alfred is flying the Batwing, the onboard computer provides a wonderful bit of snark when Alfred demands that the plane land.
  Batwing Computer: Your funeral.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: When Batgirl tells Catwoman that if she kills Roland Daggett she will be no better than him, Catwoman tells her to "grow up."
• Single Serving Friend: In "The Mechanic" we meet Earl Cooper, Batman's personal mechanic for the Batmobile, and even explore his backstory; he was an auto engineer turned whistleblower, who Batman saved from hired thugs. The story follows Penguin forcing Earl to rig the Batmobile into a deathtrap by taking Earl's daughter hostage. Despite the battle damage the Batmobile receives before and after this episode, this is the only time Earl appears.
• Sinister Scimitar: When fighting the android Batman in "His Silicon Soul," Batman tries a surprise attack with a straight-edged sword. Android Batman then takes a curved sword from the weapons cabinet next to it and the two clash blades a few times.
• Skintone Sclerae: Commissioner Gordon.
• Skyward Scream: More like an "At the ceiling of the Batcave scream," in "I Am the Night", but it still works.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Batman has arguably always been more on the cynical end then your typical superhero cartoon. However, overall the series is about in the middle.
• Sleight of Tongue: Talia does this for Bruce in "The Demon's Quest: Part 2".
• Smug Snake: The Terrible Trio, especially Fox, who seems to have trouble not lording it over "the little people".
• Snooty Sports: In "The Terrible Trio", rich playboy Bruce Wayne is shown to be quite proficient at skeet shooting, and entertains his rich guests with it at a party. This is especially notable given his own hatred for guns as Batman.
• Snow Means Love:
  • Mr Freeze's most iconic scene is him talking to the snowglobe that contains a statue of his late wife, begging for forgiveness. Sad version of this trope. The comics reveal that in college the two spent much of their courtship outside in the snow.
  • There's an episode in which Batman meets Catwoman in the snow, and she has to ask, "Are you getting soft on criminals, or just on me?"
• Socialite: Many, either dating Bruce or in the background at upper class events and parties. Veronica Vreeland is the only named example (well, that isn't part of the Rogues Gallery).
• Soft Water:
  • Used frequently throughout the show, including a scene in "Zatanna" where a pair of mooks fell out of a plane flying above the clouds and survived the impact with the ocean below.
  • An aversion is the episode "Off Balance." In two separate occasions someone falls from a high place into water; the first time the person resurfaces but does not make any movement or sound and disappears under the waves again. The second time the person's fate is not made clear, but it is implied in Batman and Talia's subsequent dialogue that he died.
  • Averted in "On Leather Wings." The Man-Bat throws a security guard out of a window who lands in some sort of canal. Cut to a picture of the next day's newspaper with a picture of guard recovering in the ICU, where he is alive but severely injured from the fall.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Farmer Brown.
• Spinning Paper:
  • Used for the crime spree early in "Harley and Ivy"
  • In an out-of-universe example, Fox Kids produced commercials for roughly the first third of episodes from the first season that depicted a spinning paper with a headline describing a key plot point of the next aired episode (example).
• Spit Take: Bruce does one when Harvey Dent tells him he's planning on proposing to Pam Isley.
• Spy Catsuit: Appropriately enough, Catwoman
• Squick: (In-Universe): "Almost Got'Im." After hearing Penguin, Two Face, Ivy and Croc tell stories of their bids against Batman, The Joker reveals Harley had captured Catwoman and is about to have her chopped up into cat food. The others look suitably wigged.
• Stage Magician: Zatanna guest stars in the episode "Zatanna", where it is revealed that Bruce studied with her and her father, Giovanni "John" Zatara, in order to hone his abilities to escape locks and traps. Unlike her comic book counterpart, Zatanna at this point in the DCAU does not seem to have any actual mystical abilities, instead she performs traditional sleight-of-hand as part of her act (which is actually in keeping with her comic counterpart - Zatanna doesn't use her magic as part of her act, considering that to be cheating).
• Staggered Zoom: On the face of the quarterback (Robin's roommate) in "Fear of Victory", to show the Scarecrow's fear toxin taking effect.
• Stalker with a Crush: How the Mad Hatter was first portrayed in his obsession with his co-worker Alice, and being too shy to ask her out.
• Start of Darkness: Almost all of the villains' are shown. Mister Freeze and Harley Quinn's both established the canon.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Despite being the Trope Codifier, this is sometimes averted. It also lampshaded a number of times.
  Comissioner Gordon: One of these days, I'm going to nail his feet to the ground.
• Stealth Pun: Batman saying "Later" as he leaves some alligators behind.
• Steampunk: The Wild West episode starring Ra's Al Ghûl and Jonah Hex has Ra's' men construct a Cool Airship.
• Stepford Consumer: One of the Joker's schemes involves making a commercial. Even with the Joker's usual level of trademark enthusiasm, the commercial barely seems out of place.
• Stock Clock Hand Hang: In one episode, the Clock King kidnaps Mayor Hill in retribution for his bankruptcy and ties him to the hands of a giant clock on the 7th anniversary of the event. Both Mayor and Batman hangs from the giant hand and the giant dial.
• The Stoic:
  • The persona that Batman cultivates for himself (although, see Not So Stoic, above).
  • There are some contenders among the villains, but only one winner:
    • Mr. Freeze invokes this trope, claiming his feelings were frozen inside him, but it's clear he's actually a Tin Man.
    • Arnold Wesker, the Ventriloquist, truly is one, but only when Scarface is talking. When something happens to Scarface, Arnold can emote like any other.
    • The winner would be the Clock King: After his Start of Darkness, he only shows cold detachment, and his only emotion is annoyance.
• Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: "House And Garden" had Pamela "Poison" Ivy rehabilitated and married to her doctor, Prof. Steven Carlyle, to help him raise his two sons. Batman suspects Ivy is still up to something when wealthy bachelors are being afflicted by a toxin, but all his leads lead to nothing. That is, until while driving back to the Batcave, Robin tells Batman that Prof. Carlyle had twin girls. SCREEEEEEECHHHH!!!
• Story Arc:
  • Despite its highly episodic nature, the first two seasons chronicle the fall of traditional crime and the rise of supervillains in Gotham City. When the series begins, the Joker and the Penguin are the only active supervillains (almost every other supervillain we see it's Start of Darkness, and Ra's Al Ghul only comes to Gotham to meet the Batman). Corrupt Corporate Executive Roland Dagget and traditional gangsters Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell run the city.
  • Over the course of the series, Dagget gradually loses his fortune as legal fees and criminal charges catch up to him, and Thorne and Stromwell have their operations systematically taken apart as new, colorful villains appear in the scene. This comes to a head for Dagget in "Batgirl Returns" where he's finally arrested, "It's Never Too Late" sees Stromwell have a change of heart and turn himself in, and Thorne himself gets arrested in "Shadow of the Bat" after another of his criminal operations is busted and it's revealed that Two-Face has been taking control of Gotham mobs behind the scenes. By the time of The New Batman Adventures, almost all criminal activities are provided by costumed and themed supervillains.
  • The story arc in TNBA is gentrification, with Penguin "going legit" as the owner of the Bad Guy Bar, the Iceberg Lounge, Joker and Harley Quinn face so many setbacks and are so badly hit by Batman, that Joker is literally being made to run out of town and go to Metropolis for the "World's Finest" arc and likewise goes nuts when he becomes a millionaire ("Joker's Millions"). As per Batman Beyond, a short while later, Arkham Asylum would be shut down and the inmates would be moved to a new facility and by the time of Batman Beyond, most of the classic era of Batman's Rogues Gallery is almost entirely forgotten (referred to by Terry McGinnis as "the bad old cape and cowl days", with the poor part of Gotham becoming an abandoned section called "Old Gotham" that is overshadowed and left to disrepair by the more futuristic and middle-class Neo-Gotham of the future.
• Strawman Political: Lock-Up. He even disparages the "liberal media."
• Stylistic Suck: The segment of "Legends of the Dark Knight" based on the 1960s Batman series. The synchronization between lip flaps and dialogue is poor, the background music cuts between tracks suddenly, and the animation quality fluctuates wildly.
• Success as Revenge: Joker attempts to do this in the episode "Joker's Millions", using his inheritance to clean up his reputation and live the high life right in Batman's face. Penguin even congratulates the normally erratic clown for making this decision. Unfortunately, the whole thing turns out to be a vicious last act of revenge against the Joker as most of the money turns out to be fake.
• Superhero: Batman himself, both Robins (and by extension, Nightwing), and Batgirl.
• Super-Stoic Shopkeeper: When The Creeper bursts into a tailor's shop, the clerk handpicked him a pair of undies and "complimented" his choice of boa without the slightest twitch. Also, the bartender in "The Man Who Killed Batman".
• Surrogate Soliloquy: The graveyard version in "Mask of the Phantasm".
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain:
  • Of the two main villains in "Heart of Ice", Mr. Freeze is a ruthless but poignant Tragic Villain, who was trying to save his terminally-ill wife by putting her in cryogenic stasis while he worked on curing her, and a lab accident caused when he was defending his frozen wife from being effectively sentenced to death anyway rendered him unable to survive outside of sub-zero temperatures. The perpetrator who caused Freeze's accident and who Freeze is now motivated to take revenge on is Ferris Boyle, a sociopathic Corrupt Corporate Executive who callously ordered that Freeze's wife be taken off life support in front of Freeze while the latter was pleading, who attacked Freeze as the latter was standing down at the onset of the accident, and who left both Freeze and his wife to die. Tellingly, Batman sympathizes with Freeze even if he firmly opposes the latter's willingness to endanger innocent people, but Batman leaves Boyle to writhe in agony in a half-frozen state (a fate that Batman wouldn't leave Freeze's own unfortunate mook to earlier) while spitting at Boyle in disgust, "Goodnight, 'humanitarian'."
  • Harley Quinn is an adorable, bubbly henchwoman that is motivated to help the heroes and tries to reform, is depicted tragically for being the Trope Namer of Mad Love and eventually comes to regret her villainous actions as an elderly woman. The Joker on the other hand, is nothing but a Psychopathic Manchild enraptured by his own ego and seeking mass chaos and destruction, and tortures the third Robin, Tim Drake, so violently that he is nearly driven insane before performing a Grand Theft Me on him 40 years later.

T

• Take a Third Option: In "Almost Got 'Im," Harley Quinn captures Catwoman and ties her to a conveyor belt heading for a massive meatgrinder. Batman arrives and catches Harley, who then taunts that he can either bring her in or rescue Catwoman, but not both. Batman then... nonchalantly reaches over to the circuit breaker and shuts off the power to the grinder, to which Harley responds, "Good call—Help!"
• Take That!: In addition to its Shout-Out to the Silver Age comics and Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight" is renowned for its blatant Take That against the Joel Schumacher films. A flamboyant kid named Joel, wearing a feather boa and standing in front of a Shoemaker sign, gushes over Batman's "tight rubber armor" and "flashy car" which he's heard can "drive up walls." The other kids dismiss him out of hand. It is reported, however, that Schumacher himself apparently found this scene hilarious when he saw it.
• Talkative Loon: The Creeper.
• Talking to the Dead:
  • Batman, as in most incarnations, speaks to his parents about his motivations, feelings, successes and failures as Batman.
  • Mr. Freeze speaks to his wife, Nora Fries, who had a terminal disease and was placed in cryogenic stasis to preserve her life.
• Talk to the Fist:
  Condiment King: "What's this? Ah, the Big Bad Bat Guy. I knew you'd ketchup to me sooner or later. How I've relished this meeting. You, the Dynamic Dark Knight, versus me, the Conceptual Condiment King! Come Batman, let's see if you can cut the mustard."
  Batman: (Batman delivers a single punch to CK's stomach) "Quiet!"
• Tap on the Head: Almost Once an Episode.
• Taxman Takes the Winnings: This was part of King Barlow's posthumous revenge against The Joker in the episode "Joker's Millions." Barlow left the Joker a fortune, but most of the money was fake. He figured that the Joker would quickly blow through the real money, and then the government would come for the taxes, and he'd either go to jail for tax evasion or be forced to admit that he got conned by a dead man.
• Team Rocket Wins: In "Mad Love", Harley Quinn actually gets closer than almost anyone to kill Batman, only being foiled by him appealing to Joker's ego and Harley's insecurity.
• Technicolor Science: In the very first episode, "On Leather Wings" (Sept. 5, 1992) to be produced, the bad guy has the typical setup of exotic flasks and beakers bubbling with colored liquids.
• Technicolor Toxin: Poison gases are usually given some loud color, generally a reddish-orange for the generic or green for Joker gas. "Moon of the Wolf" features a notable aversion with colorless gas — Batman doesn't notice until it's far too late.
• Terrible Trio: The Terrible Trio, three wealthy young men who commit crimes for the thrill and excitement.
• Terrified of Germs: One of Daggett's henchmen is nicknamed "Germs" and is scared of infection. While being chased through a hospital by Batman he accidentally traps himself in a viral pathology lab, where Batman makes him give up by threatening him with a beaker of crimson fever (which later turns out to have just been seawater.)
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Harvey was visiting a therapist to deal with his anger issues — until Thorne got a hold of his files and tried to blackmail him with them. Harley was a therapist before meeting the Joker, and is declared sane by one at the start of “Harley's Holiday” (unfortunately, the optimistic ending is never followed through on.)
• They Called Me Mad!:
  • The first line spoken by the man who would soon, appropriately enough, become the Mad Hatter.
  • Also said by Jonathan Crane during his Start of Darkness flashback explaining how he became Scarecrow.
• Theme Music Power-Up: In "Nothing To Fear," immediately following Batman's "I am vengeance" speech, Shirley Walker's theme kicks in, and Batman subsequently saves the day.
• The Tease: Poison Ivy is quite the playful flirt. Half the time her interactions with Batman come across like sweettalk during a date.
• Title Drop: From The Riddler's debut episode:
  Nygma: You are a fool, Mockridge, to think you can get away with this. Your amoral greed is no match for an intellect like mine!
  Mockridge: Oh yeah? Then tell me something Eddie... If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?
• Title, Please!: A variant: The episodes have title cards, but the show itself doesn't. Word of God is that they forgot to put it in.
• Time Is Dangerous: Clock King uses a time-altering device to trap Batman and Robin in a "bubble" of slowed time, where seconds for them pass as hours on the outside. Batman points out that objects "outside" the bubble are moving relatively at tens of thousands of miles an hour while they are comparatively "standing still". Meaning there will be an enormous (think asteroid impact or nuclear weapon) explosion if anything collides with them in their "frozen" state. Fortunately Batman defuses the trap before it can happen.
• Time Skip:
  • As well as having an Art Evolution, The New Batman Adventures takes place roughly three years after Batman: TAS.
  • "Joker's Favor" starts at some undetermined point in the series (Likely before the first episode) only to jump to two years later to the present.
• Tin Man: Mr. Freeze. Despite claiming that he can no longer feel any emotion, his despair at losing his wife — and his cold hatred to those who took her — is demonstrable.
• To Catch Heroes, Hire Villains: In "Over the Edge", after Batgirl dies, Gordon releases Bane to bring in Batman because he blames him for his daughter's death.
• Toilet Humour: "Holiday Knights" has a bit where Harvey Bullock points out that Clayface looks like feces by calling him "Frosty the Lawn Cigar", "lawn cigar" being slang for animal excrement that's been left on the ground.
• Tomato in the Mirror: A robot duplicate of Batman initially believes itself to be the real deal, and isn't happy to learn the truth.
• Tomato Surprise: The Judge in "Judgement Day" is Harvey Dent, repressed by Big Bad Harv for so long that he developed into a third personality.
• Tom Hanks Syndrome: In-universe example with Baby Doll, whose failure at a straight acting career led to her Start of Darkness.
• To the Batpole!: Or rather, to the grandfather clock and sometimes, bookcase.
• Tragic Monster:
  • Many of the villains, but most notably Two-Face and Mr. Freeze.
  • Joker plays at this in "Mad Love," but Batman reveals that it is all a lie.
• Transflormation: In "Eternal Youth," this is the aim of Poison Ivy's spa treatments for the wealthy of Gotham.
• Trick-and-Follow Ploy
• Truer to the Text: Batman: The Animated Series, despite having had the cases of Adaptation Distillation, Adaptation Name Change, Adaptational Heroism, Adapted Out, Composite Character, and Canon Foreigner, is the most faithful (and influential) adaptation of the DC Comics series as well as Batman (along with his mythos, supporting cast, allies, and rogue gallery) in general in comparison to all of the Batman adaptations that have been created both before and after the show (both animated and live action action).
• Truth Serum: Red Claw injects Alfred and "Cousin Freddie" with a serum in "The Lion and the Unicorn."
• Turned Against Their Masters: The H.A.R.D.A.C super-computer and the robots it creates.
• Turn in Your Badge: In "P.O.V.", Bullock, Montoya, and Wilkes are placed on suspension and ordered to turn in their badges after a sting operation goes wrong.
• Two-Faced: Two-Face.
• Two-Headed Coin: Owned by Two-Face.
• Two-Person Love Triangle: When Alfred suggests the possibility of Bruce and Selina Kyle getting together in "Cat Scratch Fever", Bruce says Selina loves Batman, not him. Sure enough, later in that same episode Selina puts Bruce squarely in the friend zone.
• Two Voices, One Character: The show does this a lot in-universe:
  • Bruce Wayne uses his normal voice when being himself, and a deep growl when Batman
  • Baby Doll only uses her normal, adult voice when briefly leaving her delusion
  • Two-Face has separate voices for Harvey and himself (in something like an out-of-universe dark counterpoint to Batman)
  • The Ventriloquist obviously has different voices for himself and the puppet that he projects onto.

U — V

• Uncanny Valley: Deliberately invoked with the Joker. Unlike many other portrayals, he’s not simply a man with pale skin and a big grin, the way his face is drawn will always leave you unnerved, even when he’s being jovial and aloof. He looks human enough but something is just…. off. It has a lot to do with his eyes, which are triangular in shape, and sport yellow sclera, which, combined with his lack of eyebrows, gives him a permanent Kubrick Stare. His Batman Beyond/Justice League redesign amps up the uncanniness by also giving him red pupils and vaguely vampiric facial features.
• Underwear of Power: Many of the characters (such as Batman himself), but the Condiment King wears an actual pair of underwear as part of his Cheap Costume.
• Undressing the Unconscious:
  • In "Mad as a Hatter", Mad Hatter kidnaps and hypnotizes his secretary whom he crushes on then dresses her up as the title character of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • In "Baby-Doll", Baby-Doll goes after her old co-stars so they can all "be a family again", and she kidnaps them by knocking them out. After Mariam is knocked out and taken by Baby-Doll, she wakes up at the studio where they had filmed their television program, now wearing her old costume. It's implied Baby-Doll did this with all of her old co-stars.
• Unexpected Kindness: "Harley's Holiday" has moments from Harley, her erstwhile hostage Veronica Vreeland, and Batman.
  • Harley promises Veronica to keep her safe after accidentally taking her hostage (It Makes Sense in Context), and honors that promise throughout the episode.
  • In turn, Veronica tells Harley, after she rescues her from a mobster who planned to ransom her, that if Harley got her out of it in one piece, she'd explain that it was a mistake. She also honors that agreement, when Harley is informed at Arkham that Ms. Vreeland won't be pressing charges.
  • And, of course, the most surprising moment of all, and perhaps the most heartwarming, is when Batman gives Harley the dress that she'd actually paid for at the end. She asks him why he stuck his neck out for her when all she ever did was give him a hard time. His response explains his entire motivation for what he does, "I had a bad day, too, once."
• Unreliable Voiceover: "P.O.V." features three separate flashbacks, each narrated by a member of a sting operation that had gone horribly wrong and each describing their experiences in the lead-up and aftermath of the sting. Officer Wilkes is honest in his story, but misunderstood much of what he saw, so his description of Batman resembles a magical creature instead of a costumed crimefighter. Detective Harvey Bullock is aware of what happened, but is deliberately falsifying his statement to cover his own mistakes and blames it on Batman. Of the three, only Officer Renee Montoya tells an accurate story.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Most of the Bat-Clan gets in on this from time to time, but notable examples are Alfred being more concerned with whether Bruce wants an afternoon snack than he is with Clayface dissolving in "Mudslide," Bruce thinking the Sewer King got eaten by alligators in "The Underdwellers" and reacting with a shrug, and Bruce hoping the Joker got eaten by a shark in "The Laughing Fish." Absolutely no love lost there.
• Upper-Class Twit: Big Bad Harv actually calls Bruce Wayne a 'twit' when Bruce tries to calm him down.
• The Vamp: Poison Ivy and Talia.
• Varying Competency Alibi: In "Read My Lips", Batman tricks Scarface into believing that one of Scarface's henchmen betrayed him, in order to get Scarface riled up. Rhino, the Dumb Muscle of the henchmen, protests that it wasn't him who betrayed Scarface. Scarface says he knows it wasn't Rhino because Rhino is too stupid to pull off a scheme like that. Rhino takes this as a compliment.
  Scarface: Which one o' you louses is it?
  Rhino: It ain't me, boss!
  Scarface: I know it ain't you, Rhino! You're too stupid to be a traitor.
  Rhino: Uh, thanks, boss.
• Vaudeville Hook: Joker gets dragged offstage by one of these in "Make 'Em Laugh." He is outraged by the thought of being disqualified from Gotham's annual stand-up comedy competition on the flimsy grounds that he never entered that a year later he seeks Disproportionate Retribution on the judges.
• Very Special Episode: "It's Never Too Late" starts off as a basic gang war story, before leaping into an anti-drug Aesop.
• Vigilante Injustice: In Trial, Arkham Asylum is overtaken by the inmates, and Batman is brought to trial because they believe Batman does more harm than good, a sentiment that is shared by D.A. Janet Van Dorn. In the end however, Van Dorn decides that Gotham does need Batman and the Rogues Gallery is responsible for how their lives turned out.
• Vignette Episode: "Holiday Knights," "Almost Got 'Im," and "Legends of the Dark Knight."
• Villain Has a Point:
  • When threatening to share Harvey Dent's psychiatric file with the press, Thorne sarcastically quips that the people have a right to know who they're electing for office. Not that Thorne really cares, and he deliberately made the situation worse, but this is actually a pretty valid concern: Would you vote for someone if you found out they've been desperately trying to sweep their violent dissociative identity under the rug?
  • Ferris Boyle in "Heart of Ice". His actions clearly become criminal when he assaults Victor despite Fries having already backed down, and his command to pull the plug on Nora is nothing short of heartless, but his complaint is valid. Victor was using equipment that didn't belong to him, and essentially stealing money not just from Boyle, but from the whole company. The project was completely unauthorized, and that's not even going into the ethics and legal ramifications of using a human subject in a secret experiment, even if it really was their only chance at survival.
  • Lyle Bolton is meant to be seen as a hard-headed conservative nutcase with his rant about the inefficient politicians and the "liberal media" being the cause of the superpowered psychos. While "cause" might be a stretch, he's quite right about them being part of the problem. The police routinely fail to combat the maniacs, leaving a vigilante to do 90% of the work, the people running Arkham keep it a barely-functional revolving door, and the politicians for the most part do nothing at all to improve Arkham or Gotham itself. Hell, we even see the news treating Poison Ivy as a media darling instead of a murderous eco-terrorist! If they all did their jobs more efficiently and professionally, maybe there wouldn't be so many costumed freaks terrorizing the city.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • When Charlie, the timid accountant that the Joker has been tormenting for the entire episode, decides to stand up he grabs a bomb out of the Joker's vehicle and threatens to kill him. When he points out that this is how the Joker will die, killed by some schlub instead of some grand battle with Batman, Joker begins to actually scream for Batman to help him.
  • Two-Face, Mary Dahl and Clayface (in his case, also a Superpower Meltdown) all undergo a nasty snap at some point.
  • Riddler has one just because Batman will not tell him how he survived a seemingly perfect deathtrap.
  • Ivy has several in her first appearance. The first is what led to her trying to kill Harvey Dent and the second was when her greenhouse burned down, just driving her deeper into madness.
  • Bane has a terrifying one after Batman breaks the control for his Venom tube, causing him to overdose. This causes his eyes to bulge out of his head, his muscles to swell to absurd proportions, and him to begin screaming in pain.
  Bane: You can't do this to me! I AM INVINCIBLE! I AM BANE!
• Villainous Valor
  • The Penguin tops the list. In the episode "Birds of a Feather" at least, he is a courageous fighter, beating back a gang of bullies who are trying to mug him using only his umbrella. In another episode, when Batman is accusing him of having Two-Face kidnapped, the Penguin declares that he were ever going to mess with another villain, he'd do it the honorable way: Face to face.
  • Ra's al Ghul. Despite being insufferably pompous, self-righteous, megalomaniacal, and a genocidal lunatic, he is a brave man, exposing himself to danger even though most of the time he is a frail old man; he refuses to see himself as a victim, and will not tolerate anyone else thinking that, either. When rejuvenated by a chemical pool called the Lazarus Pit, he becomes strong and athletic and is willing to fight anyone. When he challenges Batman to a sword fight in "The Demon's Quest (Part II)" he demands: "Are you man enough to face your better?" — and is immensely pleased that Batman is just that.
  • Catwoman. She takes pride in hardly ever getting scared — and, being a Combat Pragmatist, can physically get the best of men twice her size when she really wants to.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: In "Trial," the villains of the series come to the realization that Batman did not create them, but they created him. If Batman had never existed they would have lost their sanity and turned to crime anyway, but it was only because of crime that Batman himself was born.
• Villain Team-Up: Happens on quite a few occasions. Notable episodes include "Harley and Ivy," "Almost Got 'Im," "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" and "Trial."
• Visual Gag:
  Pamela Isley: Shouldn't we wait for your friend?
  Harvey Dent: Bruce? Nah. He's always late. Probably got hung up at work.
  -cut to Batman hanging by his grappling hook from a helicopter-
  • The opening to "Almost Got'Im" and throughout the episode are full of them. The establishing shot is an extreme close-up of the villains' hands and includes the Joker pulling an ace from his sleeve (while saying he wants a clean, fair game), and Two-Face pouring Half-and-Half into his coffee.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Kevin Conroy initially had a growl in his Batman voice and spoke with a higher, upbeat tone as Bruce Wayne. Starting from The New Batman Adventures, his Batman voice got higher and lost the growl and he no longer used the higher voice for Bruce Wayne. He mentions in I Know That Voice that he was fairly new to voice acting when first taking on Batman and he chose the growl not knowing how difficult it would be on his vocal chords, so he had to figure out a way to emulate the same effect without injuring himself.
  • Mark Hamill, in his debut episode as the Joker in "Joker's Favor," had a much more noticeable lisp.
  • Loren Lester's voice for Robin also got lower over time. Possibly to show him aging.

W — Z

• Wall Crawl: Catwoman does it by digging in with the claws in her suit.
• Wannabe Line: The Penguin's club, The Iceberg Lounge, has such a line. In "Joker's Millions", Barbara and Dick get in by Barbara mentioning her father as the Penguin is walking by. Bruce Wayne is seen in the Lounge later.
• Wasn't That Fun?: In the episode "The Man Who Killed Batman," while Batman is presumed dead, the Joker holds a "funeral" for him, which ends with Joker tossing the man whom everyone believes killed Batman into the coffin and lowering the coffin into an acid pit while Harley Quinn plays "Amazing Grace" on kazoo. After the coffin disappears into the acid, Joker waits a beat and asks, "Well, that was fun, who's for Chinese?"
• Water Tower Down:
  • "See No Evil": When Batman is fighting an invisible opponent under a water tower, he throws a Batarang into the tower's underside, causing water to leak onto his foe and make him visible. (The man is still taken out by Batman's martial arts.)
  • "Night of the Ninja": The Ninja chops down a water tower with his sword. The water sweeps Robin off the roof.
• Waxing Lyrical: The Phony Psychic Nostromos sees a bad moon rising.
• Welcome Episode: Tim Drake has it in "Sins of the Father." Since it takes place before the third skit in "Holiday Knights."
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • An ex-security guard for Arkham becomes Lock-up. He... well locks up who he thinks is the real source of the problems in Gotham, the lax Police Force (Gordon), the pushover Doctors (Dr. Bartholomew), mindless Bureaucrats (Mayor Hill), and the media (Summer Gleeson) that "glorifies" the Bat-villains. Ironically, he is probably right.
  • After Harvey Dent is transformed into Two-Face he leads an extra-legal war on Rupert Thorne's criminal organization, robbing his operations throughout Gotham, but his ultimate plan is to expose Thorne's activities and get him arrested by the police.
  • The Judge in "Judgement Day," who is determined to punish the criminals and corrupt of Gotham City.
  • Ra's al Ghul is the quintessential example, carried over from the comics where his terrorist activities are motivated by his concern for the environment and the world.
• Wet Cement Gag: In "See No Evil", Batman pursues an invisible thief, who gives away his location by running through wet cement and leaving a trail of footprints.
• Wham Line:
  • From "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy:" "Now, what will you do with the cape and cowl?" "I'm going... to wear them!" Pulled right out of the comic it was based on too.
  • The Batman Cold Open of "Over the Edge" has the police chasing Batman and Jim Gordon shouting: "Bruce Wayne! Stop!"
• "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Every Scarecrow appearance went like this, but it was taken to its peak in "Over The Edge," in which Batgirl hallucinates her own death and her father turning against Batman, whom he blames for it. Add in the much scarier redesign of the Scarecrow for the last season and it is truly horrifying.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In "Trial," Riddler is seem among the villains as a juror in their Kangaroo Court. However, he disappears during the second half of the episode and his chair in the jury is even empty.
  • In "The Terrible Trio",we never find out whether Rebecca's father ever recovered from his coma. As for Rebecca herself, she is never seen again after Batman saves her.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Ruthlessly exploited. On the commentary for "Heart of Steel, Part 2", the producers explained that the censors and Bureau of Standards and Practices would not object when they harmed or destroyed robots, so not only did they use them as foes to be destroyed, but made their destruction as violent as possible. It is discussed in "His Silicon Soul": When a robotic Batman (mistakenly) believes that he has killed the real Batman, he becomes so horrified that he commits suicide. Batman later reflects on this, and wonders if the robot could have had a soul.
  • Similarly, Scarface could be subjected to all sorts of horrific "deaths", after which the character could be brought back by simply having the Ventriloquist show up with a new dummy.
  • As seen in "Critters" and "Never Fear", Batman's Thou Shalt Not Kill policy doesn't necessarily extend to animals.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Parodied with Harley in "Girl's Night Out," it being a running gag that she tries to get things open by using an oversize mallet for it to do practically nothing.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Like any other Batman series, it's not clear where Gotham actually is. "The Mechanic" features a clear shot of a Gotham license plate... with the motto "The Dark Deco State".
  • Averted in "Joker's Favor": A Freeze-Frame Bonus of Charlie Collin's driver license reads: Charlie Collins, Woodrust Drive, Gotham States, N. Y.
  • Clues given by other episodes are all over the place though. For example, in Catwoman's debut episodes, a mountain lion habitat is a plot point, which would place Gotham more toward the south. Another episode has Batgirl fighting a crooked cop on a speedboat passing by what is obviously supposed to be the Statue of Liberty. It doesn't help that Gotham is an Expy of New York City, Chicago, and Detroit.
• White-Dwarf Starlet: Mary "Baby" Dahl. In more ways than one.
• White Gangbangers: Nearly all of the regular criminals and gangsters seen in Gotham are white. Justified by the '50s aesthetics and general Retro Universe nature of the setting, which would be ruined by too prominent representation by ethnic criminals. However, both of the major mob bosses (Arnold Stromwell and Rupert Thorne) have Anglo-Saxon names, which would be a little weird even in a Roaring Twenties/Great Depression-era storyline. Mask of the Phantasm adds mobsters with Italian and Jewish names like Sal Valestra and Chuckie Sol.
• Whole Episode Flashback: To the Wild West starring Jonah Hex.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "Tyger, Tyger," to The Island of Doctor Moreau. Notable for including Selina Kyle as a literal Catwoman.
  • "Blind as A Bat" is effectively a remake of the Darkwing Duck episode "Duck Blind", which was made about a year prior. Both heroes suffer temporary blindness from intense light which they work around by using technology. Penguin even repeats Megavolt's cries of "you're supposed to be helpless! Helpless!" during the final battle.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Freeze is considered immortal, and Grant Walker wishes to obtain this.

  Mr. Freeze: "Old and infirm as you are, I would trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day."

• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Scarecrow is the master of using this trope.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Subverted with Daggett in "Batgirl Returns" who just plans to shoot Batgirl and Catwoman and then throw them into vats of acid.
  •  Played straight when Harley Quinn asks this verbatim in "Mad Love".
• Wicked Toymaker: Combined with Mad Bomber in the episode "Beware The Gray Ghost" in which a toy collector uses remote control toys loaded with bombs to steal money to feed his obsession and buy more toys.
• Wild Card: Catwoman actually fought at Batman's side a little more often than she fought against him.
• The Worf Effect: To show the viewers just how much of a badass he is, Bane fights Killer Croc in the former's debut. Croc ends up in traction afterwards.
• Would Hit a Girl: Many villains have this attitude, most notably The Joker. Batman is smart enough to not recognize genders in a fight. In "Harley and Ivy" he comments:
  Batman: Man or woman, a sick mind is capable of anything.
  Poison Ivy: A very enlightened statement, Batman. We'll carve it on your headstone.
• Wounded Hero, Weaker Helper: The episode "I've Got Batman in my Basement" has Batman convalescing from being exposed to toxic gas in the basement of some kids, and he needs them to pick up some counter-agent capsules from a first-aid kit on the Batmobile (and while he's still recovering, the Penguin and some goons arrive to the house, forcing the kids to improvise some "Home Alone" Antics with the contents of the Bat-Belt).
• Yiddish as a Second Language: The Joker, oddly enough, occasionally peppers his speech with Yiddish. In "The Man Who Killed Batman" he refers to Sidney as "the weaselly little gunsel [Criminal, also catamite]) sitting there in our midst. The cowardly insignificant gonif [crook] who probably got lucky when Batman slipped on the slime trail this loser left behind him." In "Harliquinade," when he is listing off various ways of saying "nothing" when says that he is going to steal a bomb instead of paying for it, he closes with "bupkiss."
• You Answered Your Own Question: Zatanna: "What do you care about some leggy dame in nylons? Or did I just answer my own question?"
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Stated word for word in “Feat of Clay, Part 1”.
• Zeppelins from Another World: As part and parcel of the unique society that the creators developed, the Gotham City Police Department frequently uses blimps to patrol the city and transport personnel. They were included to create an atmosphere evocative of the 1930's, even though the producers admitted that they never really existed at all, not even in the 1930's. An armored example appears in "Showdown." In 1883.