Bruce and Alfred go to a vacation retreat run by Dr. Hugo Strange. A "relaxation" session under Strange's machine draws out Bruce's memories of his parents' murder and his decision to become Batman and strike back at criminals. Realizing the value of his prize, Strange invites the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin to an auction for Batman's secret identity.
While Strange is away, Bruce continues investigating, and discovers the cache of blackmail tapes Strange had recorded with his machine. Judge Vargas's secret turns out to be that, as a little girl, she played with matches and started a major fire on the city docks. Bruce goes under the machine again to make a new recording.
Unfortunately, Strange catches Alfred as he notices the three villains' arrival. Bruce is also captured, but not before he erases the tapes and destroys the machine. However, Strange still has the tape that reveals Bruce's secret. Even so, Bruce confidently assures Alfred that everything is going according to plan as he extracts a hidden lock-pick and starts working on his bonds.
The auction begins, with the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin initially raising each other's bids, but finally deciding to pool their funds and share the secret. The screen comes to life — as Batman covertly rearranges the signal cable. Instead of the recording of Bruce's memories, the villains are treated to the sight of Strange telling his minions about his plan to create a fake recording, in which Batman could be anybody he likes, and sell it to "those fools." Enraged, the trio take down Strange's goons and kidnap him, ignoring his protestations that he was set up. In his desperation, Strange attempts to persuade the three villains to spare him by offering up the information that Bruce Wayne is Batman free of charge, only for them to dismiss his claim as simply too bizarre to be believable.
Joker: And people say I'm crazy!
Batman brings down the villains' plane just before they send Strange skydiving without a parachute, and with the assistance of an arriving police blimp takes them into custody. Strange tells Batman that he still has the hero's secret — until Bruce Wayne walks up, and explains that he was glad to help Batman take down the blackmailer who had targeted his friend Judge Vargas. Baffled, Strange is taken away, and "Bruce" reveals himself to be Dick Grayson in disguise.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Adaptational Dumbass: Hugo Strange has often been depicted to discover Batman's Secret Identity by either ripping off the cowl from his face or narrowing down the person who has the resources, fitness, and motivation to be the Batman. Here, Strange just happens to stumble upon the answer by accident with his mind-reading device. Furthermore, this Strange foolishly tries to auction off this secret to Gotham's biggest supervillains with no safety precautions or backup plans if things go south whereas the comic book Strange ensures a bullet-proof glass between him and his bidders as well as knowing a technique to fake his death in case his bidders want to get the secret for free.
- Adaptational Wimp: As discussed in this review
, the Hugo Strange presented in this episode is a far cry from his comic book counterpart (especially in the comic book story "Strange Apparitions," which this episode was loosely based off of). - Adaptation Distillation: The story is a loose adaptation of the Steve Engelhart stories "The Dead Yet Live!" and "I Am The Batman!" (Detective Comics issues 471 and 472). However, where the TV story has a tighter focus on the auction and the weird science that Strange was performing to harvest the secrets of the rich and powerful for blackmail, the plot of the comics has Strange using his clinic as a front for making humanoid monstrosities out of the clinic's patients, and discovers Batman's identity by drugging him and ripping off his mask. He decides to use the knowledge to his advantage, by masquerading as Batman, gaslighting Bruce Wayne, and inviting Penguin, The Joker, and Rupert Thorne (a mob boss gone "respectable" who is introduced during this arc) to an auction of the identity. Unlike in the animated episode, the auction never truly goes down and there is no pooling of the villain's bids. The initial bids are laid, but then after bidding is halted for the night, Thorne kidnaps Strange, and has him tortured savagely to try to extract the secret from him. In the process, Strange dies, defiantly refusing to reveal Batman's identity to Thorne. It's also later revealed (in "The Laughing Fish", issue 475) that the Joker bid on the secret NOT to have it, but to keep it buried, as it would spoil the fun of the eternal struggle between him and Batman.
- Adapted Out: In "Strange Apparitions," Rupert Thorne was the third criminal who Strange invited to the auction. The episode replaces him with Two-Face.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Where Strange is often depicted as a skilled fighter with a fit, muscular physique, here he's short and fat. Not as short or fat as Penguin, though.
- All According to Plan: When Bruce Wayne is chained and Alfred is tied in Dr. Strange's basement:Alfred: Oh master Bruce! I am so sorry, this is all my fault!
Bruce Wayne: Nonsense, Alfred; believe it or not, this is working out, just as planned.
Alfred: How reassuring! - And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When the deal goes south, Strange begs for his life with Batman's identity (and Harvey unintentionally defends Bruce):Strange: Joker, please! I was set up! Bruce Wayne is Batman!
Two-Face: That's absurd! I know Bruce Wayne. If he's Batman, I'm the king of England! - Auction of Evil: For Batman's secret identity.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Played with as the villains arrive at Strange's retreat:Joker: Ah, sunshine! Clean air! [coughs] Ooh, I hate it!
- Batman Gambit: As suggested under Cassandra Truth below, Batman's plan to safeguard his identity relies in part on the villains disbelieving Strange's claims about Bruce Wayne.
- Call-Back: When Strange tells the villains Bruce Wayne is Batman, Two-Face tells him that he knows Bruce Wayne, referencing Harvey Dent's friendship with Bruce before becoming Two-Face.
- Cassandra Truth: Hugo Strange, who has discovered Batman's identity, tells it to the Joker, the Penguin, and Two-Face. All three of them think the idea of Batman being Bruce Wayne is absurd, especially Two-Face, who was a friend of Bruce before his scarring. (The Joker's reply is, "And people say I'm crazy!")
- Cast as a Mask: When Dick Grayson disguises himself as Bruce, Kevin Conroy provides his voice for the disguise.
- Coming in Hot: The villains' airplane has to crashland after running out of fuel due to Batman's Vehicular Sabotage.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: When the villains are convinced that Strange was scamming them, the Joker threatens to use Strange's head as a bowling ball.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Rather than simply blackmailing the known billionaire and possibly managing to get several hundred million dollars or more in exchange for the tape, Strange instead decides to auction it off to Joker, Two-Face, and Penguin, whose combined assets only total a little over $50 million. Somewhat justified since Bruce would certainly be more apt to just physically threaten him for the tape than the rest of Strange's victims.
- Dark Secret: Strange's blackmail scheme revolves around discovering his victims' darkest secrets.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: At the Auction of Evil, Strange is starting his speech thanking the villains for coming all this way. Two-Face cuts him short and demands Strange come to the point.
- Empathic Environment: It rains in the scene where Bruce remembers his childhood.
- Explosive Instrumentation: When Bruce destroys a panel at Strange's lab with a fire extinguisher, all other pieces of equipment catch fire immediately.
- Funny Answering Machine: The Joker isn't in when Hugo Strange calls, so we get to hear his funny and disturbing answering machine message:Joker's Voice: [laughs] Boy, did you get a wrong number! Leave your message at the sound of the shriek.
Another Voice: No! Please! Don't! [terrified shriek] - The Ghost/Greater-Scope Villain: Roland Daggett is mentioned early on as the owner of Strange's resort, but doesn't actually appear in the episode.
- Hairpin Lockpick: How Bruce manages to get himself and Alfred unchained.
- Hear Me the Money: One of the thugs opens Judge Vargas's valise, picks up only one of the many stacks of bills, and thumbs through it, before announcing that she's $20,000 short. His nickname is "Numbers," to reinforce the idea that he can do the math that easily.
- The Joker does this at the auction, shaking a coin purse and identifying that there's 53¢ inside.note
- Identity Impersonator: Batman appears as Batman; Robin stands in for Bruce Wayne, utilizing stilts and some good old-fashioned Latex Perfection.
- It's Personal: "Bruce Wayne" says he was glad to help Batman take down Hugo Strange as Maria Vargas is a personal friend of his. Even though it's actually Robin masquerading as Bruce, it is true that wanting to know why Vargas was being blackmailed was got Batman interested in investigating Strange.
- Master of Disguise: Batman always has been, and it turns out he's been teaching Dick.
- Mental Picture Projector: Strange's machine.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Judge Vargas, for accidentally causing a major fire as a child. After waking up in the hospital, she confessed to it but everyone tells her it was a long time ago.
- Not Helping Your Case/Poor Communication Kills: Strange keeps protesting that the scene of him planning to scam the bidders was "not the right tape"—a phrasing that implies that it was a genuine tape that was accidentally shown to the bidders.Strange: Joker, I swear—it was the wrong tape!
Joker: You're telling me! - Not the Fall That Kills You…: As Two-Face prepares to push a terrified Hugo Strange out of a flying plane for cheating him and his fellow villains, the Joker sadistically wisecracks:Joker: Remember, it's not the fall, it's the sudden stop!
- As Batman leaps free of the plane, he uses his Grappling-Hook Pistol to swing from high points in the landscape, shedding velocity in stages before landing.
- Plot-Sensitive Latch: The clumsy help drops the heavy Briefcase Full of Money so Alfred can see it bursting open to reveal the bundles of cash inside.
- Quip to Black: After Hugo Strange learns of Wayne's secret identity, he utters the line "And good day to you... Batman." before the scenes goes to black.
- Sabotage to Discredit: Batman discredits Strange in front of the other villains by switching the tape that reveals his secret identity for one he created that shows Strange telling his henchmen about his plan to create a fake tape and auction it off. After that, the villains won't listen to Strange even when he tries to reveal Batman's secret identity free of charge to save his life.
- Secret Chaser: Hugo Strange's plan is to dig up people's dark secrets and blackmail them. He wasn't looking for anything specific, but when he realizes that he has discovered Batman's secret identity, he quickly moves to take advantage of the windfall.
- Severed Head Sports: Invoked after the villains see the (fake) recording of Strange planning to scam them:Joker: I'm gonna use your head for a bowling ball, Strange!
- Shout-Out: When the plane is going down thanks to Batman's sabotage:Joker: Yaaaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hooey!!
- Take My Hand!: How Batman saves Judge Vargas from falling to her death.
- This Cannot Be!: Strange's line "It's impossible!" when he meets Bruce Wayne and Batman side by side.
- Truth Serum: Strange mentions that he had to use sodium pentothal on Alfred to make him tell what Bruce was up to.
- Vehicular Sabotage: Batman messes with the airplane's fuel pipe in order to get the villains to drop their plan of disposing of Strange.
- Villain Team-Up: Strange invites Two-Face, the Penguin, and the Joker to auction for Batman's secret identity. They decide to pool their money so they can all share the knowledge, and when they think Strange has been deceiving them they make short work of his goons and kidnap him.
- Wham Line: For a show where almost no one knows about Bruce Wayne's secret identity (almost to the point of absurd convenience); this is one.Hugo Strange: And good day to you... Batman.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Bruce barely has any time to devise a plan to protect his identity after he uncovers Strange's machine, but quickly comes up with a fairly elaborate one to both expose Strange’s crimes and trick the villains into believing Strange is lying.
