Recap / Batman The Brave And The Bold S 3 E 1 Joker The Vile And The Villainous

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• Actually Pretty Funny: The Weeper over Joker being reduced to Inelegant Blubbering.
• A Day in the Limelight: The episode and the intro make The Joker the main focus of the series for a change.
  • The Weeper himself, who was an extremely minor villain in Fawcett's catalogue, but gets to share the spotlight with the Joker.
• Adaptational Karma: This episode is loosely based on a old 1975 Joker comic titled "The Sad Saga Of Willie The Weeper" (who was not the same character as the Weeper). In that comic The Joker teams up with The Weeper to help him be more confident in his crimes leading to the two robing a Platinum storage. In the end the Joker gets caught and cries about it leading to The Weeper Laughing about it as he sees The Joker getting arrested. While in this episode both The Weeper and The Joker get arrested.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The Joker and Weeper successfully destroy the crime-predicting computer. Batman does capture them almost immediately after, however.
• Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: In the teaser, a silhouette that originally appears to be Batman turns out to be the Joker.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: This episode marks the fourth and final appearance for Kamandi. He later returns in Mitefall however when Ted Kord and B'wana Beast also make appearances in the same episode, though none of them have any dialogue.
• Even Evil Has Standards: What brought the Weeper down. He was poised to completely destroy Fawcett City, but Bulletman saying thousands would die caused him to hesitate long enough to be foiled. The Weeper kicks himself for this hesitation and feels it proves he doesn't have it in him to be a villain.
• Eviler than Thou: The Weeper tries to kill the Joker in order to solidify his title as Gotham's biggest criminal. The last scene reveals that Joker approved of this, as he felt the Weeper taking his rightful place as the top villain would be quite a prank on Gotham.
• Hero Antagonist: While Batman is still the hero, he is not the main character in this episode. This one solely focuses on the Joker as The Protagonist. Given the episode is from Joker's POV, Batman is far more hostile and crueller than usual.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Weeper tries, but the worst he can manage in training is literally Taking Candy From A Baby and his evil plan after leaving jail was to operate an extortionately priced Suck E. Cheese's.
• Jerkass Ball: Batman is meaner than usual, even somewhat cruel. Justified, since the episode is from Joker's point of view, and this is how criminals see Batman.
• Meaningful Name: Weeper's real name is Mortimer Gloom.
• Mythology Gag: Batman describes Gotham's criminals as "cowardly and superstitious" just like he did in his first appearance, Detective Comics #33.
• Personality Swap: Happens with Joker and The Weeper as the two are loaded into the back of the police van, with The Joker being sad and The Weeper being happy (due to the sheer irony of him being sad) before the double doors of the police van close and it takes off for its destination: Arkham Asylum.
• Pyrrhic Victory: In the teaser, thanks to Joker's help The Misfit is able to defeat Kamandi and the rest of his forces . Thus, allowing him to take full control of the nuclear missile which in turn would enable him to take over the world. Too bad Joker, out of twisted curiosity, presses the activation button and destroys the Earth and everyone and everything on it.
• Save the Villain: Batman saves Joker when the Weeper turns on him and tries to kill him. Joker isn't too happy about this - he wanted Weeper to kill him and become the new kingpin of crime.
• Sticky Shoes: Joker scales a building with a pair of plungers, in parody of Batman's grappling-hook climb.
• Unreliable Narrator: Batman's portrayed as unusually cruel and authoritarian in this episode, but that's probably due to the protagonists of the episode being a pair of villains.
• Villain Decay: Joker says Weeper used to be a legendary figure in the criminal underworld and even inspired so many current figures, especially himself. However, he was defeated by Bulletman right before he could destroy Fawcett City and then spent 30 years in prison, which completely destroyed his self-confidence. Joker spends the episode trying to snap him out of this.
• Villain Has a Point: While Joker and Weeper only want to destroy the crime predicting computer because it will make crime more difficult for them, the computer itself does violate other people's privacy. In fact, after giving up and deciding he wasn't meant to be a villain in the first place, The Weeper changes his mind and goes back to help Joker after witnessing a young boy trying to shoplift a single stick of gum before seeing the computer and deciding to put it back.
• Villain Protagonist: This episode stars the Joker in the leading role, with him even taking over the opening credits.
• Villain Team-Up: "The Mountebank of Mirth teams up with the Duke of Downers! Gotham won't know what hit it!"
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Joker keeps insisting to Weeper that he has it in him to be Gotham's greatest criminal.
• You Fool!: Joker when denouncing Batman for saving his life.

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