History WesternAnimation / BatmanReturnOfTheCapedCrusaders

* AdaptationNameChange: In a retroactive sense, this animated film gives Chief O'Hara's forename as Miles, when the mainline comic's interpretations of the character established his given name as Clancy.

* WhipItGood: Catwoman, natch.

* ConveyorBeltODoom: Batman and Robin are strapped to a giant meal tray by the villainous foursome. The Joker then activates the conveyor belt the tray is on and it starts heading towards a giant oven (with "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Giant Oven]]" written on it). It doesn't prevent Robin from indulging in [[{{Pun}} punny]] CasualDangerDialog on their seemingly hopeless situation, just as he did in the original live-action series.

* ToTheBatnoun:
** "To the Batmobile!"
** "To the crosswalk!"
** [[spoiler:"To the Catmobile!"]]

* ActorAllusion: When under the influence of Catwoman's Batnip, [[Creator/AdamWest Batman]] [[spoiler:clones himself and replaces all of Gotham's authority figures with his clones. One of the clones becomes [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy the Mayor]].]]

* LastSecondChance[=/=]WeCanRuleTogether: Batman keeps trying to convince Catwoman to give up crime and turn herself in; Catwoman is just as persistent at trying to convince Batman to give up crimefighting and become her partner.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Played painfully straight as Catwoman gets blown out an airlock with zero ill effects. (That said, in the original series Catwoman had an almost supernatural ability to avoid death, [[spoiler:which is likely revisited at the end of this film, and confirmed in the sequel which has her alive and well.]])

** [[spoiler:''Batman even has a backup plan for when he turns evil!'' Batman and Alfred have an agreement — given their long history together, the only logical reason that Batman would ever fire Alfred is if he weren't acting of his own free will. Therefore Alfred would have standing orders to gather ingredients to a mind-control antidote.]]

* {{Interquel}}: While the original show never had much in the way of continuity, seeing as how the live action film was set between seasons 1 & 2, this could be set either some time in season 2, or, more likely, between seasons 2 & 3 of the show given the absence of Batgirl.

* MistakenForGay: Aunt Harriet gets nosier than usual about Bruce and Dick's "relationship" here. No-one ever voices the implications out loud, but given that one of these scenes concludes with Alfred going off to polish doorknobs, it's safe to say the creators knew exactly what they were doing.

** Also like in ''Batman: The Movie'', Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and Catwoman team-up for a larger plan. And Batman with a large bomb in the credits.
** Catwoman suggests that her and Batman could move to Europe, sit in a cafe, and drink tea together, describing the end of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.

** [[spoiler:This becomes a plot point to resolve the Evil Batman story arc, as Batman and Alfred have an agreement -- given their long history together, the only logical reason that Batman would ever fire Alfred is if he weren't acting of his own free will. Therefore, Alfred would have standing orders to gather ingredients to a mind-control antidote.]]

* SmokestackDrop: In the film's climax, [[NeverGoingBackToPrison Catwoman is faced with the possibility of being sent back to prison]]. Instead she opts to leap off a blimp and into a a factory smokestack.

* UnplannedCrossdressing: After the Riddler is thrown from the top of the Penguin's blimp, he falls into a frilly pink dress hanging on a clothes line.

* BroadStrokes: Not story-wise (since the original show never had much in the way of continuity), but definitely in how much the animated characters resemble their live-action predecessors. Batman and Robin are fairly dead ringers for how West and Ward looked back in the 1960s, but more minor characters like Commissioner Gordon take almost entirely after the comics versions. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And Batgirl is nowhere to be seen.]][[note]]This last one though may have been out of respect -- Yvonne Craig had died in August, 2015, and it's possible that the producers felt it would have been insulting to her memory to have her PutOnABus or to have recast her part so relatively soon after her death. And having Batgirl die would have completely broken the spirit of the '60s show they were trying to evoke.[[/note]]

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Subverted. The Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin's plan is [[spoiler:(seemingly)]] foiled halfway into the movie. The rest of the run time is about [[spoiler:Evil Batman... until it turns out ''he'' was just a distraction for the first three to go knock over a bunch of museums.]]

** The entire film is one to the current state of the Batman franchise in general, especially to the overly violent and incredibly dark takes seen in some of the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke more recent]] [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice adaptations]] of the character, arguing that wonder and excitement are being lost in favor of out-of-place moodiness and extreme violence. This is illustrated vividly when [[spoiler:Evil Batman delivers a vicious beatdown to Penguin, Riddler and Joker after considering killing them. And pulled a StealthHiBye on Gordon... which is rather ''disturbing'' to see the Adam West version do this.]]

''Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders'' is a 2016 DirectToVideo animated movie which is part of the WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies. A [[MilestoneCelebration 50th anniversary]] tribute to the [[TheSixties 1960s]] ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'' series, it sees three of the show's original actors reprising their roles: Creator/AdamWest as [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Caped Crusader]], Creator/BurtWard as [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} the Boy Wonder]] and Creator/JulieNewmar as ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}.

It's back to the 1960s as Batman and Robin spring into action when Gotham City is threatened by a quartet of Batman's most fiendish foes -- Penguin, The Joker, Riddler and Catwoman. The four supervillains have combined their wicked talents to hatch a plot so nefarious that the Dynamic Duo will need to go to outer space (and back) to foil their arch enemies and restore order in Gotham City.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6a8bOahFQ The trailer can be seen here]]. The movie was released on Digital HD on 11 October 2016, and on Blu-ray and DVD on 1 November 2016.

* ActorAllusion: When under the influence of Catwoman's Batnip, [[Creator/AdamWest Batman]] [[spoiler: clones himself and replaces all of Gotham's authority figures with his clones. One of the clones becomes [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy the Mayor]]]].

* BackportedDevelopment: Alfred being depicted as someone who's worked for the Waynes since Bruce's childhood and who therefore has a very close bond with him. This was an idea that was only introduced in the comics as late as Frank Miller's ''Year One'' story-arc published a good ''twenty years'' after the series originally aired, and was thus never a part of the original series or even the comics of the time.[[note]]Of course, the New Earth continuity for Alfred has been canon and the dominant depiction across all media for over three decades by this point, so many fans would complain if he ''wasn't'' depicted as being someone who was "always there"....[[/note]]

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Played painfully straight as Catwoman gets blown out an airlock with zero ill effects. (That said, in the original series Catwoman had an almost supernatural ability to avoid death, [[spoiler: which is likely revisited at the end of this film, and confirmed in the sequel which has her alive and well]].)
* BigBadDuumvirate: The Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman team up, just like they did in the [[Film/BatmanTheMovie film of the series]].

* ContinuityCavalcade: The army that [[spoiler: Robin and Catwoman assemble to fight Evil Batman]] consists of ''fourteen'' second-string villains from the original show, from almost-A-listers like Egghead and King Tut to one-shots like Archer and Minstrel.

* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] knew Robin and Catwoman would be trying to trick him into taking [[spoiler: the Bat-Antidote]]. So what does he do? Well, create an [[spoiler: Bat-Anti-Antidote]] of course!
** [[spoiler: Robin knew that Evil Batman might capture him and Catwoman and most likely use the radiation from the rocket silo (Evil Batman raised its edges so they couldn't swing out of it) to kill them, so he sprayed himself and Catwoman with the Bat-Isotope.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Batman even has a backup plan for when he turns evil!'' Batman and Alfred have an agreement — given their long history together, the only logical reason that Batman would ever fire Alfred is if he weren't acting of his own free will. Therefore Alfred would have standing orders to gather ingredients to a mind-control antidote.]]
* DayOfTheJackboot: [[spoiler: Evil Batman inflicts this on Gotham, installing his clones into every single government job, and several ''non''-government ones.]]
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: [[spoiler: When Penguin complains that the SadClown painting Joker stole wasn't that valuable, Joker responds that it'll be worth a lot more when he bumps off the artist who made it.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Subverted. The Joker, the Riddler and the Penguin's plan is [[spoiler: (seemingly)]] foiled halfway into the movie. The rest of the run time is about [[spoiler: Evil Batman... until it turns out ''he'' was just a distraction for the first three to go knock over a bunch of museums]].

* EnemyMine: Robin teams up with Catwoman to [[spoiler: return Evil Batman to normal]]. Catwoman helps the heroes to get revenge on her former partners in crime after they betray her and at one point [[spoiler: directly saves Robin's life]].

* HandbagOfHurt: [[spoiler: Black Widow does this to one of the evil Batman clones. It doesn't really work, and she gets KO-sprayed for her troubles.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] has a point when he upbraids the Commissioner and Chief O'Hara for being pretty much useless, especially after we see they can't even catch shoplifters without help. In reality, both would likely be out of a job.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: To a variety of degrees with the escapees from Gotham State Penitentiary. It's fairly obvious whose likenesses they were able to get permission/licensing for (Victor Buono,[[note]]King Tut[[/note]] Otto Preminger,[[note]]Mr. Freeze[[/note]] Vincent Price[[note]]Egghead[[/note]]) and whose they either couldn't or didn't care enough to get right. (Milton Berle,[[note]]Louie the Lilac[[/note]] Van Johnson,[[note]]The Minstrel[[/note]] Art Carney.[[note]]The Archer[[/note]]) The main four villains vary as well -- Catwoman is the most faithful as she's being played by her original actress, Joker and Penguin are reasonable likenesses of Cesar Romero[[note]]although without his distinctive moustache -- Romero, a proud Puerto Rican, refused to shave his 'stache for the part and the producers [[SureLetsGoWithThat went along and put the pancake makeup over it]][[/note]] and Burgess Meredith, while Riddler looks only barely like Frank Gorshin. At one point, Batman has a hallucination in which he sees the two other versions of Catwoman from the series and the 1966 movie; while the Eartha Kitt version is a dead ringer for the original, the Lee Meriwether version from the movie is less so.

* MesACrowd: The function of Professor Nichols' duplication ray (which the villains promptly steal). After getting his hands on it, [[spoiler: Evil Batman uses it to turn himself into an army that overruns Gotham]].

** [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] quotes ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' at one point. And before that, he quotes the "You wanna get nuts?!" rant from Creator/MichaelKeaton's first ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' movie.

** The host of ''Gotham Palace'' is a woman named Miranda Monroe, a reference to "Miranda," the Batman novelty song Adam West sang in the 60s.

** Both Catwoman and [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] suggest killing Robin, referencing a scene in ''Film/BatmanTheMovie''.
** Also like in ''Batman: The Movie'', Joker, Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman team-up for a larger plan. And Batman with a large bomb in the credits.

** [[spoiler: As Batman becomes evil, Robin looks on his partner's deteriorating behavior with more and more alarm, especially during the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of Penguin, Riddler and Joker.]]
** [[spoiler: This becomes a plot point to resolve the Evil Batman story arc, as Batman and Alfred have an agreement -- given their long history together, the only logical reason that Batman would ever fire Alfred is if he weren't acting of his own free will. Therefore, Alfred would have standing orders to gather ingredients to a mind-control antidote.]]
* PaintingTheMedium: As [[spoiler: Catwoman's poison starts taking effect]], Batman's HitFlash onomatopoeia becomes more and more brutal. The [[IdiosyncraticWipes Bat-scene transition]] starts changing too, becoming an upside down bat when [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] is on screen and a cat and an "R" for scenes where [[EnemyMine Robin teams up with Catwoman]].

* {{Retraux}}: And how. Complete with a 60s-style poster.
* SelfDeprecation: Quite a bit of the film's humour is this, mainly aimed at how the franchise has changed since the 60s.

** The first two sound effects of the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown are [[Creator/RipTorn "RIP!" and "TORN!"]]
** Upon seeing the Catmobile, Robin says "[[MadLibsCatchphrase Holy]] Film/FasterPussycatKillKill!"

* StealthHiBye: Unlike Batman in almost every other incarnation, [[AvertedTrope he doesn't really do this.]] This is due to Batman actually being pretty happy in this continuity. [[spoiler:He does this on Gordon, Robin, and O'Hara [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness when the evil serum starts to take effect]]]]

** To ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' when Catwoman offers to turn herself in if Batman will run away with her to Europe where they can sip tea in a cafe and live happily ever after, only for Robin to retort "Holy unsatisfying ending!"
** The entire film is one to the current state of the Batman franchise in general, especially to the overly violent and incredibly dark takes seen in some of the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke more recent]] [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice adaptations]] of the character, arguing that wonder and excitement are being lost in favor of out-of-place moodiness and extreme violence. This is illustrated vividly when [[spoiler: Evil Batman delivers a vicious beatdown to Penguin, Riddler and Joker after considering killing them. And pulled a StealthHiBye on Gordon... which is rather ''disturbing'' to see the Adam West version do this]].

* VillainHasAPoint: Considering just how ineffective Gotham's police department is shown to be [[spoiler: Evil Batman's]] decision for taking charge of it actually makes some sense. [[MoralEventHorizon On the other hand his following decision to take over the world might not.]]
* VocalEvolution: Given it was decades since he originally played the role and was 88 years old and fighting leukemia at the time he recorded his lines, Adam West's Batman sounds much more low and worn sounding than in the original show. Curiously, this is ''averted'' with Burt Ward, who was in his early 70's while recording his lines, but his voice was almost identical to how he sounded in the original show, when he was in his mid-20's! The same, however, cannot be said of Julie Newmar, who was in her 80s like West and sounded her age. It's very distracting seeing as Catwoman is supposed to be somewhere in her 20s or 30s as she was in the show.

* ArtStyleDissonance: The art direction and animation style of the film is similar to that of the recent DC films and shows. The campy content, on the other hand, is as far as you can get from its direct predecessor in the DC Animated Movies, ''WesternAnimation/TheKillingJoke''.

* ContinuityNod: Dick Grayson claims that their greatest foes have RE-united. Nodding to the first time they united in [[{{Film/BatmanTheMovie}}the First Adam West Batman Movie]]

** In addition to the usual giant T-rex in the Batcave, earlier versions of the Batsuit from TheGoldenAge comics appear in trophy cases.

** [[spoiler: This becomes a plot point to resolve the Evil Batman story arc, as Batman and Alfred have an agreement -- given their long history together, the only logical reason that Batman would ever fire Alfred is if he weren't acting of his own free will. Therefore Alfred would have standing orders to gather ingredients to a mind-control antidote.]]
* PaintingTheMedium: As [[spoiler: Catwoman's poison starts taking effect]], Batman's HitFlash onomatopoeia becomes more and more brutal. The [[IdiosyncraticWipes Bat scene transition]] starts changing too, becoming an upside down bat when [[spoiler: Evil Batman]] is on screen and a cat and an "R" for scenes where [[EnemyMine Robin teams up with Catwoman]].

** To the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' film with Batman's saying of, "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!"

** A non-Batman shout-out; upon seeing the Catmobile, Robin says "[[MadLibsCatchphrase Holy]] Film/FasterPussycatKillKill!"
** A brief on-screen tribute is made to the other two actresses who played Catwoman in the 1960s.