Batman The Animated Series / Tropes A to D

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A-D | E-M | N-Z

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A

• Action Girl:
  • Catwoman appears frequently, sometimes assisting Batman, sometimes working against him.
  • Barbara Gordon initially appears only as Commissioner Gordon's daughter, but over the series she transforms into Batgirl and becomes an official member of the Bat-family.
  • The series also introduces the new character, Harley Quinn as well.
• Action Series: The show centers on Batman duking it out with Gotham's criminal underworld.
• Actor Allusion:
  • In The New Batman Adventures episode "Mad Love", The Joker, voiced by Mark Hamill, quips "May the floss be with you!" Hamill also happens to be married to a dental hygienist, saying he's heard that joke a number of times.
  • The Penguin is voiced by Paul Williams, who also notably played a cruel, cunning, narcissistic gentleman and criminal mastermind obsessed with birds in the film Phantom of the Paradise by Brian De Palma.
  • Grant Walker, a character played by Daniel O'Herlihy, has decided that things are too rough and wants to implement a new city to replace an old society, but is willing to destroy the old one first? Walker's a bit more extreme, but we've seen this before.
  • This was the second time the late Roddy McDowell played a Batman villain with an obsession over classical literature, except whereas the Bookworm was more of a jack of all trades with his literary references, the Mad Hatter specifically focuses on the works of Lewis Carroll.
  • In a "What Could Have Been" example, had Tim Curry been cast as the Joker as the production team had originally planned this would have been the result, as Curry had only a few years previous famously played another famous Monster Clown.
• Adam Westing: The star of the '60s series and Trope Namer, Adam West, appears as a washed-up actor who played "The Gray Ghost," a fictional superhero whom Bruce Wayne idolized as a child. The dramatic variant of the usual Adam-West-as-himself gag works, and this rendition is a more sincere experience for West and fans. ("So it wasn't all for nothing.") Also doubles as Remake Cameo and Actor Allusion.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • The episodic nature replicated the feel of the comics, and the various characters were streamlined into their most efficient archetype.
  • Some episodes that were based on stories from Batman comic books went through this as well. "The Laughing Fish" was a streamlined version of a classic story by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, but the ending (pitting Batman against a shark) was taken from Denny O'Neil's classic "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge".
    • Harley Quinn also had to be shoehorned into the plot since she didn't exist yet when the comic had been written.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • For whatever reason, Blackgate becomes Stonegate.
  • Killer Croc's last name is "Morgan" not Jones.
  • Anthony Romulus's last name in the comics was "Lupis".
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Bane debuts while Dick Grayson is still Robin and after Barbara Gordon recently became Batgirl, instead of shortly after Tim Drake had taken on the Robin mantle.
  • For a example of a costume doing this Tim Drake's classic Robin suit was given to Dick Grayson when he was still Robin for Adaptational Modesty purposes.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In the comics, Hamilton Hill was a Corrupt Politician who was in the pocket of Rupert Thorne. While initially against Batman here, this version of Hill is a good and honest person.
  • The same goes for Harvey Bullock, who initially started a Dirty Cop and a pawn of Hill before making a Heel–Face Turn, is an honest cop from day one here. However, as with even post-Heel–Face Turn comics, Bullock is still prone to roughing up suspects. Bullock in this series is also usually antagonistic towards Batman for professional reasons, not because he's corrupt.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Several villains whose comics incarnations were essentially doing things For the Evulz gained sympathetic motives or personalities. The Mad Hatter originally had no backstory in the comics, but was introduced in the series as a victim of Love Makes You Evil; minor gimmick crook Mister Freeze's reimagining as an Anti-Villain was so successful it was later imported into the comics, albeit with Darker and Edgier elements.
  • The Crime Doctor was introduced in Detective Comics #77 as an outright villainous character. The Batman: TAS episode of the same name turns the character into a sympathetic figure through portraying him as a good-intentioned doctor who helped his brother (crime boss Rupert Thorne) in the hopes that the latter would use his influence to restore his medical license.
• Adapted Out:
  • Crime bosses Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni are nowhere to be seen, with Falcone's role as Gotham City's most powerful crime boss and Maroni's role in Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face going to Rupert Thorne.^note Unsurprising, as the show's creative team grew up on comics from the '70s/early '80s, where Thorne was Gotham's prime mover-and-shaker. Bruce Timm, for one, has openly admitted he never read Batman: Year One (published in 1987) until he began working on the animated adaptation in 2010.
  • Jason Todd, the second Robin, was completely skipped over. Though some argue that their version of Tim Drake is more a Composite Character of Tim and Jason, both in origin and personality.
• Adaptational Sympathy: Victor Fries is revised from a standard ice theme criminal into a scientist who is trying to cure his terminally ill wife. His transformation into Mr. Freeze was caused by a corrupted business man and any crime he commits is only done to fund his research for a cure for his wife.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: The Penguin uses this a lot. Also, in "Lock-Up", a reporter refers to Poison Ivy as a "villainous vixen of vines".
• Adventure Rebuff: Batgirl was rebuffed by Batman and Robin a couple times, but she eventually became Batman's partner and stayed even after Robin had left. In Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne refuses to help Terry at first. Once Terry steals the batsuit, Bruce shuts it down remotely, but eventually decides to let him become the next Batman.
  • It's very common for Batman to initially rebuff Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, meaning she has to fight tooth and nail for his respect, at least initially. He might show a similar sentiment to his various Robins as well.
    Barbara: I hear you wrangled yourself a new errand boy.
    Bruce: I never wrangled anyone. You all came to me.
    Barbara: Maybe for once you should try to talk someone out of it.
    Bruce: Would it have worked for you?
    (Barbara smiles)
• Affably Evil:
  • Catwoman when she's a villain. She seems to have a soft spot for both Batman and Batgirl.
  • Harley Quinn most of the time (unless she's really pissed off). Thing is, she's not actually a bad person, but she won't come to understand that she's dating a psychopath.
  • Minor villain Roxy Rocket also gets this to a certain extent.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The computer system H.A.R.D.A.C. attempted to replace all of humanity's leaders with androids, with Gotham as the pilot project.
• All According to Plan: "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", when Bruce Wayne is chained and Alfred is tied in Doctor 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!
• All Just a Dream: "Over the Edge" ends with the revelation that the episode's events were actually a hallucination Barbara Gordon experienced from the Scarecrow's fear toxin while recovering from injuries she sustained during the fight that appeared to kill her.
• Aloof Ally: Nightwing, at first in "You Scratch My Back", is still a crimefighter but distances himself from the Bat-family due to his falling out with Bruce.
• All Take and No Give: Exaggerated with The Joker and Harley Quinn. She has an almost doglike unconditional love and loyalty towards him, and he treats her like shit and doesn't really love her or give a damn.
• All-Loving Hero: Batman himself, unlike his usual characterization. He almost always tries to Save the Villain at the end, even horrible people like The Joker or The Sewer King.
• Alternative Character Interpretation (In-Universe): In "Legends of the Dark Knight", several children discuss what they believe Batman to really be like. The first alluded to story portrays Batman as a giant pterodactyl, the second is a brightly lit homage to the Batman TV series and The Silver Age of Comic Books, the third (never seen) version is a contempt-filled reference to Batman & Robin, and the fourth is an adaptation of a section from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, with Michael Ironside as the man himself.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The show has a very upbeat theme in Italy. Same with the Arabic theme.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear whether Arnold Wesker has multiple personalities and Scarface is one of them, if Scarface really is alive, or if Wesker is just faking being insane so people will sympathize with him, although the first seems the most likely. "Double Talk" confirms that Wesker definitely isn't faking and provides significant evidence that Scarface is a Split Personality, though there are still hints he could be alive on his own.
• Ambiguous Time Period: Intentionally enforced by the creators. Not a single date is given while all the anachronism makes the date impossible to pinpoint. Or at least that's how it was intended. The episode "Beware the Gray Ghost" has a magazine cover with the year 1992 on it, and the episode "Paging the Crime Doctor" implies that 1907 was only forty years ago.
• Amnesiac Liar: "The Forgotten" has Bruce Wayne/Batman posing as a drifter to investigate a human trafficking ring. However, he ends up beaten by the criminals, and for a while believes himself to be nothing more than his cover identity suggests.
• Anachronic Order: You can't really win here.
  • There are arguments over whether the production order or broadcast order is better.
  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was released during the first season of The New Batman Adventures but takes place before the Time Skip between the two versions of the show.
  • Clayface and Tim Drake appear in The New Batman Adventures series premiere "Holiday Knights" despite Tim Drake's origin episode being "Sins of the Father" and Clayface not reconstituting until "Growing Pains".
• Anachronism Stew: Intentionally invoked by the creators to make when the series takes place ambiguous. For instance, the clothing and cars are from the 1940s. The weapons are 1930-70-ish. The uniforms are from the 1960s. TVs are in black and white. SWAT teams and Liebherr-style cranes exist already. The helicopters are from the 1980s. Computers and video games exist. The social status of women and minorities is modern. The list goes on, too... This became a Downplayed Trope in The New Batman Adventures, however to match up with the more modern styles of the rest of the DCAU.
• And I Must Scream: Grant Walker pays a heavy price for seeking immortality in "Deep Freeze". Living forever isn't much fun when you're going to spend eternity trapped inside ice.
• Animation Bump: The episodes that are done by TMS Entertainment and Spectrum Animation. Special mentions have go to "On Leather Wings", "Heart of Ice", "Robin's Reckoning: Part 1" and "Feat of Clay: Part 2", just for impressing the production staff. Episodes done by Junio and Sunrise have this as well, depending on what team is animating.
• Animesque: Several episodes seem to adopt this look (as part of the series was outsourced to four Japanese studios), particularly "Feat of Clay: Part 2" and "Pretty Poison". "Growing Pains" of The New Batman Adventures also has this look, due in part of it being animated by some Studio Ghibli alumni.
• The Anticipator: Batman does this quite a few times: in one episode, two mooks are sent to look for Batman in a house. Batman is waiting for the two mooks to enter the bedroom he is hiding in. When one of them looks inside, Batman gives him a daring look. The other mook asks if anyone is inside the room. The mook says there's no one there.
• Anti-Climactic Unmasking:
  • When Batman rips the mask off Bane, one might expect... something... but no. What is under the mask is simply a youngish, vaguely handsome man.
  • Played for Drama when it comes to Calendar Girl. As Batman moves to unmask her, she panics, screaming and sobbing about how no-one can be allowed to see how hideous she is. This sets up the expectation that maybe she has some form of horrific scar from botched plastic surgery after she was forced away from modelling... but, when the mask is removed, Calendar Girl looks exactly like an attractive woman in her late thirties.
• Anti-Villain:
  • Mr. Freeze. His re-imagining from a one-note gimmick villain was so acclaimed that his new, tragic backstory was incorporated into the DCU canon — as well as a live-action film, and the video game.
  • Catwoman, who seeks to protect endangered wildlife and really only wants her freedom. The first season showed her genuinely reforming, but by the second season she had fallen back into more criminal habits.
  • Poison Ivy, by the end of the original series. Even Batman recognizes that all she wants is a quiet and peaceful life—the problems only arise because she wants them on her terms.
  • Clayface, at least in his first few appearances. Most of his crimes revolve around him regaining his humanity and living a normal life.
  • Whereas in the comics the Crime Doctor treated criminals all on his own, in the cartoon he's forced to do it against his will by brother Rupert Thorne.
• Anything but That!: As "Joker's Millions" shows, Joker does pick his targets: "I'm crazy enough to take on Batman, but the IRS? No, thank you!"
• Apathetic Clerk: After being being exposed to Joker's laughing gas and thrown into a vat of chemicals, news anchor Jack Ryder is transformed into The Creeper. One of his first acts is to go to a clothing store in order to make his superhero costume. He manages to scare everyone out of the store, except for a store clerk who watches him as he finds his costume and asks how he'll pay in a monotone voice. Despite her total screen time being less than a minute, fans have named her Thrifty. Given she works in Gotham City, she probably has a high tolerance for weirdness.
• Arrow Catch: Not an arrow per se, but during "The Last Laugh", Batman catches one of Joker's razor playing cards out of the air, and it's impressive enough to give Joker an Oh, Crap! moment.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In "Girls' Night Out", The Penguin demands that someone get him chainsaws, dump trucks, hedgeclippers... and a bottle of aspirin.
• Art Evolution: The "revamp" to The New Batman Adventures saw more streamlined character designs, some of which were functionally identical beyond minor costume and body proportion changes (Two-Face, Penguin, Clayface, Harley Quinn) while others felt more of a ground-up reimagining (Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow). The environmental design also became a bit more modern, losing much of the art deco inspiration while the Gotham skyline took on a red tint. The retool also happened shortly after the team created Superman: The Animated Series and better allowed the inevitable crossovers.
• Art Shift: "Legends of the Dark Knight" features two stories told by children about what they believe Batman is really like. Each story has its own visual style which corresponds to different past incarnations of the Batman character.
• Artificial Intelligence: The "Heart of Steel" and "His Silicon Soul" arc deals with intelligent computers, and also ponders questions of morality and life for mechanical beings.
• Artistic License: The world of Batman is, as admitted by the creators, illogical and contradictory; technology from different eras (And many technologies that never existed at all) exist side-by-side and without comment. The creators admit in DVD commentaries and interviews that the contradictions were deliberate in order to create a specific and unique atmosphere for the series, even if practical considerations would normally make them ridiculous (Police blimps were specifically mentioned in the audio commentary for "On Leather Wings," the first episode of the series).
• Ascended Extra:
  • Batgirl was a minor supporting character in the initial seasons, only appearing as Batgirl in three episodes, but becomes part of the primary cast after the revamp with her, Batman and Robin in most episodes.
  • To a lesser extent, Dick Grayson as Robin. He was already a recurring character, but he started appearing in every episode in The Adventures of Batman & Robin era. In The New Batman Adventures era he was Demoted to Extra with a handful of appearances as Nightwing.
  • Harley Quinn originated as one of Joker's colorful henchmen, but there was something magical about her appearance and personality that slowly developed their Love Makes You Crazy relationship. Harley eventually became a Canon Immigrant, headlining separate comic runs, TV shows and movies.
• Ascended Fanboy: Batman himself in "Beware the Gray Ghost" - he even keeps Grey Ghost merchandise in the Batcave and explains that he actually based its design on the Grey Ghost's lair.
• Ascended Meme: The Joker sings the "Jingle Bells/Batman smells" song in "Christmas with the Joker".
• A-Team Firing: Though guns are frequently used by standard mobsters and criminals, they rarely (if ever) even wound characters. The strongest aversion comes when Jim Gordon is shot and spends the episode in critical condition.
• Auction of Evil: Twice. In "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" (for Batman's secret identity) and "Harlequinade" (for an atomic bomb).
• Author Appeal: The Harley/Ivy Les Yay. Even Wikipedia notes it. The Powers That Be also claim Paul Dini had a crush on Zatanna. Since he actually married a real life magician, Misty Lee (who bears a striking resemblance to Zatanna), this only furthers the evidence.
• Awesomeness by Analysis:
  • In "Feat of Clay: Part 1" Batman identifies a crook based solely on how the guy's face felt like when Bats was punching him.
  • The Clock King (who's a middle-aged civil servant) is able to go hand to hand with Batman simply from having studied Batman's tendencies in a fight.

B

• Badass Back: Batman will typically knock out those trying to sneak up on him with little effort. Unfortunately, Batman cannot sneak attack The Creeper from "Beware the Creeper" without getting knocked across the room... while The Creeper is trying to flirt with Harley Quinn.
• Badass Normal: A random factory worker in "See No Evil" sneaks up on Bats and almost flattens him under a shelving unit.
  • Charlie in "Joker's Favor" manages to scare the Joker senseless by the end of the episode.
  • Sid the Squid in "The Man Who Killed Batman" appears to be one, since he appears to have killed Batman.
• Bad Future: In "Over the Edge" we see just how far Commissioner Gordon would go for revenge if Barbara was ever killed in the line of Bat-duty. It's not pretty. Then again, it's a Scarecrow fear-induced hallucination, so it might be more of her fear of her father going after Batman, rather than how he actually would react in that situation.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Stacked Deck Club, which Batgirl describes as the roughest place in town. "Almost Got 'Im" takes place almost entirely there, except for the flashbacks and conclusion.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Batman and Robin stopped the Riddler from killing Daniel Mockridge, but the Riddler still escaped at the end and for all intents and purposes still won when he destroyed Mockridge's peace of mind and made him live in paranoid fear of the Riddler's return. Fortunately, Mockridge is a bit of a jerk.
  Bruce: How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now there's a riddle for you.
• Bandaged Face: Harvey Dent's is probably the best known, but Calendar Girl, the villain of "Mean Seasons", had one as well.
• Batman in My Basement: Trope Namer and one of the episodes the writers would deeply love to forget.
• Batman Gambit: From the Trope Namer himself in "Lock-Up". When a trial for allegations of abuse to the inmates of Arkham Asylum by new head of security Lyle Bolton, none of the inmates brought in (Harley, Scarecrow, and The Ventriloquist/Scarface) seem to want to testify. Batman, who's attending as Bruce Wayne due to him appointing Bolton to the job in the first place, says that they should keep Bolton in charge for another year and a half. This leads to all of the inmates present to plead for him not to and exposes Bolton's crimes. Also in "Mad Love" Batman counts on the Jokers "The Only One Allowed to Defeat You" mentality to save him from a death trap created by Harley Quinn.
  • Not just limited to Batman himself either. In the episode "Joker's Favor" Charlie, who had been blackmailed by the Joker, used the villains own methods and mindset against him, faking a psychotic break and threatening to take them both out with a (fake) bomb therby robbing the Joker of his final "blaze of glory" moment with Batman. Batman even gives an approving chuckle after the plan works.
• Bat Signal: The classic signal features in the series, where it is used both to summon Batman and, on two occasions, lay a trap for him when the police suspect him in a crime.
• Battle Butler: Alfred is a former British secret agent and gets a few opportunities to utilize those skills in Batman's service, while Harley Quinn shows her fanatical devotion to the Joker on a regular basis.
• Battle in the Rain: Batman and Clayface have a fight in the rain at the end of "Mudslide". While this is often done just because it looks cool, here it is plot relevant: Clayface absorbs the rain, and actually starts to dissolve.
• Bedlam House: Arkham Asylum is less a case of Bedlam House than in the source comic. The architecture is still oppressive, and the better-known inmates seem to enjoy making life hell for each other, but it is shown to have some good doctors, who have some sadly temporary success with Harvey Dent, Harley Quinn, and Edward Nygma. Harley herself was also a therapist at Arkham that fell in love with the Joker. It shows the place isn't that great for its staff either. The episode Lock-Up, however, features Arkham guard Lyle Bolton, who gets fired after it's revealed he's on a serious power trip that has made him violently abusive to inmates including Harley and Jonathan Crane.
• Berserk Button:
  • By the time of "Riddler's Reform", being called crazy is this for The Riddler.
  Thug: Gee, boss, you're scaring me. You're talking kinda crazy.
  Riddler: DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT!
  • Joker goes nuts when he's the butt of jokes or is pranked by someone else. In a posthumous Spiteful Will, rival boss King Barlowe got the last laugh when he told that the Unexpected Inheritance was fake and knew that Joker would binge-spend before the IRS came for the taxes. Realizing he was duped, the Joker shoots the television playing the Video Will in a rage.
• Best Served Cold: "This is how I'll always remember you: surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful... Rest well, my love! The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish best served cold."
• Between My Legs: Harley in "Mad Love", Miriam in "Baby-Doll", and Bruce in "The Last Laugh".
• Beware the Nice Ones: Robin is always good cop to Batman's bad cop, and generally does his best to keep Batman from going too far into the darkness. "Robin's Reckoning" showed that he can be just as brutal and frightening as Bruce when properly provoked.
• Big Bad: The Joker, Batman's Archenemy, is the most recurring villain and the main antagonist of the series.
• Big Damn Kiss: While never good for the person on the receiving end, Poison Ivy's kisses are always memorably passionate. You get a sense she not only enjoys it but takes pride in her talent as a kisser.
• Big "NO!": All the time and at least one from every character throughout the series. Poison Ivy gets several in her introduction episode alone.
• Big Ol' Unibrow: Anthony Romulus in "Moon of the Wolf".
• Bisexual Love Triangle: Though DC kept it as subtexty as possible for years, Harley is head-over-heels for her boyfriend, The Joker. The Joker is extremely physically and emotionally abusive but Harley always goes back to him in the end. Ivy on the other hand has feelings for Harley and the two have a much more stable relationship, but Depending on the Writer Harley is either oblivious, knows of Ivy's feeling but ignores her, or has flings with Ivy when she and the Joker are separate. Starting with the New 52 reboot, DC revamped Ivy and Harley's relationship to be more obviously romantic and requited. They're either Friends with Benefits or a non-monogamous couple.
• Bittersweet Ending: A number of villains are not really that villainous, just victims of horrible circumstance leading to endings that save the day, but leave the pitiful, broken villain crying on the ground.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: The Joker and Mr. Freeze in the revamp.
• Blank Book: In "Perchance to Dream", some books are blank, others are just full of jibberish. This is because reading is a function of the right side of the brain, which is inactive when sleeping.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: One of Batman's tactics for dealing with gun-toting foes is to disarm them with a well-aimed batarang.
• Blind Without 'Em: Selina Kyle's assistant, Maven.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead:
  • Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy. (Though Catwoman was blonde until the later redesign of all the characters.)
  • The Terrible Trio.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Both Poison Ivy and The Clock King seem to work on this. Poison Ivy apparently considers killing plants just a bad murdering people (Which makes you wonder what the hell she actually eats), while The Clock King, in his first episode, wants to kill Mayor Hamilton Hill for making him LATE.
• The Board Game: 2018's Gotham City Under Siege, a cooperative game where players take on the role of Bat-Family members and play through scenarios based on the series' first season.
• Body Horror:
  • The Man-Bat. Both of them.
  • Matt Hagen changing into Clayface.
  • "Eternal Youth" has this in spades for the victims of the villain, mixed with And I Must Scream.
  • Bane's defeat. After Batman breaks Bane's venom pump mechanism, his muscles begin to get enormously pumped while he screams in agony. It keeps going for quite a while until Batman severs the pump from Bane's head.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Played straight throughout the series.
• Book Ends:
  • The original run of Batman: The Animated Series/The Adventures of Batman & Robin in broadcast order opens and closes with Red Claw stories.
  • "Harley's Holiday" starts with Harley being released from Arkham and the Scarecrow being brought in. And it ends with Harley being brought in.
  • "Joker's Wild" begins and ends with Joker and the other inmates (Notably Poison Ivy) fighting over the TV.
• Bound and Gagged:
  • Catwoman is tied to a conveyor belt in "Almost Got 'Im." This also happen to her in other episodes such as "Tyger, Tyger" and "Catwalk".
  • Three fashion executives in "Mean Seasons" are tied up for judgement from Calendar Girl.
  • Leslie Tompkins in "Appointment in Crime Alley."
  • Mayor Hill in "The Clock King."
  • Batman himself in multiple episodes (Including twice in "Almost Got 'Im")...
  • Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl in "Heart of Steel, Part 2" and "Batgirl Returns".
  • Lily and Violet in "Eternal Youth".
  • Clio in "Fire from Olympus".
  • Three law enforcement officials in "Christmas with the Joker", including Commissioner Gordon and Bullock.
  • Dick Grayson in "House and Garden."
  • Summer Gleason in "Christmas with the Joker" and "Night of the Ninja".
  • Harley Quinn in "Trial".
• Brainwashed: Several villains utilize brainwashing to further their schemes, whatever they may be (particularly Mad Hatter; as it is both figuratively and literally his hat).
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Most of the Mad Hatter's brainwashed victims end up becoming this.
• Brake Angrily: A "Eureka!" version. In "House And Garden," Poison Ivy has apparently rehabilitated and has married her doctor, Professor Steven Carlyle, to help him raise his twin sons. Batman thinks Ivy may still be up to something when a number of wealthy bachelors succumb to a mysterious toxin, but all his leads come up zilch. Driving back to the Batcave, Robin tells Batman that Prof. Carlyle actually has twin girls. SCREEEEEEECHHHHH!!!!
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Several times by The Joker commenting on his plans.
  • At one point in "Christmas with the Joker," Joker (who is hosting a TV show) ends a scene with "But first, a word from our sponsors!" Cut to a commercial break.
  • Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn's shopping-spree fashion-show in "Holiday Knights", particularly the moment Ivy & Haley get pushed off the screen by another Ivy.
• Breakout Villain: Harley Quinn has rivaled The Joker in popularity, both from her introduction in this show, and ever since.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Harley Quinn is the quintessential example. As a psychiatrist working at Arkham Asylum she was a naive and reserved doctor, inexplicably drawn to the Joker and hoping to eventually cure his rampant insanity. He, in turn, drives her completely mad. (The psychiatric term for this is "folie à deux" - French for "madness for two." Apropos.) After months (years?) as his assistant, moll and emotional punching bag, she slowly drags herself back to sanity and, through a series of innocent misunderstandings, is thrown right back into Arkham after a single day of genuinely trying to reform. Her entire depressing story is encapsulated when the Joker finds out that she captured and was about to kill Batman instead of him: he punches her and throws her out of a third story window. Awful enough — and then the prone, injured Harley whispers:
  "My fault... I didn't get the joke..."
  • In "Growing Pains," happens to Tim Drake after Clayface absorbs Annie, causing Tim to brutally attack Clayface.
  • Mary Dahl, who only wanted to be taken seriously as an actor despite being trapped in the body of a child.
• Bribe Backfire: At the conclusion of "The Terrible Trio," Fox tries to pay off Batman with $10 million, explaining that it "buys a lot of batarangs." Batman refuses not just because he already has a lot of batarangs, but because he refuses to let Fox just buy his way out of his troubles.
• Brick Joke: "Time Out of Joint" involves Clock King getting his hands on a device that lets him walk in Bullet Time; he passes a woman conveniently in mid-fall while sneaking into the mayor's office, but when Batman appears, Clock King makes his escape - only to trip over that woman as she is picking up her stuff.
• Brits Love Tea: Alfred, as the most British of gentlemen, frequently offers an actual 'spot of tea.'
• Broken Aesop: In "P.O.V." Bullock lands Montoya and her partner in trouble by going in alone at a sting operation. When Montoya deduces the gang's hideout, she does the same thing (only she succeeds)—and then, at the end of the episode, preaches teamwork. Um...
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: This Batman partially avoids the traditional Idle Rich portrayal by acting like one of these. He's the head of the Wayne Enterprises and a very shrewd tycoon... with quite the social life, who leaves the day-to-day minutia to Lucius Fox and other business officers.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Harvey Bullock for the good guys, as his stubbornness, bad temper, and overall loutishness make him act quite foolish most of the time.
  • Another good guy example is Mayor Hill, but you can say that you're invoking it if you chose to run for Mayor of a Wretched Hive like Gotham City.
  • Harley Quinn is a (relatively) rare female example. Not only does her general incompetence make her look pretty stupid (at least in the early episodes), the verbal and, yes, physical abuse she takes from the Joker is Played for Laughs much of the time... unless it's being Played for Drama.
  • "Almost Got 'Im" has an unusual one-episode example for Killer Croc. Throughout the episode he acts even stupider than normal, and is constantly treated with condescension by the other villain characters (especially the Joker) every time he says something buffoonish. But Croc eventually has the last laugh when, after hearing the Joker brag about capturing Catwoman and planning to have her ground up into cat food, he reveals himself to be Batman in disguise, knocks the Clown Prince on his ass, and has the other villains arrested after revealing that all the other patrons in the nightclub are undercover cops, remarking as he leaves that "I'm not bad with traps myself."
  • Inverted with Sidney Debris, a.k.a. "Sid the Squid," in "The Man Who Killed Batman." This bumbling wannabe crook, through several bizarre twists of fate, experiences incredible good luck throughout the entire episode, managing to make monkeys of Rupert Thorne, the Joker and (temporarily) Batman and earning widespread praise he doesn't deserve for an incredible feat that, due to a freakish coincidence, he only appears to have performed. Thorne even lampshades the possibility that Sid's "loser" shtick may all be an act.
  Thorne: Nobody's that lucky or stupid!

C

• Call-Back:
  • In "Almost Got 'Im", we hear Killer Croc's story as told by Batman about how he'd almost gotten Batman because "I threw a rock at him!" Come the Joker Jury episode, and he yells out "Hit him with a rock!" as his preferred sentencing.
  • The line in "Almost Got 'Im" itself was a callback to "Sideshow," where Croc really did throw a huge rock at Batman.
  • Also from "Almost Got 'Im", after Two-Face expresses a desire to kill Ivy, Ivy quips to the other villains, "We used to date." This calls back to Ivy's first appearance, "Pretty Poison", when she seduced Harvey Dent (before he became Two-Face) with the intention of killing him.
  • In Harley's Holiday, Harley meets up with Boxy, who mentions that the last time she came by she brought the Batman on his roof, the events of which were told in the episode "Harlequinade".
  • In Riddler's Reform, we get another one when Robin's questioning the Riddler about what's in the puzzle box. "The last time you sent one of these, it almost killed Commissioner Gordon." This is in reference to the previous Riddler episode, "What is Reality?"
• Canon Foreigner: Summer Gleeson, Roland Daggett, Red Claw, Calendar Girl, Baby Doll, H.A.R.D.A.C, Kyodai Ken, Josiah Wormwood, and Farmer Brown.
• Canon Immigrant: Had several.
  • Harley Quinn is the most popular of the immigrants and has starred in her own comic series and guest-starred in several ongoing series, serving as the Joker's henchwoman and as a villain (and sometimes hero) in her own right. The partnership/friendship/something more relationship between her and Poison Ivy has likewise been adapted into the comics, and in December 2009 the two began co-starring (along with Catwoman) in Gotham City Sirens.
  • Arguably the second most popular immigrant would have to be Mister Freeze's reimagining as an Anti-Villain with a tragic backstory rather than an ice themed gimmicky one, having been adopted by the mainstream comics as well as the Batman: Arkham Series. The comics also ported over Ferris Boyle and his role in Freeze's origin.
  • Detective Renee Montoya is an interesting conundrum; though created for the show, because it took so long to produce the episodes she actually appeared in the comics first. She guest-starred in numerous Bat-Family titles until the launch of Gotham Central, in which she was one of the primary characters. During the events of 52 she apprenticed with The Question and took the title herself after his death.
  • Lock-Up and Roxy Rocket are more minor immigrants. Lock-Up has a similar origin and motive, but appears infrequently, and Roxy Rocket has only had one or two appearances since her first adventure.
  • The Sewer King turned up dead in one panel of 52 when they needed some C-List Fodder villains.
  • The Condiment King has made a few appearances in the mainstream DCU, filling the niche of a villain who seems goofy but can be quite deadly.
  • The original Clock King was simply a clock-themed crook. A new version was introduced in 2008 based off of the Temple Fugate version, sharing his name, manner of dress, and Awesomeness by Analysis.
• Can Only Move the Eyes: The victims of the Joker's paralyzing gas in "Joker's Favor", which shows that they're conscious as the Joker reveals what's going to happen to them next.
• Cape Busters: Gotham City's orange-uniformed SWAT officers. Their effectiveness varies.
• Captain Ersatz: Joker has three Mooks based off The Three Stooges. Similarly, Baby Doll's henchmen to Gilligan and Skipper.
• Captive Date: A couple examples.
  • In "Mad as a Hatter", Jervis Tetch tries to win his co-worker Alice's heart after her recent breakup. She is charmed by Jervis but mistakes his romantic overtures as platonic attempts to cheer her up and she later reconciles with her boyfriend. Jervis then uses his Mind Control technology on her and takes her on a "date" at a Wonderland-themed amusement park.
  • Batman and Poison Ivy's first encounter in "Pretty Poison" initially resembles this. Upon noticing Batman entangled by her jumbo monster flytrap Ivy opts to put on her racy costume before gigglingly revealing herself, peaking out from behind a tree like some flirtatious wood nymph, asking why Bats would honor her with "a late night rendezvous." While discussing why Harvey Dent needed to pay she glides behind him to teasingly caress his shoulders with her index fingers. And finally, as if the Foe Romantic Subtext wasn't already thicker than oatmeal, Poison Ivy applies her tainted lipstick and passionately smooches Batman, in effect giving him a "goodnight kiss."
• Capture and Replicate: HARDAC captures several prominent citizens of Gotham City and replaces them with androids.
• Cardboard Prison: Lampshaded in Lock-Up. Arkham is described as having a revolving door.
• Cast as a Mask:
  • Both John Rhys-Davies and Aron Kincaid had the opportunity to play Batman himself in "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy" and "Almost Got 'Im," respectively.
  • Kevin Conroy voices The Mad Hatter, Clayface, and Dick Grayson in different episodes ("Perchance to Dream", "Feat of Clay, Parts 1 and 2", and "The Strange Secret Of Bruce Wayne", respectively).
• Casting Gag
  • William Sanderson's character is a guy who is heavily involved in robotics, having built some of the most advanced models and also created a bunch of small toy-like robots to keep him company at home.
  • Diana Muldaur also played a snarky doctor a couple years earlier on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • Simon Trent's character the Gray Ghost is based on Adam West's role as the campy Batman from the '60s TV series.
  • Also with regards to the '60s TV series, in the final episode, Malachi Thorne, who'd previously appeared in the earlier show as the villain False Face is Cast as a Mask as Two-Face's new "Judge" split-personality, hence Thorne is once again playing a "false face."
  • The Clock King is played by Alan Rachins, then best known for playing the punctilious managing partner Douglas Brachman on L.A. Law — a clock watcher's clock watcher.
  • Sela Ward personally experienced the sort of callousness that serves as Page Monroe's backstory—for example, being passed over for a role as a Bond Girl and being told that "What we really want is Sela, but Sela ten years ago".
  • Alfred is a former MI6 agent. Efrem Zimbalist played FBI Agent Lewis Erskine in The F.B.I..
  • An obscure one: Arlene Sorkin played Cloudcuckoolander Calliope Jones in the soap opera Days of Our Lives during the '80s. In one episode Calliope had a dream sequence where she was a court jester, and wore a harlequin costume. Paul Dini has confirmed that her performance on Days, especially the dream sequence, was a key inspiration for the character of Harley Quinn.
  • Jeffrey Combs ,who replaced Henry Polic II as the voice of the Scarecrow in The New Batman Adventures, is best-known role for playing another villainous scientist with Lovecraftian connections. Sadly this only lasted for a full episode and an obscure tie-in game.
• Catapult Nightmare:
  • Multiple episodes, but notably in both parts of the two-partner "Two-Face". Practically every nightmare a character has will end with a Catapult Nightmare
  • Subverted in season 2 episode "Perchance to Dream", in which Bruce Wayne wakes up from a Catapult Nightmare...into an extended dream sequence. The first part of the episode is not a dream but reality, and the rest (after the Catapult Nightmare wake up) is a dream world created by the Mad Hatter.
• Cat Girl: Catwoman. Taken to extremes in "Tyger Tyger", where Dr. Dorian kidnaps Selina Kyle and mutates her into an ACTUAL catwoman.
• Cat Scare: Happens in "The Forgotten".
• Cement Shoes: In "Two-Face" a mobster being bothered by crusading DA Harvey Dent considers "fitting him for a cement overcoat"
• Censor Steam: In "Heart of Steel, Part 1," some very well placed steam hides the Gordon robot's nether regions as it comes out of HARDAC's press.
• Character Catchphrase. Many, including:
  Batman: That's not the answer I want.
• Character Development:
  • Over the course of the series Robin grows continuously more frustrated with Batman's domination of their partnership and cold, emotionless personality. It comes to a head during the revamp into The New Batman Adventures, where he abandons the Robin persona and strikes out on his own as Nightwing.
  • Barbara Gordon initially appears as the normal daughter of Commissioner Gordon, but she gets dragged into a plot for world domination and, at the end of the episode, mentioned that she liked the experience. She later masquerades as Batman when she feels that he needs to be seen at a public event. She then begins to fight crime on her own as Batgirl, eventually becoming an official member of the Bat-family and replacing Robin when he ends his partnership with Batman.
  • Batman himself starts out as anti-heroic yet optimistic, and is friendly towards his allies, but he grows more cold, pragmatic, and cynical throughout the entire DC Animated Universe. His relentless dedication to fighting crime at the cost of his own happiness, as well as his increasingly standoffish personality alienates many of his friends and love interests, which leads to him becoming the bitter, old recluse seen in Batman Beyond.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Batman and the Bat-Family counts as this. So does Catwoman.
• Chase Fight: In "His Silicon Soul," the android Batman chases the real Batman around the Bat Cave as they fight.
• Cheap Costume: The Condiment King wears an actual pair of underwear as part of his costume.
• Cheated Angle: Commissioner Gordon's cowlick. In an audio commentary, one of the artists laments that the cowlick is always slightly to the side, even when it should have shifted with the angle.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Harvey Dent appears twice as a heroic character before becoming Two Face, and in his first appearance he is even shown flipping a coin.
  • Jack Ryder is set up as the regular news reporter in The New Batman Adventures before he becomes The Creeper near the end of the series.
• Chiaroscuro: As to be expected considering its inspiration from Frank Miller.
• Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: Do not let Batman see or catch you doing anything that could negatively affect a kid. Sewer King learned that the hard way.
• Christmas Episode:
  • Season 1's "Christmas with the Joker" (which aired on Nov. 13, 1992, oddly enough) featured the Joker hijacking a broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life with his own program, which features Commissioner Gordon and others as hostages.
  • The New Batman Adventures retool had "Holiday Knights", which was adapted from a Holiday Special one-shot of the comic book tie-in The Batman Adventures and was an anthology about the Bat-family foiling crimes committed by the rogues gallery around Christmas and New Year's. The two stories that best fit are one where Batgirl puts an end to Clayface's shoplifting while Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya are on stake-out as a Mall Santa and an elf and one where Bruce Wayne is drugged by Poison Ivy to aid her and Harley Quinn in an expensive Christmas shopping spree.
• Chronically Crashed Car: In the episode "Harley's Holiday", Bullock's car is victim of a hit and run from Harley... And it gets worse. And worse. And worse.
• Chronic Villainy:
  • The Riddler sells his persona for a fortune and decides to abandon crime altogether in order to avoid risking his newfound wealth and freedom. However, because he has such a compulsion, he reasons that the only way he can do so is to kill Batman. Naturally, he fails, gets found out and arrested.
  • Harley Quinn went through extensive therapy and treatment for her obsession with the Joker and was certified legally sane by the staff of Arkham Asylum. However, on her first day out out, a series of comical misunderstandings resulted in her taking a hostage and being pursued by Bullock, the hostage's father (a general in a tank!) and a vengeful gangster, winding up right back in Arkham by the end of the day. In this case it seems that everybody involved (including Batman himself) was rooting for Harley's successful recovery and the end of the episode implied that she would make it there eventually, but that storyline was never followed up. Unless you count Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker where an aged, reformed Harley bails her delinquent granddaughters out of jail and berates them for becoming criminals like she used to be.
  • The Penguin decided to abandon crime one day when he was released from Stonegate, deciding that he never wanted to return to jail again, but when he learned that the woman he began to fall in love with was only spending time with him to mock his uncultured ways he relapsed into villainy. However, unlike the other villains, he does manage to stay out of jail in The New Batman Adventures. He didn't really reform and uses his nightclub as a front for shady deals, but he does a much better job of ensuring his legal safety. Batman is well-aware that Penguin hasn't changed, but keeps him around because he is just as often a good source of information about other, more dangerous criminals.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Selina Kyle's assistant Maven simply vanishes after two appearances.
  • Harvey Dent's fiance, Grace, no longer appears or is even mentioned after the events of "Two-Face Pt. 2," which is odd considering she still clearly loved him even with his deformity and criminality (though if she kept seeing no progress in his therapy, she likely decided she couldn't wait for him any longer with so little hope).
• City Noir: Achieved by doing the art for the series on black paper.
• Classy Catburglar: Who else but the real deal?
• Clear My Name:
  • "On Leather Wings," the first episode, has Batman accused of several vicious attacks when Man-Bat goes on a rampage.
  • In "Feat of Clay," Batman must clear his name when Roland Daggett blackmails Matt Hagan into posing as Bruce Wayne to get important evidence against Daggett away from Lucius Fox.
  • In "Shadow of the Bat," Commissioner Gordon is accused of being an employee of Rupert Thorne, Gotham's ranking mob boss.
• Clingy Costume: Mr. Freeze's temperature-regulating suit.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Baby Doll, for Killer Croc.
  • Harley eventually becomes jealous of all the attention that Batman gets from the Joker, and this grows into homicidal tendencies.
• Clock King: Temple Fugate did not invent the trope, but he certainly named it.
• Cloning Splits Attributes: Riddler lured Batman into a virtual reality. Batman replicated himself again and again until there were 64 of him. Riddler duplicated himself each time to match, which was Batman's plan because by splitting his focus 64 times he rendered himself incapable of maintaining the virtual world, and the simulation started to collapse.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: The Gray Ghost.
• Combat Pragmatist: Bane defies the trope, waiting until he knows exactly where Batman is and calling him to point out that, if he were a common sniper, Batman would be dead by then.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: Supergirl gives one as well during the episode she and Batgirl team up.
• The Comedy Drop: In one Christmas Episode, Bruce Wayne, under the influence of Poison Ivy's specially formulated lipstick, is forced to take Ivy and Harley on a holiday shopping spree. Attempting to resist, Bruce "accidentally" falls down an empty elevator shaft. Black Comedy ensues as Harley initially freaks out.
  Harley Quinn: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! We-we killed him!... Oh well.
  Poison Ivy: We were going to do it anyway.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: The show had several comic book tie-ins, including The Batman Adventures (which had the first run last 36 issues in addition to two annuals and a Holiday Special one-shot, a Batman and Robin Adventures edition that lasted 25 issues as well as two annuals, a Lost Years miniseries that takes place before the New Batman Adventures retool and a second run by the original title that lasted 17 issues), Batman: Gotham Adventures, a Gotham Girls miniseries, a Harley & Ivy miniseries and a continuation published long after the DC Animated Universe ended production titled Batman: The Adventures Continue. This isn't even getting into the one-shots adapting the associated films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
  • Randa Duane's appearance was based upon that of Marilyn Monroe.
  • Donna Day, the fashion designer Calender Girl kidnaps in "Mean Seasons", was modeled after iconic fashion editor Carrie Donovan.
  • Annie from "Growing Pains" was modeled after Natalie Portman in The Professional.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames:
  • While his second episode and Justice League Unlimited would avert this, Temple Fugate's debut doesn't see him called "the Clock King".
  • Thomas Blake is a cult leader, not a costumed villain called "Catman".
• Complexity Addiction: A recurring feature, but particularly showcased in "Almost Got 'Im", the episode where several villains swap stories about how they almost got Batman. In nearly every case, they would have got him easily if they'd been straightforward about it instead of going for an elaborate and artistic doom involving hummingbirds with poison-tipped beaks, giant pennies, or whatever.
• The Commissioner Gordon: The original appears in his traditional role.
• Composite Character:
  • Clayface is a combo of the first three people to assume the name. He is an actor like the original Basil Karlo version, has the name and powers of Matt Hagen and was disfigured and permanently stuck in his Clayface form like Preston Payne.
  • Tim Drake, who replaced Dick Grayson as Robin, has characteristics of both the Tim Drake from the comics and also Jason Todd. He has Tim Drake's name and light-hearted personality (several episodes suggest he has Tim's intellect too), but Jason Todd's origin story, position as the second Robin, and a little bit of his attitude.
  • Rupert Thorne had ties to the mob in the comics, but his role here as Gotham's most powerful crime boss is taken from Carmine Falcone. He also Sal Maroni's role in Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face.
• Continuity Nod:
  • "Almost Got 'Im" has a bit where Killer Croc claims to have hurled a rock at Batman - this happened in the episode "Sideshow" (which was made and aired after "Almost Got 'Im"); later on in "Trial", assorted Arkham inmates are baying for Batman's blood while Killer Croc suggests they "Hit'im with a rock!"
  • In "Almost Got 'Im", Two-Face is very aggrieved with Poison Ivy, who claims "we used to date"; in "Trial" she makes a reference to trying to kill Harvey Dent. Both are references to "Pretty Poison", Ivy's debut episode.
  • In "House & Garden," as Poison Ivy flees at the end of the episode she looks over a photo album of her time in Gotham. Included in this album is a picture of Bruce Wayne & Harvey Dent (A reproduction of their groundbreaking at Stonegate Penitentiary in "Pretty Poison") and a picture of Ivy and Harley Quinn (A reproduction of their team-up in "Harley & Ivy").
  • In "Joker's Millions," the actor impersonating the Joker gives himself away when Bruce Wayne references the last time they met, stumping him on the specific events and when they happened. Namely, that the Joker threw Bruce off a rooftop only last month. This happened when they both guest-starred in the three-part Superman: The Animated Series episode "World's Finest," the first Crossover between the two series and the first confirmation of their Shared Universe. "Joker's Millions" itself is a sequel to that episode, as it first established that the Joker was short on money, which serves as the foundation for the story in this episode.
  • In "Harley's Holiday," Boxey points out that the last time Harley Quinn showed up at his door she not only destroyed his club, but brought Batman down on him as well. This occurred in "Harlequinade," where Harley was helping Batman find the Joker.
  • When the Clock King reappears in "Time Out of Joint," Batman deduces that he is moving very fast and that they are not up against another invisible man. They last faced an invisible foe in "See No Evil," where a man had stolen an invisibility suit and used it to commit robberies and kidnap his daughter from his ex-wife.
  • In "Mad Love" the Joker remembers his plan to feed Batman to smiling piranhas, which he had to scrap as he couldn't get them to smile, noting that they were even immune to his scheme from "The Laughing Fish."
• Conveyor Belt o' Doom: "Almost Got 'Im," which includes a wonderful variety of Doomy Dooms of Doom.
• Cool Bike: Robin used one of these from time to time.
• Cool Car: The Batmobile.
• Cool Garage: The Batcave.
• Cool Old Guy: Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, naturally. An elderly Jonah Hex, who appears in an extended flashback in the episode, "Showdown", and Simon Trent in "Beware the Grey Ghost", who in turn is voiced by real life Cool Old Guy Adam West.
• Cool Plane: The Batjet.
• Cope by Pretending: In the episode "Baby Doll", Mary Louise Dahl, aka "Baby Doll" (which doubles as the episode's title) is a woman with a rare condition that makes her appear forever three years old, even in her twenties and thirties. Baby Doll was a star in an old sitcom show called Love That Baby where she played the title character. After the show's end, Baby Doll tries to get into real acting, but her young appearance keeps her from being taken seriously. In the episode, she kidnaps the cast of Love That Baby so that she can have her old fictional family back (and also get revenge on Spunky, a Cousin Oliver character in the show that doubled as a Spotlight-Stealing Squad).
• Corrupt Corporate Executive:
  • Roland Daggett is a recurring villain in the first two seasons who gradually lose his fortune as legal fees and criminal charges catch up to him.
  • Dan Mockridge from "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" stole the fortune-making gaming products of one of his employees then fired him.
  • "Deep Freeze" features Grant Walker, who takes Walt Disney's...eccentricities...taken to their fearful logical conclusions.
  • Ferris Boyle, whose forcefulness causes an accident that he believes kills Victor Fries. Instead of owning up to it, he evidently swept it under the rug so well that he was almost given a humanitarian award without anyone even bringing it up.
  • Kaiser, who realizes that his casino is a bad investment, and so hastily changes the theme to one based on The Joker, and arranges Joker's escape for Arkham, banking on Joker's penchant for Stuff Blowing Up so Kaiser can collect insurance money after his casino is destroyed.
• Cousin Oliver: In-Universe, in "Baby Doll", the titular villain's Start of Darkness came after one of these stole her spotlight. In a Shout-Out to the Trope Namer, the grown-up version of the character's actor is modeled after Robbie Rist, who played Oliver.
• Cranium Chase: Parodied when the wooden dummy Scarface's head is severed, and the Ventriloquist chases after it.
• Crashing Dreams: "Two-Face".
• Create Your Own Villain:
  • It was Rupert Thorne's attempt to blackmail Harvey Dent that lead to Dent's transformation into Two-Face, the transformation itself led to Two-Face's extra-legal war on Thorne's criminal organization. Candace, Thorne's right hand, is well aware of this.
  Mook: I thought we got rid of this guy.
  Candace: Are you kidding? We created him.
  • Roland Daggett's attempts to control Matt Hagen with his highly addictive facelift-in-a-jar concoction eventually turned the man into Clayface.
  • In "Trial," the Arkham Asylum inmates put Batman on trial, accusing him of creating them. This trial leads to the revelation that even if Batman had not pushed them off the edge, they were all deeply disturbed people and would have entered villainy anyway from their own motivations. In fact, they created him. The villains then come to terms with this and find Batman innocent... and then, because they are such bad guys, they try to kill him anyway.
  • In "Lock-Up," the eponymous villain was formerly a guard at Arkham Asylum who got his position due to endorsement and support from Wayne Enterprises. When he goes insane and begins kidnapping the people he blames for the city's problems (the police, bureaucrats and reporters that he says cause the criminals), Robin snarkily comments "Another fine villain brought to you by the Wayne Foundation." The look Batman shoots him is not happy.
  • An inversion occurs in "Beware the Creeper": A villain (The Joker) creates his own hero (the Creeper). And he even does it referencing the way he claims Batman created him, throwing someone into a chemical vat:
  The Joker: I will be Batman, and you will be me.
  • Deconstructed with the Clock King, Hill was Just Trying to Help Temple Fugate.
  • In the episode "Over the Edge", the plot is set by Batgirl's fear that this trope will enact if she would be a casualty of the collateral damage from a super - battle: The Commissioner Gordon would become a Knight Templar Parent that will destroy the Bat-family, being created by the death of heroine Batgirl.
  • "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" features Daniel Mockridge, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who had Edward Nygma as an intern, and created the company's best-selling video game. To prevent Nygma from getting his share of the profitsand suing for royalties, he showed him the door. Cue the Riddler two years later.
  Edward: 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''?
• Creator Cameo: A couple here and there, most notably the Mad Bomber villain who is both voiced by and bears a striking resemblance to Bruce Timm, and Paul Dini standing in the line up for the Joker's new henchgirl, wearing a Harley Quinn costume.
  Joker: "... Maybe I should've hired the fat guy!"
• Creepy Monotone: Both Batman and Mr. Freeze put this to good use, the latter especially.
• Crossover: "Girl's Night Out" featured guest appearances by Supergirl and Livewire from Superman: The Animated Series, both of whom traveled to Gotham City and teamed up with Batgirl and Harley Quinn & Posion Ivy, respectively.
• Crush Blush: Bruce Wayne when meeting Selina Kyle in her debut episode.
• Cuckoo Nest: In the episode "Perchance to Dream," Bruce Wayne wakes up in a world where he isn't Batman and nearly gets institutionalized by his parents and fiancee (Selina Kyle) for maintaining against all evidence that he's a superhero. He spends the episode evading the police until he gets into an altercation with Batman. It turns out it was all a dream induced by one of the Mad Hatter's gadgets.
• Cunning People Play Poker: In "Almost Got 'im", Batman's rogues, many of whom are well known for creating elaborate death traps, are playing a "friendly" game of poker while talking about how they almost got Batman. Turns out Batman had an ace up his sleeve, as he was impersonating Killer Croc.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: In "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", the Joker threatens to use Hugo Strange's head as a bowling ball after he, Two-Face and the Penguin are convinced that Strange had deceived them and lied about having evidence of Batman's secret identity.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check:
  • In "Fear of Victory" the Scarecrow begins rigging sports and then betting on the games; he himself points out that chemicals are expensive and his usual crimes of causing wanton terror are not very lucrative.
  • In "Riddler's Reform," Riddler has sold the license to his persona to a toy developer for a completely legal fortune. However, Batman is convinced that he will continue to commit riddle-crimes, even though it will jeopardize his freedom and financial well-being. When Robin wonders why he would take such a risk, Batman explains that for him it is not about the money, it is an obsession. As it turns out, Batman's right; Riddler is uneasy with his new life, and eventually decides to try to kill Batman once and for all just to remove the temptation to backslide.
  • Discussed by the creators during the DVD commentary of "Critters." The episode does explain why Farmer Brown cannot make money with his actual discoveries (Court orders and lawsuits shut him down), but he has obviously found some way of getting rich given the technology and equipment he employs. The weapons and tools he uses during the episode must have cost millions and the producers themselves did not understand why Farmer Brown would be demanding payment from the city, since he obviously already has cash. Revenge makes perfect sense, but extortion does not and they offered no explanation.
  • Poison Ivy somehow managed to afford a gigantic mansion with its own power plant and extensive grounds in order to set up a fake health spa for one episode... complete with a staff of women loyal enough to kill on her part and try fighting the Batman, and a greenhouse full of extremely rare, nearly extinct, fully-grown trees found only in the depths of the Amazon.
• Cymbal-Banging Monkey: In an episode where the villain is an obsessive toy collector, one of the toys in his lair is a creepy-looking drum-playing monkey of similar design to the classic cymbal-playing monkey.

D

• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Scarface.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to previous Batman shows and every other family-friendly animated show on at the time, it was definitely this.
• Dartboard of Hate: Harley keeps a dart-riddled photo of Batman in her cell at Arkham, as shown in "Joker's Millions".
• Dating Catwoman: With Catwoman.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Eternal Youth" is based around Alfred prominently and we even get to meet Alfred's girlfriend. He is also the Victim of the Week.
  • "A Bullet for Bullock" as the name implies, is based around Bullock, told as a Noir detective story but with Batman in it.
• Deadline News: A non-lethal example, involving the Joker and laughing gas.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Sometimes Batman and Robin took turns in this role (With Robin sometimes giving Spidey himself a run for his money in the snarky battle banter department), but usually Alfred had at least one sarcastic remark per episode.
  • Weirdly enough, the Bat-Plane gets one in: in "The Forgotten", when Alfred has the plane's autopilot computer take him to the secret labor camp where Batman is being held prisoner, the plane locates Batman but is unable to find a safe place to land. Alfred demands that the "tin can" land them at once, to which the Bat-Plane replies(!) "your funeral."
  • Both Robins. Tim Drake had a particularly fun moment:
  Tim: I know [the American justice system] is bogus.
  Bruce: And how did you come to that well-thought-out conclusion?
  Tim: Watching you.
• Death by Secret Identity: Gil Mason is put into a coma moments after ripping the mask off Batgirl's face in "Shadow of the Bat, Part 2".
  • Kyoudai Ken.
• Death Trap: A staple of the series, though special mention goes to the Riddler's and Josiah Wormwood's.
• Deducing the Secret Identity:
  • Discussed in the episode "Day of the Samurai" when Batman tells Alfred that his old training rival Kyodai Ken is certain to have deduced that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person via Fighting Fingerprint.
  • In his first appearance in "The Demon's Quest Part 1", Ra's Al-Ghul explains to Batman that he deduced his secret identity simply by identifying who could have wealth to fund Batman's war on crime, and then narrowing that down by looking at who would have the desire to use their wealth to fight crime.
• Deliberately Monochrome:
  • There are several instances within the series, i.e. "Pretty Poison", "It's Never Too Late", that use a distinct sepia tone to indicate a Flashback sequence.
  • Throughout the first couple seasons before the visuals were retooled to match Superman: The Animated Series, the animators were consistent that any in-series TV or film footage was in black and white.
• Depending on the Artist (TMS Entertainment): Much like on Tiny Toon Adventures, TMS's staff went uncredited for their work (for the first show, at least. There were staff listings on The New Batman Adventures). Listed here are the Animation Directors and outsourcing units listing for the first show.
  • Opening: Kazuhide Tomonaga; In house.
  • “Two-Face Part 1”: Kenji Hachizaki; In house.
  • “Feat Of Clay Part 2”: Kazuhide Tomonaga; In house.
  • “Fear Of Victory”: Toshihiko Masuda; In house.
  • “The Demon's Quest Part 1”: Kazuhide Tomonaga; Nakamura Productions (some Key, Assistant and In-Between Animation), Dong Yang (Animation co-producer).
  • “The Demon's Quest Part 2”: Kenji Hachizaki; Nakamura Production, Dong Yang (same as above), Anime Spot (Key, Assistant and In-Between Animation).
  • The cut scenes to the Sega CD version of The Adventures Of Batman And Robin: Toshihiko Masuda; In house.
  • “Read My Lips”: Yuichiro Yano; Tama Productions.
  • Bonus; Layouts for “Harley And Ivy”: Kazuhide Tomonaga; Main episode is done by Koko Enterprises/Dong Yang.
• Depth of Field: In "Joker's Favor", False Camera Effects are used to replicate the depth of field refocusing from Charlie's family on the outside and himself on the inside of the house during the course of his call with the Joker.
• Dirty Cop:
  • When the planned police sting goes awry in "P.O.V.," with the intended target getting away and taking the bait money, the Internal Affairs investigator looking into the event suspects that the three officers involved are "on the take."
  • In "Shadow of the Bat," Commissioner Gordon is accused of being an employee of Rupert Thorne, Gotham's ranking mob boss. There are bank accounts in his name, tickets to Rio de Janeiro to flee the country and he is broken out of jail by criminals who explain that Thorne never forgets his friends. He is being framed by his own Deputy Commissioner, a straight example of this trope, who is working for Two-Face, to clear the way for him to become commissioner.
  • In "A Bullet for Bullock", Bullock enlists Batman's help in a private matter, claiming he does not want internal affairs looking too closely at him. Batman immediately asks if he is on the take; Bullock vehemently insists that he does not take bribes, but he admits he might be a little careless with suspect rights and police brutality.
• Disposable Vagrant: Batman gets involved in a city-wide kidnapping and forced labor plot in "The Forgotten" because the police are too busy to bother with homeless people disappearing.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Joker was guilty of this on more or less a regular basis.
  • "The Laughing Fish": The Joker introduces his "smile" toxin into the fish supply of Gotham Harbor, hoping to trademark the red-lipped, grinning ichthyoids and sell them in supermarkets. When told that he cannot trademark fish he retaliates by carrying out an elaborate scheme to murder everyone in the Gotham City patent office until he gets his way.
  • "The Joker's Wild": An entrepreneur opens a casino in Gotham City based on the Joker's likeness and gimmicks. Joker is so incensed that a complete stranger would try to "cash in on my image" that he plots to blow the casino up. Ironically, the entire point of the entrepreneur cashing in on Joker's image was that he wanted Joker to come and trash the place. The entire place was set up for an insurance scam. Too bad for him, once Batman told the Joker what was going on, he decided he would rather kill the guy and run the place himself...
  • "Be a Clown": Mayor Hamilton Hill (who despises Batman) appears on television claiming that Batman and the Joker are equally as bad. Joker finds this comparison so insulting that (disguised as a party clown) he crashes a birthday party held at the mayor's estate for his son, Jordan, and attempts to blow up Jordan's birthday party (along with all the guests) with a stick of dynamite in the cake.
  • "Make 'Em Laugh": Bitter about being disqualified from an annual stand-up comedy competition (Because he hadn't registered as a competitor), the Joker steals some mind-control implants from the Mad Hatter, kidnaps the three comedians who serve as judges in the annual competition, fits them with the implants and warps them into becoming costumed criminals who attempt reckless capers (with one of the brainwashed judges winding up in the hospital after falling off a bridge) and replaces the judges with his own men just so he can win the trophy. Batman puts it well: "Only you would ruin three lives for a silly piece of tin."
    Joker: It's not about the trophy! It's the title!
  • But the most extreme example had to be that depicted in "Joker's Favor": After rudely cutting off another motorist on the freeway, Joker is yelled at by that motorist and retaliates by forcing the other man off the road and chasing him into the woods, threatening to kill him when he catches him. The man begs for his life, and Joker agrees to spare him if he will perform "a favor" for Joker sometime in the future. The man promptly changes his name and relocates his family to Ohio, but Joker obsessively stalks him and finally tracks him down, forcing him to honor the favor owed to him. Once the man has done this favor (which makes him an unwitting accessory to the attempted assassination of Commissioner Gordon), Joker tries to do him in for good. When the man survives and finally works up the nerve to confront his tormentor, Joker threatens to kill his family. All this because of a minor altercation on the freeway.
    Charlie Collins: Exactly at what point did I become life's punching bag?
  • Inverted in "The Last Laugh," after Batman destroys the Joker's pet robot, Captain Clown (which Joker considers murder, since Captain Clown was his best friend). Joker retaliates by.... dumping a forklift full of smelly garbage right on top of Batman. Alternatively, this may not be an inversion, since trash often contains heavy objects, and given the amount Joker dumps onto Batman, could believably cause serious injury or smother him to death.
  • In "Critters", not only does Farmer Brown take revenge against Gotham for shutting down his projects and forcing him and his daughter to go broke, but for calling his experiments "monsters".
  • Temple Fugate developed an obsessive, murderous grudge against Mayor Hamilton Hill...because when he was a lawyer, Hill suggested Fugate take his coffee break a little later to help him relax for a lawsuit against his company, which resulted in a series of accidents making him late, which resulted in him losing the suit. Fugate reveals that the people who sued his company were represented by Hill's law firm, and thus he believes that Hill was intentionally trying to sabotage him. Thus it's not quite as disproportionate as it sounds initially, but he's still completely off-base and Hill honestly was trying to help.
  • In the episode which introduces Poison Ivy, she tries to kill Harvey Dent for building a corrections facility on top of a field containing a flower that was endangered. There is no evidence he knew about the endangered flower. She saved the flower before trying to kill him, anyway. Maybe he should've done an ecological survey to check for endangered species and done an environmental impact statement before starting construction, but she could've tried telling him there was an endangered flower before he started building to see if he would alter his plans in response.
  • She gets another one when she runs a spa and send out invitations to millionaires who have done some environmental wrong, turning them into living plants with her treatment. She targets Bruce when his company was planning on tearing down a forest for building space...except Bruce had found out and stopped the plans long beforehand and she never bothered to look further into this. What's more when Bruce lets his butler Alfred and Alfred's girlfriend go in his place as a vacation, Ivy figures she'll make due with him cause "someone gotta be punished". Keep in mind, she is, like most of Batman's enemies, a lunatic.
  • And in one hilarious scene in "Fear of Victory", Batman intercepts a telegram believing that it is a fear-toxin laced letter sent by Scarecrow to make the recipient unable to play at his best. It's just an ordinary telegram, and the delivery boy comes to the conclusion that Batman was lying in wait for him because he double-parked.
• Distant Prologue:
  • "Joker's Favor" opens with Charlie Collins accidentally cursing off the Joker, leading him to be forcibly hired by the Clown Prince of Crime to perform a favor that he has not thought of yet. It takes two years for "Mistah J." to think of something and track Collins down.
  • The debut episodes of the Riddler, the Clock King, and Lock-Up begin at their Starts of Darkness before skipping ahead to their actions as supervillains.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • A non-comedic example — the Joker and Harley's Mad Love relationship was possibly the most spot-on example of Domestic Abuse portrayed in animation, particularly with the trope-naming episode "Mad Love" (where Harley is pushed out a window). She swears him off entirely by the end of it...until she sees that he left her a single flower and a "get-well-soon" note and practically swoons in her body cast.
  • Practically every thing Roxy says in "The Ultimate Thrill", even going so far as to say she was the best (chase) that Batman had ever had. She spends most of the episode riding around on a human-sized rocket.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Batman. It's a plot point in several episodes.
• The Dog Bites Back: In "Double Talk", The Ventriloquist finally gets fed up with Scarface, and blows him to smithereens.
• Domestic Abuse: The Joker and Harley have what is, beneath the make-up, a classic abusive relationship filled with emotional trauma and physical violence.
• The Don: Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell deconstruct this trope: They follow it completely except at The Patriarch part: Rupert Thorne cares for his brother Mathew, but he is the cause his brother has become a Back-Alley Doctor. Stromwell has destroyed his marriage, driven his son to drugs, and has not seen his priest brother in years. Both of them are a curse on their loved ones.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": After his transformation, Harvey Dent is very clear that he is now Two-Face, even to his fiance.
  • Riddler's plot in "What is Reality" is to simply keep Batman and Robin occupied long enough saving Gordon so that he could destroy any information of him being Edward Nigma, stating flat out near the end that "Edward Nigma no longer exists."
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Bullock.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: While everyone likes to bring up "Mad Love" as an example of the Joker being extremely abusive to Harley, they seem to forget that "Joker's Millions" ended with Harley beating the hell out of HIM because he hadn't paid to get her freed from Arkham, opting to hire a "replacement" Harley instead. The scene is played pretty much for laughs.
  • Also notable, "Harlequinade." Harley gives it her genuine best shot to murder the Joker, not to defend herself from any clear and present danger, nor even because he had almost blown up Gotham with her in it. She was just mad about not being included in his plan to the point that she tried to kill him out of jealousy.
• The Dragon:
  • Candace, Rupert Thorne's associate, is his right-hand in almost all criminal activities.
  • Miriam is Baby-Doll's confidant and all-around assistant.
• Dramatic Spotlight: In the episode in which Baby Doll first appears.
• Drugged Lipstick: Poison Ivy.
• Dungeon Bypass:
  • The Riddler's maze in "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" Batman hijacks a flying "Hand of Fate".
  The Riddler: That is grand-scale cheating, Batman! You're not supposed to tamper with the Hand of Fate!
  Batman: I don't believe in fate!
  • Harley's hyena's burst through a wall to attack Boxey after Harley calls for them.
  • In the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns section of "Legends of the Dark Knight," Batman first appears by crashing through a wall to grab a thug.
• Dude Magnet: Poison Ivy, luscious sexpot that she is, hasn't a shortage of male admirers, something she isn't shy about exploiting, often just for her own sultry amusement.
• Dutch Angle: Used in a lot of episodes, for instance in "Double Talk", where it represents The Ventriloquist's confusion as to what is real and what is imaginary.
• Dynamic Entry: A staple of any Batman story, its occurrences are too numerous to list.

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