A new crime-fighting tool - D.A.V.E. (the Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator), a computer program designed to think like a supervillain - causes trouble when it escapes and starts to act out on its knowledge.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Actor Allusion: In this episode Jeff Bennett voices D.A.V.E., he had also voiced a rogue Artificial Intelligence in the previous Batman cartoon.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Guess. Subverted. Hugo Strange programmed him to be evil in the first place.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Batman does this to D.A.V.E. by asking him what his origin story is.Batman: Every great Supervillain has an origin, too... What's yours?
- Break Them by Talking: He follows it up by informing him that he’s a computer program.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: D.A.V.E uses this to figure out who Batman really is. First he narrows down the pool by the amount of people in Gotham who have both the fitness and the wealth to be Batman. Then he narrows it down to Bruce by asking "Who would have the motive [to become Batman]?".
- Badass Longcoat: The only article of clothing D.A.V.E. ever wears, stolen from a tech at the lab where his robotic body is built.
- Card-Carrying Villain:
- D.A.V.E. was literally programmed to be the ultimate villain.
- Hugo Strange proudly admits that he programmed his obsession of Batman into D.A.V.E., and considers himself to be the true ultimate criminal mastermind.
- The Chessmaster: D.A.V.E. is never surprised by anything Batman says or does - until the end.
- Deducing the Secret Identity: D.A.V.E. deduces Batman's identity by cross-referencing everyone in Gotham City against Batman's gender, approximate age, build, resources, and motivation to fight crime, and attempts to use this to manipulate him.
- Didn't Think This Through: Professor Strange didn't consider that Batman would find out that D.A.V.E. escaping was an engineered accident, and get the doctor incarcerated.
- Do Androids Dream?: Neither Alfred nor Bruce seem to think of it, but not recognizing that he was a computer program could be a sign that D.A.V.E. was sentient.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind" can either refer to D.A.V.E., a rogue A.I. programmed to be the ultimate Batman villain, or Hugo Strange, the man responsible for creating and releasing D.A.V.E. for the sole purpose of defeating the Batman. Strange even claims himself to be the real "ultimate criminal mastermind" at the end of the episode.
- Evil Is Hammy: D.A.V.E. also came packaged with a flair for the dramatic.
- Gilligan Cut: After Strange comments that D.A.V.E will proceed to carry out his preprogrammed supervillain impulses, Commissioner Gordon asks how he'll do that without a body. It the cuts to a factory where D.A.V.E. proceeds to build himself a body.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: What D.A.V.E. appears to be, at first. Turns out, everything it does was completely intentional on Strange's part.
- Graceful Loser: Professor Strange takes his incarceration in stride. After all, he'll always have another opportunity to destroy Batman.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: D.A.V.E. is killed by the giant penny that he had positioned above Alfred to fall at the right time.
- Ironic Echo: "Every superhero has an origin." So should every supervillain.
- Later, after failing the "Ultimate Crime", Alfred quips that D.A.V.E. will make the "Ultimate addition to the trophy room."
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Hugo Strange is finally arrested after all of the illegal and villainous acts he'd been getting away scot-free from.
- Logic Bomb: Batman is finally able to stop D.A.V.E. by asking him a question; what is his origin? The robot can only rattle off other villain's stories, making it realize it has no real identity.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Strange doesn't see his incarceration in Arkham to be anything more than just an office transfer. In fact, he patiently plots his next scheme to destroy the Batman from the comfort of his cell.
- Multiple-Choice Past: When D.A.V.E. is asked by Batman what his origin is, he discovers he just has a lot of contradicting backstories taken from previous supervillains.
- The Needs of the Many: Alfred while tied to a chair urges Batman that the city needs Batman more than Bruce needs his Butler. Batman doesn't listen.
- Sadistic Choice: Employed and Lampshaded by D.A.V.E - Batman must either save Alfred or save his secret identity.
- Shout-Out: D.A.V.E is in many ways this to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- D.A.V.E. commandeers his new clothing in a manner reminiscent of another evil robot:
- Take a Third Option: Bruce attempts to do this instead. Unfortunately, D.A.V.E. anticipated it.
- Tempting Fate: When being informed that Strange's computer believes it's a villain, Commissioner Gordon asks how it could it enact its plan if it doesn't have a body. Turns out getting a body is its first plan.
- Title Drop: Numerous times by D.A.V.E., since he fancies himself as this, plus one by Professor Strange at the end of the episode.
- Verbal Tic: Did you know that D.A.V.E. is smarter than you? Did you know that D.A.V.E. knows every move you'll make before you do? Did you know D.A.V.E. figured out your secret identity from publicly available information? If not, don't worry; D.A.V.E. will tell you, at length, whether you want him to or not.
- Villainous BSoD: D.A.V.E., when Batman tells him he's a computer and he realizes he never considered the possibility.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Yeah, keeping around a supercomputer that thinks it's a supervillain. Let's see how that works out. Except that was exactly what Hugo Strange wanted.
