Trivia / Beware the Batman

• The show's creators mention that they created a replica of this show's version of the utility belt out of cardboard, to test and see how it would work in motion.
• Distanced from Current Events: The guns were re-edited in more of a sci-fi style following the 2012 mass shooting tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.
• Invisible Advertising: This show and Teen Titans Go! replaced the previous DC Nation, but you wouldn't have known that from the total lack of advertising for this show, which had been mostly been shown to the public through press releases alone until a few weeks prior to the premiere. Teen Titans Go!, on the other hand, has been given lots of advertising weeks before it premiered and technically airs in a primetime slot with reruns on DC Nation.
• Network to the Rescue: The show moved to Toonami on May 10th, where it aired all 26 of its episodes before CN executives wrote off the series as a financial failure and forbade reruns.
• No Export for You: Despite having its Latin American dub for all 26 episodes, has not aired in Latin America. At least the DVD releases in US (Region 1), Mexico (Regions 1 and 4) and Argentina (Region 4) include this dub.
• Playing Against Type:
  • As with The Federation President, Henry Langston and Shyir Rev, we have Kurtwood Smith playing a much nicer character than he usually plays. Like the latter two, we also have Smith playing a better father than Red Forman and Mr. Perry. He's also playing one of the most famous cops in fiction, whereas one of Smith's more famous roles was Clarence Boddicker.
  • It's incredibly unsettling listening to Anarky knowing he was once Andy French.
• Role Reprise:
  • Tara Strong voices Barbara Gordon, reprising her voicing of the character in the DC Animated Universe.
  • In the French dub, several voice actors from previous adaptations reprised their roles here:
    • From the DC Animated Universe: Jean-Claude Sachot as Lieutenant/Commissioner Gordon and Philippe Peythieu as Man-Bat/Kirk Langstrom.
    • From The Batman: In addition to Gordon, Adrien Antoine as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Chantal Baroin as Oracle/Barbara Gordon, and Thierry Murzeau as Killer Croc.
    • From Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In addition to Batman, Oracle, and Killer Croc, Jean-Claude Donda as Ra’s Al Ghul.
    • From Batman: Arkham City: In addition to Batman and Gordon, Jérôme Pauwels as Harvey Dent.
• Screwed by the Merchandise: Mitch Watson revealed that, in addition to CN's lack of support, what cost this series another season was the lack of a toyline. Mattel initially contacted Watson and Glen Murakami about working on toys before changing their mind, mentioning that they already had a current toy line they were focusing on. With no financial support, the show was doomed to only last one season.
• Screwed by the Network: The Invisible Advertising and erratic scheduling after the first few weeks were bad enough. Then it was pulled from the schedule altogether and left in limbo for months with no official word from Cartoon Network about the show's fate. Cast members assured that it would return in early 2014, and even that changed as their promised dates came and went. Keep in mind the episodes had already all been produced; they were airing in New Zealand this whole time and some of the episodes were released on DVD before they had ever aired in the states; Cartoon Network just outright refused to air the show or even comment on its ongoing status one way or the other. Eventually Toonami came to the rescue...
  • But even Toonami rescuing the show was in vain. Cartoon Network wrote off the show financially, preventing it from airing on Toonami ever again. At least Toonami kept to their word and gave the show a 7-episode marathon so that it could at least reach its conclusion.
  • Given the climate of entertainment today, where comic book adaptations are some of the hottest properties around, the fact that Cartoon Network either could not or would not make a killing off a Batman show is mind-boggling. Batman is the single best-selling comic book there is, and has already had five successful television adaptations going back to the 1960s— to say nothing of his films and video games. Batman prints money, he's the very definition of a cash cow, to the point where DC's basic marketing strategy sometimes feels like "Make everything as similar to Batman as possible." There are no words, basically, for how hard you have to try to not have a successful Batman adaptation. Even the Toonami promos for the above-mentioned 7-episode finale marathon seemed to highlight the ridiculousness of the situation, ending with a very telling quote from the show:
    It wasn't supposed to end like this.
  • At the end of the day, the only possible explanation as to why Cartoon Network screwed Beware is because it was very expensive to produce, as well as its historic preference for comedies over action shows due to pressure from Moral Guardians, and even though it was getting over a million viewers per episode during the DC Nation run (the ninth episode, "Control", garnered 1.52 million viewers), they pulled the plug and went all-in on Teen Titans Go!, and the rest is history.
• Short Run in Peru: During the late 2013-early 2014 hiatus, new episodes continued to air in New Zealand, of all places.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The Creeper was at one point considered to be in the show. Villains such as Mad Hatter, Nocturna, and Hush were also considered, with the last one being replaced by a similar villain (likely Deathstroke, due to borrowing characteristics from Hush).
  • There were considerations to do a show centered around Superman and Batman that went through at least two different forms (one was dark and apparently kind of like Escape from New York, while the other focused on Batman and Superman living together, as well as being much lighter than what the show would become). The latter was also going to feature Wonder Woman and a relationship between the three. (around the 23:40 mark).
    • Adding onto this, James Tucker would've been in charge of development with Mitch Watson.
  • In an interview, the show's creators commented that it would be focused more on Bruce Wayne, and would show "the three faces of Bruce": the millionaire playboy; the paranoid shut-in; and Batman, the moderator between the two sides.
  • Designer Shane Glines actually had concept art◊ ready for Two-Face.
  • There was actually concept art for the Joker in the series despite the many claims that he wouldn't have been used. It was most likely a change made later on to differentiate from other adaptations.
  • The episode Tests turned out differently according to Jim Krieg. He said how he and the producers originally envisioned Anarky with a different origin story. He would've been a giddy, young masked vigilante that would've seemingly been on Batman's side, similar to Robin, before his true colors were revealed.
  • Glen Murakami revealed a rough sketch of what the Outsiders line-up would've looked like in season two: In addition to Batman, Metamorpho, and Man-Bat, Cyborg and a Robin-like Red Arrow would've joined the team. Also, Murakami revealed that Tatsu would've become the show's version of Nightwing, while Barbara would've become Robin, resembling Carrie Kelley.
    • Head writer Mark Banker mentioned that other plans included new villains, the return of Killer Croc and a "big reveal".
  • Mitch Watson mentioned in an interview (28:35) that he wanted to portray Oracle in a wheelchair, as in the comics, but Cartoon Network did not want to have characters in wheelchairs because "it was too depressing".

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