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"Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. To be sure, this is a lighter incarnation, but it's certainly no less valid and true to the character's roots as the tortured avenger crying out for mommy and daddy."
Bat-Mite breaks the fourth wall to describe this incarnation of Batman

The second non-DC Animated Universe Animated Adaptation of Batman by Warner Bros., announced after The Batman ended.

Taking its name from DC's traditional Team-Up Series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold has Batman partnering with a different superhero or superheroes every week. With a primary focus on rarely used (but classic) characters such as Red Tornado, Detective Chimp, and even 'Mazing Man the show takes many of its plotline inspirations from old Silver Age stories. The show's creators aim to spotlight every possible underrated aspect of the DC universe. In order to showcase as many heroes and villains as possible, The Teaser is often a standalone mini-adventure in itself, giving every character a chance to shine.

It's a light-hearted take on the DC Comics mythos, with a high gag-per-minute level, very little secret-identity drama, and mainly goofy Card Carrying Villains like Clock King and Gorilla Grodd. The massive number of obscure cameos and canon throwback jokes make the whole series into a big, campy collection of Continuity Porn. In general, it's not that far from the style of the '60s Batman show, but still maintaining much of the sense of awesomeness and badass that has defined Batman since the DC Animated Universe. There's a Musical Episode starring Neil Patrick Harris, a crossover with Scooby-Doo which also animates an old MAD parody titled "Bat Boy and Reubin" and Bat-Manga and stars "Weird Al" Yankovic, and a Cold Open team up with Space Ghost.

The show is way over on the silly side of the Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness, but it also has a number of Wham Episodes: the show provides its own versions of The Rainbow Batman and Bat-Ape just as happily as it references The Killing Joke and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

The show is notable for having the first animated appearance of the Blue Beetle, specifically the third Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes (though Dan Garrett and Ted Kord also make posthumous appearances). It's also the animation debut of The Outsiders (as a team, anyway; Metamorpho had a supporting role on Justice League). Among them are Black Lightning and Katana, finally making their official debuts in animation. It also marks the first television appearance of the original Flash, Jay Garrick, as well as the Jack Kirby creations Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth and O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps. And when A-lister Superman finally appears in season three, his character-centric episode consists of half an hour of nods to Superdickery.

The show's first season was originally supposed to run for 13 episodes before a break, but it was so well received that the break until the next episode aired was shortened to a single week, extending the first season well past its original run. After three excellent seasons, the creators decided to wrap up the show. A darker CGI series dubbed Beware the Batman succeeded it in 2013.

This series has Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame as a side-scrolling video game adaption released in 2010. While the gameplay received positive to mixed reactions, its presentation is agreed to be staying true to the series.

The series was briefly revived in the 2018 film, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a crossover with the Scooby-Doo franchise.

This series has a separate Characters Page and a Recap Page. It also has an Ensemble Darkhorse page.


This show contains examples of:

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    #-B 
  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Most, if not all, the vehicles in the series seem to be CG of varying degrees of conspicuousness, e.g. Black Manta's tripod in "Enter the Outsiders!" and Batman's bike in the same scene.
  • 555: 555-0129 is Catwoman's phone number.
  • Abnormal Ammo: In "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous", the Joker uses a gun that fires bullets that turn into boxing gloves.
  • Aborted Arc: The return of Equinox in Season 3 set up a storyline to destroy the remaining 11 fragments of his consciousness, but the show was abruptly wrapped up before it could play out.
  • Absurdly-Spacious Sewer: The pipe under the Tiger Fortress in "Last Bat On Earth!" and the villain's hideout in "Enter the Outsiders!"
  • The Ace: This take on Batman returns him to the Silver Age roots, where he has a gizmo for every circumstance, defeats every foe (most of the time single handed, regardless of his partner of the week), almost never has any real challenge from the villains, and every female super hero is madly in love with him.
  • Actor Allusion:
  • Actually a Doombot: How Lex Luthor escaped from prison.
  • Adam Westing: "Chill of the Night!" goes the extra mile. We have Adam West and Julie Newmar (Batman and Catwoman) as Thomas and Martha Wayne. Kevin Conroy plays the The Phantom Stranger and Mark Hamill plays The Spectre, making a wager for Batman's soul. In a story focused on the death of Bruce Wayne's parents, written by Paul Dini.
    • Adam West returned later to voice the character Proto, a bumbling beta-test robot.
    • In the final episode "Mitefall!", Bat-Mite mentions that a sure-fire way to run a show off the air is to bring in Ted McGinley. So he brings in Ted McGinley.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The show has an episodic format, and character designs are taken from all over the history of DC, such as Green Arrow in his Golden Age look alongside the modern-day Blue Beetle and his techno-organic armor.
  • Adaptation Origin Connection: "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" shows Batman training alongside Bronze Tiger and the Terrible Trio in flashbacks.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: The show usually tries to keep faithful to the comics characterizations, but it does sometimes change things to keep the drama flowing, or just for the sake of it.
    • Adaptational Heroism: The Klaramar race in the comic books are all composed of Faceless Hunters, but there is only one Faceless Hunter in this series with the rest of the species, according to his word, peaceful. Hence why he personally asked Starro to destroy them.
    • Adaptational Villainy: Batwoman (a.k.a. Katrina Moldoff) was hit especially hard with this. In the Silver Age, she was at worst a Girly Girl who nevertheless saved Batman's life multiple times; here, she's a Heroic Wannabe who needlessly endangers civilians and eventually becomes a full-blown villain (with a good dose of Straw Feminist to boot). DC notably forbade the writers from using her comics identity of Kathy Kane.
      • Professor Zee was changed from a law-abiding, unwitting instigator of Per Degaton's Time Travel villainy to Degaton's gleefully evil Mad Scientist sidekick; it almost seems like the showrunners had a certain other Professor Z on the brain.
  • Adaptation Name Change:
    • Recurring Blue Beetle villains the Madmen are renamed the Madniks in this show.
    • The Crime Syndicate appear under the name Injustice Syndicate.
  • Adapted Out: The Injustice Syndicate are the show's interpretation of the Crime Syndicate, but Owlman is the only member from the comic version's roster to appear, with no indication at all that Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick are members. Ultraman and Superwoman's omissions are somewhat understandable, given that the episode in question aired before the restrictions preventing Superman and Wonder Woman from appearing on the show were resolved.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal:
    • Batman appears to be taking speech lessons from The Crimson Chin.
    • Joker picks it up while he's the protagonist in "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous".
    • AQUAMAN actually gets into an alliteration battle with Penguin in "Night of the Batmen!"
    • Taken to the extreme when Captain Atom has an Imagine Spot of what Batman does when he fights:
      "Your deluge of destruction is over, Despero!"
      "Your wicked winds wane tonight, Weather Wizard!"
      "Your sinister subterfuge cease now, Star Sapphire!"
      "Your titanic tantrum of terror terminates tonight, Giganta!"
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: Archaeology professor John Ulthoon a.k.a. Red Tornado tells his students that real archaeologists are nothing like this. Then he runs off to save some kids from being hit by an out-of-control truck and spends the night fighting Fun Haus with Batman.
  • After the End: Kamandi's time period.
  • A God Am I: Equinox near the end of "The Fate of Equinox!".
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: As seen when Red Tornado attempts to build a son with emotions.
  • Air-Vent Passageway:
    • Averted in "Menace of the Conqueror Cavemen!", as the air vents are cramped. They also shake and make a good deal of noise when Batman and Booster crawl through them. Fortunately Kru'll isn't paying attention.
    • Also subverted in "Deep Cover for Batman!" as the disguised Dark Knight tries to make his way to the captive Red Hood through air vents large enough to stand in. Unfortunately, trying to sneak up on a wind elemental villain like Silver Cyclone through the ventilation system isn't that good an idea.
    • Played dead straight in "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", where Batman and the Blue Beetle enter the villain's lair through an extensive network of ducts large enough for them to stand side by side.
  • Alien Geometries: A standard-issue Escher magical library in the Batman Cold Open of "The Eyes of Despero!". Batman is largely unfazed by the shifting gravity, and actually uses it to good effect.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Fan Wank up an explanation at your peril.
  • All-Cheering All the Time: In a fight with Hellgrammite, Batman asks the Creeper for some support. The Creeper goes into a cheerleader routine, to which Batman responds "Not what I had in mind."
  • Alliance of Alternates: "Game Over for Owlman!", where multiple alternate Batmen team up at the end of the episode to defeat an evil alternate universe version of Batman.
  • Alliterative Name:
    • The Mirror Universe seems to like this. The Injustice Syndicate includes the Blue Bowman, the Scarlet Scarab, and Silver Cyclone.
    • Plastic Man seems to have taken a page from Batman's book in another episode, referring to one of his enemies, Rubberneck, as a "latex leviathan".
  • All Just a Dream: The dark episode "Shadow of the Bat," in which Batman turns the whole Justice League International into vampires, turns out to be a hallucination caused by a bite from Dala
  • All Up to You:
    • In the very first episode, Batman is captured by Kanjar Ro, leaving the greenhorn Blue Beetle to save the day without his Powered Armor, no less.
    • In "The Eyes of Despero!" Batman's plan revolves around his team distracting Despero long enough for G'nort to break Despero's control over Mogo.
    • "Day of the Dark Knight!" has Batman fall under Morgan le Fay's control. Green Arrow, whom the major characters have largely ignored up to this point, is the only one in a position to help.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Used at the end of "The Fate of Equinox!"
  • Alphabet Architecture: In the episode "Emperor Joker", a near-omnipotent Joker reshapes some buildings in Gotham City to spell "The Joker" during his Villain Song.
  • Always Someone Better: The heroes who join in on the "Drives Us Bats" number in the Musical Episode express this.
  • Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: Jaime Reyes has one of these in the form of a scarab. Not that he needs it to get the job done, mind you.
  • Anachronism Stew: "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" has for the Scooby-Doo crossover the Scooby Gang of The New Scooby-Doo Movies (circa 1972-1974), with the action of the 60s Batman series (Batman and Robin punching the Joker and Penguin, with Scooby and Shaggy getting a magical courage boost and joining in), and "Weird Al" Yankovic with his looks since the late 90's (until then, Al usually had his mustache on). All of this was due to Bat-Mite using his reality-warping powers.
  • Analogy Backfire: In "Cry Freedom Fighters!", Plastic Man declares that he is "as patriotic as Benedict Arnold!" (Yes, technically Benedict was patriotic... to England... but that's definitely not what Plas was trying to say.)
    • There's also the argued point that Benedict Arnold was a dedicated American patriot initially, but continuously getting mistreated and screwed over by his fellow officers for little reason eventually convinced him to turn heel.
  • And the Adventure Continues: The ending of "Time Out For Vengeance!"
  • And I Must Scream: Assimilation by the Reach. Luckily, it can be overcome.
  • Animation Bump: Any episode featuring Plastic Man, due to the large amount of lively squash and stretch animation involved.
  • Animorphism: The Totem causes Fox, Vulture, Shark, Bronze Tiger and Batman to turn into... well, what you might expect.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Three members of Barry Allen's Rogues Gallery (Captain Cold, Heat-Wave and Weather Wizard), though they're quick to deny it when confronted. When Kid Flash and Jay Garrick show up, they briefly perk up, only to be disappointed when it's not the right Flash, lamenting that it's just not the same. When the main Flash returns at the end of the episode, they're ecstatic.
    Heat Wave: Flash was creative. He'd have run circles around us, spinning away our oxygen!
    Weather Wizard: All you do is punch and kick like a child throwing a tantrum.
    Captain Cold: The old Scarlet Speedster would vibrate his molecules right out of that bronze.
    Weather Wizard: With a smile and an "aw, shucks" that just made you wanna rip him to shreds, you know?
    (all three sigh)
    Batman: You...miss him.
    Captain Cold: Who, us?
    Heat Wave: Miss the Flash?
    Weather Wizard Don't be absurd.
    • Subverted in "Emperor Joker!" - after killing Bats, Joker gives him a brief eulogy, then promptly resurrects him and puts him through a Death Montage.
  • Anvil on Head: In the cold open of "Day of the Dark Knight!", Guy Gardner battles an alien by forming his Green Lantern energy into a variety of heavy objects (including the traditional pyramid-shaped multi-ton weight, a cruise ship, and a grand piano) and dropping them on his opponent.
  • Angels Pose: The Birds of Prey involuntarily pulled one in the episode "The Mask of Matches Malone" while standing back to back on a stage.
  • Anticlimax: In "Inside the Outsiders!", after seeing Katana's heartwrenching backstory, Batman enters Black Lightning's nightmare expecting to see some similar trauma. He finds Black Lightning attacking civilians over putting sprinkles in coffee and wearing white after Labor Day.
  • Anti-Villain: In "The Vile and the Villainous!", Joker and the Weeper destroy Batman's crime predicting machine, ensuring the freedom to commit villainy for all of Gotham's criminals.
  • Anyone Can Die: While many villains seem to have Joker Immunity, the heroes are not so lucky.
  • Apocalypse How: Emperor Joker causes an X-4, destroying the whole universe, leaving an empty white void with himself, his henchmen, Batman, and Bat-Mite. He then builds a room made of cards in its place.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Green Arrow, frequently.
    • One episode sees him and Batman teleported from the site of a prison breakout to fifth century Britain, courtesy of Merlin Ambrosius. Arrow doesn't believe a word of Merlin's explanation until one of one of his arrows turns into a bird.
    • In a later episode, Batman possesses Speedy in an effort to communicate with Green Arrow after being Buried Alive by Gentleman Ghost. Arrow just figures his sidekick is messing with him.
    • Later still, he does not buy evil doubles from a parallel universe. This is while he's teamed up with a stretchy guy, a teenager wearing an alien superweapon, and a robot who makes tornadoes.
  • Arc Villain:
    • Deep Cover for Batman! - Game Over for Owlman!: Owlman and the Injustice Syndicate, joined by a collection of recurring villains (including the Joker, when he inevitably betrays Batman).
    • Second half of Season 1: Equinox.
    • Starro arc: Starro, with the Faceless Hunter as The Heavy and Dragon Ascendant.
    • The Knights of Tomorrow! - Darkseid Descending!: Darkseid.
    • Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Crimson Cloak/Clayface as The Heavy for the Riddler.
  • Arm Cannon: Blue Beetle has a pair of these, and Black Manta gets one too.
  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Bronze Tiger and Fox.
  • Arsenal Attire: In "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous", the Weeper has a handkerchief that can be used as a sword and a lasso (amongst other things).
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • Almost literally, when Red Tornado lists Fun Haus's convictions:
    Red Tornado: "Felony robbery. Parole violation. Felony assault. Jaywalking."
    • Also qualifies: "This show's closing early, Music Meister, due to criminal intent! And bad reviews."
    • Plus, there's an inversion in "Chill of the Night!" when a dying man confesses that he hit a kid when he was nine, yelled at his wife, lied about his weight on his driver's license, and spent 20 years running the rackets in Gotham.
  • Art Shift: Throughout most of "Chill of the Night!", Batman's costume is a good deal darker than usual, reflecting the mood of the episode.
  • Artistic License – History:
    • Sherlock Holmes and Watson were real people!
    • In "The Mask of Matches Malone", Nefertiti is said to have been given a cloak by the goddess Bast. However, Nefertiti was one of the only Egyptian queens who didn't worship the Egyptian Pantheon.
  • Ascended Extra: Joker gets a lot more focus in season 3.
  • Ascended Fanboy:
    • Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, was apparently a superhero fanboy even prior to gaining the scarab; specifically, it seems, a Batman fanboy. You can imagine his glee when he actually gets to save the world with his hero.
    (after blocking lasers that would have otherwise hit Batman)
    Blue Beetle: Whoa, I just saved Batman. (super hyped/pumped up) I JUST SAVED BATMAN!!
    • Blue Beetle also seems to be the only one excited to work with AQUAMAN.
    • Bat-Mite is a fifth-dimensional imp who can do just about anything... and his hero is the ever-three-dimensional Batman.
  • Ascended Meme:
    • The first episode features a justified invocation of "What Would Batman Do?"
    • "Darkseid Descending!" has Booster Gold stealing Green Lantern's bedroom on the Watchtower.
    • The Season 3 premiere, "The Battle of the Superheroes!" contained many comic examples of Superdickery, as once seen on the eponymous website.
    • "A Bat divided!" has Batman split up between Brain, Brawn and Heart. Except the Heart is super laid back and relaxed, and the Brawn part is super aggressive. When all three personalities are at the Bat-Cave Heart!Batman is eating a plate of nachos like he was regularly served by Alfred in The Batman. (And a certain fan outcry hated that Batman was eating Nachos)
    Brawn!Batman: BATMAN DOES NOTEAT NACHOS! GRRRRR!
  • As Himself/Ink-Suit Actor: "Weird Al" Yankovic and Jeffrey "Roastmaster General" Ross.
  • Asteroids Monster: Chemo's silicon-based microbes in "Journey to the Center of the Bat!"
  • Attack Its Weak Point: See Colossus Climb below — apparently ogres are weak in the nose.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Tiny" the Enormous Ape in "Last Bat On Earth!"
    • "The Fate of Equinox!" features a 50-Foot Equinox that can only be defeated by a 50-foot Batman with every hero's powers, wearing the Blue Beetle's armor and a Green Lantern Ring.
    • Starro vs. Alloy
    • Emperor Joker becomes this when he sets out to warp and destroy Gotham, the world, and then the entire universe. All during his Villain Song!
  • Attack Pattern Alpha: Evasive Subroutine Two-Niner.
  • Auction of Evil:
    • Catman's bidding war in the teaser of "Legends of the Dark Mite!".
    • Joe Chill also holds one in "Chill of the Night!".
  • Audible Gleam: Plastic Man fails his willpower roll vs. temptation when a diamond goes "ting!" at him in a room full of money. It audibly gleams again when Plastic Man forces himself to give it back at the end of the same episode.
  • Author Appeal: Of course Zatanna would be Batman's partner for the Batman Cold Open in an episode written by Paul Dini.
  • Author Filibuster: Bat-Mite does this on behalf of Paul Dini in one episode, in the middle of a fight no less. See the page quote.
  • Award-Bait Song: Parodied in the musical episode "Mayhem of the Music Meister", with the number "If Only", which plays exactly like a 90s love pop ballad you would have heard at the end of a movie but contains lyrics like "A brave man, like no man, Be my man, Batman... If only he could love me, he could love me, If only he could love me, like he loves fighting villainy."
  • Babysitting Episode: A very Lower-Deck Episode shows 'Mazing Man catsitting, which he also did in his eponymous comic book.
  • Badass Family: In "Aquaman's OUTRAGEOUS Adventure!", Mera and Arthur Jr. join AQUAMAN in fighting against the mooks in the end and they kick ass.
    • Also in "Chill of The Night!" when Batman is briefly transported back to a period of time when his parents were still alive, Martha Wayne is taken hostage and he teams up with his father to save her. This scene is made even more awesome by the fact that Thomas Wayne is voiced by Adam West.
    • The Future-Waynes and the entire Batman legacy in "The Knights of Tomorrow!".
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Red Hood, with the suave voice to match.
  • Badass Normal:
    • In the Batman tradition, the main character is this, even if this incarnation relies more on gadgets and superpowered allies.
    • Wildcat holds up against supervillains well into his old age just using his boxing skills.
    • In "Trials of the Demon", Sherlock Holmes proves himself as one too, managing to keep up with (and, in a few cases, stay a step ahead of) Batman and his partner for the week against demons and sorcerers for quite some time.
    • Jonah Hex. There hasn't been a cooler badass cowboy since Vigilante à la Justice League Unlimited.
  • Bad Guy Bar: '8 Bar', where supervillains hang out in costume, drinking and shooting pool.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Done with an odd inversion in "Joker: The Vile and The Villainous" where since Joker is the hero of the story, naturally the villain (Batman) would beat the hero.
  • Bad Habits: One episode opens with Batman disguised as a priest and listening to a mafia don give his confession while dying from an illness, as the man's strength fails, Batman angrily and desperately pushes him to name the man hired to kill the Waynes.
  • Bad Santa: Fun Haus uses evil robot Santas—which are swiftly becoming their own subtrope— as Mecha-Mooks.
    • Not to mention the evil Biker Santas (a Shout-Out to The Badger?) in "Legends of the Dark Mite!"
  • Badass Biker: Huntress.
  • Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: In the opening segment of "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!", a silhouette emerging from a portal originally appears to be Batman, but turns out to be the Joker.
  • Ballad of X: "The Ballad of Batman" in the Animated Music Video Teaser for "Night of the Batmen!"
  • Balloon Belly: Because of his rubbery body, Plastic Man is very prone to it. In "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", he stuffed himself with Grodd's loot when he was tempted by one of his kleptomania fits. Later, in "The Long Arm of the Law!", he intentionally gorged on water as a tactic to stop Rubberneck.
  • "Bang!" Flag Gun: One of the Joker's weapons in "Game Over for Owlman!"
  • The Baroness: Baroness Paula Von Gunther in "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!"
  • Basement-Dweller: The Calculator in "Night of the Huntress!", who oddly has his original design, but his modern age job.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: In "The Super-Batman of Planet X!" he can, and does so to knock a meteor away from Zur-En-Arrh.
  • Batman Cold Open: Each episode begins with one, appropriately enough— the only exceptions to date being "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", "Deep Cover For Batman!" and "Game Over For Owlman!" (which is the sequel to "Deep Cover")
  • Batman Gambit: When Joker becomes omnipotent, Batman remarks that the only thing he has left is his sanity. This is a ploy to get Joker to infiltrate his mind, a place where Batman would be in control. While Joker could have very easily driven Batman insane by snapping his fingers, Batman knew Joker well enough to know that he never takes the quick path, as demonstrated earlier with the Rube Goldberg machine.
  • Batman Grabs a Gun: Played with in the Grand Finale. Bat-Mite, trying to get the show cancelled, alters the show dramatically with many jump the shark mainstays, while Ambush Bug tries desperately to prove to a disbelieving Batman that it's not right for him to have a wife, a sickeningly cute daughter, and obvious toy tie-in gear. He finally gets Batman's attention when Bat-Mite makes him use guns, which Bug points out is completely Out of Character for Batman, and this makes the turning point of the episode where Batman starts fighting back as well.
  • Bat People: "Last Bat on Earth" has Batman and his ally Kamandi visiting the future Batcave to retrieve some equipment to fight Gorilla Grodd. The cave, however, has become the home of a race of Man-Bats, who are fiercely territorial. Batman and Kamandi are able to beat and drive them out, but Defeat Means Friendship at the end of the episode when the leader of the Bats declares Batman one of their own and joins the fight against Grodd.
  • Battle Couple:
    • B'wana Beast and Vixen are adorable.
    • Batman and Catwoman in "The Knights of Tomorrow." Hell, Batman proposed to her right after they beat up a couple of criminals.
    • Adam Strange and Alanna.
  • Beast Man: The empires of Kamandi's After the End time are populated by anthropomorphic animals.
  • Becoming the Mask: In "The Mask of Matches Malone", Batman goes undercover as Matches, gets Easy Amnesia and begins to think of himself as Matches. In this persona he fights superheroes and practically takes over Gotham's underworld. He becomes the mask so strongly that the Applied Phlebotinum du jour, which grants nine lives to each person who wears it, apparently counts Batman as a separate person from Malone for that purpose.
  • Bedlam House: Even in this adaptation, Arkham is positively brutal.
  • Berserk Button: " PLATELET!" You Bastard!!
    • Gorilla Grodd doesn't take kindly to being referred to as any kind of lesser primate.
      "MONKEYS?!"
    • Black Lightning has too many to count.
    • Don't mess with Martian Manhunter's cookies.
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: In "Cry Freedom Fighters!", the Supreme Chairman's battle suit includes a stinger tail.
  • Big Damn Hero: The Question in "Darkseid Descending!"
  • Big Red Button: There's a nice, shiny one of these in the Batmobile. You really don't want to touch it. It knocks the person who pressed it out.
    • The Joker's car has one too, except this one deploys jack-in-the-boxes. It even honks when it's pressed!
    • When Joker goes to Kamandi's future, there's a big red button on the altar to "Icbm" (an ICBM): "Oooooh, what does this button do?" BOOM!!!
  • Big Shadow, Little Creature: Mr. Mind.
  • Bird Caged: Zatanna does this to Abra Kadabra in "Chill of the Night!".
  • Bittersweet Ending: While "Mitefall!" ends with the show being cancelled, Ambush Bug made sure Batman stayed true to his character, and gave at least a dignifying ending for the episode and show.
  • Bizarrchitecture: The Library of Infinity.
  • The Blank: The heads of the GPA in "When OMAC Attacks!"
    • Also Yor, the Faceless Hunter from Saturn.
    • And The Question too.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • In the opening proper of "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!", Red Tornado startles Batman.
    Red: I'm sorry if I startled you.
    Batman: I wasn't startled.
  • Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Jonah Hex and Cinnamon do this to the Royal Flush Gang in The Teaser to "The Siege of Starro, Part 1!".
  • Body-Count Competition: Between Green Arrow and Bats in "Day of the Dark Knight!"
    • In the flashback opening of "Sidekicks, Assemble!" Robin, Aqualad, and Speedy hold one in a fight-simulator to decide who will lead the group.
  • Bodyguard Babes: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", Batman poses as mobster Matches Malone and has Black Canary, Huntress and Catwoman pose as his bodyguards.
  • Body Horror: Being infected by Chemo's parasites creates large, painful-looking bumps all over Batman's body.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: AQUAMAN. When announcing the name of Black Manta, his voice spontaneously echoes. It's almost as if they were trying to be as distant from every other depiction of him (especially the one in Justice League, where he was a barely containable rage case and loose cannon) as possible. AQUAMAN's voice also spontaneously echoes when he names the "Mystery In Space!" adventure "The Strange Encounter of the Reptile Men!"
  • Bond One-Liner: The Red Hood has a good one after he puts an end to Silver Cyclone.
    Red Hood: Who's broken now, Cyclone?
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: The very first scene of the very first episode features Batman and Green Arrow being locked in a slow-moving Death Trap by a villain (Clock King) who promptly leaves to commit his next crime and leaves their gear sitting right there in the same room.
  • Boob-Based Gag: When Batman is body-swapped with Katrina Moldoff, he is tied to a chair and attempts escaping, only to fall to the ground, whereupon he realises that, in Katrina's body, his centre of gravity is much... ''higher'' than usual.
  • Book Ends: The first season opens and closes with Batman/Green Arrow Cold Opens.
  • Bottomless Magazines: In "Day of the Dark Knight!", Green Arrow and Bats never seem to run out of ammo, be it trick arrows or Bat-gadgets.
  • Bound and Gagged: Happens at a number of points.
  • Bowdlerise: Lampshaded in "Bat-Mite Presents Batman's Strangest Cases!". In the Bat-Manga segment, Lord Death Man is Killed Off for Real when he crashes a helicopter into some power lines, but Robin hastily adds that he probably parachuted to safety (which he obviously didn't). Bat-Mite points this out as an example of a Dub Induced Plothole. Meanwhile, in the Scooby-Doo crossover, Batman, Robin, Joker, and Penguin aren't allowed to actually fight, resulting in a silly chase scene. After a quick lampshading from Bat-Mite, he uses his Reality Warper powers to remove the no-fight clause.
  • Bowled Over:
    • In the Batman Cold Open of "Invasion of the Secret Santas!", the Sportsmaster traps a championship bowling team in giant pins and rolls an oversized bowling ball at them. Batman saves the day by breaking the ball, with his fists.
    • During the climax of "Legends of the Dark Mite!" Batman rides one of the Tweedle brothers and sends Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and Two Face flying.
  • Brain Theft: In the opening segment of "Night of the Huntress", Grundy's goons are about to cut open somebody's head because "the boss wants a bigger brain". An unusual example in that Grundy intends to replace his own brain rather than transplant it into a new body (it doesn't make much sense, but Grundy isn't very bright and his henchmen presumably know better than to raise objections).
  • Brains and Brawn:
    • Both the Atom/AQUAMAN pair and the Brain/Chemo, in the same episode.
    • As well as Dr. X/Double X, in keeping with the original version of the character with the names but making Dr. X more physically feeble to highlight the duality.
  • Breaking the Bonds: An attacking shark in "Evil Under the Sea!", after Batman tied its mouth shut with the cable of his grappling hook.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Bat-Mite does so regularly, but the Joker also gets in on the action with his commentary in "Death Race To Oblivion!"
  • Breakout Character: AQUAMAN. Promotional material put more emphasis on other supporting heroes like Green Arrow and Blue Beetle, but AQUAMAN emerged as the most popular character. There was even several episodes where he was the actual main character.
  • Bridge Logic: Kamandi. Using a billboard.
  • Bring It: In "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!", Wong Fei does the "come and get it" hand gesture.
  • Brown Note: The Music Meister can hit a pitch that hypnotically controls anyone who hears it.
    • The fiend!
  • Buffy Speak: "FLIRTERERS!"
  • Building Is Welding: In "Chill of the Night!", a flashback to Batman's origin shows him using a welding torch to create his first batarang.
  • Bullet Seed: Plastic Man, in "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", with the portion of Grodd's loot he swallowed in the hope of keeping some for himself.
    Plastic Man: I can't believe I'm doing this.
  • Burn the Witch!: The Cavalier attempts to burn Batman and Green Arrow at the stake in "Bold Beginnings!". Not that he actually thinks they are witches, but it is a Death Trap in keeping with his criminal motif; which is The Cavalier Years.
    • In "Trials of the Demon", a mob attempts to do this to Jason Blood.
  • Busby Berkeley Number: More of an Esther Williams number, actually, with the Atlanteans in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!"
  • Busman's Holiday: "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!", a little different in that AQUAMAN willingly goes looking for adventure while on his family vacation.
  • Busman's Vocabulary: Football coach Ronnie Raymond. "Look, kid, it's almost the end of the season-" "Semester." "Whatever."
    • It gets worse. Apparently, he's also a chemistry teacher.
      Raymond: And they pass for a touchdown! ... Thus forming a covalent bond, any questions?
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In "Chill of the Night." Joe Chill's murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne set Bruce off on the path to becoming Batman, but Chill doesn't seem to think much about the event himself; when Batman furiously confronts him over it, Chill's immediate response is, "That was a lifetime ago!"
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Plastic Man.
    • In his debut episode, Speedy does little apart from getting possessed twice in succession.

    C-D 
  • Cain and Abel: Orm's one-sided hatred of his brother AQUAMAN.
  • The Cameo:
    • During Bruce and Selina's wedding in Alfred's story Clark Kent AKA Superman can be seen in the front row, in his usual Clark Kent disguise.
    • "Night of The Batmen!" has a plethora of cameos at the end, Batman Beyond, The Batman and The Goddamn Batman.
  • Camp: The series is lighthearted and cheesy, for the most part.
  • Cane Fu: The Riddler displays some mad Cane Fu skills in "The Criss-Cross Conspiracy!", using his cane to deflect a barrage of batarangs.
  • Canis Latinicus: In the Batman Cold Open for "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", Cobra chants a ritual in Latin; what's he saying? "Latin language catch-all" (Lingua Latino Catchnibus Omnibus).
  • Cape Wings: Batman's cape transforms into a fully-functional jet-powered glider.
    • In "Trials of the Demon!" James Craddock (the future Gentleman Ghost) transforms Batman's cape into a literal pair of these, in the form of a giant bat that picks him up and flies off.
  • Captain Ersatz:
    • Batman's form at the end of "The Fate of Equinox!" (combining the powers of various heroes) resembles that of the Marvel Comics villain, the Super-Adaptoid, the first time he duplicated the powers of the Avengers (except the Adaptoid was green, not blue).
    • The Faceless Hunter is an obvious Captain Ersatz of the Silver Surfer, with an almost completely identical backstory. Played for Laughs at first, then subverted when his master is killed, when it turns out that the Faceless Hunter isn't trying to save his home planet. He just genuinely likes destroying things. And then B'wana Beast dies.
      • It's even worse than that. He came from a completely peaceful planet, and as a hunter, he was a societal outcast. So he arranged for Starro to destroy his planet in exchange for letting him (the Hunter) work for him. That reveal served as a retroactive Moral Event Horizon for him.
    • The fictional film Holiday for Neptunians mentioned in "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" is almost certainly a copyright-friendly reference to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
      • Speaking of which, the episode's villain Fun Haus is generally believed to be a substitute for the Toyman, whose rights at the time were likely still bouncing between the Smallville and Superman Returns people.
    • Kru'll the Eternal is ONE of both Vandal Savage and the Shazam! foe King Kull, with a hint of Darkseid's son Kalibak.
    • Most of the Batman (1966) villains who cameoed went unnamed, specifically because WB hadn't sorted out the rights by 2008. The two that got speaking parts and thus had to be credited went under new names: Pharaoh for King Tut and Ma Murder for Ma Parker.
  • Car Cushion: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", Catwoman throws 'Matches' Malone (a.k.a. Batman) off the roof of a building and he smashes through the roof a car. Mind you, the fall technically did kill him.
  • Cartoon Bomb: One of the Joker's weapons in "Game Over for Owlman!". Given how he spends much of the fight running around with it in the background before it goes off, it reads very much like a reference to that time Batman did almost the exact same thing.
  • Cassandra Truth:
    Batman: The criminal you're looking for isn't me. He's my evil double from a parallel world.
    Green Arrow: ... Riiiiiight.
  • Casting Gag:
    • "Legends of the Dark Mite!" features a brief stopover at a convention to get feedback. Diedrich Bader (Batman's own voice actor) voices the fan who denounces the show and insists this is not his Batman.
    • The Bat-Manga segment in the episode "Batman's Strangest Cases", which was presented in-story as an episode of a Batman anime dubbed in English with the theme song somewhat inspired by that of the English dub of Spectreman, has Batman voiced by Corey Burton. Corey Burton was one of the actors involved in Spectreman's English dub.
    • Kevin Conroy, easily the most famous Batman voice actor, voices The Phantom Stranger in "Chill Of The Night" and the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh in "The Super Batman from Planet X".
    • Ambush Bug appears in the episode about Jumping the Shark, and he's voiced by the Fonz himself.
    • Robin in the Scooby-Doo segment of "Batman's Strangest Cases" is voiced by Jason Marsden, doing a pastiche of Burt Ward and Casey Kasem's respective Robins. Rather appropriate since he portrayed the former in Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, a TV movie biopic about the making of the 1966 series.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: Batman with a number of his team ups. His conversation with Mr. Miracle on the Rollercoaster of Death could be the best example yet.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Deadman: "Are we gonna stand here and twiddle?"
    • AQUAMAN: "Outrageous!"
  • Cephalothorax: The alien criminal in the cold open of "Day of the Dark Knight!", as well as one of the Green Lanterns battling it.
  • Cerebus Syndrome:
    • Season two gets a little dark in places. B'wana Beast, we hardly knew ye. Also, how many of you, at the beginning of "The Last Patrol!", wished Beast Boy had been there too... and were so very glad he wasn't by the end?
    • On top of that, there's "Chill of the Night". One of the darkest episodes in the series, it has Batman facing the one and only Joe Chill (otherwise known as the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne).
  • Chained to a Railway: Happens to Batman in "Emperor Joker!".
  • Character Development: Several characters undergo this over the course of the show.
    • In the very first episode, Jaime Reyes has just become the Blue Beetle, and his inexperience shows. By the end of season two, he's holding his own in fights and helping less experienced heroes learn the ropes, just like Batman did for him.
    • The Outsiders first appear as a group of delinquent kids lashing out against a society that won't accept them. By the end of the series, they're not only established superheroes, they've expanded their team far beyond the original three members.
    • Plastic Man goes from "barely reformed crook" to "hero, husband, and father."
  • Charity Ball: The Phantom Stranger takes Batman back in time to witness Bruce Wayne's parents attending one.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower:
    • Things Batman has successfully beaten up include, in ascending order of ridiculousness: Gorillas, sharks, bowling balls (which shattered!), giant man-eating snapping turtles, gods and an extinction-level meteor (off-screen).
    • There's also Wong Fei, the martial arts master he studied under, and his other students, the first of which can knock people around by poking them.
  • Christmas Episode: "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"
  • Chromatic Arrangement: Crazy Quilt's Color Guard and Color Cannon. Appropriately Lampshaded.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Uncle Sam can always be revived by patriotic spirit (And not necessarily American spirit, either).
  • Clear My Name: "Game Over For Owlman!"
  • Cleavage Window: Ice has one.
  • Clock King: Complete with one amazingly cheesy getup and posse.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Doctor Fate's helmet. Though Batman's been teaching him how to box.
    • Similarly, Booster Gold's gadgets; A force field generator, wrist-mounted lasers and a Legion Flight Ring give him all the powers he has.
  • Clothing Switch: Batman and Superman do this when facing Lex Luthor to prevent Superman being affected by Lex's Kryptonite ring.
  • Cloudcuckoolander:
    • Woozy Winks.
    • Ice could also count.
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: In "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!", AQUAMAN promises Mera that he will stop crime-fighting and take a family vacation. Cue him running into supervillains and heroes out to foil them left and right; there's even a montage of these encounters.
  • Color Character: Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Bronze Tiger, Black Canary, etc.
    • Their Mirror Universe counterparts use different colors, but with Added Alliterative Appeal: the three we meet are Blue Bowman, Scarlet Scarab, and Silver Cyclone. There's also Red Hood, counterpart to the Joker.
  • Colossus Climb: Batman in "Day of the Dark Knight" pulls this on an ogre, then seals the deal with grenades into its nostrils. A similar case happens in "Trials of the Demon" (and both are incidentally Etrigan episodes).
  • Combining Mecha: Fun Haus has one in "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"
    • The Metal Men also display the ability to merge into a giant Metal Man by the name of Alloy in "The Siege of Starro!"
  • Comically Missing the Point: Captain Atom learns the wrong lesson from the events of "Powerless". Instead of coming to respect the abilities of a Badass Normal like Batman, he decides that people without superpowers are even weaker/more vulnerable than he originally thought.
    • Ice has a crush on AQUAMAN, but when Fire informs her that he's married, she assumes it's "To his work".
  • The Comically Serious: While he is light-hearted enough to make a pun now and then, Batman continues his long tradition of dealing earnestly with his ludicrous surroundings. In addition, The Atom is this next to AQUAMAN, until he decides to just give up on trying to think logically.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: A minor example. In "The Battle of the Superheroes!" Lois Lane is visibly disappointed that Batman saves her from falling to her death instead of Superman.
  • Composite Character:
    • Kru'll the Eternal combines elements of King Kull (brutish savage with the mind of a genius, the last of his ancient race, overall design including distinctive helmet) and Kalibak (voiced by Michael Dorn, who was Kalibak in Justice League and Superman: The Animated Series, distinctive laser-shooting warclub), with Vandal Savage's origin tossed in for good measure.
    • General Kafka and Shrapnel are combined into one character as well.
    • Owlman's design seems to be a mix between the Justice Lord Batman from the Justice League animated series as well as his own from the comics.
    • Firestorm is one, no pun intended given his nature. The show uses Jason Rusch as the main body, but the show's version of Rusch also made him similar to Martin Stein in that he's interested in science. And filling Stein's role as a mentor? An older version of Ronnie Raymond, who in the comics was the original Firestorm. Note how this kind of twists around the original Firestorm's dynamic twice.
    • Black Mask's design mixes the fedora and brown suit of the original Bronze Age version with the skull-like mask of the Modern Age version.
    • Mister Mind starts out in his classic design (a cartoony inchworm with glasses and a voice box) before transforming into his more monstrous modern design.
    • Mirror Master uses the tech of the Sam Scudder version, but has a Scottish accent, like the later Evan McColloch incarnation.
    • A location-based variant — though the Justice League's orbiting base resembles a modernized version of the JL Satellite from the 70s and 80s comics, it's identified in dialogue as the Watchtower, which was introduced in the late 90s comics, then migrated over to the Justice League cartoon.
    • Jarvis Kord is still Ted's Evil Uncle and a Mad Scientist, but he takes on some traits of Max Lord, including being voiced by Tim Matheson, who voiced Lord in Justice League Unlimited and his role as Ted's killer.
    • This show's interpretation of the Red Hood is a composite of the original Red Hood (who in some continuities was the identity the Joker used prior to falling into the vat of chemicals that transformed him into the Clown Prince of Crime we know and love) and the Jokester (the Joker's heroic counterpart from the Crime Syndicate's universe).
  • Continuity Cameo: The episode "Day of the Dark Knight!" begins with a prison breakout; among the prisoners are Adam West series villains including the Bookworm, King Tut, Louis the Lilac, Egghead and the Siren. And most notably, the face of the Clock King under his mask resembles the actor who played him in the 1960s show (Walter Slezak).
  • Continuity Nod: Even Sherlock Holmes gets one, as one of his first lines in his episode references the events of Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Adventure of the Empty House.
  • Continuity Porn: Two words: Detective Chimp.
    • Ambush Bug's obscurity is even lampshaded.
    • The single most jam-packed episode (not counting the last episode's denouement) is probably either "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" (where the "Drives Us Bats" sequence alone cameos more villains than other DC cartoons use in a season) or "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!" (which name-checks virtually every city of note in the DC Universe... and then some).
  • Continuity Snarl: "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" shows a flashback of Bruce and his family going to a movie of an superhero Bruce wanted as an action figure for Christmas, the same night his parents were killed. But later, "Chill of the Night!" shows the Wayne family coming home from seeing Zorro.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment:
    • Orm's punishment for his actions is to listen to AQUAMAN read from his memoirs. Given how much he hates AQUAMAN's "inane adventure stories", it's actually quite fitting.
    • Another example would be Spectre dealing with Prof. Milo by transmuting him into cheese and releasing cyborg rats on him.
  • Cool Car: The Batmobile, as always; the red highlights just make it even cooler. (It can transform into a motorcycle, a plane, a submarine, and mecha.)
    • To a lesser degree, the Arrowcar/plane/Other Shapes To Come.
  • Cool Old Guy: Wildcat, Mentor and Grumpy Old Man; and The Flash, Jay Garrick version.
  • Corrupted Character Copy: "The Criss Cross Conspiracy" features a crime-fighting "Bat Lady" named Katrina Moldoff, who closely resembles Kathy Kane, the original Bat-Woman in the comics. She goes off the rails and tries to kill the Riddler.
  • Costume Copycat: Both Batman and Owlman employ this tactic.
    • The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, though completely by random chance.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Lampshaded in a conversation between Jaime and Paco about if Batman could take on a mind-controlled Superman if he didn't have any Kryptonite. Jaime says he could. Using kryptonite. Because Batman always has Kryptonite.
    • And in "Terror on Dinosaur Island!":
      Plastic Man: Tell me you have a plan, Bat... ape?
      Batman: I always have a plan.
    • In "Game Over for Owlman!", as in the comics, it turns out Batman has contingency plans to take down his fellow heroes should they ever turn rogue. Too bad Owlman had access to those too.
    • Not to mention the aforementioned Big Red Button in the same episode, which apparently is only there just in case Batman is stuck riding in the Batmobile with somebody who can't resist pushing big red buttons.
    • Batman even had iron batarangs with him in "Trials of the Demon!"
    • Batman has an auxiliary batcave hidden in the Lincoln Memorial.
    • Batman pulls out a freaking lightsaber in the Cold Open of "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!" It comes back a few times after that, as well.
    • Green Arrow, like always, seems to have just the ridiculous arrow for any occasion. Including multitargeting electric arrows and Nth metal arrowheads.
    • Joker himself shows tendencies of this. When Batman put him in handcuffs, he revealed that he was wearing fake, detachable hands (as well as having a number of other objects up his sleeve).
    • Faceless Hunter has this as well, coming prepared with a counter for anything Batman could throw at him. The fights between them pretty much boiled down to just who was more Crazy-Prepared. Batman was, by grabbing one of Faceless Hunter's own weapons to beat him.
  • Creator Thumbprint: "Chill of the Night!" feels like something straight out of Batman: The Animated Series thanks to its grittier writing and use of artistic motifs from BTAS, like showing Batman as a silhouette with bright white eyes and coloring the night sky red. This may have something to do with the episode being written by Paul Dini, one of the men behind BTAS.
  • Crossover: The opening teaser for the episode "Bold Beginnings!" is just this as it features Batman teaming up with Space Ghost (with Gary Owens reprising the role) to combat Creature King and his army of astrodactyls and moon apes.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • To Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in "Triumvirate of Terror". Their main nemeses (Joker, Lex Luthor, and Cheetah, respectively), tired of being defeated, agree to trade dance partners—Joker fights Wonder Woman, Luthor takes Batman, and Cheetah goes after Superman. The heroes, unused to the tactics of villains they aren't familiar with, are subdued and captured with embarrassingly minimal effort on the villains' part.
    • In Darkside Descending, Darkseid shows up. He deflects the League's attack and blows them away with a single strike. Then Batman challenges him to single unarmed combat. Batman hits him once. Just... once.
    • Batman snags some super-speed bracelets in order to challenge Professor Zoom. Zoom, equipped with his own set of bracelets to enhance the super-speed he already has, takes him down in less than a minute.
    • Batman spends most of the climactic fight in "Trials of the Demon" getting blasted by demon breath or dark magic every time he tries to intervene.
  • Curse Cut Short: In Battle of the Superheroes after red Kryptonite changes Superman's personality to a Jerkass.
    Jimmy Olsen: Superman's turned into a real d-
    Lois: "Different person!"
  • Cuteness Proximity: AQUAMAN seeing Batman and The Atom while they're stuck at the size of ants.
    AQUAMAN: You're so cute. I could just put you in my pocket and keep you there forever.
    The Atom: Focus!
    AQUAMAN: Yes. Focus, right.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Black Manta uses an enormous tripod to steal a grand total of ONE armored truck. Seriously.
    • Given how talented he is, The Music Meister could have easily had a lucrative singing career without having to resort to satellites and death traps. We wouldn't have gotten that great episode, though.
  • Cynical Mentor: Wildcat, originally towards Batman and later to the Outsiders.
  • Damsel in Distress: Black Canary had about a minute and a half of it during "Death Trap" in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!".
    • Black Canary spends much of "The Golden Age of Justice" being tired of the JSA treating her like one of these, despite the fact that she's a full-fledged superhero like them. Then, at the end, she saves the rest of the group after Per Degaton renders them helpless by aging them up.
    • Subverted in the teaser segment of "Chill of the Night". Zatanna is silenced and therefore rendered helpless by the villain, but ultimately frees herself and even gets in her crowning moment of awesome by not only defeating said villain, but rescuing Batman as well.
    • Subverted again in "The Mask of Matches Malone", which has Black Canary, Catwoman and Huntress tied up (and in Canary's case gagged) over a death trap, only for them to pull off an awesome last minute escape. Unsurprisingly, the episode was scripted by longtime "Birds of Prey" writer Gail Simone, who has more than once stated in interviews that she detests the perception of Black Canary as a damsel in distress.
  • Dance Party Ending: The final scene of the show is a wrap party as the Batcave "set" is hauled away.
  • Danger Room Cold Open: In the Batman Cold Open to "Duel of the Double Crossers!" Batman advises the inexperienced Outsiders from afar; in the end of the teaser it's revealed to be just a holographic simulation.
  • Darker and Edgier: "Chill of the Night!" compared to the rest of the series. In fact, Batman's costume in the episode is presented as literally darker than normal for this show.
  • Dark Reprise: Compare the circumstances of Bat-Mite's first "That's All, Folks!" moment to his last.
  • Dating Catwoman: Jonah Hex and Lashina, Batman and Catwoman (though Batman says his interest in her is "just rehabilitation").
    • Lampshaded by Green Arrow.
      Green Arrow: "You're flirting, aren't you? You are flirting! FLIRTERERS!"
    • The episode "The Knights of Tomorrow!" takes it further, exploring the possibilities that arise from marrying Catwoman.
  • Deadly Dodging: Slacker Batman's mode of fighting.
  • Deadpan Snarker: AQUAMAN brushes briefly with this in the Ra's al Ghul episode.
    AQUAMAN: I think I'll call this adventure "The Time Batman Sent Us To The Wrong Island!"
    • Catwoman serves this role throughout "The Mask of Matches Malone!", even while in the face of death:
      Catwoman (in reference to the bandages around Black Canary's mouth): On the bright side, at least we don't have to hear Canary sing!
      Black Canary (glares angrily at Catwoman): Uh hate uw!
      Catwoman: I love you too, dear.
  • Deal with the Devil (or rather, a devil): This, apparently, the Gentleman Ghost's origin.
  • Death by Cameo: Gleek appears as a stuffed trophy of the Faceless Hunter in "The Siege of Starro".
  • Death by Secret Identity: Joe Chill.
  • Death Dealer: The Joker throws razor-edged playing cards at Wonder Woman in "Triumvirate of Terror!".
  • Death is Cheap: Surprisingly, given how light and silly this show is otherwise, this trope is totally averted. If someone dies onscreen — and the end of the episode doesn't reveal that it was All Just a Dream — they stay dead for the entire run of the series. Even Red Tornado, a robot who could be rebuilt, complies with this rule.
  • Death Montage: Poor Batman suffers through this in "Emperor Joker!". Throughout this montage he gets crushed by a giant hammer, dropped into the Acid Pool, incinerated to ashes by a flamethrower, Chained to a Railway and run over by a train, guillotined, Eaten Alive by a Threatening Shark, etc. And at each painful, comedic death he goes through, the Joker brings him back to life only to kill him again. It is not until the Dark Knight gets worn out from all the deaths he endured that the new Clown Emperor decides not to kill him again, as his repeated killings start getting rather boring.
  • Death Trap: Lampshaded in an entire song in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!"
  • Deceptive Disciple: Fox, Vulture, and Shark.
  • Decomposite Character:
    • Signalman makes a few cameos on this show, with his alias Blue Bowman reinterpreted as Green Arrow's Injustice Syndicate counterpart.
    • The Joker's successor in "The Knights of Tomorrow" is loosely based on Joker Junior from Superman & Batman: Generations, with the difference of being a separate person from the Joker he trained as part of his revenge against Batman instead of the original Joker disguising himself as his own son.
  • Defiant to the End: Wildcat, when captured by Slug in "Enter the Outsiders!"
  • Deliberately Non-Lethal Attack: "Legends of Dark Mite" sees Bat-Mite place Batman up against a group of bank robbers that Bat-Mite turns into ninjas while arming Batman with katanas. Bat-Mite comments that Batman is deliberately using the flat sides of the blade to enforce his no-killing policy.
    Bat-Mite: (geeking out) No heads go flying, but it stings in the morning!
  • Dem Bones: Gentleman Ghost raises an army of skeletons in "Dawn of the Dead Man!".
  • Demonic Possession: A not-so demonic example with Deadman's powers.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!" has Special Edition Titles that declare the title of the show Joker: The Vile and the Villainous...then pops up the subtitle card giving the name of the episode as "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!".
  • Determinator: In one episode Batman has broken bones in all his limbs and will need weeks at least to recover. In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that multiple other heroes are standing in for him in Gotham, and in spite of the telepathic superpowered Martian Manhunter's best efforts, Batman manages to avoid being sedated, build a powered exoskeleton while eluding Manhunter, and get back to Gotham in time to save the other heroes. The exoskeleton is also supposedly good enough for Batman to be able to function normally while healing. The guy does not know how to take a break.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Happens every now and then (Batman OHKO'ing Mongul with a punch from the Batmobile's mech form), but subverted with Darkseid. He is absolutely barraged by all of the assembled heroes, only to deflect everything with a telekinetic bubble before blowing everyone back. Batman manages to avoid the Omega Force beams and actually manages to slightly faze him with a pair of super-knuckledusters, only to be sent flying. From there on out, Batman doesn't even manage to scratch Darkseid, and when The Question shows up and reopens the Boom Tubes, it is made very clear that Batman would have been annihilated on the spot had that intervention not occurred.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: In "Emperor Joker!", courtesy of Joker in his Villain Song, "Where's the Fun in That?" Really, you have to see this video to believe it.
  • Disney Death: Happens to Batman nine times each in "The Mask of Matches Malone!" and "Emperor Joker!", with the Dark Knight being brought back from death by the Cloak of Nefertiti as Matches Malone in the former, and by the Joker in the latter. Sound familiar?
  • Distracted by the Sexy: In the episode "Night of the Huntress!", Blue Beetle is distracted by Huntress's sex appeal instead of having his head in the game during the fights:
    Blue Beetle: I'm sorry! Your hotness distracted me!!
  • Distressed Dude: Steve Trevor, in keeping with his silver age portrayal, constantly gets captured, requiring Wonder Woman to save him.
  • D.I.Y. Disaster: In "Darkseid Descending!", Skeets's attempts to fix the air-conditioning on the satellite results in it spouting out flames.
  • Does Not Like Guns: Batman realized Bat-Mite was messing with his life in the finale when Bat-Mite gave him guns.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the prologue before "Chill of the Night!" featuring Bats teaming with Zatanna, they take on the evil master magician Abra Cadabra. He battles Zatanna, and in order to keep her from verbalizing her spells, gags her, and then promptly does the old scarves-down-the-throat gag... which lasts curiously long and looks, well...
  • Doom It Yourself: The 'Mazing Man story in "Four Star Spectacular!"
  • Double Entendre: "Birds of Prey" is some sort of glorious tribute to Double Entendres and censors that are asleep at the wheel.
    • Sadly, the attention the internet paid to this number has resulted in Cartoon Network failing to air the episode at all in the US.
  • Dumb Muscle: Boy genius Roland Desmond thought he would be able to amplify his muscles to match his brains, but that didn't pan out the way he'd planned after he turned into Blockbuster. Also Lead of the Metal Men (though the entire team is pretty childlike here, Lead is the standout and the most obviously lacking in intelligence). And arguably AQUAMAN. Also Rubberneck.
    • And Proto.
  • Dungeon Bypass: The Haunted Tank does it exactly like the trope picture through a shipping yard.

    E-F 
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: In "Rise of the Blue Beetle!", one of Jaime's posters depicts Batman and Guy Gardner going up against Starro; when Starro appears in season 2 the characters are completely unfamiliar with Starro. Additionally, the space station Batman and Blue Beetle defend from a meteor is apparently supposed to be the ISS, yet looks like the 1970s/80s Justice League Satellite; said base (albeit named as the Watchtower) reappeared in season 2 in a flashback to the original Justice League, and again when Batman formed the Justice League International.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The teaser for "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!" ends with Joker pressing the button on the Omega warhead. Which blows up the Earth.
  • Easily Forgiven: AQUAMAN's completely unwilling to give up on his brother again no matter what he does or how Obviously Evil he is. (Though he does eventually learn that it's not wise to trust him.)
  • The Eeyore: AQUAMAN (of all people) comes close to becoming this in "Mystery in Space!". Happily, he gets better.
    • Also villain-protagonist The Weeper is one in "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous"
  • Ejection Seat: Appearing in the second episode, as Batman ponders ejecting an annoying, talkative Plastic Man.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: The Bat Cave.
  • Electric Torture
  • Embarrassing Statue: In "Rise of the Blue Beetle!", Batman and Jaime Reyes end up on a planet whose inhabitants see the Blue Beetle as a great hero, with a statue commemorating him. After the day is saved, the inhabitants honor Batman with a statue of his own... which is only half the size of the Blue Beetle statue.
    Batman: (bemused tone) They say it's the thought that counts...
  • Emotion Bomb: Weeper's cane can create rainclouds that cause despair.
  • Emotion Eater: Psycho Pirate.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: A good number of episodes involve a hero using their abilities to temporarily give Batman superpowers. Like the time where he gets a suit of Green Lantern's Ring-based armor, or a suit of armor made from the Metal Men, or the combined powers of all the heroes seen so far.
    • Also, when Batman goes to Zur-En-Arrh, he gets the powers of Superman... well, mostly.
  • Empty Shell: Aquaman briefly in "Mitefall!" when his voice actor quits until a new one comes in.
  • End-of-Series Awareness:
    • The show's final episode "Mitefall!" has its plot hinge on the fact that it was the end of the series. Bat-Mite tries to retool the show until it gets cancelled in order to make room for a darker Batman show, with Batman and Ambush Bug doing everything they can to prevent the current show's cancellation. While Bat-Mite succeeds in getting Batman: The Brave and The Bold cancelled, the episode ends with a wrap party attended by many of the show's characters and Batman assuring the audience that he'll always be around to continue fighting crime no matter what happens.
    • The second comic book tie-in, The All-New Batman: The Brave and The Bold, ended the 16th and final issue with Bat-Mite being upset upon learning that the comic has been cancelled. Batman cheers him up by pointing out that he can still re-read all of Batman's comics as long as he has them.
  • Enemy Mine: Batman and Joker, especially in "Game Over for Owlman!".
  • Enlightenment Superpowers
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Bats gains a few vital seconds asking a power-hungry Superman what his parents would think of his actions.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: In "Chill of the Night" Lewis Moxton on his death bed feels that, despite acting on orders, Joe Chill went too far in shooting Martha Wayne, feeling that it was wrong leave young Bruce without a mother.
  • "Everyone Comes Back" Fantasy Party Ending: The end of "Mitefall!".
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Made fun of in "Long Arm of the Law!". After beating Kite-Man, Plastic Man makes a lame pun and both he and Woozy start laughing, with Batman just standing there for a full minute before he just walks offscreen.
  • Evil Brit: Gentleman Ghost.
  • Evil Costume Switch:
    • Batman himself, briefly, in "Day of the Dark Knight".
    • Tornado Champion becomes Tornado Tyrant after adding a lot of black and purple armor to make him much bigger as well as a few other pointy attachments.
  • Evil Counterpart: The Gas Gang to the Metal Men. Both are based upon particular sciences (The Metal Men on alloys and The Gas Gang on gases), but while the Metal Men want to better the world, the Gas Gang want to make it better for themselves. Further punctuated by them sharing some of the same actors as the Metal Men (Bill Fagerbakke, Lex Lang, Brian Bloom, and Hynden Walch).
    • The Injustice Syndicate are alternate-universe evil counterparts to Batman and many of the heroes he teams up with.
  • Evil Laugh: Fairly commonplace for the series itself, but The Music Meister has it down to an art. Maybe he saw a voice coach.
  • Eviler than Thou: Silver Cyclone in "Deep Cover for Batman!".
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Tornado Tyrant's voice is deeper than Tornado Champion's.
  • Excalibur: Appears in the "Day of the Dark Knight!" episode, as Excalibur in the Stone.
  • Evolving Credits: After the dynamic shots of Batman doing action, there's a drum riff in the opening credits that showcases a cast of heroes that Batman teams up with during the series. Second to last B'Wana beast shows up. But after his death in the season 2 finale The Siege of Starro! Part 2, he is swapped around with Jonah Hex.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: From "The Super-Batman of Planet X!":
    Rothul: Your aim is terrible!
    Batman: Is it, Rothul?
    (Cue Oh, Crap! moment as the robot Rothul is standing on explodes)
  • Exact Words: Part of Gentleman Ghost's origin story. He made a deal to trade ten souls to the demon Asteroth in exchange for Immortality. When the time came, Asteroth promised that his soul would "never pass from the Earth." It turned out that this did not stop him from dying—he just came back as a ghost instead of passing on.
  • Expospeak Gag: In "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!":
    Blue Beetle: It's like no time's passed since we left!
    Batman: Due to the quantum anomalies of wormholes, none has.
    Batman voiceover: Of course, that's just a fancy way of saying "...that's weird."
  • Expy:
    • Morgan Le Fay is almost identical to Disney's Maleficent, both being powerful evil witches obsessed with gaining power who magically transform into dragons to fight the heroes, even both dying from being stabbed in the stomach by a magical sword while in dragon form.
    • At least visually, the show's version of Katana was influenced by Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill.
    • The show's version of AQUAMAN is basically an aquatic version of The Incredible Hercules.
    • Fun Haus substitutes for Toyman and/or Prankster with some Joker tendencies, but no one's really sure.
    • Slug seems to be a stand-in for Sleez from the New Gods and/or Tobias Whale, in terms of looks and personality.
    • Scream Queen is a redesigned Silver Banshee.
    • The Music Meister strongly resembles a modernized version of The Fiddler, using singing instead of violin-playing for his mind control.
      • He much more closely resembles Fiddler stand-in Music Master from the Justice Guild episodes of Justice League, down to the wild hair and gapped teeth.
    • Equinox shares a similar backstory and obsession with balance to Silver Age Libra.
    • The Faceless Hunter to the Silver Surfer, with a twist. That twist being he's everything the Surfer isn't. Norrin became the Surfer in exchange for Galactus sparing his world. The Hunter became Starro's herald in exchange for Starro destroying his world (rather than enslaving it).
    • Ted Kord's heroic death has much more in common with that of Captain America's sidekick Bucky than his actual death in the comics.
    • The Haunted Tank jumps a drawbridge, has a horn that plays "Dixie", and is driven by the ghost of a civil war soldier.
    • In the final episode, Bat-Mite inserts a deliberate expy of Scrappy-Doo into the show in an attempt to get it cancelled.
  • Eye Beams: Black Manta
  • Eye Lights Out: How we know Tornado Tyrant is "dead". Similarly, how we know Red Tornado is "dead" when the Faceless Hunter is shown dispatching the heroes that Starro couldn't control.
  • Eye Scream/Fingore: In one episode Bats throws a cactus at the Ten-Eyed Man, who has ten eyes, one on each finger. He catches it automatically, then drops it screaming in pain. "My eyes! My eyes!"
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: The aforementioned Ten-Eyed Man, and also Mutant Master from the episode featuring the Doom Patrol.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Batman under the vampire curse, in "Shadow of the Bat!" It seems to suit him, too. He's using every vampire power ever listed to great effect, and have you ever seen him smile that much?
  • The Faceless: The Question... and Batman himself. This extends to Robin's flashbacks and even covering Owlman's unmasked face in shadow. Similarly, the camera only ever shows Red Hood's real face in shadow, but it's still quite easy to tell that he's really Mirror Universe's Joker, even if you don't get the Mythology Gag.
    • We see Bruce Wayne's face in "Chill of the Night!" Oddly enough, he looks almost identical to Bruce Wayne as he appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.
    • Then, of course, there's the Faceless Hunter.
  • Face Palm: Batman after Plastic Man fails to recognize the president.
  • Failsafe Failure: Tornado Champion's, naturally.
  • Faint in Shock: In the cold open of "Enter the Outsiders!", a bystander faints at the sight of Bwana Beast's Two Beings, One Body powers in action.
  • Faith in the Foe: Batman is being framed for various crimes by Owlman. Who is the person who believes in Batman's innocence and comes to his aid to help prove it? None other than The Joker.
  • Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: When Batman tracks down the members of the Doom Patrol in "The Last Patrol!", he finds Negative Man working as a sideshow freak in a seedy carnival.
  • Falling Chandelier of Doom: Batwoman attempts to use one to stop the Riddler in "The Criss-Cross Conspiracy!". She misses.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Kru'll the Eternal.
    • And averted with Wildcat and B'wana Beast, who are definitely good guys and don't exactly have Cute Little Fangs.
  • Fanservice: The "Birds of Prey" number in "The Mask of Matches Malone!", in which every superhero is a Mr. Fanservice who lacks some... attributes compared to the Birds of Prey.
  • "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: The Atom and AQUAMAN journey inside Batman in "Journey to the Center of the Bat!".
  • Fastball Special: Etrigan does this with Batman in "Trials of the Demon!", to Bats' surprise.
    • And Uncle Sam does it with Doll-Man in "Cry Freedom Fighters!".
  • Fat Bastard: Slug from "Enter The Outsiders!"
  • Fever Dream Episode: "Shadow of the Bat!"
  • Fiery Redhead: Guy Gardner.
  • Finger Poke of Doom: Wong Fei in "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!"
  • Flashback Twist: In episode 1, after Blue Beetle's suit starts acting of its own accord:
    Batman: This kind of thing happen often?
    Cut to a cat stuck in a tree. Blue Beetle reaches to help it down, but his suit's arm turns into a whirling blade that defoliates the entire tree. The traumatized cat leaps down to attack him. Cut back to present.
    Blue Beetle: Uh... no...
    • In episode 2, "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", we see Plastic Man's origin story, as Plas points out that Batman only helps him try to be a hero because he feels responsible for the accident that gave him his powers. A few scenes later, we see how Batman went out of his way to stick up for Plas after the fact, an indication Plas feels guilty for not living up to Batman's trust and faith.
    • In "Invasion of the Secret Santas!", we see a sad Flashback Twist explaining why Batman crimefights even on Christmas. He misses his mom and dad, who were gunned down in Crime Alley. Then we see a further Flash Back, and realize young Bruce was in the middle of a bratty sulk over not getting a toy even though his parents had tried to make it up to him. A moment later, his parents were killed. On Christmas Day.
    • Anything Booster Gold says about himself in "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!"
    • In "Sidekicks Assemble!":
      Green Arrow: I've always treated Speedy well. (flashback) Quick, retrieve my bow from that crocodile pit!
  • Flying Firepower: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Halo, and Firestorm all show up.
  • Floating Continent: Ra's al Ghul uses a flying island as his base of operations in "Sidekicks Assemble!".
  • Flung Clothing: How the Music Meister changes from one costume to another: from Liberace to Mozart, to Prof. Harold Hill to Kiss, to Hendrix to Elvis.
  • Follow the Bouncing Ball: Used in Plastic Man's sing-a-long improvised version of "Yankee Doodle".
  • Forced to Watch: Comically inverted in "Emperor Joker!": after Bat-Mite becomes powerless by accidentally giving all his powers to the Joker and making him a Reality Warping god, the new Clown Emperor would use his newfangled cosmic powers to kill the Dark Knight and then bring him back from the dead. To make matters worse, he attempts to make Batman go insane. Despite Harley Quinn's pleas to spare the lives of Batman and Bat-Mite, the Joker complies of sparing Bat-Mite by turning him into a Jester!Harley version of him, then forcing him and Harley to watch (along with the newly-created Joker-Mite) while the Clown Emperor forces the Dark Knight through a comedic, torturous Death Montage in an attempt to make him go insane! Poor, powerless Bat-Mite... or is that Harley-Bat-Mite?
  • Foreshadowing: During the opening number in "Mayhem of the Music Meister", Batman handcuffs Black Canary and Green Arrow together. By the end of the episode they're together, and don't need handcuffs for it.
    • A minor and most likely unintentional example, but in the episode "Deep Cover for Batman" Scarlet Scarab (The Earth-23 counterpart to Blue Beetle) mentions having the heart of a hero. While he meant actually meant it literally, the idea that the Scarab Scarlet might be a good guy may imply that the Blue Beetle might not be all that good as he seems. Guess what happens in "Revenge of the Reach"
  • Forgotten Superweapon: The Batmobile's Humongous Mecha form, which Batman has only used twice so far.
  • The Freakshow: In "The Last Patrol!", Larry Trainor (a.k.a. Negative Man) has been working in the freakshow of a very downmarket carnival since the Doom Patrol disbanded.
  • Freudian Excuse: Played straight in "Inside the Outsiders!" with Katana, but then utterly demolished in the next scene: instead of a deep core of emotional trauma, Black Lightning is mostly just annoyed at yuppies, people who don't clean up after their pets, things that are overly sweet, etc.
  • Friendly Pirate: In "Time Out for Vengeance!", Pirate Batman is one of the historical Batmen featured. It's revealed he became a pirate to be a vigilante and strike terror upon evildoers while protecting the seven seas.
  • Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Fluke, one of AQUAMAN'S dolphin friends.
  • Funny Background Event: During Batman and Catwoman's flirting in "Inside the Outsiders!", her henchmen can be seen sharing a "Ugh, not this again!" glance in one shot.
  • Funny Foreigner: The Brain is an evil Brain in a Jar that talks with an over-the-top French accent. Of course, this is straight out of the comics.
  • Fun Personified: The entire series is pretty much the DCU distilled into its purest, fun personified form.
    • If it had to be narrowed down to one character, though, IT'D BE AQUAMAN, CHUM!

    G-H 
  • Galactic Conqueror: Kanjar Ro, Despero, Starro
  • Gasp!: Served as some strange Running Gag in the Christmas episode.
  • Gatling Good: In "Mitefall!" the steam-powered cyborg assassin John Wilkes Booth has twin gatling guns.
  • Gaussian Girl: Huntress
  • Genius Bruiser: Grodd, as ever. However, he has a lot more typically simian characteristics than usual: sometimes he just goes nuts with howling and pounding his chest. Also Kru'll, who, as King Kull in Captain Marvel comics, was one of if not the original portrayal of this archetype in comics.
  • Genius Cripple: The future Joker in "The Knights of Tomorrow!"
  • Genius Loci: Mogo the living planet.
  • Genre Throwback: One big love letter to The Silver Age of Comic Books.
  • Gilligan Cut: In "Darkseid Descending", Martian Manhunter tries to rally the new League with a Rousing Speech that ends with him asking if people will remember the League as a bunch of individuals who couldn't get the job done, or the greatest hero team ever that saved Earth in its darkest hour. Everyone cheers triumphantly... and then we see the entire team defeated and captured by Parademons.
  • The Gimmick: The Weeper is the Trope Maker in this continuity.
  • Giver of Lame Names: Slacker!Batman suggests a name for Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond's combined form: Flame Dude. Ronnie actually likes it.
  • Go into the Light: In "Dawn of the Dead Man!", Batman encounters the Light while astral travelling, and his parents come out of it to encourage him to join them; he considers it, but decides he still has work to do on Earth. In the same episode, the ghost of Boston Brand is bitter that he hasn't encountered the Light even though he's been dead for a while; it comes for him at the end of the episode, but by then he's come to terms with the idea that he, too, still has work to do on Earth.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: One of the cold opens is a baseball game between the Justice League and various villains.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: Spectre and Phantom Stranger for Batman.
    • The angel and devil sides of Bat-Mite when faced with whether or not he could use his superpowers to help Batman in "Emperor Joker!"
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: Tornado Champion's Evil Costume Switch to Tornado Tyrant involves him going from the primary colors to black and purple.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Red Tornado gets blown to pieces in the Christmas episode. Of course, he's a robot, so Star Labs just puts him back together.
    • When Batman (thinking he's a mob boss due to Easy Amnesia) obtains the Cloak of Nefertiti that grants him nine lives, he goes through them in a matter of days. Of course, once it runs out and he's Batman again, he goes back to just not dying.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: In "Enter the Outsiders!", just after Batman says "but very useful in the fight against crime", the shark-pelican lunges at the horse-spider. Suffice to say, the policeman probably didn't get his horse back.
    • In "Mystery in Space!": AQUAMAN reacts to seeing a Beluga Whale being hunted down.
    • General Zahl's hostage getting shot in The Last Patrol.
    • Several in "Emperor Joker!" when the Joker uses Bat-Mite's reality-warping powers to repeatedly kill Batman in various ways.
  • Grand Theft Me: Katrina Moldoff does this to Batman in "The Criss-Cross Conspiracy!".
  • Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: Ace The Bat-Hound
  • Great Big Book of Everything: Red Tornado keeps a record of absolutely everything in his head. And if he doesn't have a record of it, he can search the internet for it.
  • Green and Mean: In this incarnation, Two-Face's bad half is green.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body:
    • In "The Malicious Mr. Mind!", under the manipulation of Mr. Mind, Captain Marvel swings at Mary Marvel with Captain Marvel Jr.
    • In "The Last Patrol!", the giant Elasti-Girl grabs one of the Mutant Master's mutant bodies and uses it to pound another one.
  • Grumpy Old Man: The entire JSA when they visit the Justice League International's headquarters.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: "Night of the Huntress!"
    Guard: "That's a pretty big carriage for such a small kid..."
  • Hard Truth Aesop: The Captain Atom episode Powerless which has the uncharacteristically arrogant Captain repeatedly proclaiming to powerless kids, and this seems to be his view of ordinary folks in general, that sometimes the best way to be a hero is to remember "you're not one." (Irony and Hilarity Ensues) As cynical as his words are, one could argue that there's a certain ugly truth to what he's saying - that sometimes, regardless of good intentions, the best thing to do is to step aside and let the professionals, people who have years of training and experience, handle the situation or the aftermath.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Lampshaded with Zatanna.
    Batman: I've trained for years to fight crime. You just say words backwards.
  • Having a Heart: Blue Beetle's Mirror Universe counterpart has the true heart of a hero. He keeps it in a big jar at the back of his closet.
  • Helicopter Blender: In "Triumvirate of Terror!", Batman uses the blades of his Whirly-Bat to slash the envelope of the Joker's airship.
  • Heroic BSoD: AQUAMAN is in the middle of one in "Mystery in Space!", which started when he failed to save a Beluga from whalers.
    • The Doom Patrol split up over one that occurred after having to go through a Sadistic Choice.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Ted Kord.
    • B'wana Beast at the end of the Siege of Starro.
    • The original Black Canary in "The Golden Age of Justice!".
    • The Doom Patrol.
    • Played straight with G.I. Robot and subverted with Proto in "Plague of the Prototypes!"
  • Heroic Willpower: Batman and the Green Lantern Corps. Doubly so when Bats gets a Green Lantern augmented power suit which grows more powerful with willpower alone, used to bring back the entire Corps back from the brink of destruction.
  • "Hey, You!" Haymaker: At the beginning of "The Fate of Equinox!". Super-sized at the end.
  • High-Class Glass: Baroness Paula Von Gunther wears a monocle in "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!"
    • Gentleman Ghost also wears a monocle, to complete his Wicked Cultured image.
  • Historical Character Confusion: In "Cry Freedom Fighters!", Plastic Man mixes up Thomas Jefferson and George Jefferson, and refers to John Paul Jones and Ringo.
  • Historical Domain Character:
    • Hitler appears in the cold open of "AQUAMAN's Outrageous Adventure!", as a soldier in WW1, with his unit being bombarded by a giant death ray. Batman saves them from it, but stops to give Adolph a Death Glare as he does.
    • Barack Obama appears at the end of "Cry Freedom Fighters!" to congratulate Plastic Man on his patriotism. Plas has no idea who he is.
    • J.E.B. Stuart, the ghost who inhabits the Haunted Tank, was a real Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War
  • Historical In-Joke: In the Cold Opening of "Mitefall!", Steampunk John Wilkes Booth shouts "Sic semper tyrannis!"note  as he battles Batman and Abraham Lincoln. In Real Life, Booth said this after he fatally shot Lincoln.
  • Hit Flash: Many times. The first seen was about 25 seconds into the series trailer.
  • Hit Me, Dammit!: Ambush Bug does this to Batman in the incredibly meta final episode, because he knows that the show is losing viewers and that some random violence will attract them back. Batman is confused by this ultimately obliges.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: After he stole the Blue Beetle armor using his Gamma Gong, Kanjar Ro was defeated... with the Gamma Gong.
    • Gentleman Ghost, like most defeated necromancers, was dragged kicking and screaming down to the underworld by his own freed slaves.
    • Batman references it almost word-for-word after Rohtul exposes him to quartz on Zur-En-Arrh, draining his newfound superpowers and rendering him almost completely helpless. He was so busy using superpowers to help people (and enjoying having superpowers in general) that he forgot to test them for any weaknesses.
    • The Faceless Hunter was ultimately prepared for everything that Batman had. So Batman stole the Hunter's own force field generating devices and beat him with it.
    • Bat-Mite, in the final episode, tries to get the show cancelled to make way for a new darker animated Batman show. He gets his wish but, as Ambush Bug explains, as there's no room for a silly character like him in a darker Batman show he fades from existence.
  • Hold the Line: Batman and Krypto do this in "Battle of the Superheroes!" dealing with a Red Kryptonite-influenced Superman to run the clock down on its influence. It works, but it's really too close for Batman.
  • Hollywood Acid: Acid seen in this series is greenish-yellow.
  • Hollywood Atlas: You know it's Britain because of the shop sign that says "Fish and Chips".
  • Homage: The entrance to the Batcave is identical to its entrance in the 60s TV series.
    • Master Wong Fei ("Return of the Fearsome Fangs!") is not only named after Wong-Fei Hong, the legendary fighter-doctor, but uses a Finishing Move straight out of the Once Upon a Time In China movies. Oh, and he's modeled after Pai Mei.
  • Horrifying Hero: The Spectre, possessing no comedic traits, no sense of humor, a Creepy Monotone, a Powers That Be type presence and a general attitude of Pay Evil unto Evil and feeling that "without vengeance, justice is a slap on the wrist, an invitation for evil to continue, unabated."
  • Hot for Teacher: Jaime and Huntress again. Of course, he doesn't realize she's his teacher.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Jaime really has no idea what he's doing in the Blue Beetle suit in early episodes.
  • Huge Holographic Head: Black Manta uses this (in his case, including a Huge Holographic Body) to announce to the inhabitants of Atlantis that he's about to crush them.
  • Human Notepad: G'Nort has the Green Lantern Oath written out on his forearm, because he keeps forgetting how it goes. (Now his only problem is remembering that he's got it written out on his forearm...)
  • Humans Are Special: Red Tornado's observation, opposite of Tornado Tyrant's Humans Are the Real Monsters perspective.
  • Humongous Mecha: In "Night of the Huntress!", several are stolen by Baby-Face's gang at a Government Warehouse. Also, the freaking Batmobile turns into a robot, complete with a Transformation Sequence with an elaborate colored background.
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Referenced in the Cold Open of "Shadow of the Bat!", with Batman and Robin taking on Catwoman in the jungle.
  • Hurricane of Puns: Just about every single episode.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: Batman's utility belt. At bare minimum, it contains at least a jet pack, something much like a lightsaber (and a more normal sword) and a hang glider in there. This carries on the proud tradition from the The Brave and the Bold series, where Batman's utility belt included mini hand grenades and a cutting laser, among other things.
    • The Atom produces several weapons and a microscope out of nowhere, presumably explained by his use of his shrinking technology for storage.
    • Bat-Mite's Utility Belt, though he probably just pulls it from home.
    • Joker's jacket and pants.
  • Hypothetical Fight Debate: Jaime and Paco discuss who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman, if Batman didn't have Kryptonite.
    Jaime: Trick question! Batman always has kryptonite!

    I-J 
  • I Am Not Shazam: Hans von Hammer was never actually called Enemy Ace; that was just the title of the feature. His In-Universe Red Baron nickname was "The Hammer of Hell."note 
  • I Am Spartacus: We're all the Doom Patrol.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Revealed to to be the Joker's primary motivation.
  • I Know Madden Kombat: The Sportsmaster and his goons.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: Martian Manhunter's cookie addiction is played for this in "Crisis 22,300 Miles Above Earth!"
  • I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Will Friedle playing Blue Beetle and Jason Marsden playing his best friend Paco are best friends in real life. Consequently the two also worked together on a number of other shows.
  • Idea Bulb: Bat-Mite literally has one.
    • Plastic Man makes one out of his head in "The Long Arm of the Law!".
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode title ends with an exclamation point.
  • Idiot Hero: G'Nort.
  • Impairment Shot: Oddly, Batman's mask does not wink out when he's knocked unconscious. But he does get an out-of-focus shot when he regains consciousness.
  • Impossible Shadow Puppets: In "Emperor Joker!", at the beginning of "Where's the Fun in That?", a Bat-Signal appears, and suddenly a silhouette of the monstrous Joker devours the bat shape and sings, "Where's the Fun in That?" before the scene moves to the Joker on top of the beacon, using his fingers to mimic his monster form the whole time while he sings.
  • In Case of X, Break Glass: In one of the Cold Opens, Batman has to defend Abraham Lincoln from a steampunk-power-enhanced John Wilkes Booth (It Makes Just As Much Sense In Context). Blink and you'll miss Abe grabbing the axe from the rack marked IN CASE OF EMERGENCY OR CONFEDERATE CYBORG ATTACK.
  • Indy Ploy: "Last Bat On Earth!"
    Tuftan: Did you say you had a plan to deal with this monster?
    Kamandi: More of an idea than a plan.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain:
    • A lot of the more minor villains like the Top and Calendar Man seem like guys who just can't catch a break.
    • The Weeper. Joker snaps him out of it, however.
  • Inksuit Actor: This series has a bucket load of notable examples of characters looking like the person who voices them whether it be Cavalier looking like his voice actor Greg Ellis, Phantom Stranger looking like his voice actor Kevin Conroy, Plastic Man looking like his voice actor Tom Kenny, Bronze Tiger looking like his voice actor Gary Sturgis, the list goes on.
  • Instant Costume Change: The Music Meister can somehow switch into a variety of costumes even while running away.
  • Instant Death Bullet: Assumed to be the weapons of Gentleman Ghost.
  • Instant Expert: When Dr. Sivana gets his hands on Captain Marvel's powers, he's immediately whaling on a hero who had identical powers for a good while longer.
  • Institutional Apparel: The striped cap, shirt and pants combo appears on human!Grodd at the end of "Terror on Dinosaur Island!".
    • And again on the prisoners in "Day of the Dark Knight!".
    • And we see there are straitjackets in Arkham as well as the striped outfit for prisoners in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" Gotham only puts the worst offenders in Arkham. The rest get jail. Figure it'll show up a lot given Batman and company constantly kicking badguy butt.
  • Instrument of Murder: The Music Meister had a smoke-spewing pipe organ he used to cover his escape and laser firing microphones that formed part of his Death Trap.
    • And in "Night of the Batmen!", the Vigilante has a rifle inside his guitar.
    • In "Powerless!", the Scottish Joker in the Jokers of Many Nations has a set of bagpipes that fires missiles.
  • Insufferable Genius: Sherlock Holmes.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover: One with Scooby-Doo occurs in Season 3, as a homage to The New Scooby-Doo Movies. One cold open is basically an episode of Hanna-Barbera's Space Ghost, with Batman helping him fight the Creature King.
  • Introdump: For the Injustice Syndicate in "Deep Cover for Batman!"
  • Invincible Hero: Batman is much like his Silver Age counterpart in this respect, but see below:
    • Subverted in "Drives us Bats!", a musical number wherein the Music Meister snarks on Batman's perfection, WHILE CONTINUALLY ELUDING HIM. By the end of the song, every character that had ever appeared on the show, hero and villain, is joining in the complaints about Batman's omnipotence.
    • Averted in "The Power of Shazam!", where Black Adam just steamrolls Batman.
    • Also averted in "The Siege of Starro" as the Faceless Hunter From Saturn proves to be more than a match for Batman, in skill, strength AND technology.
    • In "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster," Batman holds his own against Zoom... for a second or two. After that, he almost certainly would have been killed if the Flash hadn't taken advantage of the distraction to stage an escape.
    • Doubly Subverted in "Emperor Joker": somehow Joker and his gang have him on the ropes long enough for Bat-Mite to decide to help (which triggers the plot); later Batman defeats the now-Reality Warper Joker with his mind.
    • Averted in "Darkseid Descending" when Batman fights against Darkseid himself. Bats gets his ass kicked handily, and Darkseid is only beaten by reversing the Boomtubes to take him back to Apokolips.
    • Also averted when Batman fights Superman under the influence of Red Kryptonite. He dons a suit of Powered Armor and is able to hold his ground for a time, but is almost killed. luckily Red Kryptonite has a time limit
  • Invisible Means Undodgeable: In the episode "Emperor Joker", Batmite, despite being a near omnipotent being, manages to miss Batman while trying to transfer his powers to him, and accidentally gives the Joker his abilities instead. Practically every other spell Batmite ever does is with a snap of his finger, and those spells never miss.
  • Iris Out: "Long Arm of the Law!" ends with Plas and Woozy laughing, and Batman standing there. The iris closes, opens one more time to show the Caped Crusader simply walking away.
  • I Shall Taunt You: Wildcat against just about anyone.
  • Island Base: Science Island
  • It's What I Do: Gets lampshaded in due course, though one example (Deadman's entry into a fight against Gentleman Ghost) is lampshaded by both Batman and Deadman.
    Batman: Nice entrance.
    Deadman: I was in the circus.
    • AQUAMAN actually says "It's what I do" in "Evil Under the Sea!", after the villain expresses surprise that he risked his life to save him.
  • Jaw Drop: Including the obligatory exaggerated jaw drop from Plastic Man.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Guy Gardner, playing up the jerk angle hard, until the chips are down.
    Sinestro: Are you so eager to prove you're a hero?
    Guy Gardner: It ain't about me. It's about Mogo! And G'nort! AND EARTH!
  • Jet Pack: Seems to be part of Batman's standard operating kit. When he's not using it, it goes limp and turns into his cape. (He can be seen activating it near the beginning of "Rise of the Blue Beetle!", and deactivating it during "Invasion of the Secret Santas!")
  • Joke Character: Kite Man.
  • Joker Immunity: Lampshaded by the man himself.
    Joker: Oh who cares? I've been blown up, thrown down smokestacks, fed to sharks; I'm the Joker! I always survive!
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: "Inside The Outsiders!"
  • Jumping the Shark: Parodied, Discussed, and Invoked in-universe in "Mitefall!", as Bat-Mite decides that the show's formula is repetitive, and decides to cancel the show by adding in horrible changes intentionally.
  • Jumping on a Grenade: In "Plague of the Prototypes", G.I. Robot saves Batman and Easy Company by jumping on top of a landmine while Storming the Beaches on D-Day.

    K-L 
  • Karmic Death:
    • Lampshaded and justified with Joe Chill. It happens when the Spectre's about.
    • Doctor Milo's fate. After experimenting on rats, he's turned to cheese and left alone as dozens of rats close in...
  • Keep It Foreign: One episode featured Brazilian heroine Fire speaking a line in her language (Brazilian Portuguese). When that episode was dubbed for Brazilian audiences, that line was translated into English.
  • Keystone Army: In "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", after AQUAMAN and the Atom establish experimentally that the infection is too numerous and virulent to defeat by attacking individual microbes, it conveniently turns out there's a "seed cell" somewhere in Batman's body; if they can destroy that, the rest of the microbes will die.
  • Kick the Dog: Kanjar Ro pretty much embodies this trope. Highlights include slamming Jaime face first into a gong. Not the Beetle, Jaime.
    • A closer-to-literal version occurs in the episode "Revenge of the Reach!" when the Reach-possessed Jaime blasts good ol' G'Nort.
  • Kill All Humans: Silver Cyclone's plan, using a really big bomb. And he's not picky about which universe's humans he does in.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Batman, when he thinks he has avoided the Joker's hammer trap in "Emperor Joker!":
    "Nice try, Jok—" [the giant hammer crushes him]
  • Killed Off for Real:
    • Ted Kord.
    • Red Tornado was destroyed by Faceless Hunter in the cold open of "The Power of Shazam!" and never seen again.
    • B'wana Beast in The Siege of Starro.
    • The original Black Canary.
    • "PLATELET!" (cue Roaring Rampage of Revenge)
    • The Doom Patrol (Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman and the Chief) in "The Last Patrol!".
    • Joe Chill. After learning Batman's secret identity, it was inevitable that he wouldn't last long.
  • Kirby Dots
  • Knight of Cerebus: Inverted to a point with The Spectre. In the two episodes where he is featured prominently ("Chill of the Night!" and "Gorillas in our Midst!") where he kills Joe Chill and Professor Milo, respectively. This is played straight with General Zahl, the man who unites the Doom Patrol's Rogues Gallery and kills the DP and Faceless Hunter, minion of Starro who kills B'wana Beast.
    • Played straight with Black Mask (who had most of his men eliminated and almost blew up half of Gotham City just to prove a point) as well.
  • Knight Templar: Sinestro.
  • Know When to Fold Them: A pair of ordinary thugs committing a bank robbery meet the Bat, and immediately surrender. Unfortunately, Bat-Mite objects.
  • Lampshaded the Obscure Reference: The series finale had a character from The DCU appear for the first time.
    "Ambush Bug? You're a pretty obscure hero, even for this show"
  • Lampshade Hanging: In spades, some instances of which are also Mythology Gags (see, for example, the comment about Batman's utility belt in the first episode).
    • In "The Last Patrol!", Negative Man gives a heavy sigh before identifying his attacker as Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, lampshading the silly name.
  • Landmarking the Hidden Base: In "Darkseid Descending!", it is revealed that Batman has an auxilary Batcave located under the Lincoln Memorial.
  • Land Mine Goes "Click!": Happens to a member of Easy Company in "The Plague of the Prototypes!".
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: Every. Single. Male. Character. (Except Jaime, but he's young yet. And Plastic Man, but he's a little amoral. And Riddler.)
  • Large Ham: AQUAMAN. Good lord, AQUAMAN! Why do you think this wiki has an unofficial policy of capitalizing his name?
    • The Music Meister first announces himself by triumphantly singing his own name, and never looks back. Heck, his entire episode might be considered a Large Ham. Bonus points for being voiced by special guest star Neil Patrick Harris.
    • Gentleman Ghost has his moments. "Riiiiise, my criminal brethren! RIIIIIIISE AND DOOOO MY BIDDIIIING!!!"
    • Wherever The Joker is involved, expect hamminess and Evil Laughs galore.
  • Larynx Dissonance: Both Mongul and his sister Mongal are voiced by Gary Anthony Williams.
  • Laser Blade: The first episode has Batman storing one of these in his utility belt. Where did it come from? Doesn't it violate his technical pacifism? Who cares? It's Batman with a lightsaber!
  • Laser Hallway: One of the actively-hazardous variety, guarding the villain's air ducts in "Fall of the Blue Beetle!". (He could have just made the ducts too small for a superhero to fit through — but this isn't that kind of show.)
  • Latex Perfection: At one point Batman disguises himself as Superman by wearing a latex face mask over his regular pointy-eared mask.
  • Layman's Terms: The Atom explaining his device to AQUAMAN.
    The Atom: This little... doohickey... beeps... when the cooties are near.
  • Legacy Character: There've been two Blue Beetles before Jaime: Dan Garrett and Ted Kord. Lampshaded, of course:
    Stargirl: Great. I send for the world's greatest hero and I get the knockoff Blue Beetle.
    Jaime: Knockoff? I prefer to think of myself as a reimagined hero for a new generation.
    • Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West are all active Flashes, the third being Kid Flash.
    • Inverted with Firestorm. In the comics, Firestorm was a teenager named Ronnie Raymond who got his powers in a nuclear accident. In 2004, Ronnie was killed off and replaced by a new character named Jason Rusch. The cartoon uses the best of both worlds by having both Ron and Jason present at the same accident, which fuses them together so they BOTH act as Firestorm.
    • Black Canary inherited her title (and, unlike in the comics, power) from her deceased mother.
  • Legion of Doom: Used and (arguably) inverted throughout the span of just two episodes.
    • Inverted: the Justice Underground of Owlman's world, which comprises the mirror-universe counterparts of normal villains.
      • Used: to mirror the above event, Owlman gathering the main universe villains for Part II.
    • The classic Legion of Doom based on the Super Friends shows up in a Batman Cold Open to contend with the Justice League. In Baseball.
  • Lighter and Softer: This series is lighter and softer than the DCAU. It's lighter and softer than The Batman. Heck, it far overshoots Teen Titans but still has a much higher Mohs number than Super Friends.
    • Lampshaded in "Legends of The Dark Mite!"
      Bat-Mite: "To be sure this is a lighter incarnation, but is no less valid or true to the character's roots as the tortured avenger crying out for Mommy and Daddy."
    • The Brave and the Bold comic was also way Lighter and Softer than its contemporaries by the time it was discontinued. It was sharing newsstands with the O'Neil/Adams Batman stories, as well as the "relevant", social-issues-focused incarnations of the other Bronze Age DCU series.
    • The video game has a scene in which Bane picks up Batman, as if to break his back... when suddenly, Green Arrow shows up and defeats Bane with a single arrow, then proceeds to comically tease Batman about always having to save him.
    • Tempered by dramatic Mood Whiplash. This show has the darkest retelling of the death of Batman's parents ever, the meeting with Bruce's parents in "Dawn of the Deadman!," and just about the entire plot of "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!"
      • And the entire plot of "Chill of the Night!"
      • It also featured onscreen deaths for Black Canary Sr., B'wana Beast and the original Blue Beetle, with an offscreen but still explicit demise for Ted Kord. The entire Doom Patrol, a la their original comic's ending, followed. Even Justice League Unlimited usually steered clear of "Cape-Killing".
      • This is also the only adaptation of the comic book that has actually killed Batman on-screen, SEVERAL GRUESOME TIMES.
  • Lighthearted Rematch: Batman only accepts Bronze Tiger's invitation to fight to force him to help against Fox, Vulture and Shark. But at the end, after the Tiger learns his {lesson, the pair of them fight again in a friendlier match.
  • Lightning Can Do Anything: Even when flung by Major Disaster. This lightning brings Tornado Champion down and activates his emotional subroutine.
  • Likes Older Women: Blue Beetle in "Night of the Huntress!"
  • Limelight Series: The Joker takes until the first season's arc to wrap up to appear, with his alternate universe counterpart appearing before he does. He appears more regularly later on but like Red Tornado, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow and AQUAMAN are the series regulars for the brunt of it.
  • Lipstick-and-Load Montage:
    • The Joker gets this in one episode. Of course, he's fueled by Rule of Funny.
    • Huntress has a more serious one in her debut episode.
  • Literal Genie: Jim Craddock's undoing.
    Astaroth: Very well. Your soul shall never pass from the earth.
  • Literal Split Personality: The episode "A Bat Divided!" has a nuclear accident create Firestorm, and split Batman into 3 people: a detective version, a martial-arts version, and a lazy guy version who represents the more human side as the others are only interested in the superhero parts of his life.
  • Living Statue: A giant statute is brought to life an used in an attempt to kill Batmanicus in ancient Rome in "Time Out for Vengeance!"
  • The Load:
  • The Long List: In "Legends of the Dark Mite!", Bat-Mite is a speaker at the Fifth Dimensional 267th Annual Comic Book, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Animation, Anime, Gaming, Action Figure, Role-playing, Vintage Toy, Collectible Card Game, Pop-Culture, & Tiddlywinks Convention.
  • Lousy Lovers Are Losers: The episode "The Mask of Matches Malone!", has the song number "Birds of Prey" where Black Canary, Huntress and Catwoman sing a song filled with Double Entendre and innuendo about how the sexual prowess of some of DC's heroes, including mocking how some are inadequate lovers.
    Catwoman: Green Lantern has his special ring!
    Black Canary & Huntress: Pretty strong that little thing!
    Black Canary: Blue Beetle's deeds are really swell!
    Huntress: But who will bring him out of his shell?
    Catwoman: Flash's foes, they finish last!
    Huntress: Too bad sometimes he's just too fast!
  • Love Triangle:
    • We see in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" that Green Arrow has the dig on for Black Canary, who has the dig on for Batman (who only has the dig on for Justice).
      • And Catwoman.
      • Throw in Music Meister's crush on Canary and we have a Love... Parallelogram?
      • More like a triangle on a stick, since neither Arrow nor Batman show any attraction towards the Meister.
  • Lying Finger Cross: Plastic Man and Woozy do this when promising not to get involved in "The Long Arm of the Law!"
  • Lyrical Dissonance: The Music Meister' sings "let's not fight, let's get along" while either sending heroes to their doom with the villains, or with the whole populace stealing and about to attack Batman.

    M-N 
  • Mad Artist: Crazy Quilt.
  • Made of Explodium: The Gordanian Battle Tripod, and robots shown in the cartoon in general.
  • Made of Iron
  • Magical Defibrillator: Black Lightning uses his powers to act as one in "Enter the Outsiders!". Unlike most attempts at this in media, it helped other measures were taken like having Metamorpho become oxygen to fill Wildcat’s lungs.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Moxon's orders to Chill regarding his hit on the Waynes in "Chill of the Night!"
  • Man-Eating Plant: Man-eating plants form part of Ra's al Ghul's plan for world domination in "Sidekicks Assemble!".
    • And Poison Ivy attempts to feed Batman to one in "The Mask of Matches Malone!".
  • Married to the Job: Black Canary's repeated attempts to date Batman all end in failure, with the explanation "Crime doesn't take dinner breaks, and neither do I." She eventually moves on to Green Arrow.
    • Ice thinks Fire means this when she tells her AQUAMAN is married.
  • Masochist's Meal: Wildcat's 'Tiger Tonic'.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: The very first episode establishes Batman as a mentor figure to a greenhorn Blue Beetle, and he's also shown taking the Outsiders and Plastic Man under his wing. Later episodes reveal that Batman himself was mentored by the Justice Society of America, and even later it's implied that Blue Beetle has himself started mentoring younger heroes, continuing the chain.
  • Master of Disguise: Falseface.
  • Meaningful Echo: In "Sidekicks Assemble!", Robin, Aqualad, and Speedy get their defensive formation wrong. Later, Batman, AQUAMAN, and Green Arrow do the exact same thing.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Degaton's robotic army in "The Golden Age of Justice!"
  • Mechanical Horse: Jonah Hex rode on a sleek mechanical horse-like robot after being dragged to the future by Mongul.
  • Medium Awareness: Bat-Mite, Bat-Mite, Bat-Mite. Taken to extremes in "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!", where he points out animation errors or differences between the dub and the original script.
    • Ambush Bug has the same quality in "Mitefall!" though he's so outclassed in Reality Warper terms that all he can do is try to make others aware of the doom that awaits them all.
  • Mega-Microbes: In "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", Batman is stricken down by a disease during a fight with Chemo (who is being controlled by Brain), and the Atom must miniaturize himself and travel with AQUAMAN into the Caped Crusader's body to cure him. During their journey, they are are attacked by viruses, and AQUAMAN telepathically summons a lymphocyte, which he names "Platelet", that he uses as a mount.
  • Memetic Badass: Batman seems to be this in-universe, as evidenced by AQUAMAN's response to the Atom suggesting they get out from inside his body through his tear ducts.
    AQUAMAN: Tear ducts? But surely, the Batman never cries!
  • Meta Guy: Batman, though never out loud (except on one occasion where he points out how ridiculous his costume is).
  • Mirror Universe: "Deep Cover for Batman!" has a world where the heroes of Batman's earth form the evil Injustice Syndicate. Batman, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado are replaced by Owlman, Scarlet Scarab, Blue Bowman, and Silver Cyclone. The Atom, AQUAMAN, Plastic Man, and Fire's doubles are also seen, but not named.
  • Mondegreen Gag: In "Cry Freedom Fighters", Plastic Man rallies the heroes and oppressed masses with a mangled version of "Yankee Doodle".
  • Monowheel Mayhem: The Clock King drives a monowheel in "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!".
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In a meta sense, considering this started airing in the same year that the bleakest Batman movie yet was in theaters.
    • A more straight example would be "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" suddenly shifting from fighting evil toy robots to a flashback of Batman's parents getting murdered. Not to mention this is the most bleak retelling of their death yet, as it piles on guilt for Bruce as the whole reason they went to the movie is that Bruce was being a spoiled brat and complaining about his Christmas present, leading to a Parting-Words Regret.
    • By a freak of scheduling, the totally wacky and meta "Legends of the Dark Mite!" was followed by the very somber "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!"
    • "Chill of the Night!" features a standard whimsical cold open, then gives us a Dini-written tale that's on par with the darkest moments in Batman: The Animated Series. Hell, this could easily have been an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
    • The opener for "Gorillas in our Midst!" featured Batman teaming up with the Spectre to take down Dr. Milo. Batman leaves Milo for the police, but Spectre has a much more sinister idea of justice in mind for him...
      • The episode itself was incredibly campy and lighthearted.
    • The already dour "The Last Patrol!" episode became depressing in the second half when first, General Zahl kills his hostage offscreen and then the group get killed off to save 14 people and their fishing village.
    • "Mitefall!" starts off as a hilarious lampshade hanging on the entire premise of the show, becomes an equally hilarious lampshade hanging on jumping the shark and ends with almost every character to ever appear on the show, forced to accept that they're fictional characters and facing their end due to their show's impending cancellation, having one last party as the Batcave is dismantled around them.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Polaris
  • The Morlocks: The Outsiders.
  • Mourning a Dead Robot: Red Tornado creates a robotic child for himself, named the Tornado Champion. At first, things seem to be going smoothly, the robot saves lives and helps fight villains, but when he tries to save 2 children from a fire, they are horrified by him. He eventually starts acting out and soon upgrades himself into the Tornado Tyrant and becomes a robot supremacist. Tornado is forced to stop and kill his son. He mourns the child with a tear falling from his eye.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Nearly all of the women who appear in the show (particularly Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Catwoman, Black Canary, Huntress, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and her flower children, Vixen, Fire, Ice, and so much more female characters), regardless of whether they are heroes or villains.
    • However, a primary example of this trope is definitely presented in episode called The Mask of Matches Malone (especially the musical number that the Birds of Prey performed) which featured three very attractive women (Black Canary, Huntress and Catwoman) that were associated with a group called the Birds of Prey that had to rescue Batman.
  • Multishot: Green Arrow does one in "Game Over for Owlman!" firing two arrows at once to take out two tires on a fleeing vehicle.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Ryan Choi to a blackboard full of calculus equations: "Ha! How do you like that?! I JUST INVERTED YOUR EXPONENTIAL INTEGRAL! Does it hurt?!" *pelvic thrusts*
  • Musical Assassin:
    • Kanjar Ro with the Gamma Gong.
    • The Music Meister sings the song that the world wants to hear.
  • Musical Episode:
    • "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", where the titular villain uses his singing voice to hypnotize villains, heroes and even innocent bystanders into doing his evil bidding... while simultaneously performing big musical numbers with him as vocal lead. Musical heavyweight Neil Patrick Harris was hired specifically for this role.
    • The "Birds of Prey" episode has a musical number in it.
    • So does the "Emperor Joker" episode.
  • Musical World Hypothesis: "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" is a weird combination of Alternate Universe and Diagetic (the Music Meister's powers allow him to create background music and make everyone around him sing along), with some All in Their Heads thrown in (some heroes sing their thoughts or otherwise join in the musical numbers despite being immune).
  • My Brain Is Big: Alternate-universe psychic Batman.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Hal Jordan's monologue in "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!" shows him battling Evil Star, Dr. Polaris and...Sportsmaster.
  • Myth Arc: Or something like it. A story told entirely in Batman Cold Opens. Look for seastars with eyes.
  • Mythology Gag: All over the place — but now in their own page for ease of reading.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Dala's outfit "Shadow of the Bat! has a neckline that goes down to her navel in "Shadow of the Bat!".
  • Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Batman sends an alternate-Earth-destroying bomb as the timer ticks down to the Zombie Earth, after The Reveal that said bomb would only kill living beings instead of causing an Earth-Shattering Kaboom. Zombies "Can't be killed."
  • Never Say "Die": Death occurs relatively often for children's animation, but the characters can never quite bring themselves to say its name when it happens.
    • "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" is an interesting case example: in the cold open, Jonah Hex is "sentenced to death" by the villains, but survives; in the episode proper, a character actually dies, but it is only said that his "journey is complete" and he is "gone". Apparently you can say it or do it, but not both together. Mentioning of death and actual deaths have been combined more in recent episodes, especially in "Emperor Joker!", when the word "kill" is used.
    • Extensively averted in the season 1 episode "Dawn of the Dead Man", however, though that's appropriate considering all three of the central characters in the episode (including Batman) are ghosts, one of them is literally named "Deadman" (whose name is in the title) and Gentleman Ghost is raising an undead army.
  • Newspaper Dating: In "Game Over for Owlman!", this is how Batman discovers that travel to alternate universes can also result in displacement in time.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Guy Gardner pouring coffee on a minuscule convict of a species that gets really, really big when exposed to any kind of liquid.
    • Booster Gold texting his publicist allows Darkseid's army to track down the auxiliary Batcave under the Lincoln Memorial.
  • The Nicknamer: A variation involving events, not people: AQUAMAN! gives names to all his escapades. In a nod to his Wrong Genre Savvy nature, he never picks the actual name of the episode.
  • Nightmare of Normality: When the Joker gains Bat-Mite's powers in "Emperor Joker!", Batman tricks him into invading his mind, where he traps the Joker in a mental world where the villain is nothing but a normal average person.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
    • The elseworld Batmen include among their number a pirate Batman, a vampire Batman and an Iron Batman (the normal Brave and the Bold Batman is already a ninja). There are also a cowboy Batman and a gorilla Batman, because apparently that wasn't awesome enough.
    • "Time Out For Vengeance!" gives us a robot Batman, a caveman Batman, another pirate Batman, and a gladiator (well, Roman) Batman.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • No-Sell: Superman doesn't even flinch when the bombs Batman planted on him go off.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: It's mentioned in flashback in "Bold Beginnings" that, among other things, Cavalier, a very silly villain who speaks in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe, is wanted for murder.
  • No Waterproofing in the Future: Jaime is able to release his electronically controlled restraints by spitting on the console.
  • Nobody Can Die: Parodied in "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" At the end of the "Bat-Manga" segment, Lord Deathman's helicopter crashes into power-lines and explodes. We see his mask fly out and break apart. And then Robin very quickly adds that he's sure Lord Deathman parachuted away. And then Bat-Mite comments how much he loves obviously censored dubs.
  • Non-Indicative Name: As lampshaded by the Joker in "Powerless!"'s teaser, they're called the Batmen of All Nations, but only the actual Batman is even an Animal-Themed Superbeing (the comics version does have the Native American Man-of-Bats, who is omitted here).
  • Noodle Incident: There was a Justice League in-between the Justice Society and the Justice League International formed in Darkseid Descending, and it ended badly, but not in a way that killed any of the heroes mentioned to have been members. Just what happened never came up during the show's run. (In the comics the original JLA disbanded due to Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and several others being committed to their own cases and problems, leading to the infamous Detroit-era League led by Aquaman; after that version of the League also ended the International era began.)
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The white guys voicing both Paco and Jaime, who are supposed to be bilingual Mexican Americans raised in El Paso.
  • Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: In the cold open of "Enter the Outsiders!", Black Manta says "Nothing can stop me now!". Then Batman and Bwana Beast stop him.
  • Nothing Up My Sleeve: The Joker pulls bombs, a gas gun, knives, and a pie out of his shirt sleeves... and a bazooka out of his pants.
    "Now let's see here..."
    (pulls out gas gun from coat) "Too toxic."
    (pulls out knife from coat) "Too stabby."
    (pulls out a pie from coat) "Too fruity. Now where is...?"
    (pulls out bazooka from pants)
    • Possibly a parody of the Joker's scene in the 1989 film in which he pulls a .357 magnum with an extended barrel from his pants.
  • Not So Above It All: In "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", Batman refuses to join in any of the musical numbers and criticizes Black Canary for doing one — "Was the singing really necessary?" Until the end, when he defeats the Music Meister by starting in a singing contest with Black Canary...

    O-P 
  • Oblivious to Love: Batman to Black Canary and Black Canary to Green Arrow.
  • Obviously Evil: Batman, post vampirism. It doesn't stop Ice from being overjoyed at the prospect of a 'sleepover' in the Watchtower.
  • Offhand Backhand: Done underwater, even!
    • Green Arrow does one between firing arrows. And does it so nonchalantly that it almost seems like an accident.
    • Black Canary pulls one off during her romantic ballad in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" She pounds about ten thugs through the art of ballet. It's that kind of episode.
  • Off with His Head!: Implied and parodied in "Emperor Joker!", when the Joker sends Batman to the guillotine, and when the blade drops, we hear it slice through his neck and the sound of his head plopping on the floor. It quickly turns into Losing Your Head for a brief moment when the Joker restores him to life again.
  • Old Soldier: Of the Superhero variety. Wildcat. He battles against a giant blob man with his bare hands, and still fights crime despite an ailing heart, and being at least 60. All the Justice Society, really.
  • Ominous Owl: Owlman, Batman's Mirror Universe Evil Twin.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ:
    • The Music Meister is shown playing one to a cardboard audience, an indication that he isn't quite right in the head.
    • In one episode, Green Arrow and Speedy confront Gentleman Ghost, who says they have no chance at stopping him. Speedy says "Oh, yeah? You and what army?". In a flash, Gentleman Ghost's army of ghostly skeletons storm out of the ground. This scene is accompanied by a powerful organ music.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: While many other superheroes are seen in their secret identity and called by their real names, Batman is only seen, referred to, and credited as Batman (except for his parents).
    • In the "Chill of the Night!" episode, we finally see Batman unmasked.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Joker's attitude to Batman, and one of the reasons he helps Batman against Owlman in "Game Over for Owlman!".
    Joker: Nobody kills my wingman but me.
  • Only the Chosen May Wield:
    • Katana's, um... katana.
    • And Excalibur.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • When Batman runs into AQUAMAN right before departing on a solo mission to Rann, AQUAMAN just wishes him luck. Given that AQUAMAN can always be counted on to Jump At The Call, Batman immediately decides that something is very wrong and brings him along anyway. Later, it's revealed that AQUAMAN was suffering from a Heroic BSoD after failing to save a pod of Beluga whales from illegal whalers. The adventure on Rann helps him snap out of it.
    • After the untimely destruction of Platelet, the logical, rational Atom completely loses his cool and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that turns the tide against Chemo's hostile microbes. AQUAMAN, who acts as the voice of reason for a change, lampshades it after he's calmed down.
      AQUAMAN: You know, coming to my aid like that was not the rational course of action, doc.
      Atom: Let's call it a...momentary lapse in judgement.
    • Jaime goes from excited teen to The Stoic when the Reach takes control of him. It doesn't take the Green Lanterns long to realize what's happening, but by then it's too late to stop the rest of the Reach from invading Oa.
  • Orbital Shot: Black Canary and Green Arrow get one during their duet at the end of "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" in addition to an animated Facecam.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Kim Mai Guest replaced Vyvam Pham as Katana. Adam West and Julie Newmar replaced Corey Burton and Pat Musick as the voice of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Two-Face's one line in "Chill of the Night!" had Richard Moll reprise the role, filling in for James Remar.
    • Invoked in "Mitefall!" when Bat-Mite replaces John DiMaggio with Ted McGinley as the voice of AQUAMAN to get the show cancelled. Towards the end, Ambush Bug tricks AQUAMAN into breaking character, resulting in him getting DiMaggio's voice back.
  • Out-of-Character Alert:
    • It wasn't explained how, but Blue Bowman quickly figured out that something is wrong with "Owlman" (Batman in disguise) after Batman infiltrates the Crime Syndicate. Also a lowkey Surprisingly Realistic Outcome, Batman never spent much time to study Owlman's mannerism and personality, and therefore associates who worked closely with Owlman would easily find something amiss with his impersonator.
  • Out of Continues: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", the Cloak of Neferteri grants the wearer nine lives. After a blow to the head turns Batman into a Criminal Amnesiac who thinks he really is the gangster 'Matches' Malone, he burns eight lives during a crime spree. After defeating Two-face, Catwoman kicks Matches of the roof of a 20-storey building, using his last life. Huntress and Black Canary demand to know what she's done. Below, Matches comes back to life, and Batman removes his disguise. He then explains that when Matches' last life died, Matches disappeared for good.
  • Palette Swap: Aside from Owlman and Red Hood, all of the designs of the Mirror Universe counterparts of the various heroes and villains were mainly this, including Blue Bowman (aside from the "G" being switched to a "B" on his belt buckle) and Silver Cyclone (whose torso is black, probably to cover up the "T" on Red Tornado).
  • Papa Wolf: The Atom throws his reserved rationality to the wind bloodstream and becomes a raging machine of fury when Brain's microorganisms kill the makeshift steed Platelet.
  • Parachute in a Tree: Non-Action Guy Dr. Canus ends up dangling from a tree when he bails out of the Batplane in "Last Bat on Earth!".
  • Parental Bonus: Huntress is full of this...
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: The Spectre's view.
  • Phlebotinum Overload:
    • This is how Captain Atom defeats Major Force at the end of "Powerless!".
    • And how Blue Beetle and Stargirl defeat Mantis in "Cry Freedom Fighters!".
  • Phoney Call: In "Menace of the Conquerer Caveman!", Booster Gold pretends to take a call from Batman during a meeting with a toy company. No one buys it.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: In the prelude to "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", Batman knocks the Gentleman Ghost unconscious, sending him flying into the arms of a stone angel, which holds him in that pose.
  • Pinball Projectile: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", Huntress (who is dangling from a crane and being lowered into a Shark Pool), fires her crossbow and ricochets her bolt off several objects so it rips the gag off Black Canary's mouth.
  • Pin-Pulling Teeth: Batman does with (with two grenades at once!) during the Cold Opening to "The Eyes of Despero!".
  • Playing with Fire: Fire
  • Pluto Is Expendable: When Blue Beetle is fighting Planetmaster, a villain with a power for each of the planets of the solar system, he tells him that his "cold of Pluto" power doesn't make sense since Pluto isn't a planet anymore.
    "INSOLENCE!"
  • Pop the Tires: The Huntress uses her crossbow to shoot out the tires of the Jokermobile in "Death Race to Oblivion!".
  • Poster-Gallery Bedroom:
    • Blue Beetle's bedroom, unsurprisingly full of Batman memorabilia.
    • Also Booster Gold puts up pictures of himself in his room in the JLI satelite.
  • Powder Gag: In "Four Star Spectacular!", 'Mazing Man causes a fireplace to collapse, covering himself and the homeowners from head to foot in soot.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep:
    • Batman's competency level seems to fluctuate wildly depending on the guest characters and the villains. Compare him in "Night of the Huntress!" and in "Duel of the Double Crossers!".
    • In a straighter example, Mongul's physical abilities were reduced from Superman-level to slightly more than a strong human so Batman would be able to fight him personally.
    • Another whopper was Batman having to fight a group of five Shaggy Men. In the comics, Shaggy Man is utterly indestructible, even more so than Doomsday. Nothing hurts him, nothing can even slow him down, and the heroes always have to defeat him by sealing him in another dimension, marooning him in space, or some other such method. Here, Batman defeats five of them with once punch each.
      • This show has no problem reshaping character origins as needed; apparently they wanted their Shaggy Men to simply be extra-tough sasquatch.
    • The Joker and three thugs (four counting Harley) beat up Batman so bad Bat-Mite decides he has to break his promise and help. Joker actually trades blows with Batman!
  • The Power of Love: Green Arrow's feelings for Black Canary are so strong they allow him to shake off Music Meister's Mind Control long enough to punch AQUAMAN so she can break free.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "You broke my buddy. I'm gonna break you.", courtesy of Booster Gold.
  • Preemptive Apology: Batman to Red Hood.
  • Private Eye Monologue: a first for an animated Batman, and quite appropriate.
  • Produce Pelting:
    • Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen lead a mob that pelts Superman with tomatoes after he declares himself king in "Battle of The Superheroes!".
    • Negative Man gets pelted with tomatoes when performing as a sideshow freak in "The Last Patrol!".
  • Production Foreshadowing: In "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", a guard is seen reading a Mystery in Space comic book. Later in the season, the characters from that comic guest star in the episode "Mystery in Space!".
  • Product Placement: In "Emperor Joker!" Bat-Mite reads Ten-Eyed Man's origin from an issue of "Who's Who In The DC Universe." The cover is even shown! Also an example of Meta Fiction.
  • Psychic-Assisted Suicide: The Music Meister uses this on his brainwashed servants, forcing Batman to save them and let him make his getaway.
  • Psycho for Hire: Black Manta, by a large degree: his greatest desire is to completely annihilate Atlantis and everyone in it. AQUAMAN points this out several times, at first expressing doubt that his brother would ever work with someone so batshit insane, then, upon discovering he was wrong about his brother, actually warning him that Manta's insane and will likely betray him, which he immediately does. Being voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson doesn't hurt things either.
  • Public Domain Character: Sherlock Holmes; Merlin and Morgan Le Fay.
  • Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Invoked by Batman, taunting the sorcerer Felix Faust. "Nice trick, but can you pull a rabbit out of a hat?"
  • Punched Across the Room: Often. Joker was even punched through a window on the top floor of a building and landed in a dumpster across the street.
  • Pungeon Master:
    • Owlman spews Puns endlessly in "Game Over for Owlman!" while talking to the imprisoned heroes.
    Owlman: After this magnet tears you apart, Red Tornado, Clock King here is going to see what makes you tick.
    • Gorilla Grodd takes control of the Gorilla army and says:
      Gorilla Grodd: Under my leadership, we shall show them the true meaning of gorilla warfare!
    • Two-Face is prone to this.
      "Two-bit punks! Think you can double-cross Twoface?"
    • Music Meister says he's "here to settle the score." He also dedicates an entire song to how Batman drives villains... bats.
  • Putting on the Reich: The troops of General Zahl in "The Last Patrol!" wear uniforms that are very strongly reminiscent of Nazi stormtroopers. Of course, in the original comics Zahl was a former Nazi.

    Q-R 
  • The Queen's Latin: The Roman-esque Tiger Empire of Kamandi's future has members who speak with British accents, particularly Caesar (the leader) and his son Tuftan.
  • The Quiet One: Katana.
  • Railing Kill: Or at least Western-style collapsing-balcony-incapacitation, thanks to a timely shot from Vigilante as a mob sniper puts Batman in his sights.
  • Rain of Arrows: In "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!"
  • Rapid Aging: Used by Per Degaton to age Batman and the Justice Society into decrepit old codgers in "The Golden Age of Justice!".
  • Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: Bat-Mite.
  • Reconstruction: Of The Silver Age of Comic Books. * The entire series acts as an Affectionate Parody and reconstruction of the Era. Funnily enough, it was not only wedged on both sides by Darker and Edgier animated adaptations of the character, but also between the last two films of The Dark Knight Trilogy.
  • Record Needle Scratch: In the opening of the third act of "Emperor Joker!", just as the Joker feels a bit saddened at Batman's first death and the organ music plays, as he pauses for a moment of silence along with Harley and the others, he suddenly smiles and says, "Okay, let's do it again!"; and at the snap of his fingers, there is a sudden needle scratch of the record as Batman's winged spirit stops flying with a confused look on his face, then gets reversed along with the rewound music as the hammer lifts up from under him before he is returned to his Squashed Flat body and revived.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning:
    • Inverted in the episode "Revenge of the Reach!", where red eyes mean Jaime is in control and not the sinister Reach.
    • Played straight when the eyes of Ultra-Humanite's army of mind-controlled dinosaurs glow red in "Four Star Spectacular!"
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: "Chill of the Night!", in homage to the 90s series.
  • Reference Overdosed: Even for this series, the episode "Clash of the Superheroes" was chock-full of references to the Silver Age Superman comics. Blink and you'll miss one.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Take the Adam West Batman and ratchet up the action in ways they could only dream of. Add salt and bake for one hour at 350 (or half an hour at 700) and you get this show's main creed.
  • Related in the Adaptation: In "Knights Of Tomorrow," Selina Kyle is Damian Wayne's mother, rather than Talia Al Ghul.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: "Enter the Outsiders!" has snapping turtles. Giant mutated snapping turtles. Giant mutant turtles in the urban sewers. The Gordanians also have reptilian attributes.
  • Resistance Is Futile: Faceless Hunter channels his inner Borg in "The Siege of Starro: Part Two".
  • Retool: What Bat-Mite does to the show in order to get it canceled.
  • Retraux: A lot of the show, but special note has to be given to the Scooby-Doo Crossover.
  • The Reveal:
    • Lampshaded in the Mirror Universe episode via Robo Speak; the villain prefaces his statement with "Revelation!"
    • We never see Bruce Wayne's face until the emotional climax of "Chill of the Night!"
      • The fact that we never see his face even if we know that it's Bruce Wayne makes the reveal so powerful. This happens when he confronts Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Etrigan.
  • The Rival:
    • Green Arrow and Batman. Both are perfectly aware of how childish they're being, but they're having too much fun to stop.
    • Robin and Aqualad share a similar relationship.
    • Plastic Man and Elongated Man.
    • Booster Gold and Alan Scott and Guy Gardner. Guy eventually gets over feeling threatened by Alan's presence and the two come to realize they're similar after saving Talia al Ghul and Batman from being launched into space.
  • The Roast: While Batman is rotating on a spit over flames, Joker tells Batman, "While you roast, we 'roast' you." And proceeds to get the others in Batman's Rogues Gallery, as well as Jeffrey Ross, the "Roastmaster General," to do just that.
  • Robo Cam: When Red Tornado is searching for the bomb in "Invasion of the Secret Santas!".
    • And again after Batman blinds him with flash grenades in "Game Over for Owlman!"
  • Robo Speak: Red Tornado has a tendency to begin his sentences with prefixes like "Observation:" and "Query:" — although it doesn't seem to be an obligatory tic, because his faux-human alter-ego doesn't do it.
  • Robot Buddy: Skeets to Booster Gold. He's a security droid that Booster stole from the very museum he stole all his other gadgets from.
  • Rogues Gallery Showcase: "Death Race to Oblivion!"
  • Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Considering that this was a show about Batman teaming up with other heroes and had less focus given on his traditional enemies, some villains were introduced on the show as enemies of Batman instead of their original adversaries, such as the Flash foe Gorilla Grodd and the Hawkman villain Gentleman Ghost. Occasionally, other heroes would exchange enemies as well, one notable instance being the Creature Commandos segment of "Four Star Spectacular!", where the team fought the Ultra-Humanite, who was ordinarily a Superman villain.
  • Rotten Rock & Roll: In "Emperor Joker", the Joker pulls out an electric guitar adorned with a clown smile, and starts singing a rock Villain Song called "Where's the Fun in That?" The song is fairly upbeat, but it is about how the Joker likes to make people smile - whether they want to or not.
  • Rousing Speech: AQUAMAN snaps out of his funk to give one in "Mystery In Space!".
  • Rubber Man: While it's to be expected since both Plastic Man and Elongated Man are in this show, special mention should go to Rubberneck, who is actually a man made of rubber but lacks the ability to stretch and shape himself.
  • Rube Goldberg Device: The Joker puts Bats in a Death Trap version in the Emperor Joker episode. Unexpectedly, it works, but not after a Hope Spot where Batman seems to escape.
  • Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: Music Meister uses a ludicrously overkill Death Trap, involving swinging blades, lasers, acid, bombs, crushers, spikes and trapdoors to kill Batman.
    • And the Joker uses an elaborate Rube Goldberg device to kill Batman in "Emperor Joker!". Of course, at the time, the Joker has the powers of a god to ensure that it works. But he decides it's no fun to kill Batman once, and does it over and over again.
  • Rule of Funny: The Enemy Mine with the Joker works entirely because it's funny. The Joker himself seems to run on this rule in this continuity, considering his Hyperspace Arsenal.
  • Ruthless Modern Pirates: Batman and AQUAMAN clash with modern day pirates during The Teaser of "Clash of the Metal Men".

    S-T 
  • Sand In My Eyes: Red Tornado does this in the heartfelt depressing conclusion of "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!".
  • Schmuck Bait: The Blue Beetle armor.
  • Screaming Woman: In the episode "Invasion of the Secret Santas!", there is a redheaded woman who stops in front of the camera, screams for a good two and a half seconds, then runs off again. Twice.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: In "The Super Batman of Planet X", Earth's Batman ends up on a planet much like Earth, except their Batman equivalent has a Clark Kent-type life and his main villain is named Rothul. Naturally, Rothul is an Expy of none other than Lex Luthor.
  • Self-Deprecation:
    • "Legends of the Dark Mite" features swipes at the Schumacher movies and Frank Miller's interpretation of the character. Bat-Mite gives Batman several new costumes, one of which is completely made of black rubber complete with Bat-nipples. Bat-Mite dismisses it as "too icky." When Bat-Mite turns Bats into the hulking Batman: The Dark Knight Returns model, he then declares, "Too psycho!"
    • Another shot at Frank Miller's Batman is taken in "A Bat Divided!" where Angry!Batman is very much the Goddamned Batman. Angry!Batman's yelling at Slacker!Batman for eating nachos could also be a dig at The Batman for depicting Bruce Wayne as eating nachos during his leisure, but it's somewhat mitigated by the The Batman version of the Caped Crusader appearing as one of the alternate Batmen at the end of "Night of the Batmen".
  • Serial Escalation: "Game Over For Owlman" starts with Batman against Batman. Then it ramps up to Batman, Batman, Batman, Batman, and Batman against Batman.
    • The video game has Gorilla Grodd turning Batman into an ape. After which AQUAMAN rides on Bat-Ape's back. And Bat-Ape swings AQUAMAN around as a weapon. Their special attack consists of AQUAMAN, riding Bat-Ape, riding a whale... Fighting armored sharks.
  • Sexophone: A subtle version occurs almost every time Catwoman is on screen.
  • Sharing a Body: Ron and Jason, as Firestorm.
  • Shark Pool: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", 'Matches' (actually an amnesiac Batman) attempts to lower the Birds of Prey into a shark tank.
  • Sheathe Your Sword: How OMAC beats Shrapnel.
  • Sherlock Scan: Performed by Holmes himself on Batman, immediately determining Batman's profession, both in and out of the cape, as well as his father's profession.
  • Shipped in Shackles: The Joker in "Game Over for Owlman!"
  • Shipper on Deck: Just like everybody else on the planet, Alfred ships Batman/Catwoman. He goes so far as to write a fanfic about the two being married.
  • Shout-Out: Enough for its own page.
  • Showdown at High Noon: "Night of the Batmen!" opens with one.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Jaime Reyes punches Jarvis Kord out cold.
  • Sidekick: Green Arrow brought his sidekick, Speedy, along for "Dawn of the Dead Man!". A grown-up Robin appears in "The Color of Revenge!"
    • "Sidekicks Assemble!" focuses primarily on Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad, all of them sidekicks (though Robin graduates to Nightwing at the end of the episode).
  • Single Tear: Red Tornado sheds one at the death of his "son".
  • Sinister Scythe: Scarecrow.
  • 65-Episode Cartoon: In the course of three seasons.
  • Skintone Sclerae: Part of the retro art style.
  • Skyscraper Messages: ("Mayhem of the Music Meister!"), during the song "The World Is Mine", two skyscrapers behind The Music Meister spell out the name of the villain.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Usually sits firmly on the idealistic end, even (perhaps especially) in its darkest stories. A notable exception, however, is "The Criss-Cross Conspiracy!", where Batman is strangely judgmental about the new amateur crimefighter of the week, the consequences of a destroyed Secret Identity are played deadly straight, the lesson essentially amounts to "some people just shouldn't try to be heroes".
  • Slippery Skid: Batman uses ball bearings to cause Bronze Tiger to lose his balance.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: A bit of a Genius Bonus- in "Crisis 22,300 Miles Above Earth!", JSA member Starman is voiced like actor Ted Knight (who as Ted Baxter was the original Trope Namer). The original Starman's real name was Ted Knight, although he predates actor Ted Knight's career by at least 15 years.
  • Smoke Out: In "Game Over for Owlman!", the smoke lifts to reveal that not only has Batman disappeared, he's disabled all his assailants along the way.
  • Smoke Shield:
    • In "Day of the Dark Knight!", when Batman and Green Arrow attack Etrigan, and again when Morgan Le Fay attacks Batman and Green Arrow.
    • In "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", when the navy attacks Chemo.
  • Smug Super:
  • The Smurfette Principle:
    • The show suffered from this heavily. The only female characters seen by the end of the first season were Fire, who barely had a full minute of screen time, and Katana, who appeared in one episode and didn't speak until the end.
    • The series' director addressed this in an interview on Toonzone; since the series would have an accompanying toy line (see trope description way back up at the top) they consciously focused on the male heroes for the first 13 episodes. The second season includes not only Huntress, but Black Canary as well.
    • By the time the show ended, a number of other female heroes such as Vixen and Wonder Woman had appeared. However, the final season's version of the Justice League had nine men and only two women.
  • Space Pirates: Kanjar Ro and his crew.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • AQUAMAN'S son, Arthur Jr., is depicted here as a moody adolescent. In the main comic continuity he was killed by Black Manta as a baby.
    • Princess Laethwen and the other Kathartans from the episode "Sword of the Atom", who died during their first appearance in the comics when Ray Palmer inadvertently returned to normal size and accidentally destroyed their village in the process.
  • Spoof Aesop: Captain Atom loses his powers and has to save the day with his wits and courage. The lesson he learned? "Non-powered humans are the most fragile and pathetic beings on Earth. Believe me, I know."
  • Squee: Captain Marvel's reaction to B'wana Beast's power.
    "That was awesome! Do it again!"
  • Stalking is Love: When the Music Meister sings "If Only" about Black Canary, despite knowing nothing about her besides her gorgeous voice.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Not used that much, yet it still gets a Lampshade Hanging in "Game Over for Owlman!": Plastic Man repeatedly asks "How does he do that?" as Bats gives him the slip, including the first time where he was wrapped up by Plastic Man. "Wormholes? Wormholes! So that's how he does it!"
    • And in a subsequent episode, he manages to impress The Flash with his departure speed.
    • Lampshaded again in the Cold Open for "The Masks of Matches Malone". This time, Black Orchid does it to Batman instead of the other way around.
      Batman: Thanks for the assist, Black Orchid. (Beat) Black Orchid? ...Now I know how Commissioner Gordon feels.
  • Stealth Pun:
    • Plastic Man gives an entirely new meaning to the phrase "money shot" in "Terror on Dinosaur Island!".
    • Green Arrow is jealous that Merlin thinks Batman is The Chosen One.
    • Scarlet Scarab serves as a Red Herring.
    • Batman asks his co-crimefighter if it was really necessary to sing along with Music Meister after "Deathtrap!". The heroine's name is Black Canary.
      • Though that one's justified: Canary's name is a result of her voice.
    • The Metal Men episode gets two thanks to Tin. He's smaller than the other Metal Men, which must make him tiny Tin. Then he loses his body and ends up borrowing Gold's to save the day. Somebody points out that Tin has a great heart, but is using Gold's body. Nobody says that he has a heart of Gold.
    • In "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous", Dr. Poison appears as a bartender. Alcoholic drinks are sometimes jocularly referred to as "poison", most commonly in the phrase "pick your poison".
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Skellington J. "Skeleton Keys" Keyes of Babyface's gang.
  • Stock Scream: In the "Dawn of the Dead Man!" teaser, one of the falling rat-men utters a Wilhelm scream when falling into the water.
  • "Stop Having Fun" Guys: invoked Sportsmaster tries to kill the competitors in an international bowling tournament because it's not a 'real sport' in one cold open.
  • Story-Breaker Team-Up: Poor, poor Sherlock Holmes.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: Happens to Batman when the Joker starts to unscrew his head and destroy his mind in "Emperor Joker!"
  • Stripped to the Bone: In "Emperor Joker!", the Joker drops Batman into the acid, and we hear a splash offscreen before the scene cuts to inside the acid... where his skeleton is shown, moments before the villain brings him back to flesh and blood again.
  • Strong as They Need to Be: OMAC's (One Man Army Corp) "power". He requests more strength from the orbiting satellite Brother Eye, who rearranges his molecules accordingly. With these enhancements, OMAC can jump over a mile, punch through a wall and several mooks, etc.
  • Stupid Neutral: Equinox. He tries to kill Gorilla Grodd for his crimes, but in order to "maintain the balance" he tries to kill the Question at the same time. Based on Libra, from the main DC Universe, who also "maintains the balance", but what that translates to is "giving the baddies some wins." He eventually graduates to Omnicidal Neutral when he decides he has to destroy the world so that he can remake it according to his own definition of "balance."
  • Stylistic Suck:
    • The teaser featuring the "Challengers of the Unknown" features a opening in grainy limited-animation typical of 70s Superhero cartoons.
    • Comes into play with "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases". The old-style anime uses blatantly looped footage, and the Hanna-Barbera Scooby-Doo crossover has some cels with Batman's neck miscolored (as well as a bunch of reused animation). Bat-Mite actually stops the cartoon to point this out.
    • The dialogue in the cold opener with Space Ghost reflects the Expo Speak style of the original Space Ghost cartoons.
  • Summation Gathering: The cold open of "The Golden Age of Justice!".
  • Superdickery:
    • All of "Death Race To Oblivion" was Batman playing "ruthless" in order to maneuver his allies onto War Moon in a position to take it down. To the savvy viewer, what gives away the act is the fact that he was assured all his allies would be teleported away before being hurt.
    • The Season 3 premier pays homage and parodies the various classic Golden Age "Super Dickery" covers after Superman gets affected by Red Kryptonite and becomes a dick.
    Jimmy Olsen: Superman's turned into a real di -
    Lois: -fferent person!
  • Superhero Packing Heat: The Vigilante
  • Superhero Speciation: Played for laughs during Plastic Man and Elongated Man's team-up.
  • Super Prototype: Proto
  • Super Wheelchair: The future Joker's combination wheelchair/dodgem car in "The Knights of Tomorrow!".
  • Survivor Guilt: Oh! You better watch out, / You better not cry, / You better not pout, I'm telling you why: YOUR PARENTS WILL GET GUNNED DOWN.
  • Swiss-Army Superpower: The sheer variety of these is just hilarious. Of course we have the Green Lantern Ring, but also the Blue Beetle's armor, Firestorm, most shapeshifters (apparently, Plastic Man can transform his body into fuel for his own car form), even Batman's utility belt verges on this sometimes.
  • Tailor-Made Prison: Batman mentions one he's made for The Joker but didn't expect Batmite to free him.
  • Take Care of the Kids: The original Black Canary's Final Speech exhorts Wildcat and the Justice Society to take care of her "little angel"... who then grows up to be the next Black Canary.
  • Taken for Granite: The kingdom of Camelot in "Day of the Dark Knight!"
  • Take That!: One of the ways Bat-Mite tries to get the show cancelled in "Mitefall!" is by replacing Aquaman's normal voice actor with Ted McGinley.
  • Take That, Critics!:
    • "Legends of the Dark Mite!" takes a hilarious swipe at viewers who complain about the Lighter and Softer feel of the series.
    Fanboy dressed as Batman: I always felt Batman was best suited in the role of gritty urban crime detective? But now you guys have him up against Santas? And Easter Bunnies? I'm sorry, but that's not my Batman!
    The Creators: [whispering among themselves, eventually handing a note to Bat-Mite] Here, read this.
    Bat-Mite: Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. To be sure, this is a lighter incarnation, but it's certainly no less valid and true to the character's roots as the tortured avenger crying out for Mommy and Daddy. [makes the paper disappear] And besides, those Easter Bunnies looked really scary, right?!
    Bruce Timm (dressed as Mark Hamill's Joker): Meh.
    • The Phantom Stranger and The Spectre fight over whether or not Batman should be Silver Age or Dark Age, representing the divided fanbase that resulted from the show's more lighthearted nature.
    • The finale uses Bat-Mite to parody viewers begging for a darker take on Batman. He even comes to regret his scheme of getting the show cancelled and admits that the show was pretty awesome even if it was a lighter incarnation.
  • Take the Wheel: In "Game Over for Owlman!", Batman and the Joker pursue Owlman in the Batmobile; Batman starts out driving, but hands over the controls so that he's free to react to Owlman's attacks.
    Batman: [pointing] Brake. Choke. Throttle. [climbs out window onto roof of Batmobile]
  • Talking the Monster to Death: How Batman defeats Equinox.
  • Talk to the Fist: Blue Beetle pulls one off on Jarvis Kord, and Dr. Fate does one on Wotan right in the middle of his Evil Laugh.
  • Technobabble: Parodied in the first episode with Batman's explanation as to why they came back to Earth at the same time they left in the portal, which we hear in his thoughts was just a fancy way of saying "That's weird."
  • Team Rocket Wins: While they get beat up and sent to prison not long after, Joker and Weeper do manage to successfully destroy Batman's crime prediction machine, thus ensuring that they and other criminals in Gotham will be able to continue to menace the city.
  • Teleport Gun: The Zeta Beam.
  • Tempting Fate: Batman invokes this for the viewer, while narrating after he's just been swallowed by a whale.
    Batman: I know what you're thinking. "Belly of the whale. Can't get much worse." (tentacles appear) And you would be wrong.
  • Terminally-Ill Criminal: The Clown Prince of Crime, learns that he´s dying due to long-term exposure to his own laughing gas. As a result, he lashes out against the doctor who diagnosed him and sets to strike down Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. His son is the one who stages the attack but he does so under his father's orders.
    The Joker: "The doctor gave me six months to live. I gave him six seconds."
  • Terrifying Rescuer: In "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!", two small children have this reaction to the Tornado Champion when he rescues them from a burning building, and run screaming into their parents' arms the moment he sets them down.
  • Thanking the Viewer: The final episode does this as a last bit of fourth wall breaking for watching the show.
  • That Man Is Dead: "There is no Jaime. There is only The Reach."
  • That Poor Plant: In "Enter the Outsiders!", Lethal Chef Wildcat makes a blenderful of Tiger Tonic. He gulps his down contentedly, but Batman pours his into a potted plant. The plant immediately shrivels up.
  • That Reminds Me of a Song: In "Emperor Joker!", after Harley asks the Joker to unmask Batman, the Clown Emperor responds, "And reduce my primal enemy to a mere man? Harley, my dear, I'm so disappointed in you! Where's the Fun in That?" He then suddenly shifts to using a villainous version of The Power of Rock and an electric guitar and singing, you know, "Where's the Fun in That?" while he sings to Batman to give in to the Joker's madness and smile.
  • There Are No Rules: Mongul does this when explaining the rules of his race in "Death Race to Oblivion!":
    Mongul: Rule 3: There are no other rules!
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The Music Meister's Death Trap for Batman and Black Canary involves the pair being suspended over an Acid Pool as The Walls Are Closing In with a Time Bomb counting down. And that's not even mentioning the lasers and swinging blades.
  • Thick-Line Animation: Except for Black Canary. Her hair has no lines surrounding it.
  • Third-Person Person: Proto in "The Plague of the Prototypes!".
  • This Cannot Be!: Bat-Mite. "It can't end this way! ... I... guess it can. That's all, folks."
  • This Is the Part Where...: Voiced literally by Orm after AQUAMAN warns him not to trust Black Manta.
    Orm: This must be the part where you try to turn us against each other.
    (Black Manta shocks him unconscious.)
    Black Manta: I wanted to do that within five minutes of knowing him.
  • Threatening Sharks: In "Emperor Joker!", the Joker sends Batman to the sharks, where one of them chomps on the Dark Knight and swallows him whole before heading back into the water (guess he should have brought in or used his Bat-Shark-Repellant). Cue the Joker bringing him back again.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: In the cold open of "The Eyes of Despero!"
  • Time for Plan B: In "Deep Cover for Batman!":
    Silver Cyclone: Then, since Plan A is not viable, we move on to Plan B.
  • Tin Man: Red Tornado
    Red Tornado: (crying) Oily discharge. I must run a diagnostic.
  • Title Drop: "Deep Cover for Batman!":
    Batman: "You've started something. A brave, bold new era in crimefighting."
    • Again in "The Fate of Equinox!"
      Batman: "Justice wins the day thanks to the brave and the bold."
    • "Mayhem of the Music Meister!"
      The Establishing Shot immediately before "Deathtrap!" focuses on an awning which reads TB & TB
  • Token Good Teammate: Subverted with Scarlet Scarab, who gets two hints he's this for the Injustice Syndicate...which are quickly subverted. He objects to Silver Cyclone's desire to wipe out an entire planet...because he's scared they won't be able to top that in terms of evildoing. He then mentions he has a heart of a hero, prompting Batman to assume this trope is at play...only for him toe quickly reveal he meant it literally: he has one in a jar in his closet.
  • Too Awesome to Use: Meta example. The series doesn't make significant use of A-list DC characters because then the show would become Justice League Part Two.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Yes, Joe Chill, tell the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Mad Hatter, and Solomon Grundy you're the reason Batman exists. Surely, they won't hold the fact you basically created the man who kicks their asses on a regular basis against you. This was based on the Golden Age story where Batman confronted Joe Chill. In that story, Chill ran to his gang and did the same thing; they promptly shot him in their anger. Though to give the gang credit, they did realize that this meant that Chill knew Batman's real name.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the flashback teaser of "Sidekicks Assemble!", a clean-shaven Aquaman says "This is outrageous!" without much emphasis and with a lighter voice. Clearly he wasn't AQUAMAN quite yet.
    • Calendar Man is given a level of badass by Bat-Mite. It doesn't help much.
    • Scooby and Shaggy in "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" with the help of Bat-Mite.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Batman in "Death Race to Oblivion!" (it was an act to throw off the bad guys) and "Joker: Vile and the Villainous!" Justified in the second case, since the episode is seen from Joker's perspective.
    • Bat-Mite in "Mitefall!"
    • Captain Atom in "Powerless!", especially when compared to his comic book counterpart.
    • The Golden Age Justice Society of America heroes towards the Justice League International Heroes in Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above the Earth! True, most of them were shown to be grumpy and cantankerous beforehand, but in the case of Jay Garrick, the original Flash, it's very jarring. Fortunately, they apologize when the episode ends.
  • Totem Pole Trench: Scooby-Doo and Shaggy do this while posing as the ghost of "Bulldog" Finney to scare the Joker and the Penguin in "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!".
  • Touch the Intangible: Batman has Nth Metal knuckles and batarangs to fight the Gentleman Ghost specifically because ghosts can't phase through that material.
  • Train Escape: Babyface and his gang try to do the 'unhooking the train carriages' version to Batman and Plastic Man in "Bold Beginnings!".
  • Transformation Sequence: Whenever the Blue Beetle suit activates, complete with abstract background, light-show, and orbiting camera.
  • Transforming Mecha: The freaking Batmobile, complete with Rocket Punch.
  • Trash Landing: Batman punches through a window and across a street where he lands in a dumpster in "Joker: The Vile and The Villainous!".
  • Tripod Terror: The Black Manta uses one to steal an armored car.
    • Tripods are also used to invade Rann.
  • Troperiffic: ... You got this far down the page, and you need an explanation?
  • Trouser Space: In "Game Over For Owlman!" the Joker pulls several implausibly large items (including a pie and a bazooka) out of his pants and/or jacket pockets.
  • Truck Driver's Gear Change: Happens in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", with "I'm the Music Meister", "If Only", "Death Trap", and "The World Is Mine".
  • Trust Password: In "The Criss-Cross Conspiracy!", Batman is trapped in Batwoman's body. Nightwing asks him to prove it by saying something only Batman would know. Batman responds "Your favorite color is blue, you used to sleep with a nightlight and you're deathly afraid of monkeys." Nightwing's response? "It's him."
  • Twisted Christmas
  • Two Beings, One Body: B'wana Beast's power is to take two animals, fuse them together, and fight using the resulting creature. In his first appearance he makes a spider-horse and a pelican-shark.
    • In "Gorillas In Our Midst!" he proves to be capable of merging more than two animals with Batman.

    U-V 
  • Unconventional Smoothie: Wildcat's trademark drink, "Tiger Tonic", is a shake made from tuna, hot sauce, raw eggs, and bananas, which audibly fizzles and kills plants when you put it in their pots. Metamorpho's the only other person who likes it.
  • Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a light and humorous interpretation of the Dark Knight. In "Chill of the Night", however, Batman goes after his parents' killer, and the tone is much more serious than usual. Then there's "Shadow of the Bat!'' a scary horror filled episode that involves getting turned into a vampire by Dala and turning most of the Justice League into vampires as well, before Martian Manhunter incinerated them by moving their base close enough to the Sun. Thankfully, this turned out to be all just Batman's nightmare caused by Dala's hallucinogenic venom.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Grodd's first episode has him turned into a human. He soon reappears as an ape, with no explanation at all.
  • Unhand Them, Villain!:
    • In "Legends of the Dark Mite!", Catman is auctioning off a wild Sumatran tiger. Batman demands that Catman "Release him!". Catman obliges by opening the cage and letting the tiger loose on Batman.
    • And in "The Long Arm of the Law!", Kite-Man has Plastic Man's family tied to a kite that he is flying into a thunderstorm. Batman tells him to "Release the hostages!" and Kite-Man releases the tether line, sending the kite soaring into the storm.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Sportsmaster, during "AQUAMAN'S Outrageous Adventure", is shown to be married to Tigress, with a daughter.
  • Unit Confusion: Intellectual!Batman gives the measurement of nuclear energy Firestorm absorbed in watts, when the unit for energy is joules or volts and a watt is measurement of power.
  • Unobtainium/MacGuffin: Promethium-90 in "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!"
  • Unusual Euphemism: AQUAMAN's "Aw, crabcakes!"
  • Uranus Is Showing: When Blue Beetle battles the Planet Master.
  • Vapor Wear: Princess Laethwen in "Sword of the Atom!". No wonder Ray Palmer is in love.
  • Vaudeville Hook: The Joker's first appearance on the show starts with one of these coming out of nowhere and snagging Batman.
  • Versus Character Splash
  • V-Formation Team Shot: The Club of Heroes do this at the end of the teaser for "Powerless!"
  • Victorian London: The setting for "Trials of the Demon!". Never mind the East-End types' inexplicable obsession with witch-burning, or that Merlin and Etrigan sealed Astaroth "300 years ago" (which would have put it during the Elizabethan era)...
    • The witch-burning makes some sense, as the villagers point out that Jason Blood is constantly going on about "Black Magic". Then when they come in to arrest him, he's halfway through becoming Etrigan, thus revealing he's not completely human.
  • Viewer-Friendly Interface: Batman and Red Tornado's computer displays its commands in huge red capital letters, occasionally accompanied by a computer voice repeating what we can clearly read.
  • Villainesses Want Heroes: Besides Batman's usual lineup of felonious females, Lashina (one of Darkseid's Furies) takes a shine to time-displaced Jonah Hex.
  • Villainous Breakdown:
    • Joker when sees what he would be like in a world without Batman.
    • General Zahl gets one when he succeeds in killing the Doom Patrol, but instead of discrediting them to the world as he planned, it has the opposite effect. The entire world chants "We're all the Doom Patrol", leaving the General helpless from shock and letting Batman arrest him.
  • Villainous Harlequin:
    • The Joker is somewhat more this than Monster Clown. (Then again, there's "Emperor Joker!" ...)
    • "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman" has a pair, Punch and Julie, near the beginning.
  • Villain Episode: "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!" With a villainous intro!
  • Villain Song:
    • The Music Meister's first song in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!"
    • The Joker gets one in "Emperor Joker!".
  • Villains Out Shopping: When AQUAMAN is on vacation and spots the Sportsmaster he's pumped for a fight, until he realizes that Sportsmaster is also on vacation (with his wife and daughter Tigress and Artemis Crock).
  • Vitriolic Best Buds:
    • A type 2 with Joker, Lex Luthor and Cheetah in "Triumvirate of Terror!". The three bicker amongst themselves, but during the battle with their arch enemies high five each other after they each get a good hit in.
    • The Injustice Syndicate in "Deep Cover for Batman!". Dyna-Mite and Blue Bowman seem to show concern about members of their team, despite being evil. Averted with the Silver Cyclone. He reveals that he hates all humans, including them. Of course, by then he's already rigged up a bomb that will wipe out all organic life on the planet.
  • Voices Are Mental:
    • Whoever Deadman possesses speaks with Deadman's voice.
    • Averted when Batwoman and Batman switch bodies. Their bodies keep the voices that belong to them.

    WXYZ 
  • Wacky Racing: "Death Race to Oblivion!" in Season 2
  • Walking the Earth: Batman, more so than any of his previous adaptations. Green Arrow as well, even using the phrase "Walking the Earth".
  • Weaponized Stench: One of Baby Face's minions is Polecat Perkins, so named for his ability to secrete a noxious odor from his armpits.
  • We Can Rule Together:
    • Ra's Al Ghul's classic offer to the Detective, except he makes it to Robin instead.
    • In the filler for "The Masks of Matches Malone", Poison Ivy takes over Gotham and becomes its queen. She offers to spare Batman's life twice if he agrees to marry her and become her king. Both times, he refuses.
  • We Don't Need Roads: Both the Batmobile and Green Arrow's Arrowcar can transform into planes. The Batmobile can also turn into a Giant Mecha.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Inevitably Robin. And his fellow sidekicks Aqualad and Speedy. To some extent both Batman and Black Canary to their teachers, the JSA. And Damian to Nightwing.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Jarvis Kord.
  • Wham Line: After Starro's defeat in "The Siege of Starro!" Part One, the Faceless Hunter says he now has a weapon even more deadly than his former master.
    B'wanna Beast: What is this weapon?!
    Faceless Hunter: You.
  • What Does She See in Him?: Batman invokes this regarding Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor in the cold opening of "Scorn of the Star Sapphire."
  • What Does This Button Do?: In "Game Over for Owlman!", Joker pesters Batman with this — until he encounters the Big Red Button that sprays knock-out gas at the person who presses it.
    • Then later, as a callback (a staple of any decent comedian, let alone The Clown Prince of Crime,) he yells "To the Batmobile!" runs to his seat, notices the button again, presses it again, and gets knocked out... again.
    • Joker does it again with the control for an Omega Warhead, let's just say Misfit's Big "NO!" is not unjustified. And it was just the teaser.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
    • Despite Batman's well known "no killing" policy, he shows no problem with forever shutting down (aka killing) Red Tornado's robot son. This despite the fact that he can clearly think and feel.
    • The only reason he kept Proto, originally deemed unfit for crime-fighting, active was that Ace the Bat-Hound likes him as a companion.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Green Arrow constantly chews out Bats for his ruthless behavior in "Death Race To Oblivion!" Understandable, as Batman goes so far as to attack his fellow heroes in order to win Gotham's safety. Of course, it's all an act, and GA knows as much the whole time.
  • What Would X Do?: X is Batman, for Jaime.
  • Where's the Fun in That?: The Joker's response to being good.
  • Whole-Plot Reference:
    • The entire episode "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" is basically an extended reference to Five Deadly Venoms.
    • "Chill of the Night!" strongly resembles the 1980 comic miniseries "The Untold Legend of Batman"; both feature the costume party where Thomas Wayne wore a bat costume, Bruce tracking down his parents' killer and revealing his identity to the man, and the crook begging his fellow crooks for help only to get attacked when they realize he's the reason there's a Batman.
      • And that miniseries, in turn, is based in large part upon the stories "The Origin of Batman" (Batman #47, 1948), where Joe Chill was first given a name and background; and "The First Batman" (Detective Comics #235, 1956), which provided mob boss Lew Moxton, the costume party, and Thomas Wayne's costume.
    • "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", which reveals the fate of the previous Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, borrows heavily from the comics — not from Ted's fate in Countdown to Infinite Crisis (2005) (which wouldn't really have fit the vibe of this series), but from the fate of Ted's predecessor, as revealed in Blue Beetle #2 (1967).
  • Wicked Cultured: Gentleman Ghost.
  • Wicked Toymaker: Fun Haus, an expy of the Toyman. He planned on robbing various homes on Christmas Day using action figures he created called "Presto Playpals". When he was cornered by Batman and Red Tornado, he merged the action figures into a giant robot and attempted to destroy them along with the families he had robbed. Beside the aforementioned action figures, Fun Haus used toy flying saucers, robot Santas, and an exploding doll.
  • Wimp Fight: Bat-Mite versus Joker-Mite in "Emperor Joker!".
  • Wingding Eyes: The lenses of Plastic Man's goggles flash dollar signs whenever he's tempted by money.
    • The Spectre has creepy skull pupils for a moment in "Chill of the Night!".
  • Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: In "Emperor Joker!", when Batman is crushed by a giant hammer in his first death, we see him as a winged angel playing on a harp and flying off to heaven... for a short while anyway.
  • Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: In "The Last Patrol!", Batman lectures Negative Man on why he should return to the Doom Patrol, oblivious to the fact that Negative Man is attempting to tell him that he is willing to do so.
  • The World Is Always Doomed: It says something when Batman apparently considers an incursion from Darkseid as nothing out of the ordinary in his day-to-day.
  • World Limited to the Plot: All over the place. For example, where were Superman and Wonder Woman during the Starro invasion? Exiled from Continuity at the time.
  • World of Ham: Ooooh, yeah!
  • World of Pun: The show is laden with puns. For example:
    "Mad men like you come in many forms. But liquid, gas or solid, they always wind up in the same state: inert."
  • The Worf Effect: If Batman goes into battle with a new foe in the Batmobile's Mech mode, don't expect a win. For him anyway. He himself isn't safe either, though more often it's his costars taking the brunt of it.
    • The Green Lantern Corps in particular tend to spend most of their appearances getting mind controlled and slapped around.
  • Would Hit a Girl: When he fights Mrs. Manface:
    Batman: The hammer of justice is unisex.
    • He also hits Ivy, though they're both offscreen at the time.
    • Per Degaton has no problem using his fists against Black Canary.
    • Matches Malone rather brutally beats Black Canary and Huntress into submission as well.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: When Batman gets body swapped with Batwoman and finds himself overpowered he claims that Batman wouldn't hit a defenceless woman.
    Batman/Batwoman: Funny. I don't have that problem.
  • Write Back to the Future: In the cold open of "Dawn of the Dead Man!", Kamandi and Dr. Canus fight a rearguard action to buy Batman time to return from their time to his own. Just before he leaves, he tells them to look in a particular place after he's gone; when they do, they find a weapons cache he left there in his present (their past) for them to find.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The Cavalier speaks it. Batman is audibly unimpressed.
    The Cavalier: If thou thinkest thou can stop me, then have at thee!"
    Batman's internal monologue: Somewhere, Shakespeare is spinning in his grave.
  • You and What Army?: Speedy voices this trope when Gentleman Ghost declares his intent to ravage London. He immediately regrets it.
    Green Arrow: Never ask that question, Speedy.
  • You Fight Like a Cow: Robin's schtick.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Music Meister to the mindcontrolled Heroes and Villains, in the song with his name:
    Now that Batman's been delayed, your usefulness has passed. A distraction is what I need, so kick into that blast!
  • You Just Had to Say It: In "Dawn of the Dead Man!", Speedy makes the mistake of asking "You and What Army?". Green Arrow chides him to never ask that question.
  • You Killed My Father: In "Chill of the Night!", Batman catches up to Joe Chill and reveals his identity to him.
  • Your Eyes Can Deceive You: Batman's training after choosing the Bat mask in the Wudang temple.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: Psycho Pirate's simulation in "Inside The Outsiders!"

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Batman: Geek, Bully, & Slacker

A nuclear blast separates Batman into three Batmen that represents the three broad elements of his personality. Geek!Batman is the Superego, Bully!Batman is the Id, and Slacker!Batman is the Ego.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (32 votes)

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