Summary
Batman: Caped Crusaderis now available on Prime Video, where theDC Universeseries has been allowed to break many of the rules that its predecessor,Batman: The Animated Series, was not. The series is an original take on Bruce Wayne’s story, withCaped Crusadermaking several surprising changes to Batman’s lore. Created by J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, andBatman: The Animated Series' own Bruce Timm, this new series, made for streaming, was able to bypass many of the conditions they had to meet for the previous series to be eligible to air in programming blocks for children.
In a post onXfrom 2018, Mark Hamill shared an illustration by Bruce Timm that directly broke every rule thatBatman: The Animated Serieshad to follow. For censorship reasons,the cartoon was not allowed to show extreme violence, drugs, alcohol, nudity, handguns, religion, child endangerment, characters crashing through plate-glass, or punches directly to the face.The shared image is a fun encapsulation of this, but notably, the newBatman: Caped Crusaderdirectly breaks these rules. While this applies to some more than others, seven of these nine rules appear to be broken in the series.
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7Batman: Caped Crusader Has Alcohol
Alcohol Appears In The First Episode Of The Series
Throughout the entire series, many characters are seen drinking alcohol inBatman: Caped Crusader.The Penguin’s floating club is full of the stuff, and scenes of Barbara and James Gordon sipping drinks appear to be a regular texture to the series.While there does not seem to be any special focus on the use of alcohol, it appears that the series used this as an opportunity to create a more realistic world, showing people having alcohol on occasions where people would often drink.
Alcohol then serves the purpose of adding authenticity to the show.While characters can be seen holding glasses of whiskey and champagne throughout, these do not contribute heavily to the show’s plot.Instead, these details contribute to the overall tone and atmosphere of the series, in envisioning a real-feeling world where people are permitted to drink alcohol just like in the real one.
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6Batman: Caped Crusader Features A Number Of Handguns
The Gotham Police Department Uses Handguns Throughout The Series
Censorship considering the use of firearms in children’s animation is difficult to parse. Some series used laser guns rather than handguns with bullets, while others avoided the use of these weapons entirely.Batman: The Animated Seriesmade its way around this subtly and delicately, as it was complicated to build a crime-filled series without showing the use of firearms.This was a difficult task, as even the intro toThe Animated Seriesshowed a bank robbery, which is a tricky image to pull off without handguns.
Following this,Caped Crusader’s use of these weapons feels natural.The police in Gotham City have handguns because this is what the bulk of American police carry,especially during the show’s period setting. Rather than having to work around the use of guns and replace them unnaturally, the weapons chosen contribute to the texture of the series and make the scenes that feature them more believable.
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5Batman: Caped Crusader Features Drugs
References To Drugs Are Made In The Series' First Episode
While drugs are not an enormous part ofCaped Crusader, the series is set in a world where the police are forced to fight the war on drugs in Gotham.This is notable in the first episode, where Batman speculates on whether the Penguin’s boat is a front for trafficking guns or drugs.There is also a line about “dope-pushers”. These simple references do not feel like much, but they continue to populate a very real and disturbing world of Batman villains. The crime elements of the series require real legal infractions for the hero to rally against.
Notably, The Penguin inThe Animated Serieshad a design that seemed to work around the censorship requirements for drugs. While smoking tobacco could not be shown in the series,Penguin did have a cigarette holder that appeared to have a cigarette stuck in the end of it.The earlier series got away with this by never showing the character actually smoking the cigarette. This part of the Penguin’s character did not recur in the version of the character that appears inCaped Crusader.
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4Batman: Caped Crusader Has Characters Crashing Through Plate-Glass
One Of The Stranger Rules Is Broken In Caped Crusader
Due to censorship,The Animated Serieswas not able to show characters crashing through plate-glass.This golden rule was broken by Batmaneven in the trailer for theCaped Crusader,which saw the masked hero crashing through the plate-glass ceiling in a dramatic entrance. As a hero that routinely shows up and disappears unexpectedly,the violent entrance that results in the spraying of glass makes sense for Batman as a character, and it is strange that the original series was forced to avoid this.
This may only be a rule because of the very real danger involved with smashing glass, so as not to encourage children watching to try to commit this action on their own and thereby likely cut themselves badly. Fortunately,theCaped CrusaderBatman is able to use his grappling hook and cape to travel through these barriers in the new series, allowing for exciting entrances for the hero and great chase scenes with the new Catwoman.
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3Batman: Caped Crusader Has Some Disturbing Violence
“The Night Of The Hunters” Features Some Of The Most Upsetting Batman Violence
The entire run ofBatman: Caped Crusadershows notable and disturbing violence. The melting features of Two-Face and Clayface are both done in human and realistic ways that suggest the brutalizing of the body, while violent images persist in multiple episodes.There is even an early scene where spiders can be seen crawling over a dead man’s eyeball.These images would not have been permitted in the earlierAnimated Series, but it is the violence shown against the character Firebug that is perhaps the most memorable and disturbing.
To lure out the Batman, two police officers help the villain Firebug escape prison. A violent man,Joseph Rigger needs to see things burn, and as soon as he is released, he wreaks havoc on an apartment building.This forces Batman to come and save the day, but not before the fire has destroyed most of the building. In a disturbing final scene, the police themselves shoot Firebug even after his surrender, so that he can’t reveal how they let him escape. He falls from the building and dies in a disturbingly violent moment.
2Batman: Caped Crusader Has Children In Danger
Season 1 Episode 8 “Nocturne” Features The Kidnapping Of Several Children
Notably, an entire episode ofCaped Crusaderis built around the concept of child endangerment.In season 1, episode 8, “Nocturne,” Batman is forced to look beneath the shady facade of a traveling carnival.Natalia Knight appears as the villain, who kidnaps a series of children. With haunting images that imply certain danger due to Knight’s incredible powers, it becomes clear the lives of the children hang in the balance, and are almost certainly doomed unless Batman can save them.
Notably, theepisode introduces 4 Dark Knight sidekicksasthe children are revealed to be named after four different Robins from the comics. While the children here are very young, it is implied that any of them may be primed to become one of Batman’s sidekicks in later seasons of the series. By using Robin here, this alleviates some of the tension that is inherently tied to child endangerment, as Batman’s various sidekicks are shown to be able to hold their own against even adult opponents in the comics.
1Batman: Caped Crusader Has Villains Punched In The Face
Batman Punches Penguin’s Goons In The Face In The First Episode
Batman: Caped Crusaderis a brutal show compared to its predecessor, and much of this is shown in the premiere episode. During the first fight of the series, as Batman attempts to take down Oswalda Cobblepot on her boat before she fires missiles at the Gotham Police Station, he is first faced with a physical assault from one of her hirelings.Notably, Batman throws punches that land squarely in the crook’s face repeatedly. This violence is more unrestrained thanBatman: The Animated Series, though the former show did manage to still keep its own action tense.
After viewing the entire show, something as simple as a punch to the face feels quite tame. However, it works to effectively launch the series ofBatman: Caped Crusaderand to let audiences know that what they are watching is a darker departure from the earlier series. While the series tends to break almost all of the rules thatThe Animated Serieshad to follow, none are done gratuitously or in unnecessary ways. Instead,the adult themes and images help to contribute to a new iteration of the Batman characterthat feels faithful to various places in his history.
Batman: Caped Crusader
Cast
Wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne, transformed by tragedy, takes on the mantle of Batman to combat the rampant corruption and crime in Gotham City. His vigilante actions attract both allies within the GCPD and City Hall and deadly adversaries, leading to unforeseen consequences. The series delves into the noir roots of Batman, exploring the psychological depths of Gotham’s inhabitants.
