7 Batman: The Animated Series Moments That Rival the Live-Action Movies (And One Might Happen in the DCU)

Batman: The Animated Series is one of the most beloved cartoon series around, both in and outside of the superhero genre. Its retro visual style, iconic character designs, and role-defining performances including Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill’s Joker have influenced movies, other shows, and even the official comic-book canon. We all have our favorite episodes of TAS. And within them are some truly incredible moments, like when the Joker escapes from Arkham on a rocket-powered Christmas tree, or that time Poison Ivy ruined Halloween by filling pumpkins with poison gas.

Some scenes are so good, they transcend the show’s animated format. These are moments that not only match some of the awesome things we’ve seen in live-action Batman movies, but often exceed them. These are our picks.

7) The Reveal in “Almost Got ‘Im”

“Almost Got ‘Im” is a classic Animated Series episode in which Poison Ivy, Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, and Killer Croc pass time during a card game by sharing stories about times they got very close to killing Batman. Some ideas are better than others; Penguin’s idea included poisoned hummingbirds and a vicious cassowary, while Croc just threw a rock.

The big finish comes when we learn that it isn’t Croc at all, but Batman in disguise. He’d set up an elaborate sting operation to get Joker to reveal where he was keeping a captured Catwoman.

Along with being a masked vigilante and the world’s greatest detective, Bruce Wayne is also a master of disguise who maintains other secret identities. He uses these skills several times in The Animated Series. The live-action movies haven’t included this aspect of Batman at all, and his masquerade as Killer Croc – complete with silly battle plan – is a high point of the show.

6) Mr. Freeze’s New Origin in “Heart of Ice”

In his original comic appearances, Mr. Freeze (formerly Mr. Zero), was not a beloved character. He was mostly just a guy with a gimmick, and the gimmick was “cold things.” Batman: The Animated Series, however, made him a respected member of the Caped Crusader’s rogues gallery.

The cartoon updated Freeze’s history by makinga concerned husband who puts his wife, Nora, into cryogenic slumber so she can survive until a cure for her terminal illness exists. His boss, who was not paying him to do that, destroys the lab and spills cryo-juice all over the scientist, creating Mr. Freeze.

The Batman movies have struggled with providing even vaguely sympathetic origins for their villains. The Dark Knight‘s Two-Face is one possible exception, but his immediate killing spree does hurt his case. Meanwhile, the new backstory for Mr. Freeze was so well received that it became canon in the comics.

5) The Meet Cute in “Harley and Ivy”

While Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have gone on to become a proper item in both the comics and the Harley Quinn animated series, their first collaboration came in the Animated Series story “Harley and Ivy.” After Joker kicks Harley out of his hideout (and not for the first time), Harley breaks into the Gotham Museum of Natural History to steal the Harlequin Diamond. She’s upset, but she still gets the importance of branding.

Little does she know that Poison Ivy has also broken into the museum to steal some plant toxins. Ivy sets off the alarm, and their paths cross just as the authorities show up. Harley plugs a flask of plant poison into her cork gun to create a cloud that allows them to escape. We’d put this caper up against Harley’s raid of the GCPD in Birds of Prey any day. They’re both fun times full of colorful gas.

4) The Freakout in “Feat of Clay”

The two-parter “Feat of Clay” continues Batman: The Animated Series‘ trend of making established villains way better. The show’s Clayface is actor Matt Hagen, who becomes addicted to an experimental face cream after a disfiguring accident. His “benefactor,” Roland Daggett, uses Hagen’s need for the goop to get him to commit crimes.

Batman can’t really fight Clayface with his fists, so he gets Hagen into a production booth and then puts pictures of his previous roles on all the monitors.

It’s actually a desperate attempt to appeal to whatever remains of Hagen’s humanity and not a fighting strategy at all, but what follows is still effective. Clayface unwittingly tries to transform into all of the characters simultaneously in a scene equally impressive and creepy. Because Batman movies have an over-reliance on their villains just falling off of things, this “death” scene outdoes most of them. But with Clayface making his DCU debut soon, it could happen on the big screen in the near future.

3) The Rollercoaster Fight in “Be a Clown”

“Be a Clown” includes one of the best fights in Bat-history: one with the Joker on a speeding rollercoaster. We’ve seen Batman fight a lot of people a lot of places, including on top of buildings, in the air, and in his car. He has fought them in the rain. He has even fought them on a train.

The closest parallel to the climactic battle of “Be a Clown” is the monorail scrap between Bats and Ra’s al Ghul at the end of Batman Begins. But the endings are reversed a bit. On the show, Batman kicks Joker off the coaster. In the movie, Batman leaves Ra’s on the train and lets it crash, which probably doesn’t satisfy Batman’s rule not to kill.

Overall, we prefer the rollercoaster fight, partly because we prefer the Joker, but also because the open cars of the ride make it feel way more perilous, even if it is animated.

2) The Team-Up in “Beware the Gray Ghost”

In the movies, Batman typically prefers to work alone. We’ve seen a few live-action Robins, and even an entire Justice League, but striking fear into criminals is usually a solo effort.

That’s not the case on The Animated Series, on which Batman has many friends (and even more in the Justice League spin-off), but our favorite team-up comes in the episode “Beware the Gray Ghost.” This story has Batman teaming up with Simon Trent, the actor who played the fictional superhero who inspired him. Even better, Adam West, the original TV Batman, plays Trent.

It works on a meta level: Conroy admired West’s Batman, so it’s also the actor meeting his hero. But generally, the episode is a great story about a man rediscovering his worth, and it’s a better Batman collab than we’ve seen in any movie.

1) Batman Saying the Thing in “Nothing to Fear”

Ever since the opening scene of the 1989 movie, “I’m Batman” has become as close to a tagline as the Caped Crusader has ever had. In The Animated Series, this line appears in the episode “Nothing to Fear.” This is the first episode with Scarecrow, who introduces himself by hitting Batman with a dart full of fear toxin. Bruce starts having visions of his deceased father telling him he’s a disgrace because it would be silly if the Dark Knight was afraid of worms or something.

Our hero breaks the toxin’s effect by psyching himself up with the iconic line, “I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!” The movies have had Michael Keaton, Chris O’Donnell, George Clooney, and Christian Bale deliver the line (Robert Pattinson only said he was vengeance), but Conroy’s read is still our favorite.

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