Batman: Caped Crusader: All the Big Changes to Batman Lore Explained

There are some big changes that batman: Caped Crusader makes to DC's Batman lore - let's break them down!

By Kofi Outlaw - August 6, 2024 07:35 pm EDT

Batman: Caped Crusader is more than just the next Batman animated series – it's an entirely new world of Batman content, populated with entirely new visions of familiar characters. The makers of Batman: Caped Crusader (Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves) were always open about the fact that they wanted to strike a chord between old and familiar (and even classic!) Batman lore, while offering even longtime fans the novelty of getting old characters in a new way.

A Female Penguin

Batman: Caped Crusader flips the gender of the Penguin; instead of "Oswald" Cobblepot we get "Oswalda Cobblepot," voiced by Minnie Driver. Oswalda proves to be a ruthless and cunning crimelord just like her male counterpart, while also having a flamboyant public persona and a twisted version of being a mom.

Harley Quinn - Twisted Shrink

Batman: The Animated Series introduced Harley Quinn to the world – but Batman: Caped Crusader is definitely introducing a whole new version of the anti-hero icon.

This new Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung) has no (apparent) connection to The Joker; instead, Dr. Harleen Quinzel works as a therapist probing the psychologies of Gotham's wealthiest and most powerful men; at night, "Harley Quinn" kidnaps those same men and subjects them to psychological duress, brainwashing them into doing whatever she commands.

Batman-Alfred Relationship

Batman: Caped Crusader also throws an interesting twist into the classic Bruce Wayne/Alfred relationship. Bruce spends most of the season referring to Alfred as "Pennyworth," and treating the loyal assistant like he's the help, instead of a surrogate father.

Bruce and Alfred's bond (or lack thereof) becomes a running subplot During Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1. It also delivers powerful rumination on Batman's origin story and Alfred's role in it.

Barbara Gordon, Esq.

Barbara Gordon (Krystal Joy Brown) is known for being a book-smart girl in Gotham City – but in Caped Crusader, that intelligence has taken her all the way to the halls of justice. Barbara is a defense attorney much to the chagrin of her dad, other cops, and prosecutors like Harvey Dent. However, Barbara's sense of fairness is unshakable – at least it is until new types of villains start popping up, "good" people start to fall from grace, and a vigilante creates a legal gray area no one saw coming.

....Being Jim Gordon's daughter Barbara also knows her way around a gun, and isn't scared to use one whenever the shooting starts.

Selina Kyle - Socialite

Like Harley Quinn, Selina Kyle/Catwoman gets a nice twist to her civilian identity. In this universe, Selina (Christina Ricci) is a wealthy socialite from a prominent Gotham family, whose prominence is quickly eroding away as their fortune diminishes and their scandals (like Selina being a klepto) grow.

Having Selina Kyle moving in the same social circles as Bruce Wayne adds a fun new dynamic to their interactions – as well as "Catwoman's" interactions with "Batman."

Dirty Bullock

Policeman Harvey Bullock has always been depicted as a gruff, heavyset, Gotham native son – but he always had a noble heart and was one of the cops Jim Gordon could count on.

In Batman: Capted Crusader, Bullock (John DiMaggio) is definitely NOT a good cop – in fact, he's as dirty (and deadly) as they come. Bullock's partner Arnold Flass (Gary Anthony Williams) has always been depicted as a dirty cop, but it's a new look for Bullock, and some fans may be shocked to see him break bad.

All The Robins

batman-caped-crusader-robin-easter-eggs-nocturne-episode.jpg — (Photo: Prime Video)

Batman: Caped Crusader is a vision of Batman's world that's too dark for a Robin – but we do get an Easter egg nod to not just one but all of the kids who have put on a Robin suit.

Caped Crusader Episode 8, "Nocturne" tells the story of a vampiric girl named Natalia Night, who uses a traveling carnival as a hunting ground. Natalia targets a group of kids from a Gotham orphanage run by Leslie Thompkins (Donna Lynne Champlin). The kids at the orphanage include "Carrie" (Juliet Donenfeld), "Stephie" (Amari McCoy), "Dickie" (Carter Rockwood), and "Jason" (Henry Witcher).

Those are odes to Carrie Kelley (the Robin of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns); Stephanie Brown (who briefly replaced Tim Drake as Robin, and then became Spoiler); Dick Grayson (the first Robin who became Nightwing), and Jason Todd (the second Robin who became Red Hood). It would be wild to see these kids come back later in the series, as some (or all) of them step into their Bat-Family identities.

Jekyll & Hyde Two-Face

Batman: Caped Crusader gives Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader) a properly long, slow-burn arc as prosecutor trying to make the political jump to being mayor. Caped Crusader makes it clear early on that this is a very different Dent, as the famed poster boy for law and justice turns out to be as compromised as the cops around him.

By the time Harvey Dent has become Two-Face, the dichotomy between his public persona and true nature breaks into two distinct personalities, who are in conflict with one another. Caped Crusader Two-Face is much more in the vein of "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," creating an entirely new (and yet familiar) way of examining the theme of duality through the villain.