One of the biggest slam dunks in animation
history was “Batman: The Animated Series.” Its short yet unforgettable run
heralded a new era for action cartoons. Gone were the days of ‘80s
“He-Man” or G.I. “Joe” types which all sought to bring
comic book art to the screen, adapting adapting a rather detailed, difficult to animate
art style akin to the source material. No BTAS did away with all that. You could do so much more
with so much less, as they say in the biz, pencil mileage. Bruce Timm's distinctivem groundbreaking
drawing style is still highly acclaimed over 30 years later for the countless ways
it changed cartoons as we know them today. But a couple of years after BTAS wrapped
up, the Fox network ran through its contracted syndication,
and the TV rights were back in the hands of Warner Bros. who sought to bring new Batman adventures
to their Kids’ WB! programming block thus greenlighting... “The New Batman Adventures.” The show's
producers had a hell of a lot more freedom to do some of the things they'd wanted
to do from the very beginning. Darker, creepier episodes, heavier
emotional themes, more child endangerment! But ironically, they were also suggested
to align the vibe of the show closer to the then-current live action
Batman motion pictures. We’ve got a whole video about director
Joel Schumacher's influence on the Batman cartoons Ya gotta to check it out after this. TNBA, we’ll call it--
It's “The New Batman Adventures” not “The New Adventures of Batman” Please remember, that is a completely
different show from 20 years prior-- TNBA also needed to co-exist with the team's
concurrent “Superman” animated series and thus the well-known BTAS
art style was stripped down significantly its extreme angularity a direct result
of new art director Glen Murakami. With only the lines absolutely
necessary to convey the character it was less likely that the art would lose consistency
when hopping between different overseas animation studios. But while the show's budget
didn't decrease, its reputation today isn't nearly as stellar
as its Fox-broadcasted predecessor and a lot of that can be chalked up to the
sometimes incomprehensibly drastic design changes to the world's
notable supervillains. Batman and his Bat-team all changed looks,
but none of them so far as to leave behind a stench. The bad guys, on the other hand... ...well, if you clicked on this video, then
you probably know what I'm talking about. In the “Batman Animated” production art book
released in 1998, series writer Paul Dini described that But while there were usually unique
behind-the-scenes reasons for each design change we’re here today to talk about whether or not
the changes can be explained in-universe. Like, is there canonical clarification
for why Killer Croc turned green or why Penguin's got more fingers or why--? Oh Jesus! I... ...we'll go over the production
side of things too, but I want to dig into how and why
they all looked so weird now. Real quick, we're going to be giving away
a bunch of cool DC stuff in our next video. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this video
and we'll choose a winner at random. There's some little fine
print below, too. Please read that. More giveaways will be happening every video for the foreseeable future,
so subscribe and stick around. Also, if we get to 200 Patreon supporters, we'll do a “Will It Canon?”
episode on “Teen Titans ”and “The Batman.” Need I say more? Link’s in the description. Okay. Batman villains. Between the two shows, there was roughly
a 2-year time jump, and while some folks have deep-rooted heartcanon for BTAS
being its own separate universe from the rest of the DCAU, it's absolutely
all part of the same continuity. So we'll be coming at this as if every change is indeed
an actual physical transformation. Not just “the same thing,
but through a different lens.” Because, it's more fun
this way. I'm allowed to have fun. I have a superhero YouTube channel. There were some villains
that really didn't change looks at all, like Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and, to an extent, Clayface,
who just doesn't look quite as, in Bruce Timm’s own words, “melty.” Then there's those who,
while they do look decently different, don't really require a lot of critical
thinking to understand. Like the Mad Hatter, who, really, I bet was always this short
and just wanted to impress Alice so he put on
some of those stupid stilt things Robin wears when he pretends to be Bruce
Wayne in the Hugo Strange episode, or Bane,
who decided BDSM was the new luchador. Granted, he lost his accent
somehow, but hey, so did Scarlet Witch. Did they actually explain that? If so, I totally missed it.
I don't think they did. They didn't, right?
They didn't explain that. But that's where the silliness of, like,
just kind of guessing ends. So let's dive into the rest, of whom
we really do have a good grasp of how and why their physicality hung a 180 for he new show. Well, new compared
to BTAS anyway. “Everything’s relative.” “Mmm... ‘bout time you got here.” You may look at these two character models side by side and think,
“How is this any different “from the outfit upgrades
you were talking about a second ago?” Well, there's actually
an interesting story behind that, but the bigger change
comes in the form of...the hair! Back when Catwoman was being originally
designed for “Batman: The Animated Series,” the crew wanted to go for a comic book
/ Adam West Batman style approach with the ever-seductive Selina Kyle
boasting flowing black locks. But when word came down from on high
that this show would need to take some not-so-subtle cues
from the new “Batman Returns” film, Catwoman became much more “cartoon
Michelle Pfeiffer,” so blond she was. But why would her hair be different
now in “The New Batman Adventures”? Well, if you're thinking “hair dye,”
you're absolutely right. But, if you're thinking
she dyed her blond hair black... [LAUGHS] “Well, you're wrong!” In the 4th issue of the show's tie-in
comic, Gotham Adventures, Selina finds out the blond dye she's been using is being tested on cats,
and she goes apes*** on the owner of the company, producing it. By the time we flash forward to TNBA at the end,
her natural black hair has taken over. “Well, the joke's on you,
I’m not even a real blond.” Bringing us bacl full circle to, like I expressed up
top about the show in general, “Cool. Nice. “This is what we wanted to do
in the first place “anyway, thank you!” Catwoman's all-black look goes
at least as far back as 1993, Actually part of production art created
for an unproduced Catwoman animated series one of many DCAU projects
that never saw the light of day. And while they did need to copy
the Michelle Pfeiffer hair, her all-black stitched leather costume was going to be
too complex to animate consistently. Didn't stop good ol’ AKOM Production
Company from animating a fire hand at the end of “The Cat
and the Claw, Part 2,” but I digress! So a compromise was struck in the form
of the gray BTAS costume we came to know and love. “The New Batman
Adventures” Catwoman was “a near feline silhouette,”
so says “Batman Animated,” and that book’s featured semifinal design
and even showcases some Pfeifferesque jagged lines across the forearms,
which didn't make it into the actual show but do pop up occasionally in the DCAU
comics and books. The last little detail to change between her designs was the presence
of seemingly white or light blue skin when she's wearing the costume,
but not when she's not. While I've had heated conversations
with other DCAU fans about how this makes any sense numerous times, “Batman
Animated” does describe it as “white makeup.” So there you go. She puts makeup on...the lower
half of her face when she puts on the costume.
Or is it her whole body? Whatever. Catwoman would later be shown
to have at least 2 other costumes during the era of the “Justice
League” cartoon. But we only ever saw her wear
one of these, modeled after Darwyn Cooke's Catwoman, and only in this sort of vision
Bruce Wayne is having about past lovers. So who knows if these were looks
she tried before landing on the all-black catsuit,
or if they came after, or what? All we do know
is that it's time to move on to-- [SCREAMS] F***! “So I guess there's only one thing to do.” Edward Nygma appeared far less in “Batman:
The Animated Series” than you might remember. Out of the 85 episodes, Riddler only headlined 3, and appeared
as a background cameo one other time, if you don't count this machine gun
mannequin thing. But his appearances amount
to even less in the revamped show. He showed up once in a dream, once
in an embarrassing defeat against Robin, and once where he's tied up before
he can even finish his first sentence. “Hey diddle diddle, time for a riddle.” [SCREAMS] Which makes it all the more [CHUCKLES] puzzling as to
why his design changed so noticeably. Gone was his mask, gone was his suit
and tie, gone was his hair?! Just kidding, this one isn't a hair-based conundrum,
but it does make you wonder... where did his hair go? “Somebody tell me! It's not fair!” Maybe his inability to understand
how Batman survived in his final BTAS episode resulted in him
pulling out all his hair in frustration, or Arkham changed its hygiene policies
to be more like the Snyderverse. And by the Batman Adventures Vol 2 comic,
he's got more of a buzzcut thing going on, like the hair is coming back. Man,
this is a hair one. But the most memorably perplexing
aspect of Riddler's redesign was his now form-fitting
leotard of a costume, revealing just how skinny the guy really is
under all those lumpy shoulder pads. If you remember, at the end of “Riddler's
Reform,” when we saw him last, Edward tossed his BTAS suit into a fireplace,
believing he had successfully killed Batman and therefore no longer
needed to remain the Riddler. So rather than recreate the same suit,
he, I guess, chose this. While it's certainly not
the greatest thing ever, it does stand out, a definite resemblance to the old Frank
Gorshin Riddler costume from “Batman” ‘66. It's also understandably similar to what
we got with Jim Carrey in “Batman Forever.” But while he may have
not overstayed his welcome in TNBA, he did become a recurring baddie
in the comics that followed up the show, adding a jacket here, pants there,
until we got the, dare I say it, best DCAU Riddler look ever: streamlined yet
perfectly intellectual. And it adds up. As the good nook says,
“what the character lacks in fashion sense “he apparently makes up for
in the brain department.” “Ironic, isn't it? “After all I did to keep my wife whole,
I end up like this.” Perhaps the most tragic character
in the entire DC Animated Universe is Victor Fries,
his wife stolen from him by an incurable illness, his life
stolen from him by an incomparable ass****. A chemical accident
forced his continued survival via purely his containment suit
that kept him refrigerated lest he spoil. But he was still a dude in there,
a sad, gray dude who's undeniably terrible to snuggle with,
but a dude nonetheless. Yet somehow, in “The New Batman Adventures”... Well... “The accident that created me
finally took its toll.” Now he's just a head. A head on spider
legs. Well,
that's what I hear everybody calling them, anyway. Spiders have 8 legs, people,
not 4. Is there a better name for this? What does his action figure say? “Insect-body”?
Insects have 6 legs! This is 4! I suppose “Quadruped Head” wasn't cool enough. [CHUCKLES] I'm sorry. Throughout BTAS
we learned more and more about how his body was essentially dying, but his death was kept at bay
by that patented Ferris Frontkick. So sometime between him
wandering off into the frozen wilderness at the end of the “SubZero” movie, and now, whenever “now” is, everything
neck down went bye-bye. I wonder how awkward that night
must have been for the polar bears... Freeze’s containment suit was redesigned
from the original Mike Mignola version, and he was now slimmed down in detail
just like everybody else. Freeze
got another new suit beyond this one. No, not yet.
I know I said “beyond.” This one, for two of his Gotham Adventures appearances, more detailed but still
that retro vibe. Eventually, Freeze’s decapitated head
was lost at sea in the Arctic, where chronologically it would end up
incarcerated a couple more times before eventually falling into the hands of the Powers family,
as seen in the future of “Batman Beyond,” there we go, Where he got yet
another suit, this time based on the art of Kelley Jones. “There might be some momentary discomfort.” But now that we're through all the chill
ones, let's start asking the bigger questions... “Too bad we didn't meet sooner later, babe.” Nowadays,
Killer Croc is known in the comic, movie, and video game worlds
as sort of a giant lizard person, not unlike, uh, the Lizard from Spider-Man. But the “Batman: The Animated Series” version, alias
“Killer Croc” Morgan, was just some pale, bumpy dude. Sure,
he was really strong and stuff, like,
holy sh**, he just pushed over a redwood, but we never got any sort of onscreen
confirmation that he was anything other than human. “Believe it or not,
the cellular structure is human, but the texture of it is almost...reptilian.” But his little bumps
apparently flake off in the form of scales as evidenced by this tiny glove Batman
finds and Croc’s debut episode. Harley Quinn refers to him as “Lizard Man” in the episode “Harlequinade,” “Batman
Animated” calls him a “mutant reptile-man,” And in Batman Adventures #7, Croc even calls himself “inhuman,” like those Marvel guys
that live on the moon or whatever, I don't know, I never watched it. He also has extremely powerful jaws
that can bite through prisoner chains, and while we don't know that
he can necessarily breathe underwater, he sure can stay under there
for quite a long time. So it may come as no surprise
that for his updated look for the new show,
they just leaned into it. He's gone from gray to green,
and even has fewer fingers. I don't think I'd ever noticed that
until taking notes for this video, but yeah, he's got pointy Simpsons
hands now. The BTAS guide book
describes him as possessing “bone-crushing “strength” and “razor-sharp claws
[that] can tear flesh from bone!” And his previous Ruffles ridges look a lot
more like reptile scales as well. He looks much less croc
and much more Doc...Connors. I tried to make that work, I did. But there was no explanation
given for this in any medium. But we may have a hint in one BTAS
comic book. Newscaster Summer Gleeson calls Croc by name in Batman & Robin
Adventures #23, but not “Killer Croc” Morgan as we'd heard in the show. No, she calls him Waylon Jones, the true
identity of Croc in the original comics. But if Waylon Jones is his real name, the Morgan surname just something he went by
in his traveling performance days, we may be able to apply other attributes
of his source character to the DCAU version. Comic book Waylon Jones
was born with a medical condition that caused progressively more
aggressive reptilian features. So like our pal Mr. Freeze, the dude's body is deteriorating. Except he's not going to become
a quadruped head, he's actually
turning into a dinosaur person. But not like how Kobra did it in
“Batman Beyond,” It's much, much slower. Jokes! [SCREAMS] This could easily explain
why Killer Croc has physically changed so much in the time between shows, and even
perhaps why his voice is different. “I threw a rock at him!” “Nobody understands
how rough my life's been, “just ‘cause I'm...different.” In fact,
the last time we saw him in “Batman: The Animated Series,”
he got his sh** rocked by Bane. Maybe part of his body's healing process
was like, “Hey, let's be greener and bassier now.” Like a lizard
regenerating its limbs, or whatever. My point is that this medical condition thing
is probably the best explanation we have. Or it could be that he was spliced with
some kind of reptile DNA between shows. It's not off the table. Splicing wouldn't become as commonplace
until “Batman Beyond,” but hey, we've still got present day
examples all over the place like Cheetah, theoretically Copperhead, the pure invention of Tygrus
or my man Garth, and hell, even the very first BTAS
episode features a giant half-man-half-bat creature, some kind of bat...man
or something like that, Comment below
if you've got a better name for him. “What say we have a little talk,
just like old times?” This one's a bit of a weird one.
Much like Catwoman, the Penguin of “Batman: The Animated Series” started off
more or less resembling his “Batman Returns” counterpart. That movie version of Penguin
was born a hideous monster, much to the disdain
of his parents, Pee-Wee Herman and Simone. Both versions had the big beak nose,
the webbed flipper hands, and essentially the same outfit. But the animated Penguin
was much more civilized, or at least prided himself
on pretending to be so. Not a physical match for Batman,
but a mental one. Like he was so smart, he knew just
the right birds to throw at him. His original design for BTAS
is less mutated, based on the versions drawn by artist Jack Burnley
in the earliest days of Batman comics. For the revamp,
they were finally able to say “It's been long enough
since the Tim Burton movies came out, “let's not do that anymore,” and could bring
back the, again, original character design they wanted it in the first place.
And while that's all well and good, it's not enough to canonically
just say he lost some weight or something. Now his nose points the other way, he's got the correct human
amount of fingers, there was probably something else
much more unnatural going on under the Penguin Pajamas
we don't even want to think about. “I'm a legitimate businessman now. “I don't want to draw attention to myself.” For decades, Penguin's transformation
has been endlessly questioned among the DCAU fanbase, and almost
all theories point to plastic surgery as the obvious conclusion. Like the “Batman Animated” book describes, he's
“no longer a grotesque human-bird mutant.” We'd have to wait to see that
until the fantabulous Mister Wing! But in the very comic series Mr. Wing comes from, Batman: The Adventures Continue, We finally got an explanation
for Penguin's new look. As part of the newly introduced
Jason Todd's Robin origin, we saw Jason kick ol’ Pengy
out of a helicopter to an unknown fate. Though this series was drawn by BTAS
comic alumnus Ty Templeton, the inks this time were done
by DC and Marvel artist Mark Morales. And when you look at ‘em, you can see...
Morales totally thought Clock King was supposed to be Riddler,
but also there's a completely different Penguin design
than on the final colored page. It wouldn't be until BTAC’s first
holiday special that we'd find out why. Mattie insisted on voicing Mr. Wing. I dunno what Mr. Wing actually sounds like,
but I'd like to. So, yeah,
it was plastic surgery, confirmed! Well, if not for the fact that this comic
is pretty much accepted at this point to not be in the same timeline
as the DCAU is on our TVs. There's continuity kerfuffles everywhere and it's been said by the writers
to be what they'd do for another season of “The New Batman
Adventures” had “Batman Beyond” not existed. So while the reasoning for TNBA Penguin’s
look may still be plastic surgery from some traumatic event, it wasn't
necessarily because of Jason Todd. But that isn't to say
you shouldn't read this comic. It's still got some really great moments. Read it, you should. “Now you sound like Yoda.” “You haven't changed a bit.”
“Yes, I have.” Look, people were asking us since 2017 to do a video on the character
progression of Poison Ivy in the DCAU. It's extremely complicated,
and interwoven between every entertainment medium
you can think of. So that's just what we did...eventually. We now do
finally have a video out on the channel all about Poison Ivy's history
in this universe, and how she goes from human to maybe human
to definitely not human. It is very big and very good. You should watch it. That being said,
you're here now in this video, so at least give you the Cliffnotes on her BTAS to TNBA transition. Her skin went from a healthy flesh tone
to an eerie, lifeless gray, a color described in “Batman
Animated” as “dead-white.” She's just some crazy lady
who loves plants and hates people in the first show, she's a zombie-colored
chlorokinetic in the second show. That means she has plant telekinesis.
I had to look that up. There was never any explanation on screen
for the change, but we did get a mini arc in Batman Adventures Vol 2 that may just spell it out for us. See, in her final BTAS episode,
she gets hit with weedkiller and melts into a puddle of green goop
at Batman's feet. She wasn't the real Pamela Isley
after all, but a veggie duplicant, planted [CHUCKLES] so that the actual Ivy
could make her secret getaway. Fast forward
to that Batman Adventures comic, and we come to find out
the Ivy we've been following that entire comic was also a plant clone,
so it's been fanbase hypothesized over the years that she may have even been that clone
as far back as her TNBA appearances. Producers never confirm nor deny this, as they don't want to step on each other's
toes. But, well, instead of me
continuing to spill all of the green beans,
just watch that full Ivy video of ours if you want my entire take on this.
The timeline it pushes and pulls, during which periods she may
or may not be a clone, how the clone stuff works at all, etc. Trust me,
I watched and read every single DCAU Poison Ivy thing that exists
so you don't have to. Oh no. I'm starting to sound like Nostalgia
Critic. [SCREAMS] Wait, that's not right. [SCREAMS] “Scared you, didn’t I?” Hoo boy, okay, this motherf***er got spooky. “He looked like a hangman “who had been cut down and, you know,
had gone off to terrorize people. “We weren't even sure
if there was an actual guy in the suit.” The Scarecrow's
final DCAU costume is utterly terrifying, While producer quotes like the one
you just heard often talk about him as though it may not even be a costume, there is one single Gotham Adventures
issue where we see normal BTAS-lookin’ Crane standing in Arkham
among other...prisoners? They’re patients, right? I don't know. That's a whole
‘nother conversation. But by the time of the “Justice League”
era Batman comics, Crane is shown as a gangly, ghoulish figure
only ever seen among the shadows, as if showing what he actually looked like would be too frightening,
even for the reader. So how did he go from point A to point B? Fan theories have run amuck over these 30 or so years,
usually centering around his new design’s prominently featured hangman's noose,
as if Jonathan Crane had been hanged to death, but somehow came back to life
as some sort of zombie creature. That's twice now
I've used the word “zombie” in this video. Hopefully the algorithm picks up
on the “Last of Us” synergy This dead-and-then-resurrected theory is certainly
a fun one, and it makes perfect sense considering the voice actor changed to
Jeffrey Combs, who played the Re-Animator in “The Re-Animator,” though
while it's indeed fun, it ain't canon. There was a more or less official explanation
floating around the interwebs for years, if you knew where to look. Jonathan Crane would have been involved
in a chemical accident that f***ed up his face, which, for
whatever reason, he blamed on Batgirl, adding to the weight of the episode
“Over the Edge” where he seemingly murders her. Later, he would also be tried
and sentenced to death by hanging, but instead of his neck breaking,
the rope would, and now believing himself to be a walking ghost, he would don
a much more nightmarish outfit. These stories were never portrayed
in any episode or comic or anything. It wouldn't be until 2016
before we got a “real” explanation in the Batman/Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles Adventures comic run. Don't make me repeat it. You heard me. Here, in the penultimate (that means second to last) issue, Scarecrow gives his costume
a concept art overhaul to be more imposing and scary to the Kraang, those squishy pink
alien guys from the TMNT franchise. This is indeed the same :Texas
Chainsaw Massacre”-y look we got in TNBA, though while he's no longer a “nerd
with a bag over his head,” he...might be? If by “bag” you mean “human face skin.” Like, as a kid, I always thought this line
indicated a ratty, stretched out shirt collar, but I
may have been optical illusion-ing myself, and this is actually the end of a, um, sack of skin being held over his real face
by the tautness of the noose. This is a gross sentence. So yeah, he said, “I bet
I could spook the little brain “guys from the Ninja Turtle cartoon
by becoming the guy from ‘Jeepers Creepers’.” Then later accidentally Two-Face’d himself thanks somehow to Batgirl. Wait, it must have burned off a lot of his hair
too, right? This is just the original Lex Luthor
baldness explanation. Damn you, Superboy! All of that is canon. Don't ask me any more questions. [SCREAMS] Okay, fine. One more question. “A little distraction would be useful right
now, wouldn't you say, Lexy?” I saved this one for last because
it's perhaps most painful of all the supervillain redesigns. It's simple enough
that he swapped his orange shirt out for a green one, or replaced
his acid filled boutonniere, or tailored his purple suit
a little... worse. Let's be honest.
That jacket does not fit him at all. But that face. That face, man, what is going on there? “How dare that smug, preening fool “try to cash in on my image?!” Some people have harped on the eyes and referred to him as the fourth Warner
sibling. Others have focused
on the absence of the signature red lips. I mean, think about it. If he'd always looked like this, Batman discovering his identity through colored
pencils wouldn't have even worked. But when you understand what they were
going for, it kind of makes sense. Paul Dini described the face change
as “giving him the likeness of a grinning skull.” And I can certainly see
that; remove his hair and he really is seconds away from
“Megalovania” playing. Supposedly this joker design
was influenced by some specific panels from the Batman Adventures: Mad Love comic,
which all stylized the Joker for dramatic effect. His eyes always being this way...
doesn't really work. But I will submit that this design
worked perfectly exactly one time, in this shot from the Batman/Superman
crossover, “World's Finest.” [LAUGHS MANIACALLY] “I really
have to congratulate myself on this one.” “And then Paul, you know, went
and complained “to Jean MacCurdy about it, like, ‘Hey,
Bruce isn't putting lips on the Joker,’ “and Jean had to come talk to me and said
‘Bruce...’” “Did you really complain the Jean?” “Yeah.” “He really did,
‘cause he went in “and he kind of complained to me
and I went ‘Ah, it's fine.’ “Daddy says no,
so you go talk--to ask Mommy.” “That's right.” In Batman Adventures Vol 2,
they brought back the eyes, and in the episode “Joker's Millions,”
we do get to basically see what that would’ve looked like in motion, when Joker's goon
Ernie impersonates him for a scene. And I'll admit...I like it better
the other way. Call me hypocritical. I can't explain why my brain likes
what it likes. By the time the “Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker”
movie came around, due to the cryptic, horrifying nature of the film,
there was no way the crew couldn't leap at the chance
to correct their mistake, and so created what is, in my opinion,
the primo, chef's kiss DCAU Joker design.
“Now that’s purdy.” And while I've never confirmed with anyone
that this is the case, I would wager that these two moments of Joker
walking out of the shadows are sort of a metaphorical transition
out of the TNBA design. It's like
when Batman walks out of the shadows in the first “Justice League” episode and
his highlights change from gray to blue. That's a thing, right? But anyway, you just want to know
how his lips and eyes changed canonically. Perhaps in an especially dramatic tussle with Batman,
his lips were ripped clean off. Perhaps his eyeballs were exposed to that
fog from the “Simpsons” “Treehouse of Horror” that turns people inside out! “Perhaps with a cyanide pie in the face.” Well, no, there's actually
zero explanation for this in continuity. I'm sorry, okay? This one is truly a “viewed
through a different lens” situation. I'll let Gotham Adventures artist
Tim Levins lay it out how he did for us several years ago. No matter what animated series
he calls home... Joker is Joker. “I’m the Joker, baby!” When we see him on a wanted poster
in “Batman Beyond,” he looks like his TNBA design. When we see archival footage under
the lens of the “Return of the Joker” movie, he looks like he does in that movie. He doesn't look like his TNBA self
on a recording from 40 years prior, nor did
he look the same as either of those when we first saw this scene
play out in the Batman Adventures Holiday Special, because he didn't “actually” look like that then, or he's always looked like that,
or he never looked like that, it's kind of up to you. There's 3 Joker designs, but they're
all, in a way, the same Joker design. Wait, 3 Jokers?
Bum, bum, BUM! But now you know,
‘cause it's James' Not-So-Short Show. Not every villain from BTAS
reappeared in TNBA, like Man-Bat, (Oh, that's a good name for him) who did show up in a Gotham Adventures
issue and look pretty much the same. Or the famous Phantasm who came back
in Batman Adventures and “Justice League Unlimited” looking pretty much the same. Rupert Thorne showed up years later
in the revamped style in “Mystery of the Batwoman,” looking,
you know, pretty much the same. And Ra’s al Ghul came back,
but only in “Superman” and “Batman Beyond,” and only ever seen as his traditional self
in a flashback of some kind, looking... pretty much the same. In both cases, he came back thicker. And hey, if you for
some reason hated the new Bane design, you're in luck. The “Justice League: Wings of War” novel
describes him as wearing a turtleneck, a shoulder holster,
and a watch with at least 3 buttons. So I drew what that might look like. I don't know if it's better or not,
but you're welcome. All in all, the DCAU wasn't perfect. Damn near it, but still. The crew made mistakes
sometimes and learned from them. You shouldn't take away from all this that I'm dunking on “The New Batman
Adventures.” Some of the animation in this show
is the best out of the entire DCAU, don’t @ me. “She's beautiful.” “She can't see that anymore. “All she sees are the flaws.” Sure,
some stuff is dumb, but these are Batman cartoons we're talking about.
And the old Batman-Superman.com official website was one of my
original gateways into this universe. So regardless of their reputation, I still
love these versions of the characters... mostly. I’ll leave you with one final passage from “Batman
Animated” that I think sums it up nicely. So, which “New Batman Adventures” designs
do you love or hate the most? Are you a TNBA Joker apologist? Or maybe you wish they'd done
similar overhauls to Two-Face or Clayface or any other face? Thank you so much to all of our lovely
Patreon supporters, especially our top patrons, Aaron Young,
Luke Mears, and Jonathan Andrew Brantley, for continuing to keep
the lights on here at the Watchtower. Bruce Wayne's checks have been bouncing
lately. Patreon link is in the description,
and remember, “Teen Titans” / “The Batman” “Will It Canon?” That can be a thing if you go join up
and help us get to 200 patrons. Bye-bye.
