Killer Croc Is Not A Joke | Batman the Animated Series

Batman the Animated Series version of Killer Croc is widely regarded as being an incredibly strong dunce this is primarily because of one scene in the episode almost got him in which Croc utters six words I threw a rock at him it was a big rock taken in isolation yeah I can see why Croc wouldn't be taken seriously some of Batman's fiercest villains had gathered to talk about the dastardly schemes that almost took the cape Crusader's life and Croc interjects with his own frankly pitiful story it's no wonder everyone thinks he's an idiot that's just one problem Croc never said that it was Batman impersonating Croc to get information from the Joker if we look at Croc's other appearances yeah okay he's not Batman's smartest foe but he's hardly stupid in fact looking at crock's appearances in the comic books before BTS aired Croc was a big deal Killer Croc made his debut in Detective Comics 523 in early 1983. he was one of the most recent Creations to make his way to the Animated Series beaten only by Bane and the ventriloquist and Scarface and just writing this down it dawned on me I've always thought of Croc as a recent creation but this was 40 years ago excuse me for a moment while I turned to dust Croc's introductory story took place over the course of four months in the lead-up to Batman's 500th appearance in Detective Comics Detective Comics 526 the story ran in both Batman and Detective Comics so it was quite long and culminated in a confrontation between Batman and all of his foes past and present Croc was introduced as a mysterious character in a big coat and his face shrouded in Shadows but he was almost a side note in this first appearance Croc is a mob enforcer but quickly takes control of the mob following the downfall of Rupert Thorne and declares himself the new king of crime over time Moore was revealed about Croc's backstory raised by a negligent alcoholic Aunt Waylon Jones was born with the skin condition that left him with tough scaly skin growing up in the South which isn't exactly known for its tolerance he was bullied and abused relentlessly until one day he snapped and fought back this resulted in his incarceration and later on here in the moniker Killer Croc after murdering a fellow inmate that mocked his appearance upon his eventual release from prison Croc joined the circus wrestling alligators and turned to petty crime working his way up the East Coast crime families he was also notable for being the person that murdered the parents of the new Robin Jason Todd the original Jason Todd was practically a carbon copy of Dick Grayson just with red hair he was part of a family of trapeze artists although in this case his parents were fed to Crocs pet crocodiles after they were caught snooping around his hideout and Jason Todd fans if you're wondering why none of this sounds familiar this took place before crisis on infinite Earths this was when DC's continuity was reset and Jason Todd was reimagined as a Plucky street urchin whose deadbeat dead was murdered by Two-Face anyway back to Croc after this story he wasn't really used very much perhaps due to the shake-up in Creative teams in the wake of crisis on infinite Earths but when he was used he was never quite the same calculating foe instead the writers focused on his size strength and brutality that brings us to the early 1990s when the creative team behind Batman the Animated Series were putting together their ideas for the show as you can imagine a character covered in small scales might be quite difficult to animate so they stripped the design back veteran comic book artist Kevin Nolan was contacted to provide some early design work for the show and while not all of his work was used his designs for Killer Croc made it through without any major alterations Nolan implies the presence of scales by peppering Croc's Head and Shoulders with these large bumps his monstrous physique is enhanced with long gangly arms and a weird gaping mouth with razor sharp teeth as for his episodes we first introduced The Croc in Vendetta Harvey Bullock the police officer that arrested Croc years ago is implicated in the kidnap of two criminals two criminals who also happen to testify against Croc leading to his incarceration Croc escapes from prison and Frames Bullock his ultimate revenge is that Bullock will lose everything and go to prison much in the same way the Croc had lost everything with the added bonus that cops don't survive for very long in prison crock is barely seen in the first half of this episode and he clearly has put a lot of thought into his revenge he places evidence at the scene of the crime to frame Bullock and in a call back to the comics visits one of his victims in jail while disguised as Bullock although because this is a kid's show no one got stabbed this time Croc came very close to achieving his goal and he would have got away with it too if he hadn't left a flake of skin at the crime scene the next substantial Croc episode is sideshow now this is arguably Croc's best episode although to be frank there isn't much competition after escaping a prison Transit and fleeing through the wilderness Croc stumbles across a group of former circus Sideshow performers living in a mill they welcome him with open arms offering him sanctuary and friendship it's in this episode that we get potential references to Croc's Origins yeah I was part of this freak Show same as you only they kept me chained like an animal there's no guarantee that any of this is true but it does resemble his Origins from the comic books keep in mind that broadcast standards and practices would not allow references to child abuse so this brief reference to years of abuse is about as much as we could expect we know from a newspaper headline seen in Vendetta that Croc performed as Killer Croc Morgan in a wrestling league but that's about it and as an aside early drafts of the show's writer's Bible described Killer Croc as a big game hunter that was bitten by a rare lizard which infected him with a disease that turned his skin hard and scaly thankfully this idea was dropped and it seems that they opted to just not bother to give him an origin now back to Sideshow so Croc flat out lies to his new friends from the moment he meets them he doesn't mention the fact that he's escaped from prison he claims to have escaped from a sideshow in an effort to elicit sympathy from them and while Croc is friendly towards them and he does help them this is done to build trust while he thinks of a way to steal their money you have to wonder how things would have gone down if there had been no money for him to steal would he have stayed there and lived a quiet life I doubt it it's facade of Civility immediately drops the moment Batman arrives to take him back to jail Croc reverts to his vile Ways by imprisoning Batman and plotting to murder him when his new friends protest he immediately turns on them and plots to kill them too when Croc is ultimately defeated and taken back to prison the exchange between Croc and Billy the seal boy is genuinely quite touching why Croc Once you turn on like that we could have helped you we could have done something you said you can be yourself out here remember I guess that's what I was doing being myself Croc makes another appearance in the show during the episode trial a multi-villain Ensemble piece where Arkham Asylum is taken over and Batman is put on trial for the crime of creating his Rogues Gallery Croc acts as the guard and a member of the fair and impartial jury the interesting thing in this episode is that Croc clearly makes a reference to Batman's impersonation of him when the villains call out different means of dealing with Batman on the surface this is a fun throwaway line that references a memorable scene it almost got him but I also view it as Croc being aware that Batman made a fool of him and he wants Batman to know that he knows what was said information Croc is cruel crock is greedy crock is vengeful and Croc is selfish but Croc is not an idiot or a joke [Music] thank you

Channel: Serum Lake

Views: 70,477

Keywords: Killer croc, origin, BTAS, batman, animated, series, cartoon, animation, DC, comics, detective, original, first, Vendetta, Sideshow, Trial, Almost Got Im, Almost Got Him, adventures

Id: Zpcd1b5J1RI

Length: 8min 30sec (510 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023