TV Review: Batman: Caped Crusader
To each new generation there shall come…a new animated Batman series! Caped Crusader is the 2024-on version of the story. In this version, traumatized millionaire Bruce Wayne and his dark-costumed alter ego are at the beginning of their career. He and the police don’t trust each other, largely because Gotham City’s government and law enforcement are heavily corrupt. Many of the officers are in the direct pay of crimelord Rupert Thorne or other gangsters, and most of the rest are willing to look the other way.
There are some people fighting the corruption. Police commissioner James Gordon is trying to pry the worst of the bad cops out of his department. His daughter, public defender Barbara Gordon, tries to keep her clients from being railroaded or to at least get them the best deals that can be wangled. District Attorney Harvey Dent is running for mayor on a reform platform. That last one might be hard to achieve though; Harvey’s got a hidden side that isn’t so pretty.
The aesthetic is from the very early Batman appearances, and 1940s film noir. But in an alternate history where racism and sexism aren’t nearly as much of a thing and being lesbian in public isn’t a fast way to get arrested. This allows the creators of the show, including Bruce Timm (Batman the Animated Series) and Ed Brubaker (Gotham Central) to play around with audience expectations a bit.
The first episode introduces us to this series’ version of the Penguin, who is a woman of a certain age (she has adult sons.) That tells you right away that the creators are making choices.
There’s also appearances by popular villains Catwoman and Harley Quinn, but I appreciated relatively deep dives like Firefly and Basil Karlo (the Golden Age Clayface, though here presented with some of the later version’s gift.) And the overexposed Joker is saved for a Season Two teaser. There’s often a twist or three–this version of the Gentleman Ghost is* a rich elite who steals from the poor and underprivileged. *technically “was”, since he’s dead and all.
The main throughline of the first season is that this Batman is still very emotionally closed off. He has trouble forming connections or communicating with people, and is rather cold towards faithful butler Alfred. There’s a moment when as Bruce Wayne a jerk pokes his trauma and Bruce just *snaps*. Over the course of the episodes, he learns to open up just a little bit as he learns who to trust and when to extend mercy rather than vengeance.
Long-time Batman fans like me will find plenty of shoutouts and hidden references to previous iterations of the character.
Content note: Lots of comic book style violence, some lethal. Low on the gore, though. A bit of rough language, PG-13 style. Body horror. Harley Quinn tortures her victims into madness. (One of those victims was similarly abusive to his child.)
Having now lived through six decades of different adaptations of Batman, plus the constantly shifting nature of the comic book status quo, I found this series interesting and mostly enjoyable. I look forward to season two. Recommended to the intersection of Batman and film noir fans.
