The highly anticipated latest Batman animated series, Batman: Caped Crusader, debuted on Amazon Prime this week. How well does it stand up to the legendary Batman: The Animated Series?
SPOILER WARNING! The following contains spoilers for Batman: Caped Crusader Episode 1 titled “In Treacherous Waters”. Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
MAJOR POINTS
- Rupert Thorne is in a gang war with a gender-swapped Penguin
- Harvey Dent is a corrupt DA running for Mayor of Gotham City
- While this isn’t an original story, it is still early in Batman’s career.
The Penguin kills one of her henchmen in the opening prologue for sharing secrets with fellow crime boss Rupert Thorne. We also see Batman quickly take down a group of Thorne’s thugs during a raid. However, a bomb drops, destroying the loot.
Harvey Dent and Barbara Gordon tensely discuss their case, which Dent implies he has rigged in his favor. Batman secretly reads her files and interrogates the Fire Chief about recent explosions in Gotham. He admits that The Penguin made him falsify the reports.
Oswalda Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, entertains a police fundraiser with a rendition of “Bill Bailey”. She later has a tense conversation with Thorne where he implies her son tipped him off about her bombing his businesses. Bruce Wayne finds a cocaine stash in the bowels of the ship. He escapes into the water when he hears Penguin’s family approaching. Shortly afterward, The Penguin tosses one of her sons into the water, execution style, for selling her out to Thorne.
Oswalda’s other son, Ronnie begs Barbara to take him to her father. Penguin’s thugs chase them and run them off the road. Batman helps them escape by ramming the thugs with The Batmobile. Ronnie warns Commissioner Gordon that Penguin uses a cannon, not a bomb, to destroy the buildings, and she’ll destroy the police station to prevent word from getting out.
Gordon evacuates the police station while Batman confronts Penguin on her boat. He takes down her bodyguard, Iggy. He manages to subdue Penguin but fails to stop her from destroying the police station. While Batman succeeds in stopping Penguin’s plan, he still sees it as a failure because Thorne now has more control over Gotham than he did before.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- Will these shows stay episodic? Or will there be an overarching story throughout the season?
- How long before we get The Joker?
EASTER EGGS
- “Bill Bailey” is a popular jazz tune, also known as “(Won’t You Come Home) Bill Bailey”
- The map of Gotham City in the Batcave is done up the same way as the one used in the 1966 TV series
FINAL GRADE: B+
This was a VERY solid premiere. I don’t know why the creators went with a gender-swapped Penguin, but if that’s the worst of it then the good will still vastly outweigh the bad. The show is still a well-done period piece and a great introduction to this new entry to the Batman mythos.
As usual, I’ll have a lot more to say in the podcast review.