Is Batman: Caped Crusader better than Batman: The Animated Series?
Batman: Caped Crusader has finally premiered on Amazon Prime Video since its reveal three years ago and a turbulent transition from Max, evoking the spirit of the much-beloved 1990s show Batman: The Animated Series. It’s a daunting standard for this new series to match, especially since Batman: The Animated Series is a gold standard for many audiences, including the late Kevin Conroy who voiced the Dark Knight.
BTAS co-creator Bruce Timm helms this latest animated effort as the showrunner and an executive producer, with Hamish Linklater (Legion, Midnight Mass) lending his talents as the titular hero to take on this arduous task. It remixes ideas from its spiritual predecessor and the character’s comic book source material to stand apart. While comparisons between the two shows are inevitable, how does Batman: Caped Crusader measure up to the revered 1990s series?
Standing on the shoulders of an animated giant
If seeing Bruce Timm’s name as the driving creative force weren’t enough indication, the first poster for Batman: Caped Crusader made it abundantly clear what the show’s intentions were. The Animated Series-inspired art style is instantly recognizable and evocative of Timm and fellow co-creator and writer Paul Dini’s time in the DC Animated Universe during the 1990s. In that sense, it can’t be helped that fan expectations are set sky high. But with a creative team backing him that includes celebrated comic book writers like Eb Brubaker (Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Gotham Central) and Greg Rucka (Batman: Death and the Maidens), it’s hard not to respect Timm’s ambitions.
The idea of “reinventing Batman” is far from a novel concept, especially in a genre known for toying around with multiple universes at once — for better and worse. What made The Animated Series so groundbreaking in the 1990s was how it borrowed elements from Batman’s comics since the hero’s return to his crime-noir roots in the 1970s thanks to writers like Dennis O’Neil.
In doing so, Timm, Dini, and Eric Radomski put to screen a Dark Knight series unlike the campy Adam West era, or even director Tim Burton’s stylized gothic take in his Michael Keaton-led blockbuster movies. For those reasons, it’s hard to say that Timm’s return to Gotham City in Batman: Caped Crusader is revolutionary in any area. Even so, that’s hardly a drawback.
More of the same is still an asset if not an innovation. Batman: The Animated Series ended in 1995, and the last DCAU series with the Dark Knight in the main cast ended in 2006 (Justice League Unlimited). While pandering to nostalgia can easily become a pitfall in the superhero genre, it’s no surprise that plenty of fans are hungry for something like BTAS.
Batman: Caped Crusader taps into what made its spiritual predecessor successful while ticking just enough boxes to stand on its own feet. Interesting new angles on classic villains, a subtle yet meaningful change to its setting, and an admirable new leading actor in Linklater make this animated show a worthwhile endeavor.
Caped Crusader proves the character is a period-piece hero
Batman: Caped Crusader does, however, take a bolder direction in its setting. Outside of storytelling ambitions, Batman: The Animated Series’ unique art direction made it visually memorable. It combined 1940s-inspired architecture with gothic aesthetics — a style dubbed “Dark Deco” — to complete its gloomy vision of Gotham City. It also made Batman’s world more interesting, as these stylistic choices created an anachronistic Gotham with 1940s visuals but with then-modern technology.
This proved to be a timeless artistic approach, but Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader makes a simple yet interesting change. Bruce Timm and his collaborators recognized the classic appeal of the DCAU art style and character designs, and outright set the series in 1940s Gotham, low-tech and all.
As subtle a difference as it sounds on paper, it’s a great twist to give Caped Crusader the best of both worlds. It’s visually similar enough to the DCAU to tastefully play with nostalgia but different enough to feel like a world all its own. This also lets the Amazon Prime Video series feel more conducive to character changes, and it continues to prove that Batman is perhaps the best superhero for period-piece stories. From comics like the Victorian-era Gotham by Gaslight depicting the World’s Greatest Detective hunting Jack the Ripper to The Doom That Came to Gotham putting the hero in the Roaring ‘20s against Lovecraftian horrors, the character and his sandbox are incredibly versatile.
Honoring the void left by the late Kevin Conroy
Since Timm announced alongside co-producers Matt Reeves (The Batman) and J. J. Abrams they would develop Batman: Caped Crusader, the influence of Kevin Conroy was always the elephant in the room. That rang truer after his tragic passing. This certainly couldn’t have relieved the weight of expectations or made Hamish Linklater’s job any easier, but not chasing a cheap Conroy-esque imitation is the key to success for this new series.
Linklater borrows elements of Conroy’s lower register and commanding presence for his dark avenger while channeling Robert Pattinson’s subdued, almost hushed tones in The Batman. His performance won’t be topping Conroy’s generational portrayal, but like Caped Crusader’s setting and aesthetics, it effectively balances nostalgia with modernity.
Ultimately, Batman: Caped Crusader doesn’t match or surpass The Animated Series. Even so, it acts as the perfect complement to the DCAU show in the modern age. Its intriguing setting, excellent voice acting, and interesting new character directions offer an exciting new animated Batman series for a younger generation — and even nostalgic older ones.
The entire 10-episode first season of Batman: Caped Crusader is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon renewed it for season 2 upon acquiring the series from Max.
