Superman TAS S03E02 Review: When the Bat's Away

Superman, the Animated Series, Season 3, Episode 2: Knight Time

Dynamic duo!

I didn't actually know this episode exists, or that it's coming up in the episode list, so how fucking pleased I am when a Superman/Batman crossover episode happened again? Pretty fucking pleased, I must say. Except, well, Batman himself doesn't actually show up a lot until the end. In fact, where Batman has disappeared off to is one of the biggest questions. The episode starts with Superman chasing down Roxy Rocket, who's clearly outmatched but is having the day of her life making dick puns and weaseling them through the sensors. (Roxy Rocket and her orgasm/sex double entrendes is one of the things I absolutely didn't get when I was a kid). Superman then realizes that Gotham City is overrun by crooks, and we quickly get the TNBA Tim Drake Robin beating up crooks. 

And what follows is a Superman/Robin team-up! Except because Batman's presence is required in Gotham City, Superman has to dress up as Batman, and having Kevin Conroy play the 'Superman-pretending-to-be-Batman' with all the hilarious awkwardness that that entails is just amazing. I just have such a big love for Kevin Conroy and seeing him actually voice this unsure Superman trying to be tough and aloof while not having much of Batman's detective or dickery skills is just amazing. That scene with Gordon on the rooftop, with SuperBatman being too nice at one point then overcompensating in dickery in the next is a sight to behold. 

(We also get the quick handwave that Nightwing and Batgirl are chasing "Ghul something" in Romania, which is a neat way to handwave their absence.)

Of course, Bruce has been mysteriously missing, and with Superman's microscopic visions he realizes that there are nanites and mind control involved, meaning that Bruce is abducted by someone. And then comes my absolute favourite scene, where SuperBatman and Robin interrogate Penguin with all his glorious sesquipedalian verbage. Seeing these instantly-recognizable B:TAS/TNBA voices just brings a smile to my face. And seeing Robin have to whisper to Superman to "pssst, kick the table!" to intimidate Penguin and he just overdoes it is just amazing. I just like the Penguin, okay?

And then we have SuperBatman and Robin fight against Bane, Riddler and Mad Hatter. I'm reserving my opinion of the B:TAS versions of them until I get a chance to rewatch B:TAS, but I certainly like them now! I've never had that high of an opinion for the revamped version of Riddler, but maybe that's because I'm not a big fan of the weird one-suit costume design and the bald head as opposed to the more traditional domino mask and suit-and-tie getup, and his sheer obsession with traps here actually makes him not that impressive. SuperBatman gets to a neat fight with Bane, who, of course, is the only villain in Batman's rogues' gallery that really can afford to give Superman a fighting chance. And then Mad Hatter doesn't even try. He just gets spooked by Batman's newfound boogeyman super-speed, and cooperates. Mad Hatter's dialogue is amazing, by the way.  

Sadly, I felt like the final stretch of the episode is a bit... out of nowhere. It's totally sensible for Brainiac to take over Bruce Wayne's brain and have him build his new body and the ship, and having Brainiac be confused that Batman is actually Kal-El is hilarious. And that scene where Superman fights Brainiac on the station is pretty well done, but how they actually deal with Brainiac isn't super-satisfying. He just flies up, and essentially blows up in a rather anti-climactic way. Poor Brainiac always gets really great buildup episodes that end with rather poor climaxes, yeah? Especially since IIRC this is actually Brainiac's last present-day appearance in Superman: The Animated Series. Good thing we have Justice League. 

So yeah. It's a fun romp, and actually taking Batman out of the picture and having Superman and Robin hang out is such a fun little formula that I don't actually mind at all. I may be biased due to my unashamed fanboying for animated Batman, but eh, there are worse things to be fanboying about.

DC Easter Eggs Corner: [Y'know, beyond the fact that the cast of Batman: TAS showed up...]

• Bane's talk about how he wants to feel Batman's spine crumble in his hands is a reference to the famous comic arc that debuted Bane, Knightfall, where it climaxed with Bane breaking Batman's back over his knee, a scene that has essentially became synonymous with the villain. As far as I remember, Bane never quite had an obsession with breaking Batman in their home series.
• Brainiac was last seen in 'Ghost in the Machine', and it can be presumed that the partnership between LexCorp and WayneTech in 'World's Finest' was what allowed him to jump ship into the WayneTech systems. The next chronological appearance of Brainiac would be the Justice League episode 'Twilight of the Gods'. 
• Superman's super-ventriloquism, the ability to imitate any voice he's ever heard with precise control of his vocal chords, is actually a power he had in the Golden Age. 
• This episode technically takes place after The New Batman Adventures, and it therefore marks the last chronological appearances of Roxy Rocket, Ridler and Mad Hatter. Mad Hatter's voice actor passed away before this episode was aired.