What is the best way to depict Batman? Throughout his nearly 90-year history, the DC Comics superhero has gone through many iterations. In 2024 alone there have already been multiple takes on the character in video games, comic books and cartoons. With so much media, each new take on the Caped Crusader can sometimes feel a lot like the last one. Every depiction follows a similar and well-known formula: A guy in a bat costume wages a war on crime in Gotham City against a gaggle of costumed villains.
Luckily, the newest animated take on the mythos, “Batman: The Caped Crusader,” now available on Amazon Prime, takes this image and storyline one step further. The show follows the trend of many recent pieces of superhero media, crafting a more complex definition of what it means to be a hero. It portrays Batman with flaws, in line with characters in recent superhero-themed shows like “Invincible,” “The Boys” and “Deadpool.”
“Batman: The Caped Crusader” takes the audience on a tour of Batman’s early years in Gotham. It explores and establishes the various factions of the city from mob families to the police and the government itself. It shows the corruption that has rooted itself in the political and judicial systems. While there is a more realistic feel to this world than in other Batman works, the show does not stray away from Batman’s super-powered rogues gallery, who reside in a world that has a more overt feel of fantasy and science fiction.
Each episode follows a similar format. Some sort of criminal case ensnares Batman and the Gotham Police Department, requiring them to form an uneasy alliance. By the end of each episode they have taken the criminal down and peace is restored to the city. At least for the time being. Characters like Two-Face, Penguin and Catwoman all make appearances, albeit with new takes, along with more obscure characters from the comics like Firefly and Gentleman Ghost.
While their outer differences have always been clear–—man in suit versus man in bat costume—the inner characters of Batman and Bruce Wayne in this adaptation are starkly different. Bruce is a smiling, suave, carefree, wealthy playboy and businessman, who was thrust into the position of the head of his multinational company following his parents’ murder.
His alter ego, Batman, is an angry, solemn and intelligent vigilante. In this series, the two are like night and day, as any good take on the character should be. Where they unite is their lack of trust of other people. Not even the audience is privy to the true intentions working inside them. In the majority of the episodes, the audience gets only glimpses of Bruce and Batman, with very little screen time devoted to the characters.
This lack of screen time may seem strange to viewers. Yet it allows us to be in the shoes of Gotham City citizens, wanting to see more of these figures but only catching fleeting moments. This effectively mythologizes the character. Batman consistently appears to his allies and then vanishes. He is almost like a ghost. Bruce, on the other hand, seems to appear only at parties and functions, garnering tons of attention from those at the party, then disappearing as quickly as he arrived.
Perhaps “Caped Crusader” even gives us the first version of the character to attend therapy sessions. Bruce’s trauma, repressed anger and sadness are readily diagnosed by his therapist, Harleen Quinzel. (She is “Caped Crusader’s” twist on the popular comic-book character and sometimes Batman villain Harley Quinn.) In other instances, Batman’s goals and thinking are discovered by his butler, Alfred, and even by the various villains he faces. Batman gives in to lust with Catwoman, a criminal. Bruce gives in to anger with Alfred. In contrast to other depictions, it is clear in this series that Batman/Bruce is struggling with unresolved emotions from his childhood trauma, the murder of his parents.
Each villain unleashed on Gotham is unique in this regard as well. Where Batman spins his trauma into a quest to do good, the villains in each episode represent how trauma can lead to evil. They are clear allegories for dark possibilities in Bruce’s life.
The first episode of the series involves the Penguin—in this show a woman—blowing up buildings in the city. We see more of Bruce than of Batman in this episode. Bruce and Penguin represent two sides of the same coin. Both are rich socialites; one is using this influence for good and the other for evil. Batman triumphs over Penguin. But the episode ends with Batman still alone and at odds with the police department, having struggled without any assistance and being almost bested by Penguin.
Where Batman is still not even confirmed as being real by the majority of the city, Bruce Wayne is very real, but those around him treat him as though he is not. He is almost a trophy to be looked at from the minute he enters a public place. No one speaks to him like a real person. People talk to him with either adoration or disdain for his outwardly reckless behavior.
Batman is only acknowledged as a myth by characters in these early episodes. When the police finally encounter him, they attempt to capture him. Because of his unorthodox methods and angry persona, even the members of the police force who are not corrupt see Batman as a threat. Batman often has to worry about defeating a villain while avoiding arrest from the police he is trying to assist.
The episodes continue like this. Each contextualizes a villain as a part of Batman’s psyche. Each episode builds and challenges Batman more. And through these episodes, Batman grows in his ability to trust others and opens up. As this trust builds, our time with Batman and Bruce builds on screen as well. It is as if we are invited more and more into his world—both through glimpses into his psyche and glimpses of the actual superhero. In Episode 3, Bruce’s visit to a therapist is triggered by a reporter making a joke about his mother. His repressed “Batman side” comes out, and he punches the reporter.
We begin to see more of Batman and his work only when he opens himself up more. In the second half of the season, the relationship between Batman and the Gotham City police improves. He gains allies in Commissioner Jim Gordon and his daughter Barbara, a lawyer, as well as Detective Renee Montoya, a lesser-known character from the comics.
The Bruce at the start of this adventure is not the Bruce that we leave with. Nor is Batman the Batman we leave with. The character grows and changes just as much as the members of Gotham City around him. He sheds a little bit of the living-myth persona to become a version of Batman with allies, whose agenda is clearer to the citizens of Gotham. The character is no longer a threat to everyone, just those who deserve it.
“Batman: The Caped Crusader” does not necessarily reinvent the mythos, but it perhaps most accurately depicts the baggage Batman/Bruce deals with. It even gives glimpses of those times and places where things could have gone wrong. In the end, despite his immaturity and flaws, Batman is simply striving to do good.
