''Beware the Batman'' is an American computer-animated television series based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

superhero Batman. The series premiered in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on Cartoon Network on July 13, 2013, as part of their DC Nation block, replacing '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold''. The series was produced by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

and DC Entertainment. The series ran on Cartoon Network until it was pulled from the schedule four months after its premiere, without official explanation. After the series was put on hiatus, the remaining episodes of the series began to air on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late night television programming block that primarily broadcasts Japanese animation and occasionally American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a divis ...

programming block, from July 27 to September 28, 2014.

Synopsis

The series is set during Bruce Wayne's early years as the Batman, following his initial period of battling organized crime. Over the course of the season, he hones his skills with the assistance of his butler

Alfred Pennyworth Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Pennyworth is depicted as Bruce Wayne's loyal and tire ...

. Bruce is introduced to Alfred's goddaughter

Tatsu Yamashiro Katana () is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. First appearing in 1983, Katana is a samurai warrior whose skill with a sword allows her to fight for justice as a superheroine. Her tragic backstory includes th ...

. Tatsu is a martial arts swordsmaster hired to act as Bruce's bodyguard, but also recruited to act as a superhero partner to Batman.

Characters

Crime-fighting vigilante Batman teams up with swordmistress

Katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the '' tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge f ...

and his ex-secret agent butler

to face the criminal underworld led by Anarky, Magpie,

Ra's al Ghul Ra's al Ghul, commonly pronounced correctly as ''Re'sh'', hence or ; "The Head of the Demon" or, in a rougher translation, "The Chief Demon". is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary o ...

Tobias Whale Tobias Whale is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Black Lightning. Whale appears in the live-action Arrowverse series ''Black Lightning'', portrayed by Marvin "Krondon" Jones II ...

Phosphorus Rex Phosphorus Rex is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Publication history Phosphorus Rex first appeared in ''Batman'' #666 and was created by Grant Morrison and artist Andy Kubert. Fictional character ...

, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad,

Lady Shiva Lady Shiva (real name Sandra San or more recently Sandra Wu-San) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was co-created by Dennis O'Neil and Ric Estrada, and first appeared in '' Richard ...

, Key, Killer Croc, and

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

. Anarky, in particular, was intended to be the main villain in the series. While the developers allowed themselves license to stylize the characters' appearances, the villains were particularly designed to be "over the top".

Production

Background

After ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' ended its run in November 2011, a new series went under production, so that Batman could return to a more "serious tone". With Batman receiving a new sidekick, Outsiders member

, Register even commented that "Katana is gonna be his new Robin, but not necessarily." The series was a 3D computer-animated format, similar to the earlier '' Green Lantern: The Animated Series''s animation style. In the wake of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, which occurred during a screening of the Batman movie ''

The Dark Knight Rises ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is th ...

'', it was announced that the series content would be altered in order to make the firearms in the show look less realistic. In addition initial announcements for the series were accompanied with promotional art that was not intended for public release, depicting Alfred as a gun-toting butler. This upset fans of the Batman mythos, who argued against Alfred's participation in Batman's exploits, and his use of deadly firearms as against the Batman's principles. In response to fan criticism, producer Glen Murakami acknowledged that this poster image was an inaccurate representation of what the character's actual role would be. He elaborated that the poster was intended to be an action-themed shot that displayed the cast of characters, but that Alfred's portrayal had been misleadingly made more exciting. "You can't have an action pose of a guy standing with a tray", joked Murakami. Mitch Watson also noted the problem presented if Alfred were fighting alongside Batman, as he would be recognized as Bruce Wayne's butler, and thus reveal the identity of Batman. Regardless, both producers insisted that Alfred would remain true to his intended characterization as a mentor to Batman, who could potentially help Batman if a story plot called for it. Scott Thill, technology and pop culture commentator for ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine, praised the initial choice to debut the villain Anarky on television, claiming the character was relevant following the rise of the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...

and the

hacktivist In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of '' hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in h ...

activities of Anonymous. In promoting the series, Warner Bros. debuted a trailer a month prior to the series premier, featuring action sequences from the first three episodes, highlighting Batman, Professor Pyg and Toad, Magpie, and Anarky. On July 2, the opening title sequence was released to ''Entertainment Weekly'', a week prior to the series premiere. It depicts Batman, Alfred, Katana, and the Batmobile, in a stylized red background with stark red lighting effects, contrasted by dark shadows and silhouettes. The show's opening theme is composed by the indie rock band the

Dum Dum Girls Dum Dum Girls was an American rock band, formed in 2008. It began as the bedroom recording project of singer and songwriter Dee Dee (née Kristin Gundred). She is currently based in Los Angeles. The name is a double homage to the Vaselines' al ...

3D development

The requirements of 3D animation at times necessitated that inanimate objects such as ships and city streets were built, rather than simply drawn, creating a need for the completion of entire set designs. This would increase production times, but later allow the developers to bring cinematic qualities of lighting and camera play to the series. Batman's utility belt was fully recreated from cardboard and worn by producer

Glen Murakami Glen Murakami is an American animator, director and producer best known for his work on '' Batman Beyond'', ''Teen Titans'', '' Teen Titans Go!'', '' Ben 10: Alien Force'' and '' Ben 10: Ultimate Alien''. Murakami co-created, produced, and develop ...

's design team, to test how the belt would function while in motion. "If you really built it, it would work", said Watson. Batarangs were designed to flip-open and function when retrieved from the belt. The

Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional car driven by the superhero Batman. Housed in the Batcave, which it accesses through a hidden entrance, the Batmobile is both a heavily armored tactical assault vehicle and a personalized custom-built pursuit and ...

was also subjected to scrutiny, as a "certain amount of weight" was added to it as it moved on city streets, out of concern that it would be unbelievable otherwise.

Broadcast

Three months after the series premiere, ''Beware the Batman'' was pulled from the Cartoon Network schedule and put on hiatus on October 23, 2013. Cartoon Network did not provide an official explanation, leading fans to believe that the series had already been cancelled. Cartoon Network then moved the series to the

programming block on the network's late-night

block. Toonami first aired the series on Sunday, May 11, 2014, during the early-morning time slots. Cartoon Network then declared the series a financial failure and decided to "write it off", removing it from the network altogether. On September 28, Toonami ran a marathon consisting of the final seven unaired episodes to avoid abruptly ending the series run. The show made its Canadian premiere on October 11, 2013 on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and "cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts an ...

Episodes

Awards and nominations

Home video

On February 18, 2014, the first 13 episodes of the series were released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in a collection titled ''Beware The Batman: Season 1 Part 1 – Shadows of Gotham''. The twelfth and thirteenth episodes had yet to air, despite being released on this collection. A second collection, titled ''Beware The Batman: Season 1 Part 2 – Dark Justice'', was released on September 30, 2014 containing the remaining 13 episodes of the show's only season.

Adaptations

Writers Mike W. Barr (co-creator of the character Katana), Scott Beatty, Matt Manning, and Ivan Cohen (who wrote the episode "Unique") and artists Luciano Vecchio and Dario Brizuela produced an original DC Comics comic book set in the continuity of the television series. * DC Nation #2 (vol 1) (2012-11-07) * Beware the Batman #1 (2013-10-23) * Beware the Batman #2 (2013-11-27) * Beware the Batman #3 (2013-12-31): In the mouth of the Whale! * Beware the Batman #4 (2014-01-29): Bat vs. Bat * Beware the Batman #5 (2014-02-26): Two Katanas?! But which one is the real Katana?! * Beware the Batman #6 (2014-03-26): First-Person Shooter * Beware the Batman (2015-01-21): Includes issues 1–6, Rough Seas (from DC Nation Free Comic Book Day Super Sampler: Beware the Batman/Teen Titans Go! #1). An online game titled 'Gotham Streets' was posted in Cartoon Network site in 2014.Gotham Needs You!
/ref>

References

External links

* DC page
TVcomics

* *
''Beware the Batman'' at The World's Finest

* ''Beware the Batman'' a

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