Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1 isn’t a surprise in its quality, but before seeing it, you might wonder if the people behind the show could bring something new to a character they’ve already made an icon and are using similar aesthetics.
Two years later, it’s a clear success. Reviewing that first season was a delight in just how much the creators made something very different than what I expected. It got even closer to feeling like films of that time, along with using more of the Golden Age Batman to explore Gotham City and the early days of Batman to make essentially another classic animated series.
In Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, everyone involved pushes it further, upping the scale as Gotham reacts to Batman (Hamish Linklater) after the fallout of the tragedy of Harvey Dent and the fall of Rupert Thorne (Cedric Yarbrough). Now, with a vacuum to be filled, Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Detective Montoya, and Barbara Gordon have to work together to keep the city safe. Here we get our Caped Crusader version of Eddie Nygma, the Riddler. You’re not getting an egotistical genius obsessed with puzzles.
This version of the character is closer to James Caan’s Sonny from The Godfather or Jimmy Cagney anytime he played a mobster. This Eddie Nygma is a powder keg waiting to explode anytime you see him on screen. Voiced by Roman Raftery, this take alone would make for an interesting season. I’ve never seen the Riddler portrayed this way, and it shows just how freeing this series is at reinterpreting these characters in ways the audience wouldn’t expect.
Another welcome surprise is Laraine Newman as Hattie Tetch, who works as the main member of the media sowing doubt in Gotham about the Batman. The show continues to use the noir crime story pacing and themes well. Each episode shines as a fulfilling next adventure for Bruce Wayne even as they hit the notes you’d expect. It can feel like jazz in that you know the songs, but it feels fresh and different with each new episode.
The other looming character in this season is the Joker, voiced by Matthew Needham, who is a slowly boiling threat that explodes toward the end of the season. This Joker is a silent, deadly force of nature, like a mix of Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men) and Tom King’s take on the character in The War of Jokes and Riddles arc of his Batman run. Not a lot chuckles or laughs here, no weird jokes. Just ominous danger as they have him move through the ends of each episode, killing through Gotham.
There’s plenty of other great guest voices and surprise characters. You get some solid character progression with Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla) as Gordon’s most trusted Detective. Her being partnered up with Det. Flass adds a nice dynamic as this dirty cop has to deal with having an honest partner. Gary Anthony Williams gives a great performance as they get to give Flass a bit more to do in this season than just be the bad cop.
Krystal Joy Brown‘s Barbara Gordon doesn’t get much to do this season compared to the first. She ends up filling the role that Harvey Dent usually does. She does a pretty standout episode later in the season, but it could leave Barbara Gordon fans wanting. Alfred (Jason Watkins) gets way more to do, and they add much to the dynamic of the relationship between Bruce and Alfred. Still not as family-close as in a modern Batman sense, but it’s one of the better threads of the season.
The many creative animators and storytellers continue the excellence seen in the first season and make an equally excellent second season of Batman: Caped Crusader. By bringing even more of the star rogues people want to see, along with freshening up a few underrated characters, this series is on its way to being in the upper echelons of DC animated series and is one of the best animated shows on Prime Video.
Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 will premiere on Friday, July 31 on Prime Video.
