The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Night of the Huntress!

Season One, Episode Sixteen: Night of the Huntress!
Written by Adam Beechen
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Solomon Grundy, the zombie mobster, menaces a scientist, whose brain he has decided to take to heighten his intellect. As Grundy's men prepare to remove the brain, Batman and Black Canary arrive to stop them, which they do with some cunning, some fists, and a handily applied Canary Cry.

Episode: Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle, and his best friend Paco, are looking at college in Gotham City. While Jaime is excited to be going to school in a city with Batman, Paco is more excited about the lady supervillains of the city, commenting on how he likes and girls, and they agree on one super heroine: Huntress. As they say it, the professor giving them their tour arrives: Helene Bertinelli, who is secretly Huntress.

At Blackgate Prison, a veiled woman arrives with a huge baby carriage to "visit her husband." After getting through security, it's revealed she is Mrs, Manface, who had stubble and a manly face, and the "baby" is her husband, the mobster Babyface, who has a baby's head. They are their to release their imprisoned gang: Skeleton Keys, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Polecat Perkins, and Hammertoes. We also see that Babyface is defensive of Mrs. Manface. But before they can escape. Batman arrives to stop them.

Back at Gotham U, the prison break is on the news, so Huntress and Blue Beetle make excuses and slip off to change into their costumes to head to the prison. Batman is fighting the gang, and while he was fairing well, eventually he simply can't fight the numbers and is about to be shot by Mrs. Manface when Huntress arrives, briefly flirting with Batman. And while this gives Batman the upperhand for a moment, soon enough he is at the mercy of the gang again when Blue Beetle arrives.

Babyface decides to make a break for it with his gang now that there are three heroes, but not before springing a bunch of villains to distract the heroes. They dogpile on Batman, but Huntress and Beetle help get them away from Batman and defeat them. With the villains defeated, Beetle really notices Huntress for the first time, and is instantly smitten, but Huntress isn't interested. She heads off to investigate what Babyface was up to, with Batman following her. She continues to flirt, with Batman having as much interest in her as she has in Beetle.

Arriving at the home of the Calculator, Huntress begins interrogating him to find out what Babyface is up to, but he won't reveal it. Batman begins hacking Calculator's computer while Huntress tries to beat the info out of Calculator, and Batman does his best to avoid Beetle's questions about girls. Batman's advice on girls is similar to hacking, and he and Huntress find out that at the same time that Babyface is going to break into Warehouse X.

Babyface and his gang are already into the warehouse by the time the heroes arrive, having broken in and taken the impounded weapons of other supervillains; Bbayface and his hole gang are now in mech armor and personal flying saucers. Huntress disregards Batman's attempt to come up with a plan, jumping right in, and Batman has to save the smitten Beetle from being taken out while distracted. But Beetle continues to be distracted by Huntress, and even though he saves her, he is too distracted and Babyface blasts him, and does the same to Batman and Huntress as they leap to Beetle's rescue.

Batman awakens imprisoned in a giant hourglass, which Babyface flips over as he and his gang head out. Beetle and Huntress bicker before Batman gets them focus. He uses a combination of one of Huntress's crossbow bolts and an acid pellet from his belt as well as help from Beetle to reach them to break out. Free, Batman deduces where Babyface is headed, "the center of everything evil in Gotham." The ganglords of Gotham are holding a summit in a warehouse in a particularly innocuous neighborhood, and as they begin their meeting, Babyface and his gang arrive, saying they're taking over.

As the mobsters fight Babyface and his goons, Batman, Huntress, and Beetle arrive and begin to protect civilians and try to take out the mob. Babyface grapples Batman in his mech suit, but Batman slips clear and transforms the Batmobile into a robot suit of his own, and the two begin to brawl. Beelte realizes its time to stop acting like he has, and he and Huntress are able to take out the rest of Babyface's gang. With Babyface on the ropes, Mrs. Manface tries to sucker punch Batman with her suit, but he defeats her, and Babyface again jumps to her defense, but Batman destroys his suit this time, leaving (disturbing image ahead) Babyface in nothing but a diaper, crying for his mommy.

With the crisis done, Huntress heads out, complimenting Beetle and telling him to call her in five years. Batman and Beetle walk off into the sunset, with Batman assuring Beetle she didn't mean it.

Who's Who

Huntress (Voiced by Tara Strong)

First Comic Book Appearance: Huntress #1 (April, 1989)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

The last survivor of the Bertinelli crime family, Helena Bertinelli saw her entire family wiped out by a rival mob. She was sent to Italy, where she learned martial arts and mastered the crossbow before returning to Gotham to protect people from the Mafia. A vigilante without a code against killing, Huntress and Batman often butted heads, until time spent with Nightwing, and her defense of Gotham during the No Man's Land saga, convinced Batman there was more to her. Huntress would go in to train, and have a romantic affair, with the Question, and would later join Oracle's Birds of Prey, where she would be a regular member. Huntress is a skilled hand to hand combatant and one of the best shots with a crossbow in the DC Universe.


Blue Beetle  (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Baby Face (Voiced by Tom Kenny) 
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Nine- Journey to the Center of the Bat!


Calculator (Voiced by Armin Shimmerman)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #463 (September, 1976)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

While the heroes of the DC Universe had Oracle to provide them with information and digital aid, the villains had Calculator, who worked for profit. Noah Kuttler started out his career as a costumed villain, who had a calculator themed costume similar to the one worn in this episode, before switching to a behind the scenes role around the time of the events of the DC Comics event series Identity Crisis. He would go on to become one of the inner circle of Alexander Luthor's Secret Society, and would stay on as one of it's leaders after the Society's defeat in Infinite Crisis, becoming a major nemesis to much of the DC Universe, especially to Oracle and the Birds of Prey. Calculator originally wore a costume that could create hard light constructs to fight heroes and commit crimes. Later, he used his exceptional mental acuity to plan crimes for other criminals and provide intelligence for them, at a steep cost. He suffered from intense Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Black Canary (Voiced by Grey Griffin)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #86 (August, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

The daughter of the original Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance took up her mother's superhero identity against her mother's wishes. Still, Dinah became an accomplished hero as one of the tentpole members of the Justice League, in some versions of continuity one of its founders, and would often fight crime alongside her on-again/off-again love interest, Green Arrow. Dinah would reach a whole new level when she joined forces with Oracle, Barbara Gordon, to create the Birds of Prey, a team comprised of mostly female heroes. Dinah and Oracle would become best friends, and would fight crime together across the globe. Black Canary. Black Canary is one of the best hand-to hand combatants in the DC Universe, able to hold her own against Lady Shiva, and her metahuman Canary Cry, a sonic scream, allows her to shatter glass, deafen opponents, and even do physical damage to objects and people.

Solomon Grundy  (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: All-American Comics #61 (October, 1944)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Sixteen- Night of the Huntress!

Solomon Grundy was Cyrus Gold, a miser who lived in Gotham City in the 19th Century, who was killed by a blackmailer in Gotham's Slaughter Swamp and sunk to the bottom, spending years being worked on by the magic and the plants in the swamp before being reborn in the 1930s as the undead Solomon Grundy. While originally a nemesis of the golden age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, Grundy would go on to fight many heroes, often Batman. It was revealed that Grundy has multiple personalities in his head, and each time he dies, a new one, often with a slightly different power level, takes over. Solomon Grundy is not technically alive, and this cannot be killed, and has incredible strength, although that varies depending on which version of his mind controls the body; usually the less smart the Grundy, the stronger he is. He also has a slight connection the The Green, the voice of the plant world, as he is a failed Plant Elemental, like Swamp Thing, although this bit of his origina comes and goes as needed.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

I have to admit, this is the first episode of the series that left me cold. I'm not in love with the fact that most of the female superheroes seem to default to flirting with Batman, something out of character for Huntress as she has been presented in most other instances. On the other hand, the Batmobile turns into a mechanized Bat armor, so that's pretty awesome.

As a note, the Who's Who origins above for both Huntress, Black Canary, and Solomon Grundy are the post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint origins of the characters, not the current ones. I decided to use these origins as they match the versions of the characters in their Brave and the Bold adaptation more closely than the current ones (not to mention, we don't know how much Rebirth might be rewriting those post-Flashpoint origins soon).

Most of Babyface's gang are original characters, created for the show, like Babyface himself. However, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are established Batman villains, appearing occasionally over the years, often as henchmen for the Mad Hatter.

Another villain cameo is Weather Wizard, who is name checked in the Calculator scene. He'll get a normal Who's Who entry when he appears in full later in the series.

The villains that Babyface releases at Blackgate to distract Batman contain many villains from this series, as well as the classic Batman TV series, and includes Fun Haus, Sportsmaster, Black Manta, Clock King, Shark, Kiteman, Top, Felix Faust, Minstrel, Bookworm, Mad Hatter (the '66 version), Cavalier, Scarecrow, King Tut, False Face, and Dr, Polaris, And also, among the mobsters at the summit, you see another Batman series villain, Louie the Lilac.

The Huntress in this episode is the post-Crisis version of the character, but the original, pre-Crisis Huntress was, in fact, Helena Wayne, daughter of a retired Batman and Catwoman of Earth 2. That is the version of the character who appeared first post-Flashpoint, with the Bertinelli version appearing not as Huntress but as a member of the spy organization, Spyral. Helena Bertinelli will again take up the Huntress mantle in the upcoming Batgirl and the Bids of Prey series.

The Calculator in this episode bears a similarity to the comic book version in his occupation, but little else. He has a different name, Myron vs. Noah, and the comic book version is slender and handsome, versus the stereotypical obese nerd in his mother's basement from the episode.

Voice actress Tara Strong, who makes her Brave and the Bold debut this episode as Huntress (and who will return as other characters later on), has a long history of DC Comics animation voice acting, dating back to The New Batman Adventures, where she took up voicing Batgirl, a role she reprised in Beware the Batman. and has voiced Raven in all of the Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go! series. She also took up the role of Harley Quinn in the Arkham video game series starting with Arkham City. With a tremendous body of work that continues to today, she is still working as Harley in the DC Super Hero Girls series.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Game Over for Owlman!

Season One, Episode Thirteen: Game Over for Owlman!
Written by Joseph Kuhr
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: A recap of the events of the last episode, the first part of the two-parter, segues into Batman using a smoke pellet to escape the Gotham police.

Episode: Batman heads across the rooftops, avoiding the police, finding the Phase Oscillator warps time as well as space and that he's been gone for three weeks in this world, and trying to figure out why the police are after him. He then sees another Batman, dressed in an old version of his costume, escaping a bank with stolen money. He deduces that it is Owlman, having escaped, and they begin to fight. Again, the two are so evenly matched that neither can easily defeat the other, but Owlman escapes, leaving Batman holding the money bag, and Green Arrow appears to capture Batman. Batman tells Arrow the truth, but he doesn't believe him, and so Batman throws the moneybag at him with a small explosive and escapes in the confusion.

Batman slips into a hidden tunnel, as we see all his friends now hunting for him, coordianted by Green Arrow, except Plastic Man, who Green Arrow tells they don't need. Blue Beetle sees Batman as he pops out onto the street, but Batman hits him with an electric blast, and then ties up Plastic Man, who nearly grabs him, and escapes again, this time to be nearly grabbed by Red Tornado. Batman tries to summon the Batmobile, but realizes Owlman has reprogrammed it. Trapped in a blind alley, Batman thinks he's about to be taken out by his best friends when a hook, like those used to pull bad acts off stage, appears out of the darkness. and pulls him into the shadows and into a warehouse. And in the warehouse is the Joker, oversized pistol in hand, waiting to shoot him for changing their game and trying to out-criminal him.

Joker pulls the trigger and a bang flag pops out, and Batman punches him. Joker tosses up a white flag, and tells Batman he wants to team-up against the impostor. Batman wants to know how Joker knows there's an imposter, and Joker more or less says he knows because he knows Batman and what he would or wouldn't do. He wants to team up to stop Owlman, and Batman initially refuses, leaving Joker handcuffed, but Joker points out that since the two are evenly matched, Batman will need the Joker's help, as Owlman still craves order, and the Joker's chaotic nature will work in Batman's favor. Batman begins to consider it just as Plastic Man finds him. Joker offers a ride in his Jokermobile, and as the heroes wait outside, the Jokermobile breaks out of the warehouse.They stop it, only to find a trussed up Plastic Man inside.

Meanwhile, Batman and Joker try to figure out their next move. Batman calls an old Batmobile to them, and they head off. Batman makes Joker give his word no one will be hurt. Joker agrees, and offers to shake, but Batman gives him a look and joker reveals the little needle he has on his hand, waiting to poke Batman. Joker chalks it up to old habits, and start asking what all the buttons in the Batmobile do. Batman tells him that he really shouldn't touch one, and Joker naturally does, and is hit with knockout gas.

Batman awakens Joker in the Batcave, and Joker sees all the mementos from their previous encounters. Batman begins to consider what Owlman's next target is, looking for a pattern. He finds out Owlman has accessed his files on his fellow heroes, and found the ways to neutralize them, and we see him starting to do it. Batman again knocks out Joker and they head out of the cave. Batman contacts the others, and only Plastic Man responds, just as Owlman takes him down. Batman and Joker arrive, and Batman begins to fight Owlman, who demands the Phase Oscillator back so he can return to his Earth.

Joker starts to go through his weapons, trying to find one that won't hurt anyone, and settles on a rocket launcher, which he fires at the dueling Batman and Owlman. He thinsk Batman will move, but instead it Batman knocked down as Owlman nearly hits them with the Batmobile. Joker takes a grappling hook from Batman's utility belt and escapes, saving Batman's life. A car chase begins, Batman contacting Owlman, who offers to trade the heroes he's captured for the Phase Oscillator. Batman refuses, and Owlman begins to threaten innocents, so Batman turns the Batmobile over to Joker to drive as he saves people Owlman is endangering with reckless driving and weapons. Joker even stops chasing Owlman to save an innocent.

Joker asks Batman  why he took a chance on working with him, and Batman remembers Red Hoo,d Joker's counterpart from Owlman's world, who is a hero. He looks up in the sky and sees an Owlman version of the Batsignal. At the signal's source, Owlman has the heroes captured in tailor made deathtraps, with various villains surrounding him. Batman and Joker arrive, and tells Owlman that if he doesn't free the heroes, Batman will destory the Phase Oscillator, stranding him. The villains attack, But Joker proves a good ally.

However, as they face down the villains, Owlman offers Joker a new option, a tailor made trap for Batman, and the trigger to start it. Joker is tempted, and then decides that he' a villain, and hits the button, which should encase Batman in rubber. But Batman used the Phase Oscillator to escape, and pops out on the other side of the villains, where he promptly punches Owlman but Dr. Polaris is able to magnetically pull the Phase Oscillator from Batman and send it to Owlman.

But Batman had counted on the Joker's betrayal, and user the Phase Oscillator's time bending abilities to spend a week gathering Batmans from alternate worlds and appearing only a second later back on his Earth. The Batmen begin to not only fight the villains, but free the imprisoned heroes. Now that the villains are outnumbered two-to-one, they are easily defeated, leaving Batman to take down Owlman and Joker on his own, but the two villains begins arguing over which one will take down Batman, and Batman uses the distraction to use the trap Owlman designed for him to capture them both.

The fight over, the villains are carted away, and Batman goes to his counterparts, who old a tied up Owlman, who swears to return for revenge, and Batman says he'll be waiting to stop him before the other Batmen take him away. The Joker is the last of the villains to be carted away, and he says if they weren't opposites they could be friends, and Batman knows, from having met the Red Hood, that's true, and there's a good man in there. But then Joker swears he'll get him next time and Batman thinks, "Or maybe not."

Who's Who

The Joker (Voiced by Jeff Bennett)

First Comic Book Appearance: Batman #1 (April 1940)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Thirteen- Game Over for Owlman!

The Clown Prince of Crime. The Harlequin of Hate. These are but two of the nicknames for The Joker, Batman's arch-foe. Formerly the criminal known as the Red Hood, he lost his mind after chemicals bleached his skin and turned his hair green, and has since been an agent of sheer chaos. At times a madcap clown crook, at other a terrifying murderer, Joker's personality is as variable as the winds. His history with Batman goes back to the Dark Knight's earliest days, and no one villain has inflicted more pain on Batman. The Joker believes the two of them are a duel act, and that they are meant to fight until the end. The Joker is a master criminal with a brilliant, if twisted mind. He has myriad lethal gadgets and gimmicks, most notably his Joker Venom, a poison that leaves his victims with a rictus grin similar to his. But his greatest weapon is his sheer unpredictability, a person is never sure if Joker will shake their hand or wring their neck.

Owlman (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: Justice League of America #29 (August 1964)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twelve- Deep Cover for Batman!

Green Arrow (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle  (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Aquaman (voiced by John DiMaggio)

First comic book appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!

Red Tornado (Voiced by Corey Burton)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Justice League of America #64 (August, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

The Atom (Ryan Choi) (voiced by James Sie)

First comic book appearance: DCU Brave New World (August 2006)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 3- Evil Under the Sea!

Plastic Man (Voiced by Tom Kenny)
First Comic Book Appearance: Police Comics #1 (August 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Black Manta (Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Aquaman #35 (September, 1967)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Three- Evil Under the Sea!

The Brain (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)

First comic book appearance: Doom Patrol #86 (May 1964)

First Brave and the Bold appearance: Season 1, Episode 9 – Journey to the Center of the Bat!

Dr. Polaris (Voiced by Lex Lang)
First Comic Book Appearance: Green Lantern #21 (June, 1963)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

Gorilla Grodd (Voice by John DiMaggio)
First Comic Book Appearance: The Flash #106 (May, 1959)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Gentleman Ghost (Voiced by Jonny Rees)
First Comic Book Appearance: Flash Comics #88 (October, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Two- Terror on Dinosaur Island!

Clock King (Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #111 (August, 1960)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle


Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

As opposed to simply being sharing a title and being called part one and part two, this two parter shares a connected title, "Deep Cover for Batman!" and "Game over for Owlman!" These kinds of constructions are similar to to ones from the classic Batman TV series, although in most of those cases, the titles also rhymed.

When Owlman makes his first appearance in the episode, he is wearing Batman's original costume from Detective Comics #27, down to the purple gloves he wore in that first issue, and he is striking the exact pose from the final panel of the first origin story of Batman in Detective Comics #33.

Similarly, the Batmobile Batman uses when chasing Owlman is the design of the first bat branded Batmobile ever used in the comic; Batman drove cars before that, but they were just roadsters and sports cars without the signature Batman touches.

This episode marks the first appearance of the Joker in the series, and is the first major Batman villain to appear: eventually, most of the major Bat-foes will appear, but before now it's been mstly non-Batman foes like Grodd or C-Listers like Cavalier. Joker's design, like Batman's, hearkens back to the '50s, especially the art of legendary Batman artist, Dick Sprang. The Jokermobile was right out of the same era, by the way.

The Batmen of the Multiverse are mostly versions of Batman who have appeared in Elseworlds. The vampire Batman is from the Doug Moench/Kelly Jones vampire Batman trilogy; there are a few Cowboy Batman incarnations, although this one resembles a cross between Batman and the DC western hero, Nighthawk; the superstrong, bulky Batman is drawn from Brave and the Bold #68; Pirate Batman is Captain Leatherwing from Chuck Dixon's Elseworlds annual Detective Comics Annual #7; the Big Brain Batman is from World's Finest #151, where he's the "Batman of 800,000 A,D."; and finally, the armored Batman is one I can't place. If anyone knows where he comes from before this episode, or knows for certain it's an original creation, let me  know.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Fall of the Blue Beetle!"

Season One, Episode Eight: Fall of the Blue Beetle!
Written by James Krieg
Directed by Brandon Vietti

Plot Synopsis

Teaser:Two years ago, Batman and Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle before Jaime Reyes, the Beetle we've met in earlier episodes of this series, make their way through a villainous lair, comparing gadgets and bantering.

Episode: Jaime Reyes, Blue Beetle, and his best friend, Paco, sit around a campfire, talking about superheroes. Paco says that heroes just luck into their powers and it's the gear, like a Green Lantern ring, that makes them special. Jaime is visibly upset by this.

At a federal reserve or bank, Dr. Polaris is making off with the gold stored there when Batman arrives to stop him. Blue Beetle pops in, asking if heroes are chosen or just lucky, interfering with Batman's take down of Polaris. Beetle asks if Batman thinks he and the previous Beetle shared heroic traits, and Batman tells Beetle he's nothing like the Beetle he knew, and Beetle gets irritated that Batman never told him about the previous Beetle.

Beetle's Scarab does a search and finds that the previous Beetle was hero of Hub City, so Jaime heads there, hoping to get answers about his coonection to that Beetle, and arrives at the Kord Industries building, where the Scarab seems to go nuts and drop him into the sewer, where he finds Ted Kord's old base of operations. In the base Beetle finds Ted's Bug, his flying ship, and uses the trip log to find the last place Ted was, and decides to take the Bug to go there to try to find him. The bug flies over the ocean, and passes into a cloaking field, where an island is hidden. Batman contacts him and tried to explain why he wasn't forthcoming about the previous Beetle, but Beetle blows him off and lands on the island, where he finds Beetle robots with lasers protecting it. Beetle blows up the robots to find an angry scientist ranting that the robots are a miracle of science and how dare he blow them up. The scientist says he's Ted Kord and welcomes Jaime to Science Island

Flying over the ocean, Batman thinks to himself that he's done with kid partners, then remembers that adults aren't much better. He flashes back to an adventure with Ted Kord; the two are watching a scientist use a blowtorch on the Scarab, which Ted gave to the man to try to get it to work. When Ted confronts him, he presses a button and all the lab equipment and furniture turn into robots and attack; Batman tries to nab the scientist, but he escapes, but not before dropping the Scarab. Batman and Beetle fight robots as the flashback ends.

On Science Island, Jaime and "Ted" walk along, with "Ted" telling Jaime about his plans to make the world a better place using the power of the Scarab. Jaime asks why he was chosen to get the Scarab, and "Ted" tells him he was selected because the Scarab was sent to find someone of great virtue to be his ally. Jaime walks over to an apparatus and lets it attach to the Scarab, where its power is sent to a roomful of robots that "Ted" says will be used to farm and perform labor to make the world a better place. With that done, Jaime sets off to sleep, but not before mentioning Batman. With Jaime out of the room, "Ted" tells his robots to prepare defenses against Batman.

As Batman flies over the island, Beetle drones attack, blowing up his plane and leaving him to glide to safety as "Ted" watches, smiling. Jaime walks through the facility, and accidentally kicks over a small Beetle drone that turns out to have a machine gun in it. Now worried about he's involved with, Jaime investigates to find the Beetle drones are all heavily armed and being placed in missiles to be sent to drop them on world population centers. Jaime thinks to call Batman, but is interrupted by "Ted" in a suit of power armor.

As"Ted" is about to dispose of Jaime, Batman arrives and stops him, but is then attacked by drones, which distract him enough for "Ted" to capture Jaime and threaten him to make Batman stop. "Ted" ties the  heroes up, and tells Jaime he does intend to make the world a better place, just a better place under his rule. Batman tells Jaime that this man isn't Ted Kord, but Jarvis Kord, Ted's uncle. Batman tells Jaime Ted's origin, and how Jarvis took the Scarab and tried to use it to make an army of super androids, and finishing the flashback started earlier: Ted sabotages Jarvis's missile full of robots sent to take over Hub City, but at the cost of his own life.

The Scarab armor finishes its repairs form Jarvis's earlier attacks, and Jaime breaks free, frees Batman, and they go to stop Jarvis, but it's too late; the countdown to the missile launch has begun and can't be stopped. Jaime comes up with a plan, to use the Scarab to hack the computers and blow up the reactors that power the island, blowing up the island and the missiles before they can launch. With the island set to explode, the heroes run for the Bug, dragging Jarvis along and fighting an army of drones as they go.Batman sends Jaime on ahead, telling Jaime not to wait for him, and is nearly killed by the drones and a larger robot before Jaime uses the Bug's weaponry to destroy the robots and save Batman. They fly off, escaping the island as it explodes.

Jaime apologizes to Batman, saying his obsession with whether he was chosen or not caused the trouble. Batman tells him he was chosen, that the Scarab let him use it and not Ted but also reminds him that it's not being chosen that makes a hero, but the choices he makes. Jaime says he wants to make the right choices like Ted would have, and Batman smiles, thinking, "Spoken like a true hero."

Who's Who

Blue Beetle  (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle [Ted Kord] (Voiced by Wil Wheaton)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Captain Atom #83 (November, 1966)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

Ted Kord was a brilliant young inventor who was convinced by his uncle, Jarvis, to help him with his experiments. When Ted learned Jarvis was using him to build an army of unbeatable robots, Ted asked for help from his old college professor, Dan Garrett, who turned out to be the superhero known as the Blue Beetle. When Garrett died defeating Jarvis, Ted took up the mantle of Blue Beetle. Ted used his ingenuity to build a whole slew of gadgets, including a non-lethal light gun and his flying bug. While he operated alone at times, Ted is best known as a member of the Justice League International and in partnership with his best friend, the time traveler Booster Gold. Ted was killed by Maxwell Lord, his former friend from the JLI, who was in fact the Black King of spy network Checkmate, and was preparing to wipe out all metahumans and aliens on Earth in the lead up to the DC Comics event Infinite Crisis, although he has appeared since in various Booster Gold time travel stories, most recently during Convergence. Ted had no super powers, although his nimble mind and genius level intellect allowed him to build all manner of technology and think his way out of many problems.

Blue Beetle [Dan Garrett] 

First Comic Book Appearance:  Mystery Men Comics #1 (August, 1939)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

When archaeologist Dan Garrett found the tomb of mythic pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re, he grabbed the mystical scarab that the pharaoh wielded when the tomb began to collapse to save his partner, and found the scarab granted him magical powers. A mystery man for many years, working with various other heroes, although little is known of bis superhero career. He eventually retired to become a professor of archaeology, only coming out of retirement for one final adventure with his student Ted Kord, where he sacrificed himself. Garrett was a man in good shape normally, but when he said the magical word "Khaji Da' (in fact the name of the alien Scarab, which Garrett believed to be magic) he was able to access some of the Scarab's abilities to summon a costume that granted him super strength, flight, enhanced durability, and the power to fire energy blasts.

Dr. Polaris (Voiced by Lex Lang)
First Comic Book Appearance: Green Lantern #21 (June, 1963)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

While there have been a couple of villains who have used the name Dr. Polaris, the most famous is Neal Emerson, a doctor who was obsessed with magnets. He suffered a split personality, and would often switch between the personas of Emerson and Dr. Polaris. He was a regular foe of Green Lantern and often a member of groups like the Secret Society and the Injustice Gang. Dr. Polaris's powers were based on magnetism, and he was able to manipulate magnetic fields as well as any ferrous material.

Jarvis Kord (Voiced by Tim Matheson)
First Comic Book Appearance: Blue Beetle #2 (August, 1967)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Eight- Fall of the Blue Beetle!

He's another character who is here what he is in the comics. He's Ted's uncle. He's a mad scientist. He's a jerk.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

This episode marks the second of a loose trilogy that features the development of Jaime Reyes as a hero. The first was naturally, "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" the series premiere. The third Jaime Reyes episode is "Revenge of the Reach!" where we learn more about the origins of the Scarab.

Ted Kord rocks!I'm sorry, but that's all I have to say. Ted is one of my favorite characters in the DC Universe, another whimsical, fun hero who got the shaft in recent years, although I sometimes feel like he's been treated better after his death than he was when he was alive. I first encountered him when he was a supporting character in Birds of Prey, and back tracked to read his appearances in the classic Justice League International. He willbe a supporting cast member in the upcoming Blue Beetle series that's a part of DC's "Rebirth initiative, where he will serve as a mentor to Jaime Reyes, which I think is a great combination.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Invasion of the Secret Santas!"

Season One, Episode Four: Invasion of the Secret Santas!
Written by Adam Beechen
Directed by Brandon Vietti

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: At the Professional Bowling League's Christmas Tournament, Sportmaster and his goons arrive to tell the League that bowling isn't a real sport and to steal the prize money, although he says not steal but win. He encases the tournament players in giant bowling pins and prepares to bowl them down with an exploding bowling ball, only to be thwarted by Batman and Blue Beetle. Beetle is still learning to use his Scarab properly, now addressing it as Goober, and is able to stop Sporstmaster's thugs while Batman defeats Sportsmaster. Beetle asks Batman to come over for Christmas dinner, but Batman declines, saying crime never takes a holiday.

Episode: On a lovely, snowy Christmas Eve, Red Tornado, in his civilian identity of Professor John Ulthoon, is teaching an Archaeology class, but has to duck out of class to save two children from being struck by a runaway truck. The thankful father tells Tornado that his heroics have filled the family with Christmas spirit, but Tornado is unsure of what this means, and the family laughs at him because he's a robot and of course he doesn't get it.

That night, after reading a book on Christmas, Tornado goes about trying to experience Christmas spirit by decorating his house and dressing in an ugly sweater, but still without result. Caroling loudly  and off key at the home of family he saved doesn't help either. He continues to contemplate when a news report tells him aliens are invading downtown, demanding Santa Claus so he can be brought to Neptune to give the children of that world presents.with only Batman to defend the city; so Tornado takes off to aid the Dark Knight.

Batman is fighting the flying saucers, destroying them one at a time when Red Tornado arrives to help. Tornado observes Neptune is uninhabited, and Batman points Tornado to an old movie, where the "transmission" was taken from. The two heroes make short work of the remaining saucers, and Batman realizes the flying saucers were plastic, made by the villain Fun Haus, who appears on a saucer. After making a threat about the fun just beginning, Fun Haus throws a kewpie doll at Batman and flies off; the doll is, unsurprisingly, a bomb. Batman tosses the doll in the air and Tornado pushes it higher into the air to keep it from harming people.

Batman and Tornado talk about the need to stop Fun Haus, and Tornado insists they musts top him from ruining Christmas. Tornado explains he is lacking Christmas spirit, and he wants to know it, and Batman grumps about it being over-rated. Tornado gives Batman a present to hopefully give them both some Christmas spirit; it's a World's Greatest Detective mug. This causes Batman to flashback to when he was a boy, remembering a Christmas with his parents and Alfred
. Batman thanks Tornado, who still does not feel the tingling he expects, and they set out to find Fun Haus.

The town is putting itself back together after the alien invasion, and a couple kids ask a Santa sitting in his sleigh if he has any Presto Playpal Action Figures left.  The Santa just chuckles oddly. While flying over the city, Tornado asks Batman why he dislikes Christmas, Batman gives his the terse response of, "I don't dislike Christmas. I dislike crime," and then jets down to confront a Santa who is pushing his way along the sidewalk. The Santa hits both the heroes, and Batman realizes the Santa is one of Fun Haus's robots. Batman destroys the one, only for Tornado and him to be attacked by an army of them.

While Batman and Tornado defeat the robots, the one who was talking to the children earlier starts his sleigh and charges through the streets with the kids in the sleigh. Batman gives chase as the Santa menaces the children, riding a reindeer. Batman destroys the robot Santa, but the sleigh is heading over a cliff. Only the timely intervention of Red Tornado keeps the sled from crashing to the ground, and the kids assume it's a Christmas miracle

Back in town, Batman and Tornado find a dad  and his crying son. The son is crying because he can't get a Playpal action figure, the most popular toy of the year, and Batman returns to his memories of the Christmas with his parents, where he received a Nutcracker toy instead of the action figure he wanted, and stormed off in a childlike tantrum after breaking the toy, which had been his father's as a child.

Batman and Red Tornado get a video message from Fun Haus, saying that the villain has planted a bomb, only for the bomb to turn out to be a red herring. As the sun rises on Christmas day, Batman remember hos his parents took him to a movie to make up for not receiving the toy he wanted, and he was still angry with them as they walked down an alley, where, unseen by the viewer, they were confronted by a mugger. All the viewer sees are two muzzle flashes and Bruce crying out for his parents.

Batman observes that sometimes the one thing you wish for is the thing you can never have, and then notices the post for the Playpal action figure has Fun Haus's logo on it. Cut to houses all over town, as kids open the action figures and the toys begin to rob them, bringing the toys to Fun Haus. Batman and Tornado arrive at the truck where Fun Haus is waiting for all his ill gotten gains, and when they confront him, Fun Haus has the little action figures merge into a giant one that he controls from inside.

Fun Haus decides to ruin Christmas and take out as many bystanders as he can. While Batman rescues the innocents, Tornado focuses on stopping Fun Haus's giant toy. Tornado is able to defeat the robot and Fun Haus, but it has caused too much stress in his body, and after feeling a strange tingling sensation that he thinks might be Christmas spirit, his body explodes. His head lands by Batman's feet, and with the help of S.T.A.R. Labs, Batman promises Tornado he'll be back together in no time.

Batman ends the episode getting into the Batmobile, where a present is waiting. He opens it and finds the nutcracker from all those years ago, repaired. He smiles, wishing Alfred a merry Christmas to himself, before a crime alert beeps, and Batman takes off to once more fight crime.



Who's Who

Red Tornado (Voiced by Corey Burton)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Justice League of America #64 (August, 1968)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

As with many characters with fifty plus years of continuity in their history, Red Tornado's backstory is something of a mess. He has been, at times, just an android, the robotic body host of an alien villain, an alien hero, and a wind elemental. He has been a member of the Justice Society of America, the Justice League of America, and the mentor to Young Justice. The most basic version of the origin is that he was an android created by T.O. Morrow, the mad scientist, to destroy the Justice League, and turned on Morrow to become an ally of the League, and has over the years struggled with understanding humanity. The original Red Tornado has not appeared since the New 52 reboot of the DC Universe, although a female Red Tornado inhabited by Lois Lane's consciousness was a part of Earth 2. He has appeared as a regular cast member of the Young Justice animated series, where he shared his comic counterpart's role as team mentor, and recently appeared on an episode of Supergirl. An android, Red Tornado can project whirlwinds for offense and defense, and fly by channeling wind.

Blue Beetle (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Alfred Pennyworth 
First Comic Book Appearance:  Batman #16 (April, 1943)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

Batman's loyal butler, Alfred helped to raise Bruce Wayne after the death of his parents.A former soldier and actor, Alfred would train Bruce in many of the talents he would use in his crusade against crime. But most important, Alfred is a father figure to Batman, and a dry wit who keeps reminding Batman that he is still human.

Thomas and Martha Wayne (Thomas: Corey Burton. Martha does not speak this episode)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Detective Comics #33 (November, 1939)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

The parents of Batman, the Waynes are most significant for having died. While over time they have been given more personality, they still remain mostly ciphers who serve as part if Batman's origin. They will appear again in the series in the episode "Chill of the Night," there voiced by Adam West and Julie Newmar.

Fun Haus (Voice by Gary Anthony Williams)
First Comic Book Appearance: None
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

Fun Haus is a character created for Batman: The Brave ad the Bold. He is visually similar to certain versions of the Superman villain known as Toyman, specifically the one from the Super Friends cartoon. Due the rights issues, Superman and his cast couldn't appear in early episodes of this series, so Fun Haus seems to be specifically created to take Toyman's place.

Sportsmaster (Voice by Thomas F. Wilson)
First Comic Book Appearance: All-American Comics #85 (May, 1947)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

There have been numerous villains who have gone by the name Sportsmaster, but the most famous, and the one who inspired the version in Brave and the Bold, was the original. A villain from the Golden Age, he was a nemesis to the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, and Wildcat. A minor villain, often a member of the Injustice Society, modern readers and viewers know Sportsmaster mostly from his appearances in the Young Justice animated series, where he was the father of team member Artemis. Sportsmaster was a talented athlete, and used sports themed weapons.

S.T.A.R. Labs 
First Comic Book Appearance: Superman #246 (December, 1971)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Four- Invasion of the Secret Santas!

S.T.A.R. Labs is one of the principal corporations of the DC Universe. Appearing most often in Superman comics, S.T.A.R. Labs often supports superheroes with scientific problems. It has appeared in The Flash TV series as the headquarters of Barry Allen and his allies.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

An interesting episode, most notable for being on of the few occasions in this series where Batman appears without a cowl, in this case as a small child. Batman: The Brave and the Bold chose to focus on Batman rather than Bruce Wayne, and so appearances on characters like Alfred are few and far between. I will say I'm not a fan of any version of the origin that puts Bruce even slightly at fault for  his parents' death, in this case because they went out to try to cheer him up. It adds an aspect of personal guilt that I feel does the character a disservice.

"Holiday for Neptunians," the film Faun Haus uses to make his broadcast early in the episode, is clearly a nod to the legendary B-movie, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians," know to be one of the worst movies ever,

The scene of Bruce having a tantrum about receiving a toy he didn't want is reminiscent of a similar scene involving a toy train in "To Kill a Legend," a story from Detective Comics #500. Written by Alan Brennert and drawn by Dick Giordano, the story has Batman being given the opportunity by the Phantom Stranger to go to another Earth where time doesn't sync with Earth One, where Bruce Wayne's parents will be killed that night, and to stop the crime from happening. The Bruce of that world is something of a brat, but seeing his parents nearly killed sets him on the right path, the path that will lead him to still become Batman. It was included in the original Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told trade paperback.

The Great Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rewatch: "Rise of the Blue Beetle"

Welcome, one and all, to this special Matt Signal post. This is special for a couple reasons. Firstly, it's the beginning of what I hope is a new weekly feature, where I'm going to rewatch every episode of the wonderful Batman animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I've been thinking about a rewatch or reread project for a while, and I decided to do this series for a few reasons. First, when this show debuted, I was leery about it's lighter take on Batman and his world, but I was completely blown away by how fun and fast and fresh it was; it's probably second only to Batman: The Animated Series when it comes to animated interpretations of Batman. Second, other Batman properties have gotten this treatment on other sites and blogs, so I figured this was fresher ground. Finally, honestly, things in the world around us are kinda scary right now, and this show is one of those complete joy bombs that makes me laugh and cheer like I as a kid again, and I don't know about anyone else out there, but I could use that right about now. Each episode will be dissected in a few ways, and you'll find some italicized commentary on each section this first post to help explain my thinking. In the future, expect these posts to show up weekly on Wednesday or Thursday.

The second reason this post is special is because this is post 500 here on the Matt Signal. That's a lot of posts. I want to thank Dan Grote for his regular contributions (and don't be surprised if you see him pop up on these Brave and the Bold recaps as time goes on), as well as Brandon Borzelli, Nancy Kindraka, and John Bush for their guest spots. And I want to thank everyone for reading my little blog, for supporting me, and supporting the creators I write about.

And without further ado, the great Batman: The Brave and the Bold rewatch begins...

Season One, Episode One: Rise of the Blue Beetle
Written by Michael Jelenic
Directed by Ben Jones

Plot Synopsis (OK, this part is pretty self explanatory)

Teaser (each episode of Brave and the Bold began with a short teaser before the credits, usually unrelated to the main plot): Batman and Green Arrow escape from an elaborate death trap set by the Clock King involving a giant cuckoo clock before heading off to defeat the villain.

Episode: Teenager Jaime Reyes and his best friend, Paco, sit in Jaime's room, a room adorned with Batman posters and news clippings, discussing classic, fanboy, who would win scenarios. Jaime is an obvious Batman fanboy, saying Batman would always win. As they channel surf, they see the end of the fight begun in the teaser, as Batman and Green Arrow defeat Clock King.

Paco brushes off Jaime's questions about whether Jaime could ever be a hero, and after Paco leaves, Jaime finds Batman waiting outside his window.Batman asks Jaime to help him deal with a meteor on a collision course with a space station, so Jaime armors up, revealing his superheroic identity as Blue Beetle.

The two heroes fly up into space (Batman narrating that he's doing this to see if Jaime has what it takes to be a hero), and when the meteor comes into sight, Jaime's alien armor goes haywire, shooting him toward the meteor. The armor forms a warp that pulls the heroes away and deposits them on an alien world.

The heroes arrive to watch the planet's small, amoeba-like alien residents being attacked by a ship controlled by the alien conqueror Kanjar Ro. The aliens come out of hiding and are overjoyed that the great one has returned to save them, and while Jaime assumes they're talking about Batman, a statue nearby indicates to the shocked Blue Beetle the aliens mean him.

It seems the aliens bodies provide the fuel for Kanjar Ro's ship, and he returns every season to harvest them. The Gibbles (the cute little aliens) are surprised to see the "Blue One" return after his last encounter with Kanjar Ro and his Gamma Gong, but they are excited; Batman deduces the previous owner of Blue Beetle's Scarab, the alien device that grants him his powers, must be the one who helped the Gibbles before.

The Gibbles assume Batman is Blue Beetle's sidekick, to Jaime's dismay, as the Gibbles and Batman bow to him. Batman tells Jaime he should play along to the Gibbles hero worship, as they need someone to believe in. Batman tells Beetle that he has to rally the Gibbles to aid them in defeating Kanjar Ro, and despite being nervous, Jaime makes a good speech, telling the Gibbles to find "the power within," and the Gibbles agree to work with the heroes.

Batman, Blue Beetle, and the Gibbles fly off on a Gibble ship to raid Kanjar Ro's ship and save their fellows. We see Ro draining the Gibbles of their energy, and then the battle begins. Ro recognizes and confronts Blue Beetle.and Beetle does a good job of fending off Ro, even saving Batman from his weapon, and Jaime thinks he's finally getting a feel for how the Scarab works. However, as the Gibbles begin to file back to their ships, it's clear the victory has gotten to Jaime's head, Ro returns from the bowels of his ship with the Gamma Gong. Jaime tells Batman he can handle this, but the Gong weakens the Scarab, leaving Jaime without his armor active. Ro captures Jaime, planning to remove the Scarab for his own use, and send Batman and the Gibbles off into space on probes,

Tied to the probes, Batman and the Gibbles are quickly surrounded by flying space squid monsters, who begin circling, preparing to devour them. Batman is able to free a hand and punch one of the monsters, then takes an electric cable from the probe and plugs it into a Gibble, who stores the charge and when a monster tries to bite it, the monster is shocked and the swarm flies off. The Gibble now knows it has power within.

On his ship, Kanjar Ro is using his Gamma Gong to try to figure out which frequency will remove the Scarab from Jaime so he can wear it himself. Batman and the Gibbles return to the ship, and Batman begins to infiltrate the ship, taking out Ro's crew. Batman enters Ro's chamber, and punches the villain, who flies into the Gamma Gong; that is the frequency that finally makes the Scarab disengage from Jaime. Ro quickly snatches up the Scarab and, placing it on his back as it was on Jaime, the Blue Beetle armor covers him.

Ro and Batman engage in a fight, and Ro's more violent nature seems to allow him to channel the Scarab's destructive powers more easily than Jaime could. Jaime, alone, realizes he had gotten a swelled head before, and begins to think instead of just using his fist. He is able to get free from the table imprisoning him, and picks up the Gamma Gong, which he uses to blast the Scarab off Ro and reclaim it. But before he can don it, Ro pulls a blaster and is about to shoot down Jaime and Batman when a blast knocks his gun aside: the Gibbles have discovered "the power within" and are channeling their energy into blasters, bow able to defend themselves.

The Gibbles thank Blue Beetle for saving them, and teaching them to save themselves, and they thank Batman as well, saying he has proven a worthy sidekick to Blue Beetle. They even erect a statue to him, albeit one considerably smaller then Beetle's. Batman and Beetle head back through the wormhole created by the Scarab and find no time has passed; Batman spouts some techno babble, but his own internal monologue is, "That's weird." Batman happily thinks that he came to see if Jaime had hero potential, and watched instead as the young Blue Beetle became a hero. With a, "Ready, partner?" Batman and Beetle head to stop the meteor.

Who's Who (Brave and the Bold was created to be a team-up series, where Batman met all sorts of new and different characters, so in this section, I'll give comic book and animation background on each of the newly introduced characters from this episode, and links to characters who have already appeared)

Batman (Voiced by Diedrich Bader)
First Comic Book Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

He needs little introduction, but just in case... Batman is one of the greatest and most published super heroes in comic books. After his parents were killed in front of him by a mugger, young Bruce Wayne dedicated his life to making sure it never happened again. Honing his mind and body to the peak of human perfection, Bruce became Batman to protect Gotham City and the world from crime.

Green Arrow (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (Novemeber, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Created in the early 40s, Green Arrow was introduced as a blatant Batman ripoff: he had an Arrowcave, an Arrowmobile, and a kid sidekick, Speedy. He was Oliver Queen, a millionaire who was stranded on a desert island for a time, and there learned to become a master archer, only to return to civilization to fight crime. The Green Arrow of Brave and the Bold wears this original costume, and doesn't have the more famous Robin Hood-like costume Green Arrow adopted in the 1970s. At that time, Arrow became a different character, a defender of the downtrodden and the most liberal of superheroes, politically. In recent years, Green Arrow has had a resurgence, thanks to appearances on Smallville (where he took the place of Batman, who was unavailable due to rights issues), and on his own CW drama, Arrow.


Blue Beetle (Voiced by Will Friedle)
First Comic Book Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (February, 2006)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes was the third hero to go by the name Blue Beetle, making him on of DC's legacy characters. Finding the Scarab once possessed by original Blue Beetle Dan Garett during the crossover event, Infinite Crisis, Jaime became a young superhero when the Scarab bonded to him. With the help of his friends Paco and Brenda, along with a supportive family, Jaime became a hero to El Paso, Texas. Over time, he learned the Scarab was not mystical, as had been assumed for years, but in fact an artifact from a race of alien conquerors known as The Reach, and he was instrumental ins topping a Reach invasion of Earth. He was a Spider-Man type hero, a young man trying to find his way in the world, minus much of the angst, making him a fun character; he had his own series that ran for thirty-six issues. His reboot in the New 52 kept much of this, but made the world around him darker and made his family not know his secret identity, causing additional strife in his life. That series ended quickly, but a new Blue Beetle series is part of DC's upcoming "Rebirth" initiative.

Clock King (Voice by Dee Bradley Baker)
First Comic Book Appearance: World's Finest Comics #111 (August, 1960)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Clock King is a C-List villain, one William Tockman, who was a thorn in Green Arrow's side during his early appearances. Obsessed with clocks, he had no superpowers. He was intelligent, and built his crimes and his weapons around a clock theme. He made very few appearances in comics, although in the '80s he was a member of the comedic Injustice Gang as part of the light-hearted Justice League series of that era. There are, however, various version of Clock King with different identities, who have appeared in comics, live-action TV, and other animated projects, most notably Batman: The Animated Series, where Clock King was a former efficiency expert named Temple Fugit, and the classic Batman TV show of the 60s. The Tockman verison of the character has appeared on both Arrow and The Flash.

Kanjar Ro (Voice by Marc Worden)
First Comic Book Appearance: Justice League of America #3 (February, 1961)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle

Kanjar Ro is one of the oldest nemeses of the Justice League of America, a planetary despot from the world of Dhor. Always seeking more power, Ro's attempts to expand his planetary empire often brought him into conflict with the Justice League, Adam Strange, and Hawkman, After the universe changing Crisis on Infinite Earths, Ro became more of a scheming villain, a political manipulator on the planet Thanagar, but this revised origin and background eventually changed back to the original, and he more often then not now appears as a conqueror and not a bureaucrat.

Continuity, Comic Connections, and Notes (Here's where I dig into how this episode fits into the overall scheme of the series, how the episode connects to Batman comic stories, fun facts about the voice cast, and personal observations)

In the teaser, Batman uses a laser sword from his utility belt, and in the opening scene of the episode, show he has a rocket pack hidden under his cape. These are both original aspects of Brave and the Bold and become trademarks of this series' Batman

Will Friedle, who voice Blue Beetle, is no stranger to Batman animation. He is best known for playing, Terry McGinnis, the young Batman in Batman Beyond.

A poster in Jaime's room shows Batman's holding his hands in front in a fighter's stance with the words, "Hammers of Justice." Batman will address his fists as the Hammers of Justice throughout the series.

I like this as a pilot episode. As a show aimed at younger audiences, having Blue Beetle, a teenage guest star, for the first episode, someone closer to their age, mirrors the use of Robin in the original comics, to give the audience a point of view character they relate to. Jaime is a good kid, not as tough and streetwise as the Outsiders, who we'll be meeting shortly, or as bitter toward Batman as this universe's Robin, and his fanboy nature is easily understood by fans.