Superheroes Two: Part 2.5, Batman (Part 2)

Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I wanna bust that body!
Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I wanna bust that body!

Batmaaaan!

If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the el-ec-tric chair for all my fu-ture crimes lawd!
Electric chair!
OW!
Ooo-oo-oo-oo-uh!

Yeah, we're all still humming that one at the red lights, aren't we?

*Laughs* ahh...alright, let's do this...


Batman
With Robin The Boy Wonder (1968)

Half of "The Superman/Batman hour".

By Filmation, and featuring the voice of the guy who'd go on to voice Batman throughout (most of) the "Superfriends", incarnations.


The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)

See here.

Plus, Olan Soule was still Batman.


The New Adventures Of  Batman (1977)

See here.

Featuring the voices of Adam West, and Burt Ward.

This show got me into Batman, which led to Dad getting my first Batman comic, which led to my addiction to comics books, and later, superheroes in general, which is why I still write about them.

So, Adam West is responsible for me even writing this blog entry.
Thanks, Adam.

Anyway, this is the one that had Bat-Mite.
And, if you don't know what a Bat-Mite is....imagine Scrappy-Doo's brain in Watto's body, and in a pink Batman costume.
Wretched.

Still loved the show though.


SuperFriends (1973)

Olan Soule was back as Batman.
Um...pretty much the Justice League.
Think they're even called that within the show.
See here, and here.

I had a poster of that image for a long time.


The All-New SuperFriends Hour (1977)

"Superfriends", was cancelled, but, "Six-Million Dollar Man", and live-action "Wonder-Woman", made supers popular again, so Superfriends was revived.

Put more simply, this is where Wendy and Marvin were replaced with The Wonder Twins.
...and that blue monkey, Gleek.
*Facepalm*


Challenge Of The SuperFriends (1978)

The one where they added the diversity heroes (Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief), and Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman, plus, The Legion Of Doom as villains.

The Wonder Twins were pretty well pushed out by now.


The World's Greatest SuperFriends (1979)

...and then, just when they had it in its best form to date....they wittled the lineup down, brought back the Wonder Twins, and made half the show reruns from 1977.


SuperFriends (1980)

Still half reruns of  '77 and '79 stuff, this is the one where they added the diversity hero El Dorado, and brought back the heroes they wittled out of the lineup from "Challenge Of The SuperFriends", as guest characters.

This version lasted 3 seasons.

Batman and Robin were always along for the ride, no matter what.

Then, it was cancelled, and floated around in syndicated rerun packages of the prior seven seasons until '84.


SuperFriends: 
The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)

Created to coincide with the "SuperPowers", lineup of action figures, which also had a comic book.

Had all the main DC heroes, the diversity heroes, and Firestar.

Firestar was a humanoid replicator/transporter, essentially.
Think Dr. Manhattan with a cheery attitude, and clothes.
I had the figure of Firestar.
I figured, I could always win with him.
I was right.

Darkseid was the lead boss-villain.

Also, Adam West came back as Batman in this one! Yay!


The Super Powers Team:
Galactic Guardians (1985)

The first, and only season where they ditched the "SuperFriends", name.

Firestar was retained, Cyborg was added to the cast, and The Wonder Twins were finally shown the door.

Adam West was still Batman.

And, just when the lineup was perfect, and the storylines started to be more kickass, and less silly....cancellation for the third, and final time.

Then, a 7 year gap, which would feature the fourth and final Christopher Reeve Superman film, and the first two Tim Burton Batman films.....

And then....


Batman: The Animated Series (1992)

..and the dawn of the Kevin Conroy era.

This hung on for awhile, until it changed format to....


The New Batman Adventures (1997)

Where Robin became Nightwing, Tim Drake became the new Robin, and Batgirl was a regular member of "the Bat family".

This is the era that "Batman Beyond: The Return Of The Joker", flashed back to.


Batman Beyond (1999)

Set in a possible future, with a new Batman, Terry McGinnis, with an old-age Bruce Wayne (still Conroy) as his mentor.

There's probably a generation of kids that came up with Terry as their Batman.
Wonder what their insights on the franchise are.


Justice League (2001)

SuperFriends reborn!

The. Fucking. Definitive Justice League.

The live-action film for 2015 is going to have to go some to hit this bar, much less clear it.

Conroy was still Batman, Tim Daley from the Superman show was Superman.

My favorite character? Actually, Hawk Girl.
I wasn't alone, the other fans thought so too, and the finale movie was about her.

And, during the run of this...

Conroy Batman guest starred on "Static Shock", and Batman Beyond guest starred on "The Zeta Project".

Making both of those spinoffs.

Then..."Justice League", became....


Justice League Unlimited (2004)

Which had...everybody!
It literally was unlimited!

The Justice League expanded their roster to every superhero in the DC universe, and every episode had either a guest character, or was solely about a guest character, and basically, it was an excuse to just do...anything.

The limits were gone, and it was a total fucking party.
Best thing ever.

Then, when that ended, they went back to square one with...


The Batman (2004)

A total reboot of Batman, going for an anime-ish style, and a 1940's early Bob Kane feel, and was about a young Batman starting out.

This continuity spawned the film "The Batman vs Dracula".

Then, came...


Batman: The Brave And The Bold (2008)

Done in a more cartoony style written more for kids, but, it had rotating guest stars, and ended up again, having every character in the DC universe.

It was DC's "Superhero Squad".

Except, theirs was first.
And, arguably, better.

Adam West and Julie Newmar voiced the ghosts of Batman's parents in one episode.

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill played Deadman, and The Spectre in the same episode.

And, Henry Winkler played Ambush Bug!
YES!!

Bat-Mite returns as the final villain for the final episode.
Beautifully fitting.


Young Justice (2010)

A reboot of Teen Titans, with Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Clone-Superboy.
Other members join along the way.

Bruce Greenwood voices Batman who gives them their missions, and bosses them around.

Greenwood also played Batman in "Batman: Under The Red Hood".

Animation on this series is beautiful.


Beware The Batman (2013)

And, this is the one coming up next year, and hinted at in the finale for "Brave And The bold".
This one will be in CG.

First time for Batman, but not the first for DC, they already have a CG Green Lantern show out there now.

Time will tell if this is a classic, or a cul-de-sac.

And, that's the animated Batman canon.
20 damned shows, wow, that even beats Spiderman.
But...was there ever any doubt that Batman could beat Spiderman?

Up next, Superman.