Plot summary: When Batman goes missing Clark opts to don the Cape and Cowl to try and help Robin maintain order in Gotham and figure out Bruce’s whereabouts.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 43 (S3.E2)
Original Air Date: October 10th 1998
Directed: Curt Geda (15)
Written: Robert Goodman (6)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (27)
Music: Michael McCuistion (11)
Just like with ‘World’s Finest‘ (and the upcoming ‘The Demon Reborn’) I originally wrote a quick and dirty review of this episode for The Reel World. Now that I’m doing STAS properly it gets a full review with all the context I’ve acquired from covering the full series.
While over-explaining the plot at the end Clark mentions Brainiac infecting the LexCrop mainframe (‘Stolen Memories‘ & ‘Ghost in the Machine‘) and the brief partnership between Bruce & Lex (‘World’s Finest’)
Roddy McDowell unfortunately passed away one week before this episode aired, which of course makes it the final appearance of Mad Hatter in the DCAU.
Recap
Superman easily captures Roxy Rocket (remember her?), who nonchalantly states she came to Metropolis because the other Gotham Rogues were running riot in Gotham because Batman is missing.
Sure enough, Robin is trying to thwart a diamond heist solo when Superman swoops into town. Tim confirms Bruce is missing under suspicious circumstances, with Batgirl and Nightwing chasing a lead elsewhere.
Thus Clark suits up as Batman, including a perfect imitation of his voice. He and Robin sneak into Bruce’s office, where Superman is able to determine that somebody injected Bruce with mind-controlling nanites.
Suspecting Mad Hatter, ‘The Dynamic Duo’ interrogate The Penguin for his whereabouts, busting into a meeting between Hatter, Bane and The Riddler.
Bane deploys his vaunted New Venom that makes him twice as strong. Strong enough to wail on ‘Batman’ and smash him with big heavy objects… but of course Clark is able to brush all that off and pummel the giant mercenary unconscious.
Unfortunately it was all for naught as Hatter swears he had no hand in the nanites, admiring their technological superiority, going as far as to suggest they’re of alien origin…
Further analysing the video message, Clark is able to detect a barely audible rocket launch in the background, so Robin suggests Wayne Aerospace, which was meant to be shut down but is fully manned.
Or at least it is until Bruce thanks everybody for their work on the ‘secret project’ (a Kryptonian rocket) and dismisses them so that Brainiac can emerge from hiding!
‘Batman’ confronts Brainiac whose attack is so strong it burns the Batsuit clean off. Superman flies after the rocket and is eventually able to blow it up with the AI still inside. I’m sure that’ll be the end of it…
In the aftermath Bruce confirms the nanites are dissolving on their own. Superman encourages him to a deep search for traces of Brainiac, then compliments Robin and flies home.
Best Performance
It’s obviously really nice to hear Kevin Conroy again, and he is solid at making himself sound a fraction “off”, both for Superman’s 99.9% perfect impression and his time under mind control. They could have gone a lot less subtle with that aspect but I’m glad they didn’t. He’s also lovely and warm at the end when thanking Clark.
Most of the BTAS villains are a step down from their finest work, though I love Charity James opening with “What. A. Body.” when Superman blocks Roxy’s path, and then continuing to hit on him when he’s caught her. Ignoring the reality of the situation is fun to me. John Glover and Roddy McDowell only really have a couple of lines each, not enough to make a strong impression, while Henry Silva feels like he completely forgot how to play Bane in only a year (give or take) as he sounds entirely different. For the worse.
But you know what? Mathew Valencia is notably older than when we last heard him as Tim Drake, and dare I say he got a lot better at acting? Maybe just more confident, better able to hold his own in a two-hander. He’s great at the fight banter, he’s great trying to subtly help Superman with his impression, and he’s wonderful at being creeped out by being perfectly imitated.
Episode Ranking
This is the second highest rated episode of the show per IMDb. I don’t mean to cast aspersions but I think BTAS fans may have done some upvoting because they were so pleased to get a bit more time in Gotham with Kevin Conroy, Bob Hastings and the Rogues Gallery, because it definitely isn’t Top 5 to me. Plenty of fun don’t get me wrong, but not best of the best.
Obviously most of the juice comes from Superman’s shaky impersonation of Batman, including not knowing quite how to act when he meets with Jim Gordon and Robin having to coach him on where his various gadgets are kept and how to convincingly intimidate The Penguin. It’s a pretty strong showcase for Tim in general to be honest, potentially more so than in TNBA, as he takes on crooks by himself, displays a flawless knowledge of Bruce’s habits, and for whatever reason I was really tickled by him cleverly using Riddler’s hat to extend his reach by an extra couple of inches so he can free himself. Superman beating the stuffing out of an oblivious Bane is a huge fan favourite moment in the DCAU, and justifiably so as it’s an undeniably cool idea.
But for me the whole thing goes off a cliff when the truth is revealed and they tangle with Brainiac. Firstly Clark continuing to impersonate Batman because they don’t want Brainiac to make a logic leap about Bruce’s secret if the Caped Crusader never showed. There have been far more suspicious circumstances to tip people off, but sure. Secondly, shouldn’t Brainiac just be able to tell that it’s Superman by like… I dunno, scanning him or something? Then you’ve got Clark providing clunky exposition to explain how Brainiac was able to infect WayneTech to use his resources to build himself a Kryptonian rocket so he could go back to galactic conquest. It just feels like an overly convoluted resolution to the story, and all while Brainiac just stands there tied up with rope that he is easily able to break once he’s confirmed all the details for the audience. The rocket chase is surprisingly decent with Supes gradually ripping it apart (with a brief interlude where Brainiac thinks it’s winning), but then the ending is a smidge flat for me. I LOVE Clark being so nice to Robin of course, but I could have done with a little more Bruce/Clark stuff at the expense of trimming some fluff from earlier in the episode.
All you can really do is roll your eyes at Superman revealing he can perform perfect voice mimicry, a power he will never display again. Superman has a nasty habit of collecting too many ancillary powers in the comics which often ends up being a driving force in rebooting continuity to reset him to his classic abilities. Makes the episode cuter though, I guess.
Michael McCuistion’s score is amazing, easily slipping back into the playful yet suspenseful tones we associate with Gotham. Like I say, I fully understand being so pleased to be back in this world, though it’s a shame it’s the red skies and character redesigns of TNBA. But you can’t win them all I suppose, and the art style didn’t fully get in the way of my enjoyment of that show so I can’t penalise this episode for it.
Ultimately I feel like they had an incredibly compelling core premise but a nothing ending. Good enough to scrape into the Top 10, but to me everything above it is a complete package. Maybe not all of them can match this episode’s high points, but I think they needed a much stronger third act to anchor the episode.
- The Late Mr. Kent
- Brave New Metropolis
- Apokalips… Now!
- World’s Finest
- Livewire
- Double Dose
- Fun and Games
- Warrior Queen
- Knight Time [NEW ENTRY]
- Father’s Day
- Little Girl Lost
- The Hand of Fate
- The Last Son of Krypton
- Ghost in the Machine
- Stolen Memories
- Action Figures
- The Prometheon
- Tools of the Trade
- The Main Man
- Mxzypixilated
- Blasts from the Past
- Target
- The Way of All Flesh
- Solar Power
- Where There’s Smoke
- Protoype
- My Girl
- A Little Piece of Home
- Feeding Time
- Speed Demons
- Two’s a Crowd
- Identity Crisis
- Heavy Metal
- Monkey Fun
- Bizarro’s World
Rogues Roundup
The Gotham Rogues (Roddy McDowell, John Glover, Paul Williams, Henry Silva and Charity James)
‘But Matt, Joker & Harley Quinn got proper rankings!’ Yeah, well they had large roles in a three-part episode, whereas this is a grab bag representative of Superman running a gauntlet against some of Batman’s greatest foes. I have written SO many words about these characters already which you can go read at your leisure.
As a collective they’re fun! I like that they kept Penguin separate from the others to maintain his public facade of legitimacy. Bane is the centrepiece, brawling with Superman without knowing it, while Riddler just tries and fails to capture Robin and Mad Hatter… says his Mad Hatter things. Roxy is fun for her minute at the start too.
Brainiac (Corey Burton) (fifth appearance)
I remember reviewing this episode alongside the other BTAS crossovers back in the original run of this column and thinking how off it felt for Brainiac to be such an afterthought when it’s generally one of Superman’s biggest threats.
I still feel that way even after seeing Brainiac’s previous four episodes. I appreciate that part of the appeal of the character is it can lie dormant in computer systems and continually rebuild itself, and you probably wouldn’t have guessed who was behind the whole caper until Mad Hatter said the word ‘alien’. Attributing everything to the temporary Wayne/Lex partnership was a clever way to make it work… but fundamentally it’s still a bit weird to spotlight all these Batman villains and then say ‘Oh it was Brainiac.’ Big B looks kind of dumb sitting there letting Clark monologue before breaking free from the rope, but I guess it was dope to see it ostensibly roast Batman to death before Superman emerged from the flames.
None of that is an indictment of Brainiac itself, just the script’s choice to tack him on the end.
- Livewire
- Darkseid
- Lex Luthor
- The Joker
- Toyman
- Queen Maxima
- Metallo
- Parasite
- Karkull
- Brainiac [–]
- Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Harley Quinn
- Granny Goodness
- Kalibak
- Volcana
- The Gotham Rogues [NEW ENTRY]
- Lobo
- Luminus
- Project Firestorm
- The Female Furies
- DeSaad
- Detective Bowman
- Bruno Mannheim (and Intergang!)
- Steppenwolf
- The Preserver
- Kanto
- Mala & Jax-Ur
- Mercy Graves
- The Prometheon
- De’Cine
- Corey Mills
- Earl Garver
- Titano
- Bizarro
- Weather Wizard
The Matt Signal 
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