Batman: Caped Crusader Review

Fun as it can be for Batman: Caped Crusader to lean into the Saturday morning cartoon feel, it never carves out its own distinctive space.

Batman is as malleable a superhero as any within the DC or Marvel canon, which makes him the perfect vehicle for a Saturday morning-esque non-serialized animated show.

The good news is that Batman: Caped Crusader boasts a stellar cast and crew of comic book legends, including executive producers JJ Abrams and Matt Reeves. Bruce Timm, who worked on numerous DC properties, including Batman: The Animated Series, serves as the showrunner here, which helps explain why Caped Crusader retains that show’s distinctive aesthetic. The Gotham of this show looks like an occasionally glossier version of the gothic art deco that worked so well in the cartoon, and in the Joel Schumacher live-action films. Tommy guns, zoot suits, and Studebakers abound here, as bad guys of all shapes and sizes are hunted by the Dark Knight – here voiced by Hamish Linklater – through the seedy underbelly of Gotham.

Linklater does a fine enough job as Bruce Wayne and Batman, though he lacks the warmth which Kevin Conroy brought to The Animated Series whenever he steps out of the cape and cowl. Prime Video’s show boasts a thoroughly impressive supporting voice cast, including Christina Ricci as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon, and Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent (funny enough, Bader also voices Batman in Max’s Harley Quinn). Chronologically speaking, Caped Crusader takes place as Gotham is still learning of the existence of Batman, and Bruce Wayne is commonly seen as the same billionaire playboy he’s always been. For better or worse, the show doesn’t seek to subvert expectations, or provide a new spin on the beloved character and universe as some of the best Batman outings have done previously.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the show isn’t fun. Each episode deals with a new “villain of the week”, some either brand new creations or deep pulls from the DC bench, and some well known to even casual fans like Catwoman or Harley Quinn (voiced here by Jamie Chung). Viewers can essentially jump in and out at any point in the ten episode season, though there is a small amount of plot that runs throughout the season, mostly in Batman remaining a persistent thorn in the side of the corrupt police force. The animation, while thoughtfully designed, sometimes feels lazily off, in the ways characters move throughout the scenes, as if the animators are working with the same computerized models that were around when The Animated Series was on the air.

One particular moment of Batman simply walking down a hallway remains ensconced in my mind; moving with the same stiffness as a Scooby Doo character from the original 1969 version. Thankfully the action scenes are kinetic and colorful enough to mostly make up for these deficiencies.

Nostalgia has been weaponized over and over again, year after year, in various properties that warrant it and don’t. Batman seems like a world which will never not be rebooted or refashioned in one way or another for audiences of all ages, but at least Caped Crusader feels authentic to the character. Safe as it may be, the show never feels like a naked cash grab, or “content for the sake of content”, as reboots often can be. Maybe it’s foolish to compare a streaming comic book TV show in 2024 (on Prime Video, away from the cozy confines of Warner Bros./Max, for some reason) to one of the high watermarks of the genre, but at least the show gets more right than it does wrong.

Batman: Caped Crusader will be available to watch on Prime Video from August 1, 2024. Find out why we love Batman!