Beware the Batman
Our Review
Beware the Batman ran on the DC Nation block in the summer of 2013 for 26 episodes and vanished so completely that most fans need reminding it existed, which is the tragedy of it. The critics who bothered were mostly kind: Rotten Tomatoes carries season one at 82%, with the consensus praising the polished 3D animation and the darker tone.
Produced under Sam Register with Glen Murakami at the helm, it strips Batman down: no bumbling butler, Alfred is a retired MI-6 operative who can hold a fight; no Robin for most of the run; just a working detective in a Gotham run by corporate crime, with lethal swordswoman Tatsu Katana Yamashiro at his side and the League of Assassins as the spine of the conspiracy. Anthony Ruivivar plays the cowl with a growl that suits the redesign. The real stroke of casting is Anarky as the philosophical antagonist: a politically motivated young anarchist the show builds into something genuinely unsettling, and his orbit through the League’s business is the best thing a 2010s Batman cartoon did with a second tier name.
Professor Pyg, Magpie and Mister Toad all get their animated debuts here, the show never quite finished its own board, and the cancellation came quietly, which is why it reads half finished. Short, overlooked, genuinely good, and the only animated Batman where Anarky is the thesis statement. Twenty six episodes, one weekend.
