'Batman: Caped Crusader' Character Descriptions Released
'Batman: Caped Crusader' Character Descriptions Released
Learn more about the reimagined characters here in the latest Batman animated series
After more than a year since Prime Video picked up DC Comics-based animated series Batman: Caped Crusader from Warner Bros. Animation, Bad Robot Productions, and 6th & Idaho, the streamer finally provided the first images of the series itself, ending three years of solely having the poster the series was announced with. It was announced that all ten first-season episodes will premiere August 1 on the platform. While series co-developer Bruce Timm (who did so with J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves) and character designer James Tucker talked at length about the characters in their Entertainment Weekly interview, it turns out formal character descriptions were released as well, and are certainly worth sharing. The coverage was getting a bit too big for the email, so it made sense to continue separately.
Our main character gets two description, one for each part of himself. For Batman, he’s “A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man. Forged in the fire of tragedy, every fiber of his being is dedicated to the eradication of crime” while Bruce Wayne, to the public at large “is a shallow dilettante, apparently wasting his parents’ vast fortune on frivolous pursuits and hedonistic pleasures. In fact, he’s an elaborate facade, carefully constructed to divert attention from his activities as Batman.”
Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman is described as “a blithe and pampered heiress whose family lost their fortune after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement. Despite having the silver spoon yanked from her mouth, Selina refuses to quit living in the lap of luxury and becomes Catwoman as a “fun” way to maintain her lavish lifestyle.” Tucker and Timm talked about doing something different than what other iterations of the last 25-30 years have done, saying "We didn't want to do the B:TAS Catwoman or the version that Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke did in the early 2000s with the practical leather jumpsuit, which has become her default look in the comics and movies," Timm says. "We wanted to do something different. So we thought, well, let's go all the way back to the beginning. I love the original look that she had in the '40s. It's purple!" Tucker points to Barbara Stanwyck's performance as the title character in The Lady Eve as a major inspiration in constructing this iteration of Catwoman, playful and charming, and can bite back when underestimated.
Dr. Harleen Quinzel is described as a brilliant psychiatrist with a personable and bubbly demeanor. It continue “She treats some of Gotham’s elite. However, as Harley Quinn, she is a different person, entirely. A creepy, quiet, calculating menace who secretly dispenses her twisted justice to the truly despicable among her elite clientele.”
Commissioner Jim Gordon is a “Former beat cop close to retirement… hired to play along with the corrupt system and run out the clock till he can draw a pension. But they’ve sorely underestimated Jim Gordon. His unassailable character brings him into conflict with dirty cops and crooked politicians, alike… he has to reckon with a deranged vigilante beating up Gotham’s criminals.” Sounds like he hasn’t quite gotten a rapport with Batman at this point. And then there’s Clayface, where “Thanks to his “unique” facial features, screen actor Basil Karlo has been forever typecast as a B-movie heavy. Frustrated by the limitations his appearance put on both his career and personal life (he fell hopelessly in love with his co-star), Karlo turned to an experimental serum that promised to change his face. However, not only does this serum ultimately disfigure his face, but it ruptures the last of his sanity — creating the tragic, vengeance seeking villain.”
With Prime Video maintaining the two-season order the series was announced with, there will certainly be more reimagined characters to discover when and after the ten-episode first season of Batman: Caped Crusader premieres on Prime Video on August 1.
I hope this one will be interested. Warner's been going to the well too many times with Mr. Wayne.