BEWARE THE BATMAN “Nexus” Review


The second arc of Beware the Batman begins. Is it a slow start, or does it open full speed? SPOILERS.

With Alfred gone, Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) begins to push himself harder, causing Katana (Sumalee Montano) to get concerned. But she has no time to help him, as they must try to stop Anarky (Wallace Langham) from causing more of his insane plans!

Meanwhile, Batman also gets in trouble on the police side when newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent (Christopher McDonald) gets on his case, doing his darndest to get Batman arrested.

This episode….I liked, but I can’t give it a great score. Why? Too many things I didn’t like, things I can’t ignore. Harvey Dent is one of those things. This may just be my least favorite portrayal of Harvey Dent. Maybe The Dark Knight spoiled me, but this Dent is very, very annoying and unlikable. He hounds Batman for no good reason, and even once Batman proves his innocence….Dent stubbornly ignores this!

Beware the Batman Anarky vs Batman

I also wasn’t crazy about McDonald as Dent, unfortunately. Never sold me. Speaking of voice acting, Langham is growing on me as Anarky, with some of his lines giving me goosebumps (especially his final line…although part of the effect is wrecked when we see him escape to the sewers…)

The plot itself is pretty exciting, and moves at a fast pace. But when Anarky pulls the bomb stunt, you can’t help but feel that he’s a second rate Joker. Do all the cartoons have to copy Dark Knight Joker from now on? Still, it is pulse-pounding, so it does its job. Batman’s “plight” is pretty generic, though. I’ve seen it dozens of times before.

So, in short, exciting episode with annoying Dent, generic Batman plot, but mostly solid voice acting. Solid episode, but not necessarily to DC’s standards. Oh, and I swear, one of the characters in this episode is a callback to JLU‘s Amanda Waller!

"Say cheese"

“Say cheese”

OUR RATING
6
Positives:
  • Fast-paced episode
  • Anarky's voice actor does a fine job
  • All around competent
Negatives:
  • Dent gets a pretty bad portrayal, meh voice acting
  • Anarky feels like a second rate Joker at times
  • The "Batman pushes himself too hard" plot is tired