BEWARE THE BATMAN “Animal” Review

By Nathan Mark on Thursday, September 25th, 2014

The latest Beware the Batman episode has Batman getting arrested. Wait, whaaaat? SPOILERS AHEAD!

After a brief chase, the police force, led by Harvey Dent (Christopher McDonald) catch the criminal The Key (J.B. Blanc). That’s a good thing, right? Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) doesn’t think so. After all, Key has just downloaded a program into his brain, a program that will let him hack into any computer in the planet. And in Blackgate, any criminal has access to Key!

So, Batman lets himself get arrested, so he can find Key from the inside. What he didn’t count on was that Blackgate has a new hierarchy, led by a very dangerous reptilian villain named Killer Croc (Wade Williams).

This is a very good episode. Like the previous episode, the writers knew how to create a bunch of tension, but with better villains and supporting cast. Blackgate, which is similar to Arkham, is obviously not a place you want to be stuck in, filled with criminals and low-lifes. The jail sets the stage very well.

Killer Croc is a much more intimidating villain than Dumpty, and voice actor Wade Williams may be my favorite Croc voice yet. I dig the design, too. It’s easy to see how he would become the king. His battle with Batman is brutal!

I admire how the writers gave almost everyone a role, from Katana, to both Gordons, and a surprise at the end I won’t spoil, but will have some fans cheering. Batman himself gets some very cool action scenes that shows why he is not one to be messed with. A scene near the end shows the current fragile state of his psyche, and how he isn’t always so different from his rogues.

Unfortunately, I still don’t like Dent. Ugh, what a waste of space. I don’t see how no one in the police force with authority has noticed how awful he is. A scene where Gordon beats him in a battle of wits is great, however.

This is one of the best episodes of the series, and I hope we get a follow-up episode with Killer Croc. I give this two thumbs up, for sure! Oh, and watch out for a Batman villain cameo.