Batman: Caped Crusader dropped its entire first season on Prime Video on August 1, 2024. Developed by Bruce Timm, one of the co-creators of the popular Batman: The Animated Series, with J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and comic book writer Ed Brubaker serving as producers, Batman: Caped Crusader reimagines the Dark Knight by bringing him back to the 1930s roots that the character debuted in with a noir/detective period story. The series sees Batman’s early days fighting in Gotham while encountering many of his iconic foes, including Catwoman, a gender-flipped version of The Penguin, a new, more sinister anti-hero Harley Quinn, a Golden Age-inspired Clayface, and even the supernatural Gentlemen Ghost.

The final episode of Season 1 ends with a tease of Batman’s greatest foe, as a run-down shack in Gotham City shows a series of victims with smiles on their faces as one final patient is laughing uncontrollably before he dies and a shadowy figure marvels as his new chemical weapon. Anyone who knows anything vaguely about Batman will recognize this as The Joker and that he has developed his signature laughing gas that disfigures his enemies. Here is how Batman: Caped Crusader sets up an exciting Season Two.

The Joker Is Coming to Gotham

Batman: Caped Crusader ending with a tease of The Joker certainly calls to mind the end of Batman Begins. Both that film and Caped Crusader are about Batman’s earliest days in Gotham City, and both establish Batman fighting foes before encountering his arch-enemy. Batman Begins ended on a similar note to Caped Crusader as Gordan hands Batman a Joker card, paving the way for The Dark Knight.

For years the idea was that the first villain a hero fought would be their arch enemy, hence why Joker was the primary villain in 1989’s Batman and why he is the first villain introduced in 2004’s The Batman. Yet more recent Batman stories tend to favor having the Joker be a villain that emerges later after other iconic foes, one who is a response to Batman, such as Geoff Jones’s Batman: Earth One comic trilogy ends with The Joker being teased.

As for what this Joker will be like, it is anyone’s guess, as the nature of the Joker allows him to be reimagined in a variety of ways. Given that Batman: Caped Crusader draws heavily from the early Bill Finger and Bob Kane comics of the late 1930s, the series might adopt the classic version of the Joker, which was more of a gangster mixed with a mad scientist. This would be a break from Mark Hamill’s Joker from Batman: The Animated Series, which mixed the Golden Age gangster with the 1960s Caesar Romero Joker, or the more comically monstrous Joker from The Batman, or even Brett Spienier’s Heath Ledger-inspired Joker in Young Justice. Batman: Caped Crusader has a chance to give audiences a new spin on the Joker.

Batman: Caped Crusader has, so far, deployed a traditional villain of the week approach, as each episode features a new villain for Batman to face, with the overarching story more focused on the corrupt nature of the Gotham City police department and Harvey Dent’s transition into Two-Face. Joker is certainly too big of a villain to be contained in one episode, and his arrival in Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 might make him the season-long villain.

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Joker and Harley Quinn Could Team Up

Batman: Caped Crusader broke convention by having Batman encounter Harley Quinn before The Joker. The version of Harley Quinn seen in the series seems to have no connection to The Joker, and her origin is not tied to his, as far as the series shows. Yet Harley Quinn is clearly alive as she calls Renee Montoya, telling her she has to leave town for a bit. This confirms that Harley Quinn survived her fall into the ocean earlier in the episode and that she will return. Where did she go? It might be she has teamed up with The Joker.

The version of Harley Quinn in Batman: Caped Crusader is still a psychiatrist named Harleen Quinzel, but this version is motivated by a hatred for the rich. As a psychiatrist, she treats wealthy patients but then later kidnaps and brainwashes them into giving their money to charity and other worthy causes as she tortures them to alter their psyche. While she has no connection to The Joker during the series, she might align herself with him in season two as both are clown-themed villains.

Harley Quinn has grown a lot as a character beyond The Joker, but the two characters are forever linked, and Batman: Caped Crusader could explore a new dynamic. While Joker might be the one who took Harley Quinn in after Batman defeated her, there is a chance Harley Quinn also made Joker in the same way she conditioned her other patients as an experiment gone wrong.

Related 10 DC Comics Characters Who Became Batman After Bruce Wayne We often associate Batman with his alter-ego, Bruce Wayne. But Bruce isn’t the only character to don the iconic cape and cowl.

Is Robin On the Way?

In Batman: Caped Crusader episode eight, “Nocturna”, Batman saves four children from an orphanage. The four kids are named Dickie, Jace, Stephie, and Carrie. These are all callbacks to various individuals who have taken up the mantle of Robin in the comics.

Dickie is Dick Grayson, the very first Robin who debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Dick Grayson is the most iconic Robin, who eventually goes on to adopt the mantle of Nightwing. Jace is Jason Todd, the second Robin who debuted in Batman #357 (March 1983) and was created by Gerry Conway and Don Newton. Jason Todd is best known for being the Robin killed by The Joker and later becoming the anti-hero, Red Hood. Stephie is Stephanie Brown, who first appeared in Detective Comics #647 (June 1992) and was created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle. She was originally Spoiler, the daughter of the villain Cluemaster, before becoming the fourth Robin after Tim Drake. Carrie is Carrie Kelley, the alternate universe Robin who first appeared in The Dark Knight Returns in 1986. She was created by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley and was the first female Robin in comics.

The inclusion of these four different Robins might be a fun Easter egg for DC Comics fans. Given that Batman: Caped Crusader is aiming to be a more mature, dark version of Batman, the idea of Robin being introduced might clash with that. While Batman might have started out as a dark avenger of the night, he quickly became the classic superhero father figure early in his career. Yet Batman: Caped Crusader will likely draw out Batman’s early adventures and solo career longer for the series as it wants to play around in the noir/pulp/and horror genre that Robin might clash with. However, the door remains open for Robin to appear.

Batman: Caped Crusader Seems to Take Place in the Same Universe as The Classic Superman Shorts

Fans of DC Comics might recognize the faces of journalists who are familiar throughout the series as it looks like the artist has brought in Lois Lane from Max Fleischer’s Superman shorts. She gets a speaking line in episode eight, “Nocturna,” and next to her is a red-haired photographer who looks a lot like Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen. This isn’t just a character design that looks similar to Max Fleischer’s Lois Lane; it is almost the exact same model, suggesting this is the same version, possibly hinting that Batman: Caped Crusader exists in the same universe as the 1940s Max Fleischer’s Superman shorts.

Max Fleischer’s Superman was a series of 17 shorts made between 1941 and 1943 that are considered among some of the best pieces of Superman media ever produced, known for its groundbreaking animation rotoscoping techniques and introducing Superman’s ability to fly. The shorts have had a major impact on both Superman and DC adaptations. It significantly influenced Batman: The Animated Series, so it isn’t surprising to see Fleisher’s Superman cartoon referenced here.

The real question is if the series could now that it is on Prime Video and if DC Comics’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, would allow them to use Superman as they have their own new animated series, My Adventures with Superman, airing on Max. Interestingly, an episode of My Adventures with Superman established that the Fleisher Lois Lane was part of the Legion of Lois Lanes, who traverse the DC animated multiverse. That technically means Batman: Caped Crusader and My Adventures with Superman are directly linked via the DC multiverse.

With the hint of The Joker, a potential rise of more super villains, various Robin teases, and a possible Superman connection, Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 could be bigger than its predecessor. It can still feature the film noir influence and 1930s setting, but the universe that Batman inhabits could become a much larger and stranger place, reflecting how his comics grew and changed over time.