The Rejected Batman The Animated Series Episode Too Dark For TV

[@0g0dn0]

This sounds like a prototype script for “Never Fear,” from the final season. Where Scarecrow develops a gas that suppresses fear instead of triggering it, and so Batman becomes reckless of his own life and borderline murderous, and in this too it was Robin who pulled him back from the brink.

[@Professional_Ghost]

Sounds to me like a more violent and extreme version of the "Never Fear" episode.

[@0g0dn0]

Right? I was just saying!

[@AHalevonEric]

That ep proved the New Adventures could measure up to the OG.

[@sailordaigurren8225]

@@AHalevonEric New Adventures had the amazing episode "Growing Pains." One of my favorites of the entire series, but new and OG

[@zxtreme31]

Was thinking same thing as he described it. I think never fear version is better. Feels more grounded and in many ways batman’s hands on attack on scarecrow felt more personal and threatening than the mass bombing, which seems too far. Plus the gas angle makes sense with scarecrow

[@fettmanplays4170]

Kinda reminds me of another B:TAS episode that got axed for how mature it was. Essentially the premise was all of Batman's rogues agree to a truce to beat the crap out of him, leaving him for dead, and while this was going on Bruce was in limbo and got to meet Dream and Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Paul Dini mentions this episode idea and how personal it was for him in his memoir/graphic novel "Dark Night: A True Batman Story."

[@wisconsinking323]

I also remember hearing about that episode, wish we could've seen it.

[@robotzombie4754]

Thank god they didnt mix batman with gailman sh1tjob

[@zxtreme31]

Wonder if it would be Morpheus dream or Daniel dream (Dc comics have used Daniel version of dream a few times, most notably during the grant Morrison run of JLA)

[@malcontent7]

This reminds me of an episode of New Batman Adventures “Never Fear”, where Batman gets gassed with an anti-fear gas by Scarecrow. It makes him incredibly reckless, and causes him to use excessive force because as Tim Drake puts it he’s “not even afraid to kill”. They must have reused some of the concepts for that episodes.

[@BillyOfCastamere]

The whole H youth part seems a bit weird but I like the whole robin has to stop batman idea and I think that part was used for the episode " never fear "

[@dustinakadustin]

What's weird about the Hitler youth part?

[@pab1381]

I just watched the never fear episode lol. Scarecrow gassed Batman with opposite of fear gas.

[@castlef129]

@@dustinakadustin I think more the way it was danced around in the script maybe? Because yeah otherwise I don't get it either

[@anhonestrussian7056]

@@dustinakadustin It's a very dark topic for a show that was already having censorship issues on air. I'm just surprised it was considered when they eventually swapped out real guns with lasers and had other changes like that just to avoid censorship issues.

[@nosuchthing8]

@Joe Curr You mean in light of Charlottesville, Hitler youth have infected America? Scary times indeed.

[@seanmillette4323]

Batman: The Animated Series is one of the best if not the best adaptation of the characters.

[@nickhalden9220]

And mark hamil is the true joker

[@alexgames1285]

imagine the Arkham series being darker than what it is

[@dustinakadustin]

The Arkham series is the perfect level of maturity and darkness for Batman stories.

[@alexgames1285]

@@Tyler_W I can agree with that

[@bmvthemoviefanatic7282]

This reminds me somewhat of "Strange New World", my favorite episode of "The Batman". It similarly sees Batman becomes gased and attacking his allies (In a different context of course), like Robin, ending with him almost detonating a device which would mean the end of everyone in Gotham. Quite different, but a lot of the core plot beats are there without the more controversial episode. If you're interested and haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

[@salmaankhan7]

That's the episode when Robin and Batgirl become like zombie like

[@thebatman.]

That episode was badass, I legitimately didn’t see that twist coming til the end

[@barkerfreak1]

That was my fav episode of the series. All it took to destroy Gotham was a button press, and Batman almost did it. I love the line, "If this is a mistake it will be my last."

[@forastero54321]

An episode that is similar to this concept comes from the new Batman adventure, from an episode called “never fear” where Batman gets hit by the opposite of fear toxin and goes full on punisher. He even kills two crocs underwater with his bear hands as Bruce Wayne.

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

​@@thebatman.And all because DC wouldn't let them use Scarecrow.

[@stonelastname9600]

I heard about this a couple days ago it sounds interesting

[@JordanBlueman]

It's cool that parts of this seemed to get adapted loosely in Never Fear during the revamp of the series a couple years later

[@ellbent]

BTAS: Scrapped an episode with Batman blowing up Gotham Stadium. Bane, 2012: "Imma blow up Gotham Stadium."

[@silascraven]

I think this would be great for an animated movie, just imagining Batman trying to kill his rogues gallery sounds twisted and awesome and I wonder how they would react

[@knytrydr73]

I think even The Joker would be afraid of that Batman. I would also love to see this idea turned in a DCAU movie.

[@magicaljill]

This is so wild

[@TheMalrkiousOne]

Honestly even if it turned out to be really bad I would have loved to see this. Also to answer the question of the darkest episode i gotta go with either the episode with Kronos in Justice League Unlimited or the episode were joker is manipulating Ace in the same series.

[@zipgow]

The darkest episode for me was the one in which Clayface was robbing labs to help a woman construct a mold that would effectively cure him of his condition. Even though he would have been both powerless, so no longer a threat to society, Batman still wouldn’t let his crime spree go and the episode ends with The destruction of the lab and Clayface washing away in a river, even though all he wanted was a chance to be Human again.

[@GLASSGHOSTHUNTERS]

Yes, Mudslide was very dark and honestly very sad. Plus him trying to suffocate Batman inside his body was very very dark.

[@w0bbl3r]

Was there any reason why Batman wouldn't just make sure Clayface had the money, through Wayne enterprises, to do what he wanted without having to commit crimes to get it? Sounds like a simple solution to me.

[@GLASSGHOSTHUNTERS]

@@w0bbl3r In the episode, Batman did offer to help him and Clayface refused.

[@lastlife0726]

Sounds like shades of this were integrated into the New Batman Adventures episode Never Fear. Both plots involve Batman losing view of his moral line after being gassed, and in both Robin has to pull him back before he does something irreversible.

[@CCJJ160Channels]

“Over The Edge” with the onscreen “death” of Batgirl and Bane taunting Batman with “what can l expect from a killer of children.”

[@andrewdyckman3616]

Zack Snyder after watching this: Damn, why didn’t I think of those ideas?!

[@mew10521]

Ha ha ha ha

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

Coulda been worse. Considering what happened with The Dark Knight Rises, had Nolan been in charge he would have made the Neo Nazis the heroes.

[@abramsullivan7764]

Zack would've been the last director to direct it.

[@90sK1dFOr3v3r]

That's interesting because I was just picking back up/getting back into the OG Batman Series and recently watched the Mask of the Phantasm. I'm put the DCAU timeline in order and plan to watch the whole Tim-verse all the way to BB. I wish I could have seen that episode, would've been cool.

[@theequalizer9154]

That script that was discussed may have been revised. I recall seeing an episode of Batman The Animated, where Nightwing explains to a child why he left Batman as Robin. It was done in a flashback where Batman questioned a suspect man, in front of his wife and child, where Batman was beating him to confess. Robin was begging him to stop. I have not seen that episode since it first aired in the 90s.

[@incubustimelord5947]

It could still be reworked and retooled. It just needs a bit of tweaking here and there. Replace the Hitler Youth cult with a Soviet Russian Communist cult that follows the ideologies of Joseph Stalin and has the KGBeast (Anatoli Knyazev) as the founder and leader. Have Batman get gassed by a variation of the Scarecrow's fearlessness gas which makes Batman become a much more brutal and ruthless fighter similar to the Punisher and start trying to kill the Penguin, the Riddler and even Catwoman. Have Nightwing ask the Joker for advice on how to try to beat a Marxist Socialist obsessed professional criminal, spy, and fanatically anti-American terrorist like the KGBeast. Batgirl and Robin are helping Nightwing try to stop full-fledged vigilante Batman who just dropped Bane (after he was just juiced up by his Venom veiner) off of a building. Bane only survived because of his enhanced durability but he was knocked out and left with a concussion. Alfred Pennyworth had studied the Scarecrow's fear gas at the Batcave, and the Bat Computer created an antidote for the chemical gas that Bruce Wayne was exposed to, giving it to Nightwing. Meanwhile, Mayor Hamilton, Commissioner Gordon, Detective Harvey Bullock, Officer Reneé Montoya and the rest of the Gotham City Police Department's Homicide Division are after Batman because he just lured a badly beaten up Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy to an old abandoned park, and strapped them to an advanced energy bomb that would be timed to atomize them all at midnight. Batgirl uses her Oracle computer genius internet identity to contact the Justice League, and Superman, and Wonder Woman show up to help the G.C.P.D. take on the KGBeast and his counter-capitalist extremist cell. But they have to get Batman cured of his absolute vengeance craze and stop him from not only disintegrating his arch-enemies, but also stop the KGBeast from using the same chemical gas bomb on Gotham City at large, which, if the general public is exposed to, would cause the city to tear itself apart, and all of its denizens to become rampaging engines of revenge-driven destruction. And that's how an adult story like that could be adapted for a cartoon meant for teenagers. All that they had to do was work with what they all already had, and it was possible. It's just that Warner Bros. and DC both don't have any balls, so they'll never, ever push the envelope.

[@knytrydr73]

Screw that. Keep the Hitler youth angle. If it makes people uncomfortable, so be it. We shouldn't be afraid to confront real history. Maybe even combine the idea of the Hitler youth and Soviet Communists.

[@incubustimelord5947]

@@knytrydr73 I would keep the Neo-Nazi angle in the story in comic book format but for an animated motion picture I think that the Communist angle hits harder because fascist militaristic totalitarians are so overdone. There isn't that much covering Neo-Soviets these days.

[@knytrydr73]

@@incubustimelord5947 - When you put it that way, I can see where you're coming from.

[@dansgaming2064]

They had an episode similar to this on the show The Batman. Batman was infected with a virus where everyone looked like zombies, so he planted bombs all around the city thinking it was the cure, but both Batgirl and Robin stopped him. So not exactly similar, but kind of, especially with the bombs.

[@axelwulf6220]

I still have chills when Bats was committed to Arkham because he was under the Scarecrow's influence

[@forastero54321]

I like the whole part about Robin grounding Batman; I just didn’t like the part about him gathering the villains to bomb them. It’s much more impactful when it’s done under personal pressure rather than him just doing it on a whim.

[@troystiehle1925]

Jay, this would have been intreresting This Batman reminds me of The Grim Knight.

[@DegenerateJay]

Yeah that's actually very true, although he didn't have Robin hold him back obviously but it's a very interesting concept that they clearly came up with back in the '90s long before we even saw the character so that's pretty neat.

[@GenghisDon1970]

oh yeah, I'm in. of course, I'd take more of those classic Dini & Tim of any type

[@VideoGameMasters09]

This is basically 'Never Fear' but way more extreme. So in a way, they did air the episode, just after a lot of changes.

[@kimlee6539]

Great video as usual

[@DegenerateJay]

Thank you very much I really appreciate it!

[@RadarKat73080]

The Scoutmaster! “Don’t be afraid to use your nails boys!”

[@donovanbradford8231]

Myself I wouldn't have wanted to see this back as a kid or now as an adult. This episode doesn't have much appeal because too much would be centered in reality and those types of episodes didn't appeal to me. Episodes like the Underdwellers or P.O.V just had no appeal to me. I get the animated series was dark but it was taking familiar stories and characters and adding a darker tone to them. This episode was dark for the sake of being dark, happy it got rejected.

[@kristopherhayes486]

This episode idea seems a lot like something an obscure batman character like anarchy would do.

[@someonewhocommentsonyoutub3779]

It sounds like this was reworked into the Never Fear episode of The New Batman Adventures, minus the neo nazis.

[@brandonspain12345]

With the new Batman show being darker than TAS, they could re-use some of these epsiodes.

[@lilnjdevil116]

Great vid, keep on keeping on Jay

[@rorylumley4727]

It kind of reminds me of the new batman adventures episode never fear. With a gas attack making batman go more extreme and robin helping to save batman.

[@lip6632]

Please do more videos like this. This content is awesome and so niche.

[@uhmEvade]

just watched through this series about a month or two ago, would've loved to have seen this in there.

[@nosuchthing8]

AH youths, who could that be? Scary stuff.

[@anthonyguerreroiii7119]

There was a similar cartoon on The Batman later on. But not completely that dark

[@knytrydr73]

I'd have to agree that as a TV episode it would have been too much. However, if they can flesh it out a bit, I definitely could see this done as a stand alone DCAU movie.

[@WAAMUH]

They already did an episode like this in The New Batman Adventures, where Tim Drake had to stop Bruce.

[@marcusarsenault]

Uh I really want to see that dark episode of Batman TAS but yet if I want to see that episode I will have NIGHTMARES and batman Gotham knight has some parts have some dark moments uh the 1 is my favorite and that episode from the movie is crossfire uh fun fact uh Rob Paulsen the guy voice raph tmnt 1987? I could be wrong but this guy also voice rev runner from loonaitcs unleashed and sal morri uh did I spell that character last name right? Anyway that episode from the movie have ALOT of BLOOD and it is episode 2 from that movie that was nuts and batman he walks through in the fucking fire like no I am not joking they put that in the movie and batman he didn't die and you guy's think I'm crazy but I am not crazy just go and play the clip on KZbin you can see batman just walks through in the fire but my points on this is well I love/like dark themes uh sometimes so I want to see that episode from batman TAS but just like I just say I well have NIGHTMARES from that episode but I am done and that's is it so yeah and peace out :)

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

"Explosive issues." I see what you did there.

[@feuryie]

while this would be dark... we kinda already had it with the frank miller batman vs superman and honestly the darkest episode featured was probably the one of annie coming from clayface having her own mind and then being reabsorbed by him. this would be a dark batman episode and would be put in such a way to quesiton it a bit given the bomber vest, but i still would not be as dark as that annie episode i think.

[@dannyayala3462]

In the later series The Batman there was a similar story where instead of Batman it was a criminal who was going to blow up Batmans Rogues gallery so I think they did take a little bit of that idea into this episode years later

[@Meowdab]

I am very glad this didn't happen to be completely honest, this would've been far too blunt and would've made watching the rest of the series kind of difficult afterward imo

[@mikep1397]

I personally liked Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, just because for me it was the first time I saw something that showed just how sick and twisted the Joker really was. Also I think Mark Hamill was the best Joker voice, and Kevin Conroy was the best Batman/Bruce Wayne voice ever

[@thelastsaiyan9036]

I like Over the Edge. The one where Batgirl dies thrown off a skyscraper right onto Jim Gordon's squad car.

[@lonew2657]

They reintroduced this ideal with "The Batman" series when Batman is drugged with fear gas and saw everyone as zombies.

[@sbrazenor2]

Something that got a lot darker than I expected was the Injustice animated movie. That got pretty fucking dark at points.

[@blackcomicnerd3657]

I would have loved to see this but it definitely wouldn't have been able to air back in the 90s and definitely not in this day and age. Wouldn't seeing an animated movie with this concept .

[@Wednesdays999]

I would watch it

[@specialk8300]

For Batman, Over The Edge was a dark episode. For Superman, Apokalips Now, Part 2 was also pretty dark.

[@villain5873]

I'd like to see that episode now.

[@thelethalcreator2077]

I would've loved to see this

[@BasketCase420]

I love Batman the Animated Series. I consider it one of the best and definitive interpretations but this seems like too much

[@tarikshell9719]

Back then no now this kinda stuff needs to be brought to the for front so that we know what it is and can see how it operates and defeat it

[@zaquanjones6924]

That sounds like an awesome episode, I wish we could have had the opportunity to see it.

[@Disneylover25.]

I think that would’ve been terrifying

[@user-ju5sb5vd1q]

Over the edge and never fear

[@SugarRayCharles.]

Family Guy came out January 31st 1999. I mean, if tv could tolerate that show, then any Batman episode no matter how dark could have worked it's way onto the small screen.

[@tst8613]

This idea would probably be good for an animated movie, graphic novel, or could be a episode part of the new Caped Crusader show. It also reminds me of Batman Cult graphic novel because of how dark the premise is.

[@TomMcD71]

Bomber Batman sounds like a interesting alternate universe version

[@dennisanderson3895]

Between life schedule and being OTA TV reception, I haven't seen *any* animated Batman series' - but I'll say this would have been a remarkable episode that could have deeply explored the character ad the very morality of his vigilantism: *Is* what he's doing right, the way he's doing it (pre-gassed, even)? Does he have the right to "take the law into his own hands?" (I recall an imaginary from the 70s wherein Bruce's son had donned the costume and brutally smashed up a key crime ring; he was berated by his Bat-dad b/c (even if "everyone KNOWS" Spandso is guilty as heck, the *way* he did it 1) produced no evidence that could admitted in court 2) meaning the captured walked scot free 3) they were now more alerted 4) made Batman look bad for botched the investigation by not supplying GCPD in a manner they could act on and made Batman look like a violent jerk.) This could've been an epic episode!

[@kylebutler9281]

Dude I love when you make dcau vids. Can you talk about spectacular Spider-Man too?

[@noetziel]

i love these guys

[@seta-san2149]

This sounds like the episode where Batman lost all of his fear

[@ggt47]

(Gasps)Ooh?

[@cliffordholzhauer5104]

I would have loved to see that episode

[@robertbarnes4666]

Bruce is a trained ninja which people forget are assassins and a detective with huge money resources if he decided to kill his rogues gallery he could with ease in truth if most super heroes wanted they could end most of the villains in their respective worlds with minimal effort

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Considering how brutal and gory DC animation is now, I think this should be released and I would like to see.

[@johnaplin9848]

I would say that the darkest episode of BATS would be over the edge even though it kinda ret cons it self in the end but this episode is hands down the watered down version of the one talked about in this video but I still think over the edge really just pushes the idea of what if an accident happened where Barbara Gordon gets killed in front of her fathers eyes and how far would the commissioner go to kill who he thought killed his daughter

[@SeasideDetective2]

I used to have a problem with extremist political groups being portrayed in cartoons. But then I saw the likes of Disney's "Der Fuehrer's Face." And, well, Jeez, it's not as if it never happened before.

[@MannyMensah94]

I loved the BTAS. Those episodes were dope and cool.

[@victorrain]

Please have episodes like this in Caped Crusader!!!!!!!

[@BrennySpain]

To me the darkest episode of Batman the animated series was when the penguin blinded joker! It still gives me to chills to this day!

[@adinocc2042]

Wow!

[@jorgemeneses7431]

More than any episode aired on TV, this reminds me of Batman: The Cult. Details might be different, but the idea of a charismatic leader capturing Batman and giving gaslighting and brainwashing a whirl in an attempt to turn him into a pet killer is pretty reminiscent of Deacon Blackfire's plan.

[@charleslee8313]

I would have loved to know what Joker's response would be, if placed in that situation. "Ha ha -- looks likes Batsy finally took off the kid's gloves."

[@stormryder4fr3]

sounds like an early version of Injustice Gods Among Us.

[@4jgarner]

The batbomb! Batbomber. Yes please.

[@Godzillaborg21]

It sounds like a bit much for the tone of the show overall but I like elements of the story, like Joker being brought in to develop an antidote, showcasing his chemistry skills.

[@rebeccakickass1776]

Its been a while since I've watched very episode but Heart of steel 1 and 2 episodes... I found scary as a kid

[@mostafafarweez3161]

That's too dark for the 90s and early DC Animation.

[@EclipseSon]

Can’t way for this to blow up in a couple weeks

[@arlenefried2008]

As someone who was brought up Jewish, this particular terrorist group would have hit very close to home for me.

[@MrJohnffrey87]

Sounds like it could’ve been an interesting idea, maybe they could make it into a comic some day.

[@dillyndvd]

I’d totally like to see it adapted into a comic or animated movie

[@mattp2real]

They should bring this story back with the BTAS cast and animation 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@maureencora1]

Babydoll was a Sad Episode. a Grown Woman Mind in a Little Girl Body.

[@satishtilokani2990]

TH8S EPISODE SOUNDS GOOD FOR BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES

[@jenniferpruitt6534]

I totally get why this idea was soundly rejected as an episode. The idea should be adapted into an animated movie as an Elseworlds tale.

[@rodrigofigueiroa9184]

One of the Darkest stories i read in the BTAS universe was in the first annual. Scarecrow is infiltrated as a teacher in university as he always do, but he becomes sincerily an admire of a young student girl for her intelligence. So the jock bully of the campus put something in her drink and raped her. Scarecrow takes on him the responsability to avenge her. And he IS very scary. Batman even simpatyzes with Scarecrow but saves the bully.

[@Caliber30k]

So we would have gotten The Batman Who Laughs, who ended up being The Darkest Knight, two decades earlier. Amazing.

[@zalaathrun20]

The plot sound a bit similar to the "Never Fear" episode from The New Batman Adventures, where scarecrow makes a new toxin and eliminates fear making average people incredibly reckless and dangerous, including Batman, and Robin has to stop him from almost killing Scarecrow and some henchmen. So a guess part of that episode survived and got turned into "Never Fear"

[@raven-deelarsen2644]

This might just be me but this somewhat reminds of a season 4 episode where Scarecrow did that to Bruce Wayne and Batman almost killed everyone. Maybe they took some points in it and used it there? Idk just guessing

[@mattmaverick703]

Batman having an dark side would've been interesting! I prefer the Anti Hero version of Batman anyways!!! He's a good guy but bad at the same time at times.

[@someguy4755]

WB needs to make a Batman animated show like the nolan films basically b:tas but they can also make super dark episodes like this without the boundries of it being a kids show. Kids should be able to watch but they limit the possibilities of Batman.

[@starlordawe2499]

I really want to get btas but it’s really expensive

[@uhmEvade]

hbo max bro

[@hannahbrennan2131]

I got a complete box set on eBay for only $20.

[@justmoonwithamustache]

I remember there was a banned, unproduced episode where Nocturna seduced Batman and turns him into a vampire