GamesRadar+ VerdictCaped Crusader is 2024’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series, delivering 10 episodes filled with moody, mature villains opposite Hamish Linklater’s Batman in a strong reinvention of a beloved series
GamesRadar+ Verdict
GamesRadar+ Verdict
Caped Crusader is 2024’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series, delivering 10 episodes filled with moody, mature villains opposite Hamish Linklater’s Batman in a strong reinvention of a beloved series
Caped Crusader is 2024’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series, delivering 10 episodes filled with moody, mature villains opposite Hamish Linklater’s Batman in a strong reinvention of a beloved series
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
Fittingly, it’s Reeves – with fellow executive producer JJ Abrams and, predominantly, BTAS co-creator Bruce Timm – who is helping shepherd this reinvention of a classic in its initial 10-episode outing on Prime Video.
The first thing that will strike viewers is how much Batman: Caped Crusader looks and sounds like its predecessor. Everything from grunting gangsters to the angular, harsh outline of the Gotham skyline of this 1940s-set period piece is all present and accounted for.
Batman: Caped Crusader is no pale imitation, however. It may carry the same moody tone, art deco setting, and nuanced villains that made the original series such a hit on the Fox Kids block three decades prior, but it’s a formidable remix to a beloved formula – and one that may yet define Batman for a new generation of viewers.
Replacing a legend
(Image credit: Prime Video)
If Batman: The Animated Series casts a long shadow, the untimely passing of Kevin Conroy – who voiced Batman for decades across TV shows, films, and video games – may cast a larger one still.
Anyone who steps into the cape and cowl of Gotham’s protector is already up against it, given it will instantly be compared to the iconic growl of Conroy’s vengeance-meting Batman.
It’s those aforementioned new iterations that really are Caped Crusader’s calling card. Its evolution of classic Batman characters, such as a female Penguin masquerading as a bawdy cruise ship owner and a firebrand Barbara Gordon working as a public defender at odds with her Commissioner father, all add further dimensions to tried-and-tested personalities in Gotham.
(Image credit: Prime Video)
If there is a downside to these changes, though, it’s that Caped Crusader doesn’t go far enough in some respects. Across its first season, the Prime Video series lacks a ‘Heart of Ice’, the instant-classic Mr. Freeze-led BTAS episode that transformed one of Batman’s rogues’ gallery from a punchline that deserved the cold shoulder to one of real emotional weight and gravitas.
Outside of the text, viewers with even the slightest base Batman knowledge – such as knowing Basil Karlo is Clayface, for example – will feel the tension drain out of a few of the more detective-focused cases.
Still, those are the sorts of issues that can be tweaked down the line. In truth, this is as solid of a base as you’re likely to expect from a Batman animated series in 2024 – little surprise, given the creatives involved.
Ultimately, Batman: Caped Crusader stops just short of taking Batman: The Animated Series’ place on the mantle of best animated Batman media. Yet, this is a tremendous first effort, one that has the potential to be mentioned in the same breath as its legendary forefather should it return for more Gotham escapades in the near future.
Batman: Caped Crusader is streaming on Prime Video from August 1.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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