TV SERIES · 1997– · USA
The New Batman Adventures
55 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (55)
- #001
Some fans nicknamed this series the "red sky seasons" because the sky over Gotham City is almost always rendered in various shades of red, regardless of the time of day in which the action takes place.
- #002
Nightwing and the Tim Drake version of Robin are used in an animated series for the first time.
- #003
Bruce Timm genuinely regretted the Joker's redesign in The New Batman Adventures revamp; they liked the "grinning skeleton" concept, but felt it was followed too literally and that the Joker was deprived of his wide range of expressions. The third design, made for Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, solved this problem by blending TNBA's minimalist approach with the more classic look from BTAS.
- #004
According to producer Bruce Timm, Batgirl appears in nearly every new episode for three reasons: Kenner wanted to make a line of toys, they wanted to capitalize on her introduction in the film Batman & Robin (1997), and they liked Batgirl.
- #005
Whenever Bruce Wayne furrows his brow, his eyebrows closely resemble the Batarangs he uses as Batman and the emblems on his suit.
- #006
Batman became harsher and less distinguishable by his voice for Bruce than in the original series. The writers tried to keep Batman's dialogue as short and grim as possible to heighten the contrast between Batman and his cheerful supporting players; this also emphasized the character change from the original series Batman: The Animated Series (1992), where he was colder and more committed to the mission of saving Gotham.
- #007
This series premiered in 1997, the same year as the live-action film Batman & Robin (1997). Although the series capitalized on the film's promotion, and the WB network required it to be lighter and more appealing to children, they did not want to connect it to the film or draw parallels with what director Joel Schumacher did in his movies. Although the creative team did not make the series ordinary, there is a similarity in the heavy emphasis on villains and large set pieces in Schumacher's films. Producer Paul Dini said: "We want to put more of an animation feel into the action sequences, so that instead of Batman fighting in a warehouse, let's take an element from a '40s comic book and put it in a strange environment. This is what we did with big action sequences on 'Superman'; we make everything larger than life." This meant that gangster, underworld-style stories were dropped and more flamboyant super-villain stories came in, because children enjoyed the fantastical elements of bizarre villains like the Joker, Clayface, Catwoman and Scarecrow. The producers also increased children's interest by pairing Batman more often with young sidekicks.
- #008
In this series Catwoman was redesigned wearing an all-black outfit with some wicked claws and pale white skin, similar to her appearance in the film Batman Returns (1992), except for the stitching on her costume. Initially the creative team wanted to give Catwoman an all-black jumpsuit in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), but ultimately settled on a grey jumpsuit with black covering her boots, gloves and part of her mask. In the role of Selina Kyle, her hair was changed to blonde, shoulder-length and short, and then to black, while her green eyes were kept to match her look in the comics. A story from the series' tie-in comic, "Batman: Gotham Adventures" issue #4, sets up "Lost Year" and explains why Selina Kyle has black hair instead of blonde (as she did in "Batman: The Animated Series"). Apparently she was a natural brunette who dyed her hair blonde until she learned that her preferred brand of hair dye was tested on animals; the company's owner, Amy Mercedes, was permanently scarred, and she never dyed her hair again.
- #009
In this series, Batgirl's costume was changed to a look similar to her original outfit in her first comic book appearance in "Detective Comics" #359 and to her Silver Age comics look; it is now a dark navy blue, almost black outfit with yellow gloves and boots, but she keeps her blue cape, cowl, yellow bat symbol and utility belt. Also starting in this series, Tara Strong takes on the role of Batgirl/Barbara Gordon. In the previous show, Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Batgirl/Barbara Gordon was voiced by Melissa Gilbert.
- #010
In this series, Batgirl/Barbara Gordon's father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, also received a slight refresh in his appearance, with a slimmer build and a flat-topped hairstyle.
- #011
In this series, the Joker's white skin now has a bluish-grey tint, while the sclerae of his eyes were removed and replaced with cavernous black areas with white pupils. His ruby-red lips were gone, with the focus placed more on his teeth, and his greenish hair was almost entirely black. His flower lapel pin, a lighter orange, was replaced with lemon green. His main costume colors changed from purple and orange (similar to his appearance in the 1989 Batman film) to purple and green (similar to his appearance in Golden Age and Silver Age comics); the Joker's redesign was not well received by fans.
- #012
The Robin costume in this series resembles the first costume worn by Dick Grayson and is the same as Tim Drake's original Robin costume in the comics, but the color scheme was simplified to red, black and yellow, eliminating green entirely. The costume kept the familiar red short-sleeved shirt as well as the black cape with yellow lining. New elements included black sleeves, gloves, shorts and boots with red leggings. The familiar domino mask was also changed, giving the new Robin a wider-eyed, more innocent look. The original Robin costume from Batman: The Animated Series (1992) can be seen in the nightmare sequence of Over the Edge (1998), where it appears in a costume display before being destroyed by the Gotham Police, and is worn by Dick Grayson in the flashback sequence of Old Wounds (1998).
- #013
In this series, Nightwing is the crime-fighting identity Dick Grayson uses after giving up his previous Robin identity. As Robin grew older, Dick Grayson's short spiky hair was styled to flow down the nape of his neck. In his civilian guise he wore it in a ponytail. As Nightwing he wore a V-shaped mask and an all-black unitard with a light blue hawk emblem. This look for the character was largely inspired by the then-current comic book design during production, created by artist Brian Stelfreeze. The costume also featured collapsible wings under the arms that allowed Nightwing to glide short distances. Since giving up the Robin identity, Nightwing is no longer officially part of the Bat Family, though he occasionally joins them in fighting crime in Gotham City.
- #014
Although it is primarily based on the post-Crisis continuity developed by writers such as Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin, the series also references and uses pre-Crisis elements. Another important contribution comes from the "Batman Adventures" comics, a tie-in comic adapted from Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Some episodes of this series are actually based on stories from "Batman Adventures," making it the first comic book based on an animated series whose stories were adapted into animation.
- #015
Batman's vehicles, the Batmobile and the Batwing (also known as the Batplane), were also redesigned for this series. The new Batmobile is shorter and wider than the previous one. The new Batwing has a missile-shaped cockpit, missile capability and shorter wings. Because the Batwing (also known as the Batplane) released in this series' toy line were reissues of the original from Batman: The Animated Series (1992), only the redesigned Batmobile made it into the Kenner/Hasbro toy line.
- #016
The Mad Hatter underwent a radical change in character design in this series. Shorter and more mouse-like, the Mad Hatter became even paler, with greyish-white hair and green clothing. This change was made to make the character resemble the original Hatter from 'Alice in Wonderland' more closely. Many fans were unhappy with the change.
- #017
Bane's costume was slightly refreshed in this series. Bane is now dressed entirely in black and wears a silver foam mask with eye holes that let his red eyes show through. He also wears a spiked collar similar to the one the character wears in the film Batman & Robin (1997) and a spiked bracelet on his right wrist. His belt buckle and the tube feeding Bane's venom are now red. His teeth are also crooked with jagged edges. Bruce Timm's aim in the redesign was to make Bane look more terrifying.
- #018
Rarely, in the episode Torch Song (1998), Batman wears a fireproof suit to confront the lovestruck arsonist Firefly, briefly abandoning his normal Batsuit. This was something the creative team rarely did, despite working with Kenner/Hasbro to sell toys. Strangely, although Kenner/Hasbro released many Batman variants with all sorts of odd gear in the series' toy line to sell toys to the masses, they never included a Batman figure with the fireproof suit from the series, or a Firefly figure for that matter. The Mission Masters edition of the toy line's figures included an Anti-Blaze Batman figure, but it did not resemble the design seen in the series at all.
- #019
Farmer Brown was an original character for the series, created by comic book writer Steve Gerber from a story pitch. Farmer Brown was a microbiologist and agriculturalist who turned into a super-villain after developing a way to cause mass growth in animals. He also experimented to give his daughter, Emmylou Brown, super strength through cattle steroids.
- #020
Batgirl/Barbara Gordon and Supergirl/Kara Kent became friends almost instantly when they first met in the episode Girl's Night Out (1998), the exact opposite of Batman and Superman's first encounter in the Superman: The Animated Series (1996) episode World's Finest: Part 1 (1997).
- #021
The Joker's white skin now had a bluish-grey tint, while the sclera of his eyes were removed and replaced with cavernous black areas containing white eyeballs. His ruby-red lips were gone, with attention focused more on his teeth, and his greenish hair was almost entirely black. His flower lapel pin changed from a lighter orange to lemon green. The main costume colors shifted from a purple suit with orange and blue (similar to his look in the film Batman (1989)) to purple and green (similar to his Golden Age and Silver Age comic book appearance); the Joker's redesign was poorly received by fans, who noted that, lacking his eyes and red lips, he resembled one of the Warners from Animaniacs (1993). Producer Paul Dini voiced his concerns, stating that the Joker's lips should be red, but the design remained unchanged. Bruce Timm truly regretted the Joker's revised redesign in this series; they liked the "grinning skeleton" concept, but felt it was followed too literally and deprived the Joker of his wide range of expressions. After this series ended, a third design was created for the animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) that attempted to fix the problem, blending this series' minimalist approach with the more classic look from Batman: The Animated Series (1992).
- #022
The commercials for Kenner/Hasbro's toy line based on the series did not use music from the series, instead using Elliot Goldenthal's Batman theme from Batman & Robin (1997) (as had been the case with the earlier film Batman Forever (1995)).
- #023
According to the creative team, The WB's censors were far more flexible about episode content than the Fox Kids censors had been on Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Producer Bruce Timm said: "When we were at Fox, after every story outline we'd get five single-spaced pages of notes about things we couldn't do. At the WB we'd usually get maybe two paragraphs of notes about things we couldn't do. At Fox they were really picky, not just about things you couldn't do, but in terms of content and story. They had millions of ideas about what we should do. At the WB nobody bothers us that much. So, being able to work with that kind of freedom is a great thing."
- #024
Poison Ivy's appearance changed somewhat from her look in Batman: The Animated Series (1992). In this series her skin is chalk white and her costume is now very dark green with leaf-green accents.
- #025
In this series Clayface keeps the same design as in Batman: The Animated Series (1992); the only difference here is that the brown is a slightly darker shade and he looks a bit more solid and less melted.
- #026
In this series Renee Montoya is promoted to detective after having been seen as a police officer's partner in Batman: The Animated Series (1992).
- #027
A news anchor named Jack Ryder has a recurring role throughout the series, reporting on various news stories in Gotham. That is the case until, after being exposed to the Joker's laughing gas and submerged in a vat of Ace Chemicals, he becomes The Creeper in the episode Beware the Creeper (1998).
- #028
In this series both the Ventriloquist and Scarface receive revamped character designs. The Ventriloquist/Arnold Wesker looks more tense, with more features on his face such as wrinkled brows, beady eyes visible through his glasses and only a few strands of hair on his head. The Scarface puppet now wears a white suit and has a single eyebrow. The scar on his face is now black instead of red and runs from beneath his chin up to his forehead.
- #029
In this series Lucius Fox is voiced by Mel Winkler, who took over the role from Brock Peters, the actor who played the character in Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Winkler also voiced Inspector Henderson in Superman: The Animated Series (1996), a character he had played in live action for the pilot of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993); this version of the character is African-American and was modeled after Morgan Freeman's portrayal of Detective Lieutenant William Somerset in the film Seven (1995). Interestingly, Freeman went on to play Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's live-action "Dark Knight Trilogy": Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
- #030
The Penguin appears in this series with a significantly revamped design resembling his Golden Age and Silver Age comic book appearance. The Penguin has shorter hair and five fingers instead of flipper hands, which contributes to his guise as a legitimate businessman. The creative team wanted to use a very similar design for the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), but were tasked with giving him the animal-like appearance he had in the film Batman Returns (1992).
- #031
The Iceberg Lounge, Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin's popular nightclub and restaurant in Gotham City, makes its first appearance outside the comics in this series. As in the comics, the Iceberg Lounge depicted in this series had an arctic theme, with an iceberg in the middle of the main room and an artificial lake containing real seals. There was also a back entrance to the club so the Penguin could hold his secret illegal meetings. During the production of the series, the Iceberg Lounge was a fairly new concept, first introduced by comic book writer Chuck Dixon in "Detective Comics" #683 in 1995.
- #032
The series features a villain named Calendar Girl, a former supermodel. She was fired after turning 30, which led her to develop body dysmorphic disorder and to wear a mask in the belief that she was ugly despite her normal appearance. She also plans her crimes according to the four seasons, giving each one different costumes and weapons. This character is based on the male comic book villain Calendar Man.
- #033
The Riddler's outfit underwent a revamp in this series, most likely in story terms because his original costume was burned in the Batman: The Animated Series (1992) episode Riddler's Reform (1994). His revamped outfit is a green one-piece bodysuit with a large question mark on the chest, resembling the single-piece stretch suit the character wore instead of pants and a jacket in the classic live-action Batman (1966) TV series. Viewers were reintroduced to the Riddler wearing a green bodysuit after he appeared in the live-action film Batman Forever (1995). Instead of his domino mask, he wore heavy eye makeup with a bald scalp beneath his derby hat. In later issues of this series' tie-in comic "Batman: Gotham Adventures," The Riddler received another costume revamp, with a different green jacket, a loose-fitting suit and a short haircut.
- #034
Baby Doll (also known as Mary Louise Dahl), a character created for Batman: The Animated Series (1992), appears in this series with a revamped character design as well. Baby Doll still looks like a toddler and now wore a pink dress and black lipstick, had black eyes, her hair was now a lighter shade of blonde and was simplified with bangs in front and braids at the sides. Baby Doll also joins Killer Croc after sympathizing with him for being an outcast because of a medical condition, forming a criminal duo: Baby Doll as the brains and Croc as the muscle.
- #035
Similar to Superman: The Animated Series (1996), this series has no title cards when the episode title is displayed. The previous show, Batman: The Animated Series (1992), included unique title cards for each show. According to Bruce Timm, the creative team did not have enough time to create them because of the balancing work on multiple shows.
- #036
During the production of this series, Warner Bros. Home Video released Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), an animated film that is part of the same continuity but is set shortly after the previous show, Batman: The Animated Series (1992). The animated film was scheduled to be released shortly before this series began airing in the summer of 1997, but was pulled following the negative reaction to the premiere of the film Batman & Robin (1997), which also featured Mr. Freeze as a villain. This series also had a follow-up episode, Cold Comfort (1997), which aired in late 1997 and served as a sequel to 'SubZero.' After its release, 'SubZero' received fairly positive reviews in comparison with 'Batman & Robin.'.
- #037
An episode of this series, Legends of the Dark Knight (1998), contains a story that references 1950s Batman comics and uses Dick Sprang's art style as a tribute to the artist. The 1950s Batman is voiced by Gary Owens, who voiced the title character in Space Ghost (1966). When Bruce Timm designed Batman for the animated series, he drew inspiration from Alex Toth's Space Ghost design and added a bit of his own style to the standard Batman design for the animated series.
- #038
This series' episode order was reduced from 26 to 24, and the resources for those two episodes were shifted to Superman: The Animated Series (1996), whose second season was initially planned as 26 episodes but was extended to 28 to accommodate a two-part story featuring Supergirl, Little Girl Lost: Part 1 (1998) and Little Girl Lost: Part 2 (1998). Coincidentally, Supergirl guest-stars on this series rather than alongside her cousin Superman.
- #039
The Creeper makes his first appearance outside the comics in this series. Plans to include the Creeper in the DCAU were first made during the initial work on Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Although the creative team attempted to include him in the second season, the writers never managed to produce an episode featuring him because none of the proposed ideas convinced them, and it was ultimately felt that a single episode would not be enough to cover The Creeper's origin and a plot involving Batman. Nevertheless, the Creeper was used for only one episode in this series, Beware the Creeper (1998).
- #040
In this series, Jack Ryder becomes the Creeper by being exposed to the Joker's laughing gas and dunked into a vat of chemicals at Ace Chemicals, unlike his comic book origin in which his powers were given to him by a scientist named Dr. Yatz. Despite the characters' resemblance to each other with green hair and an unhinged grin, the Creeper actually had no connection to the Joker before his appearance in this series.
- #041
Dr. Kirk Langstrom never appeared as Batman in this series. However, Dr. Langstrom played a small role at Bruce Wayne's wedding in the episode Chemistry (1998), so he appeared to have finally been cured. In the series' tie-in comic "Batman: Gotham Adventures," Man-Bat appeared in issue 18.
- #042
This series has only two episodes featuring all four Bat-Family heroes (Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Nightwing) in costume: Over the Edge (1998) and Old Wounds (1998). Although Batman and Batgirl appear only in flashback in the latter, and neither episode shows all four in costume at the same time.
- #043
Harley Quinn, Clayface, Two-Face, Alfred Pennyworth and Harvey Bullock were among the few characters who underwent no significant change or very little change in their appearance or color.
- #044
Batgirl, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Baby Doll were among the few characters who were redesigned and did not have the same voice actor as in Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Tara Strong, Jeffrey Combs, Brooks Gardner and Laraine Newman respectfully took on the roles of these characters in this series.
- #045
Joker and Harley Quinn are the only villains who appear in six or more episodes.
- #046
The decision to end this series after an initial order of 24 episodes came from the office of Jamie Kellner, then head of programming at The WB Television Network, after he held a meeting with the show's team. Kellner told them they had done a great job on the TV series but that the show was a bit old and Warner Bros. Animation really wanted to renew Batman so as to raise the kids' demographic and make sure children were watching it. The team thought they needed to find another partner, but Kellner told them he wanted a brand-new series featuring a young Batman. Kellner then told them this series had been greenlit and they could start working on it immediately. The team was somewhat surprised when they were asked to make a Batman series aimed at young people and even considered leaving. Glen Murakami was very excited about the idea and convinced everyone to make the series. This series resulted in a new futuristic spin-off called Batman Beyond (1999), in which a high school teenager named Terry McGinnis takes over the role of Batman with the guidance of an elderly Bruce Wayne.
- #047
Ra's al Ghul, his daughter Talia and the League of Assassins did not appear in this series. However, they appeared in the crossover episode The Demon Reborn (1999) of Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and did not receive any major redesign.
- #048
A spin-off web series titled Gotham Girls (2000) was released in 2000 and focused on many of the female characters from this series, even using the same voice talent and character designs.
- #049
The direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) included a flashback sequence featuring characters from this series and aimed to answer the question of what happened between the end of this series and the beginning of Batman Beyond (1999), and why there was no longer a Bat-Family during the second series. The flashback sequence featured character designs, voice talent and other references to this series and was vital to the film's plot. The only character design that was different was the Joker's; the new design was created after his design in this series received negative reactions from fans.
- #050
Dr. Leslie Thompkins, established in Batman: The Animated Series (1992) as Bruce Wayne's lifelong friend who knew he was Batman and treated his wounds without being able to reveal it to the public, did not appear in this series apart from a brief cameo at Bruce Wayne's wedding in Chemistry (1998). She was also mentioned in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) as the person who worked to help Tim Drake regain his sanity after the Joker kidnapped and tortured him.
- #051
Batman: Gotham City Racer (2001) is a racing video game released by Ubisoft for the PlayStation. It was based on this series and included many clips from the series in the game.
- #052
Batman: Vengeance (2001) is an action-adventure video game released by UbiSoft for multiple platforms, based on this series and featuring the series' voice cast reprising their roles. The game's villains are Joker, Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.
- #053
Static Shock (2000) began its second season with the episode The Big Leagues (2002), a crossover from this series in which Static teams up with Batman and Robin, officially establishing "Static Shock" as part of the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). After this first crossover, each subsequent season of "Static Shock" began with a crossover episode involving Static teaming up with Batman, respectively Hard as Nails (2003) and Future Shock (2004).
- #054
Although the series had stopped production and had not aired a new episode on TV since early 1999, the Batman toy line from this animated show continued to grow strongly, surpassing the toy lines of the other DCAU shows Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and Batman Beyond (1999). Hasbro continued producing action figures from this series and its predecessor Batman: The Animated Series (1992) until it lost its license in 2002, when Mattel was granted the license to produce Batman animated series action figures. Mattel's line continued with new character sculpts alongside well-selling older figures, and it continued to produce new action figures for Catwoman and The Penguin as well as odd repaints of the characters in question, which eventually gave these characters new action figures in their refreshed designs. Mattel's figures were pulled from retail at most major retailers in the mid-2000s in favor of a new toy line based on the unrelated new cartoon The Batman (2004), and the line moved to discount, drug and dollar stores, where it lasted until the late 2000s. Several figures were even re-released in the Justice League Unlimited (2004) toy line, which released several more new action figures of Batman characters seen in both DCAU Batman animated series, even though JLU did not include these characters in the series.
- #055
According to Rich Fogel, one of the series' earliest ideas, they wanted to make the Creeper a recurring element of this series' world, but by the time the team settled on a story they were happy with for his origin, it was too late to expand the character further with Beware the Creeper (1998), in which he appears alone in the series.
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