'The Batman' Character Designs Revealed

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-08-22 04:59am

What the fuck...?

Kon_El · Post by **Kon_El** » 2004-08-22 05:46am

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Dudes, this is how the Joker should look. He's fucking crazy, and he's been horribly disfigured by toxic chemicals, but they always had him looking like some reject from the 30s, it was stupid. This way he looks like a homeless nutjob who caught some major bad shit one day, and that works fine for me. He looks as crazy and broke ass as he always acted.

He looks like a mindless psycopath instead of thinking one. The joker is nuttier than a fruitcake but he is damn smart and brillant at planing things. In that drawing he looks like some crazy guy who looks like he couldn't even form a complete sentance.

18-Till-I-Die · Post by **18-Till-I-Die** » 2004-08-22 06:05am

Kon_El wrote:
18-Till-I-Die wrote:Dudes, this is how the Joker should look. He's fucking crazy, and he's been horribly disfigured by toxic chemicals, but they always had him looking like some reject from the 30s, it was stupid. This way he looks like a homeless nutjob who caught some major bad shit one day, and that works fine for me. He looks as crazy and broke ass as he always acted.
He looks like a mindless psycopath instead of thinking one. The joker is nuttier than a fruitcake but he is damn smart and brillant at planing things. In that drawing he looks like some crazy guy who looks like he couldn't even form a complete sentance.

I dont know, i never thought he was too brilliant. IMHO, one of the reasons people fear him so much, even though he's just a disfigured guy with no superpowers, is cause he's Pure D. Nuts as my mom would say. You cant reason with him cause he's off in his own little freaky world, a maniac with literally no remorse and no compunction about killing anyone or anything that gets in his path, and thinks it's all a big joke. I just think this design conveys that better than before. But i may be premature in saying that, since we havnt seen anything in motion yet.

Kon_El · Post by **Kon_El** » 2004-08-22 07:29am

18-Till-I-Die wrote:I dont know, i never thought he was too brilliant. IMHO, one of the reasons people fear him so much, even though he's just a disfigured guy with no superpowers, is cause he's Pure D. Nuts as my mom would say. You cant reason with him cause he's off in his own little freaky world, a maniac with literally no remorse and no compunction about killing anyone or anything that gets in his path, and thinks it's all a big joke. I just think this design conveys that better than before. But i may be premature in saying that, since we havnt seen anything in motion yet.

The joker has a twisted logic but is still able to think, plan, execute said plan. that is what makes him dangerous. This guy looks like he couldn't remember his name much less come up with a plan to kill a few hundred people as a joke.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-08-22 09:33am

Kon_El wrote:The joker has a twisted logic but is still able to think, plan, execute said plan. that is what makes him dangerous. This guy looks like he couldn't remember his name much less come up with a plan to kill a few hundred people as a joke.

He looks like a wild dog crossed with an old hippie. He doesnt even have fucking shoes...

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-08-22 09:34am

Wasnt their Mr. Freeze in some shitty hercules themed cartoon thing?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-08-22 11:53am

This can't possibly be the Joker I'm used to.

And why does Mr. Freeze look like a Grey in a powersuit?

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-08-22 12:02pm

Alfred... Black?

Detective Yin.... Teenager?

Joker...... Physically mutated?

Mr. Freeze.... Without life support?

Penguin..... Not bald?

Series.... Dead before it begins?

Why oh why did the old animated adventures series have to die?

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-08-22 12:24pm

Kon_El wrote:
18-Till-I-Die wrote:I dont know, i never thought he was too brilliant. IMHO, one of the reasons people fear him so much, even though he's just a disfigured guy with no superpowers, is cause he's Pure D. Nuts as my mom would say. You cant reason with him cause he's off in his own little freaky world, a maniac with literally no remorse and no compunction about killing anyone or anything that gets in his path, and thinks it's all a big joke. I just think this design conveys that better than before. But i may be premature in saying that, since we havnt seen anything in motion yet.
The joker has a twisted logic but is still able to think, plan, execute said plan. that is what makes him dangerous. This guy looks like he couldn't remember his name much less come up with a plan to kill a few hundred people as a joke.

With the Joker, it's all about style, both with his jokes and fashion (the killing spree with the Lex-Wing in World's Finest comes to mind). Also, the design could possibly not work with the episodes air and let me explain why.

When Team Timm did the re-designs for TNBA, the Joker's design looked good on paper, even with the removal of his trademark red lps. However, once animated, it proved horrible and disliked by both fans and the producers -- leading to his re-re-design for ROTJ and JL. Whether that will be the case here remains to be seen, but I've got a good suspicion that it will be.

I'm also posting the various animated Joker designs from the last decade to help showcase the different animated styles.

Batman: The Animated Series

The New Batman Adventures

Return of the Joker

Justice League

The Batman

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-08-22 02:13pm

I can't say that I'm crazy about most of the designs. Although Batman is decent, Bruce looks a little too much like he's right out of the Jacki Chan Aventures, and I really like that show.

What's more interesting is the group of people they have doing the voices.

Clancy Brown -- Mister Freeze.

Catwoman -- Gina Gershon

Detective Ellen Yin -- Ming-Na

Chief Rojas -- Edward James Olmos

Mayor Grange -- Adam West

(I hope he doesn't end up sounding like Der Fledermaus from The Tick).

Hell, some of these people I wouldn't mind seeing in a live action show. Particularly Gina Gershon in a Catwoman suit.

What's funny about the new Penguin's look is that he appears to be a cross between the Penquin and the actor who used to do his voice on TAS, Paul Williams I think.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-08-22 02:16pm

*shudder*

Honnestly, can you imagine that monstrosity pulling the stalk a guy for life just to get him to open a door. And I don't even want to imagine what Harley Quinn is going to look like.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-08-22 02:21pm

In my opinion, every WB cartoon after the change of animation to TAS (sometime after they changed the name to Adventures of Batman and Robin) has had uninspired and poor character designs, with what looks like more of an emphasis on which is easier for the Korean animators to draw than on aesthetics.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-08-22 02:38pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:In my opinion, every WB cartoon after the change of animation to TAS (sometime after they changed the name to Adventures of Batman and Robin) has had uninspired and poor character designs, with what looks like more of an emphasis on which is easier for the Korean animators to draw than on aesthetics.

Exactly my thoughts. The whole drawing style of New Batman/Nightwing/Superman/etc is just lazy. Batman: TAS had style.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-08-22 02:41pm

I think I still have that old Wizard magazine lying around, taking a sneak peak at The New Batman Adventures character designs, and the producers/artists/whatever explicitly said they were aiming for something "less dark", "better suited for young children under 14" and they thought that removing the purple parts of the Joker was such a damn cool move. Even back then I thought, damn, this is going to be shit art. And it was.

While the show might have been half decent, I couldn't care less about the characters. Batman/Bruce was such a prick I usually hoped some villain would finally off him.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-08-22 03:40pm

Dudes, this is how the Joker should look.
Ex-fucking-cuse me?
Since when is The Joker supposed to be a homeless nutjob who caught some major bad shit one day? In his own twisted way, the Joker is one of the smarter opponents around...
*puts 18-Till-I-Die on The List*

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-08-22 03:44pm

Tsyroc wrote:What's funny about the new Penguin's look is that he appears to be a cross between the Penquin and the actor who used to do his voice on TAS, Paul Williams I think.

Paul Williams

Batman: The Animated Series

The New Batman Adventures/Mystery of the Batwoman

The Batman

Hmm... you've got a point about the Paul Willaims inspiration.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-08-22 03:45pm

Either way, I still think his best design was the TNBA re-design; one of the few designs of that series that I actually liked.

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2004-08-22 03:53pm

Opinioned INDIFFERENCE! WEE!

I don't think they're as bad as some people think they are, but they ain't that good either. I'll wait till it airs before making a judgement....

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-08-23 12:16am

Is it just me, or is 18-till-I-die excited about this show because the female cartoon characters are more anatomically correct?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-08-23 12:22am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Is it just me, or is 18-till-I-die excited about this show because the female cartoon characters are more anatomically correct?

I thought it was that he has such poor taste that he wouldn't know crap if it set him on fire...

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-08-23 12:29am

Ugh. That's ugly.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-08-23 12:32am

Jesus, at least with the other designs I at least wanted to fuck the catwoman. This bullshit is just kiddy horror shit. I guess its another endeavor I pray that fails to teach lessons on not to fuck with something that works.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2004-08-23 12:39am

Christ in space, I hope the new Penguin design has a permit for that hat.

And why doesn't Bruce Wayne have any real wrists or a head? It's like a face on the front of a gigantic neck. He might as well be shapeless blob of flesh...

If only they'd hire a goddamn animation studio that could draw inbetweener frames of anything with a damn skeleton.

tim grail 3 · Post by **tim grail 3** » 2004-08-23 03:20am

With this new appearent emphsis on multi-ethnicity I have to ask, where is Montoya? I liked Montoya.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-08-23 01:36pm

tim grail 3 wrote:With this new appearent emphsis on multi-ethnicity I have to ask, where is Montoya? I liked Montoya.

The Asian cop seems to be the new Montoya.