Batman: Caped Crusader Review | Surprising Genders, Voices, and Plots Spin a Noir Twist on the Dark Knight

Summary

• Batman: Caped Crusader offers a fun, reimagined take on the iconic hero in a noir-inspired setting of 1940s Gotham City.


• While not groundbreaking, this entertaining series with a great cast does justice to the Batman mythology and characters.


• The twist on classic DC characters, such as a female Penguin and a new take on Harley Quinn, adds freshness to the familiar story.

It’s a great time for noir. Apple TV+’s Lady in the Lake and (far more superior) Sugar reignited viewers’ love of the genre. More recently, Prime Video's announcement of a live-action Spider-Man Noir series with Nicolas Cage as an aging P.I. is generating big buzz. And now, Batman: Caped Crusaderpremieres on Aug. 1, also on Prime Video.

But don’t expect anything so groundbreaking here. This new series is great fun, but it won’t trigger goosebumps. It’s an effective reimagining of DC’s iconic hero with some clever twists, and it spins a compelling narrative across its 10 sharply edited episodes, but there’s nothing beyond that. That's not necessarily a bad thing — it’s easy to slip into this universe and for many comic book fans, this will feel like comfort food.

Great Creators Guide Hamish Linklater as Batman

Batman: Caped Crusader (2024)

3.5/5

Wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne, transformed by tragedy, takes on the mantle of Batman to combat the rampant corruption and crime in Gotham City. His vigilante actions attract both allies within the GCPD and City Hall and deadly adversaries, leading to unforeseen consequences. The series delves into the noir roots of Batman, exploring the psychological depths of Gotham's inhabitants.

Seasons

1

Studio

6th & Idaho Productions, Bad Robot, DC Entertainment

Franchise

DC

Pros

• The 1940s setting and interesting changes to classic characters are a delight.
• Hamish Linklater does a great Batman, and Minnie Driver, Christina Ricci, and others excel.

Cons

• The series often just feels like a retread (or remix) of Batman: The Animated Series.

The current rethinking of the Batman mythology casts the ever reliable Hamish Linklater (Manhunt, Midnight Mass) in the title role, a great choice from executive producers J.J. Abrams (Star Trek), Matt Reeves (The Batman), and Bruce Timm, who is no stranger to the Dark Knight, having produced Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman Beyond (1999–2001), along with two Justice League series. Perhaps Timm dips into his past a little too much here, however.

Nonetheless, any way you swing it, there’s plenty to enjoy in each 30-minute outing. The series dives right into the heart of action in the first episode, and benefits from not getting too weighed down by exposition. (Read: overtly unpacking Bruce Wayne’s traumatic past.) At times, it soars as high as a bat signal can go, with its noir spin being one of its major selling points.

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A 1940s Batman

Beloved DC characters abound here, some of them getting major makeovers, while it's just nice to see others in the settings we love. It’s the same kind of Gotham City we’ve all come to know. The corrupt outnumber the good. Criminals — from dangerous to quirky — wreak havoc. Innocent citizens live in an endless state of fear. The twist? The series unfolds in the 1940s, the era our titular character first hit the pages of the DC Comics.

The main thrust of the series finds wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne battling his dark past (naturally) while emerging as a significant figure amid great uncertainty. Like previous iterations of the character, Bruce must become human-adjacent. That’s The Batman. The figure is already on everybody’s Gotham’s radar, somebody considered to be a dangerous and freakish figure. Ultimately, he attracts allies within the Gotham City Police Department and City Hall, but the ripple effects of his growing presence have serious ramifications.

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Tweaks on Classic DC Characters

That’s where the famous DC characters come in, some slightly retooled here, from gender to race. The Penguin, for instance, is now a woman, voiced by the fabulous Minnie Driver. In this iteration, the infamous villain’s alter ego is Oswalda Cobblepot. (Must be said: We’re already wishing for a Minnie Driver/Colin Farrell collaboration sometime after Farrell drops a live-action of The Penguin.) Driver offers a groovy take on what the writers give the character. How fabulous it is that our dear Oswalda operates a kind of casino showboat, performing in between shooting off explosives and having her minions rob Gotham City.

Meanwhile, well-known characters like Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader of Who's Line Is It Anyway?), Catwoman (Christina Ricci), Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung), and Barbara Gordon (Krystal Joy Brown) are tweaked to some degree. Ricci’s Catwoman, like most of the villains here, gets a chance to shine in their own character-focused episodes. The writers do a nice job with the relationship friction that emerges between Batman and Catwoman. There’s another woman to keep an eye on.

The character of Harley Quinn, always a fan favorite, figures prominently throughout the series, but while past iterations of this revered villain immediately offer a frenzied take on Quinn, here, the diverse aspects of Harley’s personality showcase a balance from her real-life “job” (as Dr. Quinzel) and how the character uses psychiatry as her most dangerous tool. Then there’s the Commissioner Jim Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart), who’s facing pressure from City Hall to “look the other way” as corrupt cops and detectives rise to power.

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Caped Crusader Is a Fun Successor to Batman: The Animated Series

Overall, directors Christina Sotta, Christopher Berkeley, and Matt Peters, and animators David S. Karoll, Joey Paone, and Mike Inman, honor original creator Bob Kane’s vision, delivering a Gotham City full of characters and circumstances that hold our interest. As for the big man himself, Batman/Bruce Wayne, the series offers an embraceable Batman and an intriguing version of Bruce Wayne, playing up the man’s playboy status. When the series does dive into Bruce’s past, it never overstays its welcome. We’re given just enough to keep the “will-he-or-won’t-he come to terms with his trauma” vibe interesting enough to track across 10 episodes.

Other twists and new takes are bound to hold your interest. With all its noir elements and polished new takes on characters, Batman: Caped Crusader is wonderfully entertaining. We can thank Bruce Timm for that. Having won raves for Batman: The Animated Series, Timm once again proves himself to be a master of this DC universe. Dark, fun, breezy, and engaging, Batman: Caped Crusader flies just high enough to float through at least two or three more seasons with ease. Batman: Caped Crusader hits Prime Video August 1. Watch through the link below:

Watch on Prime Video