Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Batman: Caped Crusader season 2Bruce Timm’s Batman: Caped Crusader has returned for a second season, expanding its 1940s noir-inspired Gotham City while also debuting even more classic Batman villains in exciting new ways. Remixing Batman’s mythology for the new time period and reinventing some of The Dark Knight’s most infamous rogues, Caped Crusader is easily one of the most fascinating animated Batman projects in years.
Featuring traditional crime bosses, corrupt police officers, psychologically broken killers, seemingly supernatural threats, and more, the rogues’ gallery in Caped Crusader season 2 is quite varied. While some characters get all-new origins, most are unique riffs on the classic stories seen on the page.
Featuring a version of Joker like we’ve never seen before and new takes on Scarecrow, Mister Freeze, and more classic foes, here’s our full breakdown of every major Batman villain featured in Caped Crusader season 2.
Rupert Thorne
Rupert Thorne (Cedric Yarbrough) debuts in the second season standing trial for his crimes in the first season. One of Batman’s oldest organized crime bosses from the comics, Rupert Thorne uses his vast wealth and political influence to evade his deserved sentence despite the overwhelming evidence against him, as his corruption of both the cops and courts runs quite deep. However, moments after Thorne is driven away from the courthouse, he starts laughing himself to death, the result of the Joker’s toxin, who’s begun making major moves in Gotham from the shadows.
Detective Arnold Flass
Arnold Flass (Gary Anthony Williams) remains one of Gotham’s most openly corrupt police officers. Despite working for Rupert Thorne and shooting Harvey Dent in the first season, Flass still manages to remain on the GCPD while his partner Harvey Bullock receives a demotion instead. In season 2, Flass remains a key target of suspicion when it comes to corruption within the police force, and he’s also shown gaining the trust and ear of Gotham’s Mayor Jessop (who’s just as corrupt). However, the mayor ends up meeting his demise thanks to a dose of Joker Toxin by the season’s end.
Hattie Tetch
The female Mad Hatter, Hattie, in Batman: Caped Crusader season 2Image via Prime Video
Hattie Tetch (Laraine Newman) and her Tea Party television show are clearly inspired by Jervis Tetch aka The Mad Hatter from the original comics, serving as one of Caped Crusader’s cleverest reinterpretations. Rather than being a full-on villain, Hattie uses her platform to promote her anti-Batman/GCPD agenda, claiming that Gotham will believe whatever she tells them (a nod to Mad Hatter’s traditional hypnosis techniques on the page). Unfortunately for Hattie, her influence does come to an end after she’s injected with Joker’s toxin before he takes over her show to address all of Gotham by the season’s final episodes.
The Riddler
Perhaps the season’s biggest reinvention in Caped Crusader season 2 belongs to Edward Nygma (Ronan Raftery). Rather than being portrayed as his typically intellectual self from the comics, Caped Crusader’s Nygma is Rupert Thorne’s trigger-happy lieutenant, known as The Riddler not for giving puzzles but for “riddling” anyone who crosses him with bullets. After Thorne’s disappearance, Edward seizes control of Gotham’s underworld for himself. However, his rule is rather short-lived after he killed the wrong woman’s father.
Julian “Calendar Man” Gregory
Calendar Man (JP Karliak) is not a full-on villain either in Caped Crusader season 2. Rather than becoming a date-obsessed serial killer, Julian “Calendar Man” Gregory was Rupert Thorne’s accountant and financial expert who agreed to testify against his former boss, making him the prosecution’s key witness during Thorne’s criminal trial (and a major target). Both Riddler and Blockbuster attempt to kill Julian, only to be prevented by Batman.
From the Caped Crusader to The Batman · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Batman? “I’m Batman.”
🦌Bob & BillDetective Comics #27, 1939
🥘The Camp EraAdam West, 1966
🎣Burton & SchumacherKeaton to Clooney, 1989–97
💉The Dark KnightBale & Ledger, 2005–12
🕵The BatmanPattinson & Reeves, 2022–
01
Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. Cartoonist Bob Kane received sole credit for creating the character for the next 76 years — on every comic, every TV series, every film — despite being only half of the real partnership. His uncredited collaborator wrote much of the original story, designed the cowl and cape, invented the name “Bruce Wayne,” named Gotham City, and helped create the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman. DC finally added his name to all Batman credits in 2015. Who?
✓ Correct! Bill Finger (1914–1974). Kane’s original 1939 pitch was a Superman-style figure in a red leotard with a domino mask and bat-wings; Finger talked him into the cowl, scalloped cape, gauntlets and grey-and-black colour scheme that have defined the character ever since. Finger also wrote Detective Comics #27 itself, named Bruce Wayne (after Robert the Bruce and Anthony Wayne), created Gotham as a stand-in for New York, and co-created most of the rogues’ gallery — while signing a 1939 contract that gave Kane exclusive byline credit. Kane received millions in royalties; Finger died poor and uncredited. After a 2014 documentary and a 2015 family campaign, Warner Bros. and DC added “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” to every credit starting with Gotham (Fox), Batman v Superman (2016) and forward.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Bill Finger. Jerry Robinson (option A) really did co-create the Joker and Robin alongside Finger and Kane — he was the third member of the early studio — but the cowl, cape, “Bruce Wayne,” Gotham City and the actual script of Detective Comics #27 were Finger’s. Joe Shuster co-created Superman, not Batman. Otto Binder created Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Finger signed away his byline in 1939 and didn’t receive on-screen credit until 2015.
02
Batman: The Movie — released in July 1966 between the first and second seasons of the ABC TV series, featuring the “Holy Whatever, Batman!” tone, the four super-villain team-up (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman), the shark-repellent Bat-spray, and the Batmobile/Batboat/Batcopter — is generally considered the first theatrical Batman feature film. Two earlier 1940s movie serials don’t qualify as standalone features. Which actor played Batman in this first theatrical feature?
✓ Correct! Adam West (1928–2017), with Burt Ward as Robin and Cesar Romero as the Joker. West played the role across 120 ABC episodes (1966–1968) and the 1966 theatrical feature, hammed up the camp tone to perfection, and then spent decades typecast before reclaiming the role in animated form (Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2016) and as Mayor West on Family Guy. The two traps are real: Lewis Wilson played Batman in Columbia’s 15-chapter 1943 serial Batman, and Robert Lowery played him in the 1949 sequel serial Batman and Robin — but those were Saturday-morning chapter plays, not standalone theatrical features. Michael Keaton’s Batman doesn’t arrive until Tim Burton’s 1989 film.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Adam West. The trap is real but technical: Lewis Wilson (1943) and Robert Lowery (1949) both played Batman in Columbia movie serials, but those were 15-chapter Saturday-morning serials, not theatrical features. Adam West’s 1966 Batman: The Movie — with the four-villain team-up and the shark-repellent Bat-spray — is the first standalone Batman feature film. Michael Keaton doesn’t arrive until 1989.
03
Batman: The Animated Series (Fox Kids, 1992–1995) — the Bruce Timm/Eric Radomski production with the deco-noir “Dark Deco” backgrounds painted on black paper — is consistently ranked by fans and creators as the definitive screen Batman. Its central performance is so iconic that the actor reprised it across 30 years, every DC Animated Universe series, and a dozen Arkham-series video games. He died on November 10, 2022, and DC essentially treated his passing as the death of Batman’s voice. Name him.
✓ Correct! Kevin Conroy (1955–2022). Conroy’s key innovation, on his first audition for BTAS in 1991, was to give Bruce Wayne and Batman two distinct voices — Bruce as the lighter, charming playboy and Batman as the deeper, harder-edged growl — a take that became the industry default and was openly copied by Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson on screen. He played the role for 31 years, across BTAS, Superman: TAS, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond (as the elderly Bruce), and every Rocksteady Arkham game. The trap is genuine: Mark Hamill voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS and is just as legendary in that role. Tim Daly voiced Superman; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. Conroy died in November 2022 at 66.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Kevin Conroy. Mark Hamill (option C) is the giant trap — he voiced the Joker opposite Conroy on BTAS for 30 years and is widely considered the definitive screen Joker — but Batman was Conroy. Tim Daly voiced Superman in the DCAU; Will Friedle voiced Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, with Conroy still playing the elderly Bruce. Conroy died November 10, 2022.
04
Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) earned him an estimated $60–$90 million from a film for which his actual on-screen salary was a fairly modest $6 million — making it, dollar-for-dollar, one of the most famously lucrative single roles in Hollywood history. He achieved this by negotiating an unusual deal structure that other actors immediately tried (and largely failed) to copy. What was it?
✓ Correct! Nicholson took a $6 million base, a piece of the box-office gross (so-called “first-dollar gross” rather than net profits, which Hollywood accounting has a habit of vapourising) AND a percentage of Batman merchandising — the toys, posters, t-shirts, lunch boxes, video games and ride tickets. Batman (1989) grossed $411 million theatrically and unleashed the largest superhero merchandising wave in history, and Nicholson’s royalties on it have reportedly continued accruing for decades. His agent Sue Mengers, and his attorney’s “back-end participation” structure, became the gold standard talent-deal template that A-listers like Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. would later use. Nicholson also negotiated top billing over Michael Keaton (despite Batman being the title character) and limited shoot days. It’s the most-copied bad-guy deal in Hollywood.
✗ Wrong. The answer is C — a percentage of box-office gross plus merchandising royalties. The $6 million base salary was relatively modest by 1989 star standards; the magic was the back-end participation in both ticket sales and the unprecedented Batman toy/poster/lunchbox merchandise wave, which has reportedly continued paying out for decades. Tom Cruise and RDJ later borrowed the same gross-points-plus-merch template. There was no $50M opening-weekend trigger, no equity stake in Warners, and no per-screening micro-royalty.
05
After Ben Affleck stepped down from his planned solo Batman film, Warner Bros. handed the project to a new director who reconceived it as a noir-detective serial-killer story modelled on Se7en and Zodiac, runs 2h 56min, casts Robert Pattinson as a brooding second-year Bruce Wayne, and gives Paul Dano’s Riddler a Zodiac-style cipher gimmick. The Batman (2022) grossed $772 million worldwide. Who directed it?
✓ Correct! Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield (2008), Let Me In (2010), and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) / War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) director. Reeves co-wrote The Batman with Peter Craig, leaned hard into a Fincher-noir detective tone (the Riddler is essentially Zodiac), and got Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz (Catwoman), Colin Farrell (an unrecognisable Penguin), Paul Dano (Riddler) and Jeffrey Wright (Gordon). The film established its own continuity separate from the DCEU/James Gunn DCU. The Penguin (HBO/Max, 2024) followed as a Reeves-produced spin-off, and The Batman: Part II is currently scheduled for 2026.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Matt Reeves — the Cloverfield, Let Me In and Planet of the Apes-reboot director. Nolan made the Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012); Snyder made Batman v Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017/2021) with Affleck’s Batman; Burton made the 1989/1992 Keaton films. The Batman (2022) is Reeves’s, in its own continuity, with The Penguin (2024) as the spin-off and Part II in 2026.
06
Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997) — with Bat-nipples on the suit, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze spitting ice puns (“Let’s kick some ice!”), Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy, Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl, and an estimated $238 million box-office failure on a $125 million budget — is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever made. It killed the live-action Batman franchise for eight years until Batman Begins (2005). Who played Batman in it?
✓ Correct! George Clooney — in his only outing as Bruce Wayne, between his ER fame and Out of Sight. Clooney has publicly apologised for the film for nearly thirty years; he told Entertainment Weekly he “destroyed the franchise” and routinely thanks fans for their hostility. The trap is Val Kilmer, who played Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever (1995) — he was originally signed for two but exited due to scheduling and reported disputes with Schumacher. Keaton played Batman in Burton’s 1989 and 1992 films (and returned in The Flash, 2023). Bale arrived eight years later in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005). The Bat-nipples were Schumacher’s, the ice puns Schwarzenegger’s, the apology Clooney’s.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Clooney. Val Kilmer (option B) was Batman in the previous Schumacher film, Batman Forever (1995) — he then exited and Clooney took over for Batman & Robin. Keaton was Batman in Burton’s 1989/1992 films (and returned in The Flash, 2023). Bale arrived in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), eight years after Batman & Robin killed the franchise.
07
Cesar Romero’s Joker on the 1966–1968 ABC Batman series — white grease-paint, green wig, red lipstick, manic giggle — remains one of the most-cited comedic TV villains in American history. Romero, a leading-man matinée idol since the 1930s, agreed to the role on one condition: he refused to do a specific thing for the makeup. You can still see what he refused if you look closely. What did Romero refuse?
✓ Correct! Romero refused to shave his trademark moustache — reportedly a vanity rule he’d had since the 1930s — so the makeup department simply caked white grease-paint over it. If you watch the 1966 episodes or Batman: The Movie (1966) on Blu-ray, you can clearly see the moustache bristles poking through the white paint above his lip. It’s one of TV’s most-cited “visible-prosthetic” quirks — later parodied by Burt Ward and explicitly nodded to in the 2016 animated Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (Romero was already dead, having passed in 1994, but the animation reproduces the moustache underneath the makeup). Romero played the role for all three TV seasons and the 1966 feature.
✗ Wrong. The answer is shaving his moustache. Romero had had his trademark Latin-lover moustache since the 1930s, refused to lose it for any role, and the makeup department simply painted white grease-paint over it — if you look closely on Blu-ray you can see the bristles poking through under his lip. The wig, the high-pitched giggle and the purple gloves were all things he gladly did.
08
Todd Phillips’s Joker (2019) — the standalone, R-rated, $1.07-billion-grossing Joaquin Phoenix vehicle that exists outside any DC continuity — was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the most of any comic-book-derived film at the time. It won Best Actor for Phoenix. It also won exactly one other Oscar that night. Which?
✓ Correct! Best Original Score, Hildur Guðnadóttir — the Icelandic cellist and composer who, in the same awards cycle, won the Emmy and Grammy for Chernobyl (HBO, 2019). Joker’s score (anchored by the haunting cello motif during Arthur Fleck’s bathroom dance) was her breakthrough; she became the first solo woman to win Best Original Score since Marilyn Bergman in 1984 (and the fourth ever). Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho for Parasite, which also won Best Picture, beating Joker’s nomination. The film’s screenplay nomination was Adapted (because it’s based on existing DC IP), not Original — option C names the right category but it lost to Jojo Rabbit.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Best Original Score — Hildur Guðnadóttir (also the Chernobyl composer that year). She became the fourth solo woman ever to win the category. Phillips lost Best Director to Bong Joon-ho (Parasite); Best Picture also went to Parasite; the screenplay nomination was Adapted (not Original) and lost to Jojo Rabbit. Phoenix’s Best Actor + Guðnadóttir’s Best Original Score are Joker’s two 2020 Oscar wins.
The Bat-Signal Has Faded · Final Scorecard Your Gotham Standing
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World’s Greatest Detective — or a Gotham red herring?
While Julian does get to testify, it’s not enough thanks to Thorne’s influence and corruption. That said, it’s also fun to note that JP Karliak is also voicing another superhero role for a current Marvel show, being the voice of Morph in X-Men ’97 season 2.
Professor Strange
Professor Hugo Strange (James Urbaniak) only appears briefly in Caped Crusader season 2, one of Batman’s oldest foes from the comics. In the new show, Hugo Strange provides The Riddler with an experimental serum that Eddie uses on his partner Mark Desmond, turning him into the show’s hulking monstrous version of Blockbuster. Wanting to see the results of this “field test”, Hugo gives Nygma the serum for free. However, Strange is found dead by the end of the same episode he debuted, having been killed by The Joker, with his “Blockbuster” serum stolen by the new Clown Prince of Crime.
Mark Desmond/Blockbuster
As previously mentioned, Mark Desmond (Zach Lazar Hoffman) is transformed into the monstrous Blockbuster in Caped Crusader season 2, while also having some resemblance to Solomon Grundy. After Batman beats him down with his car, Dez reverts to his human form and is taken to Blackgate. Bruce Wayne later adopts his Matches Malone disguise to befriend Dez in prison to try and learn more about Riddler’s operation. After Eddie pays several inmates to kill Dez, Bruce and Dez break out of the prison, only for Riddler to kill the former Blockbuster himself.
Roxy Rocket
Created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini years ago for the DC Animated Universe, Roxy Rocket (Wunmi Mosaku) receives a brand-new animated appearance in Caped Crusader season 2. Rather than being depicted as a former stuntwoman seeking thrills, Roxy is reimagined as a brilliant rocket scientist betrayed by her business partners for lucrative military contracts. Refusing to let them profit from her genius to make weapons, Roxy develops an advanced flight suit clearly inspired by The Rocketeer. While she initially clashes with Batman, the pair join forces once The Dark Knight learns the truth behind her motivations.
The Triad (Terrible Trio)
Roxy’s former partners are another deep-cut Batman reference. Despite being known as The Triad, they’re clearly inspired by the Golden Age villains The Terrible Trio: Fox, Vulture, and Shark. Not only do their appearances subtly evoke each animal, but Roxy refers to them as such during Batman’s investigation of her secret lab.
Mad Monk & The Cult Of Barbatos
Created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff in 1956, The Mad Monk (Blythe Melin) is one of Batman’s earliest supernatural foes, originally portrayed as a vampire-like criminal with hypnotic abilities. However, the new animated series reimagines him as a simple con-man manipulating an entire cult for wealth. The cult itself worships Barbatos, an ancient dark bat god who’s become a major figure in modern Batman lore thanks to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal storylines and the Dark Multiverse.
