Batman the Animated Series Legends of the Dark Knight

3 immature Batman fans hash out what they think he's really like, unknowingly stumbling into an arson by the villain Firefly. Based off The Silver Age of Comic Books and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns .

Tropes:

Activeness Girl: Carrie is braver than the others, and is based off Robin (who she plays in her story) from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns .
Ambiguously Gay: One of the kids, named Joel, is a non then subtle parody of Joel Schumacher, who actually was gay. He has pretty feminine mannerisms and seems to have some erotic fixation on Batman.
And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Carrie's reaction as the commencement story is introduced:
Matt: He's got a lot of cool equipment, and he and Robin are real funny.
Carrie: And my dad's a spy with the CIA.
Art Shift: Each story has its own visual way which corresponds to different past incarnations of the Batman character.
Badass Ambrosial:
- Before the Joker incapacitates him in Matt's story, Robin successfully takes downward several mooks using oversized instruments.
- Carrie's version of Robin can likewise go toe-to-toe with Mutant gangs while armed with a slingshot.
Barrier-Busting Blow: Batman does this to a mook in a sequence based on Batman: The Night Knight Returns .
Batman Grabs a Gun: Carrie's version of Batman assures her that the tank's bullets are safe. Honest.
Large Damn Heroes:
- Night Knight Batman to Robin in the second act (it was really a child the Mutants took hostage in the comic).
- Robin to Batman, providing a distraction and then he can take the Mutant leader apart.
- Batman to the kids after Firefly torches the theater.
Blasting It Out of Their Hands: A thrown batarang is clearly shown lodged in the mook's hand. This is a sequence homageing Batman: The Nighttime Knight Returns , which has that happen regularly.
Wide Strokes: Flanderized and inaccurate versions are told of Batman'due south Argent Age adventures and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns respectively.
Casual Danger Dialogue: Nighttime Knight Batman and Robin appoint in his; afterwards he saves her, Robin asks sarcastically if he figured she had all night. Then when the mutants fire on their tank, Batman only remarks, "Kids these days. No respect."
Common cold-Blooded Torture: The operating table scene from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns makes the cutting! Robin/Carrie is obviously quite impressed by this scene.
Combat Pragmatist:
- In line with Matt'south story, Joker acts this style towards Batman and Robin, ambushing Robin in a sneak assault when the latter is distracted.
- Carrie'southward version of Batman uses military power and brute strength.
Dynamic Entry: In the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns section, Batman first appears by crashing through a wall to grab a thug.
Homage:
- The first sequence is a homage to the Silver Age Batman comics.
- One of the sequences is an homage to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns .
I'll Kill You lot!: The sequence taken from Night Knight Returns that used this phrase.
Instrument of Murder: The 1950s' Batman has a behemothic piano Expiry Trap, too as other musical implements used as weapons.
Motive Decay: Dorsum on his first advent, Firefly wanted revenge against his ex-girlfriend. Now he'south an arsonist for hire. As with The Mad Hatter previously, Batman calls him on this, and he tries to justify it, saying "Fire needs fuel. Chemicals are expensive."
Mythology Gag:
- Carrie is modeled on Carrie Kelly, the Robin from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns , and she retells a section of that series.
- The fourth child is an effeminate boy named Joel continuing under a sign that says "Shoemaker", who talks nigh how Batman wears rubber armor and has a machine that tin drive upwardly walls. The other kids dismiss his theories, and him, out of hand.
Rashomon Effect: The different versions of Batman told by the kids. Referenced at the finish when the kids witness Batman himself battling the pyromaniac villain Firefly — each of them concludes that what they saw proves that their version is the accurate one.
Self-Deprecation: The bear witness pokes fun at some of Batman'southward campier eras and periods.
Cocky-Insert Fic: Carrie apparently puts herself in her story in the role of Robin, under the assumption that Robin is a girl.
Shout-Out:
- Aside from the homages that are used to tell the story, at the kickoff one of the boys describes Batman as an inhuman monster. The girl says he needs a reality check. She is based off Robin in Batman: The Nighttime Knight Returns , who says the aforementioned thing when her friend describes Batman the aforementioned way after he saves them from mutants.
- The episode resembles a classic comic book story ("The Batman Nobody Knows") where kids effectually a campfire tell each other — and a bemused Bruce Wayne — their unlike takes on Batman. Co-ordinate to the DVD Commentary, this is an accidental resemblance caused past coming up with the same basic idea independently.
Something Completely Different: Kids tell each other what Batman is actually like — 1 says he's like the Dick Sprang version from the 50s, one argues for the style of Batman: The Night Knight Returns , and all dismiss the kid who likes Joel Schumacher'southward version.
Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: The kids find the kickoff boy's story ridiculous. One of them fifty-fifty scoffs at the idea of Batman calling Robin "onetime chum". They are fifty-fifty more dismissive of Joel's version.
Stylistic Suck: The segment based on the 1950s era. The synchronization between lip flaps and dialogue is poor, the background music cuts between tracks suddenly, and the animation quality fluctuates wildly.
Take That!: The group scoff at a fourth male child who loves Batman'due south muscles and leather armor and claims the Batmobile tin can drive up walls. He is extremely flamboyant, is standing outside a Shoemaker store, and his proper name is Joel. Joel Schumacher was actually amused by the reference.
Unreliable Narrator: Invoked by the group apropos the start boy'south story, which he heard from his uncle. The uncle was a security guard who happened to witness one of Batman's exploits but it turns out he was hit with Knockout Gas early on in the fight and missed the whole matter.
Carrie: The whole story'south artificial, your uncle was asleep half the time!
Matt: Well, like I said, that's how he tells it.