Premiering in 1992, Batman: The Animated Series kicked off a fourteen-year legacy of connected shows, growing the DC Animated Universe to levels never before seen on TV. The series, created by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski with further development by Paul Dini, and Mitch Brian, helped change the face of superhero animation, moving away from the Super Friends style that had become synonymous with the DC heroes and creating something new.
A huge part of what made Batman: The Animated Series stand out was the time and care the show took with the villains. Across the 105 episodes that made up the initial series and The New Batman Adventures, viewers got to see sides of Batman's greatest rogues that are rarely shown outside the comics, including just how dangerous they could really be.
10 Two-Face Was Batman's Greatest Failure
Longtime fans of Batman were excited to see the animated series take its time to introduce Two-Face to the series. Bruce Timm and the team behind the show made sure to let viewers spend some time with Bruce Wayne's pal and Gotham's District Attorney before turning him into one of the Dark Knight's greatest foes.
What made Two-Face so dangerous on the show is the same thing that makes him so dangerous in comics; Batman feels that Harvey's fall is his fault, and because of that, the Caped Crusader is more trusting of his former friend than he would be of someone like Bane.
9 Joker Is The Ultimate Evil
There is a reason why Joker is the perfect villain for Batman; they are two sides of the same coin. Joker is often looked at as chaos personified, but in truth, the Clown Prince of Crime always has a plan and he is almost always two steps ahead of everyone else.
No episode of Batman: The Animated Series better shows this off than "Joker's Favor" where the smirking villain spends two years stalking a regular guy named Charlie Collins just to force the poor man into taking part in an attempt to kill Commissioner Gordon. That Joker spends so much time plotting and planning surely keeps Batman up at night, trying to get into the mindset of the madman and prepare for whatever he has coming.
8 Ra's al Ghul Is Batman's Nightmare
As in the comics, the animated version of Batman is just about as smart and powerful as a mortal man can be. There are few things that the Dark Knight Detective struggles with, but one of those things is certainly Ra's al Ghul. An immortal leader of a secret army of assassins, Ra's al Ghul is exactly the kind of thing Batman fears—the unknown.
That someone like Ra's al Ghul could be out there without Batman knowing about it, and that Ra's could deduce Batman's true identity before revealing himself, is a reminder to the Bat that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is. And a man with an army of silent killers is about as dangerous as it gets.
7 Mister Freeze Is A Cold-Hearted Killer
Most of Batman's main foes in the animated series were wild, but they weren't using super high-tech weapons to take on the Bat. With creeps like Joker or Riddler, Batman's big problems were regular guns and bombs, but with Mister Freeze, things became far more difficult.
With his freeze gun, Victor Fries could turn a city block into an ice cube or people into popsicles. Dealing with a villain in a massive suit that protects him and has a weapon of mass destruction is more than the usual Friday night for the Caped Crusader.
6 Poison Ivy Is Just Like Batman, But Really Deadly
There is a part of Poison Ivy that Batman not only understands but also agrees with. In the series, Ivy wasn't using her powers to rob banks or cause random chaos, she was trying to save the plant life of Gotham City and the world.
Ivy used her powers to protect those who needed protection, and that is something Batman can relate to since that's what he's doing too. The difference, of course, is that Poison Ivy is an eco-terrorist who is willing to kill everyone and anyone who endangers a fern, while Batman has a strict no-killing rule.
5 Clayface Can Be Anyone Or Anywhere
In the 105 episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, there were only a few times when Batman was truly in mortal danger. One of those times was when he faced off against Clayface in the episode "Mudslide."
In the final confrontation of the episode, Batman and Clayface battle it out in the lab of Doctor Stella Bates. The villain consumes Batman, trapping the Dark Knight inside his body, and begins to suffocate the hero. As viewers watch Batman's attempts to break out of Clayface, the gooey villain lets viewers know that Batman's heart is slowing down. For a moment, it really looked like the Dark Knight was going to die.
4 Scarecrow Brings The Fear
While Dr. Jonathan Crane has the physique of a wet noodle, he is still one of the greatest threats to Batman, thanks to his fear toxin. One sniff of Scarecrow's specially made toxin causes people to hallucinate and have waking nightmares.
These hallucinations are so real that not even Batman can be sure if what he is seeing is real or not, and when Batman begins to doubt himself, he is left open to deadly attacks. On more than one occasion on the animated series, Scarecrow nearly got the better of the Caped Crusader.
3 Rupert Thorne Is The Everyday Danger
Batman is pretty good at taking down the flashy villains like Riddler and Clock King, but when it comes to organized crime, he always seems to struggle. Rupert Thorne is one of the biggest names in the underworld of Gotham, and while the Dark Knight knows that this crime boss is behind so many of the problems that exist in his city, he is powerless to stop Thorne.
After all, how can Batman keep Thorne locked up behind bars when Thorne owns most of the politicians in the city? All the Dark Knight can do is try and mitigate the danger Thorne and his ilk are responsible for.
2 Catwoman Makes Batman All Befuddled
Not unlike Two-Face and Poison Ivy, Batman often found himself relating to Catwoman, but on a different level than with the other two rogues. For Batman and Catwoman, the tension was obvious from the start, and the Dark Knight's hopes that his feline foe would switch sides often led to him trusting her more than he should have.
Catwoman was never a deadly rogue like so many others but had she decided to go full out evil like Joker or Mad Hatter, there is no telling just how dangerous she could have been for Batman and Gotham City.
1 Lex Luthor Is Untouchable
While Lex Luthor is primarily a Superman villain, Batman did face off against the Metropolis billionaire in the three-part crossover of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. During that crossover, Luthor teamed up with Joker and gave the maniacal clown all the money and technology he needed to not only kill Superman but also destroy Metropolis and Gotham as well.
What makes Luthor so dangerous is that he is as smart, rich, and powerful as Batman. If this normal human is a threat to someone like Superman, just imagine what he could do to Batman.