Beware the Batman doesn't have the best reputation among Batman fans. Geek forums listed a host of negatives, from the dislike of the "new" Alfred to Katana as a sidekick, to the use of D-list villains as A-list villain knockoffs. Beware the Batman has its flaws, but it delivers a solid presentation of the Dark Knight.

Beware's Alfred eschews the elderly grandfather role and leans into the former intelligence agent aspect, creating a Jason Strathan-like man who can beat down a foe nearly as well as Batman can. Despite the changes, voice actor JB Blanc said of Alfred, "He's there to support, to nurture, to honor the promise he made to Bruce's parents, and I think we've really stayed true to that."

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Katana became a lightning rod for fans who couldn't see Batman having a sidekick who wasn't one of the Robins or, at least, Spoiler or Batgirl. Katana's Soultaker sword, though rarely used by her in combat, plays a vital role throughout the series' first half. Her story intertwines with Alfred's, establishing her as not merely a sidekick, but a potential equal with her own story.

Producer Glen Murakami said he looked at a lot of the older Batman comics and noticed it felt like a lot of the same villains over and over. Beware the Batman plays against audience expectation by using D-list villains and occasionally referring to an A-lister's tactics.

In "Instinct," Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad use a series of verses to announce their next victims. Batman realizes the verses were a diversion. Now the audience, assuming they were watching a Riddler-rip-off, are happily surprised and rewarded with an action-packed sequence of Batman and Katana racing against time to thwart the actual plot.

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Producer Mitch Watson added that in choosing villains audiences aren't used to seeing Batman up against, we get to see different aspects of Batman's personality.

The show introduces Magpie as a sexy thief. Audiences could write her off as a Catwoman knockoff. However, Magpie has a repressed second personality of a law-abiding citizen. Batman secretly visits Magpie in prison, hoping to help bring balance to her psyche. Bruce sees in her a warning of what could happen if he fails to maintain the balance between Batman's darkness and Bruce Wayne's light.

Beware the Batman has several elements at which it exceeds expectations. Though the character designs may not excite everyone, the CG animation presents a level of realism and camera mobility that lets the fight sequences fly off the screen. It's like watching The Matrix within the darkness that suits Batman. With ninjas. Daredevil versus the Hand levels of ninjas.

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The producers also wanted to make Batman "really a detective." In "Secrets," Bruce notices when Katana calls Alfred "major," her voice lowers, and she unconsciously looks up the same way a child would look up to an adult. Bruce further deduces that Alfred worked with a member of Katana's family when she was a child. It turns out Katana's father was Alfred's old MI-6 partner.

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In 2013, Cartoon Network aired a mere eleven episodes of the show's twenty-six-episode season before pulling the show. The remaining episodes were buried in a Saturday night three-a.m. slot. Ironically, many of the A-list villains fans wanted (Deathstroke, Ra's al Ghul,  Killer Croc, and others) appear in these graveyard shift episodes.

Batman fans should revisit Beware the Batman. It's not the classic animated series of the nineties, but it doesn't deserve the hate.

Beware the Batman is streaming on HBO Max and Amazon Prime.

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