"A Dark Knight to Remember" is the third episode of the third season of The Batman.
Plot[]
The episode begins with the Penguin stealing a pure crystal statue of a penguin, but as the Kabuki Twins are lowering it into the boat, Batman appears and demands the statue to be given up. Batgirl also arrives, and Penguin sends the Twins at the duo. Batman simply freezes the two with a Liquid Nitrogen pellet.
Seeing this, Penguin flees in his boat, out into the Gotham River, so Batman signals the Batboat, and gives chase, leaving Batgirl on the shore, guarding the frozen twins, much to her annoyance.
Batman quickly catches up to Penguin, and boards his craft. A brief fight ensues in which the steering wheel of the boat is removed, which means the boat is speeding toward one of Gotham Bridge's supports. Penguin flies away with the use of the rotors built into his umbrella, and Batman attempts to escape too, but is caught in the explosion caused by the boats crash. Knocked unconscious, he falls into the water.
Nearby, the Batboat registers Batman's falling vitals, and rushes to save him. It catches Batman in the open cockpit, under the water, and as the liquid is drained away, Batman coughs, showing he is still alive. Back on the shore, Batgirl is relieved to see Batman saved, and turns to deal with the frozen Kabuki Twins, but is shocked to find them gone. Meanwhile, the Batboat arrives back at the Batcave, where Alfred is waiting, and he is horrified to see Batman unconscious in the craft's pilot seat.
The next morning, Bruce awakes with a bandage around his head, and with Alfred carrying him up some sustenance. Alfred seems relieved that there appear to no unfortunate effects of the blast, i.e., that Bruce seems to have his full memory, aside from what happened in the night. Alfred says that Bruce ought to stay in bed, but Bruce disagrees. Alfred, wearily says the night does belong to The Batman, however, Bruce comments that it belongs to him; "The Batman? The night belongs to Bruce Wayne!"
Later, Bruce is seen entering the Gotham Music Awards, where he meets Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon, he talks to them for a short time before he is accosted and dragged away by two women, and while they're flirting with him, Barbara comes to the conclusion that Bruce is The Batman.
While the presenter is introducing the most successful band, Barbara is staring at Bruce, but the band: "Ozzy and The Cobblepots", which is, unsurprisingly, the Penguin, along with his Kabuki Twins. Penguin precedes to produce a barrage of noise from his guitar, causing a panic. While this is happening, Barbara expects Bruce to change into the Batman, and take Penguin down. Abruptly, Penguin smashes his guitar, ceasing the noise, then proceeds to destroy the decorative microphones, which seal the exits. He then demands that all the guests hand over any valuables they may have. Barbara, casually walks over to Wayne, and calmly says that "She hopes The Batman shows." Bruce agrees, before hiding under a table.
Barbara joins him, thinking that he's going to change under the table, but he's is merely hiding from the Penguin. Meanwhile, the commissioner attempts to stop the Twins, but is floored by Penguin. He chastises Gordon, telling him to not "be the hero." Defiantly, Gordon says he'll leave that to The Batman. Penguin derisively laughs, saying he already killed The Dark Knight, but then spots Bruce and Barbara hiding under the table. He kicks over the table, revealing the duo, and precedes to capture Bruce, after halting the robbery, saying that now he has Bruce, all other ill-gotten gains are unnecessary. As the Penguin flies away with Bruce's unconscious body, Barbara begins to doubt her original conclusion about Bruce being Batman. Barbara then dons the Batgirl costume, and tracks the Penguin using an infrared filter on her camera.
Bruce awakes tied to a chair in the penguin enclosure at Gotham Zoo. Penguin appears, readying the concealed blade in his umbrella, but Bruce stops him by promising to write him a cheque, "one with lots of zeros." Penguin then cuts Bruce free, who then indeed does write the cheque, and hands it over, but Penguin is suspicious, and asks to see some ID. Batgirl, who is watching from above, who still believes Bruce is Batman, hopes to see him free himself, but instead, he asks to be released, as was the deal, but Penguin tells him he lied, and kicks Bruce into the water behind him. Batgirl dives in after him, and Penguin sends the twins in after her. She frees frees Wayne, who promptly swims to the surface, leaving Batgirl to fend off the twins. When she surfaces, she is surprised to see Wayne already running to safety, which leads her to believe she was wrong about Bruce. While she is distracted, Batgirl is captured by the Twins, who bring her to Penguin, who leaps at the chance to kill her. Outside, an explosion is seen, which causes Bruce to stop running, and the Penguin flies out, carrying Batgirl, who is tied up. Disgustedly, Bruce realizes he left the girl who saved him alone, and calls himself a coward, and calls the Police.
Elsewhere, the Bat-signal is in the sky, with Commissioner Gordon nearby. He turns to the officers and tells them to turn off the signal, before leaving the rooftop.
Bruce is sitting dejectedly in the back of his car, while Alfred asks why he, (The Batman) didn't do anything, to which Bruce answers that the Batman wasn't there, so he couldn't know. Alfred realizes that the blast had caused memory loss after all, as Bruce had no idea he is The Batman. Alfred proceeds to show Bruce the Batcave, in hopes that this will trigger his memories to resurface. Bruce however, still does not believe he is the Batman, saying he hasn't got the courage. Alfred attempts to convince him otherwise, but they are interrupted by the Batwave, which shows them a broadcast by the Penguin, in which he tells all citizens of Gotham that he will execute Batgirl at midnight.
Alfred recognizes the clock tower, and again attempts to convince Bruce to don the cape and cowl, and Bruce reluctantly does so. Batman is seen attempting to throw a batarang at a target, but he misses by some distance. Alfred reveals that Bruce's training is working subconsciously, as he throws a batarang at Batman, who catches it between his hands, out of mid-air. Alfred then sends Batman out in the Batmobile.
Meanwhile, Penguin is demonstrating to Batgirl how he will execute her, utilizing the clock's mechanical figurines. He then kicks the clock's hands to be at 11:55, so that Batman only has a limited time to save her, and then straps her to the table, where she will be killed. Batman then arrives, and proceeds up one of the storage vats, where he is ambushed by the Twins. Again, he reflexively fights them off, but is surprised at his, and is nearly kicked off the walkway. As the Twins advance, he desperately fumbles around the utility belt, and throws what he believes to be a smoke pellet at the Twins, which bounces harmlessly off the railing, landing behind the Twins.
The pellet reveals itself to be explosive, which causes the Kabuki Twins to fall to the walkway below. Batman jumps the gap, and continues to Batgirl, just as the clock strikes 12. Batgirl spots a shard of metal near her hand, and starts to free herself. Batman arrives, but so do the Twins, who block the path ahead.
Batgirl calls to Batman for him to help her, as Penguin taunts him. This, combined with the sight of Batgirl helpless, causes Batman to regain his memory. He takes out the Twins with ease, and cut one of Batgirl's restraints with a batarang, as she frees herself of the other bind. He swings over, and grabs her, taking her out of harms way.
Penguin, angered by Batgirl's rescue, and the way Batman foiled his plan with ease, attempts to burn them to death with a flamethrower. Whilst still attempting to kill them, he activates the rotors in his other umbrella, and attempts to flee. Batman cuts the head of the umbrella off, causing Penguin to fall on to the mechanical duck, and his umbrella to go careering off, ultimately cutting the rope that secured the duck in place. Both Penguin and the duck fall down onto the harbor below. As Penguin sits in the wreckage of the duck, the police arrive to arrest him, and Batgirl tells Batman she's relieved he didn't turn out to be Bruce Wayne. With an uncharacteristic smile, Batman says he tries not to judge. Batgirl says he at least says she should meet the "man behind the bat."
The episode ends on Batman's words, "Who says I'm a man?"
Voice Cast and Characters[]
- Rino Romano as Bruce Wayne/The Batman
- Danielle Judovits as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
- Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth
- Tom Kenny as The Penguin
- Mitch Pileggi as Commissioner Gordon
- Kabuki Twins
Trivia[]
- The idea of Bruce Wayne losing all memory of being Batman was used in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Forgotten", although, in the earlier episode, the memory loss was far more severe, as Bruce lost all memory of being Bruce Wayne completely.
- Penguin’s execution method is rather graphic for a children’s show.
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