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Batman is a superhero created in 1939 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger for DC Comics. He has frequently appeared in animated Hanna-Barbera productions like SuperFriends and Scooby-Doo.
Batman and his sidekick, Robin, first appeared in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972) - that is, one hour-long episode during its first season and one hour-long episode during its second season. In syndication, both of these episodes were split into two half-hour shows each.
In 1973, H-B debuted SuperFriends. Now, in addition to Robin, Batman co-starred alongside Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and others. Batman and Superman were close friends in this series, contrary to many comics which depict them as ideological opponents and uneasy allies at best.
In 1979, due to the continuing popularity of SuperFriends and perhaps also due to the success of the Superman feature film a year earlier, H-B launched a live-action primetime show called Legends of the Superheroes, and the Caped Crusader was again part of the proceedings. Here he was played by Adam West from the 1960s TV show (with which H-B had no connection). The short-lived show only aired two episodes.
Batman's H-B animated adventures continued until 1986 with the end of the run of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, the final permutation of SuperFriends. When Batman returned to animated TV in 1992, Warner Bros.' revived animation department took over the reins.
Scooby-Doo[]
Mystery Inc. first encountered Batman and Robin by accident when they both stumbled upon a plane making an unscheduled round in the night. A jeep carrying a large crate headed toward an old farmhouse. The gang suspected foul play and went to investigate the old farmhouse. Inside they find the crate strapped to the floor, but soon they hear a noise. As they hide, Shaggy finds out that every piece of furniture is nailed to the floor. Much to their surprise and excitement, the gang learn that Batman and Robin have shown up too.
Like them, Batman and Robin saw the plane making a round in the night without any headlights. He and Robin suspected that people were smuggling contraband into the country. Then they soon hear a noise, and it comes from an old woman Mrs. Baker who lives in this old house. Batman wants to know if she knows anything about the crate, but she tells them she knows nothing. The open it to find a toy clown. After tossing it away and Scooby playing with it, it breaks and reveals it is housed with counterfeit money.
Deciding to look outside for fresh tire tracks, Batman and the gang learn it leads to an old junkyard for cars. While there, they do find the jeep, but its drivers have left it behind. Batman looks inside a trash compacter to see if anyone is hiding in it. While Robin attaches a light at the top of a crane. Unknown to them the mastermind they are looking for is skulking around in the junkyard and takes control of the crane Robin is climbing on and intends to drop an old car in the compacter. Batman narrowly escapes, but notices Shaggy and Scooby are in a car about to be dropped in. Shaggy and Scooby escape but lose the mastermind they're looking for who used Fred as a scape goat.
They return to the house to see it has completely vanished and unfortunately the Batmobile is gone too. Batman on the other hand sees that as a blessing in disguise because the Batmobile has a homing beacon in it. Using the Mystery Machine and blindfolding the gang, Batman and Robin take them to the Batcave and find the stolen car. It's in Gotham City at the Batman and Robin Exhibit Building. They head there straight away and the combined teams minus Shaggy and Scooby look inside the building for clues. Shaggy and Scooby alert Batman and Robin though when the two of them notice Penguin and Joker sticking their heads out a window. With them involved, Batman and Robin handle the rest of the caper themselves by going into the haunted house which became Joker and Penguin's hideout.
Joker tricks the Dynamic Duo into going into a ball pit with no way out for them. Some time passes and the Joker and Penguin disguised as skeletons fall into the same pit. Scooby then tells his friends where the Dynamic Duo are, and they help them escape. They question Joker and Penguin about the counterfeiting scheme and while the two crooks did distribute the money, they didn't have it printed; it was given to them by an anonymous benefactor. Joker and Penguin are even questioned about Mrs. Baker and the vanishing house, but they know nothing of it. So, Joker and Penguin are arrested by Gotham detectives, who Batman and Robin summoned while they were trapped in that pit.
They returned to the spot where the house was, and it miraculously reappeared before them. The combined team again, minus Scooby and Shaggy, go inside to see if they could find any clues. While doing so, Shaggy and Scooby find out how the house has vanished. There is a pulley inside of a fake tree that makes the house spin around and hide in the ground. Batman and Robin exit the house and find another lever in a tunnel which does the same thing. The two teams reunite and find the one thereafter. Chasing him through a tunnel, they go up a trap door and find themselves in a toy factory. Through various twists, turns, and romps through the factory, Scooby is the one to capture the criminal and much to everyone's shock, the villain was Mrs. Baker.
Because Scooby was the one to successfully capture Penguin, Joker, and even Mrs. Baker, Batman awarded Scooby with a large pile of bat-snacks much to his delight.
Batman and Robin returned for "The Caped Crusader Caper." They had to deal with Joker and Penguin again. This time, the villains had kidnapped Professor Flakey to find out where he kept his newly-invented flying suit.
Voice Actors[]
- Olan Soule played Batman from The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972) through all incarnations of SuperFriends until 1984.
- In 1984, Adam West again voiced Batman for Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and the following year for the aforementioned Galactic Guardians.
Gallery[]
