DCAU: 7 Characters That Looked Better In The New Batman Adventures (& 7 That Looked Worse)

After the success of Superman: The Animated Series, Batman returned with The New Batman Adventures. There were new characters, new stories, and a stronger connection in the shared DC Animated Universe. On top of it all, The New Batman Adventures featured a new art style to match that of Superman: The Animated Series.

As a result, numerous characters from Batman: The Animated Series were completely revamped with new designs. Like most instances when something goes through a change, there are redesigns that fans really loved. On the other hand, there are new looks for characters that fans disliked or even despised.

Updated on November 24th, 2022 by Melody MacReady:

The DC Animated Universe is celebrating its 30th anniversary as well as the 30-year career of the late Kevin Conroy as the definitive voice of Batman. As a result, now is a good time to reflect on the impact that The New Batman Adventures had on the DCAU as a whole.

So many of the redesigns would end up being the standard for the DCAU, even Batman’s design would barely change between The New Batman Adventures and Justice League. However, there are even more that fans simply did not care for and would end up changing again in future shows and straight-to-video movies.

Better

Ventriloquist

The more exaggerated features of the puppet Scarface make The New Batman Adventures version stand out more. Scarface looks straight out of a comic book which is something that the revamped style excelled at, even with the characters who look mostly the same as before.

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The Arnold Wesker side of the Ventriloquist is a different story. The art style makes him look like a walking cylinder from certain angles, but it does fit the theme that Wesker and Scarface are meant to be tributes to classic Dick Tracey villains.

Bane

There was never anything bad about Bane’s design in Batman: The Animated Series, but there was very little to help the character stand out as Batman’s rival. He mostly just looked like a typical wrestler whereas The New Batman Adventures gave Bane a look that helps distinguish him.

Rather than a simple mask and tank top, Bane wears a more detailed mask with goggles and spikes that push the limit of a show meant for children. Now instead of blank red eyes, he sports scarier red irises. On top of all that, his Venom tubes, tank, and gauntlet stand out far more in this version.

Killer Croc

In Batman: The Animated Series, Killer Croc, one of DC most iconic monsters, was introduced with a more grounded take on the character. He looked more human and sported pale gray scales with subtly sharpened teeth. It was an effective design that harked back to the character’s debut in the comics.

With the recent comics at the time depicting Killer Croc as more reptilian, The New Batman Adventures followed. Croc’s scales were dark green, his teeth were much sharper, and he featured a much more crocodilian look overall.

Poison Ivy

There was nothing bad about Poison Ivy’s design in Batman: The Animated Series. A beautiful red-haired woman with a grass-like uniform: simple but effective in the end. The New Batman Adventures gave her a whole new look from top to bottom.

Since Ivy had become more of a metahuman, she now had pale green skin. Her eyes look almost white, her hair is much darker, and her suit was even more enhanced. The revamped design comes much closer to what most fans think of when they hear the name, Poison Ivy.

Scarecrow

This would actually be the third design for Scarecrow, and what many easily consider to be the best. The first look in Batman: The Animated Series made him look like an actual scarecrow that hopped off a post. The second was better but a little too cartoonish.

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The New Batman Adventures decided to go full-on horror movie villain with Scarecrow’s new look. The giant scythe, the noose around his neck, and the zombie-like appearance made this design an instant favorite. On top of it all, he was now voiced by horror legend Jeffrey Combs to match the new style.

Batgirl

Since Batgirl was now under the wing of Batman, Barbara Gordon upgraded from the homemade suit in Batman: The Animated Series. The New Batman Adventures sees her in all black and yellow with a blue cape, a design that even the comics would use as inspiration.

Barbara Gordon also featured physical changes, with her blue eyes being much more vibrant, her red hair much darker, and her sporting an overall more streamlined yet fitting look. Batgirl’s new suit was great and fit in the world of Batman while still keeping her a unique hero that stands on her own.

Batman

Sometimes less is more, and when it comes to Batman, that was definitely the case. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini ditched the yellow oval symbol and blue highlights and instead gave a simpler yet perfect look for Batman. Black and gray all over with a black bat symbol on the chest, the redesign worked well.

Suiting the voice of Kevin Conroy perfectly; there was certainly nothing wrong with the suit seen throughout Batman: The Animated Series. The New Batman Adventures version just managed to look even better, a pattern that would continue with Justice League.

Worse

The Penguin

Sadly, Penguin’s design in both shows was not that great. Batman: The Animated Series was slightly better since he resembled classic Dick Tracey villains whereas The New Batman Adventures seemed to be paying tribute to Burgess Meredith.

However, he lacked Burgess’ charm and charisma, so the downplayed Penguin mixed with a more regular human design resulted in a version of Oswald Cobblepot that came off as just bland. Very little about Penguin stands out, and he was already one of the more forgettable villains of this canon.

Mr. Freeze

It is explained during the events of The New Batman Adventures that Victor Fries has lost most of his body and is just a head inside a suit. That can explain why suddenly Mr. Freeze looks like a skeleton inside his suit, but even then, the visual of Freeze is just not as impressive as in Batman: The Animated Series, where he was revamped for the better.

The reveal of his head being on four insect-like legs comes off as silly more than anything. The Freeze in the previous series was simplistic in design, but it was effective, as they made it believable that he was a man trapped inside his armor, which made him even more tragic compared to being a monster robot in The New Batman Adventures, which Batman Beyond would fix.

Baby Doll

One of the saddest villains from Batman: The Animated Series returned for The New Batman Adventures. Unfortunately, Baby Doll’s return was one of the weakest both in terms of story and design, since it’s not nearly as emotional as the original episode, and gone were the perfect mix of adult and child-like features that made Baby Doll so creepy yet sympathetic.

Instead, Baby Doll was much more streamlined with a cuter and more child-like design. She now sported brighter blonde pigtails and there were a lot fewer details in her expressions. In a way, Baby Doll looked more akin to a kid version of Harley Quinn.

The Mad Hatter

While the original design for The Mad Hatter in Batman: The Animated Series wasn’t exactly subtle, it was still effective. The New Batman Adventures seems to forget that the Mad Hatter isn’t actually a bizarre man from Wonderland.

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Jervis Tetch’s head is giant and bulbous much like the Lewis Carroll character, he’s much shorter, and features long pointy ears. This made Mad Hatter look less human and was so much of a far cry from the first design that it might as well be a different character. It didn’t help that he didn’t get the best moments to shine either.

The Riddler

DC properties have always tried to capitalize on the hype of a new movie, which is a decent marketing strategy. In the case of the Riddler, it did not result in a superior look for the character. Instead of the green dress suit of the comics at the time, The New Batman Adventures tried to replicate Jim Carrey’s take on the Riddler from Batman Forever.

The result is a rather lazy look: a bald man in green tights. It may come closer to Frank Gorshin’s Riddler from the 1966 series, but in the end, it was just lacking any charm or grittiness that Batman: The Animated Series provided.

Catwoman

Similar to Riddler, The New Batman Adventures attempted to market Catwoman to fans of the film franchise. As a result, it created a bizarre new Catwoman who was seemingly de-aged, since she sounded and acted more like a college-age woman.

The white skin and the all-black suit made it clear that it was inspired by Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman. Sadly, many fans thought it was a drastic downgrade from the more grounded version of Batman: The Animated Series.

The Joker

On the completely opposite side of the spectrum was the Joker. Out of all the designs, no character suffered worse than the Clown Prince Of Crime. Fans did not take well to the design, hence why the character would receive a much-needed upgrade in Justice League and Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker.

In The New Batman Adventures, he was given black hair, black eyes, and an even slimmer look. The design was just unappealing and made him look more akin to Freakazoid than the Joker. The saving grace was that he was still voiced brilliantly by Mark Hamill.

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