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The 2004 Saturday morning cartoon The Batman reinvented the franchise with a cool edge before Christopher Nolan’s turn in 2005. With its updated character designs and electric score, The Batman animated series took from the hero’s generic traditions and infused it with more modern twists.
In Season 4, Episode 6, entitled “Strange New World,” the Batman (Rino Romano) tackles a zombie apocalypse, a seemingly bold and abrupt premise for a show that first focused on street-level crimes and more peculiar villains. In fact, this episode’s big bad isn’t even known for zombie poisons or toxins but is infamous for his psychological mind games and for figuring out that Batman is Bruce Wayne. On the surface, “Strange New World” is an unconventional episode for the series. However, Hugo Strange’s (Richard Green) master plan and the Batman’s ingenious way of defeating him prove that this episode is one of the best Batman stories. Although The Batman vs. Dracula might have been the proper Halloween special, this Batman versus zombies episode is yet another reason why the animated series deserves another look.
The Caped Crusader’s Essence Shines Through
Even in its seemingly outrageous plot, the episode follows in the caped crusader’s tradition and essence. For example, the episode begins mid-story, with the Batman narrating the events through his combat logs. This is very much in the spirit of the Batman mythos as a piece of detective noir. Here, he uses recoded combat logs; in other media such as in Matt Reeve’s live action The Batman, Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) keeps a diary beginning on Halloween night. In this episode, throughout this narration, Batman reveals how Hugo Strange has successfully dispersed a poison in the air that turns people into zombies.
What makes Strange such a formidable villain isn’t in his superhuman strength or various gadgets. In this episode and across various Batman stories, Hugo Strange’s strength is in his intellect and expertise as a psychiatrist. “Strange may be a madman,” Batman warns Robin, “but he’s also a brilliant psychiatrist.” So, his plan to disperse a toxin throughout the city, which turns people into zombies and becomes irreversible after 48 hours, seems out of the realm of a mere psychiatrist. Toxins are normally in the toolbox of rogues such as the Joker and Scarecrow. However, Strange’s ultimate goal is to force Batman into revealing his identity. As Batman says to him, “You’re still crazy about me, Strange.” The zombie outbreak is merely part of Strange’s overall psychological game with the Batman. He isolates Batman from his friends and allies, who one by one become zombies. But it’s going to take more than just zombies for Batman to give up so easily. In fact, being forced to work out this mission alone might have been where Strange underestimated him.
Back to the Basics of the Series
What this episode of The Batman does incredibly well is that it focuses on the hero himself rather than the larger ensemble. It is a back-to-basics approach to the series, which harkens back to its first two seasons when Batman only really had Alfred (Alastair Duncan) and a few allies in the police force such as Ethan Bennett (Steven Harris) and Ellen Yin (Ming-na Wen) on his side. Afterward, the show introduced Batgirl and Robin as Batman’s sidekicks in Season 3. By Season 5, Superman, the Flash, and other members of the Justice League appear in various team-ups with Batman. In this specific episode, using the premise of zombie infection is a clever way to pit Batman against his friends and allies, without the overused trope of mind control.“Strange New World” comes midway through Season 4 and in between the “Brave and the Bold” era of The Batman series, a perfect moment to bring the show back to its very foundation: Bruce Wayne, his resources, and his intellect.
One by one, his allies succumb to the poison, turning them into zombies. First, Commissioner Gordon and the police force greet Batman with the Bat signal, only to reveal themselves as moaning, mindless creatures. Batgirl arrives, but has already been turned. When Batman and Robin retreat into the Batcave, they discover that Alfred is also a zombie. “It’s not fair,” Robin says, “We’re all alone. Alfred, Batgirl, the whole city’s infected.” The stakes of Hugo Strange’s plan to turn Gotham into an apocalyptic zombie wasteland are high, but they are also personal. It’s made all the more tragic that Robin, who is still just a boy, feels hopeless at this moment.
When Robin is eventually turned into one of the zombies, Batman is truly alone. Often, those are the best kind of Batman stories: just one man against an entire city. In this episode, he is ultimately reduced to the “bare bones” of his mission and resources. Without Alfred and his sidekicks, without Commissioner Gordon and the police force, and without his primary resources in the Batcave, Batman retreats into an underground bunker, which he calls “a home away from home, built just in case Bruce Wayne and the Batman needed to get off the grid.” It is there where he begins to mass produce the antidote to the zombie infection. Furthermore, the toll of the entire mission begins to weigh on him, visualized by the stubble growing on his chin. He hasn’t been sleeping or shaving since the zombie infection began, perhaps because Alfred is now a zombie and can’t nag him to take care of himself. But the stubble also shows the amount of focus and effort he’s been putting into this mission. This is a Batman who is determined to save Gotham and the people he loves, even at the expense of his personal well-being. And that is ultimately what makes “Strange New World” a great episode. As much as Batman is alone in this episode, his drive comes from trying to save the people he is closest to. Isn’t that what a hero is supposed to be?
Plot Twist!
If you still aren’t convinced to watch this episode and don’t really care about spoilers, perhaps reading about this episode’s plot twist can at least persuade you to. So, spoilers from this point onwards.
At the climax of the episode, before Batman disperses the zombie “antidote” all over the city, he eventually comes to the realization of Hugo Strange’s master plan. He remembers all the clues scattered throughout the episode, like how the air was clear and nontoxic this whole time, and figures that the problem isn’t that everyone else is a zombie but that there is actually something wrong with him. So, as Batman takes his last stand, he is swarmed by the zombie versions of all his allies, Gordon, Batgirl, and Robin. “If this is a mistake, it’s my last,” he says, surrendering himself to the people he loves and trusting that they aren’t really zombies but that they are actually trying to help him. Despite his self-determination, his trust in others is what ultimately saves the day. Ultimately, there was never a zombie infection. Hugo Strange’s poison only affected Batman, the side effects of which were hallucinations.
We might not get any zombies in the live action Batman films any time soon. The closest we got to zombies was in Batman Begins, which had a similar plot of a toxin spread across Gotham City, not by Hugo Strange but by another doctor in Johnathan Crane aka Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) with the help of the League fo Shadows. So, if you are looking for a fun, zombie themed Batman story this Halloween, “Strange New World” should satisfy your fix. But if you’re also looking for a great Batman story in general, this episode is a great go-to. It focuses on the very best qualities of Batman — his drive and determination, his intellect and genius, and ultimately his heroism.
Officially, “Strange New World” is Season 4, Episode 6. But it can be streamed on HBO Max as Season 3, Episode 5.
