Batman & Catwoman Back Together! Adam West Reunites with Julie Newmar

[Brian Damage]

Three generations of TV’s Caped Crusaders unite for this week’s unusually somber episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Friday, April 9, 7:30/6:30c, Cartoon Network). Adam West, star of the lighthearted 1960s live-action series, and Kevin Conroy, whose iconic voice headlined Batman: The Animated Series in the ’90s, join Brave and the Bold star Diedrich Bader in “Chill of the Night,” an unofficial prequel to the series.

West plays Thomas Wayne, father of Bruce, who we all know grows up to be Batman, and Conroy plays the Phantom Stranger, a supernatural being who pushes Batman toward the side of justice rather than vengeance. Adding to the Batmania, Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman alongside West, and Mark Hamill, who voiced the Joker opposite Conroy, also have roles in the episode.

Hamill plays the Spectre, an agent of vengeance who wagers with Phantom Stranger on how Batman will respond when he discovers the identity of the man who killed his parents. Phantom Stranger takes Batman back in time to a Halloween party where Thomas is dressed in a costume that clearly inspired young Bruce’s future choice of crime-fighting attire.

The producers used two little-remembered comic book stories from the Dark Knight’s early days—Batman No. 47 from 1948 and Detective Comics No. 235 from 1956 as his initial source material. And then, of course, they added their own Brave and the Bold touch, adding the Spectre and Phantom Stranger to fit the show’s “team-up” format. “The thing I like about this show is it doesn’t disavow any aspect of Batman’s history,” says producer James Tucker. “We make nods to all the versions of Batman that have come before.”

Tucker admits that the final produced is “very intense and heavy,” but a onetime departure from the show’s typically whimsical tone. “We never said that Batman wasn’t a dark character,” Tucker says. “It’s just that, in this world, he has this baggage, but he doesn’t let it overwhelm him. But we did want to honor the baggage.”

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