The Drastic Rule That Banned Batman Villains From A Classic DC Animated Series

The "Bat-embargo." If you're a fan of the classic DC Animated Universe (DCAU), the words probably feel like a chill in the night. If you're not, then let me explain.

See, DC Comics can be fickle about which of its characters can appear on television, and where. During the 2000s, this mostly impacted Batman and his supporting cast. Kevin Conroy's Batman was a regular on "Justice League Unlimited," which aired alongside the unconnected cartoon "The Batman," and Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" marked the return of the Dark Knight after his 1990s silver screen fall.

Reportedly, then-DC Comics President Paul Levitz was worried that kids would be confused about all of these Batmen. How would they be able to tell multiple versions of the same characters apart when they were all appearing at the same time? Hence, the Bat-embargo came into effect around 2004 (when "The Batman" debuted and "Justice League" went "Unlimited"). It put up firm barriers between which shows could use which characters. Batman himself was allowed to stay on "Justice League Unlimited," but his supporting characters or villains could not appear; "The Batman" would get exclusive access to them.

"Justice League Unlimited" producers Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie often communicated with fans directly, including on the ToonZone forum (now Anime Superhero News). Timm maintains his forum profile to this day, and last talked with fans after the premiere of "Batman: Caped Crusader" last August. That direct line made fans aware of the Bat-embargo and its effects on the show's production. Here were some specific effects of this ban.

"Justice League Unlimited" was the final entry of the DCAU, which had run almost continuously since "Batman: The Animated Series" debuted back in 1992. 14 years is an impressive run, but after that long, the creators were ready to do something new. "Unlimited" builds on the previous series to bring everything full circle. Superman's greatest villains — Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Darkseid — are the foremost villains in "Unlimited," so there being no Batman villains stands out all the more.

For example: Two of the most beloved DC Animated Universe characters are Mark Hamill's Joker and Arleen Sorkin as the O.G. Harley Quinn. They'd shown up in the "Justice League" episode "Wild Cards," but no more once "Unlimited" rolled around. Even Batman villains who would make sense as baddies who could threaten the whole League, like Ra's al Ghul, were no-shows.

The show had some specific thwarted plans for Batman characters, too. McDuffie had pitched an episode starring the Birds of Prey, where Barbara Gordon would team up with Black Canary and Huntress. Of course, the Bat-embargo included Batgirl, so that episode didn't happen.

Hugo Strange makes a brief appearance in "Justice League Unlimited" season 2 as part of Amanda Waller's anti-Justice League task force, Project Cadmus. But Strange was a big enough Batman villain to be hit by the embargo, so after that, he vanished.

The third and final season of "Justice League Unlimited" introduced the Legion of Doom, the 13-strong super-villain team from "Challenge of the Superfriends." The "Superfriends" Legion included Scarecrow and the Riddler, but the embargo meant the "Unlimited" Legion couldn't have those characters.

It should be noted, though, that DC fans generally thought the embargo was a bigger deal than the creators did. Timm, McDuffie and company spoke of it as a blessing in disguise; they could spotlight more obscure characters instead of bringing out old favorites. For example, the Birds of Prey pitch evolved into "Double Date" (penned by "Birds of Prey" comic writer Gail Simone), which turned out to be an excellent episode.

In a 2004 ToonZone/Anime Superhero post, Timm explained:

"I don't see the Bat-embargo lifting anytime soon....but to tell you the truth, as much as I, too, love those characters, I don't really miss 'em all that much....it's not like we don't have TONS of other interesting characters to play with...if I were doing an actual 'Batman' show, and not allowed to use those characters, yeah, that'd be pretty galling, but Batman's only one ingredient in the 'Justice League' brew."

Yeah, about that...

It might sound like "The Batman" got the easier deal in the Bat-embargo, but that's not exactly true. Some of the most famous Batman villains didn't appear in "The Batman": Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Ra's Al Ghul. It's generally been cited that, because these villains appeared in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight," "The Batman" couldn't use them. This means Scarecrow got screwed over twice – Jonathan Crane finally made his big screen debut (played by Cillian Murphy), but he was denied a place on the Legion of Doom and in "The Batman."

It's unclear if "The Batman" ever had plans for Two-Face or Ra's Al Ghul. Notably, the show reinvented Clayface into a substitute for Two-Face and Gotham Police Detective Ethan Bennett, a friend of Bruce Wayne, is mutated into Clayface and becomes a villain, a la Harvey Dent. Scarecrow, though, was supposed to be in the show. Concept art was drawn up for him during the show's early production:

Warner Bros Animation/Insight Editions

Scarecrow's presence also hovers over "The Batman" season 4 episode, "Strange New World." Hugo Strange doses Batman with a gas that makes him believe Gotham City is being overrun by zombies. Batman is convinced he must set off an antidote to stop the outbreak, but that "antidote" is the gas that will actually poison Gotham.

So, Batman's mind gets affected by hallucinatory chemicals. Does that sound like a Scarecrow episode? That's because it was written to be! Episode writer Joseph Kuhr confirmed on the Legions of Gotham message board that he conceived "Strange New World" as featuring the Scarecrow, but had to use Prof. Strange as an understudy:

"'Strange New World' was my own idea. I was hoping that with the recent release of 'Batman Begins,' the Scarecrow would be freed up for us to use, so I started working out a story for him. When it turned out he was still off-limits I was pretty disappointed ... until I realized that Hugo Strange would actually make a better antagonist for my story. Luckily [story editor Michael] Jelenic agreed with me (and they were looking for a story to bring back Strange) and [producers] Jeff Matsuda and Alan Burnett both liked the story and so did the network, so I was given the go ahead to take it to outline and finally to script."

Season 4 did lift the embargo for one important character, though. Robin, who was starring on Cartoon Network's "Teen Titans," was absent from the first three seasons of "The Batman." Then, for season 4, he finally became available — no doubt helped because "Teen Titans" had wrapped up earlier in 2006.

It wasn't only Batman characters hit by an embargo. Aquaman vanished from "Justice League Unlimited" after season 1. Reportedly, this was because of the live-action "Aquaman" pilot in development at the time (it wasn't picked up for series). When "Unlimited" season 3 introduced Aquaman's nemesis Black Manta as a member of the Legion of Doom, he was renamed "Devil Ray."

There was never an official end to the Bat-embargo; the impacted shows simply wrapped up. But there are still signs of similar thinking in effect at Warner Bros. "Arrow" featured Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and Deadshot (Michael Rowe) as recurring characters. Then, once the Suicide Squad got chosen for the big screen treatment, the "Arrow" version went up in smoke — Deadshot and then Waller were abruptly killed off. Producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed, for Deadshot at least, the decision was made because the show had been disallowed from using him.

To this day, the Bat-embargo continues to puzzle DC fans. One sticking point is the holes in it. Why were Batman and Joker exempted from it? If DC executives really wanted to prevent confusion, shouldn't the ban have been more of a blanket edict? Moreover, "Justice League Unlimited" did sneak in some Batman associated characters; Huntress as part of the heroes, and then KGBeast and Electrocutioner as background members in the Legion of Doom. Were they obscure enough that they slipped through without being noticed?

But while fans bemoaned the embargo, it's not like it hurt any of the shows that much. Creative limits can result in more innovative storytelling, and that was the case here. Plus, did Levitz have a point in instituting the embargo? Comic nerds are well-accustomed to deciphering different continuities, but not all audiences are. When I was a young kid, I didn't realize at first that "Batman: The Animated Series" and "The New Batman Adventures" were connected because they had different art styles. 

It's important to keep perspective. DC cartoons shows were and are made primarily for children. If the adult fans love them too, that's a bonus, but said fans shouldn't presume themselves to be the whole target audience.