Last week we watched Batman: Return Of The Caped Crusaders. Along with DC Comics’ Batman ’66, it represented a reassessment of the campy 60s…well, they call it “parody” but if you read Silver Age comics it wasn’t TOO far off. Unfortunately, we would lose Adam West in 2017, just before the completed sequel was ready to come out, hence the tribute in Batman Vs. Two-Face.
Harvey Dent debuted in Detective Comics #66 in 1942, so Two-Face was available to the 1960s show for use. Actually, that’s not accurate. Harvey KENT debuted in that comic. Harvey DENT made his debut as Two-Face in Batman #81. Long story, kids. I guess a district attorney who went nuts after acid hit half his face was something they couldn’t translate back in the 1960s. Leave it to 2017 and animation to work it out, and in true Batman fashion, they got a celebrity to play Harvey: William Shatner!
With a different origin, Batman and Robin have successfully stopped Two-Face’s numerous crimes off-screen. Finally they’re able to cure him…or were they? With other villains to fight, the Dynamic Duo are not ready for the return of their double nemesis, while Batman is also distracted with his growing relationship with Catwoman, which seems closer to modern comics than anything else, but it’s not like the attraction wasn’t there before Return Of The Caped Crusaders. We also get appearances from Hugo Strange and Harleen Quinzel, making me think that if more were to be produced (Adam West is one of the actors you can’t replace, and all we have left are Burt Ward and Julie Newmar) they would have given all of Batman’s rogues the ’66 makeover even if they weren’t available back then. That actually would have been interesting.
So can our heroes rescue Gotham City and Harvey Dent from his evil duplicity? Enjoy.
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