The Most Underrated Batman Animated Series Can Finally Be Streamed for Free

The opening credits sequence of Batman: The Animated Series defines that series’ take on the Dark Knight and, for many, the definitive take on Batman in any medium. Set to the theme Danny Elfman wrote for the 1989 film, the credits tell a short story, in which a pair of thugs escape from an exploding bank with loot in hand, only to be thwarted by Batman himself. The sequence fully establishes Batman as a creature of the night, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the cowardly criminals, him standing in victory as lightning strikes behind him.

On March 1, you can go to Tubi and see the very different opening credits of the 2008 cartoon show Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which has been added to the free streaming service. Batman hardly even casts a shadow as he runs through a cityscape, let alone skulks in one. Instead, he bursts with bright blues and yellows, befitting the jazzy score playing underneath images of him swinging past buildings or racing the Batmobile through the streets. Even better, the buildings are just silhouettes, not for the sake of moodiness, but to give space for names like “Elongated Man” and “Gentleman Ghost.”

Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn’t better than The Animated Series. But as the contrast between the two openings highlights, it’s not trying to live in its predecessor’s shadow. It’s doing something brave, bold, and outrageously different.

The Bright Knight

When the debut episode of The Brave and the Bold, “Rise of the Blue Beetle!” first aired on the Cartoon Network on November 14, 2008, it felt completely different. Between Frank Miller‘s work in the 1980s, the gothic Tim Burton movies, The Animated Series, and Christopher Nolan films such as The Dark Knight, which had released just months earlier, Batman had a clearly defined aesthetic. He was brooding and moody, constantly at odds with other people and with the darkness within him.

Brave and the Bold eschewed all of that. Before even getting to the titular hero in “Rise of the Blue Beetle,” the episode’s cold open found Batman not working along, but tied up alongside Green Arrow. The two have been caught in a death trap, dangling above some boiling liquid, while the Clock King cackles in delight. This is not the precise plain clothes sadist of The Animated Series, but rather a completely goofy version straight from the comics, with ostentatious regal garb and a clock for a face.

After he and Green Arrow find a way to escape the trap, they battle through a giant cuckoo clock while Batman monologues in voice over about how he and his fellow hero make each other better. Batman hurls batarangs at the robots that attack him, while Green Arrow deploys arrows with giant boxing gloves at the end. The two then launch themselves at the Clock King, with Batman quipping, “Lets clean the King’s clock!” All that before the episode’s A-plot, in which Batman helps the young Jaime Reyes find his confidence as the new Blue Beetle.

That’s a far cry from what was considered the standard Batman story in the late 2000s. But it was classic Batman all the way.

A Brave Old Take

Batman: The Brave and the Bold comes from producers Michael Jelenic, who would go on to make Teen Titans Go! and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and James Tucker, who worked with Bruce Timm on Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond.

That duo’s bonafides captures the unlikely but effective mixture at the heart of Brave and the Bold. As Tucker’s involvement suggests, there were plenty of elements recognizable from the so-called Timm-verse. Not only did Batman have the sort of barrel chest familiar to The Animated Series, but there was also the wide view of the DC Universe seen in later entries, especially Justice League Unlimited. But Jalenic’s influence underscores the show’s irreverence toward DC heroes, a willingness to embrace the silliest side of not just Batman, but everyone in Gotham, Metropolis, and beyond.

Brave and the Bold hearkens back to the pop art of the 1966 Batman series, especially in the strait-laced approach voice actor Diedrich Bader takes with the character. His growl may be entirely modern, but his penchant for puns and aphorisms could come from the mouth of Adam West. Visually, the show borrows from the clean lines of Alex Toth and the grotesques of Jerry Robinson, making each episode feel like an adaptation of a comic from DC’s checkerboard era.

That embrace of DC’s goofiest comics also influenced the stories in The Brave and the Bold. Each episode paired Batman with another hero, and set them against a classic villain. While big names such as Superman, Joker, and Lex Luthor do eventually make their presence known, the best episodes go deep into the bullipen. Batman joins forces with Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, and he takes the form of the ghostly knight from the Tangent Universe comics. A stand-out episode sees Batman and Black Canary join forces against the Music Meister, a villain who can control minds through song, voiced (of course) by Neil Patrick Harris.

At no point does the episode take any of these characters seriously. Yes, Batman usually ends by spouting some moral lesson, and there’s often real poignancy to the dramatic arcs (see the holiday episode “Invasion of the Secret Santas!” in which the android Red Tornado laments that he cannot experience the Christmas spirit). However, the series never mocks the characters either, not even the fourth-wall-breaking finale “Mitefall!,” in which the imp Bat-Mite (voiced by Paul Reubens, naturally) wraps up the series with a clip show of episodes we’ll never see.

Instead, Brave and the Bold understands that the world of DC superheroes is inherently silly and inherently a lot of fun. And that includes Batman, no matter how many people insist that the Dark Knight must stay dark.

Bold on Screen

Batman: The Brave and the Bold aired 65 episodes across three seasons but, like most Cartoon Network shows from WB, has been strangely hard to find. It bounced around the schedule in its original run, and was originally only released on DVD as episode collections until full seasons. While DVD and Blu-ray sets now exist, the show regularly gets added and removed from streaming services, even its most natural home on the Warner Bros-owned HBO Max.

There’s no telling how long Tubi will get to keep the show, but the timing couldn’t be better. We still have a long way to wait until the Dark Knight shows up on big screens again with The Batman: Part II and, unless Matt Reeves does a complete reversal, it will probably be as dour and grounded as the first film.

However, we do know that James Gunn has another Batman movie in the works, one that (unlike The Batman) will take place within the DCU. Moreover, we know that it will feature Robin as a major character, drawing inspiration from the Grant Morrison storyline Batman and Son, which introduced Bruce Wayne’s snotty ninja offspring, Damian. Moreover, we know that Gunn loves the Z-list weirdos who showed up in The Brave and the Bold, especially Bat-Mite.

We don’t know much more about Gunn’s Batman movie, but for those of us ready for a change from the gritty movies that have defined the Caped Crusader, we’re hoping that he’ll look to the cartoons for inspiration. And if that seems unlikely, well, just take a look at the title that Gunn has given the DCU film: The Brave and the Bold.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold streams for free on Tubi starting March 1, 2026.