Hirotrum t1_iswgod9 wrote on October 19, 2022 at 5:06 AM

Reply to comment by denizenKRIM in Return to Gotham: In Its Scariest Episodes, Batman: The Animated Series Went “Over the Edge” by PetyrDayne

The DCAU always frusterated me by how often it dipped its toes only halfway into dark themes. Everything dramatic that happens always gets reset back to the status quo(everytime the show teases the possibility of harley having character development i want to scream) . And if something DOES change the status quo, it always happens offscreen, in between series (dick leaving, joker's death, ace's death) and is only shown in a flashback LONG AFTER youve already gotten used to the effects of that event, so nothing ever feels too groundbreaking; youre never left wondering what the hell is going to happen and what the reprocussions of what just happened are going to be.

It felt like the writers really wanted to make a serialized style of story, but were held back by the standards of the time.

Mattyzooks t1_isy46ot wrote on October 19, 2022 at 3:32 PM

Counterpoint though. Lex Luthor. Justice League wildly changed up his status quo a few times. His first appearance rocked his status quo as a billionaire philanthropist and CEO. He gets exposed, loses everything, and has cancer for the next few seasons. Forms an Injustice League. Actually finally goes to prison. Eventually gets a pardon. Pretends to be an upstanding citizen for a bit and runs for President but it's all a ruse to become a god. Achieves it via Brainiac. Then after being separated, suffers from hallucinations. Joins the Legion of Doom, slowly becoming pissed off on how it's run, shoots the head of the Legion at point blank in a meeting (becoming its leader). Then he fights in a Legion of Doom civil war, revives Darkseid, and ultimately sacrifices himself to save Superman and the planet from Darkseid while kinda achieving his goal of being 'beyond human.' Not all of these are dark changes to the status quo but they kept this character on an actual arc once they brought him over from STAS into JL and JLU.