These jaw-dropping moments are guaranteed to shock. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most shocking and emotional moments from this award-winning animated series.
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00:00You always take shots from folks who just don't get the joke!
00:04Aah!
00:04Oh!
00:05Oh!
00:05Oh!
00:06Oh!
00:06Oh!
00:07Oh!
00:07Oh!
00:08Oh!
00:08Oh!
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're
00:11counting down our picks for the most
00:13shocking and emotional moments from this award-winning animated
00:17series.
00:18Fair warning, there will be some batty spoilers to come.
00:21Ah!
00:21Ah!
00:22Ah!
00:22Ah!
00:23Ah!
00:23Ah!
00:24Ah!
00:24Ah!
00:25Ah!
00:25Ah!
00:26Ah!
00:26Ah!
00:27Ah!
00:27Ah!
00:28Ah!
00:28Ah!
00:29Ah!
00:29Duplicate Sacrifice.
00:31Batman is already a tragic figure as it is.
00:34A second Batman is just insult to injury.
00:38Are you alright?
00:39Alfred, what's happened to me?
00:42This Batman is a robot created to destroy all of humanity.
00:46But this duplicate Batman, injected with Bruce Wayne's memories and personality,
00:51believes he is the real deal and goes into an existential crisis when the evidence says otherwise.
00:58Picture a world completely free of crime, free of suffering, free of frailty.
01:04Who is he? What was he made for?
01:07When he believes he has killed the real Batman,
01:09the duplicate commits an act of self-sacrifice so great that it leaves Batman himself wondering
01:15if his doppelganger did have a soul after all.
01:18Could it be it had a soul, Alfred?
01:20A soul of silicon.
01:22But a soul, nonetheless.
01:24It's a devastating scene that makes us question our own reality.
01:28Number 9.
01:29Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne's friendship dissolves.
01:32Batman and Dick Grayson as Robin have always had a difficult friendship in most Batman media.
01:38But this fight ranks among the worst the pair has suffered.
01:42Not like this. Not in front of his family.
01:44The sooner he talks, the sooner we leave.
01:47After the duo butted heads over Batman's rough interrogation methods,
01:51Dick learns that his girlfriend, Barbara, was actually Batgirl.
01:55He argues with Batman over not telling him about Barbara's secret,
01:59even while Barbara argues that Dick hadn't been so forthcoming with her either.
02:03I still can't believe it. How could you keep something like this from me?
02:07You weren't exactly honest with me either.
02:09But you told him. Fed up with Batman's leadership,
02:12Dick quits, and when his mentor tries to stop him, punches him in the face.
02:18Robin, wait.
02:23The tension and drama of the moment are palpable,
02:26and the explosion of violence between two friends is heartbreaking for us,
02:31as well as for Dick and Bruce. Number 8.
02:34Bruce Wayne versus Batman.
02:36What would happen if Bruce Wayne didn't watch his parents die?
02:39What would Gotham be like? In this emotionally fraught episode,
02:43Bruce finds himself in a world where his parents are still alive
02:47and someone else is Batman instead.
02:59Everything seems perfect, but true to form,
03:02Bruce can't be content and senses something is off.
03:05Sure enough, he realizes he is in a dream world,
03:08just by the nonsense text of the newspapers.
03:11That's because reading is a function of the right side of the brain,
03:14while dreams come from the left side.
03:17It's impossible to read something in a dream.
03:20He confronts this world's Batman, who turns out to be the Mad Hatter in disguise.
03:25Facing a dark reality instead of living in happy dreams is a courageous act,
03:30but one rife with heartbreaking implications. In the end,
03:34Bruce must always choose his fractured self over any chance of healing.
03:39No one's will is strong enough to escape my dream machine!
03:43Why? Why did you do it?
03:47Number seven, Baby Doll's breakdown.
03:50Batman's greatest villains almost always have a sympathetic side to them,
03:55or at least horrendously tragic backstories.
03:58That was especially the case with Mary Doll,
04:00an actress with a condition to look like a child no matter her age.
04:06Mr. Happy Head says you're really gonna get it now.
04:11Unable to live and look like her true age, reeling from her failed acting career,
04:16she is driven to madness and a life of crime.
04:20Batman confronts her in the Hall of Mirror,
04:22forcing her to accept the sad reality of her appearance.
04:26That's me in there. The real me. There I am.
04:31Baby Doll breaks down, her illusions quite literally shattered.
04:36It is a devastating scene,
04:38and one that makes us question the thin line between fantasy and reality.
04:48Number six, Trent's epiphany.
04:51Sometimes Batman can get very meta about itself. A tribute to original Batman lead, Adam West.
04:58This episode has Batman meet his childhood hero, the Gray Ghost.
05:02I need to work, Frankie. Get me something. You're my agent.
05:06I try, son. I really do.
05:09The Gray Ghost is actually an actor in a cheesy action TV show
05:13that inspired Bruce Wayne to become Batman in the first place.
05:16Simon Trent is now broke, washed up, and embittered over being typecast.
05:22I'm not the Gray Ghost. After helping Batman solve crimes that directly mimic the TV show,
05:29Trent realizes the legacy and impact his performance had on a generation.
05:33This touching revelation also forces us to consider Batman's own legacy in our hearts and culture.
05:40You know, as a kid, I used to watch it with my father. The Gray Ghost was my hero.
05:45Really? And he still is.
05:49Number five, Harley's revelation. After Harley Quinn is released from Arkham Asylum,
05:55she is determined to go straight. Unfortunately,
05:59a misunderstanding causes Harley to panic and kidnap socialite Veronica Vreeland.
06:04Please, Harley. Let me go. I'm rich. I'll pay whatever you want.
06:08If you'll just- This leads to a chase where Batman confronts her and offers his help.
06:14But Harley breaks down. If the world expects her to be an insane criminal,
06:18perhaps it's best if she returns to that life.
06:21I tried to be good. I really did. But if that's not good enough, fine!
06:28Let's get back to basics. Harley may have committed horrible crimes,
06:33but one could argue that it was because of her twisted relationship with the Joker.
06:37By herself, Harley has a chance,
06:40and that it seemed to be taken away from her just for one small mistake is heartbreaking enough.
06:45Nice guys like you shouldn't have bad days.
06:51Sadly, it wouldn't be long until Harley fell back in with the Joker getting thrown out of a window.
07:01Number four, Dick Grayson's parents die.
07:05Like most Batman characters, Dick Grayson's backstory is marred by early tragedy.
07:10In this episode, Dick Grayson encounters the man who killed his parents, Tony Zuko.
07:16You're gonna be calling Tony Zuko and Sue out of my way, punk.
07:23Dick and his parents were part of a circus act.
07:26When the ringmaster refuses to be blackmailed by Zuko,
07:29the latter then partially saws off the rope of the Grayson's trapeze act,
07:33leading to tragic consequences.
07:43Although Batman adopts Dick and hunts down Zuko,
07:45the crook evades capture. Dick is left alone and feeling unloved,
07:51blaming himself for his parents' deaths.
07:53If only I could have stopped him. I saw him coming out of the tent.
07:58I knew he didn't belong there.
08:00Dick's parents' death, reflecting Batman's, is a devastating parallel
08:04and a dark comment on how trauma begets even more trauma.
08:08Because there's a little boy up there who's just aching for some of that attention.
08:13I'm doing this for him. Number three, Annie's sacrifice.
08:18This animated series, and the Batman franchise in general,
08:21doesn't lack for emotionally stirring and shocking deaths.
08:25This death, however, is arguably among the most horrific.
08:30Yeah, but you don't remember anything.
08:34Robin meets a young girl in trouble and rescues her.
08:37The problem is, though, that she can't recall anything, even her name.
08:42Calling her Annie, Robin fights against a mysterious figure who claims he is her father.
08:47What do you want? I'm her father, punk.
08:52It turns out that this is Clayface, who made Annie from the mud of his old body.
08:57In the fight against Clayface, Annie pushes Clayface off balance,
09:01allowing him to swallow her into his body.
09:10Run, Robin! Hurry!
09:15The end of this sympathetic character, who had so much promise,
09:19and Robin's reaction is nothing short of horrific.
09:24We'll book him on the robberies in B&E, right? Anything else?
09:27Yeah, murder. Number two, The Snow Globe.
09:31Of all of the villain backstories in the Batman franchise,
09:34this may be the most tragic. Mr.
09:37Freeze began as Victor Freeze, an employee of Gotcorp,
09:40who froze his terminally ill wife, Nora, via cryogenesis,
09:45until a cure for her could be found.
09:47Once a remedy has been found... Open this door! Open it now!
09:53However, funding for his research was cut by a callous CEO,
09:57Ferris Boyle, leading to Nora's apparent death.
10:00They fight, and Freeze falls into a table of chemicals,
10:04turning him into Mr. Freeze. It would move me to tears,
10:08if I still had tears to shed.
10:13After Batman thwarts Mr.
10:15Freeze's attempts to avenge his wife, he is turned over to Arkham Asylum.
10:19Taking out a snow globe of his lost wife,
10:22he begs her forgiveness for failing to avenge her.
10:25I can only beg your forgiveness, and pray you hear me somehow, someplace.
10:33This case of corporate evil and spousal devotion
10:36makes for one of the most brutally heartbreaking in the series.
10:40Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:44Harvey Dent returns to Arkham Asylum,
10:47because Two-Face's struggle for recovery is heartbreaking.
10:51You're your own worst enemy, Harvey. No, I'm your worst enemy.
10:56Dr. Leslie Tompkins consoles Batman,
10:59because Batman's trauma still haunts him, and also us.
11:03This used to be a beautiful street.
11:05Good people lived here once. Good people still live in Crime Alley.
11:16Batman breaks down, because seeing this stoic hero lose it is beyond devastating.
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11:41If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings,
11:43and switch on notifications. Number one, the death of Batgirl.
11:48Granted, this turned out to be Barbara's nightmare,
11:51as she had been injected with Scarecrow's fear toxin.
11:54But as most of the episode portrayed her death as if it were real,
11:57it doesn't lessen the emotional devastation of the scene.
12:01While we polished off his goons, the maniac ran.
12:04Barbara went after him. In this nightmarish scenario,
12:07Batman, Robin, and Batgirl are chasing Scarecrow.
12:11But when Batgirl catches up, Scarecrow attacks her,
12:14and throws her off the ledge into a car.
12:25With her last dying breath,
12:26she manages to call out to her father, Commissioner Gordon.
12:36She expires in his arms, leading Gordon to blame Batman for her death.
12:41Here, the consequences of Barbara keeping her alter ego a secret
12:44from her father are shown by the worst possible scenario.
12:48A scenario, albeit mercifully fake, that has left scars in our psyche.
12:53Please, Jim. For Barbara.
12:58Which other moment from the animated series had you in a glass case of emotions?
13:02Let us know in the comments down below.
13:05You're a mom and dad?
13:09Does the hurt ever go away?
13:12I wish I could say yes.
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