There have been a lot of different takes through the decades about when Bruce Wayne first became Batman. Was it the moment Joe Chill killed his parents? Years later, when a bat crashed through his window? Or, is it as Batman: Caped Crusader posits, in the middle of the night lurking in the doorway of Alfred Pennyworth’s bedroom? And that latter take leads to what is, hands down, the creepiest young Bruce Wayne moment of all time.
In the season’s third episode, “Kiss of the Catwoman,” Bruce (Hamish Linklater) is trying to track down Catwoman (Christina Ricci) while going to therapy with Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Jamie Chung). Throughout his therapy sessions, we flash back through the regular beats of Batman’s origin story. Young Bruce (Santino Bernard) watched his parents get gunned down in an alleyway. Alfred (Jason Watkins) took him home and tried to comfort him. And ultimately, he decided to make criminals pay.
The way Caped Crusader does it, though, is like a horror movie. Late at night, Bruce can’t get the thought of his parents being shot out of his mind. Previously near-mute, the pre-teen sobs and can’t sleep… Leading directly to Alfred, asleep in his bed, woken by his door creaking open.
Young Bruce is standing there in the darkness completely still, and as Alfred wakes up, stunned, the kid says, “They’re going to pay.”
“They?” asks Alfred.
“All of them,” Bruce continues, as the camera moves closer and closer. “I’m going to make them pay. And you’re going to help me.”
It’s Creepy Kid 101, from the same playbook as The Shining, Orphan, The Omen… Take your pick. And it digs straight into what Caped Crusader is trying to say about Batman: Bruce Wayne died in that alley, too, and Batman was born. He became a monster, to fight monsters.
There’s also a fair amount of the supernatural in the show, something the comics have grappled with repeatedly. But in the middle of an episode that seems to be having a lot of fun with the Catmobile, and other goofy bits, it’s an ominous jump scare that reframes how we’re supposed to see one of the most iconic characters in fiction. It’s also just darn creepy. Go back to sleep, Bruce!
Batman: Caped Crusader is now on Prime Video.
