Looking back at the lighter side of all things Batman

In the 1960s, a correction was not required to the seriousness of superhero movies. And yet, we got the silliest, and frankly best, version of Batman. “Batman” is an intentional comedy. It’s supposed to be funny. Adam West is trying to be funny as Batman, and Bruce Wayne, and he’s terrific. The whole show is so goofy, but it’s a delight. It’s also probably why superhero stuff was seen as a lark for so many years. Worth it!

If you worship Frank Miller’s “Batman” comics, maybe these comics in homage to “Batman ’66,” aka the Adam West show, is maybe not for you. For others, though, it’s a nice flavor of Batman comics. The color palette and character design are an homage to the show. Also, characters created for the show like King Tut show up in the comics. While the books are a smidge more serious than the show, it’s still fairly breezy all things considered.

Tim Burton’s “Batman” definitely has a different color scheme and design for Gotham City than the Adam West show. However, Burton’s movie is also darkly funny. This mostly comes from Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime. When he’s playing “Partyman” and destroying art it’s funny, but it’s not light. Certainly Joker electrifying a man into a smoking skeleton isn’t joyous, but it’s definitely funny to a certain sensibility.

Hey, we said this was a collection of the lighter Batman offerings. We didn’t say they were all good. “Batman Forever” is a Joel Schumacher film, and Schumacher is a fan of camp and all things over the top. This one is…okay. Chris O’Donnell’s Robin is clumsy, for example. That being said, it’s on the lighter side of things, and Jim Carrey is playing The Riddler. In 1995, that meant hammy comedy.

This is when Schumacher pushed things too far. “Batman & Robin” is remarkably bad. It remains possibly the worst superhero movie made by a major studio. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze is all we need to say, right? Batman has a branded credit card. We’re definitely a long way from Burton’s “Batman Returns” with Penguin biting noses off and Catwoman doing the whole S&M thing.

HBO Max’s “Harley Quinn” is an out-and-out comedy, but don’t mistake it for family-friendly. Like, really don’t. It’s raunchy as all get out, full of vulgarity and gore. While Batman is not the main character, take a guess on who is, but he’s featured plenty in the show. The first season of “Harley Quinn” is fun, but we will admit diminishing returns set in after that.

If you enjoy “Batman ’66,” and you like animation, check out “Return of the Caped Crusaders.” The direct-to-home-media movie is a loving homage to that show. In fact, West returns to voice Batman. Also, Burt Ward voices Robin, and Julie Newmar voices Catwoman. It’s colorful. It’s full of labels and visualizations of sound effects. Basically, it takes a live-action cartoon and turns it into an actual cartoon.

The end of an era. West, Ward, and Newmar returned for another animated Batman adventure. While Two-Face was never a villain in the old show, why not give him a spot in this extended “Batman ‘66” universe? William Shatner voiced Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, for good measure. The Blu-ray version included a post-credits scene involving the introduction of Harley Quinn, indicating there were hopes of making more of these movies. Alas, West died after recording his voiceover work for “Batman vs. Two-Face,” and the movie was released posthumously. It serves as the last of West’s Batman adventures.

“Teen Titans Go!” is pure silliness. It’s absurdist and a lot of fun. The show focuses on the Teen Titans, a group including Robin, but Batman shops up occasionally. However, the Batman of “Teen Titans Go!” is a giggling goofball who pals around with Commissioner Gordon. You know, having slumber parties and such.

Batman has a famous car, but the kids’ cartoon “Batwheels” takes things further. The whole “Bat-Family” series of automobiles are anthropomorphized and given personalities, from the Batmobile to Batwing to Batgirl’s motorcycle. The show is part of Cartoon Network’s answer to Nick Jr., so obviously it’s quite light. Batman does show up, by the way, and is voiced by none other than Ethan Hawke.

Back in the 1970s, cartoons were for weekday afternoons and weekend mornings. CBS had plenty of successful shows. One of them was “Superfriends,” which Batman was part of. At the same time, though, Batman had his own show. However, “The New Adventures of Batman” was built around Batman’s interactions with Bat-Mite, an interdimensional imp who creates chaos. While it made things more comedic, it didn’t take. “The New Adventures of Batman” only lasted 16 episodes.

The Scooby gang hung out with some unexpected folks. Famously, the Harlem Globetrotters were around a lot, but they weren’t the only ones. The “New Scooby-Doo Movies” also features the likes of Don Knotts, Davy Jones, and, yes, Batman and Robin. Suddenly, the Caped Crusader was joining forces with a bunch of teens in a van. Years later, when “Scooby-Doo” started churning out direct-to-video movies, one of them brought Batman back into the mix.

Yes, there are Batman children’s books. Quite a few of them, in fact. Most of them are picture books, including “Fright Club,” a title that riffs on “Fight Club” presumably for the adults reading the books to their kids. There is, near as we can tell, only one chapter book for kids based on Batman, 2010’s “Trapped in Time.”

Amazon Prime has a new, serious animated Batman show, “Caped Crusader.” Before that, though, Amazon actually contributed to the lighter side of the Dark Knight as well. The direct-to-streaming movie is a Christmas film. It focuses less on Batman and more on his son Damian Wayne, who is left (ahem) home alone on Christmas Eve. Of course, his home is Wayne Manor, and so Damian transformed himself into “Little Batman” to protect his homestead.

When it comes to lighter Batman far, “The Lego Batman Movie” is to a generation what “Batman ‘66” was to a couple generations. Will Arnett’s bombastic, arrogant Batman first appeared in “The Lego Movie,” but then he got his own spinoff film. Rightfully so! Batman offered plenty of fodder for a whole film set in the world of Lego. While a change in Lego rights from Warner Bros. to Universal means we won’t get a sequel, at least we got the fun of “The Lego Batman Movie.”