"Return of the Fearsome Fangs" is an appropriate title as this is the third time that we have seen the Terrible Trio animated in a Batman cartoon. They were horribly minor in the comics, and sometimes one wonders why DC's animation producers keep dredging them up. My only guess is because animal iconography is always simple and memorable, as well as usually makes a good toy (even if they never have been made into toys). The first time was in "The Terrible Trio" in BATMAN: TAS, in one of the last episodes that show had before moving from FoxKids to Kid's WB in the late 90's. That was a bit of a mundane episode, with the Trio basically being a bunch of bored rich types; a worthy premise that wasn't executed well. THE BATMAN years later also took another stab at them, again with a title of "The Terrible Trio", only that time they were more cliche "outsiders" at a college, and they actually mutated into their given animal forms to fight Batman & Batgirl, rather than just wearing masks. I felt it worked a bit better than the B:TAS attempt, and at least delivered better action (which was usually THE BATMAN's strong suit).
This time, they begin as rich guys in masks and eventually turn into animal forms. Progress!
The episode is essentially a nod to 70's style martial arts flicks and has some pretty damn good action sequences. The plot itself is generic, even if it does flesh out a little of Batman's past. Apparently he learned his martial arts from a semi mystical master named Wong Fei (Paul Nakauchi) who guards a mystical artifact. Fox, Shark, and Vulture have joined a night-empowered Shadow Clan and seek to steal it, and finally succeed in killing the old man. He reaches out to Batman for aid, and Batman responds (in the middle of a fight against The Top), but not before seeking to ally with the only student of Fei's who was the superior martial artist: Bronze Tiger (Gary Surgis).
I am hardly a DC buff, but this was the first team up hero who I really had no clue about before entering this episode, so I have no way to gauge accuracy. In the episode he was a bit stock; a typical arrogant prideful martial artist unused to losing who of course has to learn some humility and whatnot to become a better warrior. The moral of the episode, ironically, is to be willing to cheat to succeed over your enemies; least it's one a kid might realistically use in life!
The Trio steal the artifact and become monster-men, unbeatable by normal humans, but at some point Batman and Tiger gain the artifact and become animals themselves. Batman for once engages in some self depreciating humor at the end.
The teaser is with Jonah Hex, which seemed to imply Batman was time-traveling, but this bit wasn't mentioned. Aside for a "Bat-Hombre" homage, it was a bit mundane and forgettable. Jonah Hex is another figure, like the Trio, who keeps showing up in DC shows.
Basically, this was a standard fun but forgettable episode; not among the show's best, but not among the worst, either. Has some excellent action and a few clever lines, but that's it. For B
TB, that usually is enough.
