They should have tapped into their continuity and used the mirror master clones to fill in these characters
batman and robin don't defeat them and because they are programmed to be opposites (without knowing their own past), they happen to fabricate one up that is insanely close to bruce's.
Also because the mirror master has no idea what batman looks like, his doppel ganger has a unique looking face about him (without the mask).
That would have been cool to see a reoccurring adversary that could take bats.
The only problem The batman has had is that it has yet to truelly show a foe that batman couldn't take in a physical confrontation 'martial arts style'. You get the impression when it comes to ass kicking, batman is in his element, especially against someone who can see into the future (shown in seconds of last season).
If matsuda was still around and this was a season four episode and scorn wasn't there, I would be fairly pleased but alas
That is an interesting idea, using the "mirror clones" from "A Mirror Darkly". THE BATMAN doesn't usually have subplots across a few episodes too often. There was the Bennet/Clayface thing in Season 1, and some bits with Riddler in the second (he was introduced as Gotham's newest freak, and the finale had him battling out Gotham's top two freaks, Joker & Penguin, for turf), and Seasons 3 & 4 usually had sidekick-focused subplots. I think Wrath & Scorn have more potential if written well (and there is the caveat), but it was a good idea.
As for physical prowess, to be fair, in the Timm cartoons and comics, a MAJORITY of Batman's rogues can be subdued with a minimum of physical force; the brains usually have to be used to deduce their criminal patterns and/or escape from their death-traps. As nearly everyone in THE BATMAN has developed fighting skills to some extent, though, they sometimes rely more on that.
There were some episodes where Batman needed to use his brains to survive. But I guess you are saying that even after Batman "figures it all out", there are few foes he can't overpower. I tend to agree, although there have been a few. Batman was almost helpless against D.A.V.E. until he scrambled his logic. He needed to re-direct sunlight to beat Dracula in THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA (the DTV from 2005 which was actually pretty good, although sadly Vicky Vale never made the leap to the series). In theory Bane should be someone who is impossible to beat physically, but between cord-yanks and Bat-Bot's, that isn't the case. Batman usually needs technology to beat Mr. Freeze or Clayface. Maxie Zeus was formidable. But, you could argue the same for the comics, too.
Sometimes in the comics, and it bleeds into the cartoons, Batman sometimes is seperated into different "modes". I call them "Stubborn Karate Man" and "Omnipotent Gadget Guy". They are self-explanatory. Sometimes Batman will resort to martial arts and nothing more to beat a rogue, even past the point where it should be obvious another trick is needed, often for dramatic effect (I can't count how many times Batman has resorted to fistcuffs with Killer Croc in the comics when at this point he should just gas 'em). And other times, he seems to have more trinkets than Iron Man & Inspector Gadget combined, prep-timing any threat. The trick is blending the two "modes" as well as remembering that at heart, Batman is supposed to be a Dark Knight Detective, too. It is a struggle, even for the best writers.
I am willing to give this a chance.
Good idea, but I expect bad execution. I'm starting to think the awesomeness of the last season was a fluke. It looked like they were starting to focus on story more and less on action, but with this season, it's been the opposite.
I wouldn't blame all of Season 4's mediocrity on the loss of Matsuda; he was around the first 3 seasons and those had full of underachieving moments. Greg Wiesman wrote a few episodes last season, but he has left to pen SPECTATCULAR SPIDER-MAN. We also don't have episodes by Stan Berkowitz or Paul Dini this season (they each wrote an episode last season). These three writers alone wrote nearly half of the last season.
I see Season 5 as more network/corporate driven; they want to push out a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie before Marvel rolles out an AVENGERS one, at least back when Season 4 & 5 were being planned, so I am sure the idea was to re-introduce kids to the Justice League with Batman. Granted, neither Aquaman or Wonder Woman are in THE BATMAN despite both being planned for the now-stalled JL film. Frankly I think the lack of ANY female heroines besides the teenage Batgirl robbed a chance at some fun dynamics for some of the JL team-up's.
