The Invincible Iron Man

In 2007, Marvel was busy making its first live-action Iron Man movie. So to prepare for this — and capitalize on any potential popularity — Marvel decided to discontinue its burgeoning Ultimate Avengers franchise, and instead tell the origin of Iron Man. Unfortunately, it is difficult to say whether this movie can serve as an actual prequel to Ultimate Avengers. The animation style is exactly the same, and Marc Worden reprises his role as Iron Man, but that's about where the similarities stop. It is also worth noting that many people consider this to be the worst Marvel animated movie ever, and I just might agree with that. So without further ado, here is my review of The Invincible Iron Man, directed by Patrick Archibald and Jay Oliva, and starring Gwendoline Yeo as Iron Man's girlfriend, Li Mei, and Rodney Saulsberry as his trusty sidekick, Rhodey.

Since this is such an awful movie that would have scored less than a zero, I'm not going to bother with recording my point deductions. Instead, I'll just give you my laundry list of complaints about this film. I don't mean to be negative — I truly wanted to like this movie — but it just sucked so bad. My first complaint is Tony Stark's voice. Marc Worden was serviceable as Iron Man in the Ultimate Avengers movies, but he also didn't have very many lines in them. Here, he is given very lengthy monologues, and is required to run the whole gamut of emotions. He's supposed to be a charming womanizer, a suave businessman, an emotionally-distressed friend, an injured prisoner, and a heartbroken superhero. Unfortunately, Worden used the exact same tone of voice to convey all those emotions. He talks the exact same way to the woman in the hot tub as he does to his father in the board meeting. He is not charming, emotive, or relatable. And this is a major problem when he's talking nonstop through the whole movie.

But a probably even bigger complaint is the inclusion of magic and the supernatural into this Iron Man origin story. Iron Man is one of Marvel's most realistic, scientific-based heroes. Why throw all that away by making him fight magical demons? It does not fit at all, and it especially doesn't fit when we see a prophecy that shows an "Iron Knight" defeating the Mandarin. Seriously? And to make matters even worse, all these demons were CGI, and it was painfully obvious. They didn't interact with their environment correctly, and just looked overall awful. It was also jarring when they would switch from CGI to standard animation whenever Iron Man had to punch one of them. On a whole, the action sequences in this movie was terrible, especially compared to the Ultimate Avengers movies.

Another extremely disappointing fact of this movie is that Iron Man's classic red-and-gold suit is only seen briefly in this movie. To recap the plot briefly, Tony Stark gets captured while trying to save Rhodey, who was captured while on an archeological dig in China. Tony's heart gets destroyed in this attack, and his captors want him and Rhodey to build some device to re-bury the lost city they just uncovered. Instead, Tony makes a big clunky Iron Man suit to escape. Turns out he has already made a ton of Iron Man suits, so it was easy for him to do it in captivity. He also finds out that the city they unearthed has unleashed four elemental demons, bent on resurrecting the Mandarin by collecting his five (not ten) rings. A wise old monk gave Tony a map of the rings, so he decides to find them before the demons do. The first ring is at the bottom of the ocean, so he heads there in an ugly yellow underwater suit. The second ring is in a volcano, and this is where he dons the classic red-and-gold suit. But then for the final battle, he wears another ugly and boring gray suit. The cover of the DVD shows the Iron Man suit we all know and love. So why then did we only get a couple of minutes in the whole movie in that suit?

This movie also fails at telling a compelling Iron Man origin story. Let's compare this to the live-action version. In that movie, Tony was a selfish, obnoxious weapons dealer, who was nearly killed by his own weapons while selfishly selling more weapons. This experience teaches him to rethink his life and try to undo all the damage he caused, beginning by escaping with a suit powered by the same device that keeps him alive. He started the movie as a jerk, but ended it as a hero. Now in this movie, Tony does not go on a journey like this at all. He's already a great hero before his accident. He staunchly opposes the weapons his dad's company is selling, and he only gets in trouble for wasting company money on goodwill missions and his secret stash of Iron Man suits. We get a quick scene of him in a hot tub with a girl, but that hardly makes him a jerk. Especially when he drops everything to try to save Rhodey. So to surmise, Tony Stark already was a hero before this movie started. He already had tons of suits, and was doing everything in his power to make the world a better place. The only thing new that happened to him was getting his heart blown apart, but that's hardly an essential characteristic in this movie. It might as well have been a small scar on his cheek. So really, all this movie boils down to is a random adventure for Iron Man against ancient Chinese demons — something he should never be concerned with.

Now let's talk about how this movie fails to connect to the Ultimate Avengers movies. When we first see Tony Stark in Ultimate Avengers, it is implied that he is in complete control of his company. But in this movie, he didn't own his company until the very end, then he promptly handed control of it over to his dad, even though he was at odds with his dad the whole time and it seemed like he was pretty corrupt. Whatever. I guess Howard Stark eventually died or just handed control back to Tony at some point. We also replaced Jarvis with Pepper Potts in this movie, which seemed like a complete waste of time since Pepper acted exactly like Jarvis. And it brings up the question: Where was Jarvis in this movie and/or where was Pepper in the Ultimate Avengers movies? I could make up excuses for both, but I shouldn't have to. We also see some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents running around in this movie, but there is no reference to Nick Fury or any other superheroes for that matter. I wish this movie would've taken place after Ultimate Avengers 2, with Iron Man's story told through flashbacks. They still could've made this an Iron Man adventure, while showing some brief scenes of him talking with the other Avengers. That way Marvel would've been able to keep building on their nice animated movie continuity, and it probably would've forced this movie to be a bit more grounded.

And when I say this movie needed to be grounded, I mean it was as out there as it possibly could have been. Like past Jupiter. The ending sequence made absolutely no sense. I would almost like somebody to explain it all for me, but that would require me to live through it one more time. Here's what I caught.  Li Mei, Iron Man's default girlfriend, acted like she wanted to stop the Mandarin through the whole movie. She also spends a lot of time crying and complaining about her destiny, but she never elaborates on it. Until the very end, when it's too late. Iron Man gathered up four of the five rings and gave them to her, because that's what he was supposed to do. But it turns out Li Mei was actually the Mandarin's sole-surviving descendant, destined to revive the Mandarin. It also turns out that the fifth ring conveniently happened to be the bracelet she'd been wearing all movie. I guess ancient Chinese overlords didn't know the difference between rings and bracelets.

So anyway, Li Mei revives the Mandarin, which somehow requires her to become naked and surrounded by a giant ethereal form of the Mandarin, which conveniently creates enough clouds and shadows to cover her naughty bits. It's also really hard to tell if she's controlling the giant Mandarin or vice versa, because the larger Mandarin body sometimes mimics Li's actions, but also picks her up at times and orders her to kill Iron Man. It's all very strange, and probably best to not worry about it. Naturally we know Iron Man is going to win this fight — he is the hero, after all — but how do you think he does it? Does he use his incredible scientific mind to find a solution? Did he create some technological wonder for this sort of occasion? No. He beats the Mandarin by shouting (or coming as close to shouting as Marc Worden can), "You are Li Mei!" over and over again. This somehow gets through to her emotionally, and she … beats the Mandarin? I don't know. All I know is the giant ghost thing disappeared and for some reason Li Mei also died. Whatever. I'm just glad it's over know.

One complaint I had about both the Ultimate Avengers movies was the short running time. Seventy minutes was just not enough to get through their big stories and large casts. This movie was given 83 minutes to tell a story with a smaller cast and what should have been a simpler story. Instead we got a bare bones Iron Man origin and spent way too much time in China and dealing with stuff I don't care about as an Iron Man fan. This movie just dragged on forever and ever and failed to impress or entertain me even once. Well, at least we have the live-action movies.

Final score: 0

Ultimate Avengers 2

Marvel's first animated movie was Ultimate Avengers, which came out in Feb. 2006. It was so successful, that its sequel, Ultimate Avengers 2, came out in Aug. 2006. The remarkable thing about that quick turnaround is that the sequel was just as good, if not better than the original. Two new directors headed this movie — Will Meugniot and Richard Sebast — and all the original voices reprised their roles, with the addition of Jeffrey D. Sams as Black Panther.

My favorite thing about this sequel is that it ties directly into the first movie. Steve Rogers is still struggling with life in the future. Not only that, but he's struggling with life off the battlefield. He went immediately from World War II to fighting aliens. He hasn't had any time to decompress, and I love that this movie acknowledged that. I also really enjoyed seeing that Bruce Banner must pay the consequences of his actions. He purposefully and deceitfully turned himself into the Hulk and made a huge mess of things. Now he has to stay constantly sedated in a glass prison, being forced to relive the moment he lost control. I think it is a bit of a stretch to make his interrogator have a personal grudge against him — wouldn't Nick Fury know about that and prevent it? — but altogether, I really enjoyed this plot line. Plus one point.

Now, the whole premise of this film is that Black Panther's kingdom, Wakanda, is being attacked by the lone shape-shifting chitari, who went under the guise of Herr Kleiser in World War II. Since Kleiser fought Captain America, Black Panther seeks his aid in this fight. It's nice to give Captain America a personal connection, but I couldn't stop wondering why the shape-shifting chitari continued to remain in the form of a Nazi leader. We know he can change into other things — he disguises himself as Black Panther at one point — so why does he feel compelled to continue to pledge allegiance to a party that was destroyed 60 years ago? And what was he doing for the 60 years Captain America was frozen? Was he also frozen? Who found him and why? It would have been better had this chitari been revealed as Kleiser later on in the movie, but even if he was, they still would have had a few questions to answer, which I don't think they were prepared to. I have to take a point off for that.

But I will restore the score to a 6 for the extended background stories on all our characters. The first movie gave us just the bare essentials, but kind of made me mad with how vague some things were. But this movie clearly spelled out that Thor is indeed an Asgardian and regularly has conversations with Odin — although it was a shame we never got to see him. We also got to see Tony Stark's artificial heart and a great shot into his lab with his many replacement suits. And we even got to learn that Giant-Man's powers have some specific limitations. All these moments were made possible with the movie series format, and it makes me sad that we didn't get any more of these.

Just as with the first one, this movie suffers from occasionally having things happen for no apparent reason. When the chitari launch their full-scale invasion on Earth, a couple of soldiers head directly to Bruce Banner's prison. They can't break through the glass, and they indicate to the corrupt scientist that they want to kill him, which he tries to do by administering a lethal amount of sedatives. Now, it is nice that this chump was killed for his efforts, but it raises the question: Why did the chitari want to kill Bruce Banner? Did they know he was the Hulk? Is so, how? Or were these aliens simply extremely efficient killers and wanted to make sure that even Earth's prisoners were killed? I don't know. It's annoying. What's also annoying is that the filmmakers try to make it look like Banner died here, and gave him a touching scene with Betty Ross. But shouldn't the Hulk take over anytime Banner's life is in danger. True, we do see the Hulk later in the movie, but it's much later. Why did this transformation take so long? I have to take off a point for this.

We'll now fall to a 4 for the Black Panther. He's the new guy here, and for the most part, I liked him and his country. It was neat that his dad was the Black Panther and he passed on the role after his death. But they didn't explain the suit or its powers at all. At first it seemed just like a normal suit with some fancy claws, but then occasionally it would turn the Black Panther into an actual panther for a limited time. Huh? What? This movie went to great lengths to explain that all of Wakanda's power was technological, but now all of a sudden we have some supernatural elements in here? And I am fine with having magic and stuff in a story with Thor in it, but I would have liked the movie to address it.

One great thing this movie did that the first failed at was conveying that the chitari is a true global threat. The heart of the battle was in Wakanda, which was intense enough, but then we also saw the aliens landing all around the world, causing destruction wherever they went. The first movie's fight with the chitari seemed to go by very quickly, but this one lasted an appropriate amount of time. And that may be because we didn't have a Hulk rampage here, which is fine; I wouldn't want an exact repeat of last movie. So I guess I'll stop complaining about Black Panther and make the score a 5 again.

I really do enjoy the ending, but probably not for the reasons I'm supposed to. Giant-Man sacrifices himself and dies, which makes me very happy, because he was a big lame jerk through both of these movies. Oddly, the filmmakers decided we needed a second near-death scene immediately after Giant-Man's death, and we had Iron Man sacrifice himself to save everybody one last time. This was, of course, preceded by tons of talk about how selfish Tony Stark is, etc., etc., and the whole thing was repeated in the live-action Avengers movie. But instead of lamely being awoken by the Hulk's roar, this Iron Man was revived by a bolt of lightning from Thor. That makes more sense and is a lot cooler. Ironically, nobody mentions that maybe Thor should try to revive Giant-Man. True, he doesn't have a mechanical heart like Iron Man, but they still could have tried. However, I'm completely fine with this. I hated Giant-Man, and I was glad that nobody tried to save him and nobody seemed particularly sad that he died in the first place. Even his wife, Wasp, didn't even seem to shed a tear. I should be criticizing the film for this, but I can't. I was happy that Giant-Man died, and I think everybody else secretly was. Plus one point.

So there we have it. A direct sequel to a perfectly average film that was only slightly better. The main story, scope and action of this movie was superior, but it also suffered many of the same flaws of the first one. And most of those problems I believe come from the too-brief 70-minute running time. However, I was happy to have a nice little movie series of this Marvel Ultimate universe building on itself. I would have loved to have had a few more movies here that continued to teach us more about our favorite characters and introduce us to more heroes and villains. Instead, Marvel went on to make a handful of separate, disconnected movies and try a few more cartoon shows that I never really could get into. So with this, I bid farewell to the short-lived Ultimate Avengers movie series.

Final score: 6

Ultimate Avengers

DC's first animated movie was based off their most popular character and tied directly to their current popular TV series. I am, of course, speaking about 1993's Mask of the Phantasm, which was a success, despite having such an abbreviated production schedule. This movie inspired several more Batman movies, which I will get to eventually. But first, I decided to review Marvel's first animated movie, Ultimate Avengers, which didn't come out until 2006. It was directed by Curt Geda, Steven E. Gordon and Bob Richardson, starring Justin Gross as Captain America, Grey DeLisle as Wasp, Michael Massee as Bruce Banner, Marc Worden as Iron Man, and Olivia d'Abo as Black Widow.

Even though Marvel had successful cartoons in the '90s about Spider-Man and X-Men, the company sold away the movie rights to those characters to avoid bankruptcy. I'm not sure if those movie deals included animated versions, but I do find it telling that Marvel's first venture into this direct-to-video medium avoided their most popular characters. I also found it interesting that Marvel chose to not tell the original stories of these characters, but a revamped origin story based on the Ultimates series. The Ultimates was started in 2002 as a way to draw in new readers by telling new stories without being tied down to the large and complicated Marvel continuity. Everybody was redesigned and got a more modernized origin story, which provided the perfect plot for new audiences this movie could reach. And it did work for me, at least. I knew very little about these characters in 2006, and this movie educated me fairly well — but only about these alternate versions of the characters. It would have been nice had they been able to tell a story exactly like this while still keeping it in the main Marvel universe.

After recently re-watching this movie, I was surprised at how similar it is to The Avengers. Nick Fury gathers together Earth's mightiest heroes one at a time, allowing us to become acquainted with their powers and personalities, then they all fight an alien invasion. And it even happens to be the chitari in both movies. But unlike it's live action counterpart, Ultimate Avengers did not have the luxury of four complete origin movies for each of its characters. So everything had to move pretty fast here. And since they had so many characters and so little time, they decided to focus mainly on Captain America, which I think was a nice choice. But maybe that's just because I like Captain America so much. Then again, this movie was one of my first exposures to him, so it's probably responsible for a lot of my enjoyment in the character. I loved Captain America's origin story in this movie — especially the fact that it was tied to the chitari threat later in the film. The movie also did a great job with showing Steve Rogers awake and adjust to the new world — something I felt like the live action movies kind of skimped out on. So for this, I will award one point.

But now I have to take a point off for the redesign of Thor. I don't like anything about him in this movie. I hate his costume that is lacking a beautiful red cape, I hate that his hammer is half an axe, and I hate that the biggest battles he can find to fight are those against whale poachers. Really, Thor? There isn't anybody else causing a bigger threat to the planet? I also didn't like how Nick Fury kept implying that Thor was not really the god of thunder, but just a delusional super-powered being. Was Fury right, or was he just unable to accept that Thor actually was from Asgard? This movie never explained, and it bugged me. Now, I know that this movie is just an adaptation of a comic book, and most of my complaints about this new Thor should be directed at that book, and not the movie. But it still made me mad and pulled me out of the movie, so I'm going to have to take a point off.

I'll now drop the score to a 4 for a pretty big plot hole. Unlike the live action movies, this Nick Fury was initially hesitant to recruit the superheroes. He also has a hard time getting some of them to join. He has to twist Captain America's arm to get him to help, then is turned down by Thor and Iron Man twice — once as Tony Stark and once as Iron Man. Not only was this a waste of time in a 70-minute movie, but it set up a pretty big contradiction. When Nick Fury gathered the Avengers into the war room to explain the chitari threat, Iron Man shows up for no reason whatsoever. And nobody bats an eye. Was their a missing scene planned where something happened to Iron Man that caused him to change his mind? And was there another one to explain how Thor showed up conveniently at the final battle? The most annoying thing about this is everybody knows Iron Man and Thor are going to join the Avengers — they're on the DVD cover for crying out loud! So don't waste time with them saying no, then randomly saying yes and showing up at the most convenient time.

Another scene that I think was hurt by the time constraint was the destruction of the SHIELD helicarrier. We never saw it before it blew up. Nobody we cared about it ever set foot on it, so watching it crash into the ocean had no emotional impact at all. It also really hurt that this scene came right after the entire Avenger team disbanded after failing their first mission and then reunited without any prompting from anybody. People just randomly showing up is a main theme of this movie. We're down to a 3 now.

Of course, everything in this movie is building up to the final fight, and I do have to say the animation and action work very well here. And in a pleasant twist, the true danger at the end wasn't the chitari, but the Hulk — something I wish they would've done in The Avengers. I absolutely loved the moment when the battle is over, all the aliens are dead, but the Hulk is still going strong and violently turns on his teammates. He is large, he is out of control, and he is unstoppable. Plus one point.

And for my final point, I have to reward my favorite moment in the entire movie — Hulk picking up Thor's hammer. In some versions, only Thor is able to lift his hammer, but I liked this one, where it is simply a very, very heavy hammer. And what really made this moment was the build up to it. Hulk was on a rampage, and then Thor shows up with his great soundtrack (as much as I didn't like this Thor, I did love the choir music that constantly played behind him). And for a moment, it looks like Thor will be able to subdue the Hulk. But in a moment that surprises even him, Hulk lifts Thor's own weapon and uses it to knock him out. Fun stuff.

So we'll end with a perfectly average 5 for Marvel's first animated direct-to-video movie. Having never actually read the source material, I can't comment on the accuracy of this adaptation. But it was an overall fun, yet slightly flawed movie. I think it was too short and a bit repetitive in places. But it did do well enough for Marvel to start making some more of these animated movies, including a direct sequel to this movie, which I will be reviewing soon.

Final score: 5

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Today it is my privilege to review the first (and so far only) animated superhero film to have a theatric release. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was directed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski and stars Kevin Conroy as Batman, Dana Delany as Andrea and Mark Hamill as the Joker. The film was originally intended to be direct-to-video, but it was bumped up to be shown in theaters at the last second. Ultimately, the creators only had eight months to work on the movie, but they did have a budget of $6 million. It was released to a limited amount of theaters on Dec. 25, 1993, and only earned $5.6 million in the box office. This is partly because Warner Bros. didn't spend any money advertising it. But although it was a box office bomb, it did well in video sales and has since become something of a cult classic — especially after the beautiful Justice League Unlimited episode, "Epilogue."

As a kid, I didn't like this movie very much, and that was mostly because of Andrea. I just didn't like the idea of Batman ever having a girlfriend. But as I've grown older, I've come to accept and even appreciate Andrea. I did have to do a double take, though, because I forgot she was voiced by Dana Delany, who later voiced Lois Lane in Superman: The Animated Series.

The movie opens a bit on the slow side, but it never falls into the "bad" category. It mostly feels like a dressed up episode of the regular series. Until the flashbacks begin. Then everything becomes amazing. I loved seeing the younger versions of all the characters from Bruce to Alfred to even a slightly slimmer Harvey Bullock still in a blue police uniform. And most importantly, I loved how reminiscent this whole movie felt to Batman Year One. This was 20 years before a direct adaptation of that comic would be made, and until then, this was as close as it got. And even today, I the idea of a pre-Batman Bruce still holds up very well. It was great watching him struggle to intimidate the crooks on his first outing, and get into an intense police chase later on. That book set the standard for all Batman stories up through Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

I'll raise the score to a 7 for the haunting and tragic scene of Bruce pleading with his dead parents at their grave. They never asked him to be a vigilante, but he made a vow shortly after they died and he has dedicated his life to that vow. But now he's fallen in love and realizes he can't have both. It's tragic to watch this almost delusional man beg his parents forgiveness for not avenging their deaths. He cries, "I didn't count on being happy!" So sad. I would like to one day see a Batman story where he's able to have a loving family and still fight crime, but most people would probably think that's boring because Batman would lose his "edge."

As sad as that scene was, it only makes this next scene more powerful. After Andrea leaves him, Bruce becomes the Batman. It's beautifully shot in a dark bat cave, and after Alfred hands him his mask, he utters a rare "My God!" and it's completely justified in this moment. Bruce didn't just put on a scary costume — he became Batman. I get chills every time.

In the past 20 years, I've been able to get over my Batman-can't-have-a-girlfriend rule. But one thing about this movie still bugs me to this day, and that is the inclusion of a pre-Joker mobster. The Joker requires — demands — an absence of an origin story. I don't want to know a single thing about him before he became the Clown Prince of Crime. It's just not as fun that way. Now, I was very happy that he was involved in this movie — it would have been rather dull without him — but I wish they didn't have to show him before he got his skin bleached. I have to take off a point for this.

Coincidentally, it is the Joker who brings the score back to an 8. We see two versions of his laughing gas, and both are incredibly creepy. The first is on an old man that simply kills him with a grotesque grin on his face. The reveal was great and the image was haunting. The second victim was a younger man, who could not stop laughing uncontrollably — even after doctors gave him a sedative. This version of the Joker toxin tortuously kept him alive long enough for Batman to get some information from him, but it really seems like he died shortly after. This was a PG movie, so they had to keep all deaths as ambiguous as possible, but I like to think this guy died, too.

And as fate would have it, the Joker provides the final point for his final laugh in the movie. The theme park is exploding, the Phantasm is holding the Joker, and he knows he's going to die. Instead of panicking and trying to escape, he begins laughing maniacally like this is exactly what he wanted all along. Considering the situation and including the amazing music provided by a choir, I say this is the best Joker laugh of all time. This was Mark Hamill in his prime, and he knocked it out of the park.

So yeah, that was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. I really didn't have that much to say about it, but that's because everything was so good. The slow parts were pretty much an above average episode of the TV show, and the great parts were really great. The movie is not perfect by any means, though, which I think can be entirely blamed by the unusually short schedule they had to make it. This tight deadline required two different directors and four different writers, ultimately making the movie not quite as tight as it could have been. But on the whole, it is a great movie and a must-see for every Batman fan. It's also an essential viewing for fans of Batman: The Animated Series, as it gets closer to Batman's origin than any other episode. And even though Warner Bros. completely messed up the whole theatrical-release thing, this movie did provide the template for many successful direct-to-video movies for both DC and Marvel. I'd like to one day review all of them. Let's see how long it takes me.

Final score: 9

Harley and Ivy

One of the reasons Harely Quinn was able to make the jump from cartoons to comics is because this episode proved she can play well with others, especially Poison Ivy. "Harley and Ivy" was the 56th produced episode, but bumped up to be the 47th aired episode on Jan. 18, 1993.

I love the dysfunctional relationship between Joker and Harley. A lot of people have commented on how this is an abusive relationship and we shouldn't derive amusement from it, but I'm not going to get into that today. Let's just keep things light and laugh at the Joker yelling at Harley for doing exactly what he told her. And the best part of this opening chase scene was when Harley handed Joker the BANG! flag gun. "You didn't say which gun!" Plus one point.

I'll add another point for the great team-up of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. It just works perfectly. They are similar enough to logically be together, yet different enough to remain interesting. Sometimes writers forcibly put two characters together, but this pairing felt like it was always meant to be. Nowadays, some people have pushed the Harley-Ivy relationship a little to far, but on the whole, I appreciate their friendship and enjoy stories that put them together.

The score raises to an 8 for the funniest moment in the episode. Having just eluded the cops, Harley and Ivy decide to suddenly obey traffic rules and stop at a red light. Next to them is three guys in a convertible. Upon seeing two attractive ladies in costumes, the guys begin cat-calling and flirting. Ivy says, "Now boys, didn't your mommies tell you that's not the nice way to get a lady's attention?" One of them says, "Ooh, are you gonna spank us?" Harley says, "Yep! And here's the paddle!" And she pulls out a bazooka and blows up the car. She pulled out a bazooka! How wonderful!

As wonderful as this episode is, there is one thing that bugs me, and that's Poison Ivy's suddenly newfound feminism. I always thought she cared more about plants than people, let alone women's rights. Now, I get that this episode was kinda the girls vs. the guys, and a few of Ivy's remarks to this regard were perfectly warranted. But then she just went on and on about it, especially to Batman, whom she tied up to "symbols of male oppression." Seriously? Just kill Batman. Don't lecture him on feminism. I have to take a point off for that.

But I will add a point back for a brief, yet significant moment. Joker tries to gas Ivy with his poison boutonniere, but it doesn't work. That's because Poison Ivy's immune to poisons. I'm always happy when the writers remember basic character traits and keep them consistent. It sounds like a no-brainer, but many writers simply forget some things or don't even think to point them out. Another great thing about this encounter is it strengthens the Joker-Poison Ivy antagonism. I would love to see these two get into an all-out fight sometime. They may have already and I just missed it.

I have to raise the score to a 9 for the great ending. The Batmobile driving through flames is also a nice thing to see, but the more important part is with Renee Montoya actually catching Harley and Ivy. Montoya is a wonderful character, who was sadly underused — until that one time in the comics when they made her the Question, which I think is an improper use of the character. I like to think of her as the third best cop in Gotham behind Gordon and Bullock, and I think that's more than enough for her character. We just need to see her in action more as that great cop.

Final score: 9

Well, that concludes the second box set, or Volume 2, of Batman: The Animated Series. My average score for this volume was 6.8, slightly lower than Volume 1's 7.2. There were six perfect episodes, "Perchance to Dream," "Robin's Reckoning," "The Laughing Fish," "Almost Got 'Im," "I Am the Night" and "The Man Who Killed Batman." But there were a bunch of below average episodes with scores of 4 and 3. The low score for this volume was a 2, earned by "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Moon of the Wolf." But nothing matched the low score of a 1 set by last volume's "I've Got Batman in my Basement." And these six perfect episodes join last volume's four perfects — "On Leather Wings," "The Last Laugh," "Two-Face" and "Heart of Ice" — bringing the total number of perfect Batman: The Animated Series episodes to 10. As the show progressed, the potential for perfect episodes increased, but the amount of below-average episodes also increased, balancing everything out. I have a feeling that this trend will continue through the third volume.