Editor’s Note: This is the sixth episode of Beware the Batman that was not previously aired during it’s original run on Cartoon Network late last year. No official screens or videos have been released by WB for the remaining episodes.
“Monsters” begins with a look at two thugs armed with military-grade body armor suits with heavy fire power. These thugs are terrorizing a section of Gotham City known as “Old Gotham.” In defense of the residents of Old Gotham, rises a mysterious Golem creature.
The news reports of the Golem intrigue Batman and Katana, especially since they feature District Harvey Dent accusing Batman of being the so-called “Golem.” Dent vows to use his new special police unit to take down Batman. In response to the actions of the Golem and Dent’s accusations, Batman and Katana head to Old Gotham to investigate.
After breaking up another body-armored thug and Golem confrontation, Batman and Katana take the body armor to the Batcave for analysis. Once there, they realize the massive amount of money it would take to afford the armored suits and begin to look more closely at the attacks. Batman looks at the construction projects happening just outside of Old Gotham and at the list of tenants living in one of the new apartment buildings adjacent to Old Gotham. Without explanation Batman takes Katana back to Old Gotham. She complains of his secretiveness and brooding of late.
Batman and Katana begin searching an abandoned building in Old Gotham, and Batman’s theory is confirmed. The Golem is Metamorpho. Batman and Katana team up with Metamorpho to defend and Old Gotham from the armored thugs, but must avoid Harvey Dent’s police unit.
While the writers did an excellent job crafting an intriguing main plot that kept the viewer, the episode as a whole suffers from three extremely irritating problems. The first of which is the fact that Gotham’s district attorney is running a police unit. What municipality would let a lawyer run a police unit? This subplot rests upon a faulty foundation that makes it hard to believe. Secondly, since the conclusion of the League of Assassins story arc, the writers have been trying to craft a new arc wherein Alfred has left and that has made Bruce Wayne/Batman moody. They have not accurately depicted this. As of right now, Batman is not dark enough to support Katana’s claim that he is going down a dark and dangerous road. Even though it has only been going on for two episodes, this story arc is already starting to feel like it is dragging. Lastly, the ending to Metamorpho’s story in this episode was cheesy and campy, reminiscent of the 1960s Batman TV show. It was one of those moments that did not seem to fit with the overall tone of this series. All three of these problems mounted to drag down what could have been a great story.
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