Consume All Media! Batman and Robin: "Chapter Fifteen: Batman Victorious"

Joe Heath is a big fan of comic books and watching things in order. So they made this spreadsheet containing every serial, short, film, television episode, commercial, motion comic, and web series based on a comic book. Now they're watching them all. Previously, Joe watched the fourteenth chapter of Batman and Robin. This time, they conclude with the fifteenth chapter.

Batman and Robin: “Chapter Fifteen: Batman Victorious” - 16:38 (Available on Amazon)

No one was shot, but Vicki did shoot a picture. She leaves to get the photo developed.

Police check all the cars in the vicinity and arrest the Wizard's getaway driver.

Batman tells Gordon to tap all of the payphones in the area, in case the Wizard tries to call someone. Batman tapping everyone's phones? I hope he never does that again. (He will do this again in 2008's The Dark Knight.)

The Wizard finds a payphone and calls his henchmen. He says to keep the machines running at full power, even if they are overheating.

Gordon is listening in and gets the address of the payphone. He sends some men to apprehend the invisible Wizard.

Vicki returns with the developed photo and reveals that the Wizard is... Carter.

Gordon says this makes no sense and he's absolutely right because Carter is 100% dead. Also, why did he take his mask off? He didn't take it off the last time he was invisible.

Anyway, Batman sends Robin to where they kept losing the henchman. He tells Robin to hide and see if he can figure out where they are going.

The police show up to get the Wizard but he slips right past them because he's invisible and steals their car. The police try to stop him and he drives right through their barricade.

You can definitely see the driver in that shot.

Anyway, he loses control of the vehicle and crashes. He heads off on foot, nudging some branches along the way to really sell the invisible effect.

He reappears after the machine overheats too much, but he is picked up by his henchmen before any police notice. They go to the secret entrance to the submarine hideout and Robin sees them enter. He calls Batman and lets him know.

Vicki is wandering around near where the secret entrance is for reasons unknown. Probably because the writers figured she had to be grabbed by henchmen one last time. She is tied up in a car and rolled towards a cliff. Batman shows up just in time to stop it from going over the edge.

The police arrest the henchmen and Batman runs off to find Robin. He very purposefully doesn't untie Vicki. Kind of a dick move, Batman.

Batman and Robin go through the secret entrance and see a henchman coming out of the submarine. They grab him and he helps them get into the Wizard's inner lair by tricking the hologram viewer.

This... makes no sense. I've seen these henchmen ride the submarine to the Wizard's secret lair probably a dozen times. His lair is NOT inside the entrance to the submarine base. Don't establish something a million times and then forget about it in the last chapter!

Anyway, they get into a fight with the Wizard and his henchmen. The Wizard ducks out and Batman follows him.

They wind up at Hammil's mansion where we discover that the Wizard isn't Carter, but is instead Carter's twin brother. Batman stops him and turns him over to the police.

Later at Gordon's office, Batman explains the whole plot and how Hammil, Brown, and Dunne were all innocent. While it makes a sort of sense, the twin reveal is very unsatisfying because there were literally no clues to it.

After Batman finishes showing off his amazing detective skills, Vicki asks if he will join her and Bruce Wayne for dinner that evening. Batman happily agrees. No one invites Robin, which seems rude.

Suddenly Gordon's phone rings. Batman answers it despite it not being his phone. He says the call is for Vicki. She takes the phone and we hear Bruce on the other end saying he's going out of town and can't keep their date. But then we see that it's Alfred playing a record over the phone.

It's very convenient that Vicki pretty much immediately hangs up and doesn't ask any follow-up questions.

Everyone laughs at how stupid it was for Vicki to think Batman was Bruce Wayne.

Robin is still not invited to dinner.

Should you watch it, though? As per usual with these serials, the ending is a little rushed. The resolution barely holds up and excessively established geography is completely ignored. But the invisible shenanigans are still fun to watch and the end joke is decent. It helps that it's pretty much the only time that Batman and Robin don't look bored!

All in all, this serial is both better and worse than its predecessor. The actors playing Batman, Robin, and Alfred are huge steps down from the original. There are loads of plot holes, dropped storylines, and rehashed scenes. Plus it feels weird for most of it to take place during the day in deserted mountainous regions, rather than in the city at night. But on the other hand, there are some impressive stunts, fun ideas, and a legitimately interesting henchman! Plus the villain isn't a racist caricature this time around! So it's definitely a mixed bag, but an overall enjoyable one.

Also, the entire serial has been riffed by the guys over at Rifftrax if you need a little help getting through it. (They’ve riffed the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial, as well. The first and last of the 40s!)

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And that’s it for the 1940s! Who wants to see some stats?

There were 9 serials, consisting of a total of 129 chapters. Plus, there were 17 animated Superman shorts. All together, that's 1 day, 16 hours, 13 minutes, and 32 seconds worth of comic book adaptations!

Hop Harrigan, The Vigilante, and the live-action Superman were murder-free (as was the Batman in Batman and Robin, even with that clear attempt on Robin's life). However, the original Batman and Congo Bill both scored 1 on their kill counts. After that is Captain Marvel with 6, Spy Smasher with 15, and Captain America at the head of the pack with 20. The animated Superman also got an unspecified amount of kills in Eleventh Hour. It's possible Superman was the most murdery of them all, but we just can't confirm.

Finally, there were 4 gorillas.

Tune in next time for the return of Superman in Atom Man vs. Superman and the start of the 1950s! Fingers crossed for more gorillas!

A version of this article was previously published on The Dipp.

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