10 Darkest Batman: The Animated Series Episodes

10. Growing Pains

Starting off this list with one of the most deeply disturbing episodes in the series - 'Growing Pains'.

When Robin encounters an amnesiac runaway, whom he calls Annie, the Boy Wonder takes it upon himself to protect her from a strange man who is chasing her down. We learn close to the end that Annie is a part of a Clayface that got detached and gained sentient independence.

Robin is smitten by Annie, but also horrified that the sweet and innocent girl he sought to protect was not a person after all, but merely an appendage to the might clay monster.

The episode ends with Annie re-absorbing into Clayface, thus 'killing' herself to save Robin. As far as poetic deaths go, it's pretty rough to watch a young girl with no concepts of right or wrong merge into a giant clay monster. While it is disturbing to watch, and Batman works his best to console Robin, we see that he has been gravely affected by it.

Whether kids (and adults!) saw Annie as an actual person is open to interpretation, but hearing Robin quietly call Clayface a murderer sinks in more than any accusation to Joker or Two Face.