10 Comic Book Villains Humiliated By Batman

7. Bruce Wayne's Many One Liners - DC Animated Universe

The DC Animated Universe was a thing of real beauty. Between Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock and Justice League - plus the several animated movies that tied into those shows - the likes of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Eric Radomski, Shirley Walker, Andrea Romano and so many others managed to craft what many would consider to be the definitive version of the DC mythos.

A lot went into making the DCAU so special, and obviously one of the most important aspects was the voicework. Romano, who worked as a voice director on all the DCAU projects up until the series' conclusion in 2007, was responsible for casting Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Mark Hamill as the Joker, and they both got plenty of opportunities to shine in the various shows and films.

Conroy especially has had plenty of iconic moments as the Caped Crusader (that "I am the night!" speech a particular highlight), but one aspect of his performance that has sort of slipped beneath the radar - more so than his excellent singing skills - is his ability to deliver Miami Vice-level zingers at a moment's notice. Like, they could be violations of Batman's no killing rule, they're that good.

The two most memorable though? The one in the Batman/Superman movie, where Harley Quinn mournfully exclaims "Puddin!" as the Joker goes down in Luthor's flying wing, to which he responds with "At this point, he probably is; and also the closing speech in Batman Beyond's "Sneak Peek", where he incorporates the villain's own TV show - "The Inside Peek" - into his burn.

As Ian Peek loses his solid state and begins to plummet straight down, Bruce states that "it's about as inside as you can get."

Brutal. Just brutal.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.