My Crazy Youth: The Time That The Batman Defeated AI...in 2006

 As WB-Discovery tries to scrape together some more dough, they've brought more content back to Netflix.

Let's take a look at an underrated Cartoon that tackled a prescient topic- Artificial Intelligence!

Dr. Hugo Strange- Batman's first real Villain in the Comics- creates an ultimate Crime Computer to analyze the behavior of criminals and learn how to stop them.

It immediately goes rogue, downloads itself out of the building and into a Robot Body.

Didn't Ultron do this too?

His new body allows him to be DAVE aka Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator.

He has to commit the perfect crime to prove itself, as it thinks that it is literally all of the Villains whose attributes were download into him.

The Batman- who will get his sidekicks next Season- tries to stop DAVE and has no luck.

It has considered every possibility and our Hero is not ready for this!

After 2 defeats- with DAVE not wanting to kill Batman, but expose him instead- Batman has to try a new approach.

He learns that DAVE's actions were actually programmed in by Strange, who says that DAVE now knows who Batman is!

Can he stop his most intelligent villain?  Stream the Episode- Season 3, Episode 13- to find out!

A good Episode that really makes the most of the concept.  In many ways, DAVE is like Ultron (the Comics Version) with a Batman twist.  The fact that it wants to expose Batman is definitely a DC thing.

It is worth comparing DAVE to Ultron given that this Episode predates the Film Version by about a Decade.

As a young man, I enjoyed this Show quite a bit.  The Creators of this worked on another Show that I liked- Jackie Chan Adventures.  There were some people who didn't like this, as the Show was the first to feature now Paul Dini or Kevin Conroy (RIP).

It's a big hurdle to clear- no question.

For a lighter, but still serious and action-packed Show, give this one a look.  Amusingly, it also falls into the same trap that Batman and Superman did by the end on the other Shows- trying to set up the Justice League.  More on that later.

Fun fact: this is a slight update of Heart of Steel from Batman: The Animated Series.  Who voiced HARDAC- that one's Robot- you ask?  The same guy who voiced DAVE.  Neat.

For sure, a fun and oddly timely Episode for one made in the mid-2000s.  This Show really is the black sheep of the franchise, but it shouldn't be.