Powerless!

  • Title: Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Powerless!
  • tv.com: link

batman-brave-and-bold-powerless

After making light of Batman‘s (Diedrich Bader) abilities because of his lack of super-powers the JLI’s latest member Captain Atom (Brian Bloom) finds himself stripped of his own powers by his arch-nemesis Major Force (Fred Tatasciore). What’s a super-hero to do when he’s lost all his powers? Well, if you’re like Captain Atom, it involves a lot of crying.

The story works well but this is certainly a different Captain Atom than we’ve seen before complete with and ego that puts all other ego-maniacal heores to shame. As Aquaman (John Di Maggio) states “He’s worse than Booster Gold!” With Batman’s help, a very Danger Room looking training facility, Aquaman’s rousing song of heroism, and the character’s old Silver Age Charlton Comic’s costume, Captain Atom learns that you can still be a hero, even without super-powers.

The large part of the story is actually taken from a storyline from the late 80s/early 90s Captain Atom title. Things are spiced up with the usual Brave and the Bold treatment providing quite a bit of fun and whimsy to the proceedings. My favorite parts were probably the Captain Atom PSAs which teach young kids to be heroes by “remembering you’re not.”

If the idea of a Captain Atom episode seems a little strange, the opening segment was equally so. The Batmen of All Nations faced off against the Joker and his new team “The Jokers of All Nations.” It’s as ridiculous, and fun, as it sounds. It’s nice to see, even in the series final episodes, the show continues to introduce new characters and put its own spin on older stories.