Brawn

**Brawn** is the seventh episode of the third season of *The Batman* and the thirty-third episode overall.

## Synopsis

Batman and Batgirl find themselves dealing with new trouble from Joker, when he manages to get a hold of Bane's Venom Infusion system to become a true comedy "powerhouse". With his new-found strength, Joker's latest crime spree seems unstoppable, especially when Batgirl accidentally causes Batman to be captured when she borrows his power suit. To rescue him, Batgirl discovers that she must overcome her own limitations to master control of the suit as well as stop Joker.

## Plot

At a carnival, the strongest man in Gotham City, Man Mountain Malloy, is about to lift weights when a clown drives in the carnival on a bicycle. The clown rips his suit off to reveal a purple strongman suit underneath. They both begin to lift weights. Malloy easily lifts up the first dumbbell, but the clown is too weak, so Malloy slaps him, making his clown disguise fall off. The clown turns around and is revealed to be Joker in disguise. The whole audience gasps, and Joker reveals Bane's Venom tube on his hand. He turns it, and it injects Venom into him, turning him into a combination of Bane and Joker, making him stronger and grow in size. He is now gigantic and towers over the audience as he demonstrates his new powers by snapping a dumbbell into two and throwing it at the audience. Batgirl arrives to stop the Joker,but she is flung across the room with a single tape from the Joker. Joker then destroys the entire carnival. Batman then views the chaos from the Batcomputer and figures out that Joker is the one who stole the Venom from Gotham PD's evidence lock-up. Batman sees that he stole the entire box office from the carnival. Joker's next attack is at the Gotham Globe. He turns the Venom infusion system and it makes him giant again. He picks up the globe and smashes it down on the sculpture of Gotham City. He rampages throughout the city with the globe. When the GCPD tell him to put it down, he launches it at them which destroys their cars. He continues the rampage. When Batman shows up in his Batmobile, he launches a missile at the Joker, but Joker busts out of the ground. Batman throws an explosive Batarang at him, but it does nothing to him. He then throws a freeze grenade at him, but Joker breaks out of the ice and attacks Batman again. Batgirl throws another Batarang at him, but Joker throws a sewer top at her. Batgirl dodges it, and Batman gets back up. Joker then picks up the globe again and throws it at the two. The globe heads towards a cafe (Brigadoon's cafe) full of people, but Batman manages to grapple onto the globe and stop it from killing them. Batman asks Alfred for back-up, so he sends the Batbot. Joker begins to beat Batman up when Batgirl finds the Batbot and challenges Joker with it, but Joker eventually manages to defeat the Batbot. He takes Batman with him and leaves to the carnival. At the carnival, Joker has tied Batman up to a strength test carnival game, and has put the globe on it. Joker grabs the hammer and hits the strength test, which sends the globe high up, but not high enough to reach Batman, he charges himself up with Venom again and prepares to hit the strength test again, but Batgirl in the Batbot challenges the Joker again and the two begin fighting, giving Batman enough time to escape. Batman joins the fight with Batgirl, but gets defeated again, then the Batbot sees Joker and challenges him once again. The two begin running at each other, and the Joker hits the Batbot, but Batgirl flies out of the Batbot and gets on Joker's back. She rips out the Venom tube and Joker reverts to his normal self. The episode ends with the two realizing that sometimes being tiny can be a strength.

## Cast/Characters

* Rino Romano as Batman/Bruce Wayne
* Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth
* Danielle Judovits as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon
* Mitch Pileggi as Commissioner Gordon
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Joker, Announcer, Instructor
* Bane (cameo in a photo)
* Man Mountain Malloy

## Events

- Character debuts:

* Man Mountain Malloy

- Joker remarks about Batman getting a new car, which happened in the previous episode.

## Trivia

* This is the first time the concept of Joker using Venom to become a Bane and Joker combination has been used.
* The concept that features in this episode would also later be used in *Batman: Arkham Asylum* in the final boss, except in the game Joker uses Titan and not Venom.
* The design of Man Mountain Malloy would later be used as Harley Quinn's henchman in issue 43 of *The Batman Strikes!*, the tie-in comics to the series.
* The title was spoken by the Joker and Batgirl a few times.
* This is one of the few instances where a variation of the word "die" is used in this series. In this case, Joker says "demise".

## Errors

* The grey circle in Joker’s Venom apparatus is missing in most frames.
* Joker’s Venom apparatus appears in the left when Batman aims, when it’s supposed to be on the right.
* When Batgirl throws her Batarang at Joker, it makes the sound of Batman's Batarangs.
* When Joker knocks the Batbot at Batman, Batgirl's cape is missing.Missing cape.