A Mirror Darkly

**"A Mirror Darkly"** is the fifth episode of the fifth season of *The Batman* and the fifty-seventh episode overall.

## Synopsis

Batman and Robin team up with Flash to thwart Mirror Master's plans to trap everyone in their own mirror image.

## Plot

Batman and Robin investigate a theft at the Gotham Advanced Optics company and find themselves battling… Batman. The duplicate briefly takes out both of them but when they pursue him into a room with no exits, he disappears into thin air. After they leave, he emerges… from a mirror.

Batman and Robin go to the Batcave to review the security footage and Batman realizes the imposter perfectly mirrored his every move… and is also left-handed. They get word of another theft at a lens-grinding plant and go there only to find themselves face-to-face with the Flash. The Flash attacks them and Batman freezes him, but the speedster quickly vibrates free, displaying all the powers of the original. He escapes into a dead-end room and once more disappears.

The Dynamic Duo return to the Batcave and the real Flash comes in, vibrating through the walls. Batman realizes that the imposter they fought was also a mirror image and the Flash explains that he is on the trail of Dr. Samuel Scudder, a professor of optics who has become the villainous Mirror Master. Meanwhile, Mirror Master and his henchgirl Smoke are working on a device using the stolen components.

Batman gets word of another break-in at the Gotham City Observatory, and the three heroes go to investigate. Arriving, the security guard says it was false alarm but Batman spots that he’s an imposter and knocks him out. The fake guard dissolves into mirrored pieces when they try to interrogate him, and when they go into the observatory they come face to face with mirror duplicates. Each hero fights his counterpart and manages to defeat him, but Mirror Master and Smoke escape with the last necessary component from the observatory telescope. They leave behind a fast-expanding glass “forest” of razor-sharp trees and the Flash vibrates Batman and Robin through the wall to safety.

They go back to the Batcave to figure their next move, but the power goes out. Mirror Master has activated his device using the stolen power, and sends a wave of energy across the city. Everyone hit by it is sucked into the nearest mirrored surface. Batman and the Flash get cleared but Robin and Alfred are pulled into a mirrored serving platter.

Batman tracks the source of the drain and he and the Flash arrive to capture the Mirror Master. However, he’s another mirror duplicate and other duplicates taunt them, revealing they plan to take the 100 richest people hostage unless they pay up. He traps them in a wall mirror’s mirror dimension, but Batman manages to grab the villain’s handheld portal ray. Before the Mirror Master can smash their mirror with a wrench, Batman sucks the wrench into the mirror dimension then frees himself and the Flash. They defeat the villain and his henchgirl and Batman reverses the effects of the ray, restoring everyone to normal. The Flash takes the villains off to jail, with the Batman noting it won’t be fast enough for him.

## Cast/Characters

* Rino Romano as Bruce Wayne/The Batman
* Evan Sabara as Dick Grayson/Robin
* Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth
* Charlie Schlatter as The Flash
* John Larroquette as Samuel Scudder/Mirror Master
* Amanda Anka as Smoke
* Mirror clones

## Events

- Character debuts:

* Mirror Master
* Smoke

- Flash discovers Batman's identity.

- Batman teams up with Flash

## Trivia

* Bruce notices that his mirror clone is left-handed, which implies that Bruce is right-handed. This was confirmed in *The Batman vs. Dracula* movie where he writes "Alucard" with his right hand.
* Charlie Schlatter reprises his voice as Flash from *Superman: The Animated Series*. He would also voice the character in later installations after *The Batman* such as LEGO Batman and *Batman Unlimited*.
* The location of one of Mirror Master's heists is an optics company called Wein's Lens. This is a nod to Batman writer, and Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein.
* This is one of the few times in the series where Batman is not refered to as *The* Batman.
* Mirror Master's Flash clone messes with Robin's hair, giving it a similar spiky quality to Robin's iconic haircut from *Teen Titans*. Adding to that, Robin's hair in said series in the episodes *Date with Destiny* and *Mother Mae-Eye* looks like the hairstyle of *The Batman's* Robin.
* Much like *Vertigo*, this episode uses the original bat-transition sound.
* Central City is mentioned but does not actually make an appearance.