Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
DVD cover
Directed by	Jake Castorena
Produced by	Michael Jelenic Sam Register Benjamin Melniker Michael Uslan (executive producers)
Written by	Paul Giacoppo[1]
Story by	James Tucker
Based on	Scooby-Doo by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears Characters from DC Comics Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger Batman: The Brave and the Bold by James Tucker and Michael Jelenic
Starring	Matthew Lillard Frank Welker Grey Griffin Kate Micucci Diedrich Bader[2]
Music by	Michael McCuistion Lolita Ritmanis Kristopher Carter
Edited by	Christopher D. Lozinski Molly Yahr
Production company	Warner Bros. Animation DC Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date	January 6, 2018 (2018-01-06) (TCL Chinese Theatre[3]) January 9, 2018 (2018-01-09) (DVD and digital) [4]
Running time	75 minutes[5]
Country	United States
Language	English

Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a 2018 American animated direct-to-video superhero action comedy film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and the thirtieth entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films. The film is a crossover between Scooby-Doo and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.^[6] The movie involves Scooby-Doo and his friends teaming with Batman and other DC Comics superheroes in order to defeat a new villain. It is the first film based on Batman: The Brave and the Bold since the series ended in 2011. The film was premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre^[7] on January 6, 2018^[8] and was released on DVD and digitally on January 9, 2018.^[9]

Plot

In an old, condemned theater, Scooby-Doo and his friends are chasing down the ghost of Perpetto the Puppeteer, who has been robbing precious jewelry off late. While Fred has rigged a net trap to catch the Puppeteer, Scooby and Shaggy burst in on him before he can finish setting it up. But just before the Puppeteer can catch them, Batman arrives and drives him away, and afterwards warns the gang to keep away from this case for their own safety. When the Puppeteer attacks again, Fred overpowers Perpetto and his hench-puppet, and the gang unmasks them as Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp. As Batman and his associates reveal afterwards, the Puppeteer scam was actually an initiation test for Mystery Inc. to join the ranks of Mystery Analysts of Gotham. But as they take their leave, a ghostly, red-cloaked figure watches them.

About a week later, Batman, Aquaman and The Question meet and take down Riddler, Catwoman and Killer Croc just before the impending meeting of the Mystery Analysts and their newest recruits. Mystery Inc. later arrives at the Analysts' headquarters, where they additionally meet Question, Black Canary and Plastic Man, as well as Aquaman, who invites himself (in a very transparent disguise) to the meeting despite not being a detective. Mystery Inc. is asked to take the lead in the next case for the Analysts, but when they draw out a file to a case left unsolved by Batman, the Dark Knight becomes strangely defensive about it. When an alarm sounds from Gotham Chemical Storage, the assembled Mystery Analysts head for the warehouse, where they find that several phials with a radioactive isotope have been stolen. Then the red-cloaked figure from the old theater appears before them, calling himself Crimson Cloak and swearing revenge on Batman and Gotham for making him into a ghost. Crimson Cloak sets the storage on fire, detonating the volatile chemicals stored within, but the Analysts escape the blast with Plastic Man's help.

While the super heroes put out the fire, Batman sends Mystery Inc. to a diner to rejoin them later. There, the gang is accosted by Harvey Bullock for suspected participation in the isotope theft until Batman intervenes on their behalf. Batman then tells them that, despite Crimson Cloak's statements, he has never encountered or found any clues about this mysterious villain before. Following the gang's questions, he reveals the tale about his single unsolved case: Many years ago, at the start of his crime-fighting career, Batman attempted to stop Professor Milo from completing an experiment with faulty teleport technology. But the vortex created by the device claimed the life of one of Milo's assistants, Leo Scarlett, a failure that has haunted Batman since that time. He and the gang discover that the likely suspects behind the Crimson Cloak would be either Sam Scarlett, Leo's father, or the Riddler, who was Milo's second henchman Dr. Wade Magny.

In order to question the Riddler about Crimson Cloak, Batman and Mystery Inc. visit him at Arkham Asylum, but Riddler merely taunts Batman with the prospect of doom by the Cloak's hands, which makes Scooby and Shaggy run off in fear. While looking for them, Batman, Fred, Daphne and Velma re-encounter Crimson Cloak, who releases the other inmates from their cells. The investigators just barely manage to escape their clutches and seal them inside the asylum, thereby ending up in the facility's cemetery, where they discover a footprint in a blob of clay. But as they return to the Mystery Machine, they are intercepted by Bullock and the other Mystery Analysts (sans Aquaman), who attempt to arrest them for the isotope theft due to fake evidence planted in the van. Batman and Mystery Inc. make a run for it, making them hunted fugitives.

Shaking off their law-enforcing pursuers and some additional super-villainous opposition, Batman takes the gang to the Batcave and leaves them there to return to Milo's old laboratory for clues. Rejoined by Aquaman and Question, who refuse to believe the false accusations made against Mystery Inc., Batman finds Milo's teleporter restored by Crimson Cloak, who promptly attacks and incapacitates the heroes. Later, Batman awakes to see himself, alongside Aquaman, tied above the teleporting machine, which Crimson Cloak activates in order to desintegrate his opponents; but as he does so, the Cloak suddenly goes into convulsions, which tell Batman who Crimson Cloak really is.

At the same time, when Velma attempts to analyze the footprint in the clay, the clay suddenly comes to life and attacks. After overcoming it with a Bat-Dehydrator, Mystery Inc. deduces the villain's true identity for themselves: Basil Karlo, also known as Clayface. They try to inform Batman, but learn that he has been captured by the Cloak; and after equipping themselves with the old costumes and gadgets of Batman's former sidekicks, they arrive just in time to stop the teleporter and incapacitate Clayface with the Dehydrator. Defeated and exposed, Clayface admits that he restored the machine for the Riddler and stole the isotopes to power it, in return for a cure against the gradual decay of his body. The Riddler sitting in Arkham is revealed to be a clay decoy, and the Question is unmasked as the real Riddler, who had taken Question's place during the fight before the Analysts' meeting.

Before he can be taken into custody, however, the Riddler escapes back into the lab. He reactivates the teleporter and prepares to use the vortex's power as a superweapon to destroy Gotham, but is knocked out by the vengeful Question. The vortex grows out of control, but at the same time a human shape begins to manifest in it. Working together, Mystery Inc. and the super heroes reverse the device's polarity, allowing Batman and Scooby to drag the figure free of the vortex before the machine self-destructs. The figure is revealed to be Leo Scarlett, who was not disintegrated by the vortex but instead caught in an interdimensional void, and is now happily reunited with his father. As a final gag, Batman intends to reward Scooby with a snack for his achievements in the case, only to have Shaggy beat him to it.

Voice cast

• Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones
• Diedrich Bader as Batman
• Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers
• Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake and Black Canary
• Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley
• Jeff Bennett as Joker
• Jeffrey Combs as Question, Professor Sam Scarlett
• John DiMaggio as Aquaman, Mr. Freeze, Crimson Cloak
• Nika Futterman as Catwoman
• Nicholas Guest as Martian Manhunter
• John Michael Higgins as Riddler
• Tom Kenny as Penguin, Plastic Man
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Clayface, Detective Chimp
• Sam Riegel as Professor Milo, Leo Scarlett
• Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy
• Fred Tatasciore as Harvey Bullock

Follow-up film

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost was released digitally on August 28, 2018, and September 11, 2018 on DVD.^[10]

References

External links

• Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold on IMDb