Black Canary: Not So Brave and Bold

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “Mayhem of the Music Meister!” was full of musicals and routine camp that sent much of my family to the fast-forward button (though Neil Patrick Harris was absolutely hilarious). I was glad to see Black Canary in this one–she’s been a favorite of mine ever since JLU–but her role left me disappointed.

Aww...wait...

For one thing, her defining element is her quickly changing love interest. Canary has a crush on Batman (whaaat?), and when Green Arrow displays an interest, she brushes him off. When Batman rejects her, Canary and Arrow become a quick couple with their own sappy musical number. While they’re “meant to be together” thanks to the comics, there is no setup of their relationship; it looks like Canary just picks up Arrow on the rebound (see the episode review from World’s Finest for more on this.) And the next time we see them together in “The Fate of Equinox!”, there is no mention of their relationship and the two do not interact at all.

Aww...wait...didn't you just meet in this episode?

Canary is also part of the plot, and admittedly, she does beat up some bad guys while singing too; but in the end, her vocal skills become a tool for Music Meister’s domination, and Batman’s cunning empowers her Canary Call to defeat the villain. Why couldn’t Canary overcome the hypnosis and do it herself? Apparently, Bats had to belt out his own set of pipes and be the hero as usual, and granted, this is his show.

I’m glad she was in a leading role, but it was the “musical episode,” that only increased the silliness and didn’t allow for the same assertion and independent strength to show through like Huntress in her episode. That’s all. Black Canary is too cool to be just silly.

Is this pose even possible?

Since the Bat-Embargo has been broken enough times, how about we see some Barbara Gordon? Robin is already stationed in Blüdhaven (technically under the new name Nightwing), so Batgirl should be donning cape and cowl as well. Even if you want to skip ahead and make her Oracle, after the awful new comic series with Spoiler, Babs deserves some spotlight.

Gotham's sky is always red. I see Captain Planet in Batman's future...

Am I onto something here? Do you disagree?

Batman: The Brave and the Bold images thanks to World’s Finest.