The new Prime Video animated series BAT-FAM features plenty of fight scenes between Batman (Luke Wilson) and his rogue’s gallery, as the Caped Crusader works to stop the schemes of the Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, and Clayface. But the battles are always just one part of the plot, with the family-focused show also delivering lessons on honesty, trust, and the value of listening to others.
Showrunner Mike Roth tells Polygon it took “a lot of blood, sweat, and tears” to get that balance right. The show is a continuation of Roth’s 2023 film Merry Little Batman, which centers on Bruce Wayne’s 8-year-old son Damian (Elio star Yonas Kibreab) as he assumes the mantle of Little Batman to protect Gotham.
“We wanted to begin with these small family moments where Damian has a school field trip, or maybe Damian has a bad grade,” Roth says over Zoom. “Through that, it leads to this big action moment at the end.”
For instance, Damian’s scheme to ditch Bruce’s supervision on a field trip to Star Labs leads to him accidentally unleashing parademons. When Damian refuses to acknowledge his dad’s restrictions on when he can be Little Batman, he winds up in a dangerous battle with the Mad Hatter. But Damian isn’t the only one who has to learn lessons. In those same episodes, Bruce realizes he’s being too clingy and that he should listen to Alfred (James Cromwell). Alfred, for his part, discovers the value of saying no rather than rushing to please everyone.
BAT-FAM ratchets up the eccentricity of the Wayne family by packing Wayne Manor with quirky characters. Man-Bat (Bobby Moynihan) is squatting in the attic while Damian’s supervillain grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul (Michael Benyaer) is a ghost haunting the house. Ra’s dotes on Damian but sometimes steers him wrong — say, by giving him an orb containing a powerful demon who punishes people who lie.
“Villains love their children too, so the fact that he loves Damian so much kind of overrides his hatred for Batman,” Benyaer tells Polygon. “He wants the children to do well, but, of course, he’s got a little bit of an evil streak in him. He just wants to see some fun things happen.”
Bruce has also taken in the pyrokinetic supervillain Volcana, aka Claire Selton (Haley Tju), after a soak in a Lazarus Pit de-aged her into a 12-year-old body and stripped her of most of her memories.
“It felt interesting to us to have another supervillain in the mix,” Roth says, “and because she’s kind of fiery, she brought a type of energy that’s opposite of Damian. But also kind of the same, because in a lot of ways, we look at Damian as a little spitfire who’s a little like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, who gets himself in trouble.”
Claire struggles to figure out how to handle her second chance at life, while Bruce tries to be a good parent and connect with her.
“[BAT-FAM is] extremely relatable to everybody,” Tju says. “What I love about it is that you see these superheroes and supervillains with their masks off as real people dealing with the trials and tribulations of family. I’ve never really seen Batman as a dad, so that’s really new and fun for me.”
Damian tends to irritate Claire by constantly trying to involve her in both his games around the house and his costumed adventures.
“I like that dynamic between Claire and Damian. Claire’s learning how to trust him and he’s welcoming her into the family,” Kibreab says. “I have an older sister, and I can definitely relate to annoying his older sister by trying to hang out with her.”
Roth paid tribute to Joel Schumacher’s campy 1997 film Batman & Robin by giving Alfred a grandniece, Alicia Pennyworth (London Hughes). Instead of becoming Batgirl like Alicia Silverstone’s Barbara Wilson did in Batman & Robin, the Alicia in BAT-FAM runs a program for ex-supervillains looking to leave costumed crime behind. Her program mostly caters to D-listers like Killer Moth, Copperhead, and King Tut.
“It’s just a funny concept to us, because Alicia lives in [Wayne Manor] and she’s essentially like a sister to Bruce,” Roth says. “These supervillains who were trying to kill him are now in his orbit, and they’re like coming over for dinner, and he has to deal with all that in his own Bruce Wayne kind of way.”
Much like how 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie pushes the Dark Knight to reckon with his brooding isolation, BAT-FAM pushes against Batman’s impulse to keep the people he loves in the dark. It also pokes fun at the hero’s desire to plan for everything, with the first episode showing him overscheduling a family game night to the point where no one actually has any fun. Introducing an all-new character in Alicia gave Roth the freedom to create a free-spirited foil to Bruce while also adding depth to his character.
“We never really see Bruce’s childhood. It always sort of begins when he’s like 8 years old and his parents are murdered in an alley, and then that’s the end of it,” Roth says. “[Alicia] was a really good close personal friend of Bruce. Through that friendship, she can challenge Bruce in ways that other people can’t, and also know Bruce in ways that other people don’t.”
All 10 episodes of BAT-FAM are available to stream now on Prime Video.
