#clayface 2004

[wanderingmind867]

Clayface on the 2004 Batman show is really great. Ethan Bennett makes for a really compelling character to me, and him pretty much serving as a substitute for Two-Face just works for me. I love Harvey Dent, but I feel like he never got a consistent elaboration on his character in different media formats. BTAS never gave him too many too character focused episodes after his initial two parter, and that still annoys me immensely.

But The Batman (2004) actually gave Ethan Bennett multiple major episodes. Almost all of season one was dedicated to building up his relationship with Bruce. Then he had his accident, and the finale of season one really gives us a look at his trauma. Then we see him suffer from prejudice in the outside world, then he seems to fully embrace being Clayface. And that seemed to be the end of that, until they finally try to resolve some of Ethan's storyline in season four. He actually seems to redeem himself, and I'm pretty sure he ended the episode on the way to being fully cured of his clay powers and monstrous form.

I do appreciate that they added a second Clayface to replace Ethan, though. With Ethan going straight, Basil Karlo shows up. The world's worst actor and a selfish glory hound, he becomes the more comic accurate Clayface. I'm not sure how I should feel about the two clayfaces, but I did enjoy the episode. I think they gave Ethan a way better ending than Firefly got. And I also think that it's nice that they at least remembered to resolve one storyline. They didn't finish Catwoman's story, nor Detective Yin and Chief Rojas's story. But at least they remembered to finish the Clayface story.

[ajtheweirdo]

I’m going crazy

[wanderingmind867]

Ethan Bennett in The Batman (2004) might actually be a better Two-Face figure than Two-Face on any animated tv show, and I say that as a huge Two-Face fan. While I relate more to Two-Face and his repressed anger issues, Ethan Bennett had way more character development. He doesn't become disfigured until the end of Season 1, and he shows up in around half the episodes made that season. They put work into establishing ethan's personality and backstory. And even after getting disfigured, he doesn't go fully crazy until he gets prematurely released from arkham. Premature release from the insane asylum, plus prejudice against him for his friendship with a celebrity and his "freakish" disabilities lead him to almost suicidal depression. He finds a cure in dishing out vengeance on Joker, but eventually he just snaps and becomes a full blown criminal. The public saw a freak, and they made a freak. His story is incredibly tragic, but beautifully written. He's not two face, but he's very similar. I do think their differences are fascinating, though.

PS: Also, let's be fair here. His doctor was Hugo Strange and his parole officer was Mark Desmond (that's Blockbuster). So he was never gonna get better. Also, it's nice to see Frank Gorshin as Hugo Strange. He was months away from death, but he did three episodes as the city's worst doctor ever. Doctor Hugo Strange is truly the worst. I'm pretty sure the show implies he releases all his patients early, all just so he can run psychological tests on them. He's a freak, and Frank Gorshin does freaks well. That should be apparent from his Riddler on Batman 1966. I'm glad the casting team for the show thought to get him in the voice booth.