Batman: The Animated Series is an American television series, which ran from 1992 to 1995 on the Fox Network. It was later shown on Cartoon Network and Toon Disney and currently airs on Toon Disney's successor Disney XD. Each episode is approximately 22 minutes long, excluding commercials.

The New Batman Adventures, although utilizing different character designs and animation style, is a continuation of Batman: The Animated Series, and ran from 1997 to 1999 on The WB Network. There are a total of 109 episodes from both series, along with multiple crossover episodes from Superman: The Animated Series and Static Shock. Both series have been released on DVD boxsets in four volumes.

The series are part of what has become known as the DC Animated Universe, which consists of eight animated television shows and four animated films, largely surrounding DC Comics characters and their respective mythos. This includes Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.

The official Warner Bros. production numbers for this series begin with 406-5xx, where "xx" is the episode number from 1-85. Thus, "On Leather Wings" is production number 406-501.

Batman encounters the Scarecrow and attempts to foil his scheme to burn down Gotham University, but in the process is exposed to the Scarecrow's fear gas, and is forced to face his own guilt over the deaths of his parents.

Bitter scientist Victor Fries, as Mr. Freeze, attacks several divisions of Gothcorp, each time stealing a piece for a secret weapon he intends to build. Batman investigates the connections, and discovers that the start of Freeze's vendetta against Gothcorp was a bitter falling out between Fries and Gothcorp's CEO, Ferris Boyle, during which Boyle almost killed Fries (mutating him into Freeze) and presumably killed Fries' terminally ill wife, Nora. Batman must find a way to bring Boyle to justice before Freeze carries out his revenge.

After Charlie Collins accidentally curses at the Joker on the road for bumping him, the Clown Prince of Crime corners him and intimidates him into doing him a "small favor". Two years pass, and the Joker finally decides how to use Charlie: to sneak a bomb into Gotham University, where Commissioner Gordon is to give a speech at an award ceremony. Charlie, who merely has to open the door, is skeptical at first, but for the sake of his family, he reluctantly decides to obey. But is the Joker really the type to let someone who insulted him live?

During a fight with some gangsters at a construction yard, Batman and Robin learn the name of their boss: Billy Marin. While Robin looks forward to going up against Marin, Batman becomes distant, and after a falling out at the Batcave, Batman doesn't allow Robin to accompany him on the search for Marin. Robin investigates on the Batcomputer, and soon realises that Billy Marin is not the boss' real name. Rather, it is an alias of Tony Zucco, the man who killed his parents.

Thanks to a freak accident during a high-speed chase, the Batmobile is virtually demolished. After Batman takes the car to his personal mechanic, Earl Cooper, the Penguin makes his move and tampers with the Batmobile, putting it under his control.

Because of the success the show was enjoying, while the 65 episodes of the first season were still airing, the Fox Network executives ordered a second season of 20 more episodes. The second season featured Robin more prominently and was titled The Adventures of Batman & Robin.