Batman: The Brave and the Bold Episode 2.07: A Bat Divided!

Overview
In the opening sequence, Batman is pitted against the Riddler, who captures the Caped Crusader and Booster Gold and holds them captive in an abandoned auditorium. He has Batman gagged and strapped to a giant electrified question mark suspended over the mock stage and has Booster Gold securely tied up at a game show contestant booth. The Riddler then has his henchmen film the scene as part of his newest show being broadcast live across Gotham City: "Riddle Me This!" The Prince of Puzzles then introduces his deadly game: He will quiz Booster Gold on a series of riddles, and for every incorrect answer, the electrified question mark Batman is strapped to is activated, delivering a high voltage shock. The Riddler hopes that the dim-witted Booster Gold will predictably answer every riddle wrong, and Batman will be eventually electrocuted. Indeed Booster Gold guesses on the first riddle, instantly getting it wrong. The Riddler asks him what creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening. Booster Gold gives his answer as a nine-legged unicorn, but the cunning King of Conundrums corrects the answer as being man. (Who crawls on four legs as a baby, walks on two legs later, and carries an "extra" leg: a cane, in old age.) The Riddler presses a button on his brass question mark-shaped cane, triggering the giant question mark to shock Batman, although not fatally. After this, Batman begins to work his way free by activating a microchip in his glove, which causes his utility belt bat-laser to automatically begin cutting away at his manacles. Booster Gold proceeds to get the next three riddles wrong, but the weakened Batman is still working himself free. For the last question, Booster Gold protests that the Riddler should begin asking him about a subject he is more familiar with. The villain agrees and jokingly asks him what is blue, and gray, and tastes like chicken. When the timer runs out and Booster Gold is unable to come up with a satisfactory answer, the Riddler gleefully reveals that the correct answer is "fried Batman". He then prepares to deliver the last fatal shock to the Dark Knight, only to find that he has mysteriously disappeared. While the green-clad criminal stares on in dismay, Batman uses a batarang to slice apart Booster Gold's bonds, freeing him. Riddler recovers and summons his henchmen to come to his rescue, but Batman and Booster Gold leave them all beaten senseless on the floor. After making short work of the remaining thug, Batman turns around and stops the enraged Riddler, who is trying to clobber the heroes from behind with his brass cane. Batman flicks the cane, knocking the Riddler down and holding him with his own weapon. He then asks the Riddler one final riddle: "Why are you like a stopwatch and a block of cement?" Before the speechless and dazed villain can respond, Batman answers, "Answer: Because you're both doing hard time."

Some time later, Batman is tracking the villain Doctor X and his evil energy duplicate, Doctor Double X to a nuclear testing plant, the only test lab in the entire world experimenting with a combination of nuclear fussion and nuclear fission theories. At the nuclear plant, a high school class is attending a tour of the facility, led by a lab scientist. Two notable members of the tour are Coach Ronnie Raymond and student Jason Rusch. Rusch appears deeply interested in the facility, but Raymond is bored and not interested. As the tour group moves on, they bypass a disguised Doctor X, who uses an old ID Card to enter a high-security wing of the facility. Once there, he enters a lab and is bending over the controls when a skylight overhead opens, revealing Batman on the roof. Doctor X gasps as Batman drops into the room, and stares in horror as Batman confronts him and demands to know the whereabouts of Doctor Double X. Doctor Double X then appears behind the Caped Crusader, knocking him to the floor with an energy blast. Double X orders X to get back to work while he holds off Batman, who is picking himself up. As the violence begins, the class continues its tour, but Coach Raymond and Jason Rusch lag behind. Raymond tells Rusch that he does not wnat this job, but since they're both stuck with each other, they should get through the rest of the semester and they will never have to talk to each other again, since both find each other annoying. Before they can discuss it further, alrms sound throughout the nuclear facility. In their panic, they flee down the corridor leading to the high-security wing infiltrated by Doctor X earlier. Meanwhile, in the lab, Batman kicks Doctor Double X into a wall and then turns on Doctor X. When he sees what the villain is doing with the lab controls, Batman approaches him, warning X that attempting to cause a nuclear meltdown would not be very smart. But Doctor X holds Batman at gunpoint, replying that only he could have calculated the exact conditions needed to release the supercharged nuclear energy from the plant. He then reveals that he plans the raw nuclear energy he releases to give his energy duplicate enhanced powers. But Doctor Double X then appears and punches Batman, furious that Doctor X had just revealed their plans to the hero. Just at that moment, Jason Rusch and Coach Raymond wander into the lab. Doctor Double X lunges for them, intending to take them hostage and use them as leverage against Batman. He then grabs Coach Raymond by the collar. Raymond attempts to fight back and punches Double X relentlessly, to no avail. Batman then appears behind Doctor Double X, throwing him to the floor and forcing him to release Raymond. As an electronic voice warns over the facility intercom of the impending danger of nuclear meltdown, Batman shouts at Raymond and Rusch to flee. Jason then helps the injured coach stagger towards safety. Batman rushes Doctor X, only to be confronted by Doctor Double X. Batman hurls Doctor Double X into Doctor X, but at that moment, the lab explodes, releasing tons of of raw nuclear energy through the facility. Scientists and Jason's class escape, but Rusch and the coach are caught in the blast. In the ruins of the lab a few minutes later, Rusch is the first to revive, buried under a piece of rubble. He struggles to his feet, and finds that Coach Raymond had mysteriously vanished. He asks where the coach is, since his voice sounds like he is nearby, but in reality Raymond is nowhere in sight. Rusch then turns and finds that his head is on fire. When Raymond's voice screams that his head is on fire as well, Rusch comes to the conclusion that they are in the same body and that the energy blast must've have fused them together. On the other side of the lab, Doctor Double X crawls out from under another piece of rubble and grabs Doctor X, demanding to know why he cannot feel the enhanced power he'd expected to absorb from the energy. Doctor X then turns, and, seeing Rusch, realizes that he must have absorbed the power instead. Enraged, Doctor Double X chases Rusch through the ruins of the lab, who then attempts to flee. As the evil duplicate prepares to kill him, he is lassoed by Batman's silken cord. Double X breaks free, but X reminds him that he is not strong enough for a fight with Batman and needs to be recharged. Batman then attempts to apprehend Doctor X, only to have his double pick him up and fly out through the skylight Batman had entered through, making a hasty escape. Batman reluctantly watches the duo make their escape, but knows that by the time he climbs onto the roof, they will be long gone. Batman is then approached by Rusch, and pulls out a computerized gadget from his utility belt. Batman observes that his body is generating over two thousand megawatts of atomic energy. He then asks Rusch to accompany him to the Batcave, since this calls for further analysis. But no sooner has Jason departed with Batman, then another Batman tears himself out of the rubble. Furious, he looks around the lab and shouts that the cowards have fled and he must go to the Batcave. No sooner has this Batman left when yet another Batman pulls himself out from under the rubble. He lightly brushes off the incident as being "intense", then grinning, casually brushes himself off and leaves the scene, heading for the Batcave.

In the Batcave, Batman #1 puts Rusch in an odd yellow and red costume. He explains that Jason's body is now a living nuclear reactor and the suit will contain any residual radiation when emitted. Raymond the demands that Rusch ask Batman to give him his own body back. Rusch attempts to argue with him, then realizes that Batman #2 is staring at him. Rusch realizes that to Batman, he is talking to himself, so he hastily explains that he is talking to "the guy inside my head, whom, I'm guessing, you can't hear", but Batman #1 turns away from him, stating that since his research needs proper concentration, he suggests that Jason and his friend have their conversation elsewhere.

Across Gotham City, Doctor X and Doctor Double X are resting inside of an abandoned warehouse they have made their hideout. Doctor Double X is impatient, revealing he can no longer even take on a separate from from Doctor X without sufficient power. Doctor X sets up an energy-beaming ray gun and steps in front of it, explaining that a blast from this ray will empower Double X, but only temporarily. Double X is still smarting for revenge against Jason Rusch, and vows that he will use his newfound energy to find him. The ray then beams into Doctor Double X, giving him the desired power.

Meanwhile, Jason Rusch is taking a walk through the Batcave. He notices many odd trophies of Batman's past, including the Malay Penguin, the giant Joker playing card, and the robotic dinosaur. Coach Raymond is in awe of what he can see through Jason's eyes, and demands that they go and view the trophies and weapons, although Rusch is only interested in seeing the Batcave's atomic generator. Raymond drags Jason back, and the two argue about whether they should go where Jason wants to go. Rusch wraps his hands around one of the robotic dinosaur's legs as Raymond tries to use his partial control over Jason's body to drag him back the other way. The two resume arguing when suddenly smiling Batman #2 passes them. This grinning crusader calls him "dude" and tells him that he is acting "really freaky". Batman #2 tells him that somebody stole the Batmobile, so he had to walk back to the Batcave. Then he changes the subject, rubbing his stomach and asking if Jason is hungry. As this grinning Batman leaves, a confused Raymond is puzzled by Batman's sudden change in behavior and wonders if "Is is just me, or has that guy been making too many tackles without his helmet?" Reluctantly, Jason visits the Batcave's trophy room so that Coach Raymond can view the weapons. As he gazes at one of the Mad Hatter's top hats, preserved in a glass dome, he remarks that not many people can say that they have been inside Batman's famous lair. Suddenly, Batman #3 appears behind Rusch, responding that "That's because trespassing is against the law!" Batman #3 then proceeds to slam Jason directly into Joe Coyne's giant penny, knocking over the Mad Hatter's headwear and destroying its glass display case. Batman #3 then violently seizes Rusch, demanding to know what he is doing in the Batcave and if he was the one who stole the Batmobile. As the enraged Batman #3 throws him to the floor, Rusch holds up one hand, telling him to back away. Suddenly, an energy blast emits from his hand, hurling Batman #3 across the cave. Rusch is just as surprised at this act as Batman #3 is, but the infuriated Dark Knight gets to his feet and approaches him threateningly. He is about to punch Jason when Batman #1 appears out of nowhere, telling him to cease his hostilities. Batman #3 demands to know in a rough voice who this new "intruder" is, to which Batman #1 replies, "I'm Batman." Batman #3 insists that he is Batman, but then suddenly Batman #2 cuts in, happily munching on some nachos, telling them that he is Batman. Batman #1 taps away busily on a gadget, while Batman #3 growls menacingly and Batman #2 smiles light-heartedly, consuming nacho after nacho. Some time later, the three Batmen and Jason Rusch are gathered in front of the Batcomputer. Batman #1 explains that the same energy blast that joined Rusch and Raymond into one being also separated Batman into three, each representing the three broad elements of his personality. Batman #1 is the logical thinker and detective. Batman #3 is the physical embodiment of Batman's anger and his strength, and Batman #2 is "everything else", representing the lightest side of Batman. Coach Raymond then notes Batman #1 as "geek", Batman #2 as "slacker". Jason shouts at him to shut up, prompting the three Batmen to stare at him with some surprise. Rusch hastily explains it away as "Private Fight". Batman #3 is only more livid at the realization, pointing at Batman #2 and saying that he cannot possible be a part of the Dark Knight, since Batman "does not eat nachos!" Batman #2 ignores him and continues eating, much to Batman #3's rage. Meanwhile, Batman #1 gets to work trying to use the Batcomputer to find a possible solution. In the hours that follow, Jason Rusch is subject to every manner of experiments and analysis. Batman #3, meanwhile, passes this time by adopting patterns of supremely mindless physical discipline, while Batman #2 relaxes in a hammock and plays with a yo-yo. Rusch learns about all his new powers and how to control them. He learns he now has the abilities to fire energy bolts, absorb energy and radiation, possesses superhuman strength, and is also able to restructure matter. He turns a cement block into a wooden stool, a glass fishbowl, a Batman action figure, a rubber ball, and then, finally, back into a cement block. Hours later, Batman #1 wakes up Batman #2, who is snoring in a chair. Batman #1 explains that he has discovered the solution: By diverting a portion of the unique nuclear energy, then they could reverse the transformation of Jason Rusch and all three Batmen. But, as Batman #1 explains, the atomic matrix is decaying, so time is limited. Unfortunately, Batman #3 has left the Batcave and all three Batmen must be present for the reversal transformation to take place. Batman #2 responds that Batman #3 was tired of waiting in the Batcave, so he went out to "punish some criminal scum". Rusch asks Batman #2 where he thinks Batman #3 may have gone, to which the smiling crime-fighter replies: "Probably wherever he could crack the most skulls."

Batman #2's guess proves correct, as Batman #3 had set out for the 8 Bar, frequented by many of Batman's rogues. Inside the bar, Catman and the Cluemaster are preparing for a serious game of billiards with Tiger Shark. At another billiard table, Zebra-Man, Zodiac Master, and the Polka-Dot Man were already engaged in a game, which was going in the Polka-Dot Man's favor. Many villains, including Killer Moth, The Eraser, Signalman, Calendar Man, the Cavalier, and the Ten-Eyed Man were gathered around the table, watching.

Individuals

 * Batman
 * Firestorm
 * Green Arrow
 * Aquaman
 * Doctor Double X
 * Doctor X
 * The Riddler
 * Booster Gold
 * Killer Moth
 * Catman
 * Cluemaster
 * Tiger Shark
 * The Eraser
 * Signalman
 * Mister Camera
 * Zebra-Man
 * Calendar Man
 * Polka-Dot Man
 * The Cavalier
 * Ten-Eyed Man
 * Zodiac Master
 * King Cobra
 * The Spinner

Organizations

 * The Riddler's Gang
 * STAR City Police Department
 * STAR City Bank

Vehicles

 * Batmobile
 * The Music Meister's Note cart

Locations

 * Gotham City
 * Doctor Double X's Hideout
 * The Riddler's Hideout
 * The Batcave
 * Gotham Nuclear Test Facility

Weapons

 * Batarang
 * The Riddler's Cane

Miscellanea

 * Giant Penny
 * Mad Hatter's hat
 * Malay Penguin