In an interview with Science Fiction in 2017 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of “Batman: The Animated Series,” Bruce Timm admitted that the popularity and critical success of the show were unexpected. Despite that, Timm still had faith in himself and the production team of the show to stay true to the essence of Batman and his rogue’s gallery:
“I mean, we kind of always knew that we had a lot of faith in our approach to the show. Because it seems kind of like, ‘well, it’s not brain surgery,’ you know? But it seems like we cherry-picked stuff from the entire history of Batman in the comics, the movies, the serials, and the TV show, and we took things and kind of messed around with them. But for the most part, we really stayed faithful to the spirit of the character and the spirit of the comics.”
Villain origin story episodes in “Batman: The Animated Series” are some of the best examples of staying faithful to the spirit of the comics while also carving their own path. Episodes such as “Two-Face Parts I & II” and “Feat of Clay” are tragic origins of Batman villains Two-Face and Clayface that, while different from the comics in some key aspects, retain everything important about the characters and their relationship with Batman. Besides the fundamental understanding that Timm and Co. had of Batman comics, the Batman high that everyone was riding off of at the time led the creator to believe that the show would be a hit.