Special thanks to channel members: Stephanie Markey Lex of Excel smoibean 1001johny Geek 85 Easy E AGuyWithSomeHair G Oni .44 gaming Heresor RB-AfterDark Studios Sam Dubiner Elata Vasch Sketch Screen BobaFlett Bardock2003! chris rochefort Graham Brown James Fullerton Eduardo Azevedo Sam B Meth0Moth SWIFTO_SCYTHE David Huber Channel membership costs 1.99 per month and gets you early access to the next video essay, priority responses to your comments, regular members only videos, custom emojis (like the ones above), and an icon on your profile to let the world know that you're a member of my channel.
Between episodes Red Claw's plans have a hell of a jump from "Give me 10 billion dollars or I'll infect Gotham with a plague" to "Give me 5 billion quid or I'll blow up London."
@@mrheroprimes Well, in 1992 a Pound Sterling was almost 2 US Dollars... untill Black Wednesday, where it became clear the Pound Sterling was way overvalued compared to Deutschmark.
@@mrheroprimes That has not been true since the decimalization in 1971. Since February 1971 it has been 100 pence to the pound (and prior to that it was 240 pence to the pound). The pound's volatility has little to do with it previously having been a non-decimal currency.
If I had to do something with Red Claw, I would make her a cult leader akin to Mother God from Love Has Won. She created this insane cult of personality that she lost total control over and almost became enslaved by her own followers who stayed delusional even as she begged them to cut it out while she was dying of cancer. It would not only be darkly funny, but also show how real life cults are much less organized than groups in comics like The League of Assassins.
Red Claw as a villain could have been a great fit for GI Joe or James Bond as she reminds of those kind of characters you would have seen from them, she had a great design, dark red jumpsuit, long black hair and a legit badass who could more than hold her own in a fight. Kate Mulgrew did a great job delivering a villainous voice performance and made her feel evil. I would have liked to have seen more of her in the show and maybe do a follow up episode in TNBA taking place after The Lion And The Unicorn where she could have actually learned Batman's identity after their little throwdown in the Batwing where she ripped off his cowl. A team up story with Red Claw and Ra's Al Ghul would have gold. Such a shame she wasn't used more in the DCAU, i liked her.
A team up would be interesting, but doomed to fail. Ra's would inevitably try to make her his underling, as we know he doesn't respect women as equals or successors and she'd never tolerate that. But I think that's a much better angle than just another "Blankety-blank is really a WOMAN?!" The two knowing one another's habits and trying to double cross each other could have been interesting, and given Bats a crack in the armor to attack. I've always thought he and Ivy would make a perfect combo but would never get past their sexism hangups, though I like your idea more. Red Claw and Ra's al Ghul can at least pretend to play nice up until the 11th hour. She may even able to get Talia on her side. So many potential twists and turns. A+ idea.
@@CapnAlces honestly would be interesting if red claw and Talia what’s somehow managed to create a split in the league of assassins. One side, wanting to handle a more modern approach, while the other wants to stick to the traditional ways with the OG Demon’s head. There has to be SOME members that are sick of or totally against him trying to recruit Batman. Someone who’s made it clear he stands totally counter to their ideology A lot of fun can we had here
My favorite Red Claw moment is her duel against Batman on top of a train. It's pretty hilarious how she makes fun of Batman like "You didn't expect to see your macho pride sullied by a woman, did you?!", while Batman's reaction is "Honey...I just don't care about what the people I beat up have between their legs"
It always feels like a surprisingly untapped well for Batman villains. We’ve had Bruce’s evil mentors like Henri Ducard and David Cain, but nobody’s ever really been, “evil peer from his training days.” Kyodai is an all right fit, but it still feels not fully realized
@@randallflagg3700 I wasn't familiar with that one until I looked it up just now. Does sound like it would have been interesting. Don't love the name though
I think another thing that hurt Red Claw as a villain was the voice performance by Kate Mulgrew. She was obviously an American actor putting on an over-the-top accent, and as a result, she sounded just this side of Boris and Natasha. It was much more of a broad "cartoony" performance than BTAS would later do, and it just didn't fit in with what the show eventually became. But it was an early episode and I'm sure that voice director Andrea Romano was feeling her way through as much as anybody.
I think it would've been cool if they introduced her as an old gray ghost villain and make her gray ghosts version of ras al ghul, I've always thought of the idea that the gray ghost was the original Batman of Gotham but retired due to old age and they made a tv show based on his real adventures fighting mad scientists like dr death, vampires like the mad monk, immortal gangsters like lord deathman and finally russian megalomaniacs like the red claw, she could also have kg beast as a henchmen but thats just an idea.
I always liked her. There was a simple brutality to her character that I found very effective. Plus it was nice having one female villain that was basically pure evil.
@@lyokianhitchhikeroh I’m sure Red Claw was made. We just don’t know how. In any case I like the idea of a terrorist for hire. Has a Carlos the Jackal feel.
@@lyokianhitchhiker There are loads of pure evil villains with more to them than Red Claw. Her problem was that "terrorist" was literally her only personality trait.
This version of Catwoman is quite the departure from previous versions on TV (and even the comics at the time). The Cat and the Claw feels almost like a Catwoman *pilot* series. Eventually, the character slowly shifts to the classic anti-villain we all adore. I like to contrast this episode with Cult of the Cat (her last appearance in the DCAU).
I love the fact that she has a powerful CEO who completely devoted to her without subterfuge, usually wealthy businessmen who collaborate with Bond-like villains do for selfish reasons. Just goes to show how charismatic and persuasive she is that she can attract someone like that to her cause despite all the wealth and power his position gives him, which would not give much incentive to join her. I thought she was good villain that could have been great if more detail was given about her, she was just underdeveloped. She really managed to give Batman a run for his money and pulls of an elaborate plot and is able to marshal vast resources covertly, showing she is very capable. If they developed her more she could have worked as a comic book style Carlos the Jackal/Hans Gruber like terrorist for hire or Cobra Commander if you want a generic authoritarian ideology as motive and maybe even someone like Cane from Command and Conquer as a leader of Militant Cult bent world domination, she had a lot of potential despite how little we see of her, but none of it realized.
A lot of people don’t seam to like the way the show had both dark and gritty episodes AND light and comical episodes, but honestly, I loved that about Batman. They were all very well done and you didn’t always only want one but not the other. I liked episodes that made you feel, to think, to cry and to laugh. BTS was all of that and more. The same with Red Claw. Sometimes you don’t want a sympathetic villain but someone who is unredeemably evil; a greedy bastard who you just want to see defeated.
You probably know this already, but the original incarnation of Cat-Man, with the yellow and orange costume, is in the public domain, and has shown up in some non-DC cartoons and other things. Something you'll want to mention, I'm sure. A TH-camr named Austin McConnell has done a video about this character. (The BTAS version is obviously very different and would not be in the public domain.) The most notable thing about Red Claw is that she's voiced by Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek Voyager's Capt. Janeway, and also appearing in the first aired BTAS episode. And Batman's "I'm an equal opportunity crimefighter" line was amusing. In the US, "The Cat and the Claw" part 1 aired on Saturday. Part 2 didn't air until the next Saturday, with other episodes airing weekdays in between. I remember I was videotaping them, so used a separate tape for this one so the episodes wouldn't be separated, then later used that tape again when the first tape with the weekday episodes was full. The fact that I remember that more than what Red Claws plan was is a sign of how uninteresting it all was. (But even this episode was much better than most cartoons that preceded BTAS.) Regarding why her men are so loyal: it's been a while since I've seen these episodes, but I don't remember anything in the show indicating that they followed her due to being attracted to her or them worshiping her like a cult leader or anything like that. I assume that other criminals just work for her because she's not as crazy as someone like The Joker. Maybe another incarnation could just have Red Claw treat her employees really well. They don't want to work for someone else because the rest of Gotham's criminals are crazy and just as likely to kill their own henchmen.
Man, episode release orders then and occasionally now are quite a pain. You should see Baby Doll's own henchpeople. What made them unflinchingly stay when their boss and her "family" are about to be blown up, one may ask
5:13 As a New Orleans native I understand your gripe. I hate when the media tries to portray the New Orleans or Southern Louisiana accent. Like no we don't sound like that.
Since there’s not much to say about the subject of the video. I do feel it’s a missed opportunity that we didn’t see Catwoman interact with the rogues gallery outside of Catwalk. It’s mostly non costumed villain like Red Claw, Daggett, Emile Dorian, the Hook, and Thomas Blake. I don’t really count Almost Got Im because she don’t really get any back and forth with any of the villains
@@FrozenJack2007If she's Eastern European, why was her organisation so associated with China? Like, they say her organisation is headquartered or something in China and yet I never saw any of it. She could very well be from Ukraine as far as I am concerned.
@@ibrahimihsan2090 Speaking as a U.S. citizen who has an (admittedly limited) understanding of the 80's era American-action-movie tropes that "The Cat and the Claw" was riffing on: Red Claw is Russian coded. The color red is associated with the American phrase "Communist Red Scare" which was a blanket term for the 1950s government paranoia that was the result of the United States cold war with the U.S.S.R. (now Russia). As far as I know, Red Claw as no canonical connection to China. She had a base of operations in "The Lion and the Unicorn", but that was a castle located off the coast of Scotland.
5 หลายเดือนก่อน +21
I would have loved to have seen Redclaw reappear in Justice League, a major missed oppritunity.
Yes and I had a lot of ideas to use the other Bat villains that didn’t appear in Justice League before that bat embargo came along which I believe it came after Starcrossed and I would have done them before that
Would have loved seeing Wonder Woman battle her, even if it's a curbstomp. Still, am fine with her possibly dying in the North Sea in her second and last appearance.
Hey, let's be real for a moment, though: Comic Books were always showing us that the mega rich were the real villains, Jameson, Osborn and Fisk funding ways to kill Spider-Man, the government funding the Sentinels to kill mutants, Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, even the companies that bring us these titles, wearing Marvel and DC as their masks.
Looking back at this character today, I didnt mind her for the kind of villain she was. I do believe simple and on off villains can have their fun, andhaving a villain from outside of gotham during bad things and all good. though But i think what would benefit her, character without changing too much. Is to take inspiration of from a simialir but more explored character. Like the character of Balalaika from the anime Black lagoon ( an anime that takes place in city more corrupt that gotham but without a batman. Both Red Claw and Balalaika are both Multinational villains from Russia, who both commands her former units of special forces, with a well established loyalty and respect. And this Loyalty and respect goes both ways. as seen in the two first episode of the second season of Black lagoon from those who works under them. In Balalaika case its her old KGP unit that followsa her after they got dismanden. For Anyone who have seen Black Lagoon imagine they kind of story Red claw could offer if she took after Balalaika, or Balalaika moved to gotham.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Totally agree :D Balalaika even in anime is a rare kind of character and I love her for it, and how she be both intimating and respektable.
Naturally the rogues would get more in-depth motivations than one-shot baddies like Red Claw and Boss Biggis. But then simple monetary gain is straightforward enough to start with. That's how most real-life villains work- money money money. Maybe Red Claw could have worked better as a recurring enemy of Catwoman like Roland Daggett, but as you said her voice and aesthetics suggest a foreign origin that would take time to decently explore in a show where every minute is precious. Or maybe she was just a time-lost Captain Kathryn Janeway and her loyal crew trying to gather the money needed to repair Voyager all along.
Missed opportunity not having her in an ep with the League of Shadows. She seems like exactly the type of person Ras Al Ghul would know, either as a pawn or a rival.
I feel like when they were writing The Cat and the Claw they didn't know what villain to use since Catwoman was an anti hero so someone on the team went "Eh just make up a greedy terrorist like the ones in James Bond."
Well you could argue Red Claw could be an example of how sometimes there is no motivation for one's actions, sometimes people are just nihilists who love money above all else. And would be willing to do anything to get their way. That kind of mindset does exist, and it can be quite terrifying.
Honestly I think Red Claw is fine for a villain; there is a myriad of possibilities that could be followed with her. I imagine in today's world, she would make for a good 'Wagner' style villain; basically a foreign group or powers outfit that has been set loose on the world. The problem with her is that she was left untouched, but she is still fully workable.
The author of the “April Fool” Trilogy (which deals with the discovery and subsequent emotional fallout involving the Joker’s daughter--and KISS makes an unwilling cameo in it when Joker finds out that his “precious little princess” is in major love with Starchild) has theorized the possibility that Red Claw and the Baroness from the 1980s “GI Joe” cartoon are sisters. If such is indeed the case, that would certainly explain a lot. When a royal gives you an order, you refuse at your peril, but if you prove yourself, the rewards can be quite lavish, even to the point of you being made a royal yourself
@@SerumLakeso seeing that this is cat month and that your doing Thomas Blake next are you also going to include Catman from the Justice league episode Legends as that his alter ego is used as superhero who is meant to be a parody of Wildcat and the Adam West Batman as the earth 2 doesn’t count because he does kill people and you know that he did get the happy ending for a while until his death and also did you know that Selina did have a brother named Karl Kyle as he goes by the King of the cats?
Part of of the problem with Red Claw's overall presence is that she just comes across in very respect as quite boring and pretty much just feels like a failed attempt at a Bond villain, minus a fun personality (which at least half Bond villains also lack). Worse still, her initial introduction derails Catwoman's introduction to the the show, which I felt was unfulfilling to begin with, and just feels like her plot hijacked Catwoman's plot until it results in a bit of a cluttered mess (meaning the Cat and the Claw Part 2). When it comes down to it, Red Claw failed to leave a lasting impression or elevate the plot in any meaningful way.
Yeah, The Cat and the Claw starts out really well with the opening rooftop chase and Selina Kyle buying Bruce Wayne at the bachelor auction, but once the actual plot kicks in, it's fairly dull.
she still could've had a few other things going on (besides the unplaceable accent), could've been a war profiteer, could've been an ally/rival of Ras al Gul, insert any other blink and you miss it connections to other villain groups just any amount of salt and pepper to spice up this boiled potato basic character
I like Red Claw, she has a nice design and her getting Batman to say he's an "Equally Opportunist Crimefigter" was always hilarious. I wish the team actually used her more and showed she had a lot to offer as a villain.
I wish they could use Red Claw more often as she seems like a Ra’s al ghoul type along with Deacon Blackfire as she has so much potential,but does anyone remember those rumours that Anne Hathaway wanted a Catwoman spin-off well if it was I would have used Red Claw, Black Mask and Zsasz as the villains Interesting I thought she was Russian since you mentioned Red it would make sense.
There was a whole wave of generic motiveless terrorist characters in 80s and especially 90s media--to the point that I remember when 9/11 happened, at least one writer described pre-9/11 terrorists as "the idiots who fire mindlessly in all directions in action movies". I think part of it was the impulse to recycle Soviet spy/communist guerrilla tropes into a world where the political landscape was changing so rapidly that kids' media in particular couldn't keep up. (The Carmen Sandiego show had a disclaimer in the credits saying that all geography facts were accurate as of the date of filming--that's how fast borders were shifting.) Tying Red Claw to a particular place or ideology would have seemed like a terrifying gamble. Personally, I read her at the time as being from the former Yugoslavia, but I was a weird little elementary-school nerd.
Either way, gotta miss these kinds of terrorists. Nowadays, incessant civvie populations demonize or flanderize even benevolent governments and militaries more, which annoys me a lot in fiction lately.
00:39 - to be fair, Biggus was more of a missed opportunity to either introduce the Trigger Twins or (if the stars could align) bring Shame back into the Rogues Gallery instead of being a story-driving villain in his own right.
The Lion and the Unicorn made her cool. Mostly about having a ruthless attitude. But alomg with Rupe, Catman, Dagget and Sewer King, she needed motivation. It doesn't have to be a back story, it could just be subtext or a situation. They did this with the Penguin in Birds of a Feather.
Hmmmmm its interesting that Red Claw is the only Batman Villain that doesn't have a backstory about why she went into villainy in the first place. But I wonder what Serum Lake's opinion of her.🤔
Given BTASs history of upgrading villains, i say Red Claw is primed for another version of the franchise to bring her back in a new and interesting form. On the other hand, i think she slots into the place held by Talia in TDKR, Talia was wasted in that film.
Every time you say “Red Claw”, I keep thinking of the T-Rex from “The Land Before” TV series. He was also one-note; his raptor minions had more character than him. I’ve heard other commentators say they’d have preferred Lady Shiva, and I have to concur.
She looks cool, I'll give her that. Like you said, there's not much to say about her. I think if they went with making her more of a cult leader basically show HOW people would follow her and brand themselves with her mark, they'd have something to sink into. There's a reason Lock-up showed up earlier too, he had more to say about the world with the role he plays as villain. There's plenty of classic comic book villains that got boosted up by further fleshing out, like Kraven the Hunter from Spider-Man or Magneto from X-Men.
I'm a little surprised she never got connected to Ras Alghul. That's what she reminds me of, but as you said, generic. If it was added to back story that she was a protégé of Ras that decided she wanted to be rich instead of an eco terrorist, that could have made for something more compelling. Maybe forcing a Mexican standoff scenario between Batman, Ras, and her.
I looked it up. By the date the episode " The Lion and the Unicorn" was aired was September 15, 1995. The exchange rate on that day was about 1.8875%. So, if she wanted 2 Billion Pounds, that would estimate to about $3,775,000,000
I actually prefer her as someone who doesn't have a complex motivation behind the reason she does crime. How often will try and give a reason why someone is a bad person, not everyone needs a complex and/or tragic backstory to do the things that they do. Sometimes a person's just a bad person, no extenuating circumstances, no dramatic past, no noble goal just plain greed and joy of being bad.
You know what would have been an interesting reason to ask for a ridiculous amount of money? If she’s not actually interested in the money and is using it as an excuse to infect, blow up or destroy a place to make a point about something or destroy something she feels is harmful to society or the world as a whole or even to just see the destruction. If she gets paid then she has plenty of money to fund her next scheme. If not she gets the pleasure of destroying whatever she wants to destroy at the moment. The money is secondary to watching the world burn
Red Claw is one of those characters who overlaps with other, better characters. It's like they tried to combine Poison Ivy and Ra's al Ghul, with a dash of Catwoman. Pity. Her design is striking, and these two episodes are a waste of a good Kate Mulgrew. Even just a dash more personality might have made her a cult favorite - force of personality carries lots of characters.
Some fans have headcannoned her as Nyssa Ratko the other daughter if Ra's Alghul shame thats not a reality then they could frame her as a test for Batman by Ra's.
I heard Kyodai was put into the comics at last, always felt he could have undergone further character growth now that he knows the 'rich man's son' he trained years ago with is Batman.
...You could have had her be called 'Catspaw', and literally have her 'thing' be that she enacts plans/heists/assassinations etc (and can also take the blame) on behalf of other people for money. No greater goal, no grand plan, no horde of followers. She's a villainess for hire and nothing more.
5:10 We drive on the left side of the road in the UK. The bus is, however, left-hand drive. A glaring error to me. Even the 1960s Batman show made a point of Batman reminding Robin of that when they were in England, and they had to switch sides when driving the British Batmobile.
A few years later, Red Claw would gain command of a Federation starship and become one of history's greatest villains as she annihilated primitive civilizations, destroyed the timeline and committed genocide all because coffee in the Delta Quadrant just isn't the same.
I will go against the flow , but I think she is fine , more than that , she was perfect for what she supposed to do . Dangerous enough to need a superhero but not be a urgent threat. She was a step above the generic mobster , a set up for the true story
Not every villain needs a sympathetic back story, and they were especially bad about this with their female villains because "women can do no wrong". Having her be more like Rupert Thorne or Roland Dagget is actually refreshing. The only other female villain I can think of off the top of my head that is just a greedy, murderous psychopath is Throne's henchwoman Candice. Though she definitely got fleshed out more. All those other "they're just evil" villains I mentioned are still interesting. So it is probably more just an issue of them not being all that interested in fleshing her out. Since they did have a lot to say about corportate corruption, government corruption (where they could), eco-terrorism, and fascism it might have been interesting to have made her a statement on communism. It almost feels like that was the original intent. It also would have made her turning out to be greedy herself something fun to play with.
@@Xehanort10 Implied by comparing her to villains with one. He did a good Joker video a couple days ago that highlights what I mean. Joker isn't sad in BtAS. He was a sane asshole who became an insane asshole. Honestly doing a Hans Gruber would work. She could be a generic greedy terrorist. But they never do the bait and switch. They never have her pretend to have a cause then reveal it is all about wealth gain.
I suspect her followers were loyal because she was actually interested in the money part of villainy rather than just doing psycho stuff, so they're more likely to get paid.
I always thought a good way to bring Red Claw into the comics and make her more of a threat would be either as a disciple of Ras Al Ghul/the League of Shadows member, or a former member who broke away to create her own organisation after growing disillusioned with Ras (either because she preferred money and power to his goal of re-balancing the earth or because she grew tired of his plans to try and make Batman his heir)
Batman: What's going down? Gordon: This morning I get a warning from the feds. Red Claw is in Gotham. Now this. Batman: Any leads? Gordon: Nothing. Red Claw is the most ruthless terrorist leader in the world. And we don't even got a picture of the guy. Batman: I'll see what I can do from my end. Gordon: Good. There's no telling what they're up to! Nothing is safe with this savages in town.
Honestly given her group’s whole goal is to extort cities to not destroy them with WMD’s, her henchmen are probably loyal to her for the resulting windfall as well. That and given she seems to keep her word upon payment Red Claw probably treats them better than most of Gotham’s Rouges as long as they do their job.
Reminds me of that time in Austin Powers when Dr. Evil is threatening the world for ONE MILLION DOLLARS and Number 2 is like "our company made ten billion dollars this year", like sis if it's just about the money you're in the position to do some white collar crime, you dont need to commit terrorism.
A while back I named one of my Skyrim characters after Red Claw. Mainly just 'cause I'd rewatched "The Cat And The Claw" recently at the time, but still.
Giving them to the early 1990s and she's a woman with a Eastern European accent I would have to assume she grew up in the Soviet block I'm guessing she probably served in the Red Army for a number of years and that's how she got the code name red Claw, When the Soviet Union collapsed she decided to take her talents and the men under her command to Become an international terror group.
If I wrote Red Claw, she'd basically be a tactician, her goals and motivations would be kept mysterious and she would always feel like she was 2 steps ahead of The Bat's initial plan.
Imo, the most interesting moment involving Red Claw is when she accidentally took off Batman's mask. The scene doesn't give a clear indication that Red Claw found out that Batman's Bruce Wayne, but at the very least, she got dangerously close. Another Red Claw episode could built off of that.
Honestly it'd be interesting if they went into the terrorism aspect. To have that much loyalty from her followers and be described as a terrorist implies an ideology. It'd be interesting if she started out as an anti-capitalist and we see the transition from a fairly pure and even just mindset to more and more cut corners until she's using a megacorp as a front to extort money. Maybe even taking part in the military industrial complex. The little compromises that slowly eat away at the motivations until there's nothing left.
Red Claw looks more like an assassin for Ras Al ghul than a leader of a terrorist group. Maybe she was a member of the League of Shadows, but left the group for her own selfish goals. A connection to the League would have made her a slightly more interesting antagonist
Red Claw: Here's the plan. We get the warhead and we hold the world ransom for... ONE MILLION DOLLARS! Mr. Stern: Don't you think we should ask for *more* than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't exactly a lot of money these days. Multigon alone makes over 9 billion dollars a year! Red Claw: Really? That's a lot of money. Okay then, we hold the world ransom for... TEN... BILLION DOLLARS!
red claw's thing seems to be she exists solely for the whole "big bad is actually a woman" twist and a mild comomentary on sexism (even her comics version reflects this) but isn't made to be a compelling or interesting villain. her design is fairly blandyet servicable, and her personality is pretty...generic, much like the catch all of ehr being a 'terrorist' but without any actual allegiances or goals beyond money (which is something you'd get from any villain really). Nothing really made ehr stand out beyond her gender, which is a shame as there's so few female villains they could've done with making one of their first in the show be actually fun or interesting. perhaps instead of sexism have her be a social darwinist who wants to become the strongest and beleives killing a bunch of people will prove her pwoer or soemthing, or maybe jsut make ehr a cruel sadist. Just...do SOETHING with her.
As generic as Red Claw was, I do wish that she had at least one more appearance in BTAS. Maybe have a 2-part episode where she becomes obsessed with the identity of Batman, to the point where she holds Gotham hostage and threatens to blow it up unless Batman takes off his mask and reveals himself throughout the world. This could've been a proper conclusion to her character, as she did managed to unmask Batman at the end of episode The Lion & The Unicorn, but was unable to see his face. And since Batman was able to thwart her plans twice, this would be Red Claw's desires to get revenge on the Caped Crusader for interfering with her plans.
![[Watch Party] RoV Pro League 2024 Winter | ( Bacon Time Vs PSG )](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zM25REvnJW4/mqdefault.jpg)
Special thanks to channel members:
Stephanie Markey
Lex of Excel
smoibean
1001johny
Geek 85
Easy E
AGuyWithSomeHair
G Oni
.44 gaming
Heresor
RB-AfterDark Studios
Sam Dubiner
Elata
Vasch
Sketch Screen
BobaFlett
Bardock2003!
chris rochefort
Graham Brown
James Fullerton
Eduardo Azevedo
Sam B
Meth0Moth
SWIFTO_SCYTHE
David Huber
Channel membership costs 1.99 per month and gets you early access to the next video essay, priority responses to your comments, regular members only videos, custom emojis (like the ones above), and an icon on your profile to let the world know that you're a member of my channel.
Between episodes Red Claw's plans have a hell of a jump from "Give me 10 billion dollars or I'll infect Gotham with a plague" to "Give me 5 billion quid or I'll blow up London."
I understand why she went for a lower amount in that situation considering the pound is prone to crashing quite a bit
@@mrheroprimes Well, in 1992 a Pound Sterling was almost 2 US Dollars... untill Black Wednesday, where it became clear the Pound Sterling was way overvalued compared to Deutschmark.
@@Tuning3434 During '95 when that episode premiered it was $1.50 to the pound. The equivalent of $7.5 Billion is still a lot.
@@ultimatecalibur The reason why the pound is prone to crashing so much is because it's not a decimal currency like the US dollar or the euro.
@@mrheroprimes That has not been true since the decimalization in 1971. Since February 1971 it has been 100 pence to the pound (and prior to that it was 240 pence to the pound). The pound's volatility has little to do with it previously having been a non-decimal currency.
"Redclaw is clearly stronger and the better fighter, but catwoman has the mountain lions on her side" 😂 best sentence ever 👏
If I had to do something with Red Claw, I would make her a cult leader akin to Mother God from Love Has Won. She created this insane cult of personality that she lost total control over and almost became enslaved by her own followers who stayed delusional even as she begged them to cut it out while she was dying of cancer. It would not only be darkly funny, but also show how real life cults are much less organized than groups in comics like The League of Assassins.
Dude that documentary was wild
I think I need to see that so to see what you mean.
@michaelandreipalon359 strap in brother your in for a ride 👀
Red Claw as a villain could have been a great fit for GI Joe or James Bond as she reminds of those kind of characters you would have seen from them, she had a great design, dark red jumpsuit, long black hair and a legit badass who could more than hold her own in a fight. Kate Mulgrew did a great job delivering a villainous voice performance and made her feel evil. I would have liked to have seen more of her in the show and maybe do a follow up episode in TNBA taking place after The Lion And The Unicorn where she could have actually learned Batman's identity after their little throwdown in the Batwing where she ripped off his cowl. A team up story with Red Claw and Ra's Al Ghul would have gold. Such a shame she wasn't used more in the DCAU, i liked her.
Funny you mentioned G.I. Joe cause she almost reminds me of Baroness, in Jinx's red jumpsuit
A team up would be interesting, but doomed to fail. Ra's would inevitably try to make her his underling, as we know he doesn't respect women as equals or successors and she'd never tolerate that. But I think that's a much better angle than just another "Blankety-blank is really a WOMAN?!" The two knowing one another's habits and trying to double cross each other could have been interesting, and given Bats a crack in the armor to attack.
I've always thought he and Ivy would make a perfect combo but would never get past their sexism hangups, though I like your idea more. Red Claw and Ra's al Ghul can at least pretend to play nice up until the 11th hour. She may even able to get Talia on her side. So many potential twists and turns. A+ idea.
@@CapnAlces honestly would be interesting if red claw and Talia what’s somehow managed to create a split in the league of assassins. One side, wanting to handle a more modern approach, while the other wants to stick to the traditional ways with the OG Demon’s head. There has to be SOME members that are sick of or totally against him trying to recruit Batman. Someone who’s made it clear he stands totally counter to their ideology
A lot of fun can we had here
Red Claw could work as a Green Arrow villian.
Undermining Count Vertigo's operations within Vlatava and Star City
I DID NOT KNOW THAT WAS KATE MULGREW!!
My favorite Red Claw moment is her duel against Batman on top of a train. It's pretty hilarious how she makes fun of Batman like "You didn't expect to see your macho pride sullied by a woman, did you?!", while Batman's reaction is "Honey...I just don't care about what the people I beat up have between their legs"
Very yes
The hammer of justice is unisex!
@@zemox2534 Exactly what I was going to reply with.
Tas Batman sense of humour is really underrated. He is genuinely a funny and charming character.
"YOU'RE ABOUT TO MURDER PEOPLE WHY THE FUCK DOI CARE ABOUT SEXISM THIS IS NOT THE TIME OR PLACE FOR THIS!"
I'll give Red Claw one thing, she had a simple, but good design.
Kyodai Ken REALLY deserved more love, he was one of the best interpretations of younger rivalry with Batman
It always feels like a surprisingly untapped well for Batman villains. We’ve had Bruce’s evil mentors like Henri Ducard and David Cain, but nobody’s ever really been, “evil peer from his training days.” Kyodai is an all right fit, but it still feels not fully realized
@@MJTRadio - Well, we had Ghost-Maker for a while, but then Khan turned into a Bat-family ally relatively quick... it was still cool while it lasted.
@@randallflagg3700 I wasn't familiar with that one until I looked it up just now. Does sound like it would have been interesting. Don't love the name though
I think another thing that hurt Red Claw as a villain was the voice performance by Kate Mulgrew. She was obviously an American actor putting on an over-the-top accent, and as a result, she sounded just this side of Boris and Natasha. It was much more of a broad "cartoony" performance than BTAS would later do, and it just didn't fit in with what the show eventually became. But it was an early episode and I'm sure that voice director Andrea Romano was feeling her way through as much as anybody.
An excellent point. I'd call it a pantomime performance, but I'm not sure if that translates too well across the pond.
@@SerumLake Now I'm imagining an audience saying to Red Claw "He's behind you" and her going "Oh no he isn't."
Wait, that was Janeway doing the voice? 😲. Batman should try giving her coffee, that might calm her down.
Oh, yes, good old Flemeth from Dragon Age: Origins.
They should have given us Lady Shiva instead.
Now that’s a good shout!
YES!
four days ago this video was literally just uploaded earlier today
Channel members get to watch my videos a few days early.
Vampire lady?
I think it would've been cool if they introduced her as an old gray ghost villain and make her gray ghosts version of ras al ghul, I've always thought of the idea that the gray ghost was the original Batman of Gotham but retired due to old age and they made a tv show based on his real adventures fighting mad scientists like dr death, vampires like the mad monk, immortal gangsters like lord deathman and finally russian megalomaniacs like the red claw, she could also have kg beast as a henchmen but thats just an idea.
Well I did thought of a stand in for Ra’s
@@srstriker6420 who? I'm curious
@@ALIEN-DUDERed Claw and also Deacon Blackfire
@@srstriker6420 I like the concept of Deacon being a Charles Manson type.
KGBeast is a gun for hire so him working for her would totally work
I always liked her. There was a simple brutality to her character that I found very effective. Plus it was nice having one female villain that was basically pure evil.
I think a lot of the lack of appeal to "pure, unmotivated evil" has to do with the fact that most villains IRL have turned out to be made & not born
@@lyokianhitchhikeroh I’m sure Red Claw was made. We just don’t know how. In any case I like the idea of a terrorist for hire. Has a Carlos the Jackal feel.
@@crakatoot5480 I get that, I’m just theorizing on the popularity of showing how villains were made as of late
The comics, even at the time, did have some purely evil female villains namely Jane Doe, but her MO was too gruesome for TV.
@@lyokianhitchhiker There are loads of pure evil villains with more to them than Red Claw. Her problem was that "terrorist" was literally her only personality trait.
This version of Catwoman is quite the departure from previous versions on TV (and even the comics at the time). The Cat and the Claw feels almost like a Catwoman *pilot* series. Eventually, the character slowly shifts to the classic anti-villain we all adore. I like to contrast this episode with Cult of the Cat (her last appearance in the DCAU).
I honestly think the Red Claw had a pretty cool design and character. The problem is that she could have been used in more episodes.
I will say that Red Claw is pleasantly buff by the standards of women designs at the time.
I guess that adds to her intimidation factor
Like Chyna before Chyna came into WWF
@@SerumLake It adds to her hotness factor too!
It's a shame too.
Sexy design, badass presence, Kate Mulgrew's memorable performance.
Just needs refinement and fleshing out.
And she got a very very very big gun.
She likes'm big
@@langbo9999 Something, Something, Alucard.
The fact she was voiced by Kate Mulgrew is the only reason I remember the character.
@@Autistic_Changeling Not me. I actually liked her as a kid, she was an obvious foil for Catwoman who was my favorite character.
I love the fact that she has a powerful CEO who completely devoted to her without subterfuge, usually wealthy businessmen who collaborate with Bond-like villains do for selfish reasons. Just goes to show how charismatic and persuasive she is that she can attract someone like that to her cause despite all the wealth and power his position gives him, which would not give much incentive to join her. I thought she was good villain that could have been great if more detail was given about her, she was just underdeveloped. She really managed to give Batman a run for his money and pulls of an elaborate plot and is able to marshal vast resources covertly, showing she is very capable. If they developed her more she could have worked as a comic book style Carlos the Jackal/Hans Gruber like terrorist for hire or Cobra Commander if you want a generic authoritarian ideology as motive and maybe even someone like Cane from Command and Conquer as a leader of Militant Cult bent world domination, she had a lot of potential despite how little we see of her, but none of it realized.
A lot of people don’t seam to like the way the show had both dark and gritty episodes AND light and comical episodes, but honestly, I loved that about Batman. They were all very well done and you didn’t always only want one but not the other.
I liked episodes that made you feel, to think, to cry and to laugh.
BTS was all of that and more.
The same with Red Claw. Sometimes you don’t want a sympathetic villain but someone who is unredeemably evil; a greedy bastard who you just want to see defeated.
And since we're talking about Batman TAS, the tragic villains are the generic ones.
For some reason, Red Claw always stuck in my memory. I liked her!
You probably know this already, but the original incarnation of Cat-Man, with the yellow and orange costume, is in the public domain, and has shown up in some non-DC cartoons and other things. Something you'll want to mention, I'm sure. A TH-camr named Austin McConnell has done a video about this character. (The BTAS version is obviously very different and would not be in the public domain.)
The most notable thing about Red Claw is that she's voiced by Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek Voyager's Capt. Janeway, and also appearing in the first aired BTAS episode. And Batman's "I'm an equal opportunity crimefighter" line was amusing.
In the US, "The Cat and the Claw" part 1 aired on Saturday. Part 2 didn't air until the next Saturday, with other episodes airing weekdays in between. I remember I was videotaping them, so used a separate tape for this one so the episodes wouldn't be separated, then later used that tape again when the first tape with the weekday episodes was full. The fact that I remember that more than what Red Claws plan was is a sign of how uninteresting it all was. (But even this episode was much better than most cartoons that preceded BTAS.)
Regarding why her men are so loyal: it's been a while since I've seen these episodes, but I don't remember anything in the show indicating that they followed her due to being attracted to her or them worshiping her like a cult leader or anything like that. I assume that other criminals just work for her because she's not as crazy as someone like The Joker.
Maybe another incarnation could just have Red Claw treat her employees really well. They don't want to work for someone else because the rest of Gotham's criminals are crazy and just as likely to kill their own henchmen.
Man, episode release orders then and occasionally now are quite a pain.
You should see Baby Doll's own henchpeople. What made them unflinchingly stay when their boss and her "family" are about to be blown up, one may ask
5:13 As a New Orleans native I understand your gripe. I hate when the media tries to portray the New Orleans or Southern Louisiana accent. Like no we don't sound like that.
Guess you're not a fan of Gambit in X-Men: TAS?
@@michaelandreipalon359 I like Gambit. His accent is ok. I've heard worse
Did You Know?
Kate Mulgrew - voice of Red Claw - would later go on to voice the Cat on _Infinity Train._
Would love that show, except it's woefully left incomplete.
@@michaelandreipalon359 it got as much as it could get done with the execs it was unfortunately granted
Since there’s not much to say about the subject of the video. I do feel it’s a missed opportunity that we didn’t see Catwoman interact with the rogues gallery outside of Catwalk. It’s mostly non costumed villain like Red Claw, Daggett, Emile Dorian, the Hook, and Thomas Blake. I don’t really count Almost Got Im because she don’t really get any back and forth with any of the villains
Most batman villains: have a sad, well built tragic backstory that explains why and how they fell so low.
Red claw: *B R I T I S H*
To be fair, that is a pretty sad backstory
Truly, the most tragic of them all.
shes eastern european not british...
@@FrozenJack2007If she's Eastern European, why was her organisation so associated with China?
Like, they say her organisation is headquartered or something in China and yet I never saw any of it.
She could very well be from Ukraine as far as I am concerned.
@@ibrahimihsan2090 Speaking as a U.S. citizen who has an (admittedly limited) understanding of the 80's era American-action-movie tropes that "The Cat and the Claw" was riffing on: Red Claw is Russian coded. The color red is associated with the American phrase "Communist Red Scare" which was a blanket term for the 1950s government paranoia that was the result of the United States cold war with the U.S.S.R. (now Russia).
As far as I know, Red Claw as no canonical connection to China. She had a base of operations in "The Lion and the Unicorn", but that was a castle located off the coast of Scotland.
I would have loved to have seen Redclaw reappear in Justice League, a major missed oppritunity.
She could've been used in place of Vandal Savage in his second appearance (the one set in the present, with Wonder Woman).
Yes and I had a lot of ideas to use the other Bat villains that didn’t appear in Justice League before that bat embargo came along which I believe it came after Starcrossed and I would have done them before that
Would have loved seeing Wonder Woman battle her, even if it's a curbstomp.
Still, am fine with her possibly dying in the North Sea in her second and last appearance.
Hey, let's be real for a moment, though: Comic Books were always showing us that the mega rich were the real villains, Jameson, Osborn and Fisk funding ways to kill Spider-Man, the government funding the Sentinels to kill mutants, Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, even the companies that bring us these titles, wearing Marvel and DC as their masks.
Looking back at this character today, I didnt mind her for the kind of villain she was. I do believe simple and on off villains can have their fun, andhaving a villain from outside of gotham during bad things and all good. though But i think what would benefit her, character without changing too much. Is to take inspiration of from a simialir but more explored character. Like the character of Balalaika from the anime Black lagoon ( an anime that takes place in city more corrupt that gotham but without a batman. Both Red Claw and Balalaika are both Multinational villains from Russia, who both commands her former units of special forces, with a well established loyalty and respect. And this Loyalty and respect goes both ways. as seen in the two first episode of the second season of Black lagoon from those who works under them. In Balalaika case its her old KGP unit that followsa her after they got dismanden. For Anyone who have seen Black Lagoon imagine they kind of story Red claw could offer if she took after Balalaika, or Balalaika moved to gotham.
Dude, Balalaika is one beast of a character in that anime/manga! Good to know there's a fellow fan of it here.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Totally agree :D Balalaika even in anime is a rare kind of character and I love her for it, and how she be both intimating and respektable.
Naturally the rogues would get more in-depth motivations than one-shot baddies like Red Claw and Boss Biggis. But then simple monetary gain is straightforward enough to start with. That's how most real-life villains work- money money money. Maybe Red Claw could have worked better as a recurring enemy of Catwoman like Roland Daggett, but as you said her voice and aesthetics suggest a foreign origin that would take time to decently explore in a show where every minute is precious.
Or maybe she was just a time-lost Captain Kathryn Janeway and her loyal crew trying to gather the money needed to repair Voyager all along.
I am like….. Catwoman’s bio terrorist plans is THE MOST R
EARLY 90s thing ever…. Don’t know why the fuck he’s talking about….
Missed opportunity not having her in an ep with the League of Shadows. She seems like exactly the type of person Ras Al Ghul would know, either as a pawn or a rival.
I feel like when they were writing The Cat and the Claw they didn't know what villain to use since Catwoman was an anti hero so someone on the team went "Eh just make up a greedy terrorist like the ones in James Bond."
Well you could argue Red Claw could be an example of how sometimes there is no motivation for one's actions, sometimes people are just nihilists who love money above all else. And would be willing to do anything to get their way. That kind of mindset does exist, and it can be quite terrifying.
I still enjoyed Red Claw for who she was, mainly thanks to Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway, herself).
Honestly I think Red Claw is fine for a villain; there is a myriad of possibilities that could be followed with her. I imagine in today's world, she would make for a good 'Wagner' style villain; basically a foreign group or powers outfit that has been set loose on the world. The problem with her is that she was left untouched, but she is still fully workable.
The author of the “April Fool” Trilogy (which deals with the discovery and subsequent emotional fallout involving the Joker’s daughter--and KISS makes an unwilling cameo in it when Joker finds out that his “precious little princess” is in major love with Starchild) has theorized the possibility that Red Claw and the Baroness from the 1980s “GI Joe” cartoon are sisters. If such is indeed the case, that would certainly explain a lot. When a royal gives you an order, you refuse at your peril, but if you prove yourself, the rewards can be quite lavish, even to the point of you being made a royal yourself
An analysis on mad Stan would be perfect April Fools joke
Oh he's on the list, don't you worry.
@@SerumLakeso seeing that this is cat month and that your doing Thomas Blake next are you also going to include Catman from the Justice league episode Legends as that his alter ego is used as superhero who is meant to be a parody of Wildcat and the Adam West Batman as the earth 2 doesn’t count because he does kill people and you know that he did get the happy ending for a while until his death and also did you know that Selina did have a brother named Karl Kyle as he goes by the King of the cats?
Gotta love that guy, even if he only appeared in two relevant Batman Beyond episodes.
Imagine if they leaned into her military charisma. There aren't many masculine female villains, and that seems like a way to make her less generic.
No masculine female villains? Were you born yesterday?
@@alejandromolinac
I'm curious can you name some? Like physically big or muscular female villains?
@@EmbalmerEmiwell there is Mala from Superman for one
@@alejandromolinac I said "not many." Did you think I said "not any?"
I forgot about Red Claw! Man I had some feelings about her growing up haha
Part of of the problem with Red Claw's overall presence is that she just comes across in very respect as quite boring and pretty much just feels like a failed attempt at a Bond villain, minus a fun personality (which at least half Bond villains also lack). Worse still, her initial introduction derails Catwoman's introduction to the the show, which I felt was unfulfilling to begin with, and just feels like her plot hijacked Catwoman's plot until it results in a bit of a cluttered mess (meaning the Cat and the Claw Part 2). When it comes down to it, Red Claw failed to leave a lasting impression or elevate the plot in any meaningful way.
Yeah, The Cat and the Claw starts out really well with the opening rooftop chase and Selina Kyle buying Bruce Wayne at the bachelor auction, but once the actual plot kicks in, it's fairly dull.
I personally think Red Claw would've worked better as an Iron Man villain than a Batman villain.
Honestly? I like that she's simply an extortionist. Not every hero and villain has to be a broken person with a tragic backstory.
she still could've had a few other things going on (besides the unplaceable accent), could've been a war profiteer, could've been an ally/rival of Ras al Gul, insert any other blink and you miss it connections to other villain groups
just any amount of salt and pepper to spice up this boiled potato basic character
I just like Red's design from BTAS. It's simple but effective.
I like Red Claw, she has a nice design and her getting Batman to say he's an "Equally Opportunist Crimefigter" was always hilarious. I wish the team actually used her more and showed she had a lot to offer as a villain.
I wish they could use Red Claw more often as she seems like a Ra’s al ghoul type along with Deacon Blackfire as she has so much potential,but does anyone remember those rumours that Anne Hathaway wanted a Catwoman spin-off well if it was I would have used Red Claw, Black Mask and Zsasz as the villains
Interesting I thought she was Russian since you mentioned Red it would make sense.
There was a whole wave of generic motiveless terrorist characters in 80s and especially 90s media--to the point that I remember when 9/11 happened, at least one writer described pre-9/11 terrorists as "the idiots who fire mindlessly in all directions in action movies". I think part of it was the impulse to recycle Soviet spy/communist guerrilla tropes into a world where the political landscape was changing so rapidly that kids' media in particular couldn't keep up. (The Carmen Sandiego show had a disclaimer in the credits saying that all geography facts were accurate as of the date of filming--that's how fast borders were shifting.) Tying Red Claw to a particular place or ideology would have seemed like a terrifying gamble.
Personally, I read her at the time as being from the former Yugoslavia, but I was a weird little elementary-school nerd.
Gee…. It’s not like The Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall had just happened
Either way, gotta miss these kinds of terrorists. Nowadays, incessant civvie populations demonize or flanderize even benevolent governments and militaries more, which annoys me a lot in fiction lately.
@@michaelandreipalon359 At least the Flag-Smashers paid the price and are forgotten about and lumped in with other villains.
She got that monster/enemy of the week kind of vibe...
I feel like Kate Mulgrew could have been used for a more compelling character, perhaps a villain by the time of Justice League
Oh yes along with a few other bat villains that never appeared
00:39 - to be fair, Biggus was more of a missed opportunity to either introduce the Trigger Twins or (if the stars could align) bring Shame back into the Rogues Gallery instead of being a story-driving villain in his own right.
Who're they, again?
The Lion and the Unicorn made her cool. Mostly about having a ruthless attitude. But alomg with Rupe, Catman, Dagget and Sewer King, she needed motivation. It doesn't have to be a back story, it could just be subtext or a situation. They did this with the Penguin in Birds of a Feather.
Maybe Red Claw could have worked if linked to Ra's Al Ghoul somehow? Maybe she wanted to become his rival?
She had a lot going for her yet none actually stick out
Kate Mulgrew! Star Trek Voyager!!
That’s the one!
Dragon Age: Origins to me, with some Disney's Gargoyles.
Honestly, Sewer King deserves more recognition. He needs a dark reimagining
Just pretend Ratboy from Batman Beyond is his descendant.
I think she fits better as Wonder Woman's enemy than Batman's. And honestly, at least she's more interesting than Aresia from the Justice League.
True
I actually liked Aresia more, especially since she has quite a backstory.
Hmmmmm its interesting that Red Claw is the only Batman Villain that doesn't have a backstory about why she went into villainy in the first place. But I wonder what Serum Lake's opinion of her.🤔
The Batwing isn't braking the laws of physics by hovering in midair, it's just capable of vertical take-off and landing, like the Harrier.
True, but the design of the craft sure seems impractical for such a role.
Given BTASs history of upgrading villains, i say Red Claw is primed for another version of the franchise to bring her back in a new and interesting form. On the other hand, i think she slots into the place held by Talia in TDKR, Talia was wasted in that film.
Every time you say “Red Claw”, I keep thinking of the T-Rex from “The Land Before” TV series. He was also one-note; his raptor minions had more character than him. I’ve heard other commentators say they’d have preferred Lady Shiva, and I have to concur.
She looks cool, I'll give her that. Like you said, there's not much to say about her. I think if they went with making her more of a cult leader basically show HOW people would follow her and brand themselves with her mark, they'd have something to sink into. There's a reason Lock-up showed up earlier too, he had more to say about the world with the role he plays as villain. There's plenty of classic comic book villains that got boosted up by further fleshing out, like Kraven the Hunter from Spider-Man or Magneto from X-Men.
To be fair, I don't think a CEO became part of the organization - I think a group member became CEO of their front company
I'm a little surprised she never got connected to Ras Alghul. That's what she reminds me of, but as you said, generic. If it was added to back story that she was a protégé of Ras that decided she wanted to be rich instead of an eco terrorist, that could have made for something more compelling. Maybe forcing a Mexican standoff scenario between Batman, Ras, and her.
I looked it up. By the date the episode " The Lion and the Unicorn" was aired was September 15, 1995. The exchange rate on that day was about 1.8875%. So, if she wanted 2 Billion Pounds, that would estimate to about $3,775,000,000
I actually prefer her as someone who doesn't have a complex motivation behind the reason she does crime. How often will try and give a reason why someone is a bad person, not everyone needs a complex and/or tragic backstory to do the things that they do. Sometimes a person's just a bad person, no extenuating circumstances, no dramatic past, no noble goal just plain greed and joy of being bad.
Clearly this early episodes the creative team was trying to find its footing
I think the very first BTAS that I ever saw was that debut broadcast of this episode in 1992.
You know what would have been an interesting reason to ask for a ridiculous amount of money? If she’s not actually interested in the money and is using it as an excuse to infect, blow up or destroy a place to make a point about something or destroy something she feels is harmful to society or the world as a whole or even to just see the destruction. If she gets paid then she has plenty of money to fund her next scheme. If not she gets the pleasure of destroying whatever she wants to destroy at the moment. The money is secondary to watching the world burn
Red Claw is one of those characters who overlaps with other, better characters. It's like they tried to combine Poison Ivy and Ra's al Ghul, with a dash of Catwoman. Pity. Her design is striking, and these two episodes are a waste of a good Kate Mulgrew. Even just a dash more personality might have made her a cult favorite - force of personality carries lots of characters.
Some fans have headcannoned her as Nyssa Ratko the other daughter if Ra's Alghul shame thats not a reality then they could frame her as a test for Batman by Ra's.
We need a video of Nightwing from the animated series. True underdog fr.
He’s on the list!
god sorry to miss the stream
though im happy that the only villian i forgot from btas was well... ''forgettable''
I liked both KyoDaiKen and Red Claw.
I heard Kyodai was put into the comics at last, always felt he could have undergone further character growth now that he knows the 'rich man's son' he trained years ago with is Batman.
@@WhiteFangofWar Cool, one of the best thnigs abot KyoDai was that Robert Ito gave him a non-Stereotypical voice.
@@WhiteFangofWar he was in a hallucination for maybe 3 pages. not even sure if he was even a real person.
...You could have had her be called 'Catspaw', and literally have her 'thing' be that she enacts plans/heists/assassinations etc (and can also take the blame) on behalf of other people for money. No greater goal, no grand plan, no horde of followers. She's a villainess for hire and nothing more.
Keep it up on your work and this video and channel
I love this video and channel
Thanks you for your video and channel
Thank you!
I remember Red Claw but barely. I guess I saw the Alfred episode too many times. She looks strangely cute in the Catwoman comic 🤔
5:10 We drive on the left side of the road in the UK. The bus is, however, left-hand drive. A glaring error to me. Even the 1960s Batman show made a point of Batman reminding Robin of that when they were in England, and they had to switch sides when driving the British Batmobile.
Must be a very special bus.
A few years later, Red Claw would gain command of a Federation starship and become one of history's greatest villains as she annihilated primitive civilizations, destroyed the timeline and committed genocide all because coffee in the Delta Quadrant just isn't the same.
I will go against the flow , but I think she is fine , more than that , she was perfect for what she supposed to do . Dangerous enough to need a superhero but not be a urgent threat. She was a step above the generic mobster , a set up for the true story
Not every villain needs a sympathetic back story, and they were especially bad about this with their female villains because "women can do no wrong". Having her be more like Rupert Thorne or Roland Dagget is actually refreshing.
The only other female villain I can think of off the top of my head that is just a greedy, murderous psychopath is Throne's henchwoman Candice. Though she definitely got fleshed out more.
All those other "they're just evil" villains I mentioned are still interesting. So it is probably more just an issue of them not being all that interested in fleshing her out.
Since they did have a lot to say about corportate corruption, government corruption (where they could), eco-terrorism, and fascism it might have been interesting to have made her a statement on communism.
It almost feels like that was the original intent. It also would have made her turning out to be greedy herself something fun to play with.
No one's saying she needed a sad backstory. Just more personality than "generic greedy terrorist."
@@Xehanort10 Implied by comparing her to villains with one. He did a good Joker video a couple days ago that highlights what I mean. Joker isn't sad in BtAS. He was a sane asshole who became an insane asshole.
Honestly doing a Hans Gruber would work. She could be a generic greedy terrorist. But they never do the bait and switch. They never have her pretend to have a cause then reveal it is all about wealth gain.
Plus there are even more in the comics themselves, like Jane Doe (who’s basically a female Black Mask) or Magpie.
I suspect her followers were loyal because she was actually interested in the money part of villainy rather than just doing psycho stuff, so they're more likely to get paid.
I always thought a good way to bring Red Claw into the comics and make her more of a threat would be either as a disciple of Ras Al Ghul/the League of Shadows member, or a former member who broke away to create her own organisation after growing disillusioned with Ras (either because she preferred money and power to his goal of re-balancing the earth or because she grew tired of his plans to try and make Batman his heir)
Batman: What's going down?
Gordon: This morning I get a warning from the feds. Red Claw is in Gotham. Now this.
Batman: Any leads?
Gordon: Nothing. Red Claw is the most ruthless terrorist leader in the world. And we don't even got a picture of the guy.
Batman: I'll see what I can do from my end.
Gordon: Good. There's no telling what they're up to! Nothing is safe with this savages in town.
Honestly given her group’s whole goal is to extort cities to not destroy them with WMD’s, her henchmen are probably loyal to her for the resulting windfall as well. That and given she seems to keep her word upon payment Red Claw probably treats them better than most of Gotham’s Rouges as long as they do their job.
Reminds me of that time in Austin Powers when Dr. Evil is threatening the world for ONE MILLION DOLLARS and Number 2 is like "our company made ten billion dollars this year", like sis if it's just about the money you're in the position to do some white collar crime, you dont need to commit terrorism.
De niño yo pensaba que era una villana de Alfred de sus días de espía/soldado, lo cual me da gracia porque las edades no cuadran 😅.
I see a lot of potential in red claw a few years ago I wrote a fan fiction about her.
A while back I named one of my Skyrim characters after Red Claw.
Mainly just 'cause I'd rewatched "The Cat And The Claw" recently at the time, but still.
A pleasure to watch, as always
Giving them to the early 1990s and she's a woman with a Eastern European accent I would have to assume she grew up in the Soviet block I'm guessing she probably served in the Red Army for a number of years and that's how she got the code name red Claw, When the Soviet Union collapsed she decided to take her talents and the men under her command to Become an international terror group.
If I wrote Red Claw, she'd basically be a tactician, her goals and motivations would be kept mysterious and she would always feel like she was 2 steps ahead of The Bat's initial plan.
Love your videos on these Batman characters. Can you do a video on Thoth Khepera from the episode Avatar?
Imo, the most interesting moment involving Red Claw is when she accidentally took off Batman's mask. The scene doesn't give a clear indication that Red Claw found out that Batman's Bruce Wayne, but at the very least, she got dangerously close. Another Red Claw episode could built off of that.
The funniest thing was that she conveniently died shortly after unmasking him.
Honestly it'd be interesting if they went into the terrorism aspect. To have that much loyalty from her followers and be described as a terrorist implies an ideology. It'd be interesting if she started out as an anti-capitalist and we see the transition from a fairly pure and even just mindset to more and more cut corners until she's using a megacorp as a front to extort money. Maybe even taking part in the military industrial complex.
The little compromises that slowly eat away at the motivations until there's nothing left.
As others have stated Kate Mulgrew voiced her so she has that going for her.
Kyodai Ken? The guy is actually called 'Sibling Sword'?!
Red Claw looks more like an assassin for Ras Al ghul than a leader of a terrorist group. Maybe she was a member of the League of Shadows, but left the group for her own selfish goals. A connection to the League would have made her a slightly more interesting antagonist
Red Claw: Here's the plan. We get the warhead and we hold the world ransom for... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
Mr. Stern: Don't you think we should ask for *more* than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't exactly a lot of money these days. Multigon alone makes over 9 billion dollars a year!
Red Claw: Really? That's a lot of money. Okay then, we hold the world ransom for... TEN... BILLION DOLLARS!
Just here to get my seat early, I hate coming to the movies late
**GIVE ME ONE HUNDRED BILLION, FIFILLION,, KA FILLION,--- SHABLALOO LOOO How I say million.... YEN!** - Dr Evil
The sewer king did actually appear in the comics, he was very quickly killed off.
red claw's thing seems to be she exists solely for the whole "big bad is actually a woman" twist and a mild comomentary on sexism (even her comics version reflects this) but isn't made to be a compelling or interesting villain. her design is fairly blandyet servicable, and her personality is pretty...generic, much like the catch all of ehr being a 'terrorist' but without any actual allegiances or goals beyond money (which is something you'd get from any villain really).
Nothing really made ehr stand out beyond her gender, which is a shame as there's so few female villains they could've done with making one of their first in the show be actually fun or interesting.
perhaps instead of sexism have her be a social darwinist who wants to become the strongest and beleives killing a bunch of people will prove her pwoer or soemthing, or maybe jsut make ehr a cruel sadist. Just...do SOETHING with her.
Now we need someone to rewrite her to be like Vladimir Makarov from the MW series
Better be the original iteration then.
@@michaelandreipalon359 of course
As generic as Red Claw was, I do wish that she had at least one more appearance in BTAS. Maybe have a 2-part episode where she becomes obsessed with the identity of Batman, to the point where she holds Gotham hostage and threatens to blow it up unless Batman takes off his mask and reveals himself throughout the world. This could've been a proper conclusion to her character, as she did managed to unmask Batman at the end of episode The Lion & The Unicorn, but was unable to see his face. And since Batman was able to thwart her plans twice, this would be Red Claw's desires to get revenge on the Caped Crusader for interfering with her plans.
POV is my favorite episode, so awesome!!