It’s completely wild to me to look back and realize that for most of the 1990s, the superhero scene was absolutely dominated by Batman. He ruled the theater with three films and was all over the television landscape with three separate animated series. Of the latter, it was the Dark Knight’s run at the 1992 Animated Series (Batman TAS, for short) that became such a touchstone in superhero storytelling.

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have grown up in an era where Batman TAS aired after school. Even then, I appreciated how heads-and-shoulders above the rest of the field it was — in its gorgeous art deco style, in its amazing voice work, and especially in its storytelling. It always felt as though I was getting away with watching an adult show as a teen.

Desiring to revisit this series but lacking the time to go through all 85 episodes, I combed through many, many lists to narrow down my viewing to what’s more or less considered to be the five best episodes of the lot (and granted, there will be disagreement with this). So come with me as I revisit Batman TAS on its very best of days!

“The Clock King”

Batman’s got the most famous rogue’s gallery of any hero, and what I loved about the Animated Series is that it spent entire episodes exploring some of the more obscure members with questionable gimmicks. “The Clock King” looks at a schedule-obsessed lawyer who goes bad when he takes some bad advice from the future mayor. What follows is a demented revenge scheme that Batman tries to stop. The final battle takes place in — what else? — a giant clock as the time puns fly fast and furious. It’s a solid episode that takes a joke character and makes him both tragic and threatening.

“Almost Got ‘Im”

This is such a fun and incredibly memorable episode! “Almost Got ‘Im” revolves around a bunch of Batman’s foes playing poker and boasting about which one of them got the closest to killing the Dark Knight. Obviously, seeing the entire episode from the bad guys’ point of view while doing something as mundane as gabbing over a card game makes this unique, but the little stories are terrific in their own right and it’s just a great time to hear Joker, Penguin, Two Face, Poison Ivy, and Croc ruminate about their greatest foe (one theory: Commissioner Gordon has a bunch of Batmen stashed away as a SWAT team). Croc exclaiming “I threw a rock at him!” to everyone’s dead silence made me laugh so hard. “It was a BIG rock!”

“Heart of Ice”

Batman TAS wasn’t just a good show — it was as vital to establishing the Batman canon and mythos as the movies. So much flowed out of the series that we love today, including making new villains (Harley Quinn) or taking lesser-known ones and turning them into legends.

And that’s exactly what happened with “Heart of Ice,” which latched onto Mr. Freeze and gave him one of the most bittersweet beautiful stories. He’s not just a bad guy with a cold-based gimmick (although he is that, and it’s pretty rad); he’s trying to get even with a company that failed him while also looking to cure his wife of a terminal illness. It’s powerful and unexpected, and we learn that Batman has a bacta tank in his Batcave.

“Over the Edge”

This episode kicks off with Batman and Robin on the run from the police — firing guns and bazookas! — throughout the Batcave. This is a Scarecrow episode where the worst possible scenario plays out for Batman and Gotham City. And yeah, it’s pretty dark, including Barbara getting hit and killed by a car and Gordon allying with Bane to take down Batman. Yes, this is technically part of the “New Batman Adventures” — the follow-up series/season — but it’s a continuation and I’ll count it because it’s such a good episode that changes things up in the final moments to completely recontextualize the story.

“Beware the Gray Ghost”

I don’t think anyone expected the ’90s Batman franchise to ackjnowledge the vastly more campy ’60s one, but that sort of happened with this episode. Adam West voices the Gray Ghost, an old TV superhero/actor in Batman’s world. When events in Gotham bear a striking resemblance to an episode of the Gray Ghost show, Batman seeks out the unemployed actor for help. Instead of mocking the older character, he’s shown to be a hero to Bruce Wayne who still has relevance. It’s a wonderful tip of the hat to West’s Batman and a very cleverly written tale.