"Beware the Gray Ghost" is the eighteenth episode of Batman: The Animated Series. It was directed by series regular Boyd Kirkland and was first aired on November 4, 1992. The episode features guest star Adam West, best known for his portrayal of Batman in the 1960s Batman television series. West plays an actor known for his role as the Gray Ghost, a character that resembles Batman antecedent The Shadow.
Plot
The episode opens with a flashback of a young Bruce Wayne watching The Gray Ghost, a black-and-white television show, and the episode cuts between the flashback and events in the present mirroring of the show: a whirring sound is heard, a building is destroyed by an explosion, the Gray Ghost goes into action while Batman does the same in reality, and the police receive a ransom letter from the villainous "Mad Bomber".
In the present day, Batman makes the connection between the explosions and the television show but does not remember the full story. To get information, he tracks down Simon Trent, who portrayed the Gray Ghost and is now unemployed, typecast, and short of money. He sells his Gray Ghost costume to toy shop owner and collector Ted Dymer, but the next morning finds that Batman has returned it with a letter telling him to meet him in an alley. He gives Batman a copy of the show from his personal archive, as the production copies were destroyed long ago in a vault fire.
Learning the source of the whirring noises are remote-control toy cars armed with explosives, Bruce realizes the next target will be the Gotham Library. He defends the library and is overwhelmed but rescued by Trent, who is now wearing the Gray Ghost costume.
At the Batcave they discover a captured toy car has Trent's fingerprints on it, from which Trent realizes the Mad Bomber is Dymer, who is carrying out the attacks to raise money to buy more toys. Batman and Trent capture Dymer, and destroy his toy store and weaponry.
Trent is hailed as a real-life hero, prompting a resurgence in the Gray Ghost's popularity. His complete archive of the Gray Ghost series is released, providing him with both fresh income and a revitalized career. Bruce visits him at the product launch and asks for an autograph, explaining the Gray Ghost was, and still is, his childhood hero. Realizing that Bruce is Batman, Trent smiles.
Voice cast
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Bob Hastings as Commissioner Gordon
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth
Mari Devon as Summer Gleeson
Joe Leahy as Narrator
Bruce W. Timm as Ted Dymer
Adam West as Simon Trent / Gray Ghost
Reception
"Beware the Gray Ghost" has been very positively received by critics. The A.V. Club gave the episode an A and called it "smartly written and gorgeously animated".
Other appearances of the Gray Ghost
Film
In the 2018 film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, a theater sign appears, showcasing a double feature of The Gray Ghost and Zorro. In Lego DC Batman: Family Matters, while Batman fights Two-Face in the movie theater, a film entitled "Beware the Gray Ghost" is shown on the screen.
Comics
The Gray Ghost made a return appearance in an early issue of Batman: The Gotham Adventures in the late 1990s, and turned up again years later in the most recent Batman Adventures series in 2004, in a story about the making of a Gray Ghost film. The "Grey Ghost" appears in Batgirl vol. 2, #9 in 2011 during the New 52; he attempts to become the sidekick of Batgirl. His attire is similar to Doctor Mid-Nite, but in shades of gray, and he also wields a shotgun. His real identity is Clancy Johnson. He was killed by a mercenary group called "Order of the Scythe". In 2015, Simon Trent is introduced to the mainstream comic book canon in Gotham Academy, where he is a famous director and playwright who becomes a teacher at Gotham Academy. He has a rivalry with Clayface. The Gray Ghost is a tribute to pulp/comic book hero The Shadow, in fact, his name is a reference to the titular villain from a 1936 issue of The Shadow's pulp magazine series. The Gray Ghost poster featured in the episode is based on the cover of "Shadowed Millions", one of The Shadow's novels, illustrated by Jim Steranko. Batman meets an aged Shadow in issues #253 and #259 of the comic series. In the Robin King's origin shown in Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights, the movie the Wayne family saw at Monarch Theater instead of The Mark of Zorro was Beware the Gray Ghost.