@tonitonichopper:
Yeah he was. I never saw that much character out of him in the 90's show.
Batman in The Animated Series is Batman in Justice League is Bruce in Batman Beyond. It's the same character; he just goes through phases.
In general, Batman in the DCAU seems to go back and forth between being more mellow and keeping a sense of humor about things, and being a humorless, driven, at times even slightly crazy man. This largely seems to have to do with the company he keeps at the time; the more "social" he's being, the nicer the person less of an asshole he is, and that's at its peak in Justice League. Then Tim Drake quits is forced to quit his group after the Joker's mind-rape incident, Bruce has an ill-advised affair with Barbara Gordon, and Batman quits the Justice League. After fighting on alone in Gotham for some time, he finally hangs up the cape and cowl for good when his heart starts giving him trouble. The Bruce that Terry McGinnis finds is of the "bitter and resigned, yet still driven and slightly crazy" variety, though he succeeds in bringing back some of his old sense of humor for a while.
Aaaaand now back to talking about this new show with the campy '60s character designs but decent action sequences:
I think the lack of the Joker in this new series may also be a good thing: after Heath Ledger's turn as the character in The Dark Knight, the characterization on the show would either come off as stupid and trite (if of the silly variety) or not living up to the bar set by other Batman media (if played straight). I mean, the bar was already set high enough by Mark Hamill's interpretation in The Animated Series, then The Dark Knight makes you realize just why the other villains in the comics are afraid of him.
I do, however, demand an intercontinuity crossover featuring Batmen from The Animated Series, The Batman, the '60s Adam West version (probably identical in appearance to the one in this series, if not in as good shape), the Frank Miller nutcase, Tim Burton's brooding Batman, Joel Schumacher's ambiguously gay take, and of course, the one from the Nolanverse. …That's not too much to ask, is it?