| “ | I didn't mean to. | „ |
| ~ Baby-Doll's iconic catchphrase. |
| “ | Look. That's me in there, the real me. There I am. ...But it's not really real, is it? Just made-up and pretend, like my family and my life and everything else! Why couldn't you just let me make-believe? | „ |
| ~ Baby-Doll's emotional breakdown. |
Mary Louise Dahl, better known by her alias Baby-Doll, is the titular main antagonist of the Batman: The Animated Series episode of the same name and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Killer Croc) of The New Batman Adventures episode "Love is a Croc".
She is a disgraced actress who suffers from systemic hypoplasia, a medical condition that prevents her growth. Years ago, Dahl starred in her own television sitcom Love that Baby until she left the show out of jealousness of being overshadowed by newcomer Spunky Spencer and her desire to become a dramatic actress, but such attempts failed, and she faded into obscurity. Losing her sanity, Dahl sees herself as her character "Baby-Doll" and decides to do whatever she needs to have her dream life.
She was voiced by Alison LaPlaca in her first appearance and by Larraine Newman in her second appearance.
Her Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Her Heinous?[]
In General[]
- While she didn't deserve to be outcasted from the acting world due to her child-like appearance preventing audiences from taking her seriously, she brought her own misery on herself out of a petty grudge she developed in the Love that Baby set due to Spunky Spencer overshadowing her in her birthday episode, plus she could have sought acting alternatives (i.e. voice acting) if she felt deprived from spotlight in her own show.
- She reportedly behaved like a bratty jerk behind the scenes even before being abandoned by the entertainment world, as her Love that Baby castmates feel that she only cared for ratings and to be the center of attention all the time, which may be true considering how she didn't think about that resigning from the show would put them out of job, and even then, her "brother" was the only castmate who felt sympathy for her, yet she had no qualms in targeting him later on.
- Despite the high Heinous Standards of the DC Animated Universe and attempting to destroy a city being previously done by other villains like the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Firefly and Granny Goodness, Baby-Doll barely stands out due to trying to wipe out Gotham City from the face of the Earth just to commit suicide with little to no resources even though she knew the long-lasting consequences her actions would leave, such as irradiating the landmass for millennia.
Batman: The Animated Series[]
- Losing her sanity years after the show's cancellation, she decides to kidnap Tod Baker, June Winthrop, Brian Daly and Tammy Vance, her "parents" and "siblings", to force them back into being "Baby-Doll's family" forever so she can live happy with them, sending her henchmen to capture them.
- Nearly causes a car accident with the Batmobile to help her henchmen kidnap Vance, running into the streets and forcing Batman and Robin to abruptly change their course, preventing them from rescuing Batman.
- Has Tod Baker kicked back into the film set by her assistant Mariam despite him being a senior for threatening to call his lawyer to sue her and attempting to walk out from her "birthday party".
- Goes with Mariam to personally kidnap Spunky Spencer (unaware that it was Robin disguised), take him to her film set and slap him with her toy-turned-gun Mr. Happy Head.
- Tries to kill herself, her former castmates and possibly even her henchmen by putting a dynamite stick as her birthday cake's candle and demanding "Spunky" to blow it off even though the stick in question was potent enough to kill everyone near it. When "Spunky" throws the dynamite stick away with his mouth, she decides to kill him herself with Mr. Happy Head.
- Orders Mariam to attack Batman and Robin after they defeat her henchmen to allow her to escape.
- Uses the ball gun of a county fair attraction to hit Batman.
- Slaps Batman with Mr. Happy Head as he follows her through a closed funhouse and attempts to shoot him dead before suffering a breakdown upon seeing mirrors reflecting what she thought would have been her true self if she hadn't been born with hypoplasia.
The New Batman Adventures[]
- Assaults a rude tourist who insulted her condition at a hotel where she started to work even though the tourist in question was drunk and possibly not aware of what he was saying.
- Resolves to free Killer Croc, one of Batman's enemies who has been recently convicted as a murderer, due to feeling attracted to him for being an outcast just like her.
- Provokes the security truck transferring Killer Croc from Arkham Asylum to the Stonegate Penitentiary to crash even though the guards tell her once they recover that everyone could have died, leading her to electrocute them while mockingly apologizing.
- Commits several robberies to banks, jewelries, etc. with Killer Croc's assistance, enough to the point of the both of them being nicknamed the "Bonnie and Clyde of Gotham City".
- Attempts to kill Batman with some explosive jacks while robbing a cruise liner's casino with Killer Croc.
- Once she finds out that Killer Croc has been cheating on her with two prostitutes, elaborates a plot to get rid of him for betraying her and abusing her love for him, tricking him into helping her to rob the Mid River Island nuclear power plant under the pretext that it's going to be a "big job" for the two.
- Rigs a doll inside her sewers hideout to kill Batman and Batgirl, causing an explosion that they manage to survive, though it possibly kills some rats of the sewers.
- Activates the Mid River Island nuclear power plant's reactor and, rather than demanding a ransom like Killer Croc assumed, reveals her intentions to let the reactor reach critical mass to blow Gotham City up just to get herself and Croc killed for Croc's betrayal, understandably horrifying Croc.
- More horrifyingly is that, before activating the countdown, Baby-Doll casually mentions that the resulting explosion would leave Gotham City radioactive for 20,000 years and in "black and white", showing that she didn't care at all with the dangerous pollution that would result from her suicide.
What Makes Her Inconsistent?[]
- She is too tragic to be NPE or PE, as she was never able to break into acting roles other than her role as "Baby-Doll" or child-like roles due to her typecasting and was constantly treated with disrespect by many adults, plus she is played for sympathy too much in both of her appearances, destroying mirrors for showing her who she would never be thanks to her medical condition, despite her delusions trying to convince her of the contrary, and crying after Killer Croc knocks himself out even though he betrayed and tried to kill her, assuring him that they could have been happy if he had reciprocated her feelings.
- Suffers several moral agency issues due to her evident mental illnesses, whom she isn't proud of or try to take advantage of.
- Feels remorse for some of her actions in her first appearance, peacefully surrendering to let Batman take her to the authorities and she could have taken the opportunity to kill him.
- Redeems herself in her second appearance by zapping Killer Croc with one of Batman's gadgets just as Croc tried to throw Batman into a ventilator to kill him, paying him back after he saved her from the same fate seconds ago.
- It is hinted that none of her co-stars (with the exception of Brian) treated her with respect as she said "Of course you always were the nicest one" to Brian. This also means that she possibly didn't behave like a bratty jerk since Todd Baker was the only one who called her that and he wasn't nice to her to begin with.
- Even though she left the show, it's quite possible the cast would lose their jobs anyway and even so hey found new jobs possibly making them mad at her for a dumb reason
- While she shouldn't have assaulted the tourist, he was being mean to her despite being drunk and he even kind of made fun of her condition even after helping the tourist and his wife get a new spare key.
- Her condition could've been cured if not for her parents as it was revealed in the comics that they purposefully kept Baby-Doll looking like a child for the sake of money, showing no sympathy nor love for her at all especially since they knew the whole time and just waited until the cure would no longer work on her.
- She has shown many times to not value her own life as she knows her life is fake and she would rather die living her fantasy than carry out in the real world. It is also shown as she wasn't too dismayed that the Batmobile hadn't flattened her.
Trivia[]
- Baby-Doll, alongside Ace, is one of the two DC Animated Universe female characters to be Inconsistently Heinous.
External Links[]
- Baby Doll on the Villains Wiki
- Baby-Doll on the DC Animated Universe Wiki
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 Animated Universe Inconsistently Heinous
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Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures Superman: The Animated Series Justice League/Unlimited | ||
 Inconsistently Heinous
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Comics Theatrical Movies Direct-to-video Movies Television Video Games
Fanon | ||