Removable Cowl Batman and Guardian of Gotham featuring a molded cowl head and a Bruce Wayne quick change. Villains offered were the Joker and Penguin. Batman: Knight Force Ninjas In 1998, Kenner produced a new line of Batman figures called Batman: Knight Force Ninjas. This line, like Legends of Batman and Legends of the Dark Knight, featured all new sculpts of Batman in an Elseworld theme. Notable figures were the first ever Azrael figure, and a new Killer Croc figure. DC Direct To please fans and collectors who wanted better figures, not just repaints, DC Comics started production on their own line of action figures. These highly articulated figures, based on popular DC Comics characters, feature many Batman characters, and also feature storyline inspired character figures including Elseworld figures. DC Direct also released a new line of Pocket Super Heroes, mini action figures that kids could put in their pocket. The Pocket Super Heroes come in boxed sets, including a Batman boxed set featuring Batman, Bruce Wayne, Robin, Alfred Pennyworth, Catwoman and Two-Face. Batman around the world To please fans around the globe, DC Comics gave a license to Japanese toy company Yamato to produce a line of Batman action figures. These figures were only released in Japan in 2003, but DC Direct released the same figures in America in 2004. Later, another Japanese toy company, Takara, created a new line of Batman action figures under their long lived Microman Toyline, which was sold in the U.S. market in the 1970s under the name Micronauts. Featuring more articulation than the Yamato line, these figures also saw their American debut in 2004. Kenner ends, Mattel begins In 2003, Mattel won the rights to produce Batman and other DC Comics character figures from Hasbro. Before losing control, Hasbro released its final sets of Batman animated figures. Most figures were featured in two packs, and were store exclusives. K-Mart, Wal-Mart and Toys 'R' Us released these figures before Mattel took over production. After Hasbro's line faded, Mattel quickly produced its own line of retooled Batman animated figures to tide fans over until it could release new figure lines. Some figures were new sculpts, some were just repaints of old Kenner/Hasbro sculpts. Teen Titans Around the same time as Mattel took over production of Batman and DC Comics character figures, Bandai released its own line of figures based on the Cartoon Network's animated series