Epilogue (Justice League Unlimited episode)
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| Justice League Unlimited episode | |
|---|---|
| “Epilogue” | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 26 |
| Writer(s) | Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie |
| Director | Dan Riba |
| Production no. | - |
| Original airdate | July 23rd, 2005 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Divided We Fall" | "I Am Legion" |
"Epilogue" (airdate July 23, 2005) is the season finale episode in season two of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In addition, this episode also tied together and continued some plot points from the cancelled Batman Beyond animated series, which was written by the same team. This episode focuses around Batman, revealing a dark secret.
The episode was written and produced before Justice League Unlimited was renewed for further seasons, so the episode was also intended as an epilogue for the entire DC Animated Universe started in Batman: The Animated Series, all the way to Justice League Unlimited.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
After the last world crisis the Justice League faced, Amanda Waller (the government agent who tried to take down the JL because they were too powerful) started becoming their ally, and in her role as US Ambassador to the Justice League, she got to know Batman, Bruce Wayne, very well, gaining a large respect for him. As time went on, Waller saw him age, and realized he wouldn't be around forever. However, in her mind, the world needed a Batman.
Waller used her old (Cadmus) contacts to launch "Project: Batman Beyond". She found a young couple that was almost an identical psychiatric match for Mr. & Mrs. Wayne. When the male went in for what he thought was a flu shot, his reproductive DNA was overwritten by that of Bruce Wayne's (Batman villain and Task Force X member the Clock King is seen exiting the building just prior). A year later, Terry McGinnis was born, genetically the son of Mrs. McGinnis and Bruce Wayne.
Genetics, however, do not alone make a Batman, so Waller hired an assassin (Andrea Beaumont, the Phantasm from the Batman: The Animated Series movie Mask of the Phantasm) to kill Terry's parents as the three of them were leaving a movie theatre, hoping that the same tragedy would cause the same response. Andrea couldn't go through with it though, and the project was effectively scrapped.
However, due to a cruel twist of fate, Terry's father was killed, on the orders of Derek Powers. Terry stumbled upon Wayne Manor and the Batcave, and the rest is future history (as seen in Batman Beyond). Waller implies that she believed it was a form of divine interference which led to the death of his father because it was still Terry's fate to become Batman.
When Terry learns that he is the son of Bruce Wayne, he is at first angry. He imagines how he confronts Bruce Wayne with this information (in the form of black and white segments), ends his relationship with Dana, and turns his back on the future Justice League after their latest battle with the Iniquity Collective, saying "Batman is dead". Convinced that Bruce won't tell him the whole story, Terry breaks into Waller's home to get the story straight from her. When he finds that Bruce is innocent, he returns to the Batsuit, prepares to propose to Dana (who now knows his secret identity), shares a moment of mostly unspoken reconciliation with Bruce, and takes off to patrol Gotham.
The episode ends with a scene featuring a flying Terry silhouetted against buildings and startling an airborne police craft, is a reference to the opening scene of "On Leather Wings," the very first episode of the original Batman: The Animated Series.[2]
[edit] Behind The Scenes
[edit] Batman Beyond: Catwoman Movie
Epilogue used story elements from a Batman Beyond movie that would have had Selina Kyle/Catwoman as the person responsible for the cloning of Bruce Wayne instead of Amanda Waller. Due to the dark tones of Return of the Joker, however, the second movie was rejected[3].
[edit] Trivia
- According to Bruce Timm, Wayne is also the biological father of Terry's younger brother Matt.[4]
- Although it is ambiguous on-screen, producer/writer Dwayne McDuffie confirmed that the black-and-white sequences are Terry's imagination of what will happen if he resigns as Batman, not flashbacks.
- When questioning Bruce about the Cadmus procedure that could have altered his DNA, Bruce says that those procedures have been illegal for decades. Terry responds, "Didn't stop the Joker from using them on Tim Drake," referencing the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker movie.
- The film that Terry and his parents were leaving when Phantasm was supposed to kill them was The Gray Ghost Strikes. The Gray Ghost is the childhood hero of young Bruce. This parallels versions of the first Batman's origin in which his parents are killed after a family trip to see a Zorro movie.
- The episode marked Will Friedle's final performance as Terry McGinnis/Batman.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kevin Conroy | Batman |
| Will Friedle | Terry McGinnis / Batman Beyond |
| CCH Pounder | Amanda Waller |
| Lauren Tom | Dana, Dr. Light, Kai-ro |
| Hynden Walch | Ace |
| Marc Worden | Parasite |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Watchtower - Details on Epilogue.
- Details on TV.com
| The Bruce Timm DC animated universe | |
|---|---|
| Television series: | Batman: The Animated Series | Superman: The Animated Series | The New Batman Adventures | The New Batman/Superman Adventures | Batman Beyond | Static Shock | The Zeta Project | Justice League | Justice League Unlimited |
| Feature-length films: | Batman: Mask of the Phantasm | Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero | Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker | Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman |
| Comic books: | Batman Adventures | Superman Adventures | Justice League Adventures | Batman Beyond | Gotham Girls |
| Web cartoons: | Gotham Girls |
| Video Games: | DCAU Video Games |
