Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Australia, Japan, and Mexico) is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy.^[1] Depicting the teenager Terry McGinnis as a new Batman in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, the series began airing on January 10, 1999, and ended its run on December 18, 2001. After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video film, the series was put on hold for the new Justice League animated series despite the network having announced plans for a fourth season.^[2] However, there was a short-lived spin-off, The Zeta Project. In The Zeta Project's first season episode "Shadows", there is a crossover with Batman Beyond; in this continuity, the story takes place between the episode "Countdown" and the series finale "Unmasked." The continuity of Batman Beyond has made various crossovers into comic books published by DC Comics, including an ongoing series beginning in 2011.

Batman Beyond is set in the chronological future of the DC animated universe, although it was released before Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Static Shock. Some characters from the series appeared two years later in "Future Shock", an episode of Static Shock, and then again in "The Once and Future Thing", episodes of Justice League Unlimited. The character of Terry McGinnis was revisited a final time in the JLU episode "Epilogue", which tells much about the future of Batman.

Batman Beyond is said to explore the darker side of many Batman projects, playing on key elements such as emotions, personal relations, the fear of the unknown, technological malfunctions, and the disturbing psychological elements of the character of Bruce Wayne. As such, it was considerably darker than most other children's programs at the time, although producer Bruce Timm recalls it was conceived as a kid-friendly Batman cartoon.^[3] It is also the first Batman series to portray the hero as a teenager. IGN named the show 40th on their list of "Top 100 Animated TV Series".^[4]

Batman Beyond began airing on The Hub network in October 2010. The show is currently airing on the UK channel Kix! under the title of Batman of the Future.

Story

The pilot episode, entitled "Rebirth", begins in 2019, where an aging Batman, equipped with a high-tech Batsuit, takes on the kidnappers of Bunny Vreeland (the daughter of Veronica Vreeland, one of Bruce Wayne's girlfriends). During the battle, Batman suffers a heart attack which leaves him unable to fight, forcing him to betray a life-long principle by threatening a criminal with a gun. By this point, Bruce Wayne's assistants, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox and Commissioner Gordon, have passed away. It is implied by virtue of his lengthy career as Batman, and his retaining the Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl costumes, that a tragic occurrence had transpired that caused Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice League and forbade his allies to assume their alter-egos (the events which caused all of this are revealed in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker). Ultimately, Bruce reluctantly decides that his time as Batman is over and vows "never again" as he shutters the Batcave.

The story fast-forwards to 2039 in Neo-Gotham, a futuristic megalopolis featuring staggering high rises and flying vehicles. Bruce Wayne is a recluse living in bitter isolation in Wayne Manor with no companion but his guard dog, Ace. Terry McGinnis is an athletic 17-year-old high school student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained sense of personal justice, but is currently not on good terms with his father. His first act in the series is to defend a fellow passenger on a commuter rail from a member of the Jokerz gang. After trying to defend his girlfriend from a gang of Jokerz, Terry engages in a high-speed chase which ends on the grounds of Wayne Manor, where he runs into the elderly Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Terry fend off the Jokerz side-by-side, but the exertion aggravates Bruce's heart condition. Terry helps Bruce back to the manor, and, after Bruce nods off for a bit, stumbles upon the entrance to the Batcave. He is chased out by a recovered and angered Bruce.

Terry returns home to discover that his father had been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after, he finds out that the man actually responsible for the murder was Mr. Fixx, the bodyguard of Derek Powers—CEO of a merged Wayne-Powers and his father's employer—because he possessed knowledge of illegal chemical weapons being produced by Powers. Terry goes to Bruce for help, but Bruce refuses, feeling he is too old and too weak to be of any use. Terry then "borrows" the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes all of Terry's efforts and vehemently demands Terry return the suit (at one point paralyzing the suit while Terry is wearing it), but Terry convinces Bruce to let him take on the Batman mantle, and he subsequently defeats Mr. Fixx. Realizing that crime and corruption are running rampant in Gotham without Batman's presence, Bruce offers Terry the chance to assume the role of Batman.

Terry's first foe is Derek Powers, now mutated through a combination of deadly chemical gas and radiation into the radioactive monstrosity Blight. Terry soon comes to develop his own rogues gallery: the seductive shape-shifter Inque; the hypnotist Spellbinder; the bitter, deaf sound expert Shriek; the deadly assassin Curare; the insane terrorist Mad Stan; the cybernetically-enhanced African big game hunter Stalker; the nerdy psychokinetic Willie Watt; a new version of the Royal Flush Gang; and the Jokerz, a gang idolizing the notorious Clown Prince of Crime. On occasion, Terry is also forced to face his mentor's old foes, such as the rejuvenated Mr. Freeze; common criminals using Bane's strength-enhancing Venom substance in the form of slap-on patches; the longevous Ra's al Ghul; and somewhat inevitably, the Joker himself.

Terry also makes allies in Neo-Gotham: Maxine "Max" Gibson is a 17-year-old computer genius who discovers Batman's secret identity and helps Terry with everything from computer hacking to babysitting. Max plays an integral part in Batman's war on crime, essentially as Terry's ersatz Alfred. Terry also forms a begrudging partnership with Gotham City Police Department Commissioner Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl. She is unhappy with the idea of a new Batman, especially a teenager, as she is still haunted by the same subsequent events that led Bruce to retire. However, she knows that she and the police under her command need Batman, whether she likes it or not. Furthermore, she understands from personal experience that she can not deter Terry any more than she could have been deterred from being Batgirl. She is implied to have been shot in her time as Batgirl, as she mentions to Bruce that the Batgirl costume has had the bullet-holes repaired.

Main cast

Reception

While the idea of Batman Beyond seemed as if it was "not a proper continuation of the legacy of the Dark Knight",^[4] it gathered quite a lot of acclaim after its release. The show was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards, two of which it won in 2001 for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program and Outstanding Music Direction and Composition. In addition, the show was nominated for five Annie Awards and won two of those nominations in 1999 and 2001.^[5]

In 2009, IGN.com named Batman Beyond the fortieth-best animated television series of all time.^[4]

Spinoffs

Batman Beyond spun off an animated series called The Zeta Project, featuring a revamped version of the synthoid Zeta from the Batman Beyond episode "Zeta." Batman would guest star in the episode "Shadows." The supervillain Stalker was to have appeared in The Zeta Project episode "Taffy Time," but did not make it.^[6] The second season episode, "Ro's Gift," has an appearance made by the Brain Trust from the Batman Beyond episode "Mind Games." Terry McGinnis/Batman was originally slated to appear in this episode as well, but was cut since Bruce Timm and company were working on Justice League.^[6]

Post-series crossovers: 2004–2005

In the third season of Batman Beyond, a two-part story entitled "The Call", which featured (for the first time) the futuristic Justice League Unlimited helped to form an early basis for Bruce Timm's next series, Justice League, which was in turn succeeded by Justice League Unlimited. The setting and characters of Batman Beyond were also briefly revived in 2004 for an episode of Static Shock in which Static is accidentally transported 40 years into the future.

Justice League Unlimited revisited the world of Batman Beyond twice in 2005. The first time featured Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern transported 50 years into the future to stop a time-travelling villain with the help of the future Justice League Unlimited cast, including Terry McGinnis as Batman and a future Static. The second time occurred during the episode "Epilogue", where the true secret origin of the future Batman is learned in a story meant to be the de facto series finale for this Batman's story.

Set 15 years after the conclusion of Batman Beyond, Epilogue reveals that Bruce Wayne is actually Terry McGinnis' biological father. The episode is told largely through flashback sequences.

Over the years, Amanda Waller came to respect Batman and even trust him. As the years passed, she saw that he was getting older and slower. The thought of a world without Batman was unacceptable to her, so she decided to make a new one. She used her Cadmus connections to gather the technology for "Project Batman Beyond", and obtained Bruce Wayne's DNA. She found a young Neo Gotham couple with psychological profiles nearly identical to those of Bruce's parents, and injected Warren McGinnis with a nanotech solution programmed to re-write his reproductive material into an exact copy of Bruce Wayne's. A little over a year later, Mary McGinnis gave birth to Terry, a child with genetics from his mother and Bruce.

When Terry was 8 years-old, Waller employed an elderly Andrea Beaumont (the enigmatic killer from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and once Bruce Wayne's true love) as an assassin to kill Terry's family, hoping the trauma would put him on the path to becoming Batman. However, Beaumont could not commit the act, arguing that Batman would never resort to murder to achieve his goals. Waller, however, conceded that Beaumont had been right, and made no further attempts to push Terry into becoming Batman, although she also stated to Terry that "when making a Batman, genetics is only half the story. The rest is tragedy" in an attempt to explain why she believed that doing this would put him on the path to becoming Batman. Derek Powers would later have Warren murdered, resulting in Terry becoming the new Batman. As the death of Warren proved soon afterwards, she was correct.

Fifteen years after Terry became the new Batman, Bruce's kidneys fail and doctors need a tissue donor to clone him new ones. When Terry shows a perfect histo-compatibility match with Bruce, he runs a DNA test and found out that half his DNA was from Bruce. Terry assumes that Bruce set the whole thing up, using some old Cadmus nanotechnology to have Terry's genes rewritten to match Bruce's, similar to what the Joker did to Tim Drake. He tracks Waller down, and she reveals his origins to him. Waller also reminds Terry that he is Bruce's son, not his clone, and that despite his genetics he still has free will and makes his own choice in becoming Batman.

Whether Bruce was the genetic father of Terry's younger brother Matt as well was not clearly established, as nothing was stated as to the longevity of the alterations made to Warren McGinnis; however, the series' creators have said that this is most likely the case.^[7]

Comics

Crossover episode guide

Terry can be seen in a cameo in the last scene of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Night of the Batmen!".

Video games

Terry first appeared in the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color video game Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Terry's advanced batsuit is featured as downloadable content in Batman: Arkham City.

Soundtrack

Released on August 31, 1999, the soundtrack to Batman Beyond contains many of the same composers who worked on the previous animated Batman shows. This time, due to the show's futuristic style, the compositions have become more industrial to tie in with the cyberpunk genre.

1. "Batman Beyond (Main Title)" – Kristopher Carter
2. "Cold vs. Hot" – Lolita Ritmanis
3. "Terrific Trio vs. Rocketeers" – Michael McCuistion
4. "Bat-Slapped in Store" – Kristopher Carter
5. "Farewells" – Lolita Ritmanis
6. "Batman Defeats Chappell" – Kristopher Carter
7. "Batman Chases Inque" – Kristopher Carter
8. "Yachting with the Card Gang" – Michael McCuistion
9. "Batman's First Fight" – Michael McCuistion
10. "The Legacy Continues" – Michael McCuistion
11. "Hotel Scuffle" – Shirley Walker
12. "Trouble in the Museum" – Shirley Walker
13. "Inque Escapes!" – Kristopher Carter
14. "Nuclear Lab Destruction" – Michael McCuistion
15. "Golem Chases Shoppers" – Shirley Walker
16. "Willie Defeated" – Shirley Walker
17. "Genetic Theft" – Michael McCuistion
18. "Joker Chase" – Lolita Ritmanis
19. "Move to the Groove" – Lolita Ritmanis
20. "Batman Beyond (End Credits)" – Shirley Walker

Home media releases

Season releases

Individual episodes

• Note: The audio commentaries for both the edited and uncut versions of Return of the Joker were provided by the same contributors, however both versions are slightly different from each other.

Feature films

• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker – A direct-to-video feature in which the Joker makes his return to Gotham. The original release was censored for elements of violence and death, and a second, uncensored release came later. The uncut movie was rerealesed on Blu-ray April 5, 2011.

• There was also a planned Batman Beyond live action feature, to be written by Paul Dini. However, Warner Bros. shelved the project and eventually went with the Batman Begins concept instead. In August 2000, Warner Bros. announced that it was developing a live action film adaptation of the TV series Batman Beyond with Boaz Yakin attached to co-write and direct. The TV series' creators Paul Dini and Alan Burnett were hired to write a screenplay for the feature film, with author Neal Stephenson consulting the duo.^[9] By July 2001, a first draft was turned in to the studio, and the writers were waiting to see if a rewrite would be needed. The studio, also exploring other takes of Batman in development,^[10] eventually placed the Batman Beyond on hold in August 2001.^[11]

See also

• Batman (Terry McGinnis)
• Batman: The Animated Series
• The New Batman Adventures
• Kids' WB

References

External links

• Official website
• Batman Beyond at DC Beyond/Kids' WB [1]
• Batman Beyond at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Batman Beyond at the Internet Movie Database
• Batman Beyond at TV.com
• Batman Beyond on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki