Batman Beyond
| Batman Beyond | |
|---|---|
 Cover art by Bruce Timm from the Batman Beyond comic book miniseries, depicting Batman battling Blight. | |
| Starring | Will Friedle Kevin Conroy |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 Minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | The WB |
| Release | January 10, 1999 – December 18, 2001 |
Batman Beyond (Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand) was an American animated television series created by WB Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy. The series is part of the DC Animated Universe; kicking off the future time period of Bruce Timm's still continuing universe.
The show began in 1999 and ended in 2001 with 52 episodes and one Direct-to-Video movie under its belt, the series was then put on hold for the new Justice League animated series. Still to this day Batman Beyond remains on hiatus with no plans to revive the series in the near future. However, there was a short lived spin-off, The Zeta Project, also set in the DC Animated Universe's future. Something worth noting about The Zeta Project, in its season 1 episode "Shadows", the Batman Beyond series crosses over, this point of its continuity taking place between the episode "Countdown" and the series finale "Unmasked".
In season three of Batman Beyond, a two-part story featuring the Justice League entitled "The Call" formed an early basis for Bruce Timm's next series, Justice League, 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 forty years into the future. Due to Terry's rather common reference of Tim Drake in this episode, as well as Xander's increased age and Terry's more adult behavior, it can be assumed that Static transports to a point post series and post Return of the Joker.
Justice League Unlimited revisited the world of Batman Beyond twice in 2005. The first time featured Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern transported fifty years into the future to stop a time-traveling villain with the help of the future Justice League Unlimited cast - including Terry McGinnis as Batman. The second time occurred during the episode "Epilogue", where we learn the true secret origin of the future Batman in a story meant to be the de facto series finale for this Batman's story.
Story
The story is set approximately fifty years from the conclusion of present day DCAU (as evident by the commentary found on Batman Beyond: Season One). Gotham City is a darker and more futuristic city, equipped with staggering high rises and hovering/flying vehicles. The aged Bruce Wayne is having increasing difficulty handling criminals he once subdued with ease. Hampered by age and heart trouble, he is finally forced to betray a lifelong personal principle by threatening a criminal with a gun and subsequently decides to retire from crimefighting permanently.
One day, he rescues high school student Terry McGinnis from a pack of Jokerz; the exertion aggravates his heart condition, however, and Terry has to help him back to Wayne Manor. While staying at the mansion, Terry discovers the entrance to the Batcave, and "borrows" the Batsuit to avenge the death of his father (who had accidentally become involved in the revelation of a secret biological weapons development). As crime and corruption are beginning once again to rear their ugly heads in Gotham, Bruce gives Terry his permission to assume the Batman alter-ego.
Young McGinnis continues the battle against crime tutored by Bruce, and aided by a new black-and-red, high-tech batsuit that augments his abilities, fires Batarangs from the wrists, flies using jets fired from the feet, allows eavesdropping through a hypersensitive touch microphone, and provides camouflage abilities. He has his own rogues gallery, such as the seductive, shapeshifting Inque, the confusing hypnotist Spellbinder, the bitter, deaf sound expert Shriek, the most deadly of the League of Assasians Curare, and the African hunter Stalker. However, on occasion he is also forced to face his mentor's old foes, such as the atrophying Mr. Freeze, Bane (elderly, wasted, and dying from his consumption of Venom, the substance that gave him his strength), the immortal Ra's al Ghul, and even the Joker.
Terry's greatest initial foe is Derek Powers, a ruthless billionaire who took over WayneCorp and was later accidentally mutated into a radioactive monstrosity who called himself Blight. Powers had Terry's father murdered after Mr. McGinnis discovered Powers was in the process of developing a biological weapons program. The first season ended with a showdown between Batman and Blight aboard an abandoned nuclear submarine, where Powers was in hiding after his identity as Blight was revealed to the world by his ambitious son Paxton, who planned to usurp his father as chairman of Wayne-Powers.
Maxine "Max" Gibson is a 17-year old computer genius who discovers Batman's secret identity. Since she discovered Terry's alter-ego she's been helping him with everything from computer hacking, to babysitting, to coming up with excuses for Terry's girlfriend Dana Tan. Max plays an integral part in Batman's war on crime.
Terry also finds one other ally, though a begrudging one: Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl. Having followed in the footsteps of her father, James Gordon, Barbara is now Police Commissioner of Gotham City, and she is unhappy with the idea of a new Batman, especially a teenager, as she is still haunted by the Joker's torture and mutilation of Tim Drake (Robin) as seen in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. However, knowing from personal experience that she cannot deter Terry anymore than she could have been deterred from being Batgirl, she relents, possibly also out of respect for her mentor, the original Batman. Also, passing lines between Barbara and Bruce suggest that, at the time of Batgirl's retirement, the suit had bulletholes in it that had not yet been repaired. It is implied early on in the series that Barbara and Bruce were in love for a period of time. It is also confirmed during Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker that Dick Grayson (Nightwing) is still alive in this time period.
Series/Legacy guide
Season 1: 1999
| Episode Number | Production Code | Title | Airdate | Episode Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Rebirth: Part 1" | January 10, 1999 | |
| 2 | 2 | "Rebirth: Part 2" | January 10, 1999 | |
| 3 | 3 | "Black Out" | January 31, 1999 | |
| 4 | 4 | "Golem" | February 7, 1999 | |
| 5 | 7 | "Meltdown" | February 14, 1999 | |
| 6 | 8 | "Heroes" | February 21, 1999 | |
| 7 | 10 | "Shriek" | March 14, 1999 | |
| 8 | 6 | "Dead Man's Hand" | March 21, 1999 | |
| 9 | 5 | "The Winning Edge" | April 11, 1999 | |
| 10 | 9 | "Spellbound" | May 1, 1999 | |
| 11 | 12 | "Disappearing Inque" | May 8, 1999 | |
| 12 | 11 | "A Touch of Curare" | May 15, 1999 | |
| 13 | 13 | "Ascension" | May 22, 1999 |
Season 2: 1999–2000
| Episode Number | Production Code | Title | Airdate | Episode Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 16 | "Splicers" | September 18, 1999 | |
| 15 | 15 | "Earth Mover" | September 25, 1999 | |
| 16 | 14 | "Joyride" | October 2, 1999 | |
| 17 | 17 | "Lost Soul" | October 9, 1999 | |
| 18 | 19 | "Hidden Agenda" | October 18, 1999 | |
| 19 | 18 | "Bloodsport" | October 23, 1999 | |
| 20 | 20 | "Once Burned" | November 6, 1999 | |
| 21 | 21 | "Hooked Up" | November 13, 1999 | |
| 22 | 22 | "Rats!" | November 20, 1999 | |
| 23 | 23 | "Mind Games" | December 4, 1999 | |
| 24 | 24 | "Revenant" | December 11, 1999 | |
| 25 | 25 | "Babel" | January 8, 2000 | |
| 26 | 26 | "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot" | January 15, 2000 | |
| 27 | 27 | "Eyewitness" | January 22, 2000 | |
| 28 | 30 | "Final Cut" | February 5, 2000 | |
| 29 | 29 | "The Last Resort" | March 4, 2000 | |
| 30 | 31 | "Armory" | March 11, 2000 | |
| 31 | 32 | "Sneak Peek" | March 25, 2000 | |
| 32 | 34 | "The Eggbaby" | April 1, 2000 | |
| 33 | 28 | "Zeta" | April 8, 2000 | |
| 34 | 33 | "Plague" | April 15, 2000 | |
| 35 | 35 | "April Moon" | April 22, 2000 | |
| 36 | 37 | "Sentries of the Last Cosmos" | May 6, 2000 | |
| 37 | 36 | "Payback" | May 13, 2000 | |
| 38 | 40 | "Where's Terry?" | May 27, 2000 | |
| 39 | 41 | "Ace in the Hole" | August 19, 2000 |
Season 3: 2000–2001
| Episode Number | Production Code | Title | Airdate | Episode Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 42 | "King's Ransom" | September 16, 2000 | |
| 41 | 39 | "Untouchable" | September 23, 2000 | |
| 42 | 46 | "Inqueling" | September 30, 2000 | |
| 43 | 38 | "Big Time" | October 7, 2000 | |
| 44 | 44 | "Out of the Past" | October 21, 2000 | |
| 45 | 45 | "Speak No Evil" | November 4, 2000 | |
| 46 | 50 | "The Call: Part 1" | November 11, 2000 | |
| 47 | 51 | "The Call: Part 2" | November 18, 2000 | |
| 48 | 43 | "Betrayal" | December 9, 2000 | |
| 49 | 48 | "The Curse of the Kobra: Part 1" | February 3, 2001 | |
| 50 | 49 | "The Curse of the Kobra: Part 2" | February 10, 2001 | |
| 51 | 52 | "Countdown" | April 7, 2001 | |
| Cross-Over | N.A. | The Zeta Project: "Shadows" | April 7, 2001 | |
| 52 | 47 | "Unmasked" | December 18, 2001 |
Series Finale Feature: Edit-2000 – Uncut-2001
| Feature | Production Code | Title | Airdate | Feature Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series Finale | N.A. | "Return of the Joker'" | 2000, 2001 |
Post-Series Cross-Overs: 2004–2005
| Series | Production Code | Title | Airdate | Episode Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Static Shock | N.A. | "Future Shock" | January 17, 2004 | |
| Justice League Unlimited | N.A. | "The Once and Future Thing: Part 1" | January 22, 2005 | |
| Justice League Unlimited | N.A. | "The Once and Future Thing: Part 2" | January 29, 2005 | |
| Justice League Unlimited | N.A. | "Epilogue" | July 23, 2005 |
From Justice League to Batman Beyond
When the original Justice League series premiered, there were debates on whether or not Batman Beyond would stay as a main future or possible future. Mainly because not all JL viewers watched Batman Beyond or it would restrict the creative teams from doing certain stories. The Static Shock episode, "Future Shock", as well as the Justice League Unlimited episodes, "The Once And Future Thing Parts 1 & 2" and "Epilogue" make BB canon. Aside from those certain episodes, there are also bits of foreshadowing in other JL and JLU episodes:
- Injustice For All — Batman pockets a huge chunk of Kryptonite belonging to Lex Luthor. Sometime offscreen he most likely takes a piece of it to keep in storage in the event Superman goes rogue, as seen in "The Call" (The rest of that chunk was apparently destroyed by Amazo in the Justice League episode "Tabula Rasa").
- Twilight — Batman feels a bit sick from the Boom Tube, referring to Old Bruce stating that he didn't really trust Boom Tubes in Batman Beyond's "The Call."
- Maid Of Honor — The Princess Audrey dresses in "Spellbound" might have belonged to Kasnian Princess Audrey.
- Starcrossed — The storyboarders made sure that the Freeze Gun in the Batcave was still intact as we see Bruce and Terry using it a few times against Inque.
- Task Force X — Justice League technician and Cadmus spy Vance (Robert Vance), would later become a software tycoon passing away thereafter as seen in Batman Beyond "Lost Soul".
- Double Date — It was confirmed by Dwayne McDuffie that Edgar from Batman Beyond "Mind Games" is Edgar Mandragora son of crimelord Steven Mandragora.
- While Justice League Unlimited sees the Helena Bertinelli/Huntress making her animated debut, there was consideration of bringing the original Pre-Crisis Huntress/Helena Wayne into Batman Beyond. The notion being that it would be more natural than doing a Batgirl Beyond.[1]
- In Shriek, Bruce mentions in a speech that ghouls, vampires, and zombies do exist.
- This is proved to be true when he fights Hades and his zombie army as well as Solomon Grundy.
- In See No Evil, Bruce noted that only "normal" gorillas didn't eat meat. This is perhaps a reference to Gorilla Grodd.
Also, a few moments from Mystery Of The Batwoman:
- Batwoman's costume could have been the inspiration for Bruce's design of the Batman Beyond costume.
- Barbara briefly flirts with Bruce during the phone call.
As well as some subtle nods to The Zeta Project:
- Secret Society — The Justice League are training with some robots. The robots resemble Zeta's original appearance in Batman Beyond.
- Fearful Symmetry — Supergirl, Green Arrow, and The Question are attacked by Zeta type robots. The robots are connected to the army and General Hardcastle (from Superman: The Animated Series, though a martian invader poses as him in JL Secret Origins). Also, the term metahumans appears here, cementing Static's connection to the DCAU.
Project Batman Beyond
Template:Spoiler The Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", set fifteen years after the conclusion of the Batman Beyond series, reveals that Bruce Wayne is actually Terry's genetic father. During the time of the Justice League, Amanda Waller, the head of Project Cadmus, came to believe that there would always need to be a Batman in Gotham City. To that end, she instituted "Project Batman Beyond". Waller used Project Cadmus nanotechnology and a sample of Bruce's DNA to create a nanovirus that was injected in Terry's father Warren during a routine physical. Waller's plan was to parallel Bruce's childhood trauma in Terry to 'create' another Batman, and she enlisted the aid of an assassin to murder Terry's parents. However, the assassin could not go through with the killings, and, in a nod to the Mask of the Phantasm movie, it's revealed that Waller's assassin WAS The Phantasm, Bruce's former fianceé Andrea Beaumont.
The insinuation made is that Beaumont wouldn't kill the McGinnises because she knew first hand what the death of Bruce's parents did to him, and she refused to see that happen to another person. Also, Waller realizes that by killing to create a new Batman she would be going against all that he stood for. Terry eventually mends fences with Bruce (who didn't know about Waller's interference) and makes the first steps towards treating him as his father. Terry also calls his girlfriend Dana Tan and asks her to meet him. He is holding a diamond ring while they talk, clearly insinuating that he is going to ask her to marry him. By the end of the episode, Terry is on his way to having full lives as both Batman and a family man — a balance which Bruce was never able to reach.
It should be noted that the black and white sequences of the "Epilogue" episode are intended to represent a dream and not flashbacks. Though it is not specified in the episode, as Terry's father was genetically reprogrammed to be ejaculating Wayne DNA, Terry's brother Matt is also the biological son of Bruce Wayne. [2]
It is interesting to note that this episode marks the first time that the title "Batman Beyond" was actually mentioned in the context of a Batman Beyond story. While in costume, Terry identifies himself simply as Batman. (In some parts of the world, the title itself was dropped, and the show is called "Batman of the Future".
Movies
- Return of the Joker - A direct-to-video feature in which the Joker makes his return to Gotham.
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. A "Batman Beyond: Year One" live action short fan-film was made as a tribute to the show by a group of fans.
Finally, a Direct-to-DVD sequel to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was to feature Selina Kyle/Catwoman. This project never made it off the ground, however much of the concept of this film eventually made it into the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", which is seen by many as Batman Beyond's true finale.
DVD releases
Batman Beyond: The Complete First Season - Contains a two-DVD set with all of the episodes from the first season as well as audio commentaries, interviews, and other special features. Released on 21 March 2006.
According to a recent online chat with Warner Home Video, all 26 episodes of season 2 will be released in a single boxset by the end of 2006.
The intense Return of the Joker feature has been available on DVD in edited/televised and Uncut/Directors' Cut versions for quite a number of years. The edited/televised version was released in 2000, and the Uncut/Directors' Cut released in 2001.
Comics
Like most DCAU shows, Batman Beyond had its own comic series (after an initial limited series) set in the same world of the show and aimed at younger readers. Terry also appeared in Superman Adventures #63. The story has Terry/Batman traveling to the present and teaming up with Superman against Brainiac Beyond.
But more recently, in Superman/Batman #22 (written by Jeph Loeb), a Batman wearing the Beyond costume appears, making his first foray into the regular DC Comics continuity. The plot involves Bizarro being transported to an alternate version of Gotham. It would appear from #23 that this Batman is someone named Tim presumably Tim Drake. However, the writers admitted to the mistake of misnaming the character, and the name will be changed to "Terry" in the trade paperback. Another oddity is the Batwing is the version from the original animated series, not Batman Beyond. Whether this is the regular DC universe or a parallel one is still to be seen. It seems possible that this may be an alternate reality as the same story has Batzarro transported to the world of Superman: Red Son, an Elseworlds communist version of Superman.
At the end of issue 7 of the Infinite Crisis series, a splash page shows those heroes that will come into prominence during the year that the DCU is without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. One of those figures is a female wearing an outfit very similar to that worn by Terry McGinnis. It's been revealed the character is an update of Batwoman.
Spinoffs
The television series had a spinoff called The Zeta Project, featuring the shape-shifting android Zeta from the Batman Beyond episode "Zeta." Batman would guest star in the episode "Shadows".
Stalker was to have appeared in The Zeta Project episode "Taffy Time", but didn't make it. Season 2 episode, "Ro's Gift" has an appearance made by Brain Trust from the Batman Beyond episode "Mind Games". Terry McGinnis as Batman was originally suppose to be in this episode too, but was cut since Timm and company were working on Justice League.