Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond
Format	Animated series, Science fiction, Action
Starring	Will Friedle Kevin Conroy Stockard Channing Cree Summer Lauren Tom
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	(52 aired) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jean MacCurdy Shaun McLaughlin
Producer(s)	Alan Burnett Paul Dini Glen Murakami Bruce Timm
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	The WB (Kids' WB)
Original run	January 10, 1999 – December 18, 2001
Chronology
Preceded by	Justice League: Unlimited
Followed by	The Zeta Project (took place within episodes) Last episode given by Justice League: Unlimited episode "Epilogue"

Batman Beyond, also known as Batman of the Future, is an American animated television series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation as a continuation of the Batman legacy. It began airing on January 10, 1999, and ended its run on December 18, 2001. With 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video film under its belt, the series was then put on hold for the new Justice League animated series despite the network have announced plans for a fourth season.^[1] However, there was a short-lived spin-off, The Zeta Project. It is worth noting that 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."

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 exploit the darker side of many Batman projects, playing basically on such key elements as emotions, personal relations, the fear of the unknown, and technological malfunctions. As such, it was considerably darker than most other children's programs at the time, ironic as producer Bruce Timm recalls it was originally conceived as a kid-friendly Batman cartoon. It is also the first Batman series to portray the hero as a teenager.

Although no new Batman Beyond episodes have been produced since the series' final episode in 2001 and the subsequent appearances in Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited, viewers of Comcast with video on demand can now see the series via the newly-created Kids WB On Demand channel. As of January 13, 2009, the first 10 episodes of Season 1 are available to view and, furthermore, only 4 of the episodes ("Black Out", "Dead Man's Hand", The Winning Edge", and "Spellbound") use the original "Batman Beyond" opening title while the others utilize the "Batman of the Future" opening titles.

Story

In the pilot episode, we see approximately 20 years into the future 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 many girlfriends). During the battle, Batman suffers a heart attack, which forces him to betray a life-long principle by threatening a criminal with a gun. Because of this, Bruce Wayne reluctantly decides to retire the Batman persona.

The story then fast-forwards another twenty years, where Gotham City is now a futuristic megalopolis equipped with staggering high rises and hovering/flying vehicles. Bruce Wayne is now a recluse, living in bitter isolation with no companion but his guard dog, Ace. It is implied by virtue of his continuing to fight crime long after he should have, and his retaining of the costumes worn by Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl, that even before he had a heart attack, something horrible transpired that caused Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice League and forbid his allies to ever again assume their alter-egos. (The events which caused all of this are revealed in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.)

In 2039 (100 years since Batman's first appearance in the real world), Terry McGinnis is an athletic 16-year-old high school student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained sense of personal justice. In the pilot episode, Terry saves a fellow passenger on a commuter rail from a member of the Jokerz gang, and later single-handedly takes on an entire gang of Jokerz to defend his girlfriend, ultimately resulting in a harrowing high-speed motorcycle chase through Neo-Gotham's expressways. The chase ends on the grounds of Wayne Manor, where a fleeing Terry runs into the elderly Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Terry fend off the Jokerz side-by-side, but the exertion aggravates Wayne's heart condition. Terry helps Bruce back to the manor and, while staying there, he discovers the entrance to the Batcave. Chased out by a recovered and angered Bruce, Terry comes home to discover that his father had been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after, Terry finds out that the man actually responsible for the murder was Derek Powers, his father's employer. He "borrows" the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes his efforts, but Terry is able to convince him otherwise, and subsequently defeats Powers. Realizing that crime and corruption are running rampant in Gotham, Bruce offers Terry the chance to assume the role of Batman.

Terry continues the battle against crime, tutored by Bruce and aided by a new, 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 comes to have his own rogues gallery, such as the seductive shape-shifter Inque, the hypnotist Spellbinder, the bitter, deaf sound expert Shriek, the deadly assassin Curare, the insane terrorist Mad Stan, the African hunter Stalker, a new version of the Royal Flush Gang, and the Jokerz, a gang idolizing the notorious Joker. However, on occasion, Terry 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 ultimately, the reborn Joker.

Cover art by Bruce Timm from the Batman Beyond comic book miniseries, depicting Batman battling Blight.

Terry's first foe is Derek Powers, a ruthless billionaire who took over Wayne Industries, converting it into Wayne-Powers, and is later accidentally mutated into a radioactive monstrosity known as Blight. Powers had Terry's father, Warren, murdered after Warren discovered that Powers was 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, and helps Terry 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, essentially as his Alfred.

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. In the episode "A Touch of Curare," Barbara reveals to Terry that she and Bruce had once been romantically involved. However, she is unhappy with the idea of a new Batman, especially a teenager, as she is still haunted by the same event that caused Bruce to go into isolation. However, she knows that she and the police under her command need Batman, whether she likes it or not. Further, she understands from personal experience that she cannot deter Terry anymore than she could have been deterred from being Batgirl. Passing conversation between Barbara and Bruce suggests that, at the time of Batgirl's retirement, the suit had bullet holes in it that had been repaired.

Episodes

Characters

Main characters

• Terry McGinnis: The current Batman.
• Bruce Wayne: The original Batman, and Terry's employer. Revealed to be Terry's biological father in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue".
• Maxine "Max" Gibson: A friend of Terry's who knows his secret. Occasionally helps Batman.
• Dana Tan: Terry's girlfriend. At the end of "Epilogue," Terry phones her, asking her if they are still on for that weekend while holding an engagement ring.
• Ace the Bat-Hound: Bruce Wayne's pet Great Dane. Fiercely loyal to Bruce, he eventually develops a bond with Terry. Ace plays a role in Return of the Joker, helping Terry take down the reborn Joker.

Terry's family

• Warren & Mary McGinnis: Terry's divorced parents. Warren is murdered at the start of the series. Terry moves in with his mother after his father's death.
• Matt McGinnis: Terry's younger brother.

Recurring characters

• Barbara Gordon: The Gotham City police commissioner, and the former Batgirl. Unlike most Batman universes, she has never lost the use of her legs or become the Oracle.
• Sam Young: A Gotham district attorney, and Barbara's husband.
• Howard Groote: A nerdy student at Hamilton Hill High School, and a friend of Terry. His design was based on producer Paul Dini.
• Bobbi "Blade" Summer: A popular student at Terry's school. She never has a steady boyfriend, and occasionally goes out with different boys. Blade is seen to be friends with Terry, Dana, Max, and Howard.
• Nelson Nash: An athlete and bully at Terry's school. He seems to be popular with the girls, but never has a steady girlfriend. Nelson is first seen as Terry's rival, but he soon matures and they become friends. He was most likely inspired by Flash Thompson from the Spider-Man universe.

Villains

• Derek Powers: After exposure to nerve gas, Powers is treated with extreme radiation and becomes the radioactive villain Blight.
• Inque: Treated with a mutagen, Inque has the ability to turn her body into liquid. She is a freelance saboteur.
• Shriek: AKA Walter Shreeve, an engineer equipped with a special suit that allows him to manipulate sound in a wide variety of ways. Ironically, following a fight with Batman which caused a malfunction in his suit, Shreeve himself is now deaf and must use a special headset to hear normally.
• Spellbinder: AKA Ira Billings, a bitter and underpaid psychologist at Terry's high school. He commits crimes using sophisticated virtual reality systems and his knowledge of the human mind.
• Stalker: An African big game hunter who was enhanced with cybernetic implants after an encounter with a panther. Finding wild animals too easy with his new body, he seeks Batman as the ultimate prey.
• Curaré: A member of the Society of Shadows who wields a laser-sharpened scimitar.
• Mad Stan: A terrorist who rebels against what he sees as a corrupt system. He is an expert with explosives.
• The Joker: The evil psychotic Clown Prince of Crime who only appears in the direct-to-video feature Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. In this incarnation, Joker creates a copy of his personality implanted in Tim Drake, the third incarnation of Robin, causing Tim to become 'Joker Boy,' the 'son' of Joker. Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill.
• Mr. Freeze: The tragic villain lives on as nothing but an immortal head preserved by Derek Powers. He is used as a test subject for an attempt to clone Powers a new body. However, Freeze's new body begins to get the same symptoms as his previous body, and he seeks revenge, facing off in one final battle with Batman.
• Ra's al Ghul: Living on by possessing his daughter Talia's body (effectively killing her), the seemingly immortal Ra's intends to take over Bruce Wayne's body and gain control of Wayne Enterprises as a means of revenge against his former foe.
• Dr. Able Cuvier: A doctor who starts a trend in infusing animal biology, also known as "splicing," with human DNA. Infusing his own DNA with that of a chimera, Cuvier becomes a tremendous threat. Once the technology of splicing becomes outlawed, Batman must combat against Cuvier along with his organization of mutated hooligans.
• Bane: When a drug using Venom, the same substance that enhanced Bane's strength is discovered to be a drug being sold to teenagers, Bruce sends Batman to Bane's home to confront him. However, when Batman enters Bane's room, all he sees is a broken old man on life support, not the threatening super-soldier the original Batman fought. When Batman asks a servant about Bane, the servant replies that this was the effect on Bane from all the years of using Venom, and that Bane is actually using Venom in his life support to keep himself alive.

Lexicon

To help carry off the feel of a world 20–40 years in the future, Batman Beyond employed a group of slang terms either specifically invented or with altered usage.

• Schway: An adjective generally synonymous with "cool."
• Slag: General purpose expletive used as both noun and verb. Interestingly, this term may have been inspired by the use of the same word by characters in Beast Wars: Transformers who used the word in much the same manner. Incidentally the word is in usage in British slang, where it refers to a promiscuous woman.
• Dreg: generally meaning "lowlife."
• Slapper: A futuristic form of steroids, administered by a transdermal patch that is "slapped" onto the skin. It is later revealed that the drug is Venom, the same poison that gave Bane strength. (episode: "The Winning Edge")
• Twip: Generally meaning "idiot" or "twit."
• Credits (or creds): The general currency is referred to as "credits," and are carried on plastic cards.

Post-series cross-overs: 2004–2005

Justice League connection

In the third season 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, 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-traveling 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.

Project Batman Beyond

The Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", set 15 years after the conclusion of Batman Beyond, reveals that Bruce Wayne is actually Terry McGinnis' biological father. The episode is told largely in flashbacks.

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 sharing half her genetic material and half Bruce's.

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. Derek Powers later had Warren murdered, resulting in Terry becoming the new Batman anyway. 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. As the death of Warren later proved, 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.

It's possible that Superman knew that Terry was Bruce Wayne's child. At the end of the Batman Beyond episode "The Call", Superman mentions that Bruce as the former Batman was only a part-time member. Terry then says that they must have something in common, as he walks away. Superman then says "More than you know". This could be a reference to Superman knowing about Terry being Bruce's son.

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. Matt and Terry both have black hair, but are the sons of two red-haired people – a genetic impossibility as red hair is recessive, and requires a gene from both parents in order to present as a phenotype. Possibly, Warren was willing to dismiss this in Terry as an anomaly, but the birth of yet another black-haired son put further strain on the McGinnis marriage, leading to their eventual divorce.

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.
• 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. ^[2] 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,^[3] eventually placed the Batman Beyond on hold in August 2001.^[4] Keanu Reeves was mentioned to portray the main character.

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.

Comics

After an initial 6-issues limited series released in March 1999, Batman Beyond had its own comic book series, running through November 1999 until October 2001, for a total of 24 issues. They were set in the same world of the show and aimed at younger readers.

Originally, Batman Beyond #3 (the monthly series) was to focus on the Terrific Trio from the episode "Heroes." The story would have 2-D Man and Magma trying to revive their former teammate, Freon. It was rejected due to their resemblance to the Fantastic Four.^[5]

Terry also appeared in Superman Adventures #64. The story has Terry/Batman traveling to the present and teaming up with Superman against a futuristic version of Brainiac.

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 City. 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,^{[citation needed]} and although the name was rumored to be changed to "Terry" in the trade paperback, it still reads "Tim" (see first page of "Smoke and Mirrors" chapter in the trade paperback). Furthermore, the packaging for the action figure created by DC Direct based on this appearance in Superman/Batman also erroneously identifies Batman Beyond as Tim Drake instead of Terry McGinnis. Another oddity is the Batwing pictured is the version from Batman: The 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.

On March 3, 2007, Dan DiDio announced that Terry McGinnis may be showing up in the DCU sometime that year.^[6] Terry appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #21, as an inhabitant of Earth-12^[7]. It's unknown at the moment whether Earth-12 will be the home Earth of the entire DC Animated Universe, or just the home Earth of the Batman Beyond TV series.

A Green Lantern implied to be from a universe within the multiverse similar to that of Batman Beyond (though not the same GL represented in the animated series) is a participant in the Countdown: Arena series leading towards Final Crisis.

One canon contribution of Batman Beyond to the DC Universe is establishing that Barbara Gordon eventually becomes Commissioner of Gotham Police, following in her father's footsteps.

Spin-offs

Batman Beyond had a spin-off called The Zeta Project, featuring a revamped version of the android 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 didn't make it. 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.

Soundtrack

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

See also

• Kids' WB

Footnotes

References

• Batman Beyond - Official site
• Batman Beyond @ The World's Finest

External links

• Batman Beyond on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki
• Batman Beyond at Big Cartoon DataBase
• Batman Beyond at the Internet Movie Database
• Batman Beyond at TV.com
• Batman Beyond at The World's Finest
• Batman Beyond at Legions of Gotham
• "Batmanimation" The home for all things animated Batman