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), Cartoon Network
Original run	January 10, 1999 – January 6, 2002
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 having announced plans for a fourth season.^[1] 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."

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.^{[citation needed]} It is also the first Batman series to portray the hero as a teenager.

Story

The pilot episode 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 many 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. Because of this, Bruce Wayne retires the Batman persona, vowing never to revive it. 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 this point 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.)

The story then fast-forwards to 2039 in Neo-Gotham, 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. Terry McGinnis is an athletic 16-year-old high school student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained sense of personal justice. 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 an entire gang of Jokerz, Terry is forced to engage in a high-speed chase which ultimately 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 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 Derek Powers, CEO of a merged Wayne-Powers (Bruce had foiled the merger repeatedly during his time as Batman, but evidently gave in soon after retiring the cowl) and his father's employer, because he possessed knowledge of illegal chemical weapons being produced by Powers. Terry "borrows" the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes his efforts and vehemently demands Terry return the suit (going so far as to paralyse the suit while Terry is still inside it, which almost leads to his death), 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's first foe is Derek Powers, now mutated into a radioactive monstrosity known as Blight through a combination of deadly chemical gas and radiation. He soon comes to have 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 African hunter Stalker; a new version of the Royal Flush Gang; and the Jokerz, a gang idolizing the notorious Clown Prince of Crime. However, 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 immortal Ra's al Ghul, and, ultimately, the reborn Joker.

Terry also comes to find similar allies. 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. He also forms a begrudging partnership with Police 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 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. Furthermore, she understands from personal experience that she cannot deter Terry any more 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 since been repaired.

Episodes

Characters

Main characters

• Terry McGinnis: The current Batman. Voiced by Will Friedle.
• Bruce Wayne: The original Batman, and Terry's employer. Revealed to be Terry and Matt's biological father in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue". Voiced by Kevin Conroy.
• Maxine "Max" Gibson: A friend of Terry's who knows his secret. Occasionally helps Batman. Voiced by Cree Summer.
• 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. Voiced by Lauren Tom.
• 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. Voiced by Mark Hamill.

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. Voiced by Michael Gross and Teri Garr.
• Matt McGinnis: Terry's younger brother. voiced by Ryan O'Donohue.

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, although the event that in the comics led her to become the latter was referenced in the A touch of Curaré episode. Voiced by Stockard Channing and Angie Harmon.
• Sam Young: A Gotham district attorney, and Barbara's husband. Voiced by Paul Winfield.
• Howard Groote: A nerdy student at Hamilton Hill High School, and a friend of Terry. His design was based on producer Paul Dini. Voiced by Max Brooks.
• 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. Voiced by Melissa Disney.
• Chelsea Cunningham: Another Hamilton High student, she's the best friend of Dana and Terry and former girlfriend and crush of Nelson. Voiced by Yvette Lowenthal
• 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. Voiced by Seth Green.

Villains

• Derek Powers: After exposure to nerve gas, Powers is treated with extreme radiation and becomes the radioactive villain Blight. Voiced by Sherman Howard, who played Lex Luthor in Superboy.
• Inque: Treated with a mutagen, Inque has the ability to turn her body into liquid. She is a freelance saboteur. Voiced by Shannon Kenny.
• Shriek: Walter Shreeve is initially an engineer hoping to improve society with his inventions. He is led down a decidedly darker path by Powers, who wants a return on his investment in Shreeve's research. He thus dubs Sheeve Shriek, based on his special suit which allows him to generate destructive sound waves and manipulate sound in a wide variety of ways. During a fight with Batman, his suit is damaged, causing it to pick up sounds at such a high volume that Shreeve is rendered deaf. Though he develops a special headset to hear normally, the incident drives him insane and vengeful against Batman. Voiced by Chris Mulkey.
• Spellbinder: Ira Billings is a bitter and underpaid psychologist at Terry's high school who commits crimes using sophisticated virtual reality systems and his knowledge of the human mind as Spellbinder.
• 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. Voiced by Carl Lumbly.
• Curaré: A member of the Society of Shadows who wields a laser-sharpened scimitar. Voiced by Melissa Disney.
• Mad Stan: A rabidly anti-government terrorist who rebels against what he sees as a corrupt system. His solution to any given problem is to "blow it up," and as such he is an expert in explosives. Voiced by (and resembles) Henry Rollins.
• 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 implants a copy of his DNA and personality in Tim Drake, the second Robin (in the animated series universe), allowing him to transform Tim into a clone of himself. Voiced again 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 after Power's scientist tries to eliminate Freeze to study the problem, he seeks revenge, facing off in one final battle with Blight and Batman. Voiced again by Michael Ansara.
• 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. Voiced again by David Warner and Olivia Hussey as Talia.
• Dr. Able Cuvier: A doctor who starts a trend in infusing animal biology, also known as "splicing," with human DNA. He mutates himself into a chimera to battle Batman. The technology of splicing becomes outlawed shortly after his defeat. Voiced by Ian Buchanan of The Bold and the Beautiful fame.
• Bane: Bane's condition has since deteriorated, leaving only a withered husk of a man confined to a wheelchair. The substance that gave him his strength, Venom, is now the only thing keeping him alive. When someone begins selling Venom-laced "slapper" patches to teenagers, it is discovered that Bane's personal attendant named Jackson Chappell now has the formula and is mass-producing it. During a battle with Batman, the attendant overdoses on the slapper patches, apparently sending him into a coma.
• Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow: Charlie Bigelow was a loudmouth hoodlum and a former friend of Terry McGinnis who got involved with the wrong crowd, and ended up becoming a mutated powerhouse. Voiced by Stephen Baldwin and later Clancy Brown.
• The Royal Flush Gang: A crime family of five members; the husband and wife "King" and "Queen" (Mr. and Mrs. Walker), their daughter Ten (Melanie Walker), their son Jack (Jack Walker) and their bodyguard Ace (an android). Melanie develops a relationship with Terry, similar to the original Batman's relationship with Catwoman.
• Willie Watt: A nerd at Hamilton Hill High who seeks revenge on his classmates and his father. He controlled a robot called the GoLeM (Galvanized Lifting Machine). But it was destroyed by Batman and was sent to jail for 3 months. However, he experience with GoLeM made him develop a telekinetic ability.

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 "twerp."
• Credits (or creds): The general currency is referred to as "credits," and are carried on plastic cards.
• Atrac a parallel of Amtrak, it appears to be a monorail like railway service which travels nationally.

Post-series crossovers: 2004–2005

Justice League connection

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.

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. 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.

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 think". 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.

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]

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

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

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 is 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]

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.

On August 24, 2009, Dan DiDio announced that DC Comics is "planning to put out a Batman Beyond mini-series in 2010."^[8], (following a positive answer in July to the question about future appearances of McGuinnis ^[9]). Dan DiDio further stated that the mini-series will be published early in the year, and that the "Terry McGinnis mini-series" is in response to the interest expressed by the fans for the character."^[10].

In the Fan expo Canada 2009 Didio revealed that the Batman Beyond series would be a six issue mini-series.[1]

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

References

External links

• Official website
• 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