Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond Information

Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Japan and Latin America) is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy. Depicting 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 (which seems like an unofficial series finale), the series was put on hold for the Justice League animated series despite the network having announced plans for a fourth season.

Batman Beyond is set in the chronological future of the DC Animated Universe (despite being released before Static Shock, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited).

Batman Beyond is said to explore the darker side of many Batman projects, playing on key elements such as emotions, personal relations, 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. 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." 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 currently airing on the UK channel Kix! under the title of Batman of the Future.

Story

The pilot episode, titled "Rebirth," begins in 2019, 20 years after The New Batman Adventures, 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). Preparing to take out the final thug, Batman suffers a mild heart attack which leaves him unable to fight, forcing him to betray a lifelong principle by threatening the criminal with a gun. By this point, Bruce's allies Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, Commissioner Gordon, Leslie Thompkins, Renee Montoya, Detective Bullock, and most of his rogues gallery, have died. 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, causing Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice League and forbid 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 shuts down the Batcave.

The story fast-forwards to 2039, which is now 40 years after The New Batman Adventures in Neo-Gotham, a futuristic megalopolis featuring staggering high rises and flying vehicles. Bruce is now 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 Warren, a scientist for a merged Wayne-Powers. 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 Dana Tan from a gang of Jokerz, Terry engages in a high-speed chase which leads to 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, only to be chased out by a recovered and angered Bruce.

Terry returns home to discover that his father has been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after, he finds out that Warren possessed knowledge of illegal chemical weapons being produced by Wayne-Powers, and that the man actually responsible for his father's murder is Mr. Fixx, the bodyguard of Wayne-Powers CEO Derek 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 he return the suit (at one point paralyzing the suit while Terry is wearing it and in the midst of combat), but Terry convinces Bruce to let him take on the Batman mantle, partially by drawing on the fact they both lost a parent to criminals, and 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 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 a 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, almost 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 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 cannot 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.

Crossovers

In the third season of Batman Beyond, a two-part story entitled "The Call" featured (for the first time) the futuristic Justice League, a springboard for Bruce Timm's next series Justice League. 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 was in the first season finale which featured the Justice League (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 (Terry as Batman, a future Static and Warhawk). The second time occurred during the second season finale where Terry McGinnis's true secret origin is learned in a story meant to be the de facto series finale for this Batman's story.

Series finale

In the Justice League Unlimited episode Epilogue, set 15 years after Batman Beyond, the unofficial series finale reveals that Bruce Wayne is actually Terry's 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'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'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'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 eventually 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 finds out that half his DNA is 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.

Lexicon

To help carry off the feel of a world at least 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."
Rips: A verb generally synonymous with the colloquial meaning of "rules" or "kicks a**".
Slag: General purpose expletive used as both noun and verb. Incidentally the word is in usage in British slang, where it refers to a promiscuous woman.
Dreg: Generally meaning "lowlife" or "loser."
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") The word is in usage in British and Irish slang, where it refers to a woman dressed in revealing and offensive clothing.
Twip: Generally meaning "twerp" or "twit".
Fiz: A soda or beverage.
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.
Spliced: A futuristic form of body modification which involves combining animal DNA with human DNA.

Main cast

See List of Batman Beyond characters for more information

Voice Actor	Role
Will Friedle	Terry McGinnis/Batman
Kevin Conroy	Bruce Wayne
Cree Summer	Maxine "Max" Gibson
Lauren Tom	Dana Tan
Frank Welker	Ace
Stockard Channing	Barbara Gordon
Angie Harmon	Barbara Gordon

Reception

While the idea of Batman Beyond seemed as if it was "not a proper continuation of the legacy of the Dark Knight", it gathered 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.

In 2009, IGN.com named Batman Beyond the 40th best animated television series of all time.

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. 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.

Comics

Main article: Batman Beyond (comics)

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 rereleased 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. 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, eventually placed Batman Beyond on hold in August 2001.

Soundtrack

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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.

"Batman Beyond (Main Title)" " Kristopher Carter
"Cold vs. Hot" " Lolita Ritmanis
"Terrific Trio vs. Rocketeers" " Michael McCuistion
"Bat-Slapped in Store" " Kristopher Carter
"Farewells" " Lolita Ritmanis
"Batman Defeats Chappell" " Kristopher Carter
"Batman Chases Inque" " Kristopher Carter
"Yachting with the Card Gang" " Michael McCuistion
"Batman's First Fight" " Michael McCuistion
"The Legacy Continues" " Michael McCuistion
"Hotel Scuffle" " Shirley Walker
"Trouble in the Museum" " Shirley Walker
"Inque Escapes!" " Kristopher Carter
"Nuclear Lab Destruction" " Michael McCuistion
"Golem Chases Shoppers" " Shirley Walker
"Willie Defeated" " Shirley Walker
"Genetic Theft" " Michael McCuistion
"Joker Chase" " Lolita Ritmanis
"Move to the Groove" " Lolita Ritmanis
"Batman Beyond (End Credits)" " Shirley Walker

Home media releases

Season releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Episodes	Additional Information
The Complete First Season	March 21, 2006	13	Special Features: Creators' Commentary on 2 Key Episodes; Inside Batman Beyond: Meet Series Creators; Music of the Knight: Enjoy Score-Only Versions of Key Scenes.
The Complete Second Season	October 24, 2006	26	Special Features: Creators' Commentary on 2 Key Episodes; Inside Batman Beyond: The Panel " In-Depth Dialogue with the Show's Creators. DVD art designed by Jesse Stagg at RDI.
The Complete Third Season	March 20, 2007	13	Special Features: Inside Batman Beyond; Featurettes on 4 episodes by producers, directors and Will Friedle. DVD art designed by Jesse Stagg at RDI.
The Complete Series	November 23, 2010	52	Special Features: Creator Commentaries, Season Retrospectives, Bonus 9th Disc with 95 Minutes of New Special Features, Secret Origin The Story of the DC Comics Documentary and 3 All-New, All- Revealing Featurettes,

Individual episodes

DVD Name	Release Date	Episodes	Additional Information
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (edited version)	December 12, 2000	1	Commentary by the Filmmakers; Behind-the-Scenes Documentary; Deleted Scenes; Animation Tests; Music Video Crash* by Mephisto Odyssey featuring Static X; Animated Character Bios; Interactive Menus; Production Notes; Trailers; Scene Access; Subtitles: English and French.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (original uncut version)	April 23, 2002	1	Commentary by the Filmmakers; Behind-the-Scenes Documentary; Deleted Scenes; Animation Tests; Music Video Crash* by Mephisto Odyssey featuring Static X; Animated Character Bios; Interactive Menus; Production Notes; Trailers; Scene Access; Subtitles: English and French.
Batman Beyond: The Movie	May 18, 1999	5	Rebirth, Golem, Dead Man's Hand, Meltdown, The Winning Edge
Batman Beyond: School Dayz and Spellbound	March 2, 2004	6
Batman Beyond: Tech Wars and Disappearing Inque	March 2, 2004	6

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.

Toys

In 2000, Burger King had Batman Beyond toys in their kids' meals.

Other Media

Terry McGinnis's first appearance in a video game is in the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color video game Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
Terry McGinnis's first appearance outside the DCAU is a cameo in the last scene of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Night of the Batmen!" when Batmen from other universes appear to help Batman.
Terry McGinnis's advanced Batsuit named the "infiltration suit" appears in Justice League Heroes as an alternate costume for Batman (Bruce Wayne).
Terry McGinnis's advanced Batsuit is featured as downloadable content for Batman (Bruce Wayne) in Batman: Arkham City.