Batman Beyond (my thoughts)

Batman Beyond was the most memorable DC sequel ever made.

It told the story of what happens to Bruce Wayne when he could no longer physically be Batman.

For over half a century, the story of Bruce Wayne running around Gotham as Batman had been told and retold more times than anyone could count. A rich guy running a multi-billion dollar company by day and fighting sociopaths as Batman at night with the latest and greatest tech of the day.

This plot is great and all, but was becoming very stale by the late-1990’s.

Yet the question from the crowd always lingered, “What happens to Bruce Wayne when he could no longer physically be Batman?”

What Batman Beyond did was answer that question.

When the series officially launched, it brought a breath of fresh air to the DC universe than retelling the story of Bruce Wayne all over again with different tech.

The one-hour premier is the most unforgettable to kids who saw it air in the 1990’s.

It starts out with a semi-elderly Bruce Wayne doing his usual routine as Batman dealing with another hostage situation. Most of his gallery up to that point in time has died off, are locked up or left up to the viewer to speculate their fates. Things are all business as usual despite the upgrades to the Batsuit, until Bruce Wayne suffers a heart attack when dealing with the vigilantes. During the confrontation, Bruce Wayne picks up one of their handguns he knocked off one of their hands and points it at them.

To those who have read the comics from the various illustrators, Bruce Wayne has on occasion used handguns to fight crime. But this particular scene in the cartoon is the first time Wayne uses an actual gun against criminals. Although he saves the day, Wayne feels that he has betrayed himself for breaking one of his principles not to use actual guns against criminals as Batman.

After his last round, Bruce Wayne shuts down the Bat Cave containing all the things that made him who he was during his prime against his gallery of villains.

Time Skip forward a few decades to a futuristic Gotham.

Wayne Enterprises has recently merged with Powers Technologies creating Wayne-Powers. During the restructure, Derek Powers is made head of the company with the decline of Bruce Wayne’s health. Here we are introduced to Terry McGinnis. Terry is a troublemaker who has had issues with his folks, the authorities and everyone involving him. His day of dealing with other troublemakers, the Jokerz Gang (a cult who worships the original Joker) and the such are all routine.

 

Things change when Terry is chased by the Jokerz by bike all the way to Wayne Mansion where both Terry and an elderly Bruce Wayne fight off the gang like no one’s business.

After the gang flees, Terry helps Wayne back into his mansion after he collapses.

While in the mansion making sure that Wayne was alright, Terry accidently discovers his secret which gets him thrown off the grounds.

When Terry returns home, he learns the Jokerz had killed his dad over a disc containing Derek Power’s plan to sell deadly nerve gas to the Eastern Bloc Nation of Kaznia. This in turn prompts Terry to return to Wayne’s Mansion with the disc to get help from Bruce Wayne.

Wayne is at first very reluctant to help Terry halt this new wave of crime.

But towards the end, aids Terry in halting Power’s malicious plans.

At the end of the Premier, Wayne passes off the physical mantle of Batman to Terry, while Derek Powers becomes the prime antagonist “Blight.” 

Over the course of the rest of the series, Batman Beyond delves deep into the darker side of Bruce Wayne’s psychology, Terry’s adventures as Batman, Terry’s gallery of villains and what becomes of older characters (good and bad) decades after the fact. There is even a few episodes dedicated to an older Superman and the Future Justice League.

Much of the series is darker than any other Batman series in tone. Yet at the turn of the millennium, it was approved “okay” for audiences under 13. If this were to be released in today’s world, it wouldn’t be approved as “child friendly” from the darker undertones to some of its graphic content.

There was even a direct-to-video movie “Return of the Joker.” The movie is all about the Death of the Joker, how he was able to come back, how Terry deals with Wayne’s old arch-nemesis and what becomes of Harley Quinn. The movie is a conclusion to the series, not counting the Justice League Unlimited ending. To many including myself, the Death of the Joker in this movie is still considered the best out of all the other versions that have come before it. 

Batman Beyond despite being nearly two decades old still holds up after all these years. The story of the elderly Bruce Wayne, Terry taking up the mantle of Batman, and the real adventures of the new Batman. Every episode and character that aired were fresh and new to the audience. No rehashes of anything. Even if old characters from Bruce Wayne’s Gallery did come back, we got to learn how their stories ended.

The most significant episode is the one on Mister Freeze. The episode is about Derek Powers going to whatever length to reverse the effects of the chemicals that made him Blight. His researchers pull out Victor Freeze on life support from Cold Storage to begin the procedure. Research is going well, until Freeze’s body began to revert back to his previous cold climate state. When the procedure failed to yield solutions, Powers betrays Freeze for other research. Freeze luckily breaks out of the cell he was held in, retrieves his suit and goes on a rampage against Powers.

Although Victor Freeze dies in the end, what makes the whole episode interesting is that he can still hold his own despite the change of times, tech and characters. Yet despite his final suit being the most powerful from his previous ones, it wasn’t enough to beat Derek Powers as Blight.

There is a lot to say about this series. But I highly recommend watching for anyone who wanted something different than the usual Bruce Wayne affair. It won’t disappoint despite it being from the late-1990’s.

If DC decides to revisit Batman Beyond and revive it, I’d love to see what they do for the 2^nd go around. There is lot of space for development for Batman Beyond especially when DC has been expanding upon it in the comics. I’d love to see what comes of it when that time does come again.