Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond
Title card
Genre	Superhero Science fiction Action Adventure Cyberpunk
Created by	Paul Dini Bruce Timm Alan Burnett
Based on	Batman by Bob Kane Bill Finger (uncredited)
Written by	Alan Burnett Paul Dini Stan Berkowitz Rich Fogel Hilary Bader
Voices of	Will Friedle Kevin Conroy Cree Summer Lauren Tom Frank Welker Stockard Channing Angie Harmon
Composers	Shirley Walker Lolita Ritmanis Michael McCuistion Kristopher Carter
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Jean MacCurdy
Producers	Alan Burnett Paul Dini Glen Murakami Bruce Timm
Running time	21-22 minutes 44 minutes (2-part episode)
Production company	Warner Bros. Television Animation
Original release
Network	Kids' WB
Release	January 10, 1999 (1999-01-10) – December 18, 2001 (2001-12-18)
Related
The New Batman Adventures The Batman (TV series) The Zeta Project DC Animated Universe television series

Batman Beyond is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. Created and developed by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett and produced by Warner Bros. Animation,^[1] the series began airing on January 10, 1999 on Kids' WB, and ended on December 18, 2001. In the United Kingdom, it began airing on September 4, 2000.^[2] After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video feature film, the series was brought to an end in favor of the Justice League animated series.^[3] Depicting a teenaged Batman (Terry McGinnis) in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, Batman Beyond is the third series (chronologically the final series) of the DC Animated Universe, and serves as the sequel to both Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.^[4]

Though the initial announcement of the series drew mixed reactions, Batman Beyond was well-received and gained a

The story begins in the then-distant year of 2019. An aging

Terry returns home to discover that his father has been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after moving in with his mother Mary and younger brother Matt, he discovers that his father had uncovered the production of illegal chemical weapons by Derek Powers, and that the man actually responsible for his father's murder is Powers' personal assistant/bodyguard Mr. Fixx. Terry goes to Bruce who tells Terry to take the evidence to Barbara Gordon, the current Police Commissioner. After the evidence of the illegal weapon production is forcibly taken from Terry by Derek Powers, Terry subsequently steals the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes all of Terry's efforts and demands that he return the suit, but Terry convinces Bruce to let him take on the Batman mantle and subsequently defeats Mr. Fixx. During the battle, Powers is exposed to the chemical and forced to flee into hiding to receive treatment, which subsequently mutates him into a radiation-emitting entity, though he uses artificial skin to hide the accident. 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, with Bruce himself mentoring Terry and in addition to working as Bruce's chauffeur and assistant so that Terry can support his family.

The new Batman soon develops his own rogues gallery, such as Powers himself who adopts the name Blight; the seductive shapeshifter

• Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis / Batman:
  The second Batman, he is a high school student and former delinquent. Under the pretense of doing errands for Bruce, Terry fights crime as the new Batman. Terry was chosen to be the new Dark Knight as he shared a similar loss as Bruce had; that being the death of a parent. Although unlike Bruce, Terry only lost his father.
• heart attack that nearly cost him his life, forcing him to break his primary moral principle by threatening to kill a criminal with a gun in self-defense. Abhorred that he nearly used the type of weapon that took his parents' (Thomas and Martha
  ) lives and the very thing that drove him to become a vigilante, and afraid of what he might do next, Wayne reluctantly hung up his cape and cowl.
• Cree Summer as Maxine "Max" Gibson:
  A genius high schooler and friend of Terry's. She discovers his secret identity, and from then on occasionally helps Batman in a type role, though she is considered a nuisance to his predecessor (but less so as time went on). Her parents are divorced and she has an unnamed sister.
• Lauren Tom as Dana Tan:
  Terry's on and off girlfriend in high school who is initially and formerly unaware of his secret identity as the new Dark Knight, and thus surprised or upset by his frequent absences which she only knows due to him working as a personal assistant for Bruce Wayne, to support his family financially following his father's death. She also has a father who is disapproving of Terry because of the latter's past as an irresponsible delinquent, which serves as a reminder and another motivation for Terry being Batman.
• Crime Alley
  . Fiercely loyal to Bruce, he eventually develops a bond with Terry as well.
• Stockard Channing (season one and two) and Angie Harmon (season 3) as Barbara Gordon:
  The new Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, having succeeded her father Jim and one of Bruce's former crime-fighting partners, Batgirl. Barbara was at one point in her younger years romantically involved with Bruce, which ended badly. Unlike her father, Barbara initially has a rocky relationship with the new Batman, being aware of his criminal record and showing resentment towards Bruce for dragging him into this life and is at first against him intervening in police duty. This is revealed to have been due to a long standing grudge towards Bruce for how he treated his former partners and also because of a fateful night when the Bat-family splintered. She slowly gains a grudging respect for Terry after he helps her in several sticky situations and begins acknowledging his help whenever needed, though she does not use a Bat-Signal unlike her father. However, she still has direct access to the Batcave. She is married to Sam Young, the District Attorney of Neo-Gotham.

Episodes

Crossovers

The third season of Batman Beyond featured the two-part episode "The Call" with (for the first time) a futuristic

with the help of the future Justice League (Batman II, Static and Warhawk).

The second time was meant to be the de facto

Project Cadmus connections to gather the technology for "Project Batman Beyond", whose goal was to physically create a new Batman, starting with a secretly collected sample of Bruce Wayne's DNA. Some years after Bruce retired, Waller found a young Neo-Gotham couple—the McGinnises—with psychological profiles nearly identical to those of Bruce's parents, a nanotech solution was injected into Warren McGinnis to rewrite his reproductive material with that of Bruce. The eventual result was his wife Mary McGinnis giving birth to Terry, a child sharing the genetic traits of his mother and Bruce Wayne. When Terry was eight years old, Waller employed an elderly Andrea Beaumont in her Phantasm alias 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 she would be doing something against what Bruce stood for. Waller eventually conceded that Beaumont had been right and abolished the project altogether. Eight years afterward, Warren would be murdered, and Terry would meet Bruce by happenstance—resulting in Terry becoming Batman's successor. Waller concludes by reminding Terry that he is Bruce's son, not his clone, and that, despite the circumstances of his existence, he still has free will

to live out his own life; Terry comes to terms with his revelations, and continues in being Batman. With a new sense of purpose, Terry plans to propose to Dana, while continuing his life of crimefighting.

Animation

In order to complete the series, Warner Bros. Animation outsourced Batman Beyond to Dong Yang Animation, Koko Enterprises and Seoul Movie (a subsidiary of TMS) in Seoul, South Korea. While the South Korean studios animated the series' episodes, the feature film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was animated by TMS Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan.

Spin-off

Main article: The Zeta Project

A spin-off from Batman Beyond, an animated series called

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.^[7]

Reception

While the idea of Batman Beyond seemed as if it were "not a proper continuation of the legacy of the Dark Knight",[8] the series received critical acclaim and a cult following after its release. It has been praised for its dark and cyberpunk storytelling. 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.^[9] In 2009, IGN.com named Batman Beyond the 40th-best animated television series of all time.^[8]

Den of Geek, when listing the best episodes of the series, wrote that "Batman Beyond's first year on the air represents the show at its most realized form. It's the only season of the show that's written at the same level of quality as Batman: The Animated Series. Not to say that later seasons don't have their moments, but it seemed like the writers approached Beyond as a Saturday morning cartoon during seasons two and three, whereas during season one, they most certainly did not."^[10] Creator Bruce Timm has stated Batman Beyond is the most uneven series of the main DC Animated Universe shows, particular in regards to the latter two seasons.^[11] Greg Weisman commented that while the series was well made, it felt more like a Spider-Man series and much less like Batman. ^[12]

Home media

VHS

Some episodes of the series were released on VHS from 1999 to 2000, including the series' premiere (as Batman Beyond: The Movie), and select episodes as five VHS volumes containing three episodes per tape (the same contents as the individual DVD volume releases, see below), and the direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (edited version).

Season DVDs

DVD name	Release date	Episodes	Additional information
The Complete First Season	March 21, 2006	13	Special features: creators' commentary on two key episodes; Inside Batman Beyond: Meet the 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 two 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 four 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 DC Comics documentary and three all-new, all-revealing featurettes.

Individual DVDs

DVD name	Release date	Episodes	Additional information
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (edited version, 73 min.)	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 (uncut version, 76 min.)	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	6	Compilation of the first six episodes (by production order, not by air date) of the series: "Rebirth " (Parts 1 and 2), "Golem", "Dead Man's Hand", "Meltdown", "The Winning Edge"
Batman Beyond: School Dayz and Spellbound	March 2, 2004	6	Contains these episodes: S01E04, S01E08, S01E09, S01E10, S01E12 and S02E08, plus all of the episodes as one long movie
Batman Beyond: Tech Wars and Disappearing Inque	March 2, 2004	6

• *Note: The audio commentaries for both the edited and uncut versions of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker were provided by the same contributors; however, both versions are slightly different from each other.

Blu-ray

Batman Beyond was released on Blu-ray on October 29, 2019. The four-disc set includes all 52 episodes and the uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Forty-one of the episodes and Return of the Joker were remastered. The remaining 11 episodes were an upconversion.^[13]

In other media

Comics

Main article: Batman Beyond (comics)

Books

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a novelization of the feature film written by Michael Teitelbaum, was released on November 1, 2000.

Two Batman Beyond books for young readers were released on November 14, 2000: Batman Beyond: New Hero in Town and Batman Beyond: No Place Like Home, followed by two more, released on May 28, 2002: Batman Beyond: Hear No Evil and Batman Beyond: Grounded.

Music

Batman Beyond
Soundtrack album by Shirley Walker, Kristopher Carter, Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion
Released	August 31, 1999 (1999-08-31)
Length	39:58
Label	Rhino Entertainment

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[14]

Released on August 31, 1999, the soundtrack to Batman Beyond features many of the same composers who worked on the previous animated Batman shows. The music style is more industrial, with some metal influence, to tie in with the show's futuristic cyberpunk genre.

Batman Beyond

No.	Title	Composer	Length
1.	"Batman Beyond (Main Title)"	Kristopher Carter	1:00
2.	"Cold vs. Hot"	Lolita Ritmanis	3:12
3.	"Terrific Trio vs. Rocketeers"	Michael McCuistion	1:50
4.	"Bat-Slapped in Store"	Kristopher Carter	1:16
5.	"Farewells"	Lolita Ritmanis	2:44
6.	"Batman Defeats Chappell"	Kristopher Carter	2:14
7.	"Batman Chases Inque"	Kristopher Carter	2:43
8.	"Yachting with the Card Gang"	Shirley Walker	2:09
9.	"Batman's First Fight"	Michael McCuistion	2:57
10.	"The Legacy Continues"	Michael McCuistion	1:24
11.	"Hotel Scuffle"	Shirley Walker	1:57
12.	"Trouble in the Museum"	Shirley Walker	1:46
13.	"Inque Escapes!"	Kristopher Carter	1:22
14.	"Nuclear Lab Destruction"	Michael McCuistion	1:54
15.	"Golem Chases Shoppers"	Shirley Walker	2:00
16.	"Willie Defeated"	Shirley Walker	2:37
17.	"Genetic Theft"	Michael McCuistion	1:29
18.	"Joker Chase"	Lolita Ritmanis	3:08
19.	"Move to the Groove"	Lolita Ritmanis	1:16
20.	"Batman Beyond (End Credits)"	Shirley Walker	1:00

Toys

in 1999, Hasbro had released a Batman Beyond Toyline with sub-lines, In 2000, Burger King included Batman Beyond toys in their kids' meals.

Films

Main article: Batman in film

A direct-to-video feature film, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, was released on December 12, 2000. The original release was censored for elements of violence and death following the Columbine High School massacre, though a second, uncensored version was later released. Nevertheless, it received critical acclaim for its story, voice acting, animation and score.^[15] A second Batman Beyond film, focusing on the origins of Terry McGinnis, multiple clones of Bruce Wayne and the appearance of an elderly Selina Kyle, was planned by Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami, though it was never scripted, as it never went beyond a 45-minute impromptu plotting session between the two. The project was scrapped due to the dark tones and controversies surrounding Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.^[16] Despite this, the plot elements were eventually reworked into the second-season finale of Justice League Unlimited titled "Epilogue" (which was intended to be the series finale until the show was renewed for a third and final season) where Terry discovers his genetic origins from Amanda Waller and Selina Kyle is briefly mentioned in passing.

Among the live action films proposed between the critical failure of

PG-13 film the studio wanted.^[18]

In January 2019, rumors began to circulate that

Warner Animation Group was developing an animated Batman Beyond film following the critical and commercial success of Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,^[21] but was later reported that no such film was in the works.^[22] In the later August interview with DC Universe, Paul Dini revealed that Warner Bros. continues to express interest in a film adaptation but have put emphasis on other projects.^[23] Actor Tyler Posey has expressed interest in playing Terry McGinnis in the possible film adaptation.^[24] In June 2020, Michael Keaton entered talks to play an elderly Bruce Wayne, reprising his role from Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), in the DCEU film, The Flash, which was set for release in 2023. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. hopes for Keaton to return for multiple DCEU films in a way "akin to the role played by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string-puller".^[25] Keaton was officially confirmed to return in August of the same year.^[26] In December 2022, it was announced that Christina Hodson, writer of The Flash and the cancelled Batgirl film, had been hired to write a script for a live-action Batman Beyond film. The plot would have involved an aged Bruce Wayne, continuing the plot threads from his appearance in The Flash, and would have included the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Development on the film was shelved after James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed as co-heads of DC Studios.^[27] In January 2023, Gunn and Safran stated that there is potential for a future multiverse project in which they may incorporate Keaton's incarnation of Batman.^[28]

In March 2023 it was reported that an animated Batman Beyond film had been put into development, written by

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, the project was put into commission under the leadership of Walter Hamada, who served as DC Films president from 2018 to 2022, and it is currently unknown if it is still happening under Gunn and Safran's direction, though Jeff Sneider of The Hollywood Reporter noted that nobody who was working on the project was told it was cancelled.^[29]

Video games

The first appearance of the Terry McGinnis version of Batman in a video game is in the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color video game Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

The Batman Beyond Batsuit appears as an alternate costume in Justice League Heroes and as downloadable content in Batman: Arkham City and Injustice: Gods Among Us.

A Batman Beyond DLC was included in the third Lego Batman video game.

A "Batman of the Future" character pack featuring the Terry McGinnis Batman with all its trademark gadgets (such as the flying suit and the ability to turn invisible) and other Batman Beyond-era characters were revealed to be

PS4-exclusive DLC for Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.^[30]

Rocksteady Studios created their own unique take on the Batman Beyond Batsuit for Batman: Arkham Knight as a pre-order bonus along with The Dark Knight Returns Batsuit titled "Gotham's Future Pack".

Batman Beyond appears in the mobile games Teeny Titans! And Teen Titans Go! Figures.

Animation

In April 2014, a Batman Beyond short by

computer program HARDAC

.

Batman Beyond is alluded in Teen Titans Go!. In the episode "Sandwich Thief", Robin travels to the future to his father Nightwing's apartment where a poster of the Batman Beyond Batman can be seen, indicating that Nightwing admires this incarnation of Batman.

References

1. ^ "A History of Batman on TV". IGN. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
2. ISBN 978-1476665993
   .
3. ^ "News". Comics Continuum. February 9, 2001. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
4. ^ Pereira, Sergio (February 9, 2022). "The Untold Truth Of Batman Beyond". Looper.com.
5. ^ Batman Beyond: Making of (DVD)
6. ISBN 978-1-893905-30-6
   . Retrieved July 18, 2010.
7. ^ ^{a b} "The World's Finest - The Zeta Project". Worldsfinestonline.com. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
8. ^ ^{a b} "40. Batman Beyond". IGN. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009.
9. IMDb
10. ^ "Batman Beyond: The Essential Episodes". January 10, 2020.
11. ^ Forum post ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ "Search Ask Greg". Gargoyles : Station Eight.
13. ^ "'Batman Beyond' is Finally Getting a Remastered Blu-ray Release This October [Comic-Con 2019]". /Film. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
14. ^ Phares, Heather. "Batman Beyond". AllMusic. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
15. ^ "Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker". Rotten Tomatoes. December 12, 2000. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
16. ^ "Epilogue". Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
17. ^ Harris, Dana (August 22, 2000). "There's new 'Batman' in WB's belfry". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
18. ^ ^{a b} Greenberg, James (May 8, 2005). "Rescuing Batman". Los Angeles Times. p. E-10. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
19. ^ Linder, Brian (July 17, 2001). "Beyond Doubt". IGN. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
20. ^ Linder, Brian (August 31, 2001). "Aronofsky's Sci-Fi Epic Postponed". IGN. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
21. ^ Gerber, Jamie (January 30, 2019). "Batman Beyond Animated Movie In Development at Warner Bros". Screen Rant. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
22. ^ Wood, Matt (February 2, 2019). "Sorry, The Batman Beyond Movie Rumor Was Shot Down". CinemaBlend. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
23. ^ Lapin-Bertone, Joshua (August 22, 2019). "BATMAN BEYOND Writer & Director on a Possible Movie". DC Universe. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
24. ^ "Teen Wolf Star Tyler Posey Wants to Play Batman Beyond". Movies. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
25. ^ Kit, Borys (June 22, 2020). "Micheal Keaton in Talks to Return as Batman for 'Flash' Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
26. ^ Breznican, Anthony (August 20, 2020). "Ben Affleck Will Return as Batman in The Flash". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
27. ^ Nebens, Richard (December 9, 2022). "Michael Keaton's Batman Reboot Reportedly Killed at Warner Bros". The Direct. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
28. ^ Massoto, Erick (January 31, 2023). "James Gunn Says There Are "Possibilities" for Michael Keaton's Batman". Collider. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
29. ^ Hargrave, Sam (March 3, 2023). "Batman Beyond Movie: New Details Revealed (Report)". The Direct. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
30. ^ "The Batman of the Future is coming to LEGO Batman 3 in Europe". VG247.com. September 26, 2014.
31. ^ McDaniel, Matt (April 18, 2014). "Spot the Easter Eggs in a New Batman Film for His 75th Anniversary". Yahoo!. Retrieved April 20, 2014.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Batman Beyond.

• DC page
• Warner Bros. site Archived October 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
• Batman Beyond at
  IMDb
• Batman Beyond on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki
• Batman Beyond at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 22, 2018.