| Batman Beyond | |
|---|---|
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| Also known as | Batman of the Future[1] |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Based on | |
| Written by |
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| Voices of | |
| Composers |
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| 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 |
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| Running time | 21–22 minutes |
| Production companies | Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner Bros. Television Animation |
| Original release | |
| Network | The WB(episode 1-2 pilot)[2] Kids' WB(episodes 1-46, 48-52) Cartoon Network(episode 47) |
| Release | January 10, 1999 (1999-01-10) – December 18, 2001 (2001-12-18) |
| Related | |
Batman Beyond (also known asBatman of the Future in some territories) is an American animatedcyberpunksuperhero television series based on theDC Comics superheroBatman, and serving as thesequel to bothBatman: The Animated Series andThe New Batman Adventures.[3] Created and developed byPaul Dini,Bruce Timm, andAlan Burnett and produced byWarner Bros. Television Animation,[4] the series began airing on January 10, 1999 onThe WB's Sunday Night lineup as a two-part pilot.[5] In the United Kingdom, it began airing on September 4, 2000.[6]
The series follows the exploits of teenagerTerry McGinnis, who becomes the new Batman for the city of Gotham in the near future. Terry is aided and mentored by the retired Batman, Bruce Wayne, as he faces a variety of criminals including several new supervillains. Despite being conceived as a kid-friendly Batman series by Warner Bros. Animation, it ended up being darker than its predecessorBatman: The Animated Series,[7][8] yet went on to receive critical acclaim and gained acult following.
Batman Beyond ran for three seasons, concluding with adirect-to-videofeature film,Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. The decision to end production on the series came due to Warner Bros. Animation opting to favor pushing forward production for theJustice League animated series, though withBatman Beyond featuring crossovers with additional shows in theDC Animated Universe.
In the then-future year of 2019,Bruce Wayne is in his late fifties and still fighting crime asBatman, despite suffering recurring health issues relating to his age and past injuries. During a rescue of a kidnapped heiress, Bruce suffers a heart attack and, at the risk of being killed by a criminal, betrays a lifelong principle by threatening him with a gun, the weapon used to murder his parents and motivate him to become Batman in the first place. Realizing that he will inevitably have to break his strict code to never kill for survival if he continues to fight crime, Bruce reluctantly decides to permanently retire as Batman. By this point, his butler and confidant,Alfred Pennyworth, and additional colleagues, such asLucius Fox andJames Gordon, have since died. All of his rogues' gallery are either still incarcerated or residing atArkham Asylum, reformed, missing, in exile, retired, or dead. Bruce has also severed ties withSuperman and the Justice League.
Twenty years later, Bruce lives alone in Wayne Manor with only the company of his Doberman, Ace. One night, teenageTerry McGinnis is chased by thugs onto the lawn of Wayne Manor, and he and Bruce fight them together, but Bruce has another heart attack shortly afterwards. Terry takes Bruce inside and takes care of him. Exploring the mansion, Terry discovers theBatcave and asks Bruce to let him take up his mantle.
Terry's decision to become Batman stems from sharing a similar origin story to Bruce, in that his father, Warren McGinnis, is murdered after learning of an illegal weapons project being conducted at Wayne-Powers. Bruce grants Terry a high-tech Batsuit he made shortly before his retirement, granting him increased strength and agility, flight capabilities, stealth, and enhanced sensor systems, with Bruce allowing him to use it not only to get justice for his father's murder, but also to prevent the illegal weapon being manufactured being sold to a foreign power. His actions lead to Bruce accepting him as the new Batman and providing him cover for his work under the pretense of Terry doing part-time work for him outside of school hours, with the two having moments where they differ in methods, but also gaining respect for each other's work as Batman.
Terry mainly lives with his remaining family - his mother, Mary, who was divorced from Warren around the time of his death; and his brother, Matt - while dating fellow student Dana Tan, though his life as Batman creates complications to their relationship. Alongside Bruce, Terry is aided in his life byMax Gibson, a close friend and highly intelligent student who uncovers his secret several weeks after he becomes Batman, serving in a role similar toAlfred Pennyworth. Apart from Max, Terry's role as Batman is also known toBarbara Gordon, who aided Bruce asBatgirl before parting ways with him to become the Gotham City's Police Department's new police commissioner following her father's death. Like Bruce, Terry develops his own rogues' gallery amongst the criminals he brings to justice, and also faces some of Bruce's own enemies from his time as the Dark Knight.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 13 | January 10, 1999 (1999-01-10) | May 22, 1999 (1999-05-22) | |
| 2 | 26 | September 17, 1999 (1999-09-17) | September 23, 2000 (2000-09-23) | |
| 3 | 13 | May 27, 2000 (2000-05-27) | December 18, 2001 (2001-12-18) | |
The third season ofBatman Beyond featured the two-part episode "The Call" with (for the first time) a futuristicJustice League, aspringboard for theJustice League animated series. The setting and characters ofBatman Beyond were also briefly revived inStatic Shock during the episode "Future Shock" in whichStatic is accidentally transported 40 years into the future.
Justice League Unlimited revisited theBatman Beyond world twice in 2005. The first was in "The Once and Future Thing" (Part 2), which featuredBatman,Wonder Woman andGreen Lantern transported 50 years into the future to stop atime-travelling villain with the help of the future Justice League (Batman II, Static, andWarhawk).
The second time was meant to be the de factoseries finale forBatman Beyond: the episode "Epilogue" reveals that Bruce Wayne is Terry McGinnis's biological father. The story, set 15 years afterBatman Beyond, centers on Terry (now in his early 30s) tracking down an elderlyAmanda Waller. She explains throughflashbacks that, even though she grew to trust and respect Batman, she was aware of him aging, getting slower, and getting weaker, thus accepting the idea of either Bruce retiring or being killed at some point. Finding the idea of a world without Batman unacceptable, Waller used herProject 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 and gave Warren McGinnis ananotech solution to rewrite hisreproductive 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 elderlyAndrea Beaumont in her Phantasm alias as an assassin to kill Terry's family, hoping thetrauma 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 because ofDerek Powers, 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 hasfree will to live out his own life; Although not his clone she later tells Terry how he is not even close to as smart as Bruce Wayne but he does have his heart. 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.
In order to complete the series, Warner Bros. Animation outsourcedBatman Beyond toDong 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 filmBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker was animated byTMS Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan.
| Batman Beyond | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | August 31, 1999 (1999-08-31) |
| Length | 39:58 |
| Label | Rhino Entertainment |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [9] |
Released on August 31, 1999, the soundtrack toBatman Beyond features many of the same composers who worked on the previous animatedBatman shows. The music style is moreindustrial, with somemetal influence, to tie in with the show's futuristiccyberpunk genre.
| 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 |
While the idea ofBatman Beyond seemed as if it were "not a proper continuation of the legacy of the Dark Knight",[10] 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 fourDaytime 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 fiveAnnie Awards and won two of those nominations in 1999 and 2001.[citation needed] In 2009,IGN.com namedBatman Beyond the 40th-best animated television series of all time.[10]
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 asBatman: 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."[11] CreatorBruce Timm has statedBatman Beyond is the most uneven series of the mainDC Animated Universe shows, particular in regard to the latter two seasons.[12]Greg Weisman commented that while the series was well made, it felt more like aSpider-Man series and much less like Batman.[13]Batman Beyond was cited by actorJacob Bertrand, who voice-actedBam the Batmobile inBatwheels, as his introduction to the Batman franchise.
Some episodes of the series were released onVHS from 1999 to 2000, including the series' premiere (asBatman Beyond: The Movie), and select episodes as five VHS volumes containing three episodes per tape (the same contents as the individualDVD volume releases, see below), and the direct-to-video filmBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker (edited version).
| DVD name | Release date | Episodes | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | March 21, 2006 | 13 | Special features: creators' commentary on two key episodes;InsideBatman 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;InsideBatman 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. |
| 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 videoCrash byMephisto Odyssey featuringStatic-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 videoCrash 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 thefirst six episodes (by production order, not by air date) of the series: "Rebirth" (Parts 1 and 2), "Golem", "Dead Man's Hand", "Meltdown", and "The Winning Edge" |
| Batman Beyond: School Dayz and Spellbound | March 2, 2004 | 6 | Contains the episodes: "Golem", "Heroes", "Spellbound", "Shriek", "Disappearing Inque", and "Hooked Up", plus all of the episodes as one long movie |
| Batman Beyond: Tech Wars and Disappearing Inque | March 2, 2004 | 6 |
Batman Beyond was released onBlu-ray on October 29, 2019. The four-disc set includes all 52 episodes and the uncut version ofBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Forty-one of the episodes andReturn of the Joker were remastered. The remaining 11 episodes were anupconversion.[14]
A spin-off fromBatman Beyond, an animated series calledThe Zeta Project, featured the androidZeta from theBatman Beyond episode "Zeta", who was redesigned to possess a more humanoid appearance. Batman would guest star in the episode "Shadows". The super villainStalker was to have appeared inThe Zeta Project episode "Taffy Time", but ultimately did not do so.[15] The second-season episode "Ro's Gift" has an appearance by the Brain Trust from theBatman Beyond episode "Mind Games". Terry McGinnis/Batman was originally slated to appear in this episode as well, but was cut sinceBruce Timm and company were working onJustice League.[15]
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a novelization of the feature film written by Michael Teitelbaum, was released on November 1, 2000.
TwoBatman Beyond books for young readers were released on November 14, 2000:Batman Beyond: New Hero in Town andBatman Beyond: No Place Like Home, followed by two more, released on May 28, 2002:Batman Beyond: Hear No Evil andBatman Beyond: Grounded.
In 1999,Hasbro released aBatman Beyond Toyline with sub-lines. In 2000,Burger King includedBatman Beyond toys in their kids' meals.
In 2023,Bandai Namco released DC versions of the Vital Bracelet Digital Monster (Vital Hero in the USA) toy line.[16] These included many heroes and villains from the DC universe along with a bundle-only Batman-themed card. The Batman card contains multiple versions of Batman and Robin including Terry McGinnis.[17]
Adirect-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 theColumbine High School massacre, though a second, uncensored version was later released. Nevertheless, it received critical acclaim for its story, voice acting, animation and score.[18] A secondBatman Beyond film, focusing on the origins of Terry McGinnis, multiple clones of Bruce Wayne, and the appearance of an elderlySelina Kyle, was planned byBruce Timm andGlen 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 surroundingBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker.[19] Despite this, the plot elements were eventually reworked into the second-season finale ofJustice 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.Amanda Waller planted Bruce Wayne's DNA into Warren McGinnis through his routine flu shot and later helps create a copy of Bruce Wayne; Selina Kyle is briefly mentioned in passing.
Among the live action films proposed between the critical failure ofBatman & Robin and thereboot of theBatman franchise wasBatman Beyond. In August 2000, Warner Bros. announced that it was developing a live-actionfilm adaptation withBoaz Yakin attached to co-write and direct. The TV series' creators, Dini andAlan Burnett, were hired to write a screenplay for the feature film, withNeal Stephenson as consultant. Yakin hoped to castClint Eastwood as the retired Batman.[20][21] 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[22] eventually placedBatman Beyond on hold in August 2001, but ultimately canceled the proposal.[23] Yakin reportedly wanted the film to be dark, nihilistic, and with swearing and violence, and not thePG-13 film the studio wanted.[21]
In January 2019, rumors began to circulate thatWarner Animation Group was developing an animatedBatman Beyond film following the critical and commercial success ofSony Pictures Animation'sSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,[24] but was later reported that no such film was in the works.[25] In the later August interview withDC Universe, Paul Dini revealed that Warner Bros. continues to express interest in a film adaptation but have put emphasis on other projects.[26] ActorTyler Posey has expressed interest in playing Terry McGinnis in the possible film adaptation.[27] In June 2020,Michael Keaton entered talks to play an elderly Bruce Wayne, reprising his role fromTim Burton'sBatman (1989) andBatman Returns (1992), in the DCEU film,The Flash, which was set for release in 2023. According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. hopes for Keaton to return for multiple DCEU films in a way "akin to the role played bySamuel L. Jackson asNick Fury in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string-puller".[28] Keaton was officially confirmed to return in August of the same year.[29] In December 2022, it was announced thatChristina Hodson, writer ofThe Flash and the cancelledBatgirl 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 inThe Flash, and would have included the return ofMichelle Pfeiffer'sCatwoman. Development on the film was shelved afterJames Gunn andPeter Safran were appointed as co-heads of DC Studios.[30] 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.[31]
In March 2023 it was reported that an animatedBatman Beyond film had been put into development, written byDaniel Casey and serving as WB's answer toSpider-Man:Into the Spider-Verse. However, the project was put into commission under the leadership ofWalter 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 ofThe Hollywood Reporter noted that nobody who was working on the project was told it was cancelled.[32]
The first appearance of the Terry McGinnis version of Batman in a video game is in theNintendo 64,PlayStation, andGame Boy Color video gameBatman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
TheBatman Beyond Batsuit appears as an alternate costume inJustice League Heroes and as downloadable content inBatman: Arkham City andInjustice: Gods Among Us.
ABatman Beyond DLC was included in the thirdLego 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 otherBatman Beyond-era characters were revealed to bePS3/PS4-exclusive DLC forLego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.[33]
Rocksteady Studios created their own unique take on theBatman Beyond Batsuit forBatman: Arkham Knight as a pre-order bonus along withThe Dark Knight Returns Batsuit titled "Gotham's Future Pack".
Batman Beyond appears in the mobile gamesTeeny Titans andTeen Titans Go! Figure.
In April 2014, aBatman Beyond short byDarwyn Cooke premiered atWonderCon. The short, which saw Will Friedle and Kevin Conroy reprise their roles, sees Batman (Terry McGinnis) battle a Batman android (resembling the design fromThe New Batman Adventures) in the Batcave with help from the elderly Bruce Wayne and theBatmobile (resembling the design fromBatman: The Animated Series). Once defeated, Batman and Bruce look out to see and prepare to fight seven additional invading androids resembling the designs fromBeware the Batman,The Batman,Batman: The Brave and the Bold,The Dark Knight Returns,Batman (1989 film),Batman (1960s TV series), and the original design byBill Finger.[34] Though the androids' source is unstated, they are reminiscent ofthe story arc fromBatman: The Animated Series involving thecomputer program HARDAC.
Batman Beyond is alluded inTeen Titans Go! In the episode "Sandwich Thief",Robin travels to the future to his fatherNightwing's apartment where a poster of theBatman Beyond Batman can be seen, indicating that Nightwing admires this incarnation of Batman.
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