Batman Beyond/Batman of the Future Description
Batman Beyond (known
as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia,
New Zealand and India) is an American animated television
series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration
with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy.
In the pilot episode, we see
approximately 30 years into the future an aging Batman is
having increasing difficulty handling criminals he once
subdued with ease. One night, a heart attack forces Batman
to betray a lifelong principle by threatening a criminal
with a gun, despite already wearing a new, high-tech Batsuit.
Subsequently, Bruce Wayne decides to retire the Batman persona,
and crime fighting in general, permanently.
The story then fast-forwards
another 20 years. Gotham City is now a futuristic megalopolis
equipped with staggering high rises and hovering/flying
vehicles. Bruce Wayne is now a virtual recluse, spending
his latter years living in bitter isolation with no companion
but his guard dog, Ace. 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 he had a heart attack, something horrible transpired
that caused Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice League
and forbid his disciples from ever again assuming their
alter-egos. The events which caused all of this was finally
revealed in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
In 2040, Terry McGinnis (born
on June 27, 2023) is an athletic 17-year-old high school
student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained
sense of personal justice. During the pilot episode, he
saves a fellow passenger on a commuter rail from being hassled
by one of the Jokerz, and later single-handedly takes on
an entire gang of them to defend his girlfriend, ultimately
resulting in a harrowing high-speed motorcycle chase through
Neo-Gotham's expressways. The chase ultimately ends at the
doorstep 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 his heart condition.
Terry helps Bruce back to the manor, and while staying there,
he discovers the entrance to the Batcave, and later returns
to "borrow" the Batsuit to avenge the death of
his father. As crime and corruption are beginning once again
to rear their ugly heads in Gotham, Bruce ultimately allows
Terry to assume the mantle of Batman.
Terry continues the battle
against crime tutored by Bruce, and aided by a new black-and-red,
high-tech Batsuit that augments his abilities, fires Batarangs
from the wrists, flies using jets fired from the feet, allows
eavesdropping through a hypersensitive touch microphone,
and provides camouflage abilities. He comes to have his
own rogues gallery, such as the seductive shape-shifter
Inque, the hypnotist Spellbinder, the bitter, deaf sound
expert Shriek, the deadly assassin Curare, the insane terrorist
Mad Stan, and the African hunter Stalker, and the Jokerz,
a gang idolizing the Joker. However, on occasion, Terry
is also forced to face his mentor's old foes, such as the
atrophying Mr. Freeze, Bane (elderly, wasted, and dying
from his consumption of Venom, the substance that gave him
his strength), the immortal Ra's al Ghul, and even a reborn
Joker.
Cover art by Bruce Timm from the Batman Beyond comic book
miniseries, depicting Batman battling Blight.Terry's greatest
initial foe is Derek Powers, a ruthless billionaire who
took over Wayne Industries and was later accidentally mutated
into a radioactive monstrosity known as Blight. Powers had
Terry's father, Warren, murdered after Warren discovered
that Powers was in the process of developing a biological
weapons program. The first season ended with a showdown
between Batman and Blight aboard an abandoned nuclear submarine,
where Powers was in hiding after his identity as Blight
was revealed to the world by his ambitious son Paxton, who
planned to usurp his father as chairman of Wayne-Powers.
Maxine "Max" Gibson
(born October 28, 2023) 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.
Terry also finds one other
ally, though a begrudging one: Barbara Gordon, the former
Batgirl. Having followed in the footsteps of her father,
James Gordon, Barbara is now Police Commissioner of Gotham
City, and 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, knowing
from personal experience that she cannot deter Terry anymore
than she could have been deterred from being Batgirl, she
relents, possibly also out of respect for her mentor, the
original Batman. Also, passing conversation between Barbara
and Bruce suggested that at the time of Batgirl's retirement,
the suit had bullet holes in it that had been repaired.
It is implied early on in the series that Barbara was in
love with Bruce for a period of time
