Flashback Friday: Batman Beyond
Batman Beyond. With an alliterative title, you can probably tell that this show was meant for some kind of comic legacy, even if they had to make it up on their own. Even before this more self-aware time of remakes, reboots, and projects on nostalgia kicks (or in Star Wars case, all of the above), anyone can point out the grab for money using the familiar Batman mythology. But Batman Beyond’s not about that. Okay, it’s a little bit about that obviously, but, despite its nostalgia kick, the story is now mostly accepted as the continuation of the Batman story, something it’s always intended to do. Whether you love the show or not, that feat’s impressive.
It becomes more impressive when one actually considers the plot. In a futuristic Gotham City, Bruce Wayne abdicates the role of Batman after suffering a heart attack in the field, though not before building a fancy new suit. His secret and his suit is then discovered by a teenager named Terry McGinnis who steals the suit to exact revenge for his father’s death at the hands of a gang inspired by the Joker. While Bruce is, at first, reluctant to take on Terry as the Batman, they eventually work together to take down the crime at the source in one of the largest companies in the city, proving that Gotham City might still need a hero. The two then work together to protect the city from new and old villains from corrupt business men to gang leaders to the Joker himself with Terry as the newest incarnation of Batman. Friendly reminder that this was a cartoon for children.
It bears repeating. This was originally marketed towards children. Sure, they drastically changed course, and the time period of Batman: The Animated Series, Power Rangers, and half the things on Nickelodeon obviously had a different perspective of what children could watch. Of course, Batman Beyond soon proved the ever-revolutionary idea that stories could go beyond aiming for the lowest common denominator audience. Then again, following a Batman storyline, it’s nearly impossible at this point to go anywhere other than darker.
And boy did it go dark. In the three season run, there were bouts of gang violence, steroid use, corporate takeovers, body mutations, and the deeper psychosis of what it really meant to be the Batman, and that doesn’t even cover Return of the Joker. Being the first story to portray Batman as a teenager is probably the closest it gets to ever easing up on the darkness, but, in their defense, that option probably helped entice the younger audience to watching what otherwise would never (and sometimes will never) be accepted by comic book purists. A teenaged Batman? Psssh. A Batman who isn’t even Bruce Wayne? Why am I even writing about this?
If there were any times to try something new, it was in the DC animated universe. Batman Beyond was probably the universe’s greatest push of the canon taking place in the future while introducing a new future for the Batman lore. This goes beyond (pardon the pun) of just creating Harley Quinn or giving Mr. Freeze a decent backstory like The Animated Series and presumed the entire future of every character we knew in the Batman lore. This particular show emphasized the descent of Bruce Wayne into a loner following the decimation of the group, the introduction of a wounded Barbara Gordon as commissioner just like her father, and a frightening look at our future in 23 years. Better practice using the word “schway.”
In the midst of this craziness, Batman Beyond still manages to fit in the structure of the DC animated universe. That is, it’s good. It expands upon the concepts popularized by The Animated Series in having characters with depth without sacrificing the action we love in superhero stories. Seriously, the new Batman suit is one of the most impressive developments to the hero most known for not having any powers. Now the new guy has increased strength and speed, camouflage, the power of flight, and near invincibility along with all of the toys that Batman originally carried. It makes fighting against the random new adversaries like Blight or Inque all the more interesting to see what he can do next.
Of course, the darkness of the project is also in the end what probably stopped this show from showing on people’s top Batman stories. After all, it’s a lot harder for a ten-year-old to understand the corrupt intricacies of a corporate takeover on a psychologically disturbed as opposed to the Joker or Penguin wreaking havoc on a city. Plus, the fact that Terry is a teenage boy with all of the usual flaws of being angsty and pretty much everything questionable about the bad boy turned good stereotype. I myself didn’t appreciate the show until a few years ago, nowhere near the age I first watched it. Overall, it’s the show worth a second try.
And why shouldn’t it be worth another try? This day and age, audiences applaud The Killing Joke getting an R-rating, and the entire DC Extended Universe structures itself around the Batman tone of dark and gritty. That’s the excitement that leads to Return of the Joker receiving a PG-13 rating alone. Well, that and the gruesome torture, death scenes, and whatever circumstances Joker comes back to life through Tim Drake. That deserves the rating on its own. The show also enjoys a few good crossovers with Justice League and Static Shock, creating a better connection with the overall universe even if the show’s canon is all made-up. If you’re willing to accept the DCAU of Batman, Superman, and Justice League, Batman Beyond should be up there as well.
If you’re not into punk future settings, grimdark plots, or messing with comic continuity, then Batman Beyond is not for you. If you’re not at least open to those ideas, however, you might not even be interested in the DC world at all. Now, none of those things guarantees a good story, but, in this case Batman Beyond is a decent continuation. Plus, it’s a nice change of pace from the fans who say “because comics.” This is the one show where that’s not even an option.
