Batman Beyond (1999) - "Sometimes I ask myself if Batman is just the suit or the man inside"

[Ensok]

Great concept, excellent hero, perfect ending to Batman's story. I didn't care for a lot of the villains. There were good ones here and there I just think most of them were mid.

I'm surprised not as many people liked the final in unlimited. I thought it was awesome.

I liked it but I'm willing to admit that a large part of the reason I liked it was just the fanservice of seeing Andrea Beaumont again.

 

[Incecticyder]

It's absolutely annoying when young guy replaces beloved super hero and is one of the most vilified actions amongst fans of iconic heroes. Which is why I always wondered why this feels so right and earned despite being the first episode. It's been etched in my brain since childhood.

Why was it so good? What made this different from annoying replacement shit? I still soy out when I think about this scene and dream of them doing it justice in a new Arkham game or Beyond movie.

Also the ending theme was rad.

To sum it up in 3 words: Talent, heart, effort.

In more words: Talented people poured their heart into the show and put a lot of effort out of love and respect for the material. They made a completely original future for Batman that was never even hinted at in the comics from scratch.

The show remains respectful towards Bruce, who still has a prominent role and can occasionally kick ass, and Terry is likeable and doesn't show-up or constantly shit on Bruce. Plus, Bruce's reason for retirement is reasonable, rather than just killing him off and shoving a new person into the role.

Think about every "annoying replacement" instance and then cross off every black/brown and woman from your list. What are you left with?

Indeed. They actually put effort into making Terry a successor rather than a replacement. He has to earn the mantle and keep earning the right to keep it. He was being constantly tested by everyone: Bruce, his girl, the police, the bad guys, his school, other heroes and the citizens. He is never just handed the mantle, he earns it.

I liked the episode enough, but I think the re-writing Terry's genes was a goofy twist that kind of just gets thrown in, years after the series was over.

The flashbacks to Bruce talking with Ace in that episode though, that was good stuff.

I liked how Terry did learn from Bruce's mistakes and embraces those he loves by marrying his girlfriend. If you remember, in the Mask of The Phantasm, Bruce was happy for once in his life being with someone and he was so fucked up in the head that he felt that his parents would hate him if he ever stopped being a vigilante obsessed with eradicating crime and was apologising on their grave (those who have read or seen the Flashpoint Paradox know that this is not the case).

 

[Tasty Tatty]

There are white people with squinted eyes, btw. They don't necessarily have Asian ancestry. Cant remember which actor was, but one of my kids asked me if he was Chinese. It wasn't. In fact, I think he was indeed Celtic.

Anyway, BB is awesome. I love that the supposed origin is that WB asked for "Batman in school" and, well, it is indeed.

"what? He is batman and he is in school!" They aren't lying.

The first scene with a weakened older Bruce hits you straight in the balls, btw.

ETA: the reason this show works and Terry is well accepted is bc this doesn't exist to "fix" previous Batman lore or to make him a perfect Batman to align with our times. Batman's legacy is intact and respected, Terry exists within it, he's not there to make retcons.

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

Shway. Does anyone want to go get spliced?

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

Amazing show, the only flaw was having batman inject his semen into Terry's dad's balls so that when he nut it was actually batman nut because Terry had to be related to batman for some stupid fucking reason.

And Warren left his wife when they had Matt, 'cos he too, had black hair, like Terry. I'm in two minds about Bruce's sperm overwriting Warren's; I like it and dislike it for the same reason I like and dislike Steve Fox's background in Tekken.

Comparison time: Was he always naturally talented, and would be, regardless of Bruce's/Nina's/Unknown Fighting Machine Dad, or was he always going to be a badass because of genetic engineering?

@Grub Are you familiar with X-Men 2099? I reckon that'd be a decent TV series. They never did a Spider-Man 2099 one, either, sadly.

@Tor Lugosi I like that episode where Blight gets exposed in his board meeting, and he prepares to throw a radioactive fireball at Bruce? What does Bruce do? He gets ready to stove his head in with HIS FUCKING WALKING STICK, before Terry kicks Blights arse. Ahem, excuse me, I just grin ear to ear every time I see it.

Et voila: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HnrPREVR5pM&t=1s&pp=ygUOYmxpZ2h0IGV4cG9zZWQ=

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Oh yeah, kinda shocking that a chronically obese black women would live into what should be over a hundred, then again shes on that fed/superhero health care and with her morals I could see her stealing baby organs.

She's holding on till she gets to dance on Bruce's grave.

The Zeta Project or something.

You remember correctly. Not as good a show but had a certain cuteness to it. I think if ever there was one that would make for an easy live action remake that would be it.

 

[LurkingLemur]

If they ever end up making a live-action BB movie I hope they use the plot from Return of The Joker

 

[Twrx]

I just want a BB game, but done by the rocksteady that did asylum and city. Not whatever the fuck they are now

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

She's holding on till she gets to dance on Bruce's grave.

You remember correctly. Not as good a show but had a certain cuteness to it. I think if ever there was one that would make for an easy live action remake that would be it.

Zeta was always a less good version of Martian Manhunter. These things happen creatively, I guess.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I just want a BB game, but done by the rocksteady that did asylum and city. Not whatever the fuck they are now

Paul Dini leaving Rocksteady really damaged them lmao

If they ever end up making a live-action BB movie I hope they use the plot from Return of The Joker

That'd just be really damn lazy, and wouldn't have the same impact since part of what made RoTJ great is that it was a Joker that had been established before that added layers to it.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Michael Keaton has now the perfect age to play Bruce...

 

[BrunoMattei]

It was overall good but kind of hit and miss. I feel like for every 2-3 good episodes there was a mediocre or bad episode. Not a bad average but the show isn't up to par with other Timverse shows with the best being the two Justice League shows. Most underrated is New Batman Adventures.

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

I should read the comics sometime, as it has people who didn't appear on the show, such as: Joker King, a complete evil nutter, who worships Joker, and is Terry's girlfriend Dana's brother, and Vigilante, who was part of the gang hired by Blight to murder Terry's dad, and wanted to atone for it. Dick Grayson even crops up. I only know these things 'cos I looked on TV Tropes.

@Tasty Tatty Flipside time: that's the genius of great quality voice acting: Early-mid 40s Kevin Conroy fitting 80-85 jaded, worn-down-by-bad-health-due-to-being-knackered-from-fist-fighting-criminals-pretty-much-throughout-his-adult-life Bruce, life a glove.

@LurkingLemur It would be better as a series. Which is why Dexter: Original Sin, for example, is gaining in popularity. It would have been overlooked massively in comparison, had it been simply a one-off film. But, yeah, BB would likely do well as a series, I reckon, more than, let's say, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, which seemingly vanished from the space-time continuum.

 

[Incecticyder]

I should read the comics sometime, as it has people who didn't appear on the show, such as: Joker King, a complete evil nutter, who worships Joker, and is Terry's girlfriend Dana's brother, and Vigilante, who was part of the gang hired by Blight to murder Terry's dad, and wanted to atone for it. Dick Grayson even crops up. I only know these things 'cos I looked on TV Tropes.

I have the issue that takes place after the defeat of the Joker King. It is rather good and shows how Bruce approves of Terry taking a different road than he did (being with someone who knows who he is and accepts it as opposed to being miserable.) He even welcomes Dana into the family.

 

[Calandrino]

Most underrated is New Batman Adventures.

This one catches so much flak, while the weak spots of the original B:TAS are always overlooked..

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

I have the issue that takes place after the defeat of the Joker King. It is rather good and shows how Bruce approves of Terry taking a different road than he did (being with someone who knows who he is and accepts it as opposed to being miserable.) He even welcomes Dana into the family.

Well, I suppose Bruce potentially had that himself with Talia, after his misplaced guilt-ridden thing in Mask of the Phantasm, but her father was a recurring problem, and eventually, unbeknownst to him, for 20+ years, had been replaced by him.

 

[UnKillFill]

If they ever end up making a live-action BB movie I hope they use the plot from Return of The Joker

I don't even want to see it now because they'd fuck it up, but the only Batman I would have wanted them make a live action Batman Beyond with is Keaton.

 

[Super Guido]

Batman Beyond being DCAU canon is its fatal flaw, especially with RotJ, no reason to do Tim dirty like that. (I only assume that the idea originated as an adaptation of A Death in the Family, but then having present-day Terry face the Joker somehow).

The whole series made for a better "What If?" series instead of being actually canon.

I got reamed when I suggested it was canon once.

Apparently it's a different timeline? I'm not a huge capefag but I liked Batman Beyond.

 

[Wot Zit Too Yah0996]

I got reamed when I suggested it was canon once.

Apparently it's a different timeline? I'm not a huge capefag but I liked Batman Beyond.

I think it's the same timeline. In my sperg "logic", it goes: Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and then Batman Beyond (the then final onscreen appearance of Terry being in Justice League Unlimited: Epilogue), also called Batman of the Future, which is what I knew it as when I watched it when I was very little.

 

[Calandrino]

I got reamed when I suggested it was canon once.

Apparently it's a different timeline? I'm not a huge capefag but I liked Batman Beyond.

iirc Bruce Timm has at various points said "it's a possible future, ignore it if you want" but he was basically hedging his bets with fans who didn't like the show. He's also a fellow autist who has his own headcanons about shows he doesn't like or whatever. But the one-word answer is yes... it's canon, it's not an alternate timeline. The continuity between all the different shows is very good, especially considering they collectively ran for so long.