Do you ever wonder what the future will be like? Now you can stop wondering, because the story of the Dark Knight of the future is here: Batman Beyond: The Complete Series is now available on DVD! Batman Beyond tells the tale of Terry McGinnis and an elderly Bruce Wayne as the two take on criminals in this futuristic world of tomorrow! Taking place in the future of the DC Animated Universe, this series does a fantastic job at creating a new and dangerous world of villains for Terry to face, as well as acknowledging the vast history of the comics and prior DC Animated cartoons.
Episode Highlights:
“Rebirth” (Parts 1 and 2): In the near future, Bruce Wayne has created a new enhanced Batsuit to help his war on crime. While attempting to rescue a hostage, Bruce’s age catches up with him and begins to have a heart attack. In order to save the girl, Bruce does the unthinkable and reaches for a gun. These two actions caused Bruce to hangup the cowl for the last time…Several years later, we are introduced to young Terry McGinnis, whose father is murdered by industrialist Derek Powers (CEO of the new Wayne Powers Enterprises). Terry is confronted by a gang of Jokerz and is helped by an old man, who turns out to be Bruce Wayne! Terry escorts Bruce back to Wayne Manor, only to discover that Bruce used to be the Caped Crusader: BATMAN! Using a stolen enhanced Batsuit, Terry seeks vengeance for his father. Bruce reluctantly agrees to help Terry and soon offers to take Terry as his assistant and trains him to become the Dark Knight of Tomorrow.
“Splicers”: A new fad has taken the streets of Gotham by storm: Splicing! This new technique allows people to combine animal DNA with their own. Terry soon learns that there is more than splicing than meets the eye.
“Dead Man’s Hand”: Terry must deal with facing off against the futuristic version of the Royal Flush Gang and trying to save his relationship with Dana. Terry meets a cute girl named Melanie and the two seem to hit things off nicely, until Terry discovers that Melanie has a secret of her own. The dynamic of Terry and Melanie was a fantastic element of the series, that parallels Bruce Wayne’s relationship with Selina Kyle.
“Diappearing Inque”: Inque returns and is out for vengeance against Batman. When Terry is captured by Inque, Bruce must attempt a rescue using an old experimental Batsuit (that resembles the one used in the hit comic series “Kingdom Come”). Can Bruce save his protege before it’s too late?
“The Winning Edge”: A new steroid turns up at Terry’s school and ends up having a surprising link to Batman’s past! Terry must learn more about the old villain known as Bane, and his Venom enhancements. This episode has some nice throwbacks to the comicbook mythology and nicely incorporates Bane into the futuristic story.
“Out of the Past”: Talia Al Ghul returns with an offer for Bruce that the aged Dark Knight cannot refuse: Immortality. We soon learn that things are not as they seem and that Ra’s might be reaching out from beyond the grave for one last scheme against the Detective. This episode features one of the best moments of the series, as Terry and a rejuvenated Bruce fight off a handful of henchmen while a rocked out version of the theme song from Batman: The Animated Series plays in the background. This one definitely acknowledges the history of animated series and the DC Universe.
“The Call” (Parts 1 and 2): Superman makes a surprise appearance in Gotham City with an invitation for Terry to join the Justice League Unlimited! But Superman’s invitation isn’t without motive, as someone has been attacking the League. Terry meets the new JLU, consisting of Superman, Barda, Aquagirl (Daughter of Orin), Green Lantern (a young Hindu boy), and Warhawk. The League is soon attacked again, and Terry learns the shocking truth: Superman is behind the attacks! While confronting the Man of Steel, it is revealed that Superman is under the control of an alien force known as Starro. Can the League ban together in time to save Superman and stop an invading alien force?
Special Features:
Collectible booklet with original artwork and information from the creative team of Batman Beyond.
Tomorrow Knight: The Batman Reborn- The creative team discusses Terry McGinnis and why he was chosen to become the new Batman of tomorrow!
Gotham: City of the Future- A look at the city of Gotham as the creative team explains how they created this new world of tomorrow and how they worked to maintain the designs from Batman: The Animated Series.
The High Tech Hero-This featurette explains the technology of Terry’s new Batsuit!
Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics Documentary.
Overall:
Batman Beyond was really the first series where Timm and his entire creative team finally got to flex their creative muscles and while forging new untreated ground, staying true to everything that had already come before in the DC Animated Universe. They succeeded in truly bringing something new to the table hooking longtime Batman fans onto this new Batman and his strange and yet enchanting neon glowing futuristic world. Fans all over fell in love with Terry McGinnis and have demanded his return ever since (And thanks to recent developments in the actual DCU, we finally got it.) because of the new fresh look he brought to the Batman mythos with his quirky hopeful attitude and his snarky comments. This series also needs to be applauded for the way it created a ton of new villains to add to the Bat’s rouges gallery and brought old favorites back to life in such new light showing how the many years that have changed them for better and for worse.
