Batman Beyond (Batman of the Future in Europe and Australia/New Zealand) was an animated television series created by WB Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman character saga. While not in continuity with the comic book, the series is consistent with other animated series created by the same team, including Batman, Superman, and Justice League. In Europe, the show is broadcasted on Toonami.

The show was cancelled in 2002 and there are no plans to revive the series in the future.

Contents

1 Story 2 Movies 3 Spinoffs 4 External links

Story

The story is set approximately thirty years from present day Gotham City, a darker and more futuristic city. An aged Bruce Wayne is no longer able to fight criminal elements as he once used to. During a battle, hampered by age and a heart condition, he breaks with a lifelong principle by threatening a criminal with a gun to keep the upper hand. Shocked and dismayed at what he was forced to do, Bruce retires from crime fighting indefinitely.

One day, high school student Terry McGinnis comes to Wayne to seek his help in investigating his father's murder. Terry discovers Bruce was the original Batman, and "borrows" the old Batsuit to seek vengance. Just as the criminal elements begin to threaten Gotham again, Bruce allows Terry to assume his Batman alter-ego.

Young McGinnis 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 from his feet, and possesses eavesdropping capabilities (such as by pressing a finger on a piece of glass). He has his own rogue's gallery, such as the seductive, shapeshifting Inque and the bitter, deaf sound expert Shriek, though on occasion he is forced to face his mentor's old foes, such as Mr. Freeze, Bane (elderly, wasted, and dying from his consumption of Venom, the substance that gave him his strength), Ra's al Ghul (who had placed himself in his daughter's body), and even The Joker.

Terry's greatest foe is Derek Powers, a ruthless billionaire who took over WayneCorp and was later accidentally mutated into a radioactive monstrosity who called himself Blight. Powers had Terry's father murdered for discovering his 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 an ambitious subordinate who wanted Powers's job.

Movies

• Return of the Joker - A direct-to-video feature in which the Joker makes his return to Gotham.
• Year One - A live-action fan movie made by Bat in the Sun Productions http://www.batinthesun.com/ focusing on Terry's past on the wrong side of the law.

Spinoffs

The series has a spinoff called The Zeta Project, featuring the shape-shifting android Zeta from the episode "Zeta."

External links

• Batman Beyond on toonzone.net http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/beyond/
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker site http://www.batmanbeyond.com
• Batman Beyond: The Tomorrow Knight index http://www.batbeyond.com