Batman Beyond: Batman of the Future

Written by: Wade Cochran

Batman Beyond: Overview

Batman Beyond! Or sometimes called as Batman of the Future in several countries, is an American television series created by The WB Television Network. This series was first aired on January 10, 1999, and finished on December 18, 2001. It has a total of 52 episodes, which are divided into 3 seasons. This series was planned to be the chronological end of the DC Animated Universe. The already known fact is that this series is a futuristic continuation of the New Batman Adventures.

Episodes

The Batman Beyond episodes are aired within three different seasons, with the division and the release date as written below.

Season 1 - 13 Episodes - January 10, 1999 to May 22, 1999
Season 2 - 26 Episodes - September 17, 1999 to May 27, 2000
Season 3 - 13 Episodes - August 19, 2000 to December 18, 2001

Slang Terms in the Series

In the series, there are several slang terms used that might not be familiar to the viewer. Therefore, here is the list of the slang terms mostly used in the series, which can help you to understand the overall series:

Atrac: A parallel of Amtrak, a monorail-like railway service which travels nationally.

Blip: A verb describing a sound made by an electronic device, used when the device apparently ignores a user request. The sound is often inferred as intended by another person.

Credits (or Creds): The general currency is referred to as "credits," and is carried on plastic cards.

Dreg: Generally meaning "lowlife" or "loser".

Fiz: A soda or beverage.

Frag: A verb or exclamation meaning "damn".

Rips: A verb generally synonymous with the colloquial meaning of "rules" or "kicks ass".

Schway: An adjective generally synonymous with "cool".

Slag: General-purpose expletive used as both noun and verb, usually used in the case of trying to kill someone.

Slapper: A futuristic form of steroids, administered by a transdermal patch that is "slapped" onto the skin.

Splicing: A futuristic form of body modification which involves genetically splicing animal DNA with human DNA.

Twip: An insult implying immaturity or scrawniness. Likely a corruption of "Twerp" or "Twit".

Batman Beyond: Story

As an overview and the synopsis of the whole season and episodes, here is the story of the Batman Beyond series, which can help you to imagine the series before going through every episode. Nevertheless, I’m still suggesting all of you to watch the series, very worth it!

2019

The first scene is in the year 2019, where it shows an aging Batman having difficulty in handling criminals. His allies, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, James Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, and Leslie Thompkins, have all passed away from natural causes. Meanwhile, his partners, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, and Selina Kyle, are still alive and grown-up. They left Batman after their retirement from their alter-egos. One night, Batman threatened a criminal with a gun without using his costume as Batman. That led him to retire as the Batman persona and decide to crime fighting in general as Bruce Wayne.

2039

Twenty years later, Gotham City has become a futuristic megalopolis with so many flying vehicles that can be found. At that time, Bruce Wayne is living alone with no companion but his guard dog, Ace. Something is also going on between Bruce Wayne with the Justice League, which led to a horrible relationship with the organization.

Terry, The New Batman

In the same year, Terry McGinnis, an athletic sixteen-year-old high school student, was introduced as a reformed troublemaker. He has a strong sense of personal justice. This made him willing to save a fellow passenger on a commuter rail from being hassled by one of the Jokerz. This situation led Terry to be chased by the gang until he stopped in front of the doorstep of Wayne Manor. Terry met the old Bruce Wayne, which willing to help Terry fight the Jokerz. Unfortunately, they lost due to Bruce’s heart attack. Terry helped Bruce recover until Bruce let Terry become the next Batman of the city.

Still with the strong sense of justice, Terry continues the battle against crime tutored by Bruce. Later on, he had a very good and high-tech new Batsuit for his daily life. There are so many improvements on the Batman costume that help him to fight crime in the city. He faced so many villains along the way, such as the seductive shape-shifter Inque, the hypnotist Spellbinder, the bitter, deaf sound expert Shriek, the deadly assassin Curaré, the insane terrorist Mad Stan, the African hunter Stalker, a reincarnation of the Royal Flush Gang, and The Jokerz, a gang idolizing the Joker. Not only that, but Terry was also forced to face Bruce’s old enemies, such as the atrophying Mr. Freeze, Bane, the immortal Ra's al Ghul, and even a reborn Joker.

Max, Terry’s New Partner

Other than Terry, a new character was also introduced. A sixteen-year-old computer genius named Maxine "Max" Gibson discovers Batman's secret identity and helps Terry with everything related to computer hacking. He plays an important role during that time, similar to Alfred as Bruce’s trusted partner in the past.

Of course, we can’t reveal the story! The thing is that this series mainly talked about the new era of Batman and the point of view of the old Batman. Very interesting to watch, right?

What do you think about the Batman Beyond television series? Have you watched this series, or do you have an interest in watching the series? Share with us in the comments about your experiences and thoughts to earn a Limited Edition Comic Book Pack for your collection!