The future version of Gotham City will be getting its Dark Knight again. DC Comics' Dan DiDio announced, "There will be a Terry McGinnis mini-series early next year. Weve heard the fans, weve heard everyones interest. And right now were planning to put out a Batman Beyond mini-series in 2010!"
Cool news right? Growing up with Batman: The Animated Series plus Batman Beyond and all the creations in the Timm/Diniverse, this is just great news. Any of you readers who arent familiar with Terry McGinnisBatman Beyond, let me fill you in.
About ten years ago, Batman Beyond aired introducing us to the Gotham City of Tomorrow and the wild and amazing adventures of the future Batman!
Batman Beyond, also known as Batman of the Future, is an American animated television series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation as a continuation of the Batman legacy. It began airing on January 10, 1999, and ended its run on January 6, 2002. With 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video film under its belt, the series was then put on hold for the new Justice League animated series despite the network having announced plans for a fourth season. However, there was a short-lived spin-off, The Zeta Project. In The Zeta Project's first season episode "Shadows", there is a crossover withBatman Beyond; in this continuity, the story takes place between the episode "Countdown" and the series finale "Unmasked." Batman Beyond is set in the chronological future of the DC animated universe.
The pilot episode begins in 2019, where an aging Batman, equipped with a high-tech Batsuit, takes on the kidnappers of Bunny Vreeland (the daughter of Veronica Vreeland, one of Bruce Wayne's many girlfriends). During the battle, Batman suffers a heart attack which leaves him unable to fight, forcing him to betray a life-long principle by threatening a criminal with a gun. Because of this, Bruce Wayne retires the Batman persona, vowing never to revive it. It is implied by virtue of his continuing to fight crime long after he should have, and his retaining of the costumes worn by Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl, that even before this point something horrible transpired that caused Bruce to sever his ties with the Justice League and forbid his allies to ever again assume their alter-egos. (The events which caused all of this are revealed in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.)
The story then fast-forwards to 2039 in Neo-Gotham, now a futuristic megalopolis equipped with staggering high rises and hovering/flying vehicles. Bruce Wayne is now a recluse, living in bitter isolation with no companion but his guard dog, Ace. Terry McGinnis is an athletic 16-year-old high school student and reformed troublemaker with a deeply ingrained sense of personal justice. His first act in the series is to defend a fellow passenger on a commuter rail from a member of the Jokerz gang. After trying to defend his girlfriend from an entire gang of Jokerz, Terry is forced to engage in a high-speed chase which ultimately ends on the grounds of Wayne Manor, where a fleeing Terry runs into the elderly Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Terry fend off the Jokerz side-by-side, but the exertion aggravates Bruce's heart condition. Terry helps Bruce back to the manor and, after Bruce nods off for a bit, stumbles upon the entrance to the Batcave. He is chased out by a recovered and angered Bruce.
Terry returns home to discover that his father had been murdered, apparently by the vengeful Jokerz. Soon after, he finds out that the man actually responsible for the murder was Derek Powers, CEO of a merged Wayne-Powers (Bruce had foiled the merger repeatedly during his time as Batman, but evidently gave in soon after retiring the cowl) and his father's employer, because he possessed knowledge of illegal chemical weapons being produced by Powers. Terry "borrows" the Batsuit, intending to bring Powers to justice. Bruce initially opposes his efforts and vehemently demands Terry return the suit (going so far as to paralyze the suit while Terry is still inside it, which almost leads to his death), but Terry is able to convince him otherwise, and subsequently defeats Powers. Realizing that crime and corruption are running rampant in Gotham, Bruce offers Terry the chance to assume the role of Batman.
The Batman of the future is born!
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