Batman Beyond Retro Review – Episode 3×07 & 3×08


In the world of Batman Beyond, there is a Justice League, still led by Superman. Both the team’s presence and makeup beg a lot of questions, but it’s still one of the best stories in the entire series.

Batman Beyond: The Call Parts 1 & 2

While chasing down Inque yet again, Batman finds out just how easy it would be to stop the shapeshifting shoplifter if only he had literal superpowers–because Superman is in town with an invitation in hand. Supes wants the new Batman to join the Justice League Unlimited following the injury of Micron, one of the team’s current members. Superman thinks the accident was intentional and is hoping the high school kid who took the place of the World’s Greatest Detective can investigate.

If there’s a Justice League in 2040 or 2041 or whatever year it is at this point in the show, I have to wonder, why has it never come up? Sure, Batman is mostly concerned with what goes on in Gotham, but there’s just never been a news story about Superman’s exploits. And nothing that’s gone on in Gotham during the last few years has warranted the attention of the League? Superman never checked in on Bruce?

The makeup of the team itself also brought up some questions: Superman is the only original JL member in the JLU. Of course, characters like Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, and Ray Palmer would age out of superheroics, being regular-old humans. But what about Wonder Woman, an immortal god? Martian Manhunter is already a few hundred years old when he joins the League. The Flash ages much more slowly than other humans thanks to relativity and the Speed Force. There’s no discussion of what might’ve happened to these characters, whether they’re dead or retired or moved on, or what.

With these questions unanswered, what we get instead is a weird, ultra-myopic version of Batman where one of the smartest men on Earth is totally uninterested in what’s happening outside Gotham, and where Superman is keeping the Justice League lights on by constantly recruiting new people to wear old hats. It would’ve been nice to have seen some of these questions answered.

But, like I said, this two-part story is some of the best Batman Beyond content out there. Set all those questions aside.

When Superman accompanies Batman to the Batcave, Bruce isn’t surprised to see his old compatriot, but he isn’t pleased, either. DC comics go back and forth on the relationship between the two characters depending on the timeline. Sometimes they’re best buddies who go to each others’ Thanksgiving celebrations; other times they’re tenuous allies.

Batman Beyond leans hard into the latter, suggesting that the biggest difference between Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne–two ultra-wealthy genius inventors–is that Bruce can see the good that Superman does for the world. But Luthor and Wayne both see the danger he presents, too, as the single most powerful being on the planet. Bruce is to metahumans as Rick Deckard is to replicants in Blade Runner; they’re either a benefit, or a hazard. If they’re a benefit, it’s not his problem. The surly Batman Beyond version of Bruce would be unsettling if he was suddenly all buddy-buddy with Superman, so this feels like the right decision for this interaction.

When Terry decides to try out the Justice League to see how it fits, this story becomes about the meaning of the Batman cowl as much as it is about any particular wearer. Terry joins the team, and they’re immediately suspicious. Yeah, he’s Batman, but he’s not the real Batman, he’s just some guy. With suspicions already floating around, bringing in a new guy feels like the wrong move.

Terry doesn’t even acknowledge that stuff; it’s clear that he’s becoming more and more like Bruce. He’s there to do a job–find the traitor–and that’s it. The taunts and derision, especially from Barda and Warhawk, seem to slide off of him. I feel like an earlier version of Terry would’ve felt the need to respond, but this one knows that the insults are coming from a place of ignorance and that responding to them doesn’t serve any purpose regardless.

And yet, he’s able to be present and open in a way that Bruce struggled with. He’s ready to help, and his awareness of the situation doesn’t turn into a dangerous suspicion that damages his potential relationships with these new heroes. One move I assumed the show would make but never did was to have chemistry between Batman and Aquagirl. She’s seemingly around Terry’s age and has the body type that all of Bruce Timm’s favorite female characters sport, so I just assumed Aquagirl would be the latest girl that Terry cheats on Dana with. Instead, she gets as much of a chance to use her special abilities as anyone else, and the danger she’s put in doesn’t make her a damsel in distress.

I don’t want to spoil what happens in this episode, just in case someone reading this hasn’t seen it, but there is a traitor among the League. It takes Terry’s determination and open mind and Bruce’s sharp detective skills to find them. But the real point is that Superman knows that even though there’s a new guy in the suit, it’s still Batman–someone committed to uncovering the truth and bringing justice. He knows that Batman is still Batman, whether that’s something he acknowledges consciously or not.

This is a really rewarding episode for fans of Batman: The Animated Series and the greater DC animated universe, without also giving Batman Beyond fans extra homework they never asked for.




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