Deep Dive DC: Wes Looks at Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Welcome my friends to a very special installment of Deep Dive DC Month. Today, we’re looking something truly special. We’re finally jumping into the legendary DCAU, the animated Universe created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini that gave us several of what many consider to be the definitive versions of these classic characters. The DCAU began in 1992 with Batman the Animated Series and went on to span fourteen years across several TV shows and even a few movies. That brings us to the subject of today’s article, Batman Beyond. Set forty some odd years in the future, Batman Beyond gives us a series in which old age has finally caught up with Bruce Wayne, forcing him to hang up the cape and cowl. The Gotham City we see in this world is even more of a crime infested wasteland than it was in Bruce’s heyday. A run in with a violent street gang brings a teenager named Terry McGinnis to Bruce’s doorstep. Bruce saves the kid from the gang but collapses due to overexertion, forcing Terry to help him into the house where he accidentally stumbles into the Batcave, learning Bruce’s secret. Later, when Terry’s father is murdered, Terry steals an experimental high-tech Bat-suit to bring his father’s assassin to justice. While Bruce is initially reluctant, he eventually agrees to train Terry as his successor. Thus Terry takes up the mantle of Batman and fights crime in Gotham as Bruce once did. The show lasted for three seasons and was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. While there’s debate on this subject, many, myself included, consider this film, Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, to be the true finale of the series. Sure there was “Unmasked,” the non sequitur of a final episode that in no way wrapped up anything and also the Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue” which tied the events of Justice League Unlimited into the events of Batman Beyond, but for my money, this is the true finale to the events of the series, in a spiritual sense if nothing else. So, what’s our story this time around. Well, by this point in the series, Terry has been Batman for some time and has gotten pretty adept at dealing with the run of the mill thugs and supervillains that Neo-Gotham has to offer. However, Terry is about to face his greatest challenge yet as Batman’s greatest foe, The Joker, has returned to Gotham. What's strange is, Joker doesn’t appear to have aged a day and, stranger yet, according to Bruce, he’s been dead for decades. Real or not, Joker being back in town is serious bad news, especially since he seems to know Bruce and Terry’s secret identities and even goes so far as to attack Bruce in his home. Now, Terry must defeat the one foe his mentor never truly could before he rains untold destruction upon Gotham. Let me say this right off the Bat. This is my favorite Batman movie of all time. You can keep your Dark Knights and your Mask of the Phantasms, this, for my money, is the pinnacle of all things Batman. Let me tell you why as we look at Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Main Character:

I’ve always loved Terry McGinnis. Terry is voiced by brilliant actor and actual nicest guy in the world, Will Friedle. I know, hard to believe that this is the same guy who played such lovable comedic characters as Eric Matthews and Ron Stoppable. Dude has some serious range. In many ways, I think of him as a better Batman than Bruce. Don’t misunderstand me, Bruce Wayne is a great character, but unless you’re also a gazillionaire with martial arts training, detective skills and mental discipline beyond what most mortals are capable of, he has never truly been a relatable one. While Bruce trained for years before he donned the cape and cowl, Terry had to start from scratch and learn as he went. Under the tutelage of Bruce, Terry steadily improves to the point where he’s on par with Bruce’s Batman, but he’s by no means a carbon copy of Bruce. We will ignore the controversial retcon from the aforementioned Justice League episode where it was revealed that Terry actually is Bruce’s biological son as a result of a genetic experiment by Project Cadmus. The thing is, Bruce being Batman was always a matter of need. He felt that this is what he needed to do because he needed to make sure no one suffered the way he did when his parents were gunned down. His goal was to see all who would follow in the footsteps of his parents murderer face justice. With Terry, there are elements of Bruce’s motivation, but with him, it’s not solely about Justice, but also atonement. As Terry says, he used to be a bad kid, running with a lot of bad crowds and breaking a lot of laws as well as his parents' hearts. The show often referenced the fact that Terry did some time in juvenile hall, an experience that has shaped him as a person. For Terry, it’s not just about stopping criminals, it’s about being able to look in the mirror and see a worthwhile human being. In this film, we see Terry finally step out of Bruce’s shadow and become his own Batman and in doing so learn that being Batman isn’t what makes him worthwhile, it’s the other way around.

Villain:

Oh hell yeah, I actually get to talk about the DCAU Joker, a version thought by many, myself included, to be the greatest and definitive incarnation of the character. Played as always by the truly phenomenal voice acting of Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, this is unquestionably the greatest Joker there has ever been. Hamill’s work as the clown prince of crime has always been top notch, even when compared to great live action Jokers like Heath Ledger or Jack Nicholson. From his first appearance in 1992 all the way up to the Arkham Games, Hamill has killed it as the legendary supervillain, so believe me when I say, this is Hamill’s Magnum Opus as The Joker. It makes sense since this film gives us the final defeat of the DCAU Joker so we want to make sure the character goes out with a bang, and boy howdy does he. As he always has, Hamill hits a perfect balance here. One minute he’s cracking some funny one-liners, the next, he’s scaring the shit out of you with some chilling and soft spoken dialogue, sometimes shifting between those two modes at the drop of a hat and often within the same scene. The series did not often go to the well of pitting the new Batman against classic Batman foes, so it always felt like a special occasion whenever it happened. Indeed, the episodes that pit our hero against the likes of Mr. Freeze and R'as Al Ghul rank amongst some of my favorites in the series. So naturally, when it was announced that Batman Beyond would be resurrecting The Joker himself to face the Batman of the future, the hype was as real as it got. Oh, and Joker isn’t alone this time around. He has a squad of Jokerz under his command to act as his deadly enforcers. Oh, right, The Jokerz, that warrants some explanation. See, in the future, a bunch of punk kids put on clown makeup and decided to form a street gang in tribute to the original clown prince of crime. Yeah, the violent criminal inspires legions of followers decades later and yet the heroic vigilante is all but forgotten. That makes both no sense and too much sense. Let’s see, we got The Didi’s, twin clown girl martial artists who are later revealed to be the granddaughters of an aged Harley Quinn. Chuck-O, an obese thug with a creepy mask and a penchant for bazookas, Woof, a gene-spliced hyena man, Ghoul, a Scarecrow wannabe voiced by Michael Rosenbaum’s Christopher Walken impression and Bonk, a hulking brute who is violently dispatched by The Joker for questioning his authority. You’d think the Jokerz would be ecstatic to be working with their idol, but no, they’re actually terrified of him. Never meet your heroes kids. And by the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, yes, this Joker is absolutely the real deal. Not a robot or an imposter as Terry initially suspects. They throw up a few red herrings before they eventually reveal what’s really going on, but I knew pretty much right away. The first moment Bruce sees Joker in the flesh, you can see the look of overwhelming terror in his normally stoic eyes as the former Batman is stopped dead in his tracks by the mere sight of his greatest foe. Think about it, Bruce knows The Joker better than anyone could. He would have, and has, been able to spot a fake from miles away. But one look and, even though he can't bring himself to say it out loud, he knows, this is the real thing. But how? Well, we’ll get into the gory details later, but long story short, Joker kidnapped Robin and, using stolen genetics tech, implanted a microchip with a digital copy of his consciousness imprinted on it into the kid's brain. Over time, Joker’s consciousness grew within Tim Drake’s until it was eventually strong enough to assert itself and subsume Drake’s consciousness for a limited time with Drake being blissfully unaware of what’s going on outside of the occasional lingering nightmares. So basically it’s a Jekyll and Hyde situation. We’ll get into more of the Joker’s exploits throughout this film in later sections, but suffice to say, this version of the character is awesome!

Side Characters:

I want to start by briefly mentioning Dana, Terry’s on again/off again girlfriend throughout the series. I’ve very recently re-watched Batman Beyond in its entirety and I have to say, Terry is a shit boyfriend. It’s not entirely his fault mind you, but it still shocks me that she stays with him and the two do eventually end up together. Personally, I always thought Terry should have ended up with Max, his best friend and eventual ally in crime fighting. Weirdly enough, Max is strangely absent from this movie. Not sure what’s up with that.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Barbara Gordon’s fate of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming the commissioner of the GCPD is way better than her becoming Oracle like she did the comics. It shows her being a badass crime fighter outside of her identity as Batgirl without the writers having to cripple her.

I was also happy to see Tim Drake finally make an appearance in the Batman Beyond future. Dean Stockwell is great in the roll of an aged former Robin and I especially like this moment where he knows Terry is there despite his suit making him invisible. He’s clearly bitter, but wants to mend fences after what happened all those years ago, but Bruce was stubborn as ever. Still, it was nice to see what became of the former Robin. Too bad we had to wait until years later in the comics to see what became of Dick Grayson. Apparently he became Nick Fury.

That leads us nicely into old Bruce Wayne. While Bruce may be too old to don the pointy-eared cowl, he’s lost none of his expert detective skills and has even retained some of his combat prowess. Pretty impressive for an octogenarian. Throughout the series it’s hinted that there was a greater reason that Bruce hung up the cape, beyond just old age. Well, this when that reason is finally revealed, and it was all due to the actions of the Joker and what happened to Tim Drake. With that act, Batman vowed never to endanger another innocent soul by bringing them into his crusade, a vow he adhered to until Terry came along. Now that The Joker is back, he cannot ask the boy who he took in and has come to care for the way he once cared for his other proteges to fight against this foe. This initially causes a rift between Bruce and Terry, but it’s quickly resolved. That is, of course, the great Kevin Conroy voicing Bruce. Much like Hamill was for the Joker, many consider Conroy to be the definitive voice of Batman. Personally, I think his work as Old Bruce in Batman Beyond is some of the best of his career. There’s this tiredness to Bruce now that wasn’t there before. Before Terry came along, all he had was a life of solitude and regret, now that he is fighting crime again, albeit in a different capacity, he feels alive once again.

Memorable Scenes:

Oh, I one hundred percent have to discuss the final showdown between Terry and The Joker. This might very well be my favorite Batman/Joker fight across the entire franchise. Joker’s plan in this movie was to take control of a US defense satellite and use it to reign down destruction from the heavens for his own amusement. After Terry puts the kibosh on Joker’s space laser shenanigans, Joker basically tries to give up and go home. See, throughout the film, Joker hasn’t been taking Terry the least bit seriously, and really, why should he? Joker’s quarrel was with the original Batman. Who is this pretender to the Joker aside from a minor annoyance who’s out of his league. So, when the time comes for a big climatic battle, Joker isn’t the least bit interested. Well, Terry’s having none of that shit and says he’s taking The Joker in one way or another. Well, Joker may think of Terry as a mere “Bat-Fake” but he’s certainly not going down without a fight, least of all to this punk amateur. Joker is surprisingly tough, as you’d expect from someone who’s gone toe-to-toe with The Dark Knight on numerous occasions. Terry calls on Bruce for suggestions on how to beat him, but nothing seems to be working. The tables only start to turn when Terry starts fighting dirty and hitting below the belt. Joker insists that this is something the real Batman never would have done, but he’s wrong, it’s something Bruce never would have done, and Bruce isn’t Batman anymore. Joker knew Bruce Wayne inside and out, but he’s fighting Terry McGinnis now, and he doesn’t know a damn thing about this new Batman. And now is when Terry really hits the Joker where it hurts in a way Bruce was never truly able to, by getting inside his head. Terry hits the lights and hides in the rafters, taunting Joker and cracking one-liners at his expense, the exact same strategy Joker himself has pulled so many times in the past. The more Batman laughs at him, the angrier The Joker grows. Joker screams for Terry to shut up, but Batman keeps going, insisting that The Joker always wanted to make Batman laugh. Joker, at the end of his rope, starts throwing grenades in random directions furiously shouting “YOU’RE NOT BATMAN!” Eventually, Terry is knocked to the ground where a livid Joker wraps his hands around the boy's throat. However, this is exactly what Terry was counting on, Joker to get angry and give him an opening. And so, using an electric joy buzzer that Joker had used earlier in the scene, Terry shorts out the microchip containing Joker’s DNA, freeing the mind of Tim Drake and finally bringing an end to the evil of The Joker once and for all.

Story:

As I said at the top, this, at least in a spiritual sense, is the true finale of the Batman Beyond series, and as such, the aim was to finally show Terry truly become his own Batman, not just an extension of Bruce. Throughout the series, Terry has faced numerous foes, some even more deadly than anything Bruce faced in his day. Terry at this point has put down both Mr. Freeze and Ra’s Al Ghul He has squared off against cybernetic hunters, ink monsters, mad men with the ability to manipulate sound and various other foes. He has even fought Starro the Conquerer alongside Superman and the Justice League. Terry has proven himself a true hero worthy of the name Batman, and yet, he’s never truly been able to escape Bruce’s shadow. Comparisons to the original dark knight have haunted Terry for his entire tenure under the mask. But now, finally, Terry is able to escape that self-doubt by finally defeating the one foe that the original Batman never truly could, establishing himself as his own Batman, not just Bruce’s protégé. As Bruce says, it’s not Batman that makes Terry worthwhile, it’s the other way around. Bruce’s time as Batman has come and gone. Terry’s time is now, and he is the true Batman, no matter what anyone says.

The Dark DC Factor:

For those of you who may be wondering, I am indeed watching the uncensored cut of this movie which has a bit more blood and violence than we typically saw from the DCAU around this time. So scenes where Terry returns to Wayne Manor to find “HA HA HA” all over the Batcave in what may very well be blood and Bruce with a horrific rictus smile etched in his face as he struggles to breath between uncontrollable fits of laughter hit just a little bit harder. But let’s not beat around the bush. You all want me to talk about THAT scene. Well, let’s talk about THAT scene shall we. After Bruce is attacked in his home, Terry insists that Barbara spill the beans about what really happened the night Joker supposedly died. What follows is a flashback to Batman and The Joker’s final confrontation, and it all starts with Robin getting kidnapped by Harley Quinn. Weeks pass and Batman and Batgirl search every dark corner of the city looking for the missing child, but they find nothing until a trap set by Joker leads them to the now condemned Arkham Asylum. As our heroes enter the dilapidated building, a creepy lullaby leads them to where Joker and Harley are waiting with a most disturbing surprise. Robin, through weeks of torture, has been brainwashed into a miniature version of The Joker, now only able to communicate with a blood curdling laugh. That laugh, that awful laugh that has lived rent free in my nightmares for the past twenty years. I honestly don’t know how to describe it. It's like someone is being permanently tickled. That may not sound that bad but take it from someone extremely ticklish who has cousins who like to fight dirty, that sensation without the possibility of relief is pure agony. Bruce and Barbara are naturally horrified by what Joker has done and Bruce snaps, pursuing The Joker through the halls of Arkham with reckless abandon as Barbara fights Harley Quinn, a fight that would eventually result in Quinn falling to her supposed death. Joker eventually leads Batman into an observation room where Batman is forced to view a film documenting Joker torturing Robin and eventually breaking his mind Clockwork Orange style. We also learn that because of this, Joker now knows all of Batman’s secrets, and finds the revelation of Batman being Bruce Wayne laughable. Underneath it all, the mighty caped crusader is just a little boy in a playsuit crying for Mommy and Daddy. This leads to my favorite Joker line from any incarnation of the character “It’d Be Funny if it Weren’t so Pathetic. Oh What Heck, I’ll Laugh Anyway!” Believe me, I got a lot of mileage out of that clip during the Trump administration. Batman pounces on The Joker, threatening to finish him off once and for all with a hand around the throat of the twisted psychopath. However, Joker sees right through this empty threat and incapacitates Batman with a knife right to the kneecap. So as to add insult to injury, Joker throws his gun to the brainwashed Tim, demanding that he be the one to end Batman. However, Tim is able to break Joker’s programming just long enough to shoot the Joker instead before collapsing, his twisted laugh breaking down into tears as The Joker delivers his final words: “That’s Not Funny.”

Final Thoughts: This movie is a masterpiece. One of the strongest offerings we have ever received from the much storied DCAU. Sure, many may claim others as superior products, but for my money, this is the greatest Batman Movie ever made. It brings closure for the characters we've grown up with in the old Batman series, but also finally allows Terry McGinnis to prove himself as a Batman on par, if not greater than that of his mentor. Not to mention, it brings the story of one of the greatest villains in the history of animation to a satisfying conclusion. Well, Deep Dive DC Month rolls on and next time, it's a Patreon exclusive bonus. As voted on by you, my loyal readers, next time, we're looking at Tim Burton's 1989 classic simply entitled, Batman.