Why Return Of The Joker Is Secretly The Best Batman Movie
5. It's Bruce Wayne, But Not As You Know Him
Since the publication of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, there's been a general obsession with possible futures and the Caped Crusader. Dozens of alternate realities and potential deaths and retirements have been optioned in the years since, and even though Miller's work is definitive, there's something altogether more interesting about Batman Beyond.
The show debuted in 1999 and was created by Batman: The Animated Series alumni Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. The show was set in 2039, 20 years after Bruce Wayne hangs up the cape and cowl for good, but it's the manner of his retirement that immediately distinguishes the premise as a compelling feature. Bruce only gives up because he physically cannot continue to be Batman anymore, and with two decades spent living as a recluse in Wayne Manor, he's left with plenty of time to stew over his career, which makes the moment Terry - a young teenager whose father is murdered in a criminal conspiracy - discovers his secret, galvanise his own internal torment.
Bruce eventually grows to let Terry into his life and take up 'the mission' all over again, but their time together is fractious. Terry isn't the man Bruce was, and that takes some adjusting. There's also the element of Gotham's past returning to haunt the pair throughout the series, but the Joker was treated differently. BTAS had always leaned into the supernatural nature of the character, but his absence - as well as Bruce's refusal to explain the history of his greatest adversary to Terry - intimated a looming threat.
Under typical terms, most would probably say that a 'Batman film' must have Bruce Wayne as Batman, but the point here is that this is still Bruce's film even if he isn't the Batman of the future. It's about the mantle as much as it is Bruce himself, who is played to perfection yet again by Kevin Conroy. Also, by re-contextualising the character in a new setting, Batman Beyond provided an enjoyably unique interpretation of the character, as well as a solid base for Return of the Joker to work its magic.