10 Darkest Endings In The DC Animated Universe
2. Inque Transforms Aaron - Batman Beyond
Moving from one instance of body horror from the show that kickstarted the DCAU to one from the series that replaced it. And boy, is it a weird one.
As I said before, Batman Beyond had literally no chill when it came to tackling darker themes, and it had a particular penchant for depicting body horror. Apart from the aforementioned Earth Mover episode though, there are two other disgustingly dark fates that stick out to me - Cuvier's overdose at the end of Splicers, and Aaron's transformation in Disappearing Inque.
The former example sees a geneticist who specialises in blending human and animal DNA trying to assassinate the District Attorney. Terry, taking advantage of this, gives him all the animal genes he can handle, turning him into one of those awful looking hedgehog cakes we've all come to fear on social media. See for yourself:
See? Terrifying!
Anyway, Cuvier's toothy grin is nothing compared to what happens to poor Aaron Herbst, who's assigned to the facility where a frozen Inque is held captive. Aaron's a lonely fella and creepily takes advantage of Inque while she's on ice, eventually freeing her when he's fired for kissing her through the ice. Blergh.
Once out, Inque promises to give Aaron her powers IF he helps her repair her DNA. However, Inque intentionally delivers only half the treatment to his bloodstream, turning Aaron into a half-human-blob thing and ruining the prospect of him ever eating solid food ever again.
The episode ends with him being held captive and forced to listen a new employee prattle on about their day to day, mirroring the ordeal he put Inque through at the beginning of the episode.