10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Batman Beyond
Did you know there was a planned storyline involving Superman's son?
Batman: The Animated Series is considered to be, hands-down, the best Batman cartoon ever. According to IMDb, it's one of the greatest series of all time. But when interest in the DC superhero started to wane (probably due to the terrible film adaptations at the time), Warner Bros. knew they had to do something drastic with the iconic character.
In 1999, the studio decided to release a brand new show called Batman Beyond. The series takes place in the future and revolves around an elderly, retired Bruce Wayne mentoring a teenager called Terry McGinnis as the new Batman.
Amazingly, Batman Beyond didn't suck. In fact, it was great. But because Batman: The Animated Series was hailed as a masterpiece, Batman Beyond has been left in its shadow. It obviously deserves far more recognition, as anyone who watched the show will confirm, as the creative team clearly put in 110% to do justice to Batman's legacy.
The show made major changes to how gun violence was depicted in cartoons, launched a comic spin-off, and nearly got turned into a live-action movie. Point being, there's a whole host of facts fans may not know about the series. Here are the coolest ones of all...
10. The Show Broke Ground In How It Depicted Gun Violence
In the late 1990s, politicians were emphasising that violence in cartoons had gone too far, which caused heavy censorship in the animated shows of the time. This was a serious problem when Batman Beyond was green-lit since, y'know, there was a gun in the opening scene.
In the pilot episode, Bruce Wayne is patrolling the city as Batman when he has a heart attack. As a group of thugs are about to kill him, he grabs a gun and points it at the criminals, scaring them away. Bruce swore he would never hold a gun after one took his parents life so, in this moment, he feels like he failed himself. This is the reason why he decides to retire as Batman.
Although the Censor Board were very strict with gun violence, the Batman Beyond team were able to convince them to keep this scene in as it was integral to set the entire story in motion.
As a result, Batman Beyond became the first Saturday morning cartoon to show a gun pointing towards a camera. Not only was this depicted multiple times, one of these scenes was shown in an advertisement to promote the series.