![]() ![]() Mister Freeze stands at the frozen heart of many of the best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, perhaps the only one of its villains to have a true through-line of character development. Storylines could not dredge up bad guys from BTAS unless the idea was very, very good. Most modern readers might not even know that before Batman: The Animated Series got their hands on the character, Mister Freeze was just a diamond thief with a cold gimmick no dying wife in cryostasis, no corporate malfeasance, no quest for revenge, no pathos.īut for Batman Beyond, the same team who gambled on “future teenage cyber Akira Batman” gave themselves an additional challenge: no old villains. As when the leader of the Joker gang sneers “Who do you think you’re talking to, old man? We’re the Jokerz,” only for the roughed up tones of Kevin Conroy to gleefully deadpan (can you gleefully deadpan? He manages it) “Sure you are.” -Susana Polo Meltdownīatman: The Animated Series is famous for reinventing obscure Batman villains, which were often so compelling that they were swiftly adopted into the comics. The show’s two-part pilot is in many ways the whole of the show itself distilled into a mini movie, with moments that rank among some of the best beats of Batman history. ![]() What if Gotham was Blade Runner’s Los Angeles? What if the city was overrun by the clown gangs from Akira, and they worshipped a mythologized version of the Joker? What if our Kaneda, in this metaphor, became Batman, but was also, kind of, Spider-Man? What would it look like if Batman: The Animated Series had its own Dark Knight Returns? And is Bruce Wayne anyone if he can’t be Batman anymore? Strap into your flying Batmobile of the future: Here are the picks for Batman Beyond’s best episode from two people who adore the show, Polygon’s Susana Polo and Toussaint Egan.īatman Beyond exists because of an executive mandate - to replace Batman with a teenager - but it persists because the creative team went to great lengths to spin straw into gold. Combining cyberpunk and sci-fi tropes such as body modification, artificial intelligence, and biological engineering with themes of redemption and the burden of legacies, the story of Terry McGinnis’ inheritance of the iconic cape and cowl (minus the cape) under the tutelage of older and world-weary Bruce Wayne become one of the most enduring and defining incarnations of the Dark Knight to date. It’s a credit to series creators Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett - all of whom worked on the original series - that the sleek animated series overshot expectations and has since grown into a cult classic. With the 20th anniversary of the series’ final episode approaching later this year, there was no better time to name our favorite episodes from one of the darkest entry points in the DC Animated Universe.Ī studio-mandated reboot-sequel to the wildly successful BTAS featuring a teenage protagonist focusing on an all-new cast of villains with nary any forethought, Batman Beyond was destined to underwhelm. In addition, all three seasons of its sequel series, 1999’s futuristic Batman Beyond, were also made available to stream. Early this year, HBO Max made every episode of the beloved Batman: The Animated Series available to stream on the service.
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