Batman Beyond (comics)

Batman Beyond was a cartoon television series which aired from 1999 to 2001 as part of the DC Animated Universe. Focused on Terry McGinnis, a high-schooler who discovered Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman, he took up the mantle and patrolled the city of New Gotham years after Bruce himself retired the cowl. A spin-off comic was publised by DC Comics, with a six-part miniseries, "Hush Beyond," launched in 2010 to gauge interest in a new ongoing comic. The new ongoing began in 2011, written by Adam Beechen and following Terry as Batman in the years after the end of the animated series. A new ongoing began in 2012 as a digital series that appears in print in Batman Beyond Unlimited, along with Justice League Beyond and Superman Beyond.

For the tropes which appeared in the animated series, see Batman Beyond.

Tropes used in Batman Beyond (comics) include:

• Adaptation Dye Job:
  • Barbara Gordon is a redhead in the comic. Whilst she was a redhead in her youth, by the time of the series itself, she had long since turned white. Tim Drake's wife also seems to have been turned into a short-haired redhead, yet when she was shown in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, she had long pale blonde hair.
  • Mary McGinnis was a redhead in the movie, but black-haired here.
• Artistic License: Biology: We get that Blight's body is mutated from the radiation exposure, but not needing to breathe any more is just pushing it.
• Ax Crazy: Hush Beyond. And that's putting it mildly.
• Back for the Dead/Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the "Hush: Beyond" story arc, many characters from former Batman history and the show are killed off rather unceremoniously by the new Hush, who is targeting former Bat-rogues. Including former rogues of Bruce Wayne; Signalman and Calendar Man, and former rogues of Terry, like Shriek, Stalker, Mad Stan and even non-villainous characters like Armory/Jim Tate and his wife and step-son, Lorraine and Jared. In the case of Terry's rogues, their deaths aren't even shown, and considering both he and Max were friends/schoolmates with Jared, he doesn't even bat an eyelid at the news of his and his family's deaths.
• Back from the Dead: Blight. Who survived having an ocean liner on top of him because his mutation evolved to point where he no longer needs to breathe.
  • Mad Stan. Reports of His Death Were Greatly Exaggerated.
• Big Bad: First, "Hush Beyond", who turned out to be an insane clone of Dick Grayson and the ongoing series seems to be setting up Blight to be one as well.
• Cloning Blues: Turns out to be the truth behind the new Hush. His real identity is a clone of Dick Grayson, created before Terry was born, having escaped Cadmus and gone insane.
• Continuity Nod: Too many to list, both in the mini-series and the ongoing one.
  • This guy has documented most, if not all, the nods in both Batman Beyond and Justice League Beyond.
• Darker and Edgier: Yes... a series that was already dark by the standards of children's television goes even further here.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: Batman Beyond Unlimited, the 2012 ongoing, has a Batman feature, a Justice League feature, a Superman feature, and a Justice League Origins feature, all published in the same issue.
  • What really sticks out are Justice League Beyond, issues 6 and 7. Issue 6 has the League arrive on New Genesis in the aftermath of Kobra's attack. Issue 7 has an origin story about Warhawk. A reader could be forgiven if he thought the issues were from separate series.
• Lampshade Hanging: Terry becomes upset that the new Catwoman doesn't want to flirt with him like the original Batman and Catwoman did and insists that they should do so just to hold up the tradition. Doubles as Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Never Found the Body: Blight. Makes sense since he's not dead.
• Recursive Adaptation: From comic to original series to sequel series to comic again.
• Series Continuity Error: In this comic, Dick Grayson explains that he left the crimefighting business due to being shot by the Joker, at a point in Batman's career where he hadn't worked with a partner for a long time. However, Return of the Joker establishes that the Joker was killed by Robin, and Batman was clearly working with both Robin and Batgirl at that point, while Barbara Gordon claimed that Nightwing had simply moved to another city by then. Furthermore, given the context of Barbara telling Terry all about the Joker's death, it would have been extraordinarily remiss of her not to talk about Dick getting shot by the long-dead villain they were trying to identify.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Bruce calls Max Terry's girlfriend in Issue #4 of the ongoing comic book series, which prompts Terry to use this trope almost verbatim.
• Ship Tease: In Issue #4 of the ongoing comic book, Terry gives Max an affectionate peck on the cheek. Shippers rejoice.
  • The relationship between Terry and Aquagirl also shows signs of this trope, seeing as he just couldn't bring himself to hurt her when he was taking out the Justice League during a hostage situation involving his family.
• Shout-Out: Terry busts out of a burning building with Paxton Powers riding an exact replica of the Batpod.