History NightmareFuel / BatmanBeyond

* Bane's ultimate fate. After decades of using Venom, he's been reduced to a shriveled and comatose wreck who needs a steady supply of Venom to survive. His handler, Jackson Chapell, tells Terry that, at the end, Bane needed help just to make the Venom; his body had decayed so badly that he couldn't do it by himself anymore.
** Chapell OD'ing on Venom while fighting Batman at the end when he falls into a crate of the Venom patches he had been selling as a street drug.

* The deaths of the Terrific Trio are pretty gruesome.

* All the news reports in the show are delivered by the virtual news anchors Kim and Tom, who are [[CreepyAwesome really cool]] and fit in well with the show's ArtDeco/{{Cyberpunk}}/RetroFuturistic aesthetic, but they look...''unsettling'', to say the least, with permanent smiles and lips that ''never close'' even while speaking, and their faces are permanently in {{chiaroscuro}} lighting, leaving the right side of the face in shadow, which adds to the strangely uncanny effect.[[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dcanimated/images/9/96/Kimanchor.png/revision/latest?cb=20190927134133 Take a look]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dcanimated/images/7/7b/Tomanchor.png/revision/latest?cb=20190929132408 for yourself]].

* Curare is back, and she's finishing off her former employers one by one. And it's not pretty. To wit: She attacks one assassin and later Butha with a substance that leaves the men with [[ProphetEyes blank white eyes]]. Butha, for his part, retains his absolutely horrified expression after he dies.

* Not just the sheer number of {{Family Unfriendly Death}}s, but the nature of said deaths. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Good cripes.]]
* The Jokerz. Gangs various clown-garbed punks that roam the streets of 2040's Gotham who emulate ''The Joker'' of all people as a symbol of reverence. Though a minor nuisance, they can be a nightmare for normal civilians who normally have to run or pay money to avoid a lethal beating and there's a whole city's worth of them. Think ''Film/ClassOf1984'' up to eleven.
* All the news reports in the show are delivered by the virtual news anchors Kim and Tom, who are [[CreepyAwesome really cool]] and fit in well with the show's ArtDeco / {{Cyberpunk}} / RetroFuturistic aesthetic, but they look...''unsettling'', to say the least, with permanent smiles and lips that ''never close'' even while speaking, and their faces are permanently in {{chiaroscuro}} lighting, leaving the right side of the face in shadow, which adds to the strangely uncanny effect.[[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dcanimated/images/9/96/Kimanchor.png/revision/latest?cb=20190927134133 Take a look]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dcanimated/images/7/7b/Tomanchor.png/revision/latest?cb=20190929132408 for yourself.]]

** What his nerve gas does. Probably due to censors, we don't actually SEE what happens to a human or an animal, [[NothingIsScarier but that arguably makes it worse]], given what we see it does to plants. Powers' comment, depending on whether or not you think he was being literal, implies humans exposed to it turn to dust if not treated. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even the man he's selling the gas to]] is {{squick}}ed out when he sees the effects on humans. It's not at all helped by [[DissonantSerenity Powers' casual demeanor when showing the gas' effects]].

* Inque's first serious attempt at killing Batman: She ''[[OrificeInvasion crams herself down his throat!]]'' Sure, [[BigDamnHeroes a disguised Bruce and his fire hose come to the rescue]], but that's got to be a pretty unsettling way to go...
-->'''Inque:''' ''Open wide …''

* Willie Watt's life is horrific because of how mundane it is when it comes to the abuse heaped on him by Nelson and his father, as well as how few sympathetic people are in his corner like Terry and his friends. While Nelson is bad enough, Willie's father is the only parental figure in his and his mother is most likely deceased given his statements in his second appearance, meaning his only role model is an abusive asshole. The giant robot is just Willie's means of acting out; the true cause of Willie's descent into villainy is a very realistic take on what the RightMakesMight attitude would result in a lonely kid that has little to no positive emotional connections: a budding psychopath that decides killing people is a plausible answer to his problems.

* The part where Freeze [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft6mNPeqa6Y murders Dr. Lake]], his traitorous scientist girlfriend who almost got him killed on Derek Powers' orders.

** Freon gets dissipated by the fans and radiation of the nearby nuclear device, leaving her remains to be sucked into the air ducts.

* Bruce being tormented and nearly {{driven to suicide}} by [[HearingVoices the voices coming from Shriek's hidden transmitter]]. Worst of all the way he grabs his head and just ''screams''.

** With his handler gone, Bane no longer has a source for the Venom he needs (though given his condition, death might be a mercy).

* Spellbinder in general, who is a school counselor whom the kids should be able to trust, but instead he uses them to steal valuables because of his ego being slighted.

** What's especially nasty is that not only does the poor woman see everyone around her as giant insects, but ''her own jewelry has become monstrous worms and bugs as well''. Even people who AREN'T afraid of insects generally don't want to be surrounded by them or have them crawl on them.

** Also, though it was never shown in the series head on, during their second encounter, Batman knocks Curare over and in the process, drops her veil. We only see that she's bald from the back and Terry reacting in disgust and [[NothingIsScarier terror at seeing her without her face covering]]. From production art, here is Curare's [[https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fimg1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20121005071308%2Fbatman%2Fimages%2Fthumb%2F7%2F7c%2FCurareFace.jpg%2F137px-CurareFace.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 true face]]

-->'''Batman:''' [[YouKilledMyFather You killed my father.]]

** Particularly chilling how, after injecting Terry with the splicing serum, [[MadScientist Dr. Cuvier]] calmly tells him, "You're welcome to your opinions, [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody while you're still human enough to have them]]."

** Oh, also, while Batman is pumping serum into him, recycled StockSoundEffects from ''Film/TheThing1982'' sound, presumably as a slightly obscure reference. Sweet dreams!

--->'''Bill:''' ''Oh my God…Tony? ''

--->'''Bill:''' ''I thought you were dead!''
--->'''Earthmover:''' '''NO! DIDN’T. WANT. PARTNER!'''
--->'''Bill:''' ''That’s not true! There was nothing I could do for you, nothing! But there was Jackie! I took care of her like she was my own daughter! Isn't that what you would’ve wanted?''

--->'''Bill:''' ''You wanna kill me? Go ahead! I’ve got a lot to answer for, but for God sakes let Jackie go!''

** It's never made clear what ''happened'' to Tony’s mind upon his transformation into Earthmover. Is he, as suggested in the episode, just an endlessly resounding echo of rage? A last gasp of identity no more conscious than a computer program? Or is he fully conscious, but [[SanitySlippage driven so insane]] by his situation that he [[RevengeBeforeReason no longer cares about anything but vengeance?]] Or, most chilling of all, is he fully conscious, but no longer able to remember anything of his life but its final, horrifying moments, [[AndIMustScream endlessly repeated forever in his mind?]]
** What's worse in terms of HarsherInHindsight is that he was voiced by Stephen Collins. Seeing that Earthmover wants to kidnap his own teenage daughter brings in shudders for viewers in light of Collins' real-life repeated statutory rape crimes.
** The idea of meeting a long-lost family member who is completely unhinged. And the pre-conceived notion that they'll be whoever you created in your head, being completely shattered. Must be a truly terrifying situation to be in.

* Just the way [[BrainUploading Robert Vance]] ''looks'' on the computer screen, with dead eyes and [[UndeathlyPallor a ghostly pallor]], is NightmareFuel by itself. The events of the episode just mix in kerosene with the NightmareFuel, and the end where, as he's being deleted, we hear his memories regressing to childhood, ending with the heartbreaking sound of Vance asking for his parents just dumps the container on and turns it into NightmareFuel. There may not be a single episode that can rival how creepy the villain was and how disturbing that end scene was.

* Vance manages to get into the Batsuit. He/it realizes that Terry is nothing more than a hindrance, so he/it decides to get rid of him... by [[SuperDrowningSkills drowning him]]. The way that Terry fights ''his own suit'' as it walks into the ocean is incredibly agonizing to watch. Sure, Bruce realizes what's going on and activates the Batsuit's fail-safe, but that only happens once Terry is neck-deep in the water. He's stuck there, trying to stay upright and alive as he gets hit by wave after wave until Bruce ''finally'' comes to get him.
* The horror that Vance was going to subject Bobby, ''[[FamilialBodySnatcher his own grandson]]'', to: Download his consciousness into Bobby's body, thus "erasing" Bobby[[note]]This feat would actually come to pass in "Out of the Past" with ComicBook/RasAlGhul and his daughter ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul[[/note]].

* Terminal. There's this eerie feel to him, especially that his facial makeup looks like a skull and he's completely detached and ruthless, even nonchalantly throwing one of his gang members off a roof in the opening scene. And all of this happens because his mother is an emotionally abusive bitch.

[[AC:2x07 -- Once Burned...]]
* It's bad enough for Melanie that she had to steal from crime lords to save her loved ones, but it gets even worse when she discovers that it was actually her own family that set her up. Their apathetic response about their daughter's plight can be viewed as unsettling.

* The episode is a frighteningly realistic look at drug addiction, though making one up [[FantasticDrug in the form of VR]], put together by Spellbinder. Lonely, neglected or desperate teens come to him, living out their dream lives where they are stars, get their dream guy or, in the case of Max, are just considered important to her family, then are forced to commit crimes by him to get another dose of that joy. Donny, one of Terry's classmates, even is shown sweating and scratching himself from withdrawal after time away from the VR Machine.
** It gets worse, as, the longer a person remains in the machine, their brains produce serotonin to dangerous levels. Jessie, who gets to live out her dream of her manager asking her out and then marrying her ends up in the hospital in a serotonin induced coma. And, from Bruce's own study, it is not the first time.

* Dana is kidnapped by Patrick/Ratboy, a delusional [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] with [[RodentsOfUnusualSize giant rats as pets]]. At first, he seems like a sympathetic character talking about how society rejected him for his looks, but by the end of the episode, it's revealed that he's a SerialKiller who feeds teenagers to his rats! If Batman hadn't showed up, Dana would have definitely been killed.

* Tamara at least turns out to be alright. But the Brain Trust? They find kids with {{psychic powers}}, then approach their parents, claiming to be from an exclusive school which their kid has been picked for, and as soon as mom and dad have signed them up, they take off with the kid to use them for God knows what. They even have a fake school set up just to sell the lie. And Tamara's parents found out when they tried to get in contact with them and found absolutely ''nothing''.

* Batman's encounter with Edgar Mandragora, Steven Mandragora's son from ''Justice League Unlimited'' who has become a terrifying old psychic who likes to MindRape people and beat them with objects or stab them with the blade in his cane. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjh1mhtxDng He looks like some kind of psychotic ghost]], and he's ''incredibly'' powerful - a living psi-bomb who unleashes his full power on Terry.

* "Revenant" continues where the last episode ended off with Willie Watt from "Golem." He now has telekinetic abilities which he uses to torment his former oppressors.

* Shriek subjecting the city to his deadly frequency. Batman and Bruce's screams of absolute pain are disturbing. It's probably a good thing we the audience were spared seeing how everyone else in Gotham was reacting.

* Cynthia nearly murdering Nelson via dropping several gym lockers onto him, even if he did deserve it.

* Cynthia in general is downright horrifying. Howard programmed her to be "totally devoted" to him, and boy did he get his wish. She's super possessive of him, to the point where her response to anyone trying to get between her and Howard is to murder them. And when Howard tries to end things, she ends up turning on him. She has superhuman strength and is so skilled in combat that not even Batman can match her. When Howard drops the "LetsJustBeFriends" cliché, Cynthia explodes.

* Curare is back, and she's finishing off her former employers one by one and it's not pretty.

* The subjugation that the kids go through at the Ranch. Children are brainwashed [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Big Brother]]-style, denied food, sleep, bathroom breaks, or even contact with the outside world until they break. Those that step out of line are put into ISO, which amounts to sensory deprivation. Bruce mentions that such tactics are used in {{cult}}s and on some prisoners of war, so seeing them used on ''kids''...

* Ian Peek's final fate is one of the most horrific ends to any villain in [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries either series.]] After abusing the intangibility belt (which he stole), Peek winds up [[PowerIncontinence becoming intangible without it, and unable to be selective about what he's intangible to.]] In the climactic confrontation, right as he's got a gun on Batman and Bruce, the gun suddenly falls out of his hand, because his body has finally phased out completely and he can no longer stand on solid ground as there is only one thing that still has an effect on him: '''''Gravity.''''' This causes him to fall from the top story of a huge building through floor after floor, while Batman's constantly trying to swoop to grab him as Ian's screaming for help. In the basement, Batman finally manages to grab him, and encourages Ian to focus on staying solid, and [[HopeSpot for a second, it looks like it works]], until he seems to just lose all spirit and slowly sink into the basement floor, [[LaughingMad laughing for a moment]], then screaming/crying until his voice becomes muffled by the floor. Thus, Ian Peek helplessly begins his descent into ''[[AndIMustScream the center of the earth, never to be seen again.]]'' This guy was a greedy scumbag who committed murder, but that is still a ''horrible'' way to go.
** Something that makes it just a little worse is the final exchange between Batman and Bruce. A shaken Terry asks what's gonna happen, and Bruce (who has NoSympathy for Peek after his deplorable behavior) can only ''guess'' what will happen to Ian Peek from here. Will he die as the temperature, density and pressure exceed all human comprehension? Or just float forever, circulating in the deep mantle in a FateWorseThanDeath? Will he even make it down there, or will his rapidly deteriorating body just lose its substance completely until he ceases to exist? It's that uncertainty that makes this ending even more haunting than it already was.
-->'''Terry''': What's going to happen to him?

* The ending, where the unsuspecting Bullwhip is about to be killed. With a ''drill'' that is slowly closing in towards the camera. If you ever have a fear of the dentist, that's bound to set it off.

** "Killed?" Bullwhip kidnapped Corso's wife for free augmentation for himself and his gang, then came back to him for repairs after the poor doctor found out his wife was ''in on it'' and was cheating on him with Bullwhip. Bullwhip was StrappedToAnOperatingTable to be worked on by a trained surgeon who hated his guts and no longer had any reason to fear him or anything to live for besides revenge. '''IF''' he died, [[FateWorseThanDeath it probably came as]] [[MercyKill a blessing]].
** The episode also never shows us [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what happened to April,]] especially since Corso now knows of her betrayal...

-->'''Terry:''' She was in the Batcave once. It was my fault. Wayne had to capture her. When she escaped, I went after her, and Wayne had to rescue me again. Almost got himself killed. That's not gonna happen this time. I'll take care of Inque myself.
* As much an AssholeVictim she is, Inque's supposed death is terrifying and yet at the same time, heart-breaking. She thought she had a good relationship with her daughter until she engineered this plot that would result in her seeming death. Before she fades, Inque isn't angry at all towards her; she's just hurt.

* The final fate of ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul. She's reunited with Bruce after decades apart, having finally taken over in her father's stead after he died for good. She's still young thanks to the Lazarus Pits and wants Bruce to join her in eternal youth. Except that it turns out that Talia is already dead, and its RA'S AL GHUL occupying her body, having taken his daughter's body over and erased her mind completely when his own was damaged beyond even the Lazarus Pits' ability to heal, and now wants to take Bruce's body so he can continue his legacy.

** That last part is even ''creepier'' with ''Film/{{Brightburn}}'', as Brandon (a CorruptedCharacterCopy of Superman) has the very same animal motif of a wasp.
** Even creepier is that Starro had control of Superman for ''years''. Who knows how horrifying it must have been for Superman to realize he'd been a prisoner in his own body during all that time?! Especially considering how he's been brainwashed before in this continuity.

* According to Creator/PaulDini, Killer Croc was ultimately stuffed and mounted; by the time of this series, he is an exhibit in the reptile wing of the American Museum of Natural History.

** It's never made clear what ''happened'' to Tony’s mind upon his transformation into Earthmover. Is he, as suggested in the episode, just an endlessly resounding echo of rage? A last gasp of identity no more conscious than a computer program? Or is he fully conscious, but [[SanitySlippage driven so insane]] by his situation that [[RevengeBeforeReason no longer cares about anything but vengeance?]] Or, most chilling of all, is he fully conscious, but no longer able to remember anything of his life but its final, horrifying moments, [[AndIMustScream endlessly repeated forever in his mind?]]

[[AC:2x16 -- The Last Resort]]

--->'''Bill:''' ''No! That’s not true! There was nothing I could do for you, nothing! But there was Jackie! I took care of her like she was my own daughter! Isn't that what you would’ve wanted??''

* '''Earthmover'''. Essentially a motionless, decaying corpse half-melted into the surrounding earth...except for the ''[[GlowingEyesOfDoom glowing]] [[SicklyGreenGlow green]] eyes''. Seriously creepy even for this series, especially since his character model is more detailed than anyone else's.

--->'''Earthmover:''' ''[to Bill Wallace]'' '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU... LEFT. ME. BURIED!]]'''''
--->'''Bill:''' ''But there was Jackie! I took care of her like she was her own daughter! Wasn't that what you would have wanted??''

--->'''Bill:''' ''Look if you want to kill me, go ahead! I have a lot to answer for, but for God sakes let Jackie go!''

** It's never made clear what ''happened'' to the mind of Tony Maychek upon his transformation into Earthmover. Is he, as suggested in the episode, just an endlessly resounding echo of rage? A last gasp of identity no more conscious than a computer program? Or is he fully conscious, but [[SanitySlippage driven so insane]] by his situation that [[RevengeBeforeReason no longer cares about anything but vengeance?]] Or, most chilling of all, is he fully conscious, but no longer able to remember anything of his life but its final, horrifying moments, [[AndIMustScream endlessly repeated forever in his mind?]]

* The episode is a frighteningly realistic look at drug addiction, though making one up[[FantasticDrug in the form of VR]], put together by Spellbinder. Lonely, neglected or desperate teens come to him, living out their dream lives where they are stars, get their dream guy or, in the case of Max, are just considered important to her family, then are forced to commit crimes by him to get another dose of that joy. Donny, one of Terry's classmates, even is shown sweating and scratching himself from withdrawal after time away from the VR Machine.

--->'''Earthmover:''' ''[to Bill Wallace]'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis '''''YOU... LEFT. ME. ''BURIED!''']]

--->'''Earthmover:''' ''[to Bill Wallace]'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis'''''YOU... LEFT. ME. ''BURIED!''']]

--->'''Earthmover:''' ''[to Bill Wallace]'' '''''YOU... LEFT. ME. ''BURIED!'''

* Willie Watt's life is horrific because of how mundane it is when it comes to the abuse heaped on him by Nelson and his father, as well as how few sympathetic people are in his corner like Terry and his friends. While Nelson is bad enough, Willie's father is the only parental figure in his and his mother is most likely deceased given his statements in his second appearance, meaning his only role model is a asshole that endorses the toxic masculinity that Nelson personifies. The giant robot is just Willie's means of acting out; the true cause of Willie's descent into villainy is a very realistic take on what the RightMakesMight attitude would result in a lonely kid that has little to no positive emotional connections: a budding psychopath that decides killing people is a plausible answer to his problems.

* Willie Watt's life is horrific because of how mundane it is when it comes to the abuse heaped on him by Nelson and his father, as well as how few sympathetic people are in his corner like Terry and his friends. While Nelson is bad enough, Willie's father is the only parental figure in his and his mother is most likely deceased given his statements in his second appearance, meaning his only role model is a asshole that endorses the toxic masculinity that Nelson personifies. The giant robot is just Willie's means of acting out; the true cause of Willie's descent into villainy is a very realistic take on what the RightMakesMight attitude would result in a lonely kid that has little to no positive emotional connections: a budding psycopath that decides killing people is a plausible answer to his problems.

* Batman's encounter with Edgar Mandragora, Steven Mandragora's son from ''Justice League Unlimited'' who has become a terrifying old psychic who likes to MindRape people and beat them with objects or stab them with the blade in his cane. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjh1mhtxDng He eerily looks like some psychotic ghost]].

** Something that makes it just a little worse is the final exchange between Batman and Bruce. A shaken Terry asks what's gonna happen, and Bruce (who has NoSympathy for Peek after his deplorable behavior) can only ''guess'' what will happen to Ian Peek from here. Will he die once he hits the Earth's core, or just float forever in a FateWorseThanDeath? Will he even make it down there, or will his rapidly deteriorating body just lose its substance completely until he ceases to exist? It's that uncertainty that makes this ending even more haunting than it already was.

* Ian Peek's final fate is one of the most horrific ends to any villain in [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries either series.]] After abusing the intangibility belt (which he stole), Peek winds up [[PowerIncontinence becoming intangible without it, and unable to be selective about what he's intangible to.]] In the climactic confrontation, right as he's got a gun on Batman and Bruce, the gun suddenly falls out of his hand, because his body has finally phased out completely and he can no longer stand on solid ground as there is only one thing that still has an effect on him: gravity. This causes him to fall from the top story of a huge building through floor after floor, while Batman's constantly trying to swoop to grab him as Ian's screaming for help. In the basement, Batman finally manages to grab him, and encourages Ian to focus on staying solid, and [[HopeSpot for a second, it looks like it works]], until he seems to just lose all spirit and slowly sink into the basement floor, [[LaughingMad laughing for a moment]], then screaming/crying until his voice becomes muffled by the floor. Thus, Ian Peek helplessly begins his descent into ''[[AndIMustScream the center of the earth, never to be seen again.]]'' This guy was a greedy scumbag who committed murder, but that is still a ''horrible'' way to go.

--->'''Earthmover:''' '''SHE. STAYS. YOU.''' '''''DIE!'''''

--->'''Bill:''' ''But there was Jackie! I took care of her like she was her own daughter! Wasn't that what you would have wanted??
--->'''Earthmover:''' ''''''YOU. STOLE. HER!'''''