History Headscratchers / BatmanBeyondReturnoftheJoker

** [[spoiler:Tim Drake]] figured it out, either back when the new Batman first appeared in Gotham or during the course of the movie, and then [[spoiler:the Joker inherited the knowledge]]. Either way, once you already know that Bruce Wayne was Batman [[spoiler:and you've had the benefit of being Robin yourself]], it's not hard to take a look at Terry's role in Bruce's life and connect the dots.
*** [[spoiler: No, Tim didn't know that. In the end when Terry introduces himself as the guy he met the "other day", Tim goes "I did?", and then he realises that the young man standing before him is the new Batman]].

* Wasn't the Justice League floating around in space at this time (in continuity)? [[spoiler: They didn't notice a death ray shooting at Gotham City?]]

** The KillSat's existence is a source of FridgeLogic, albeit retroactively. After how uncomfortable the government was with the League's [[{{BFG}} Binary Fusion Generator]], even before [[spoiler:Luthor hijacked it]], they put one up there themselves?

* If Joker [[spoiler:put his [=DNA=] inside Tim's body, why did he still have the hair, lips, and pale skin? His disfigurement wasn't genetic. If anything, this new Joker should have looked the way the original did before the acid bath.]]
** To answer your question...its not out of the realm of possibility that the accident that created the Joker-strongly changed his genetic structure in this universe. So he could have easily used it to [[spoiler: turn Tim into a cloned of himself. Plus he did use "shocks and serums" on Tim once. It could have been dormant.]]

** Here's my FanWank for it. [[spoiler:The Joker didn't simply imprint his DNA into the chip, he actually hand picked different genetic versions of his physical traits to make Tim look like him. So whereas his skin was bleached by chemicals, he threw albinoism into the chip's instructions to make Tim's skin naturally white. The Joker's hair was turned green by accident, so he added some mutant alleles to make Tim's hair turn green for purely genetic reasons. He went down a laundry list of all the things he wanted Tim to become, and made sure that the chip's programming would make it happen. Add in nanotech to create a Joker-based personality in Tim's mind (though three weeks of torture probably did a lot of the work in that regard) and to switch the changes on and off like a light switch, and there we go.]] If anything, I liked the JLU revelation/retcon that it was [[spoiler:stolen Cadmus tech: the idea of Joker as a genius geneticist always bugged me a little, and the idea of him gleefully using Tim to play around with an identity-swapping chip that Cadmus had already invented really fits him better.]]
** It's entirely possible that in this continuity, it wasn't just acid in that chemical-factory vat in the first place, but some sort of mutagen that altered the original Joker's genetic code: alterations he later inflicted upon [[spoiler: Tim Drake]]. After all, if being doused in chemicals had only ''stained'' his hair, one would expect the green color to grow out eventually.

* Absolutely no mention or acknowledgement of what must have been absurd amounts of collateral damage and death. [[spoiler:The KillSat must have vaporized thousands, if not tens of thousands of people while it was carving vast swaths through Gotham. At various points we see it destroying freeways and blowing up huge buildings. Of course, in typical Batman fashion, both Terry and Bruce devote more time to saving villains from falling to their death than they do mourning the thousands of lives lost to the Joker.]]

*** By the time of the fight, Terry was aware that the Joker[[spoiler: was inhabiting Tim Drake's body]]. It's likely he purposely pulled his punches since he didn't want to hurt [[spoiler: Tim]]. That coupled with the idea that Joker could have possibly enhanced his body with technology earlier on.

* And when we learn [[spoiler: The Joker [[MoralEventHorizon abducted Tim Drake, torturing and brainwashing him into divulging secrets about Batman, including the true identities of himself and his allies, before making him think he's the Joker and Harley Quinn's son]]]], why would Bruce/Batman still take stuff that would directly remind him of that? Things like the big Joker card and even Harley's suit?

* The question is about the Dee Dees. [[spoiler: Did the Dee Dees know that Joker was their grandmother's ex-boyfriend? Let's assume Harley kept her criminal life a secret from her family...what are the odds the granddaughters will adopt a clown gimmick and run into her ex boyfriend?]]

* I get the impression the odd one-piece suit the Joker was wearing in that scene was also a strength-increasing suit on par with [=McGinnis=]'s. It'd be such an odd choice of clothing for him otherwise, since he usually favors colorful old-style costumes — not to mention he was apparently making Tim Drake wear it under his labcoat, which would be rather pointless otherwise but makes a lot of sense if the Joker is trying to protect his host body.

* One thing I can't get around regarding the final confrontation: at what point exactly during the fight did Terry manage to get hold of [[spoiler:Joker's joy-buzzer]]? There's never any animation shot of the scene that shows it plainly.

*** A problem with that explanation is that the Joker used the killsat twice, earlier in the movie he destroyed a yatch with it. Even if the Justice League somehow missed laser firing, it is odd that the military apparently did nothing to prevent a second hijacking of such a dangerous weapon.

** Superman Stays Out of Gotham. Even 50 years later, Bruce still holds to it.

* [[RunningGag one more thing about Harley that I keep forgetting to ask]]? Has it been detailed anywhere what happened between the her "death" in the Tim Drake incident and the ending? Considering it's literally 3 decades later, they could make a whole miniseries just about that, but I can't find anything on it.

* So the Joker steals technology from (according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki) Cadmus and implants his brain and DNA into Tim Drake through a zit-sized chip on the back of his neck. How does the chip go on about changing Tim's skin color, hair color, facial features, ''and'' pupils into those of the Joker's? That's some funky LegoGenetics for late 20th century technology.

** To answer your question...its not out of the realm of possibility that the accident that created the Joker-strongly changed his genetic structure in this universe. So he could have easily used it to [[spoiler: turn Tim into a cloned of himself. Plus he did use "shocks and serums" on Tim once. It could of been dormant.]]

** To answer your question...its not out of the realm of possibility that the accident that created the Joker-strongly changed his genetic structure in this universe. So he could of easily used it to [[spoiler: turn Tim into a cloned of himself. Plus he did use "shocks and serums" on Tim once. It could of been dormant.]]

*** By the time of the fight, Terry was aware that the Joker[[spoiler: was inhabiting Tim Drake's body]]. It's likely he purposely pulled his punches since he didn't want to hurt [[spoiler: Tim]]. That coupled with the idea that Joker could have possibly enhanced his body with technolgy earlier on.
** I thought that the shock the batsuit took shortly before the beginning of the fight knocked off the strength enhancement function for a while. That, and since the Joker has never cared about fighting fare, he might have pumped up his body with something.

** Terry is more or less the only person ever seen in the regular company of Bruce Wayne. If you know Bruce Wayne used to be Batman, that Terry is the new Batman is the only possible conclusion.

* I get the impression the odd one-piece suit the Joker was wearing in that scene was also a strength-increasing suit on par with McGinnis's. It'd be such an odd choice of clothing for him otherwise, since he usually favors colorful old-style costumes — not to mention he was apparently making Tim Drake wear it under his labcoat, which would be rather pointless otherwise but makes a lot of sense if the Joker is trying to protect his host body.

** They're rebellious teens ion Gotham. If you're gonna join a gang, might as well join the big one. If that pisses off Harley extra that's probably a bonus for them.

* After the flashback the commissioner says that they never found Harley's body and she's presumed deceased. Yet if she's still alive at the end and [[HeelFaceTurn now a decent, law-abiding citizen,]] how do they not know about it? [[WildMassGuessing Did she have to hide her identity so they wouldn't seek revenge? Or did the commissioner lie about her being alive for that same reason?]]

* Anyone else notice the {{Anvilicious}} "moral" about Reagan-style space-based defense systems?
** No, probably because you're reading too much into it. Sometimes a space-based deathray is just a space-based deathray and not commentary on 20-year-old politics.
*** To be fair, it was more like ''10''-year-old politics at the time of the movie's release.
** Again, if you have to ask if anyone noticed it, it wasn't {{Anvilicious}}. The whole point of {{Anvilicious}} is that the point is being made so bluntly and obviously that the people in the next theater got the idea.
** Especially as it's stated that it's supposed to be used as a missile defence system not to hit ground targets.