Batman and Blue Beetle face off against a time-traveling villain and end up having to protect a pivotal moment in history: Batman bringing down Carmine Falcone's criminal empire once and for all.
This episode contains examples of:
- I Hate Past Me: Batman is more embarrassed by his past self, quickly learning that despite what he said to Blue Beetle he himself did many of the things Batman now found annoying such as posing and clearly enjoying the superhero lifestyle while not planning ahead as much as he should have.
- Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness: The episode essentially drops Batman and Blue Beetle into an episode of the 1992 animated series: not only are there several references to the show in regards to how Gotham looks and past Batman saying the iconic "I am vengeance" line, but past Batman is shown to be doing stake outs in his car while also using a grappling hook which is what he did in the show, as opposed to using more high tech surveillance and a grappling gun like modern Batman. This leads Batman to be a little embarrassed by his younger self while Beetle is surprised by past Batman's lack of technology and skill, but also still impressed by how cool he looked when he said the line.
- Mythology Gag:
- To Batman: The Animated Series: the sky of past Gotham is red, has blimps, and proto-Batman makes the iconic pose and Catchphrase, with a rendition of the intro playing as he climbs.
- To the 60s series: proto-Batman walks up the side of a building.
- To the 1989 film: Among Chronos' news clippings of a younger Batman battling the Falcone syndicate, there's an artist's impression based on eyewitness accounts that resembles the sketch from that film.
- To Batman and Robin (Serial): proto-Batman drives a nondescript black Cadillac rather than a specially-made Batmobile.
- Stealth Pun: Batman, acting as mentor to Blue Beetle, has been telling the kid to think and plan ahead. When the Beetle realizes a time effect will wear off, he acts to protect proto-Batman.Future!Batman: It's about time.
