Bruce Timm's Initial Plans For JLU 'Finale'

Thing is that Batman Beyond pretty much showed that Terry was his own man anyway. Epilogue seems pointless from a Doylist perspective because we didn't need Terry to be retconned into Bruce's biological son for that. It's basically a Debate and Switch.

I tend to dislike retcons that change things such that instead of the characters' situation being more open and evolving on its own, things were specifically contrived by a specific power to happen in that specific way. I'm not a big fan of the Court Of Owls concept in the Batman comics for the same reason - the intention, apparently, is to make the characters' situation more meaningful somehow (or introduce a level of conspiracy) by revealing that nothing that happened did so naturally (or, more generously, that it was "supposed" to happen), but it more often than not just cuts out the legs under the characters or the setting and runs the risk of making things a lot less interesting, not more.

Epilogue seemed intended to give us a sense of destiny in Terry becoming Batman that not only didn't add anything to who he is, it actually removed some of the agency of his own situation and neutered the weight of parts of his backstory. Sure, his choices were ultimately his own, but the introduction of the idea that he's Bruce's genetically altered son cuts out the idea that he could be a normal person who decided to take up the mantle, and messes with the weight his family has as well. The fact that he somehow ended up being exactly what Cadmus created him to be by sheer coincidence doesn't make it all that better, and while I dislike the criticism that it didn't "need" to happen in general it seems almost fitting here.

Long winded explanation made short, while I don't dislike the episode, I do think it treading ground that had no real weight makes it the least interesting episode of the show, though.

edited 6th Jun '15 5:44:17 PM by KnownUnknown

I'm kinda disappointed they didn't find a way to include Selina Kyle in Batman Beyond (not counting this cloning gambit which is quite odd for her). If there's one thing I like to see more of in this series, it's to see what happen to all the major villains (and close heroes) in Bruce's time and what was their legacy in Gotham. While Beyond is primary Terry's story, I still feel it would be nice to know.

We only really got closure on Joker and Mr. Freeze in Beyond.

Don't forget about Bane, who is last seen on that life-support table after too Venom abuse. If there's one thing I would like to see in a future Batman Beyond story, it's the resolution of Bruce's relationship with his friends and foes. I know that in the comics, they took a first step in that direction by somewhat resolving Dick Grayson's relationship with Bruce. Now I want to see them tackle other characters as well.

As well as Ras Al Ghoul.

Let's admit it, that just would get too depressing fast. It's obvious most of the Batcharacters didn't have happy endings.

I heard about a Justice League comic that confirmed Mad Hatter died in the future.

How were Bane and Ra's resolved in Beyond? I know Mr. Freeze has that episode and Return of the Joker resolves both Joker and Harley.

Ra's returns in Beyond and is killed for good iirc. Albeit, this is after we find out he's taken over Talia's mind (effectively killing her) in order to stave off his own death.

We see Bane as a emaciated, strung out husk kept alive only by IV of Venom. He's basically comatose.

Beaten to the punch.

edited 10th Jul '15 4:00:35 PM by Cross

Timm confirmed in an interview before the release of beyond that Two-Face and Riddler were 'dead and forgotten'.

It'd have been interesting to see Clayface, who would easily have survived that long unchanged, eventually. Maybe pitting him against Inque or something.

Basically, the only Batman villain that got a happy ending was Harley Quinn?

The Ventriloquist is never shown going back to crime in canon after his reform in TNBA (his cameo in Justice League doesn't count, as that was in an alternate reality), so I like to think he got a happy end as well.

I don't think I saw that episode...

So that makes two, since Harley settled and had a family. The Dee Dee twins are her granddaughters.

Me too. It's nice to think that at least one Batman villain managed to cure himself of the crazies.