History Fridge / DCAnimatedUniverse

* In retrospect, Hawkgirl being the main person to go to for GettingCrapPastTheRadar makes perfect sense, since she's a ''spy''.

* In "Baby Doll", Baby Doll was already a pretty damn terrifying psycho, but look at the little "dinner" she set up. When she pulls out a dog looking like the dog from her show, its attached to a wagon to be pulled across the table and a tape recorder of a dog barking. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar She may have killed a dog and stuffed it just to make her delusion more realistic!]]

** On a related vote, since GL abstained from the vote, the remaining voting leaguers were Flash, Franchise/WonderWoman, Superman, Batman, and ComicBook/MartianManhunter. Since it's quite obvious that Flash would've voted "for keeping her", just as it's obvious that WonderWoman would've voted "against", and it was explicitly stated that Superman voted "for", the remaining votes were Batman and ComicBook/MartianManhunter. Though we don't know which way they voted, we know that the two of them split. This, then, is the silent acknowledgment that the issue was so complex that a psychic (though he couldn't work ''as well'' on Thanagarians, he's still had experience) and [[MemeticMutation The Goddamn]] Franchise/{{Batman}} couldn't reach an agreement.

* The FullyAbsorbedFinale of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', "Epilogue", was a strange mash-up of ideas. It integrated the Cadmus storyline of Justice League into the "Beyond" future by having [[spoiler: Bruce Wayne being the biological father of Terry. Terry's assumed dad was secretly genetically reprogrammed by the principle project workers behind Cadmus]]. It was an obvious {{Retcon}} that had most message board posts going "WTF?!?!", and I was one of them, at least initially. The more I thought about it, the more I liked certain aspects of it, like Amanda Waller's lesson to Terry that he chose his own path. [[http://anbat.toonzone.net/bb/epilogue.htm This review]] convinced me of how brilliant this episode truly is, that it is supposed to be almost unbelievable. It is a {{Deconstruction}} of the SuperHeroOrigin story. --KJMackley

** I would have to agree. The episode works not only to demystify the Terry backstory, but also ties together several loose threads back in ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: TAS]]'' by cramming in so much audacious plotting that it really does take half a dozen viewings to catch all the references. At first, it appears to be a massive {{Retcon}} and very disrespectful to the legacy, but given time, it actually makes me think the whole thing was an attempt to make the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'' ''more'' epic and thought-provoking, and with this in mind, it made rewatching the entire run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' more enjoyable. It gives the older, heartless Wayne a much-needed dose of lingering humanity well-hidden behind his tough facade. Without too much hyperbole, I personally now regard this as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome that stacks up well to any others in the ''DCAU'' and one of my top five ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episodes overall. --DarthWiki/MrBrownstone

*** Might have, anyway. A suspicion that Matt's birth might have increased. It's possible he was skeptical from Terry's birth, and when Matt came out also having black hair, said doubts could well have been heightened. - {{@/Nakayama90}}

* Also from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', I was initially vexed by the fact that Bruce had a heart condition... not from anything he was predisposed to, not anything genetic or viral, not because he ate too many fatty foods in his youth... apparently his heart was failing because of plain and simple ''old age''. How were we supposed to believe that a man who spent years training himself to the peak of athletic fitness, one of the "healthiest" men on the planet, just got a heart condition for no reason? Fitness helps ''reduce'' the effects of aging, making it easier on the body, not worsening it. Then it hit me... it's not about his age at all. It's about ''overtraining''! He was always pushing himself not just to his limits, but ''past'' them. He was always flirting with the [[HeroicRROD Heroic Red Rings of Death.]] In fact, that's ''exactly'' what it was, a slow, meta-example of HeroicRROD applied to a lifetime rather than a single fight. His heart condition was simply his lifestyle catching up to him, always going beyond what his body could take. And when I realized that, I realized it was exactly as it should have been, and could have gone no other way. ---{{Legendarylugi}}
** Also, at the time when Bruce's heart was starting to strain. He was alone. Alfred is dead. Dick, Barbara, & Tim were driven away. And his other friends had been shoved away. Bruce had no one to tell him that he had to slow down or take care of himself. --- LadyNomad
*** Note also that his figurative heart had broken specifically because all of these people abandoning or being pushed away by him. HoistByHisOwnPetard? --- {{chilled0ut}}

** The heart problem has a more obvious cause. Ever hear the joke "When does Batman sleep?" --- {{daveshan}}
* I was rewatching "Out of the Past" in WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond and it occurred to me. Bruce decided to back out of the eternal youth offer because he knew that he would lose Terry. In the scene in which Bruce was exercising, he looked up to see himself and a reflection of Terry, who is much smaller since he's further away. It looked like he was getting away from Terry. He realized that if he were to stay young, he will eventually get Terry to give him back the suit and wreck his friendship with him. He had a realization that if he keeps on living in the past, he will lose what he has in the present, which is Terry. So, the title "Out of the Past" meant that it was Bruce finally deciding to live in the present. --Lady Nomad
* Terry's title in the official canon is the 'Tomorrow Knight', which seems to be an out of continuity nod that he's a new Batman. But when you consider that the city he lives in is a CrapsackWorld in miniature, the opening credits spelling out apathy, corruption, greed, and then we get to Terry, 'hope'. If there was one thing that Bruce never stood for, it was hope; he was always the spirit of justice. Gotham's residents don't just need someone who stands for justice anymore, they need their hope back. Terry was the first guy in a long time to stand up for the city and say "This has gone on long enough." He's the Tomorrow Knight not because he's the future Batman, but because he's bringing Gotham into a new day from an eternal night of terror. --- Onmi
** Really, Batman might have never stood for hope, but he most definitely caused it. - [=HG131=]
* Remember "Growing Pains", the episode of ''The New Batman Adventures'' where Robin/Tim Drake falls for an amnesic girl named Annie, only to discover she's a piece of Clayface sent to scout around for him while he recovered from his "death"? I always kind of wondered why Clayface chose to send a little girl of all things, but then it hit me: Who was the last person Clayface saw before he died (Batman aside)? Clayface was probably dazed and pulling his mind back together so the only person he could think of sending was his girl friday Stella Bates, but since he didn't have enough of "himself" to send he sent as close an approximation as he could. Seriously -- Annie's a dead-ringer for a pre-teen Stella. Intentional or not, it makes sense to me. --- johncage1000

** Oh wow. I did not realize that until you said it, but that is bloody brilliant!--Freiberg

* When I first saw the ending of the ''Justice League Unlimited'' episode "Wake The Dead", where Superman explains ''why'' he voted to keep Hawkgirl in the League, I just wrote it off as the Big Blue Boy Scout doing his usual speech. But then I remembered the finale of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and I realized - Superman voted the way he did '''because he's been where Hawkgirl is'''. He was made BrainwashedAndCrazy by Darkseid, and as a result, lost the whole world's trust. Even with all that, he was given a second chance. And when you remember that, there's no other way he could have voted.--Spotts1701
** On a related vote, since GL abstained from the vote, the remaining voting leaguers were Flash, Franchise/WonderWoman, Superman, Batman, and ComicBook/MartianManhunter. Since it's quite obvious that Flash would've voted "for keeping her", just as it's obvious that WonderWoman would've voted "against", and it was explicitly stated that Superman voted "for", the remaining votes were Batman and ComicBook/MartianManhunter. Though we don't know which way they voted, we know that the two of them split. This, then, is the silent acknowledgment that the issue was so complex that a psychic (though he couldn't work ''as well'' on Thanagarians, he's still had experience) and [[MemeticMutation The Goddamn]] Franchise/{{Batman}} couldn't reach an agreement. - WanderlustWarrior

* While this troper thinks that ''Justice League Unlimited'' is one of the best cartoons out there, she has to admit that as a Batman fan, the Bat-Embargo (as its known) ticked her off a bit. It only occurred to her later that there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation: this is when the events portrayed in the ''Return of the Joker'' actually happened. That is why Robin, Batgirl, or even Nightwing never joined the League; after that incident, there's no way that Batman would let them. --Mew24ever

** It's also possible that the other Bat-villains found out what happened to the Joker and realized that THAT'S how a lifelong feud with Batman will end and decided it just wasn't worth it. --Tork
** That entry just led to a moment of FridgeBrilliance for me too. We know that Barbara was flirting with Bruce in ''Mystery of the Batwoman'', that they dated at some point in DCAU history, but that it'd ended badly long before ''Batman Beyond''. ''Return of the Joker'', taking place right before the start of ''Justice League'', might actually be the reason why it ended. Barbara said that the Joker tainted them all with his final act of cruelty, and that nothing was ever the same. We saw firsthand how Tim had mistaken Bruce's guilt and concern for his well-being for rejection and disappointment, and Barbara probably felt the same way if Bruce also refused to let her continue being Batgirl (plus the tension between them if she thought Tim should still be Robin). The arguments over the way he was keeping them both out of the crime-fighting loop got bad enough that he and Barbara broke things off and stopped speaking to each other. The ending scene in ''Return of the Joker'' becomes even more poignant with the three of them in Tim's hospital room, having the open, honest conversation about what happened that he should've had with them the first time. --[=BritBllt=]

*** Agreed - WanderlustWarrior

* Okay, so I just realized this while reading this article. ''Return of the Joker'' = ROTJ = ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. Who's returning in both movies? Creator/MarkHamill. - {{psychothumbs}}
** An even crazier coincidence -- why, you may ask, was Creator/MarkHamill such a great choice to play [[ComicBook/TheJoker Batman's most psychotic foe?]] He has "Arkham" [[MeaningfulName in his NAME!]] - Toru771
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' had the episode "Hard as Nails", where Batman makes an offhand comment about Robin joining the Teen Titans and how Static would meet them someday. In context, it comes off as an attempt to add the Titans into the DCAU, which never happened. Geoff Johns had also been trying to add Static to the main DC Comics titles without success. Then, years later, a combination of the animated Static and the comic Static was folded into the main DC Universe. It may have taken place in an entirely different universe, but watching that episode now just makes for brilliant foreshadowing. --[=TheRoguePenguin=]
** Whoa... Teen Titans? Like, the animated show that came out six months later? With Robin? Even if it's not really part of the DCAU, and it was probably accidental, that is still brilliant foreshadowing. --[=Geort=]

*** Well, it is accidental, as the show Teen Titans had not existed at this point yet... --[=Geort=]

* In the ''Batman: The Animated Series'' episode "Trial", where Batman is put on a trial by a JokerJury (with archvillain the Joker serving as judge) by all of his villains, they claim that Batman was responsible for forcing them to become criminals. The lawyer defending Batman gives a great argument against all of this; explaining how they all brought this on themselves. The only one she doesn't mention is the Joker; which is a [[MythologyGag clever nod]] to how the Joker is the only criminal that Batman brought on himself, all that is known is that he chased some guy in a red hood off of a balcony into a vat of chemicals. --[=Geort=]

* It took listening to Christmas carols last December for me to realize that the title of the ''Batman'' episode "Harley and Ivy" was a pun on the song "The Holly and The Ivy". -- @/{{Rothul}}
* I was watching Batman and it dawned on me. Franchise/{{Batman}} is emotionally stunted. When his parents died in front of him, he emotionally stopped growing up. He runs around, wearing a costume and scaring criminals. He has a hard time having romantic relationships. Alfred still cooks and cleans for him. When Morgaine Le Fay turned him and other Justice Leaguers into kids, he was the only one still acting like himself. ---@/LadyNomad

** Suffice to say, mileage varies a lot on this issue. For me, it's significant that when he's under the Black Mercy, Bruce doesn't imagine a whole new life (maybe because it wasn't that long, and definitely because that ground was already covered in "Perchance to Dream"); his fantasy is just that one moment in the alley made right. Some might argue that he's never ''left'' that alley. As the Prophets told [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the Sisko]], "You exist here." -- @/StClair

* I was wondering for years why in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Hereafter", as Wonder Woman goes after Toyman for the apparent death of Superman, she was crying, something that struck me as somewhat out of character. But then after a recent rewatching of the episode, I saw that the blast that hit Superman would have hit Wonder Woman and Batman if he hadn't [[TakingTheBullet taken the blast.]] She's going through [[SurvivorGuilt survivor's guilt]]! ---Brainiac0982

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' yet again: when Terry is figuring out what's going on, he hits a few buttons on the computer and the stolen components miraculously become a specific piece of tech. I've seen several fan sites whining about how that was too simple, and then one day it hit me - the show established that the computer accepted voice commands, and while Terry was hitting those buttons, he was also describing Tim's field of expertise and wondering how he might combine those particular items. Between his typing and his verbal commands, he gave the computer exactly what it needed to assemble the correct item. - Katfairy
* When Batman met up with Clayface in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', he was even more of a dick to the tragic supervillain than usual. Why? I just realized that one of Clayface's last appearances in BTAS has him [[spoiler: commit a murder by absorbing the little girl Annie, who split off from him and in front of Batman and Robin, who was falling for her, to boot.]] WhatMeasureIsANonHuman aside, would you have sympathy for a [[spoiler: person who killed the closest thing he had to a daughter]] and laughed it off? Hell no!- koolkame

* In retrospect, Hawkgirl being the main person to go to for GettingCrapPastTheRadar makes perfect sense, since she's a ''spy''. - @/MrDeath
* the order in which the team dragged Flash back from the speed force makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Hawkgirl was holding him first, as the big sister he never had, and probably the closest to him emotionally. Then Green Lantern, as his friend for life. Martian Manhunter had a decent relationship as coworkers and rumble robot buddies. Superman was Flash's friend and safety net. Wonder Woman was the object of Flash's earlier flirting but still close. And on the end of the line, despite annoying Batman at times, still deeply cared for, and worth saving. - @/EricW
* In Batman TAS episode "Lock-Up", the show made him come off as a political strawman because they never showed the true psychos like Joker or Two-Face. After watching the courtroom scene, I noticed that Scarecrow, The Ventriloquist and Harley Quinn are generally the more pleasant and sedated of the rouges locked up there. Lockdown isn't much of a SP... [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation He's a bully who picks on the lesser imprisoned villains and he's terrified of what would happen if he did the same treatment to Joker and he happened to break out.]] - Tropers/SpiderFan14

* In "Baby Doll", Baby Doll was already a pretty damn terrifying psycho, but look at the little "dinner" she set up. When she pulls out a dog looking like the dog from her show, its attached to a wagon to be pulled across the table and a tape recorder of a dog barking. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar She may have killed a dog and stuffed it just to make her delusion more realistic!]] - Tropers/SpiderFan14

* The FullyAbsorbedFinale of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', "Epilogue", was a strange mash-up of ideas. It integrated the Cadmus storyline of Justice League into the "Beyond" future by having [[spoiler: Bruce Wayne being the biological father of Terry. Terry's assumed dad was secretly genetically reprogrammed by the principle project workers behind Cadmus]]. It was an obvious {{Retcon}} that had most message board posts going "WTF?!?!", and I was one of them, at least initially. The more I thought about it, the more I liked certain aspects of it, like Amanda Waller's lesson to Terry that he chose his own path. [[http://anbat.toonzone.net/bb/epilogue.htm This review]] convinced me of how brilliant this episode truly is, that it is supposed to be almost unbelievable. It is a {{Deconstruction}} of the SuperHeroOrigin story. --KJMackley

** I would have to agree. The episode works not only to demystify the Terry backstory, but also ties together several loose threads from [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the original series]] by cramming in so much audacious plotting that it really does take half a dozen viewings to catch all the references. At first, it appears to be a massive {{Retcon}} and very disrespectful to the legacy, but given time, it actually makes me think the whole thing was an attempt to make the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse ''more'' epic and thought-provoking, and with this in mind, it made rewatching the entire run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' more enjoyable. It gives the older, heartless Wayne a much-needed dose of lingering humanity well-hidden behind his tough facade. Without too much hyperbole, I personally now regard this as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome that stacks up well to any others in the DCAU and one of my top five ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episodes overall. --DarthWiki/MrBrownstone
** I also agree about how important multiple viewings was to this episode. It took me quite a while to realize that ''every single one'' of the DeliberatelyMonochrome flashback scenes were not, in fact, flashbacks, but mental hypothetical scenarios that went through Terry's mind after the devastating revelation. Once I figured that out, the episode [[TookALevelInBadass took about five levels in]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]]. -Batfan

** A sort of retroactive Brilliance regarding this episode: I watched the Science Channel story about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter Craig Venter's]] work with synthetic lifeforms, in which they synthesized DNA from chemicals using a sequence entered into a computer. They talked about how it might be possible to someday create custom biotech for things like medicine, fuel production, and the like. My first thought was how the technique could evolve into the ultimate conservation tool; being able to literally back up a species on a hard drive. Then I remembered this episode, and it clicked: it is now within the realm of possibility (at least by 40 years in the future) that something like Project Batman Beyond ''could'' be done. Instead of overwriting one bacterium with another, overwriting gametes with a desired set of DNA. Sci-fi becomes Sci-maybe yet again! -Tropers/GamerFromJump
** Yet another from this ep: The "Justice Lords" incident, as well as the times Franchise/{{Superman}} went rogue, probably impressed upon all concerned that the WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague functions best when all of the Big 7 are around. Of them, only Franchise/{{Batman}} was in danger of leaving a hole when he finally died for real. Superman, Franchise/WonderWoman, and ComicBook/MartianManhunter are all [[{{Immortality}} nigh-immortal]], ComicBook/TheFlash has had various successors, the Comicbook/{{Green Lantern}}s regularly recruit new members, and Hawkgirl would produce Warhawk in at least one continuity. Only Batman was seriously in danger of leaving no heir. Thus, he's the only one for which a "Beyond" project is even necessary, but he's ''important'' enough for it to be ''imperative''. -Tropers/GamerFromJump

** Not from this episode, but from the 2nd part of "The Call": at the end, when Terry says to the Justice League on him becoming a full member that he and Bruce (who was only a part-timer) were alike, Superman said behind his back, "More than you know." Hinting that he knew that Terry was biologically Bruce's son. Possibly foreshadowing the revelation in "Epilogue". -Tropers/LLSmoothJ

* Remember "Growing Pains", the episode of the "new look" episodes of BTAS where Robin/Tim Drake falls for an amnesic girl named Annie, only to discover she's a piece of Clayface sent to scout around for him while he recovered from his "death"? I always kind of wondered why Clayface chose to send a little girl of all things, but then it hit me: Who was the last person Clayface saw before he died (Batman aside)? Clayface was probably dazed and pulling his mind back together so the only person he could think of sending was his girl friday Stella Bates, but since he didn't have enough of "himself" to send he sent as close an approximation as he could. Seriously -- Annie's a dead-ringer for a pre-teen Stella. Intentional or not, it makes sense to me. --- johncage1000

** Something that always bothered me about the episode was that the heroes undid the change in about 5 seconds by hitting the machine really hard. But it makes perfect sense when you consider that the DCAU version of the Legion of Doom is not a world-conquering army, it's a racket that allows criminals to pull off crimes with backup. Grodd knew that the plan would never work, he just wanted a few minutes of mayhem to pull off as many heists and crimes as possible. He didn't bother to protect the device that turned everyone into gorillas because he didn't expect it to last, he just needed it to provide a few minutes of cover.
* When I first saw the ending of the ''Justice League'' episode "Wake The Dead", where Superman explains ''why'' he voted to keep Hawkgirl in the League, I just wrote it off as the Big Blue Boy Scout doing his usual speech. But then I remembered the finale of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and I realized - Superman voted the way he did '''because he's been where Hawkgirl is'''. He was made BrainwashedAndCrazy by Darkseid, and as a result, lost the whole world's trust. Even with all that, he was given a second chance. And when you remember that, there's no other way he could have voted.--Spotts1701

** Except by that point, Batman doesn't tell Nightwing to do ''anything'' anymore. Dick has already established himself as a solo act, and Bruce's relationship with Barbara seems to have been the final straw that forced him to cut the both of them off. He's nowhere in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMysteryOfTheBatwoman'' or the flashback in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' and that's because he's busy doing his own thing. He might have joined the League as a "part timer", the same as Bruce, which is why he can be seen keeping tabs on some members in "Grudge Match", but not actually getting involved. And in ''Return of the Joker'', Barbara all but confirms that he's still operating under the identity of Nightwing.

!!Fridge {{Heartwarming| Moment}}

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Bruce would don a more aggressive voice when wearing the cowl, and have a more relaxed voice when he was simply Bruce. KevinConroy doesn't switch up the voices in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. That's because whenever Bruce appears out of costume, he was with his teammates, meaning there was no reason to revert back to his playboy persona. @/{{Lionheart0}}

** Yet another from this ep: The "Justice Lords" incident, as well as the times Franchise/{{Superman}} went rogue, probably impressed upon all concerned that the WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague functions best when all of the Big 7 are around. Of them, only Franchise/{{Batman}} was in danger of leaving a hole when he finally died for real. Superman, Franchise/WonderWoman, and ComicBook/MartianManhunter are all [[{{Immortality}} nigh-immortal]], TheFlash has had various successors, the Comicbook/{{Green Lantern}}s regularly recruit new members, and Hawkgirl would produce Warhawk in at least one continuity. Only Batman was seriously in danger of leaving no heir. Thus, he's the only one for which a "Beyond" project is even necessary, but he's ''important'' enough for it to be ''imperative''. -Tropers/GamerFromJump

* Fridge/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries
* Fridge/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries
* Fridge/BatmanBeyond
* Fridge/StaticShock
* Fridge/JusticeLeague

** Also, this is a man who spent probably twenty to thirty years getting the shit kicked out of him in about a million different ways by everyone from SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker to {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}. That can't be good for your heart.

** An even crazier coincidence -- why, you may ask, was Creator/MarkHamill such a great choice to play [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Batman's most psychotic foe?]] He has "Arkham" [[MeaningfulName in his NAME!]] - Toru771

** An even crazier coincidence -- why, you may ask, was MarkHamill such a great choice to play [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Batman's most psychotic foe?]] He has "Arkham" [[MeaningfulName in his NAME!]] - Toru771

* Okay, so I just realized this while reading this article. ''Return of the Joker'' = ROTJ = ''ReturnOfTheJedi''. Who's returning in both movies? Creator/MarkHamill. - {{psychothumbs}}

** I would have to agree. The episode works not only to demystify the Terry backstory, but also ties together several loose threads from [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the original series]] by cramming in so much audacious plotting that it really does take half a dozen viewings to catch all the references. At first, it appears to be a massive {{Retcon}} and very disrespectful to the legacy, but given time, it actually makes me think the whole thing was an attempt to make the {{DCAU}} ''more'' epic and thought-provoking, and with this in mind, it made rewatching the entire run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' more enjoyable. It gives the older, heartless Wayne a much-needed dose of lingering humanity well-hidden behind his tough facade. Without too much hyperbole, I personally now regard this as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome that stacks up well to any others in the {{DCAU}} and one of my top five ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episodes overall. --DarthWiki/MrBrownstone