No one really, uhh, wanted Batman Beyond. It seemed like a weird idea, mandated by corporate executives. But it worked, and it worked really well. It’s a cool story.
It’s a story recently explored in a mini-documentary released by IGN, who put together new and old interview footage alongside well-known stories about the show’s creation to create a slick, engaging look at the origins of the show. Batman Beyond was, for many of us of a certain age, a pivotal work in our personal superhero canons, a story that made Batman and his mythology accessible in a new way. Also, and maybe this is just me, it turned young superhero viewers onto cyberpunk. It was big.
IGN does a great job here, and if you’ve never actually heard about the origins of the show, this is a great place to start. The idea of Batman, but a teenager! at first blush sounds like an absolute disaster waiting to happen. But the people behind Batman: the Animated Series produced something that was pretty incredible. I think about Terry and his Neo Gotham a lot. This series needs a successor at some point. While Kevin Conroy is still down to do the Old Bat voice.