Many hold Batman: The Animated Series in high regards. It could be argued that Batman Beyond took Batman to a completely new level. Set in the near future, we were introduced to an older and retired Batman along with his new portage, Terry McGinnis.
With some futuristic sci-fi elements combined with the crime-fighting nature of Batman, this series showed us there was much more to Batman than just Bruce Wayne and the modern times.
DC has been releasing new comic stories set in the Batman Beyond universe. While they've been good, it wasn't until the recent reboot with Kyle Higgins taking over that we saw some big changes. BATMAN BEYOND 2.0 is showing us a slight evolution in the series. It's something that fans new and old will want to check out. Here's five reasons why the first issue blew us away.
Note: There will be some minor spoilers below!
The comic has moved a year forward
This type of storytelling always offers a great sense of mystery. If you been following the series, you've seen the adventures Terry's gone through but now we have no idea what has happened. There's bound to have been new experiences and new threats that remerged within that time.
With that, we can also assume there is the possibility of repercussions over past events. Who did Terry fight? Did he make new enemies? Has there been a price for all his activities over the past year?
This is going to be fun seeing the new stories unfold as we slowly find out what might have happened as well.
Terry has more experience as Batman
Over the course of the show and recent comics, Terry has fought all sorts of threats. With the sliding time scale in comics, we know too much time couldn't have gone by. So despite all his adventures, he still hasn't actually been Batman for as long as it's felt like for us.
We get a good indication that Terry has been busy and not just sitting around. At one point, we hear, "It's not the strangest thing you've dealt with all year" when fighting a Man-Bat.
In college and more freedom
Seeing stories with a young hero trying to balance their superhero and civilian life is always an interesting read. Seeing that young hero try to keep their alternative lifestyle from their parents has been seen over and over. Terry no longer has to worry about explaining to his mom what he's been up to or why he has long hours at "work."
There is some fun with the hero having to tip toe around but at the end of the day, that's not the main thing we'd want to see. Terry may have to worry about passing his classes but he does have the ability to run off or stay out late should he need to.
What's up with Terry and Dana?
We all know that superheroes with secret identities can sometimes have difficulty maintaining a relationship. Terry had to rush off when he was with Dana many times. She did discover his secret identity is BATMAN BEYOND #20. That should be one less thing for Terry to have to worry about but unfortunately something else came up.
While at the university, Terry sees Dana and it comes up that her broke up with her for some reason. It's an awkward reunion but we get a hint that there might be a little more to the break up than we can see. Dana clearly wants to talk about it but Terry insists it's "okay." We'll have to wait for this mystery to unravel.
Who's Terry working with now?
One of the coolest things has been Terry working with an older Bruce Wayne. In the issue's biggest shocker, we find out at the end this isn't the case. When Terry was operating as Batman in this issue, he was still in communication with someone. It's easy to assume it's Bruce, as always. At the end it's revealed to be someone else. It's pretty crazy and exciting. We won't spoil that here and hopefully you'll get the chance to read the issue before you find out.
For a new start of the franchise, things are looking great. There's plenty of action and aside from the mysteries of what has happened in Terry's life over the past year, there's also a pretty big one happening at the new Arkham Institute. If you've ever been a fan or interested in Batman Beyond, you'll be thankful we know have this new series. The first issue is available on comiXology and the series will appear in printed form in BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #1 on August 21.