Batman Beyond is making a comeback. After a successful miniseries and the start of the new series, we're back to seeing adventures sent in the not-so-distant future.
Batman Beyond was a great show since it combined the concept of comic book superheroes along with the added elements of sci-fi. How could a fan of both genres not enjoy the show. It ran for 52 episodes but there was always one thing that was missing.
When setting up this the new world in the comics, the creators made a wise decision. Yes we still had Bruce Wayne to tie this futuristic world to the one we knew from comics (and the previous Batman: The Animated Series), but that was about it. With Terry McGinnis, we had a new Batman. The show's aim was to establish him as Batman along with showing us this future world and (some of) the characters living in it.
What I always wanted to know was what happened to all the other characters we knew? It would have been easy to simply give us the old villains or updated versions of them, but the show's creators chose not to go in that direction. Instead we saw new characters and villains for Terry to fight.
With so many heroes and villains in the DC Universe, doesn't it make sense that we should see futuristic versions of other characters?
== TEASER ==
There has been an updated version of the Justice League in the show and comic. This served to give us the beginning of a look at the rest of the DC Universe but I never thought it was enough.
We know that Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon and Superman are still around. In the recent Batman Beyond miniseries we saw Bat-villains such as Hush, Mad Hatter, Two-Face and Calendar Man. We also saw Lex Luthor and Metallo in Superman/Batman Annual #4. There's been mention or appearances of other minor characters but what about all the other heroes and villains?
What happened to Wonder Woman, the Flash, Superboy, Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, the Teen Titans and all their villains? It's possible some have retired or died in the line of duty but with so many different DC characters, you'd think there'd be more survivors out there.
We've seen Superman's story. He was under Starro's control and sort of gave up being a superhero. In the Superman/Batman Annual he decided to leave to check out the other worlds out there. He did give Terry a signal watch, just in case he ever needed him.
DC has announced Superman Beyond #0 (by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema). Superman will be facing a villain that's more powerful than he's ever faced before and his powers appear to be fading.
This sounds like an interesting idea but why Superman? Why not another hero that we haven't already seen in this future?
Superman Beyond #0 could be the beginning of more Beyond books. Is that a good or bad thing. I do want to see more of the Beyond world and while I have voiced my desire for this, I will admit that my wallet doesn't want to see a complete line of Beyond books.
It's clear that there is more out there. Batman Beyond may have focused on Gotham and it's plausible that Bruce could've prevented other heroes from entering his city. Now is the time to see what's happening outside of Gotham City. Let's find out what the other heroes and villains are up to. There just needs to be control over how much we get. If DC were to launch a handful of Beyond books, the concept could lose it's charm. But show me what else is out there. Is Gorilla Grodd still alive? Has Deathstroke managed to elude the grim reaper? The legacy heroes concept is big in DC so let's see who has picked up the mantle when the heroes we know today died or retired. There are so many possibilities for DC to explore and it would be a shame not to seem more of the Beyond Universe.