I was reminded today on Twitter that today was the official 19 year anniversary of Batman Beyond arriving on television. So I thought it would be a fun idea to crank out a list of my personal favorite episodes. Don't kill me on this one, I made this off the fly off the top of my head and wanted to crank this out before the day was over at the last minute.
Before we get started, let's revisit that awesome introduction movie to this series?
#10 - "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot"
This is one of my guilty pleasure episodes, mainly for the fact that we get so much screen time of Terry's classmates. For a long time, people have frowned upon the "Spider-Man vibe" that this series has at times, but c'mon they should have known what they were getting into when Bruce's successor here was a teenager in high school. I still think that it was ironic at the time whereas DC Comics/Kids WB were trying to be like Spider-Man with Batman Beyond while Marvel Comics/Fox Kids were trying to be like Batman Beyond with Spider-Man Unlimited when these shows aired roughly at the same time.
As for this episode, we get a lot of hilarious moments here as it's not really an action heavy episode, just one where you had an idea where it was going. Of course Terry's friend gets a robotic girlfriend who gets insanely jealous if he talks to other girls, so eventually you knew she was going to go mental at some point. The whole ordeal didn't even really need Batman at all, it was just a good diversion and light-hearted story from some of the more darker narratives that this iteration of Batman is commonly known for.
#9 - "Black Out"
Inque makes her first appearance in this episode with her first of many appearances in this series and later a cameo in the "Epilogue" episode of Justice League Unlimited (so we technically know that she somehow survives her fate at the end of "Inqueling"), but this one is my favorite over her later appearances. This episode as a whole serves as the "training wheels" for this new iteration of Batman as he has his first proper adversary. Bruce is there, coaching his successor with the advice to be aware of his surroundings and think on his feet. Terry is forced to take a crash course on this lesson in his first "true" outing as I thought Rebirth (Parts 1-2; mentioned below) did a poor job of showing that Terry is a worthy successor instead of just being a random guy who stole Bruce's equipment and pretends to be Batman. When shit hits the fan and Terry is forced to improvise to defeat Inque when she sneaks into the BatCave, we get a nice throwback to all of this souvenirs of Bruce's past exploits, including Mr. Freeze's cold gun, which Terry uses to defeat Inque.
#8 - "Rebirth, Part I"
I'll be completely honest. I didn't care for Terry's origin story in the first two episodes. I thought this could have been presented better as the bulk of this episode is a chore to watch initially and even more so in second half, "Rebirth, Part II", with a lackluster finale. I would have included Part II on this list, but Mr. Fixx was a poor adversary to end Terry's first outing with.
In retrospect, the best part of Rebirth, Part I was Bruce Wayne's last outing as Batman before hanging up the costume for good. That moment is so powerful that we see Bruce break his golden rule of not using guns. That's the ONLY reason that this episode ranks higher than "Black Out" if I'm honest. Batman would unintentionally break this rule later in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited when Deadman was in possession of his body to kill Devilray before he could shoot Diana/Wonder Woman from behind.
#7 - "Lost Soul"
I REALLY had to think on this one on whether or not I wanted to include this episode on this list or not. Simply put, it solves the question that a lot of people have been wondering since the series' debut. Is Batman merely the costume or the man inside it? In other words, would Terry McGinnis be able to hold his own without the advantages that the BatSuit provides? Well, we get the answer here as Terry's adversary in this episode is none other than the BatSuit being controlled by a ghost of man who had his mind digitized.
Too bad Terry didn't take up Bruce's offer to wear one of his old costumes though and merely just took the utility belt and one of Nightwing's old domino masks.
#6 - "A Touch of Curare"
Curare was a great villain in her own right that pops up in a few more episodes, but the highlight of that episode was the history on what happened between Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne that dissolved their partnership. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini always had a thing for "shipping" them together and it went as far back as an ongoing joke early into Batman: The Animated Series, despite their age differences. It was a nice nod to make that fan service canon in this continuity. Years after the fact, we would see their fantasies play out in the non-canon adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke made by same team that did this series.
Last but not least, who didn't love that moment when Barbara threw that Batarang at Curare and didn't skip a beat?
#5 - "Heroes"
It was pretty obvious that the Trio were inspired by the Fantastic Four and it made this story all that more compelling. That line between good and evil could crossed without a moments notice and this episode does a great job of displaying that. One thing I have never seen anyone mention about this episode that this was one of the first occasions where Terry had to flat out "kill" his adversaries here.
It's not flat out said as much, but it's implied that all three members of the Trio died after their battle with Terry in this episode's climax. The episode ends with Terry pretty down that he had to put those regarded as heroes to so many down. It's a tough lesson that shows Terry that everything that Batman accomplishes in his crime-fighting career isn't glamorous.
#4 - "Dead Man's Hand"
Ah... Melanie Walker/Ten... a character I wish that got more time on this show as it went on. I flat out hated her in her second appearance (hence why that episode isn't on this list), when it looked like Terry and Dana were splitsville I liked this introduction of her character as a foil of sorts to show that Dana and Terry's relationship wasn't going to last every roadblock in their way and make Terry question his current path working with Bruce as Batman. It was something I was wondering that would happen later in Terry's career as Batman, but was happy to see it sooner here to differentiate himself from Bruce Wayne's Batman and actually consider being selfish in favor of having more of a social life over his cape and cowl career. The best moment of this episode had to be the part where Ten and Batman are rushing to finish their exploits as their costumed identities as they don't want to stand the other up for their pending date, but missing the mark anyway and still finding each other and spending that tender moment with each other. The writers did a great job here of presenting Melanie as a better option over Dana in terms of Terry's love interest at this point, but it's a shame that they didn't do more with her later.
#3 - "The Call (Parts 1-2)
I would have counted these two episodes separately but it's technically one long episode anyway. This episode is high on my list as without it we wouldn't have gotten Justice League/Justice League Unlimited afterwards as it was "test run" for Bruce Timm's team at the time to pull off something of this magnitude. I also thank this episode for the introduction to this futuristic iteration of the Justice League as I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the graphic novels that spawned from their creation here that follows the events from this series in canon. As for the episode itself, there's a lot to enjoy here as we finally get some light on Bruce and Clark's history over the years and his feelings about the League as a whole in his old age. Terry proves his worth as prime candidate for membership tenfold in this episode as he manages to take down all of Justice League on his own, especially Superman being controlled by Starro.
Seriously though, who would have thought that Starro of all people would have been made into a major player in the DCAU? That alone was worth the high ranking of this two-parter.
#2 - "Out of the Past"
What's there not to like about this episode? We get to see Bruce back in his prime and rekindle his romance with Talia, only for shit to hit the fan and it's the return of Ra's al Ghul instead. The Bruce and Terry team-up here was priceless, right down to the banter.
This would be the last DCAU appearance of Ra's al Ghul too as I thought we were robbed of his appearance in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited in some fashion.
#1 - "Meltdown"
This one was a no brainer for me when I was making this list. The first half of the episode isn't really much to write home about but the final act where we get Mr. Freeze in a revamped costume AND the debut of Blight? That's where this episode truly shines as the best that this show had to offer. Freeze would get closure from his traumas that have haunted him since the start of Batman: The Animated Series while Terry would have a newfound adversary (at least for the first season) in Blight.
Before I list my honorable mentions, I want to HIGHLY recommend fans of the series take the time to check out Comicstorian's insight on what happened to this series. As always thanks for reading folks!
Honorable Mentions (No particular order here)
- Big Time - The origin story for Terry's own version of a Two-Face archetype in his rogues gallery. Terry feels responsible for creating this villainous monster.
- Betrayal - Big Time returns with Terry's guilt continuing to eat away at him until he's forced to face his former friend once again.
- The Winning Edge - Another Spider-Man-esque story with the high school jocks abusing performance enhancers that end up being Venom, the same chemical that former Batman rogue Bane used. Bane wasn't making it himself but it ends up being his own confidant who has Bane in his care reproducing the formula for his own profit. This episode is mainly on this list mainly because I crack up laughing at the fight at the end when the not-so-good doctor overdoses on Venom.
- Ascension - The season finale for Season One that pretty much wraps up Blight's character arc as the main villain for the first season. Derrick Powers' son, Paxton takes over Wayne-Powers in his place after double-crossing his father (after exposing his identity in the process) in a power play with Batman right in the middle.
- Mind Games - The introduction of the Brain Trust (along with Mandragora whose father killed Huntress' parents as that was revealed in Justice League Unlimited) with their one-time appearance in this series. The Brain Trust does appear again in the spin-off series, The Zeta Project. I was hoping that they would have done more with Tamara after this episode. Seemed like a missed opportunity.
- Zeta - The episode that pretty much spawned the spin-off, The Zeta Project. Zeta's appearance here is vastly different than his one in his own series and future appearance in this show. There's a clever easter egg in Justice League where the League are using Zeta prototypes as training dummies.
- Earth Mover - Boy, this episode is like nightmare fuel watching again in retrospect. Terry's new friend is the daughter of an alleged worker who was thought to be dead in a mining accident. Instead, he was trapped underground with the chemicals that they were trying to dispose of illegally that mutated his body and warped his mind. Fast forward to present, daddy wants his daughter back and uses his earth manipulation powers from the freak accident to bring her down below the surface. I think this is one of the very few times that we get to see the futuristic version of the Batboat/Batsubmarine in this series. I will note that this was another instance where Terry was forced to "kill" the villain of this particular episode.
- Babel - The episode opens with Bruce telling Terry about a situation where he had no idea how he was going to survive, but by some manner of luck and good fortune he did. In a bizarre twist of fate, Terry found himself in a similar situation.
- Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker (Movie) - Not an actual singular episode, but a full length movie for this series that marks the first (and last) appearance of The Joker in this timeline. The only reason it's not on this list as I would honestly couple it with the other Batman DCAU-based animated films to properly rank it.
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