TV SERIES · 1999– · USA
Batman Beyond
51 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (51)
- #001
The WB Television Network never allowed Bruce Wayne's age to be revealed in this series because they did not want him to be thought of as old and worn out. In an episode featuring Bruce's birthday, the writers specified his age in the first script, but had to remove it because the network would not permit it to be disclosed. Off the record, however, the producers said Bruce Wayne was around 80.
- #002
Will Friedle had never done any voice acting before auditioning for the role of Batman/Terry McGinnis in this TV series.
- #003
Alan Burnett came up with the idea of starting the series with Bruce Wayne's last night in the role of Batman.
- #004
One of the strictest rules for Saturday-morning animated series was that a gun could never be fired at the camera. This series managed to get away with it several times in the first episode of Season 2. One of those shots was even used in the episode's promotional clip.
- #005
The opening scene of the TV series, in which Batman is surrounded by all kinds of villains, was shot by producer Bruce Timm in his kitchen using an action figure spinning on a Lazy Susan.
- #006
Mr. Freeze's role in this TV series was initially going to be just a one-off gag appearance: while Terry was getting a can of soda for Bruce, he would find Mr. Freeze's disembodied head in the refrigerator in an odd moment, the two would briefly look at each other, and then Terry would close the refrigerator and hand the soda can to Bruce. This was scrapped because it was considered a humiliating and inappropriate ending for the character.
- #007
Warner Bros. hired Paul Dini and others who worked on the TV series to write a live-action screenplay based on Batman Beyond (1999). It was to be directed by Boaz Yakin, but in the end Warner Bros. opted for a film adaptation of Batman: Year One to be directed by Darren Aronofsky. The Batman: Year One project was also cancelled, and Christopher Nolan then took over, resulting in Batman Begins (2005).
- #008
Bruce Timm was initially unhappy with the original voice actor for J-Man, the leader of the Jokerz, and Alan Burnett told Timm that he should do the voice himself then. Timm reluctantly did so, and in the end Burnett and the other writers kept writing the character into many later episodes, so that Timm would be forced to voice him.
- #009
The long-time working title of this series was "Batman Tomorrow." In fact, all of the development artwork bore the title "Batman Tomorrow." The title was changed, however, because it would have been very difficult to make promotional bumpers for a series called "Batman Tomorrow."
- #010
Most of the characters in crowd scenes without dialogue are colored purple or blue so that they blend into the background.
- #011
When Bruce Wayne activates the Ultimate Bat Armor in Inque (1999), the background music plays a variation of the original Batman: The Animated Series (1992) theme.
- #012
The close-up of Bruce Wayne in the opening sequence was not CGI, but actually a model made by Glen Wong that Bruce Timm rotated and used on a Lazy Susan. Timm also shot this scene with a camera in his kitchen.
- #013
The DVD audio commentary for Rebirth: Part 1 (1999) reveals that one of the original intentions of this TV series was to shift crime from the streets of Gotham to the boardrooms, with the villains being the rich and powerful members of Gotham society. Although crime would be as widespread as in the original Batman era, the streets would actually be safer. The Jokerz street gang introduced in the same episode was to be one of the few remaining examples of "lower class" crime. This idea was never fully realized, but Derek Powers, the main villain of Season 1, was a representative of this wealthy criminal class.
- #014
Sherman Howard, who voiced Derek Powers/Blight in the TV series, was cast by the producers, who remembered that they had nearly chosen Howard to play Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Series (1996) (a role Howard had also played in all three seasons of Superboy (1988)). Since Derek Powers is a villainous corporate businessman character resembling Lex Luthor, the producers thought Howard would be perfect for the role.
- #015
The idea for this TV series came from the office of Jamie Kellner, who was head of programming at The WB Television Network at the time, after a meeting with the team behind The New Batman Adventures (1997). Kellner told them they had done a great job on the TV series, but that the series was a bit old and that Warner Bros. Animation really wanted to renew Batman so as to raise the kids' demographic and make sure children were watching it. The team thought they needed to find another sidekick, but Kellner told them he wanted a brand-new series featuring a young Batman. Kellner then told them the series had been greenlit and that they could start working on it immediately. The team was somewhat surprised at being asked to make a Batman series aimed at young people and even considered leaving. Glen Murakami was very excited about the idea and convinced everyone to make the series.
- #016
Paul Dini and Alan Burnett thought it would be a good idea if they could jump this series 50 years into the future and make it a continuation of The New Batman Adventures (1997), which they were already working on.
- #017
Jodi Benson, who played the character Aquagirl in The Call: Part 1 (2000) and The Call: Part 2 (2000), played another animated woman who lives in water: Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), the TV series The Little Mermaid (1992), and the direct-to-video films The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008).
- #018
Fingers the Gorilla in Speak No Evil (2000) is a subtle reference to Gorilla City in DC Comics.
- #019
The cell phones in Batman Beyond kept getting larger. In reality, the creative team ironically had no idea that phones would become much smaller and more practical before growing large again.
- #020
"Unmasked" (2001) was originally scheduled to air on Kids' WB on September 14, but it was pulled after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. It instead premiered on Cartoon Network.
- #021
A rejected script for the TV series featured the adult son of Superman and Lashina (from their brief relationship in "Legacy: Part 1" (2000), the finale of Superman: The Animated Series (1996)), who had already dethroned Darkseid and become the ruler of Apokolips and now set his sights on Earth. Lashina warns Earth of the invasion, so Batman joins forces with Superman and the Justice League to defend the planet. Superman also struggles with the guilt of not knowing he had a son.
- #022
While developing the TV series, Kids' WB wanted Terry's younger brother Matt McGinnis to be in on Terry's secret Batman identity. They even wanted Matt to have a hidden exit in a closet or dumpster, where a motorcycle would be kept, so that he could take part in the adventure as a Robin-like sidekick to Batman.
- #023
Kids' WB executives pushed the creative team to develop the series as a kids' show that would sell toys. Like Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Superman: The Animated Series (1996), Static Shock (2000), Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004), it was one of several kids' shows that was not actually a kids' show. At Comic-Con 2006, Bruce Timm said on a panel that although the series carried a TV-Y7-FV rating, the rating normally assigned to children's programming, he and the creative team knew it was TV-PG, the rating assigned to TV series aimed at general and adult audiences (very similar to The Simpsons' (1989) target audience). The creative team had always wanted to tell good stories and explore the themes and characters of the source material, and making a series limited to children was not something they wanted to commit to. In the end, all the DCAU series reached a large audience and became shows that appealed to every age.
- #024
The anti-technology rhetoric of Mad Stan, voiced by Henry Rollins, in "Rats" (1999) is similar to that of Rollins's character Spider in the film Johnny Mnemonic (1995), particularly his "information overload" speech.
- #025
With season 2, Kids' WB hoped a strong young girl would be let in on Terry's secret and become someone with whom he could share his adventures. It was decided that Terry's friend and classmate Max Gibson would learn Terry's secret. None of the writers liked the idea of including Max, but the channel wanted someone girls could identify with. Writer Stan Berkowitz, who said in an interview that Terry could talk to Bruce about his dual-identity problems, always found her unnecessary, and the series already had a younger entry character in Terry's little brother Matt. Berkowitz also said that in the episode "Where's Terry?" (2000) you can see what Bruce thinks of Max from the way he treats her.
- #026
Paul Dini stated that the main reason this series was made was to sell toys.
- #027
When the characters enter the Batcave, a unique monochromatic purple and blue color scheme is used on their costumes.
- #028
According to Bruce Timm at a panel, the idea of pairing the two of them (Bruce and Terry) was his, and not everyone on the production team agreed with it.
- #029
Initially, in addition to the Jokerz, other gangs paying tribute to the original Batman's rogues gallery were planned. Although a Mr. Terrific-themed gang appeared a few times, the idea was scrapped for fear it would seem repetitive and gimmicky. The idea was probably revisited for Batman: Arkham City (2011), where it was successfully implemented.
- #030
Interestingly, the scope and structure of the city in the series recall a blend of Akira (1988), Metropolis (1927), Blade Runner (1982) and Metropolis (2001). The series' creators generally acknowledged the influence of anime. The city combines the aesthetics of film noir and German Expressionism with futuristic technology from various Japanese sci-fi/cyberpunk films. Metropolis (2001) is also another film about the upper and lower classes of a "futuristic" city.
- #031
The Terrific Trio in "Heroes" (1999) is a version of the Marvel Comics superhero group the Fantastic Four.
- #032
The TV series' opening sequence is a mix of traditional animation and various other techniques. It was designed and assembled by Darwyn Cooke.
- #033
Bruce has a dog named Ace, a reference to Bat-Hound Ace, a German Shepherd who appeared in various issues of various Silver Age Batman comics.
- #034
For season 3, Glen Murakami and Bruce Timm were considering an episode in which Terry could actually go on a date with Dana, since he always gets the short end of the stick when he goes off to fight crime. The episode would have had Terry breaking his dates throughout, but finally managing to go out with Dana. Glen pitched the idea as a story to Alan Burnett. Burnett made several changes that not only caused Terry to miss just his date with Dana, but also made Dana so angry at Terry that she dumped him. Terry then went to Max and poured his heart out to her, after which Terry and Max ended up making out. Timm and Murakami were in Japan when the story was faxed to them, and when Timm read it he was furious and made an angry phone call to Burnett. Burnett said he made the changes because 1) Dana was a nagging girlfriend and it would be a surprise to viewers for Terry to make out with someone else, and 2) it would break the precedent of all those superhero TV series in which the hero keeps his life going and has a single steady girlfriend in the series.
- #035
The real name of the character called the Golem in the series' episode "Golem" (1999) (also known as "Gotham Golem") is the Galvanic Lifting Machine, or G. L. M.
- #036
The Terrific Trio from "Heroes" (1999) was planned to return in an early 2000s comic book series, but Marvel Comics objected because of their similarity to the Fantastic Four.
- #037
Sometimes, when a scene was animated too stiffly or looked really slow, a button was pressed in the editing room to play the scene at double speed. This editing technique was used on some scenes in this series.
- #038
The same opening sequence was used throughout the TV series' three seasons, including shots of some of Batman's recurring enemies: Spellbinder, the Royal Flush Gang, Inque and Blight. However, of them all only the Royal Flush Gang appeared in all three seasons, and Blight was killed off entirely in season 1.
- #039
In response to the Columbine massacre, an episode titled The Last Resort (2000) was conceived, and it turned out to be the one script the network never wanted to make. It was originally meant to be a bold prison story, but much of that boldness was lost when the writers had to make the revisions required to get the network to approve the episode.
- #040
This TV series borrows heavily from the popular anime Akira (1988), which coincidentally also features a biker gang called "the Jokers." Spelled differently, the name was carried over into the series as a reference to the infamous Batman supervillain the Joker.
- #041
The main reason for the creation of Maxine "Max" Gibson was studio demands during Season 2.
- #042
Jamie Kellner, then president of Kids' WB, kept bringing up Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) in the early meetings, saying that making a Batman series like it would be more kid-friendly. However, most of the children who watched Batman Beyond (1999) did not watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
- #043
Many fans of the series thought Terry should be with Max instead of Dana. Will Friedle agreed with them.
- #044
In Justice League Unlimited (2004), the episode Epilogue (2005) reveals that Bruce Wayne is the biological father of Terry and Matt. Bruce Timm stated that this decision stemmed partly from the fact that Warren's hair being light brown and Mary's being red made Terry and Matt having black hair genetically impossible.
- #045
Terry shares his name with the British-American producer and entrepreneur Terry McGinnis, after whom he is named.
- #046
Teri Garr, who voices Terry McGinnis's mother Mary McGinnis in the series, had previously appeared in another Batman series. Garr appeared at the very beginning of the Batman (1966) TV episode Instant Freeze (1966) and also starred alongside Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) actor Michael Keaton in the film Mr. Mom (1983).
- #047
Jamie Kellner really liked the idea of an elderly Bruce Wayne.
- #048
After Kevin Conroy's death, Will Friedle said he would not return to the role of Terry McGinnis, stating: "I don't know if I can do it again now that Kevin is gone. I think they'll have to reshape both roles. I don't think I can do it because I'm Terry and he doesn't answer like Bruce does."
- #049
This series was not Stockard Channing's first attempt to play a DC Comics character. Channing, who voices Commissioner Barbara Gordon in this TV series, had first auditioned for the role of Lois Lane in the live-action Superman (1978) film.
- #050
The character Terry McGinnis/Batman is based on Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 from Marvel Comics.
- #051
In the German version, Terry McGuinnes is voiced by Christian Stark. Some fans consider this a rather odd choice because he was also the voice of Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman: The Animated Series (1992).
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