Now do you believe me about why I retired?
Not entirely, but tonight I'm glad you didn't stay retired.
A hero defined by his villains, Batman
has one of the greatest rogues galleries in fiction.
But you know who has a highly underrated list of antagonists?
Batman Beyond.
The show continually introduces new villains, new concepts,
and new power sets to the world of Neo Gotham.
However, it's actually how the show utilized villains
and developed them over the course of the show that
has cemented its longevity.
What the heck was that?
A new technique, Batman.
Did you think I'd learned nothing
from our previous encounters?
When development began for Batman Beyond,
DCAU head honchos Bruce Timm had a single edict.
This would be Terry's show.
Bruce had his moment in the spotlight.
He was Batman.
Terry is Batman.
And as such, he needed a rogues gallery of fitting
ne'er-do-wells, characters that had either a personal
connection to the protagonist or characters that would push
Terry in ways that he could never have imagined.
While some of the initial villains Terry goes up against
are fairly forgettable, it's when
the show starts to bring characters
back over and over again that it really finds its stride.
Batman saved us and the animals.
Yeah, the guy is incredible, a real hero.
What I want is to change all that.
Initially, the show zeros in on developing Derrick Powers, AKA
Blight, as the central villain of Terry's world,
a dastardly businessman who becomes
irradiated and develops energy projection abilities.
He's snide, scheming, and dastardly.
However, he's really just poor man's Lex Luthor
for the majority of his appearances.
Despite being in almost all the initial 13
episodes of season one, Blight's big bad position
was abandoned fairly quickly.
Now I suggest you leave.
It's not healthy to be around me when I'm shedding.
The show pivoted into forming an overarching narrative
about Terry struggling to maintain
the balance of his secret identity, real world
responsibilities, and the ever present call of justice.
Characters like Shriek, Spellbinder, and Ink
were developed and built out in ways
that were atypical for a weekday animated show aimed at kids.
They were either given more sympathetic and complex
character backdrops, or they were
moved in darker and more homicidal directions.
Episode three of the series, titled "Blackout,"
sees the introduction of the aforementioned ink,
a freelance criminal for hire in the mold of Catwoman.
She has the ability to turn her body
into a Black, ink-like liquid.
She almost instantly developed a cult following of fans.
In her first appearance, she's a cold-hearted assassin and thief
for hire.
I'll pay you whatever you want.
No wonder I like working for you.
However, as the show progresses, she's built out even further.
"Disappearing Ink" showcases just how
destabilized the character has gotten from her first encounter
with Batman.
She's forced to accept assistance
from a lovesick fan who wants to gain powers like hers.
In both her first two appearances,
we see that she's someone with a dark side, a manipulative side,
and a keen brilliance.
There aren't many villains that can say they figured out
how to sneak into the Batcave.
And Ink does it on her first run in with Batman
and then goes head-to-head with both Terry and Bruce
and nearly beats them.
However, it's Ink's third appearance
that gives her true depth.
In "Inkling," we learn that she has
a daughter that she was forced to put up for adoption
as a baby and that all her corporate espionage was done
in the name of making money to secretly send to her estranged
offspring.
This tragic backstory pulls the character
back from being a heinous monster fueled by greed
and repositions her as a single mother who's
willing to do just about anything to support a child who
will never know her name.
They told me my trust fund was an inheritance.
I never thought I was living on stolen money.
But Ink isn't the only character that sees significant growth
over the course of the show.
The Beyond Baddie Walter Shreve, aka Shriek,
is equally as compelling.
Shriek was hired by Derek Powers to track down Bruce Wayne
and push him to the breaking point in an attempt
to get Wayne to give up his shares of Wayne Powers.
His sound-based powers proved to be both visually arresting
and narratively compelling over the course of the show.
It's pretty hard to take the concept of a sound engineer who
becomes a supervillain and make it cool.
But the Beyond team pushed his character
to impressive heights.
And in a quintessentially comics twist,
in the finale of his debut episode, he suffers an accident
and becomes deaf.
Get up.
[HIGH-PITCHED WHINE]
No! (YELLS DRAMATICALLY) No!
Shriek is one of the few villains that
seems intelligent enough to really put
Terry's Batman between a rock and a hard place.
In "Babel," episode 12 of season two,
he constructs a nearly unwinnable scenario for Terry
where he uses a piece of technology that
prevents everyone from understanding each other,
thus spawning mass chaos across Neo Gotham.
That suit of his was pretty powerful.
But I don't see how it could have
affected that much of the city.
Maybe he found some way to [GIBBERISH]..
What?
You're not making [GIBBERISH]
He says that the only way he will return things to normal
is if Terry hands himself over.
This episode revolves around Terry
having to make a choice that could potentially
set a dangerous precedent and discredit the legacy of Batman
forever.
And it's only through Shrek's brilliance as a villain
that this plot is facilitated.
This isn't how I wanted it.
You were supposed to give yourself up to me.
You should have gotten it in writing.
Funny.
See how funny you think this is.
[SCREAMING]
First appearing in the 10th episode of season one,
Spellbound, Ira Billings, AKA Spellbinder,
is a psychologist at Terry's high school
who feels as though he's not remunerated properly
for his efforts and thus takes to a life of crime.
Utilizing hallucinogenic pieces of technology
that he's developed, he starts stalking kids in the school
and forcing them to hand over valuable items under the duress
of nightmarish dream states.
In his debut appearance, it's instantly apparent
that Spellbinder is a favorite of the creative staff.
The episode feels like a cut above the rest.
The psychedelic visuals of Spellbinder's powers,
the eerie dream sequences, and even just his costume design
make the character instantly recognizable.
I don't get you, Doctor.
You're supposed to be helping kids.
You want to be my therapist?
Then here, get to know me.
Ahh!
In the eighth episode of season two,
"Hooked Up," he develops virtual reality technology
that is highly addictive.
He uses it to conscript children from the local high school
to steal for him in order to continue using the machines.
Spellbinder is an important player in the broader Batman
Beyond universe because his stories always
deal with the subconscious desires of both Bruce
and Terry.
However, in this episode, it's Max, Terry's best friend
and confidant, that gets the most development.
Her time in Spellbinder's machines
showcases to the audience that she has a fractured home life
and that all she wants is for her parents to love each other.
And to push things even further, in season two, episode 14,
"Eyewitness," we see Spellbinder manufacturing a scenario where
multiple eyewitnesses believe that Batman killed
an opponent in cold blood.
Sure, everyone knew that the original Batman would never
kill anyone.
But Spellbinder exploits the fact
that this new Batman is relatively untested
and hasn't fully secured his place
in the minds of Neo Gothamites.
Spellbinder is such a brilliant enemy
that he's using Batman's shadowy folkloric persona against him.
You were so ready to believe the worst.
It was easy.
Lock him up.
Bruce Timms' edict that Beyond was Terry's show
held true, for the most part.
Yes, OK, they had a few episodes where they brought back
old baddies like Mr. Freeze or R'as al Ghul,
but those were the exceptions that
proved just how much new territory they were covering.
' chose to create and develop original villains as opposed
to revisiting the classic characters from
Bruce's villains roster.
And it paid off.
The show blazed new ground by sticking to a specific design
remit and then digging in further and further into it.
The villains in Batman Beyond are just
as complex, intricate, and exciting as the classic Batman
villains.
They're the reason why the show succeeded.
And well, that's all we have for this episode of Nerdstalgic.
What do you think?
Was there a Batman villain that we
didn't talk about that deserves more of a spotlight?
Mad Stan, the Terrific Trio?
Let us down in the comments below.
And as always, please subscribe to the channel
to stay up to date with everything we've got going on.
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