How Geriatric Bruce Wayne Returned to Action in Batman Beyond

Welcome to Adventure(s) Time's forty-third installment, a look at classic animated series and their tie-in comic books. If you have any suggestions, great! Just leave a comment. This week's installment came from a suggestion by Gravity Falls Poland. He requested a look back on the times Bruce Wayne returned to the Batsuit in Batman Beyond continuity, which is a darned nice suggestion.

Airing on May 8, 1999, "Disappearing Inque" was the first time the aged Bruce of Beyond's reality returned to the suit. Most fans knew this was inevitable, but the episode does a credible job of saving the move as a final act surprise. Written by Stan Berkowitz and directed by Curt Geda, "Disappearing Inque" opens with Inque kept as a cryogenic prisoner, forced to endure the tedious whining of a lowly employee named Aaron Herbst. Gotham Cryogenics, disturbed by Aaron's affection for Inque, dismisses him.

Aaron responds by freeing Inque, and convincing himself he'd make a good partner for her as she attempts to regain human form. (Having lost it when frozen by Mr. Freeze's gun in her debut appearance.) He also thinks he has some shot of a romance with the villain, not picking up on her clues that she despises the loser. It's a cynical view of romantic desire, and adulthood in general. If Batman Beyond is consistent in anything, it's in presenting adults as either pathetic or cruel. An unusual take for a show nominally intended for a young audience.

Meanwhile, Terry is attempting to get his mentor to open up about his life as Batman. Young Terry assumed the mantle six months ago, but is only now receiving a tour of the Batcave. Bruce's exosuit, teased in the debut episode of the series, catches his eye. It is a cool design, so it's no surprise the producers wanted to come back to the suit. Bruce isn't willing to indulge Terry in every detail, withholding why he gave up his life as Batman.

It's a subtle callback to the first episode, assuming the audience will remember the beating Bruce took in that opening scene. The banter between Terry and Bruce doesn't lack in subtext -- Bruce is still too pained, or perhaps too proud to acknowledge why he quit as Batman. His reluctance to open up about this, after their time together, irritates Terry. It's not much of a partnership, let alone a friendship. Making Bruce a surrogate father to Terry was the most obvious way to go, so the stories seem determined to make that path a rocky one. The episodes written under the WB Network were rarely character pieces, so these brief moments were used by the producers to flesh out the cast as much as possible.

So, character motivations established and the exosuit seeded into the plot, it's time for the action sequences. Batman chases Inque and her lame sidekick Aaaron around Gotham as she procures the items she needs to retake a human form. She destroys Mr. Freeze's gun this time, preventing Batman from claiming an easy victory. Their most impressive fight occurs inside a chemical factory, a brutal showdown that has Batman taking dozens of hits and earning a bloody mouth. (Batman with blood dripping from his chin would make rare appearances here and in the original Batman. The censors probably hated it, but it worked as a shorthand for "this fight is a serious one!")

Also elevating the fight is the score from Kristopher Carter. Industrial metal mixed with an oddly synthetic choir of voices...eerie stuff. Far more Aeon Flux than anything associated with Saturday Morning. One of the greatest music cues for this series, easily.

Inque succeeds in capturing Batman, yet isn't satisfied. Having visited the Batcave in her debut, she demands "the old one," as well. She sends a message via Batman's communicator, demanding his mentor appear. Before Bruce arrives, she callously grants Aaron's wish to become like her. It...does not work out for the fellow.

Bruce arrives in disguise, foolishly falling for Inque morphing into Batman's shape. As she attempts to crush his bones, the exosuit explodes from his trenchcoat. Another fantastic music cue appears -- the Beyond take on the original Batman theme. Fans expecting Bruce to come out as the hero are in for disappointment, however. Inque is defeated when the Aaron-blob turns against her, and Batman destroys a skylight, exposing her to water. (H20 is Inque's weakness, which Terry oddly hadn't used against her until now.)

Inque disappears into the sewers, while Aaron is placed in a cell similar to Inque's. He has his own "Aaron" now, an irritating "buddy" who uses him as a mute sounding board for her trivial problems. A mean-spirited ending, not unique to this series.

This couldn't be the only time someone found an excuse for the elderly Bruce Wayne to redon the cowl, right? It's a great hook for a story, one deserving of, say, the first issue of a Batman Beyond comic.

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After graduating from a miniseries, the monthly comic based on the show was launched. Series writer Hilary J. Bader provided stories while artist Craig Rousseau adapted the look of the show to comics. Batman Beyond #1 (November 1999) presents "Grounded," a tale of the two Batmen being manipulated into a brutal battle with each other. And Terry being grounded.

There's a great "What the...?" opening, with Terry and Bruce exchanging punches atop a strange building.

Flashing back a few hours, we see Terry's mother grounding him for a bad attitude, banning him from watching television or leaving the house. This includes his afterschool job with Bruce Wayne, who isn't able to convince Terry's mother to ease the punishment. Bruce hangs up the phone, is distracted by the television, and four hours pass.

In the middle of the night, Terry's mother calls again. Terry's behavior has gotten worse, with him even hitting his younger brother before running out of the house. Concerned Terry's undergoing some kind of mental breakdown, Bruce attempts to bar him from the Batcave. He discovers to his horror that he's too late.

Bruce feels compelled to catch up to his ward, making the difficult decision to reclaim the cowl. (Notice he isn't wearing the exosuit this time, but instead his New Adventures era costume.) He catches up with Terry at the antenna relay at the KKG TV building.

We're now back to the opening, with the two Batmen battling it out. Bruce thinks he's figured the case out; Terry's under the control of the villain Spellbinder, who can manipulate brainwaves. What he doesn't realize is that he's the one under the spell. A flash from Terry's camera awakens him to the truth.

Spellbinder's broadcast missed Terry, who was grounded from TV. Bruce's subconscious, meanwhile, happily accepted a message intended for Batman. Those visions of a rogue Terry? All illusions cast by the villain.

Now aware of the plan, Terry invades Spellbinder's headquarters alone, outwitting the villain and forcing him to endure a dose of his own brainwashing. The next day, Bruce Wayne arranges a meeting with Terry's mother, concocting a story to cover for Terry's previous behavior. Terry can return to work, but his television ban has now been extended to a month.

An unthinkable punishment for a kid of the '90s. A minor inconvenience for a kid of today (or the future), who has 400,000 different screens to obsess over.

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The Wrap-Up

Design-y

Batman Beyond had no shortage of cool design elements. The exosuit always looked nice (and has been surprisingly underused over the years.) The way Terry's suit exposes this abstract tangle of circuitry when damaged is another memorable design. And, there's Spellbinder, who sports an eerie, Ditko-esque look.

Continuity Notes

Inque was hired to take out Bruce Wayne in her debut, “Black Out.” And "Grounded" reminds us that Bruce still views himself as Batman, as revealed in the episode "Shriek."

Hey, I Know that Voice

Honest-to-goodness Academy Award nominee William H. Macy plays the relatively minor role of Aaron Herbst. He was already a Hollywood A-lister at this point, so you have to assume he took these DCAU jobs because he truly enjoyed them.

Approved By Broadcast Standards & Practices

The WB Network censors again show a high tolerance with disturbing imagery, allowing the Aaron-Inque blob mess to go through.

I Love the '90s

"Grounded" assumes broadcast television antennas will still be in use forty years in the future.

Battle of the Batmen

"Disappearing Inque" is one of the standout episodes of the series, a reminder of why Inque became such a popular villain so quickly. The decision to use this story as Bruce Wayne's return to the suit, however, is puzzling. He accomplishes essentially nothing after going back into action, and has to be swiftly rescued by Terry. (Well, the glob that used to be Aaron, then Terry.) It's possible the producers didn't want Bruce to upstage the young hero, so they went out of their way to weaken Bruce in this moment.

There's a logic behind that decision, but it leads to a wasted moment. "Grounded," conversely gives Bruce plenty of action. He even saves Terry's life during their rooftop battle!

That's the Batman the audience wanted to see. Terry's not truly diminished, and Bruce still gets to act as a hero again. Not a bad way to open the Batman Beyond series.

That’s all for now. If you have any episodes of an animated series you’d like to see paired with its tie-in comic, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.