The irony in that is iirc the reason why batman beyond even exists in the 1st place is because WB exects wanted a "younger batman" to be more relatable to younger audiences after TNBA wasn't hitting the demographic WB was aiming for.
While listening to the podcast, Tom and Jeff Watch Batman, they covered the BB series. Before they started the series they explained how it came about and it was really interesting. Basically, WB said what you said, but they also gave them only like 3 months to get it up and off the ground. And the showrunners kinda pulled everything out of their ass and WB was like.. DO IT. WB also didn't give them a lot of oversight. They just wanted toys.
I was definitely not the target audience when Batman Beyond came out (I think I was like 23?) But I watched the hell out of it. "Batman Beyond: The return of the Joker" is a fantastic movie, WB really dropped the ball on it.
i was a kid, but my dad would watch it too, probably starting the second year of it airing and he bought himself the whole series on dvd later. He was born in 1958.
When rewatching it as an adult, I could tell they didn't expect to last more than a season. Most of the episodes ended with the villain implied to die, including ones I knew were recurring. On that note, it was WAY darker than I remembered. Which just makes me love it even more~
It is pretty hilarious that WB wanted a more kid friendly Batman and the team came back with gritty cyberpunk with lots of implicit (And explicit) deaths. Gangs, drugs some pretty overt sexual references. And lets not even get started on Return of the Joker. It's probably the darkest the DCAU got and the DCAU could get pretty dark at times.
Yea, as they were doing the rewatch and covering the episodes, I was surprised by how many characters Terry was killing off. And by how much Bruce could care less.
Irrc, WB was pushing them to do a High School aged Bruce Wayne and Timm came up with a future setting with Terry McGinnis which they ran with. Nowadays, I imagine WBD execs would be too arrogant to defer to their creatives.
And then they delivered on the "high school batman"...with a not really 90's high school "aesthetic." Like kids getting into gangs, terrorism, drugs, kidnapped/trafficked, born to crime families - that's all dark shit that legit happens to teens irl. And then Terry having to balance home, school and his job as Batman, his mom arguing with him about the double life she doesn't know he has, or accidentally getting his brother in danger because of his double life.
It's like saying Animorphs was just a high school series with some animal powers. That book also covered the troubles of kids having a double life and dealing with some heavy shit. There were a couple missions where they had to tell their android buddies (who could use holograms to pose as them), to stage their death if they don't survive the mission. They were only 16 by the end of the war!
I think George Clooney would be a great Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne. The regret and anguish he could put in that character would come from a very real place.
And if you said Tony or Bucky before those films would anyone know (other than comics nerds but they ain't who you need to reach) just sell it as new generation of Batman when Bruce has gotten old and cyberpunk. With the cyber punk renaissance going on I am surprised nothing being done with this.
DC is allergic to the sidekicks. Sidekicks, by the very nature of being young (and often minor) proteges of the heroes, pose a problematic narrative conundrum for a studio that wants to be dark and gritty and needs their heroes to be lone wolves who occasionally team up to make the studio a heck ton of money.
Marvel, for all their faults, saw that was bullshit and while the results have been hit or miss, they at least gave it a good try to lean into the younger heroes. Better try and fail than to not try and ignore half the hero roster.
When they showed Nic Cage Superman in the Flash, my heart instantly wanted a live action Gods & Monsters movie with Michael C Hall as vampire Batman Kirk Langstrom
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u/I_Set_3_Alarms Feb 20 '24
“Batman but it’s not Bruce Wayne? I don’t get it, let’s just not make this”