When Warner Bros. first pitched the idea of a new Batman series centered around a young Bruce Wayne, Bruce Tim I didn’t really like the idea at first. It took some convincing and an evolution of the ideas that would eventually lead to the development of Batman Beyond.
The series ended up being pretty awesome and wasn’t based on any existing comics. He was an original version of Batman and the future he lives in, 2039. In the series, he’s old and retired, but he’s also training a teenager named Terry McGinnis to become the new Dark Knight.
The show was originally pitched as a series revolving around a young Bruce Wayne, but Timm and his team have come up with something much better! One of the influences of the series was actually Buffy the Vampire Slayerwhich I thought was interesting.
In a previous interview with IGN, Batman Beyond producer Glen Murakami discussed the influence of Buffy said:
“I think Bruce wasn’t sure about the idea until he pitched it to me. I don’t know if he was related to the toy line or what, but I think about Buffy [Buffy the Vampire Slayer was airing on the WB network at the time] it was going really well for them, so I think that had some influence as well. They wanted a Buffy-like version of Batman. I remember Bruce coming back from the meeting and telling me they wanted different options. One was Bruce as a teenager before he became Batman, almost like Speed Racer who drives around helping people. But that’s before he’s Batman and before he has a Batmobile. That was one idea and I think maybe there was another idea almost like maybe Batman over time, of a different kind [of] versions of Batman.
“The reason I was interested is because I felt people were making fun of us. We did BTAS and it was like, oh, ‘Dark Deco’, film noir. Okay, guys, you know how to do this. And then we were doing Superman and it’s like, well, Superman was kind of old-fashioned too. I’m like, let’s do Batman Beyond to show people that we can do something more modern.
What they ended up developing for the series was the perfect path. It was so much more interesting than just a young Bruce Wayne, and the future setting was super bright and awesome! It was definitely out of the box and that’s one of the things I liked the most about it. Terry McGinnis was also an interesting and compelling character.
It’s interesting to find out how the desire for a teenage Batman series is inspired Buffy led to Batman Beyond we have.
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
