Hi. I wasn't sure where to put this topic, so it's going here.
I've recently been thinking about Batman Beyond, one of the more innovative concepts to come from DC, and have been kind of wondering what the property might have looked like if it had been developed as a standalone "IP" (ala Batwoman) and not as an extension of an already pre-existing one with an established history to conform to, and figured I'd pose that question here.
So here's the deal: "pitch" Batman Beyond as if Batman: The Animated Series/The New Adventures of Batman and Robin and the character's various comics appearances never existed.
Since this is my thread, I'll start:
- In the near future, Gotham City is a bustling megaopolis that has once again become rife with crime and corruption. Roving gangs - many of them modeled after supercriminals from the city's past - roam the sreets, staking out territory and terrorizing innocent citizens while an underfunded Police Department struggles to maintain peace and civility and businessmen scheme to acquire power and influence. This is a Gotham City devoid of the costumes vigilantes and heroes that once protected its streets, and it shows.
- It is in this environment of crime, corruption, violence, and vice that we're introduced to 17-year-old Terrence "Terry" McGinnis, a young man searching desperately to find a purpose in a world where many of his contemporaries have no real plans for their future. One night, Terry's girlfriend Dana is accosted by members of a street gang called The Jokerz, and Terry intervenes, starting a brawl that then leads to a motorcycle chase that ends up in the part of the city known as "Old Town", where Terry and Dana crash their motorcycle and then are forces to hide from their pursuers. While exploring their hiding place, Terry and Dana stumble across a hidden cavern filled with old computer terminals, video monitoring screens, various gadgets and weapons, several vehicles, and suits of armor that Terry realizes just have belonged to the mythical Batman, a figure he grew up hearing about in bedtime stories. Dana, creeped out by the cavern and believing their pursuers to be gone, convinces Terry to leave, but as they retrace their steps to the place where they crashed their motorcycle, they're found by the Jokerz and their leader, Terminal. Terry starts another brawl, allowing Dana to steal another motorcycle and escape, but gets thoroughly stomped on for his troubles and left unconscious. He wakes up several hours later and hikes his way back into the city, only to get a frantic call from Dana, who tells him to get home quickly.
- When he arrives, Terry finds his house crawling with police officers and learns that someone broke in and killed his father, Warren, a low-level Systems Engineer working for Powers Technologies. Evidence on the scene points to the Jokerz gang as being responsible, but the lead investigator, Mari Grayson, isn't convinced, even after she's ordered by her superiors to drop the issue and not waste resources by chasing down a "bunch of street punks".
- Terry, somewhat frustrated with the police but understanding Detective Grayson's dilemma, decides to launch his own investigation, starting by breaking into his father's office at Powers Technologies and searching for clues as to what might've motivated his father's murder. What he finds is damning: his father's bosses, Paxton Powers and his father Derek, had ordered Warren and others to develop lethal gas weapons, which they were then going to sell to foreign terrorists.
- Terry takes what he's found to the police station, intending to pass it on to Detective Grayson, but is instead intercepted by her boss, Commissioner Akins, who dismisses the evidence and tells Terry to "leave things alone". After a conversation with Dana, an angry Terry decides that it the police won't go after the Powerses, he will, and so he returns to the "Batcave" and finds a functioning "Batsuit" before heading off to intercept the gas shipments.
***
Okay, now it's everybody else's turn.
I've recently been thinking about Batman Beyond, one of the more innovative concepts to come from DC, and have been kind of wondering what the property might have looked like if it had been developed as a standalone "IP" (ala Batwoman) and not as an extension of an already pre-existing one with an established history to conform to, and figured I'd pose that question here.
So here's the deal: "pitch" Batman Beyond as if Batman: The Animated Series/The New Adventures of Batman and Robin and the character's various comics appearances never existed.
Since this is my thread, I'll start:
- In the near future, Gotham City is a bustling megaopolis that has once again become rife with crime and corruption. Roving gangs - many of them modeled after supercriminals from the city's past - roam the sreets, staking out territory and terrorizing innocent citizens while an underfunded Police Department struggles to maintain peace and civility and businessmen scheme to acquire power and influence. This is a Gotham City devoid of the costumes vigilantes and heroes that once protected its streets, and it shows.
- It is in this environment of crime, corruption, violence, and vice that we're introduced to 17-year-old Terrence "Terry" McGinnis, a young man searching desperately to find a purpose in a world where many of his contemporaries have no real plans for their future. One night, Terry's girlfriend Dana is accosted by members of a street gang called The Jokerz, and Terry intervenes, starting a brawl that then leads to a motorcycle chase that ends up in the part of the city known as "Old Town", where Terry and Dana crash their motorcycle and then are forces to hide from their pursuers. While exploring their hiding place, Terry and Dana stumble across a hidden cavern filled with old computer terminals, video monitoring screens, various gadgets and weapons, several vehicles, and suits of armor that Terry realizes just have belonged to the mythical Batman, a figure he grew up hearing about in bedtime stories. Dana, creeped out by the cavern and believing their pursuers to be gone, convinces Terry to leave, but as they retrace their steps to the place where they crashed their motorcycle, they're found by the Jokerz and their leader, Terminal. Terry starts another brawl, allowing Dana to steal another motorcycle and escape, but gets thoroughly stomped on for his troubles and left unconscious. He wakes up several hours later and hikes his way back into the city, only to get a frantic call from Dana, who tells him to get home quickly.
- When he arrives, Terry finds his house crawling with police officers and learns that someone broke in and killed his father, Warren, a low-level Systems Engineer working for Powers Technologies. Evidence on the scene points to the Jokerz gang as being responsible, but the lead investigator, Mari Grayson, isn't convinced, even after she's ordered by her superiors to drop the issue and not waste resources by chasing down a "bunch of street punks".
- Terry, somewhat frustrated with the police but understanding Detective Grayson's dilemma, decides to launch his own investigation, starting by breaking into his father's office at Powers Technologies and searching for clues as to what might've motivated his father's murder. What he finds is damning: his father's bosses, Paxton Powers and his father Derek, had ordered Warren and others to develop lethal gas weapons, which they were then going to sell to foreign terrorists.
- Terry takes what he's found to the police station, intending to pass it on to Detective Grayson, but is instead intercepted by her boss, Commissioner Akins, who dismisses the evidence and tells Terry to "leave things alone". After a conversation with Dana, an angry Terry decides that it the police won't go after the Powerses, he will, and so he returns to the "Batcave" and finds a functioning "Batsuit" before heading off to intercept the gas shipments.
***
Okay, now it's everybody else's turn.
