I still think JLU's Batman is the best version. He's got the same dark, serious attitude most modern versions have but it's tempered with little tidbits of humor, goodness, and trust. He sings. He actually smiles from time to time. This version of Batman is more than just the "Grah, I am the NIGHT!" stuff gritty interpretations love so much. He's an actual person.
Which is so funny to me, in retrospect, as I attributed this show to basically erasing their alter egos. Like they were only half themselves, only a costume. But then when they spoke about their personal lives and interests so much more impactful and special; it helped to realize them
thats the things..... hes accurate to batman every other modern batman interpretation has him as an edgy loner who hates everyone around him and thats.....just never been batman
I think what we can learn from the DCAU version of Batman is that even in the darkest of times, even if we feel we’re at our lowest and feel the most alone, we can still find the things or the people that make our lives feel whole again. Maybe we can find the strength to not be so mean to ourselves and allow happiness to seep in. At least, that’s what I always think of with this Batman anyway, and I very much hope others do too.
I really like how when Orion says "The city made a STATUE to this fool. I don't understand" and Batman says "No. You don't." he sounds actually kind of angry. Like he's upset with Orion for not seeing the value in Flash.
The way I understand the transition from jlu to beyond is all in that movie Return of the Joker. That while batman was busy with league business, he trusted Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin to protect his city. That with his broader horizons, he started giving his bat family trust in the same way. And that's when it all went wrong. When Tim got captured and jokerized, and after Harley and Joker disappeared, Bruce had an emotional overcorrection. He felt that he was going too big, and that Gotham needed his attention again. So, he resigned his league position, pushed the bat family down and away, and began his loneliest years. It's possible this was a new Trauma for him that he couldn't process properly, and like an addict ruining all the best things in his life, it broke Bruce for years until Terry began fixing him again.
If I remember correctly in the episode they travel to the future is said that something happened and killed Shayera, green lantern and probably others, so if all those deaths triggered the survivor guilt the same that he had when his parents were killed and like he did as a kid he closed himself to the world again. Batman was never a character who knew how to deal with trauma and probably any personal tragedy would push him back to his old habits.
It totally slipped my mind that Return of the Joker implies that the abduction of Tim is the turning point for the Bat Family. Yeah, that makes sense: He finally began opening up, then this horrible loss brought his life crashing down around him. That, combined with the march of time, meant he may not have even been active in the League by the time he retired. And then he just spent his retiree years stewing in bitterness over losing everything, even "the mission."
that is an interesting way of thinking about it in a way it kinda reminds me of Andrew Garfield's spider-man in no way home he finally had happiness in his life and started to put his faith into others but because of that one of if not the most important person in his life was taken from him by his greatest enemy at the time an ever since he's been unable to let it go and he became cold and dark and like Andrew said in the movie he stopped pulling his punches so batman in some way is kind of like a mirror to that story
Batman's key trait is that he refuses to abandon anyone. That's why he would never kill. I don't buy the "we'd be no better than them" angle. When someone is at their darkest place, he's the one person who will always try to save them. But that's also why he can't bear the thought of sacrificing someone who needed help for his own happiness.
I never considered that JLU’s Batman’s run in with Beyond Bruce would have opened his eyes and altered his trajectory later in life. Definitely how I’m gonna look at it from now on
In the tie in comics, i heard it alludes to Damien Wayne’s birth and Bruce having to be anchored to take care of such a young kid that is literally biologically his son is a large part of what changed him considering he had to be present and around the kid way more often than ever before (not far off from tim) So essentially implying that Batman beyond really was just a possible future but not something that’s 1:1 guaranteed to be a thing that happens And honestly hearing that put me at ease for this version of Bruce for the first time in years So if you wanna see it that way, one of the “true timelines” may be exactly the same as Batman beyond’s but Bruce just has all his friends this time due to officially having to finally settle down as a parent
As a victim of violent trauma myself, I have to disagree with one of your ending interpretations on this one. I don't believe, for a moment, that Bruce could have been there for other traumatized people if he hadn't grown beyond 'the mission'. The thing I find so compelling about animated Bruce is that he clearly HAS grown far past that broken little boy, crying in a rain-soaked alley. And he tries to hide it - from himself most of all. There's this feeling, after trauma... that no one can be there for you like you need. That, ultimately, no matter how well intentioned everyone else may be... you're on your own. Only you can pull yourself out of the hell you've found yourself in. Like Bruce's outlook, it's a paradox that's both completely true and absolutely false: No one CAN be there like you need, but you're NOT alone. Many of us CAN'T pull ourselves out of that hell alone - but when you're down there, no matter how many people are there for you, they can't pull you out unless you pull your hardest. Bruce denies that he's moved on - that he CAN move on - because I think he believes that it's only within that feeling - only from within that hell - that he can be what no one could be for him: either a savior to prevent the trauma, or that one last way out of hell. And if he ever took Clark or Dick or Alfred or Wally or Diana's hand, if he ever climbed out his hell... who would be in that hell, a heaven-sent nightmare against all the horrors of the night, to help the next little boy, crying over his dead parents in a rain-soaked alley? In a twisted, and 100% relatable way, I think Bruce feels that, as long as his spot in hell is filled... there's, quite simply, less room in hell for others to suffer. He's wrong, he's heroic, and he's beautiful: the moments that stand out to most of us are those moments when Bruce MUST risk that vulnerability of being out in the world. When he shows how deeply he cares for others - even his own villains. Maybe ESPECIALLY his villains, most of whom are in the same hell he is, existentially trapped by the wrongs done to them. Batman could never exist, if Bruce was trapped in his trauma. And Batman could never exist if Bruce dealt with his trauma. So Bruce isn't trapped: he chooses to stay, and I doubt he really understands why, except that it's for the sake of a better world. All of which makes me wonder... who could Batman really be, if Bruce was able to accept himself as one whole person?
@Mike I mean, I'm curious what you get out of pointing that out. I shared my interpretation of Batman with people. That was worth my time - and apparently several other people's time to read. What, exactly, did you get for the time you spent on your reply?
I know it's not the same universe, but Flash giving Bruce his father's message in Flashpoint still gets me sometimes. Your connection between Wally and Bruce reminded me of it in a way.
Static Shock's season 4 opening episode, Future Shock, shows that Batman never lost his connection to the superhero world. He even planned to leave that area of the Bat-Cave clear, so Static's time travel would go smoothly. It's a retcon, since it's a story from after Batman Beyond's final episode, but it helps bridge the gap between Batman's personality change. Showing that he's not actually disconnected, just a grumpy old man. Which gets even the best of the best, of real humans, in the public eye. Bob Barker and Alex Trebek are still beloved game show hosts, yet when they stopped, they were grumpy old men, but no one would believe that either of them were completely cut off from others.
@@nancykerrigan Stopping because of death is still stopping. If you go and watch some of the later seasons, Alex has far less patience than he did decades ago, in the ways that old men do. But I don't fault him for it, I'll probably be a grumpy old man too, it's normal and not offensive.
@@corystarkiller I think it only really becomes offensive depending on the context who it’s coming out towards, how and why lol. There’s definitely a difference between being mad at how Medicare and the company behind your insurance is dicking you and your money around Vs being mad at the people trying to help you because you’re frustrated at what your life has become and just need someone to “take it out” Had to take care of about 3 elderly people in my life, mainly one, but you see all types of anger, they ain’t all pretty Tbh it’s why I believe being a kid and being elderly are the 2 worst and most horrifying periods to be alive for with how much society dicks you around
Such a great analysis! Batman's regression from JLU to Beyond always bothered me. In fact the tendency to actively ruin Bruce's happiness in comic stories is almost as bad as my frustration with pointless character deaths!
But between JLU and Beyond there's The return of joker, which explains what went down with Tim. And you know, Batman "killed" and all, there's trauma, regret and guilt consuming him after what happened to Tim, a child.
@@stardust-tt6mk yeah, but that still doesn’t answer where characters like Wally and wonder woman are It seems very out of character for either of them to just let Bruce go down such a dark path like that, ESPECIALLY Wally. The real answer (again) is just that jlu was made after and a lot of the timmverse just wasn’t planned out that far ahead But as an early 00’s kid who had all these cartoons out at the same time (except unlimited, that was still new and coming out) I only caught beyond when it was on and never saw the episode with Superman in it, but my kid brain could only rationalize Superman’s absence Like I just assumed his way of dealing with the Tim incident was just letting Batman go Not in a cold way, just in a “I miss, but I know you need space and are going through rough times, so I’m not gonna force you to come back even though I want you too. But I’m here.” Kinda way and Bruce just simply never came back Like his way of being there was just giving Bruce his space and it backfired. Wally of all them strikes me as the person who’d be far more pushy after awhile out of concern for a friend
Let’s not forget that the death of Alfred also probably played a roll in the shift. Alfred was like a second father, servant, confidant, and friend all in one. He had a connection and relationship with him different from anyone else in the League or in the Bat Family. Once Alfred died, he really was well and truly alone whenever he returned home, and it’s possible he suffered from a bit of depression after it. It’s crazy that the Timmverse gave us both the most underrated and the most cursed Batman ships, i.e. Bruce x WW and Bruce x Batgirl. It’s infuriating to no end that he went farther with the latter than the former and I think the relationship should be explored more in comics.
A moment that will also always stick with me about "Epilogue" is Terry finally getting the Batman theme music. He never has it in Batman Beyond or in his appearances in the time-travel episodes of JLU. It wasn't until "Epilogue" that his transformation from angry teen looking for redemption and a father figure to Dark Knight is finished.
I believe in the DCAU timeline, what the Joker did to Tim Drake happened after the events of Justice League, being the key event that really started driving everyone away and making Bruce regress and push others away. The Bat Embargo made showing anyone Bat related in Justice League after a point, but they were always active, and while they never knew they were gonna make a Justice League series when they did Batman Beyond, hence little details like the costumes, accepting that Tim was broken by the Joker after all that explains the transition perfectly.
Never get tired of these introspectives, i learn so much and really get to thinking. And then a joke comes along when i least expect it. It's part of the experience really.
It could be the time travel episode but regardless I think there are two timelines. Both start with BTAS and TNBA but then split between the justice league and Batman beyond stories. It just doesn’t make sense that he would regress so far after justice league
I think that a key element of Bruce's inability to show love for those around him is that Batman is the hero Bruce needed as a child. He created a selfless paragon of justice and cold rational problem-solving who was entirely unafraid and untainted by the darkness it inhabits. Regardless of the attachments he begins to form, in the DCAU at least, he can never reveal the screaming, crying child still living inside. That child needs years of living in a secure environment and formed attachments before he can ever grow into an adult, but there is absolutely no place for a man of 30-40 to be able to address that combined with the countless complications that have come from being Batman. Put another way, Batman can form alliances and even partnerships, but that part of Bruce's psyche only has elements of what the child found useful in making himself feel safe, so Batman cannot have intimacy because there's nothing deeper there - it's like if young John Connor and the Terminator shared a body; the Terminator might be able to laugh and joke because John taught him how, but his primary purpose is to protect John, so he is functionally incapable of letting others connect with John. Being friends with the Terminator does not make you friends with John Connor nor vice versa; their needs and person are different. This is exactly why I _hate_ the stories that pair Bruce with Selina Kyle citing that they are both broken; they -are- both broken, and that's exactly why they cannot help one another. Two children don't fall in love just because their caretakers do, and caretakers like Batman and Catwoman who are constructed guardians without any core values beyond protection of the inner child are incapable of being happy because their purpose for existing forbids it. Catwoman might see and care for the child in Bruce, but the moment that the child's needs conflict with the child within Selina, she has to treat it as an existential threat and cut ties. Likewise for Batman and the child within Selina, and that kind of unpredictable instability makes meaningful trust impossible.
That final episode probably explains why he became so bitter as an old man. He would have had a falling out with some of the league as they pressured him to continue as Batman since they know from previous episodes that he's one of the best and they'd have plenty of other ways to give him a second chance like the Lazarus pit, time travel, magic, experimental and alien technology, and he'd just be done the moment he had to pick up that gun and he'd definitely have had a falling out with anyone who thought he had used the device or thought that he risked too much by refusing to. Several league members even tried to follow him into the opening ace had made to go fight a traumatized little girl. This is only bolstered further by the fact that when he finds a dog that needs to be saved years later he's still thinking about that same little girl and gives the dog her name to symbolically have been able to save someone or something in her place. It clearly still weighs on him. When he says, "They all left because when it came down to it they didn't have the heart for the mission." He's talking about the one thing that he has above anyone else. Heart. The same heart Waller talks about. The heart to stop fighting and just comfort a child who needed it, to fight to save them, or to die if that's what it took and to give up everything else, friendships, love, money, status, and even Batman just to keep 1 child safe, comforted, and happy. He doesn't want anyone to suffer, but especially a child. He's willing to be a dictator when Walley is killed, but no children were harmed in the making of this dystopian dictatorship.
Special thanks to Kevin Conroy for providing the quintessential Batman for the last 30 years. His performance is what makes this journey through the years so powerful.
Bruce Wayne reminds me a lot of my dad, I didn't have a family father figure, my old man was traumatized as a kid, when he was taken advantage by a female family member an aunt or something, and had his sexual awakening at too much of an early age, and because of that he never truly grew up, which is why he was sort of a playboy and did not take women seriously, as he never mentally matured to be a true man, since he still did all the same things he enjoyed doing when he was young even when he got to his 70s, but even though he was a workaholic and was never a family man, I still feel proud to call him my dad, because he did help a lot of people in all his communities, and even though I never truly bonded with the man because of how he was, he did instill values in me even after his passing, because I learned from his mistakes and I am still learning now, I guess that is why I relate so much to Terry.
I always found it weirdly poetic that Joker eventually figured out Batman’s mental state while Bruce overtime discovered the reason behind Joker’s insanity. Both were driven by intense loss, and neither ever fully recovered :(
This is so god damn good. Lots of people don't get why I love batman so much, this essay helps illustrate some of the best reasons! I hope you blow up, man, subbed.
@4:16 great question --However the answer is obvious Batman "Regressed" because he grew up alone again - think about it. In batman Beyond hes probably outside of Martin manhunter Diana & Superman who lived of old age (that we know) aaaand even if that isn't the case losing the Bat family doesn't help him either....
I think "Return of the Joker" shows the change in timeline... It shows Bruce reconnecting with the Bat Family, and it would explain the inconsistency. I think "Epilogue" is the pre change.
My theory is the events of the "apocalypse of 09" mentioned in passing had something to do with his refusal to work with the jlu maybe he was put in a scenario where he needed to choose between a team mate (maybe wonder woman) and the mission (saving the planet) so he picked the needs of the many over his own and that solidified he doesn't want to be a team mate anymore because ultimate dcau batman has one weakness:he cares too much. He cares about every person and so he stresses about doing the most good for the most people ignoring he is part of the people he has to do good for. So in the end he chose to shed his weakness showing compassion and wears a stone mask by receding fully into the inky blackness of being batman and ONLY batman
For a moment, I thought you were going to use Batman's laugh in "Mad Love" to demonstrate his loneliness. But this gracefully connects his life through his smiles and scowls.
Love this video. I always thought about the ending of JLU and how Bruce ends up in Beyond. It made me think of the Batman of TAS and TNBA. He ditches the smiles, witty banter, and yellow bat. He has become hardened and cynical with his never ending war on crime. Of all the heroes, I think Batman feels the hurt and loss of normal people more, and Gotham is not a nice place to normal people. He probably deals with the most gruesome murders, and instances of abuse possible. The JLU is built to save the world, not stop humans from being the worst versions of themselves. When Bruce can no longer fight that war, he falls hard, it's not ego, it's empathy for all the people he can't save. BTW: Do the Bruce and Barbara video already!
Batman doesn't get heaven or hell, for him there is no happily ever after He fights until he falls, and sooner or later he will fall. To a death trap, heroic sacrifice, or a random thug. He gets a few short years of true happiness and then he starts fighting again The only reward Batman gets, is to be THE BATMAN.
Beautiful video. Only one thing I have to say, Bruce is NOT trapped. He chooses to be frozen. It's the necessity of the mission. He opens the wounds by choice to continue to remain connected to the pain around him. He has grown past it and overcame it, but knows in order to empower others, he must continually travel back to the abyss with them as a vulnerable child. Batman and Bruce are symbiotic to a degree. If Bruce were to live a happy life, he is so rich he will be disconnected from the reality, hence no Batman. If Bruce did not grow out of his trauma, then his anger and depression would push him too far and never empower others nor have mercy for those that stray, hence also no Batman. Batman anchors Bruce to continue to choose the mission and stay connected to his community. And maybe I am wrong. Maybe this is just the interpretation of a child who grew up in so much trauma but was inspired by BTAS, JLU, and my faith to start our nonprofit to empower our community. But anyway, that's how I see it. Regardless, this was a beautiful video.
i loved how in dewth of the family in the case where batman dies saving jason everyone comes to jason to tell him how good a friend batman was wich surprises him how these superhumans would talk so big about a person with no powers
On the topic of frozen child. I thought you would mention that in the epsiode with superman and the black mercy. While superman had a new life and future. Batman was literally unable to see past that night. His happy future was his dad just beating the guy and saving his family for eternity. He can never see past that moment.
I like to think that the JLU timeline is separate, and Batman does grow into that complete, compassionate man with friends and family, and he doesn't regress into what we saw in Batman Beyond.
The man lived for the mission, he's only happy as long as things are related to the mission, not being able to continue the mission is what broke him (and being able to keep the mission alive through Terry brought him back somewhat)
The suggestion that Beyond was the original timeline but it was altered by Bruce's (and John's) experience of it is one I can't believe I've never heard before and a really good point. The DCAU doesn't seem to follow closed time loop rules, so in theory it could actually work. I want Watchtower Database to get on that. That being said, the Epilogue flash forward seems to be consistent with the Beyond from the show, so maybe that's all a bit too good to be true #keepepilogueasecret Edit: On second thought, Epilogue doesn't necessarily throw this theory out the window, and now I'm excited again
It would be cool if you did a video on Bruce's progression in The Batman (2004). I think it has a similar arc but overall different because he's a lighter Batman at the start
I also always assumed that what happened to Tim was what made Bruce withdraw from the League and return to the "part-time" status Superman references in Beyond. I also assumed that it was this time, with his League connections minimized, Tim and Dick out of the picture, and perhaps Jim and Alfred both having died, that Bruce and Barbara had their fling. I just can't see it happening unless Barbara's literally the only one Bruce has left to lean on.
Wait....what about Young Justice? Batman's presence in it is absolutely critical. Especially everything in Season 2 and 3 is critical to Bat Family discussions. Good vide, just surprised no young justice included. The line about Batman helping Robin where Wonder Woman accuses Batman of making sure Robin would turn out like him and he responds "So that he wouldn't"--just honestly the most powerful and demonstrative of the DCAU Batman.
I think the reason Bruce became so cynical in Batman Beyond is because of the events in "The Once and Future Thing". When young Batman asks what happened to the watch tower, Terry says it's gone and that they "lost a lot of good people that day". I think losing the last few people he had left, who were always a constant before (Flash, Superman, etc) was enough to reverse the growth from JLU.
I was actually thinking about this exact thing like a month ago. Really considering how the mantle of Batman is shown. You've summerized my own thoughts pretty well.
He could've made babies with an Amazon so beautiful she made the gods themselves jealous..but he was too obsessed with catching bad guys, and got Talia for a baby mama as a result...and not even with his consent...I WANT AMAZONIAN NINJA BABIES, DAMN IT! 😠
Dude I legit made a comment on a previous DCAU video of of yours exactly about this! This is SO COOL! This is an amazing analysis and honestly my favorite one. Exactly what I saw, the difference between justice league and batman the animated series and batman beyond. This comparison with Bruce being a child frozen in time, but having that side of him nurtured by Wally and Clark is such a cool concept. Thanks for sharing!
I just interpreted it as, and I'm sure Bruce or Terry or someone in the show mentioned this, that when he hanged up the mantle, he cut off all ties because those ppl where apart of his life as Batman. He created and grew those bonds. So maybe he felt like if he was around them, then he would be tempted to put the suit back on to help and maybe even feel a need to be with them, but Bruce valued his moral codes even more. And this new descent into loneliness started with what Joker did to Tim in Return of the Joker. Or maybe this is just my interpretation 😅
I forgot which interview it was but at a comic convention the creators for beyond didn't want to see it end but because it was being cancelled they helped end it with epilogue, the one key thing is they wanted Terry to end up with 10 considering this little catwoman batman dynamic again BUT it wasn't for completely selfish reasons and 10 managed to change her life around to an honest one alongside her brother.
I see the unseen years as being Bruce resigning himself to the fear he had back in the original series that this truly was a war without end. That for all his efforts, he would never change people - that he would never win. There’s much to be said for how different characterisations of Bruce would view that as a win - that Bruce loves being the goddamn Batman because it frees him from his trauma as he realises the power fantasy he had when he was a child - but DCAU Bruce is also a decent person who does “care for his fellow man” and wishes to leave the world a better place. And it’s in this frustration with the world that he retreats from it when he can no longer go out every night and change things. I think Tim’s tragic end has a lot to do with it, but Bruce’s desperate need to follow through on a decade’s old promise he may no longer have the heart for sees him trudge onward, building the Beyond suit when his body fails him, until finally Bruce Wayne chooses himself over the mission by picking up a gun, betraying his oath, no longer being worthy of the mission and finally being able to let it go. Terry’s arrival teaches him that Batman doesn’t belong to Bruce, and it shouldn’t live and die with one man’s frustrated obsession - that the good he’s done and can still do isn’t invalidated by the way things are - so long as he doesn’t surrender
I like the idea where when Tim Drake was capture and turn into Joker Jr, his life turn and his social connection collapse, then enforce his to focus on the mission more then his family and his friends.
As for why he regressed in Beyond back to being a lonely coot Maybe it's not the most satisfying way to write him But it's definitely real enough I know first hand that even though you had full and loving relationship and a bunch of very warm relationships with multiple people... You can just drift away from that happy person you were then and sink back into your old sad but comfortable lonelyness And it doesn't even have to be a singular, huge incident or accident that lead you back down there, it can happen gradually, even though you don't lose those people you can lose contact with those people and then the less of them you have left the less you become. Until there's just you left... And even though you try to reach out to them sometimes, or to new people it's difficult because maybe that job, or common goal isn't there anymore and you have no idea how else to connect without that common ground because you're just a lonely coot who never learned how to or that he even can externalise feelings and emotions, thus you never openly let those people know how they make you feel and how much they mean to you and they get more and they might turn reluctant because they start suspecting that you just don't care or like them anymore...
I'm the geek kinda person in everything, when I was five I thought "the mission always comes first" is the key for getting whatever you WANT in life. Idk but do we really know what we really want? (Great vid btw)
This was beautiful. I love all the ways you connected the different series and contrasted Batman in his different relationships. I think you brought to the surface the emotional reasons why Batman in the DCAU was so captivating and why he was my favorite as a kid (besides him just being a badass). I'd be curious to hear your take on Batman in the HBO Max Harley Quinn series. There was a recent episode where Harley goes into his mind and befriends a young bruce and tries to help him with his trauma. It was hilarious and brilliant and connects to a lot of the themes you talk about with Batman in the DCAU.
I think what happened to Tim and the death of the joker as well as Ace really had an effect on him and thus what eventually lead to him in his current state at the beginning of beyond.
years ago there was a crossover comic with the punisher and batman. there was this scene where the joker was mocking them, and he said he figured out what was up with them... batman uses a costume, silly gadgets instead of deadly weapons, and never kills. thats a child's ideal crime fighter. punisher straight up kills people, uses guns, and treats it like a war. that is an adult's ideal crime fighter. it was one of the best takes on batman and the punisher i've ever read before or since. the way the approach stopping evil so differently, but both are working to the same goal: making sure no one ever has to go through what they did. that lines up with how both are just stuck at the moment when their families died... both can't move on. emotionally, bruce will always be that little kid crying over his parent's bodies, and frank will always be the man who's world was shattered when his family was killed. neither can move on. they're are both emotionally trapped in amber. the only time they break out, just for a little while, is when they find partners that have the same goals and mindset: bruce with catwoman (of in the DCAU barbera... ugh) and punisher with elektra that one time? i forget, but its happened. anyways, i always found that interesting. i think the book was batman/punisher: deadly knights.
I live with the headcanon that the flashback sequence in ROTJ happens after the ending of JLU, and the guilt, shame, impotent rage, and resentment he felt towards it going as badly as it did made Bruce overcorrect--as he always does. That's also the danger of obsession, the chance of going from one extreme to another, because the middle ground just doesn't exist for someone who lives for the fringes.
*I feel like Bruce Wayne reminds me of myself, not because of money or anything. It was his heart that I can relate. Time makes me forget that feeling of warmth to be belong to others.*
Bro I genuinely dont know how you have such a little amount of subscribers. Your channels quality is that of a giant production studio. Your videos are sooo good I love them Im going to start diving into all of your videos!!! :)))))
I still think JLU's Batman is the best version. He's got the same dark, serious attitude most modern versions have but it's tempered with little tidbits of humor, goodness, and trust. He sings. He actually smiles from time to time. This version of Batman is more than just the "Grah, I am the NIGHT!" stuff gritty interpretations love so much. He's an actual person.
Couldn't have said it better myself
Which is so funny to me, in retrospect, as I attributed this show to basically erasing their alter egos. Like they were only half themselves, only a costume. But then when they spoke about their personal lives and interests so much more impactful and special; it helped to realize them
thats the things..... hes accurate to batman
every other modern batman interpretation has him as an edgy loner who hates everyone around him and thats.....just never been batman
This batman is my batman
I think what we can learn from the DCAU version of Batman is that even in the darkest of times, even if we feel we’re at our lowest and feel the most alone, we can still find the things or the people that make our lives feel whole again. Maybe we can find the strength to not be so mean to ourselves and allow happiness to seep in. At least, that’s what I always think of with this Batman anyway, and I very much hope others do too.
I really like how when Orion says "The city made a STATUE to this fool. I don't understand" and Batman says "No. You don't." he sounds actually kind of angry. Like he's upset with Orion for not seeing the value in Flash.
The way I understand the transition from jlu to beyond is all in that movie Return of the Joker. That while batman was busy with league business, he trusted Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin to protect his city. That with his broader horizons, he started giving his bat family trust in the same way.
And that's when it all went wrong. When Tim got captured and jokerized, and after Harley and Joker disappeared, Bruce had an emotional overcorrection. He felt that he was going too big, and that Gotham needed his attention again. So, he resigned his league position, pushed the bat family down and away, and began his loneliest years. It's possible this was a new Trauma for him that he couldn't process properly, and like an addict ruining all the best things in his life, it broke Bruce for years until Terry began fixing him again.
I never pieced it together that way which now makes a lotta sense
If I remember correctly in the episode they travel to the future is said that something happened and killed Shayera, green lantern and probably others, so if all those deaths triggered the survivor guilt the same that he had when his parents were killed and like he did as a kid he closed himself to the world again.
Batman was never a character who knew how to deal with trauma and probably any personal tragedy would push him back to his old habits.
It totally slipped my mind that Return of the Joker implies that the abduction of Tim is the turning point for the Bat Family. Yeah, that makes sense: He finally began opening up, then this horrible loss brought his life crashing down around him. That, combined with the march of time, meant he may not have even been active in the League by the time he retired. And then he just spent his retiree years stewing in bitterness over losing everything, even "the mission."
I thought the same thing well said. It’s also vital to know the timeline of return of joker, jlu and beyond.
that is an interesting way of thinking about it in a way it kinda reminds me of Andrew Garfield's spider-man in no way home he finally had happiness in his life and started to put his faith into others but because of that one of if not the most important person in his life was taken from him by his greatest enemy at the time an ever since he's been unable to let it go and he became cold and dark and like Andrew said in the movie he stopped pulling his punches so batman in some way is kind of like a mirror to that story
Batman's key trait is that he refuses to abandon anyone. That's why he would never kill. I don't buy the "we'd be no better than them" angle. When someone is at their darkest place, he's the one person who will always try to save them. But that's also why he can't bear the thought of sacrificing someone who needed help for his own happiness.
Way better interpretation imo
Yeah, don't think that interpretation really works dcau Batman considering some of stuff he pulls.
I mean, he doesn't have to be *right* about being no better if he kills. He just has to believe it. I do like your take on it, though.
Would that mean he has a messiah complex?
I like this take
I never considered that JLU’s Batman’s run in with Beyond Bruce would have opened his eyes and altered his trajectory later in life. Definitely how I’m gonna look at it from now on
I think that he would have but Tim's trauma stopped that progression
In the tie in comics, i heard it alludes to Damien Wayne’s birth and Bruce having to be anchored to take care of such a young kid that is literally biologically his son is a large part of what changed him considering he had to be present and around the kid way more often than ever before (not far off from tim)
So essentially implying that Batman beyond really was just a possible future but not something that’s 1:1 guaranteed to be a thing that happens
And honestly hearing that put me at ease for this version of Bruce for the first time in years
So if you wanna see it that way, one of the “true timelines” may be exactly the same as Batman beyond’s but Bruce just has all his friends this time due to officially having to finally settle down as a parent
considering Epilogue was aired after that episode iirc, i feel like that wasn't the intention at least
As a victim of violent trauma myself, I have to disagree with one of your ending interpretations on this one. I don't believe, for a moment, that Bruce could have been there for other traumatized people if he hadn't grown beyond 'the mission'. The thing I find so compelling about animated Bruce is that he clearly HAS grown far past that broken little boy, crying in a rain-soaked alley. And he tries to hide it - from himself most of all.
There's this feeling, after trauma... that no one can be there for you like you need. That, ultimately, no matter how well intentioned everyone else may be... you're on your own. Only you can pull yourself out of the hell you've found yourself in.
Like Bruce's outlook, it's a paradox that's both completely true and absolutely false: No one CAN be there like you need, but you're NOT alone. Many of us CAN'T pull ourselves out of that hell alone - but when you're down there, no matter how many people are there for you, they can't pull you out unless you pull your hardest.
Bruce denies that he's moved on - that he CAN move on - because I think he believes that it's only within that feeling - only from within that hell - that he can be what no one could be for him: either a savior to prevent the trauma, or that one last way out of hell.
And if he ever took Clark or Dick or Alfred or Wally or Diana's hand, if he ever climbed out his hell... who would be in that hell, a heaven-sent nightmare against all the horrors of the night, to help the next little boy, crying over his dead parents in a rain-soaked alley? In a twisted, and 100% relatable way, I think Bruce feels that, as long as his spot in hell is filled... there's, quite simply, less room in hell for others to suffer.
He's wrong, he's heroic, and he's beautiful: the moments that stand out to most of us are those moments when Bruce MUST risk that vulnerability of being out in the world. When he shows how deeply he cares for others - even his own villains. Maybe ESPECIALLY his villains, most of whom are in the same hell he is, existentially trapped by the wrongs done to them.
Batman could never exist, if Bruce was trapped in his trauma. And Batman could never exist if Bruce dealt with his trauma. So Bruce isn't trapped: he chooses to stay, and I doubt he really understands why, except that it's for the sake of a better world.
All of which makes me wonder... who could Batman really be, if Bruce was able to accept himself as one whole person?
That is so well put.
You get it.
This is why I personally relate to him too.
well said. very well said.
@Mike I mean, I'm curious what you get out of pointing that out. I shared my interpretation of Batman with people. That was worth my time - and apparently several other people's time to read.
What, exactly, did you get for the time you spent on your reply?
Rest in piece Kevin Conroy, the man who made this brilliant character who he was
I know it's not the same universe, but Flash giving Bruce his father's message in Flashpoint still gets me sometimes. Your connection between Wally and Bruce reminded me of it in a way.
Static Shock's season 4 opening episode, Future Shock, shows that Batman never lost his connection to the superhero world. He even planned to leave that area of the Bat-Cave clear, so Static's time travel would go smoothly. It's a retcon, since it's a story from after Batman Beyond's final episode, but it helps bridge the gap between Batman's personality change. Showing that he's not actually disconnected, just a grumpy old man. Which gets even the best of the best, of real humans, in the public eye. Bob Barker and Alex Trebek are still beloved game show hosts, yet when they stopped, they were grumpy old men, but no one would believe that either of them were completely cut off from others.
Trebek never stopped being host before he died. And I didn't know he was grumpy.
@@nancykerrigan Stopping because of death is still stopping. If you go and watch some of the later seasons, Alex has far less patience than he did decades ago, in the ways that old men do. But I don't fault him for it, I'll probably be a grumpy old man too, it's normal and not offensive.
@@corystarkiller I think it only really becomes offensive depending on the context who it’s coming out towards, how and why lol.
There’s definitely a difference between being mad at how Medicare and the company behind your insurance is dicking you and your money around
Vs being mad at the people trying to help you because you’re frustrated at what your life has become and just need someone to “take it out”
Had to take care of about 3 elderly people in my life, mainly one, but you see all types of anger, they ain’t all pretty
Tbh it’s why I believe being a kid and being elderly are the 2 worst and most horrifying periods to be alive for with how much society dicks you around
Such a great analysis! Batman's regression from JLU to Beyond always bothered me. In fact the tendency to actively ruin Bruce's happiness in comic stories is almost as bad as my frustration with pointless character deaths!
But between JLU and Beyond there's The return of joker, which explains what went down with Tim. And you know, Batman "killed" and all, there's trauma, regret and guilt consuming him after what happened to Tim, a child.
@@stardust-tt6mk yeah, but that still doesn’t answer where characters like Wally and wonder woman are
It seems very out of character for either of them to just let Bruce go down such a dark path like that, ESPECIALLY Wally. The real answer (again) is just that jlu was made after and a lot of the timmverse just wasn’t planned out that far ahead
But as an early 00’s kid who had all these cartoons out at the same time (except unlimited, that was still new and coming out) I only caught beyond when it was on and never saw the episode with Superman in it, but my kid brain could only rationalize Superman’s absence
Like I just assumed his way of dealing with the Tim incident was just letting Batman go
Not in a cold way, just in a “I miss, but I know you need space and are going through rough times, so I’m not gonna force you to come back even though I want you too. But I’m here.” Kinda way and Bruce just simply never came back
Like his way of being there was just giving Bruce his space and it backfired.
Wally of all them strikes me as the person who’d be far more pushy after awhile out of concern for a friend
I consider Beyond a dark alternate timeline. It's a possible future, but it's not the only one.
Let’s not forget that the death of Alfred also probably played a roll in the shift. Alfred was like a second father, servant, confidant, and friend all in one. He had a connection and relationship with him different from anyone else in the League or in the Bat Family. Once Alfred died, he really was well and truly alone whenever he returned home, and it’s possible he suffered from a bit of depression after it.
It’s crazy that the Timmverse gave us both the most underrated and the most cursed Batman ships, i.e. Bruce x WW and Bruce x Batgirl. It’s infuriating to no end that he went farther with the latter than the former and I think the relationship should be explored more in comics.
Batman x batgirl is terrible but Batman x WW is great.
A moment that will also always stick with me about "Epilogue" is Terry finally getting the Batman theme music. He never has it in Batman Beyond or in his appearances in the time-travel episodes of JLU. It wasn't until "Epilogue" that his transformation from angry teen looking for redemption and a father figure to Dark Knight is finished.
I believe in the DCAU timeline, what the Joker did to Tim Drake happened after the events of Justice League, being the key event that really started driving everyone away and making Bruce regress and push others away. The Bat Embargo made showing anyone Bat related in Justice League after a point, but they were always active, and while they never knew they were gonna make a Justice League series when they did Batman Beyond, hence little details like the costumes, accepting that Tim was broken by the Joker after all that explains the transition perfectly.
Never get tired of these introspectives, i learn so much and really get to thinking.
And then a joke comes along when i least expect it. It's part of the experience really.
Gotham Knights came out recently 👀 If you need a homie to help save Gotham with, I got u 🤣
Oh cool! Who’s your main?
@@thedarkjw6219 I like to play as Robin a lot 🖐🥹
Are you on Playstation?
@@MikeRotch2020 Oh! Yeah lol I don’t really play it all that much anymore now, though
It could be the time travel episode but regardless I think there are two timelines. Both start with BTAS and TNBA but then split between the justice league and Batman beyond stories. It just doesn’t make sense that he would regress so far after justice league
I think that a key element of Bruce's inability to show love for those around him is that Batman is the hero Bruce needed as a child. He created a selfless paragon of justice and cold rational problem-solving who was entirely unafraid and untainted by the darkness it inhabits. Regardless of the attachments he begins to form, in the DCAU at least, he can never reveal the screaming, crying child still living inside. That child needs years of living in a secure environment and formed attachments before he can ever grow into an adult, but there is absolutely no place for a man of 30-40 to be able to address that combined with the countless complications that have come from being Batman.
Put another way, Batman can form alliances and even partnerships, but that part of Bruce's psyche only has elements of what the child found useful in making himself feel safe, so Batman cannot have intimacy because there's nothing deeper there - it's like if young John Connor and the Terminator shared a body; the Terminator might be able to laugh and joke because John taught him how, but his primary purpose is to protect John, so he is functionally incapable of letting others connect with John. Being friends with the Terminator does not make you friends with John Connor nor vice versa; their needs and person are different.
This is exactly why I _hate_ the stories that pair Bruce with Selina Kyle citing that they are both broken; they -are- both broken, and that's exactly why they cannot help one another. Two children don't fall in love just because their caretakers do, and caretakers like Batman and Catwoman who are constructed guardians without any core values beyond protection of the inner child are incapable of being happy because their purpose for existing forbids it. Catwoman might see and care for the child in Bruce, but the moment that the child's needs conflict with the child within Selina, she has to treat it as an existential threat and cut ties. Likewise for Batman and the child within Selina, and that kind of unpredictable instability makes meaningful trust impossible.
RIP Kevin Conroy, he gave us the best Batman ever.
Kevin fucking Conroy. Immortal in our hearts.
That final episode probably explains why he became so bitter as an old man. He would have had a falling out with some of the league as they pressured him to continue as Batman since they know from previous episodes that he's one of the best and they'd have plenty of other ways to give him a second chance like the Lazarus pit, time travel, magic, experimental and alien technology, and he'd just be done the moment he had to pick up that gun and he'd definitely have had a falling out with anyone who thought he had used the device or thought that he risked too much by refusing to. Several league members even tried to follow him into the opening ace had made to go fight a traumatized little girl. This is only bolstered further by the fact that when he finds a dog that needs to be saved years later he's still thinking about that same little girl and gives the dog her name to symbolically have been able to save someone or something in her place. It clearly still weighs on him. When he says, "They all left because when it came down to it they didn't have the heart for the mission." He's talking about the one thing that he has above anyone else. Heart. The same heart Waller talks about. The heart to stop fighting and just comfort a child who needed it, to fight to save them, or to die if that's what it took and to give up everything else, friendships, love, money, status, and even Batman just to keep 1 child safe, comforted, and happy. He doesn't want anyone to suffer, but especially a child. He's willing to be a dictator when Walley is killed, but no children were harmed in the making of this dystopian dictatorship.
Special thanks to Kevin Conroy for providing the quintessential Batman for the last 30 years. His performance is what makes this journey through the years so powerful.
And even more painful now that he's gone. Rest in peace Kevin.
He’ll always be our Batman!
Bruce Wayne reminds me a lot of my dad, I didn't have a family father figure, my old man was traumatized as a kid, when he was taken advantage by a female family member an aunt or something, and had his sexual awakening at too much of an early age, and because of that he never truly grew up, which is why he was sort of a playboy and did not take women seriously, as he never mentally matured to be a true man, since he still did all the same things he enjoyed doing when he was young even when he got to his 70s, but even though he was a workaholic and was never a family man, I still feel proud to call him my dad, because he did help a lot of people in all his communities, and even though I never truly bonded with the man because of how he was, he did instill values in me even after his passing, because I learned from his mistakes and I am still learning now, I guess that is why I relate so much to Terry.
It’s so perfect that Joker gives us the interpretive key to understanding Batman as an orphan child who can’t move on
I always found it weirdly poetic that Joker eventually figured out Batman’s mental state while Bruce overtime discovered the reason behind Joker’s insanity.
Both were driven by intense loss, and neither ever fully recovered :(
Nolan’s Batman is the only one who got a Happy Ending.
Watching this for the first time on the day Kevin Conroy passed…. Hits different. RIP Kevin Conroy.
I like to believe Beyond was the original timeline, but they fixed it so he’s happy now 😊
This is so god damn good. Lots of people don't get why I love batman so much, this essay helps illustrate some of the best reasons! I hope you blow up, man, subbed.
@4:16 great question --However the answer is obvious Batman "Regressed" because he grew up alone again - think about it. In batman Beyond hes probably outside of Martin manhunter Diana & Superman who lived of old age (that we know) aaaand even if that isn't the case losing the Bat family doesn't help him either....
I think "Return of the Joker" shows the change in timeline... It shows Bruce reconnecting with the Bat Family, and it would explain the inconsistency. I think "Epilogue" is the pre change.
The DCAS is a beautiful peace of art. Your videos just add depth to its beauty
With Kevin Conroy's passing this was a good documentary about this Batman
I miss the DCAU, when the writers actually cared about good writing.
Also...
RIP Kevin Conroy
My theory is the events of the "apocalypse of 09" mentioned in passing had something to do with his refusal to work with the jlu maybe he was put in a scenario where he needed to choose between a team mate (maybe wonder woman) and the mission (saving the planet) so he picked the needs of the many over his own and that solidified he doesn't want to be a team mate anymore because ultimate dcau batman has one weakness:he cares too much. He cares about every person and so he stresses about doing the most good for the most people ignoring he is part of the people he has to do good for. So in the end he chose to shed his weakness showing compassion and wears a stone mask by receding fully into the inky blackness of being batman and ONLY batman
For a moment, I thought you were going to use Batman's laugh in "Mad Love" to demonstrate his loneliness.
But this gracefully connects his life through his smiles and scowls.
Love this video. I always thought about the ending of JLU and how Bruce ends up in Beyond. It made me think of the Batman of TAS and TNBA. He ditches the smiles, witty banter, and yellow bat. He has become hardened and cynical with his never ending war on crime. Of all the heroes, I think Batman feels the hurt and loss of normal people more, and Gotham is not a nice place to normal people. He probably deals with the most gruesome murders, and instances of abuse possible. The JLU is built to save the world, not stop humans from being the worst versions of themselves. When Bruce can no longer fight that war, he falls hard, it's not ego, it's empathy for all the people he can't save.
BTW: Do the Bruce and Barbara video already!
I love how you have jingle bells as the background music given the parody associated to Batman
Batman doesn't get heaven or hell, for him there is no happily ever after
He fights until he falls, and sooner or later he will fall. To a death trap, heroic sacrifice, or a random thug.
He gets a few short years of true happiness and then he starts fighting again
The only reward Batman gets, is to be THE BATMAN.
Your videos are personal (and inexpensive) therapies. Can't wait for more.
Ikr? Oh man i nearly cried
Beautiful video. Only one thing I have to say, Bruce is NOT trapped. He chooses to be frozen. It's the necessity of the mission. He opens the wounds by choice to continue to remain connected to the pain around him. He has grown past it and overcame it, but knows in order to empower others, he must continually travel back to the abyss with them as a vulnerable child. Batman and Bruce are symbiotic to a degree. If Bruce were to live a happy life, he is so rich he will be disconnected from the reality, hence no Batman. If Bruce did not grow out of his trauma, then his anger and depression would push him too far and never empower others nor have mercy for those that stray, hence also no Batman. Batman anchors Bruce to continue to choose the mission and stay connected to his community. And maybe I am wrong. Maybe this is just the interpretation of a child who grew up in so much trauma but was inspired by BTAS, JLU, and my faith to start our nonprofit to empower our community. But anyway, that's how I see it. Regardless, this was a beautiful video.
i loved how in dewth of the family in the case where batman dies saving jason everyone comes to jason to tell him how good a friend batman was wich surprises him how these superhumans would talk so big about a person with no powers
On the topic of frozen child. I thought you would mention that in the epsiode with superman and the black mercy. While superman had a new life and future. Batman was literally unable to see past that night. His happy future was his dad just beating the guy and saving his family for eternity. He can never see past that moment.
I like to think that the JLU timeline is separate, and Batman does grow into that complete, compassionate man with friends and family, and he doesn't regress into what we saw in Batman Beyond.
I second that, I want to believe that 😅
it was always my personal head cannon that someone in the league died and batman regressed
When you defeat your demons, don't set yourself up for a fall thinking they'll stay beaten forever
The man lived for the mission, he's only happy as long as things are related to the mission, not being able to continue the mission is what broke him (and being able to keep the mission alive through Terry brought him back somewhat)
The suggestion that Beyond was the original timeline but it was altered by Bruce's (and John's) experience of it is one I can't believe I've never heard before and a really good point. The DCAU doesn't seem to follow closed time loop rules, so in theory it could actually work. I want Watchtower Database to get on that.
That being said, the Epilogue flash forward seems to be consistent with the Beyond from the show, so maybe that's all a bit too good to be true #keepepilogueasecret
Edit: On second thought, Epilogue doesn't necessarily throw this theory out the window, and now I'm excited again
I like the theory of 2 separate timelines. Wayne of Batman TAS and Wayne of JLU.
Your essays are always a gift, man. 👏
It would be cool if you did a video on Bruce's progression in The Batman (2004). I think it has a similar arc but overall different because he's a lighter Batman at the start
I also always assumed that what happened to Tim was what made Bruce withdraw from the League and return to the "part-time" status Superman references in Beyond. I also assumed that it was this time, with his League connections minimized, Tim and Dick out of the picture, and perhaps Jim and Alfred both having died, that Bruce and Barbara had their fling. I just can't see it happening unless Barbara's literally the only one Bruce has left to lean on.
“We must imagine Sisyphus happy” becomes “We must imagine a Bruce Wayne who is both emotionally healed and yet still Batman”
I thought it was very clear BB Bruce was pushing Terry to go away, knowing that stress was usually enough to make people leave eventually.
These DCAU videos will never get old.
This channel has become one of my favorites
The top tier content never stops
I haven’t read too many comics, but this I believe is the best version of Batman ever written
Wait....what about Young Justice? Batman's presence in it is absolutely critical. Especially everything in Season 2 and 3 is critical to Bat Family discussions.
Good vide, just surprised no young justice included.
The line about Batman helping Robin where Wonder Woman accuses Batman of making sure Robin would turn out like him and he responds "So that he wouldn't"--just honestly the most powerful and demonstrative of the DCAU Batman.
I think the reason Bruce became so cynical in Batman Beyond is because of the events in "The Once and Future Thing".
When young Batman asks what happened to the watch tower, Terry says it's gone and that they "lost a lot of good people that day".
I think losing the last few people he had left, who were always a constant before (Flash, Superman, etc) was enough to reverse the growth from JLU.
You know how you can tell when your in deep $#!+ ? When Batman Smiles. You know how you can tell your in even deeper $#!+ ? When Batman Laughs.
I was actually thinking about this exact thing like a month ago. Really considering how the mantle of Batman is shown. You've summerized my own thoughts pretty well.
I think one of the comics had a wonderful answer to the story of Batman. The reward for being Batman, is that you get to be Bruce Wayne.
He could've made babies with an Amazon so beautiful she made the gods themselves jealous..but he was too obsessed with catching bad guys, and got Talia for a baby mama as a result...and not even with his consent...I WANT AMAZONIAN NINJA BABIES, DAMN IT! 😠
I always connected the end JLU to the dark knight returns series. To me that feels more plausible.
Dude I legit made a comment on a previous DCAU video of of yours exactly about this! This is SO COOL! This is an amazing analysis and honestly my favorite one. Exactly what I saw, the difference between justice league and batman the animated series and batman beyond. This comparison with Bruce being a child frozen in time, but having that side of him nurtured by Wally and Clark is such a cool concept. Thanks for sharing!
Being surrounded by other people with the same goals brought out the best with Bruce. Secluding himself brings out his worse.
I just interpreted it as, and I'm sure Bruce or Terry or someone in the show mentioned this, that when he hanged up the mantle, he cut off all ties because those ppl where apart of his life as Batman. He created and grew those bonds. So maybe he felt like if he was around them, then he would be tempted to put the suit back on to help and maybe even feel a need to be with them, but Bruce valued his moral codes even more. And this new descent into loneliness started with what Joker did to Tim in Return of the Joker. Or maybe this is just my interpretation 😅
Well, the Return of The Joker flashback when Bruce loses Tim happens after JLU... so that's why
Yeah in that universe jason was the first robin and didn’t get killed by joker but stayed away from him
@@mangareader7474 What on Earth are you talking about? The DCAU didn't even have Jason until like 2 years ago in some probably non-canon tie in comics
@@sebastienvondoom8615 it was The White knight comic where they changed the story
@@mangareader7474 White Knight has nothing to do with this
I forgot which interview it was but at a comic convention the creators for beyond didn't want to see it end but because it was being cancelled they helped end it with epilogue, the one key thing is they wanted Terry to end up with 10 considering this little catwoman batman dynamic again BUT it wasn't for completely selfish reasons and 10 managed to change her life around to an honest one alongside her brother.
Man your videos are insane keep it up man
I see the unseen years as being Bruce resigning himself to the fear he had back in the original series that this truly was a war without end. That for all his efforts, he would never change people - that he would never win. There’s much to be said for how different characterisations of Bruce would view that as a win - that Bruce loves being the goddamn Batman because it frees him from his trauma as he realises the power fantasy he had when he was a child - but DCAU Bruce is also a decent person who does “care for his fellow man” and wishes to leave the world a better place. And it’s in this frustration with the world that he retreats from it when he can no longer go out every night and change things. I think Tim’s tragic end has a lot to do with it, but Bruce’s desperate need to follow through on a decade’s old promise he may no longer have the heart for sees him trudge onward, building the Beyond suit when his body fails him, until finally Bruce Wayne chooses himself over the mission by picking up a gun, betraying his oath, no longer being worthy of the mission and finally being able to let it go. Terry’s arrival teaches him that Batman doesn’t belong to Bruce, and it shouldn’t live and die with one man’s frustrated obsession - that the good he’s done and can still do isn’t invalidated by the way things are - so long as he doesn’t surrender
Between you and hi top films, you guysput some of the best video essays on superhero media and I love it all. Keep it up
Batman sings too! I love Am I Blue.
Love your work dude, you crush it everytime
Your vids are so well made, love it bro! Keep it up❤️
Wow I gotta say I’m in love with this channel and you’re understanding of comic’s and the characters is amazing
Why is someone always cutting onions when I see these videos?
I like the idea where when Tim Drake was capture and turn into Joker Jr, his life turn and his social connection collapse, then enforce his to focus on the mission more then his family and his friends.
As for why he regressed in Beyond back to being a lonely coot
Maybe it's not the most satisfying way to write him
But it's definitely real enough
I know first hand that even though you had full and loving relationship and a bunch of very warm relationships with multiple people... You can just drift away from that happy person you were then and sink back into your old sad but comfortable lonelyness
And it doesn't even have to be a singular, huge incident or accident that lead you back down there, it can happen gradually, even though you don't lose those people you can lose contact with those people and then the less of them you have left the less you become.
Until there's just you left... And even though you try to reach out to them sometimes, or to new people it's difficult because maybe that job, or common goal isn't there anymore and you have no idea how else to connect without that common ground because you're just a lonely coot who never learned how to or that he even can externalise feelings and emotions, thus you never openly let those people know how they make you feel and how much they mean to you and they get more and they might turn reluctant because they start suspecting that you just don't care or like them anymore...
I'm the geek kinda person in everything, when I was five I thought "the mission always comes first" is the key for getting whatever you WANT in life. Idk but do we really know what we really want?
(Great vid btw)
Another DC vid by Implicitly Pretentious? LETS GOOOOOOO
That guy at the end of the show with a smile on his face is my Batman and REFUSE to belive that JLU and Batman Byonde is the same timeline!
This was beautiful. I love all the ways you connected the different series and contrasted Batman in his different relationships. I think you brought to the surface the emotional reasons why Batman in the DCAU was so captivating and why he was my favorite as a kid (besides him just being a badass).
I'd be curious to hear your take on Batman in the HBO Max Harley Quinn series. There was a recent episode where Harley goes into his mind and befriends a young bruce and tries to help him with his trauma. It was hilarious and brilliant and connects to a lot of the themes you talk about with Batman in the DCAU.
That picture with him holding a microphone I find it funny because thats when he is singing the blues
I think what happened to Tim and the death of the joker as well as Ace really had an effect on him and thus what eventually lead to him in his current state at the beginning of beyond.
this is the only video I've seen that truly understands batman
Jlu is so happy and nice I choose to believe beyond is just an alternate timeline
Okay, your videos are amazing, don't stop.
years ago there was a crossover comic with the punisher and batman. there was this scene where the joker was mocking them, and he said he figured out what was up with them... batman uses a costume, silly gadgets instead of deadly weapons, and never kills. thats a child's ideal crime fighter. punisher straight up kills people, uses guns, and treats it like a war. that is an adult's ideal crime fighter.
it was one of the best takes on batman and the punisher i've ever read before or since. the way the approach stopping evil so differently, but both are working to the same goal: making sure no one ever has to go through what they did. that lines up with how both are just stuck at the moment when their families died... both can't move on. emotionally, bruce will always be that little kid crying over his parent's bodies, and frank will always be the man who's world was shattered when his family was killed. neither can move on. they're are both emotionally trapped in amber. the only time they break out, just for a little while, is when they find partners that have the same goals and mindset: bruce with catwoman (of in the DCAU barbera... ugh) and punisher with elektra that one time? i forget, but its happened.
anyways, i always found that interesting. i think the book was batman/punisher: deadly knights.
I live with the headcanon that the flashback sequence in ROTJ happens after the ending of JLU, and the guilt, shame, impotent rage, and resentment he felt towards it going as badly as it did made Bruce overcorrect--as he always does. That's also the danger of obsession, the chance of going from one extreme to another, because the middle ground just doesn't exist for someone who lives for the fringes.
Love the Christmas music in the back! Also i love your videos!!
I love these videos glad I found your Channel 😁
I've learned alot of things, that I don't even notice or know of and it's pretty entertaining, we need more of this dcau videos.
*I feel like Bruce Wayne reminds me of myself, not because of money or anything. It was his heart that I can relate. Time makes me forget that feeling of warmth to be belong to others.*
Stumbled across ur Chanel and I'm in love, and you're titles are creative af
This one’s particularly devastating and reminds me of that Neil Gaiman one-shot, “Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader”.
One of the best videos you made.
Why are ur uploads so gooooood
Thank you for making me want to watch the cartoons again. Again.
Barbara cradling the joker robin is still heart breaking to see
Bro I genuinely dont know how you have such a little amount of subscribers. Your channels quality is that of a giant production studio. Your videos are sooo good I love them Im going to start diving into all of your videos!!! :)))))