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PLEASE, you, and EVERYONE, if you haven't already, embrace the One True Only God YHWH Jehovah, Only One Jesus Christ His Only Begotten Son and Lord and Savior of our souls and the Only One Holy Spirit. God is good. God is love. Jesus is Lord. Jesus IS coming. Your soul depends on it! I have seen God act in my life. He saved my soul, changed my heart, changed my mind, helped people through me, took care of people in my life, people I hurt before I found God. God is the only reason I was able to reconcile with my dad before he died. God worked through Jesus Christ to save our souls. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and that God raised Him from the dead, repent of your sins, accept God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit into your heart and you will be saved. Be baptized in The Holy Spirit, and if He wills, water as well. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, that all who believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth and The Life. No one comes to the Father Jehovah God but through Him. Not long after I got saved I prayed to God for help understanding the Holy Bible, and that same day someone knocked on my door asking me if I wanted to understand the Bible. The Holy Bible says, "love thy enemy", "turn the other cheek", "If your enemy is hungry, feed him", "if he is thirsty, give him a drink", "pray for those who persecute you", "do not repay evil for evil". LORD willing, all humans may commit sin of almost every kind (gay, straight), and that's wrong, and all humans sin, as God tells us through the The Holy Bible, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." The Holy Bible also says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
I like how, although heavily inspired by Mysterio, they went with a polar opposite design. Mysterio is mostly green, spellbinder is red. Mysterio has a big blank dome helmet, but Spellbinder has a form fitting mask with lots of patterns on it. It helps make him more unique.
Such a sleek design too, it’s something I missed during the Justice League era if having more comic accurate designs. Would’ve been nice to see a more streamlined Dr Polaris, for instance.
@@SerumLake the funny thing about Robin is, when he's misused by creatives and executives he's often times the worst part of any project, however when writers do want to use him, it usually works, still those writers need to be at the top of their class to get his character just right.
Unfortunately, a very relatable problem, as we also see in other fiction like Mrs. Doubtfire (which doesn't end with full reconciliation, albeit not on a bitter sense) and Ojamajo Doremi (Aiko Senoo's family arc does end with such, but it sure took a lotta hard work).
@@michaelandreipalon359 Ojamajo Doremi is a great anime series and I didn't expect it to get mentioned in a thread about Batman Beyond but glad to see the overlap isn't just with me XD
@@sonic8005 Amusingly, I actually mentioned it a buncha times in the channel's Totally Schway podcast, to the point that I fear I'm possibly overdoing it, hehe.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Hahaha, this is news to me but believe me as even though I'm also a huge fan of it I do believe there are much worse animes to overdose on lol
I also want to add that Spellbinder complaining about how these "rich teenagers" have "no problems" actually showcases his lack of empathy and why he had no qualms exploiting them and their struggles. He minimized what they were going through in his own head and lacked any sort of care for what they are having problems with. He just looks at them as "rich teenagers" so he has no care for them in the least, they aren't going through "real struggles". But the thing he lacks any sort of thought was the given fact that these were all children, these "small problems" are going to be a lot bigger in their heads. They may not seem like "real problems" to him, but they are to those children. When you're a kid, the things you're going through seems a whole lot because it's still a struggle all while trying to learn how to regulate your emotions and the fact that you're not little anymore and are going towards a future, minimizing an issue doesn't mean it automatically goes away and you feel better. Those kids trusted him and he abused that trust and made them addicts all because he minimized their personal struggles on the basis that "they don't have real issues".
What's funny is that I'm pretty sure Bruce Timm at some point said that he wasn't even aware there already was a villain named Spellbinder before making the show.
Detestable and deceptive - nailed it, Luke. He definitely irked me more than most of the Batman Beyond villian primarily due to the abuse of his position for ill-gotten gains.
'Sleep my friend, and you will see. The dream is my reality.' In a Gotham with so much advanced tech it'd feel weird if at least one villain *didn't* try this, sort of a spiritual successor to the Mad Hatter. If they ever did make 'Arkham Beyond' Spellbinder would make a good substitute for Scarecrow, trapping Terry in illusionary worlds that he must find a way out of by deactivating something that is spinning.
Speaking out loud its a tragedy that Rocksteady chose to make a crappy Suicide Squad game instead of Arkham Beyond before shutting down their doors for good. Now that would have been a beautiful way to end the Arkham series with a bang.
@@andydrew3834 For real especially with Kevin Conroy still _alive_ back then to record lines as the old and hermit-like Bruce Wayne serving as the new "Oracle" for Terry after he resurrected Batman following the events of Arkham Knight. How awesome it would have been to explore a futuristic, Blade Runner-inspired Gotham City ridden with advanced skyscrappers and hover crafts not to mention buildings and locations referencing characters and storylines from across the Beyond series. Wasted opportunity Rocksteady.
This is exactly why I always prefer to keep a critical mind open in my everyday life since 7th grade, you never know what is going on and people are not what they appear. Spellbinder who is in a power of trust where kids can go to sort out their problems and Spellbinder takes advantage of them. This goes back to a very important quote that people need to take into consideration: “Being on the side of good, doesn’t necessarily make you a good guy.”
3:45 Ironic, Spellbinder made that Barbara ended in the same situation like her father Jim Gordon, during "Over the Edge" episode, pursuing Batman for though that he was a murderer. Making it ironic, particulary by the fact that "Over the Edge" was a nightmare of Barbara.
Honestly, Spellbinder kinda hit a bit hard for me. A school councilor with a vile ulterior motive. Someone you're supposed to count on. For me, whenever I went to the councilor, I always felt like I...couldn't trust them. I couldnt tell you why but I felt like I couldn't. Spellbinder kinda took that idea to the extreme.
I feel you there... I had a really bad councilor in high school and I never got another one after that person. Less interested in helping us with our problems and way more interested in creative ways to tear us down...
Yea I had school conseuler who something was off. It just hit what it was he was paraniod and didnt trust anybody. In some ways I pity the old man but man..
The first couselor I had tried using shame tactics. If I talked about severe problems, everything had to be my fault, all my problems stemming from me. That was their way of me taking responsibility. I grew up in a big victim blaming environment. My mother keeps acting like I should be grateful for having a counselor, that not many are willing to work with young males. Given my experience with bad counselors, thank goodness many young males don't have to deal with them. Honestly, the things that would have helped me the most as a youth, like self-defense lessons, or just being able to do more constructive activities, would have been far more beneficial than the "counseling" given. That's not to say there aren't good counselors. It honestly feels like a terrible stereotype to have so many comic book psychologists be evil. It would be good to see more acting like how counselors and psychologists should. Is Leslie Thompkins the only good psychologist that Batman has experienced?
This is exactly why I'm training as a counselor, I can't stand when people are only in it for recognition or money. I want to be someone people do trust and don't feel afraid of opening up to.
I remember having a VHS as a kid that would have three episodes on it. "Spellbound", "A Touch of Curare", and "Hooked Up". Only two of them were Spellbinder episodes, but the video had both him and Batman on the cover. It was really cool as a kid.
I always saw Spellbinder as Batman Beyond’s Scarecrow, but inverted as he seems to be more suited to trapping people in their desires rather than their nightmares. Never knew he was a preexisting character.
I used to envision an Arkham: Beyond game with Spellbinder playing a similar role to Scarecrow's in coming up with fantasy segues and nightmare sequences to combat Terry. Pity that game will likely never get made... But yes, Ira Billings is a villain we all love to hate. Empathetic but not sympathetic.
Granted, anything released after Arkham City is victimized by declining aspirations, so I'm actually GLAD there won't be an Arkham Beyond. Don't get me wrong, I still like Origins and Knight enough, but things seem to have gotten a bit off ever since Paul Dini left.
Spellbinder was one of the best Batman Beyond villains ever and one of my favourites from the show. I always looked at him as a combination of two classic BTAS villains, The Scarecrow and The Mad Hatter, one was about fear and the other about control, put them together and add in the theatrical illusions of Spider-Man's Mysterio, you get something like Spellbinder. He was very good at controlling people's minds and making them believe what they were seeing was real, hence the Scarecrow/ Hatter/ Mysterio combo approach. I loved his design and presence, he had a unique look and I thought they did a much better job with him than the one that was from the old comic books. His calming voice where he always says "don't be afraid, I don't bite" is the perfect way to lure his victims when he uses his eye orb to hypnotise them. If they ever do eventually make a live Batman Beyond movie, I would love to see Tom Cavanagh as Spellbinder as he would definitely nail his calm creepy and sinister presence. Thanks for a great video and keep up the good work
in regards to the old guy who thought he was at war. I always have had a much darker interpretation of that scene: that Spellbinder was not creating some impossible scenario, but was instead exploiting the old man's PTSD from his very real memories of being in the army and fighting in a war when he was younger.
Of course, said war shouldn't be the Vietnam War (which should be like WW2 to 2000s era schoolers in Batman Beyond's timeframe, since he seems too young to have fought there). A more accurate possibility is that it's a Middle Eastern war in the 2010s or 2020s.
@@michaelandreipalon359 ehh, they never specify exactly how far into the future the Batman Beyond get's set, it could very well have some new SEA conflict (or possibly South America if we get particularly creative)
@@themanformerlyknownascomme777 The appearance of Huey or Venom helicopters isn't helping. They're trusty even now, but aren't they supplanted by Blackhawks or some fictional DCAU successor to those already?
@@michaelandreipalon359 Oh, don't get me wrong. META-wise, the scenes are absolutely supposed to invoke Veitnam vibes from the audience, but in-universe, it isn't necessarily that simple.
@@themanformerlyknownascomme777 Suffice to say, they succeeded with the vibes, but I wish they paid more hindsightful attention to the historical timeline of their fiction, even events like 9/11, Operation Enduring Freedom, and more haven't happened yet.
6:57 It is hard to get into the other psychologist jobs from the school one, sorta of traps you in that career unless you want to spend money to get recertified. So i think at some point he wante a to help the students he would have chosen not just a general psychology major, but a school psychology one (basically most universities have branches for their psychologist programs but the main three you see are Marriage/Family Therapy, School and Clinical). Makes me thing at some point he did genuinely want to help kids. School psychologists make about half of what all the other types of psychologists make and so only people who really want to help kids choose it (these days it is about 50k a year on average, sometimes less which for something that requires a Masters is insanely pitiful) and makes affording such an expense harder than it should be
Which they were desperately trying to avoid. I remember reading in an interview that Rule One was not to make Two-Face Beyond, Killer Croc Beyond, et al, because they thought that it would turn audiences away.
Spellbinder being a psychologist who torments his own clients and puts them through illusions pretty much makes him Batman Beyond’s Scarecrow. His design without the mask also somewhat resembles Jonathan Crane.
This show was dark and gritty, and I love it. It's as if the creators had faith in the emotional fortitude of us kids, and that makes me feel proud. I wish that trend continued today.
Spellbinder has a really great design, the spiral shape in the mask alongside the giant eyeball in his hand makes for a striking image (especially on VHS covers which is where i first saw him). He's also a weirdly personal villain to Terry. He directly targeted terry's schoolmates and was a trusted school employee terry had known.A lot of spellbinder's schemes directly harm terry's friends, with the only outlier being his third appearance where he targeted batman directly (likely out of revenge). He also seems to really like hurting teens specifically, giving how many of his schemes involve at least one teen being harmed or manipualted by him. He's easily the msot stand out of terry's rogues gallery and I'msurprised he only apepared thrice.
Okay, here's something that always bothered me about Spellbinder: the fact he never thought to patent any of his illusion tech. I found Shriek a bland character, but at least he had the forethought to try and sell his inventions. If Spellbinder really wanted money, there were other, easier options available to him. It just seems off that a guy who could create such things on a high school guidance counselor's salary was even one to begin with. Really him and his motivations needed to be fleshed out more beyond "I resent kids, they're so ungrateful."
I don't think he invented any of that tech, per se. I always thought that he was repurposing existing tech and making it less safe. There was no way he could make a profit from it legitimately.
@@SerumLake Not necessarily. It's true that VR technology is pretty commonplace in Terry's time, but Spellbinder took it a step further. His illusions felt real, directly tapping into areas of the brain. If he could work out the kinks, somehow make it safer and non-addictive, I think it'd sell very well. There's certainly people who would benefit from such a device. Quadriplegics, who lost all their appendages, can experience running again or, if they were born that way, for the first time.
majority of batman (both vanilla and beyond) villians could gain millions with their powers legally. what makes them villians are their motivations in spellbinder's case guy just hates kids alot (?) idk if it wasnt for his cool gimmick hes P bland if you ask me
@@alperenakdas3479Ira acquiring his wealth via more legal means wouldn't make him any less corrupt or sadistic. If anything, it puts him in a better position to do as he pleases. Money means high priced lawyers and connections with the right people. I can totally see a rich Billings still torturing kids, just for the hell of it. I agree though, his motivations need to be fleshed out a little more. Maybe Ira was bullied when he was younger, and he resents kids because he sees his former tormentors in them. It isn't much, but it's something.
An interesting question to counter that is would an agency like the FDA be in charge and step in. Might just be that thing with mind control aspects are highly regulated and it being closer to dealing "things" than it looks at first glance.
In a way, he’s kind of like Scarecrow. They trap their victims in dreams to take advantage of them. Only Spellbinder uses fantasies instead of nightmares, which makes him more dangerous.
That scene of him callously turning off his VR machines while the kids tumbled out always got to me as a kid. Clearly demonstrates that this guy doesn’t give AF
yeah i strongly agree with your summary. spellbinder episodes always made me viscerally uncomfortable in a way none of the others quite did, that very real kind of horor
I love Beyond, it was my favorite series when I was young, followed closely by Static Shock. But I think one of, or rather two of, the things that really caught me into the show were Shriek and Spellbinder, and what they did for the series. For Shriek it had more to do with Terry then Shriek himself. In the first episode he shows up in we see Terry go undercover to research him despite Bruce not being there, it's Terry being 'Batman' in one of those less obvious ways that really made the DCAU Bruce such a good detective. And in Babel it ends with Bruce asking Terry what he would have done if it came time to answer Shriek's ultimatum, to turn himself in or let the city be destroyed. And Terry deflects to not answer, because we all know what Batman would do when that question is asked, we've seen Batman make that call before(look at the JL episode where he goes down with the Watchtower and Superman has to save him), and Terry IS Batman. But for Spellbinder there's something very personal about him that always creeped me out as much as it fascinated. When he fights Batman he uses these stock illusions to get away, basically stuff out of movies, zombies rising or beautiful waterfalls. But otherwise? He tailors these illusions to manipulate children or Barbara, he gets to know them, gets to know what they fear and what they rely on, and he ABUSES it. He turns those things against them, for his own profit despite not having much power over these things. He can't fix these broken families, he can't bring those addicts real joy, and he can't make Batman kill nor make Barbara really trust or distrust Batman, but he can use his powers to make these illusions that make THEM thinks those things are true.
You hit it on the nail! Spellbinder in my opinion has to be the most despicable villains in Batman Beyond. That man was supposed to help kids and be there for them. But instead, he would rather exploit and take advantage of their vulnerable states and use them for his own selfish gain. He gleefully delighted in taking advantage of CHILDREN to achieve his petty and selfish ambitions. That alone is just repulsive. I loved watching Batman Beyond, it’s such an amazing show. Thank you so much for talking about this cool villain!!
6:27 I don’t really agree with that. The episode was ending soon and it appears that they needed a conclusion quickly. Instead of there being a chars moment of the situation Max just out of nowhere overcomes and stops Spellbinder despite the mindset she’s in of wanting to be hooked up. Even J Reviews states this.
Spellbinder is essentially a mix between Scarecrow and Mysterio with hiw he uses his gadgets to scare and fool people 9:12 And let it be know this comic has shown that two people related to Bruce has don the Batman outfit.
I still remember Terry diving into Gotham Traffic and how much damage he took. The skin of the batsuit is torn off as he scrapes against the street while desperately boosting away from a direct impact. He crashes into a bus station, bleeding from the mouth. You can't show that on Fox!
This is remarkable timing, I'm going to be playing a Vampire The Masquerade game soon and was planning to base my character on Spellbinder. You're videos are always insightful so this is wonderful.
Spellbinder maybe inspired by Mysterio but given his connection to the mind & how entitled he is he struck me as a combination of Scarecrow & Mad Hatter
It's so cool that Spellbinder was an original Batman villain . . . but yeah when reimagining him -> Mysterio. But even Quentin Beck has some redeemability - he only tried to make a name for himself when he wanted the spotlight, he never was willing to let kids die for his success at evil. Excited for the Robin episode - especially since it's trying to combo Dick the acrobat with Tim the detective costume.
The fault of Marvel not having a high quality animated Spidey show that equals if not surpasses the DCAU's best, among others. Wish Spider-Man: Far from Home kept Mysterio as an actual isekai'd hero from another universe. That cruel plot twist really ticked me off... gods, I hate it when Multiverse Theory is sorely misused. Ah, I still remember those early tie-in comics letterboxes having lots of people argue about Grayson wearing the Tim Drake outfit.
This guy has me convinced that Mysterio would be a better batman villain than spiderman He's all about illusions and deception, which fits so well with Batman's whole duel identity thing.
He went from hypnotizing rich kids to steal random junk from their parents to giving underprivileged folks their wildest fantasies in exchange for whatever they could steal off passerby. His plans aren't the most thought out.
No, thank you! Funnily enough, it’s not from BTAS, it’s a free track from Apple’s Royalty Free library. I think it’s called Latitude? It’s only 15 seconds long so I thought it was a good fit for the end screen.
You know, what really made me curious about this guy is a fact, if he has this much in the way of technological know-how you would think he would sell his inventions for some serious bucks to the military, at least ? But nope, here he is using his inventions to get high schoolers to steal for him. He was not only Petty, but he also had no real ambition.
I haven't told you this, but thank you for these weekly videos you make. I look forward when you make a new one. It gives me more insight on facts I may not have known about otherwise, & these videos also serve as a way for me to relax for a bit. Keep it up!
As a kid i always wondered what it would look like if someone Rejected the addictive VR or someone with a tendancy to reject good things out if fear it isn't real or to good to be true
What you mentioned in the beginning about the creators initially being lukewarm about the show really resonates with how they ended it. I remember hearing that even though BB was supposedly greenlit for another season that it got dropped as soon as Justice League was greenlit. That never sat right with me, and I figure I wasn't alone because they did eventually throw fans a bone with a proper ending during the JLU run.
They definitely should’ve made a 4th episode featuring this dude! Maybe in a Team Up episode where he’s using his methods in conjunction with another to confuse and to even set up a potential Death Trap for Terry.
A former member of a school who complains about his wages who then decides to take on a creepy costume and use highly sophisticated technology to scare/trick people into believing a lie and do his bidding. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Spellbinder was Terry’s equivalent to Scarecrow…in more ways than one.
Perhaps they took a little inspiration from red dwarf too. Spellbinder's digital fantasy world sounds a lot like red dwarf's better than life, which had been featured in an episode of that show around that time.
To be honest, I never found any of McGinnis' nemeses particularly compelling. It's difficult for me to explain why other than to say that they seemed more like Hegelian beautiful souls who thought themselves to be above the general corruption of a cold, inhumane futuristic Gotham, yet they were in fact intimately bound up with and powerless before it. It didn't even feel like the new Batman decisively caused their downfall or foiled their plans; rather, he simply expedited the process of the system crushing these people underfoot. In any event, I hope this doesn't come off as too pretentious. These are just some thoughts that came to mind as I was watching the video.
Donny Grasso is voiced by the same man who voiced Max Goof in A Goofy Movie, Gear in Static Shock, and Chace Young from Xaolin Showdown! GARSH ( Goofy voice)!
Great video. Can't wait for your spotlight on BTAS Robin. I liked this iteration of Dick Grayson, and how he was presented in the show. At least in the early BTAS episodes. From what I remember he was only in an episode every once in a while early. Even as a kid I thought that made sense. He was off at college or just not always available as young people also have their own lives. Later he becomes more a of a mainstay, which is wasn't as great, but since I think Grayson is the best Robin ever I didn't mind.
If I were to take a guess Ira Billings May have initially started working at a Hamilton High to build up enough revenue so that he could then at some point open up his own practice, But of course he's working for a school so the pay isn't going to be all that good unless you're in a union that's fighting for your paycheck.
id love to see you do similar sort of video essay type things for the villains from The Batman (2004). i know you're more of a btas/dcau man, but its got tons of interesting interpretations of characters, from the new backstory of clayface to the new look of the joker, and does more with certain villains than btas, like hugo strange, or firefly, and even a couple of original villains, like D.A.V.E. or the everywhere man (though obviously nowhere near as influential as some of its predecessors original characters). who knows, maybe you could do it for the shows 20th anniversary coming up later this year, or something
Batman: Sooner or later I'll go down. It might be the Joker, or Two-Face, or just some punk who gets lucky. Or in this case, a meddlesome groupie (Barbara Gordon).
Finally, I wanted to see how you would cover Spellbinder. Also I like the idea of Robin. Especially since in many Dick becomes a son to Bruce. Maybe a video essay over Time Drake as well, since there aren't too many from Jason Todd's day as Robin. BTAS and the New Batman Adventures didn't really have Jason, and some versions that have him don't have him long. Just enough for his backstory and subsequent "Death" by Joker.
@@ZX-Gear I am not showing Ra's respect, it's just correct grammar. Ra's was born with an outie, during which time we refer to em as a 'he', by Batman Beyond, Ra's has a innie, and we call em 'she'. Bruce and Terry even refer to em as such after the big reveal. Terry: "Lady, you are sick" Bruce: "How do you think I feel? She kissed me!"
SPELLBINDER FTW! LET’S GOOOOOO! The 2nd best Beyond villain (first being Blight imo) It sucks I missed the premiere but hey at least I can finally watch it either way! LET’S GOOOOOOOOO
Spellbinder was definitely one of those villains who thought they were smart, but didn't seem to know how to apply their talents well. We already know that there's Virtual games but Spellbinder's worlds are on a completely different level even though they seem to be based on the same tech. But the best thing he can think of to do with them is charge kids by the hour on his VR setup? I wish they had explained that. Like that he tried to sell his upgraded VR realities but they were turned down due to the psychological or physical danger they had, or even pettier his setup violated a patent so he couldn't actually sell them. Maybe he doesn't care about the money and really just wants to make kids miserable.
Not going to lie I had a school counselor who was... *infamously* terrible at her job in so many ways I couldn't describe so Spellbinder in Batman Beyond truly it a lot closer to home for me than most superhero cartoon bad guys...
It's nice to *occasionally* have a villain who is just a plain old bastard. If it becomes the rule rather than the exception, though, it just wears away at the viewer/reader.
Better than the source material and somehow even a more vile villain yet fitting in with the Batman theming. A corrupted source people are supposed to trust that abuses the position making everything worse to benefit solely themselves while they claim to be the one actually helping people or showing the truth. Villain - Who can say those rich people deserved that money? That batman isn't a villain? That those children should not have happy lives... just ignore the smuggling, theft, robbery, dumping children in comas in the street (or selling them to organ harvesters) or the massive amount of money into my back account. It is what 'they' would have wanted.
Always wanted a _real_ story with both Spellbinder and Mad Stan, the idea of Spellbinder manipulating the media that Mad Stan consumes to get him to target specific people/institutions during one of his rampages always felt like a missed opportunity.
Might be wrong, but I think they reused the original design of Spellbinder for Teen Titan's Mumbo, especially since he was described as looking like a classic magician (also Glen Murakami worked on the design)
Great stuff as usual! Truly a despicable bad guy and I wish we'd seen more of his fiendish machinations. My opinion on Robin is the same as most of the inclusions on Batman's various adaptations: Batman never needed a sidekick, it was absolutely forced, and then talented creators were inspired by that constraint to tell some of the most amazing and iconic stories which could never have been told if things had stayed the same. Robin is an unnecessary addition, but easily a great one.
1:26: Yes, and I don't remember much about The Zeta Project's villains. In my opinion, any Spellbinder iteration should keep the leotard aesthetic, or at least an outfit with some resemblance to one. 2:04: I prefer the virtual world/dream world takes. The female Spellbinder really needs a costume revamp into something more conservative. The 80s and 90s are way off in their fashion tastes. (Though that's coming from me, who somehow doesn't mind what the Dirty Pair is unabashedly wearing... guess it's because they're charming on their outfits, in which the second Spellbinder isn't.) 4:45: This one gets me. It looks like the Vietnam War of the 1960s to 1970s, but this victim isn't likely to have fought that war in actuality, considering that Batman Beyond is set in what may be 2039-2042. A more accurate conflict should have been a Middle Eastern conflict in the 2010s or 2020s. 4:47: Her new family, particularly her husband, will be quite important in the episode "Armory". "Hooked Up" is quite something. Feels like a more relatable take on B: TAS' "Perchance to Dream" while foreshadowing JLU's "For the Man Who Has Everything". Could even say it's a slightly better anti-drug ep than "The Winning Edge", not that that ep is inferior because of it, mind you. 7:20: Am of the opinion that this ep is also Mad Stan's last appearance, because he's probably stuck in that VR prison permanently. The Zeta Project crossover featuring him, "Countdown", *doesn't and shouldn't* count. 7:39: Funny, I actually think that with Superman more, even before Man of Steel made that into a usual 2010s onwards trend. 7:53: Still, we do need real life VR prisons akin to Minority Report and The Matrix. Makes us innocents and lawbringers safe and happy, and also the crims and psychos perversely comforted and happy. Really good issue, Batman Beyond Vol. 2 issue 1, but I have to admit, Bruce Wayne just going into action in his TNBA suit and not, say, the JL+JLU suit or some other improved suit can be weird and homages too much on The Dark Knight Returns. Matt McGinnis really should become Robin Beyond, in my guilty opinion. Overall, those tie-in comics mentioned are easily worth reading, since they don't clash with the canon, unlike the Inque stories. Oh, don't worry. Dick Grayson, the first DCAU Robin and eventually its Nightwing, is one possible exec mandate that felt quite justified. Even his fall from Batman's trust is quite a treat to me. Now, Jason Todd becoming a thing in The Adventures Continue comics, on the other hand...
Turns out there’s a Spellbinder that appears in one episode of 2004’s The Batman, at least i think that’s what the villain is called. A so called monk that uses his abilities to steal a famous relic and that Bruce needed to break free of to beat
I find myself in a rare position of due to a combination of my political ideology of being a communist combined my lived experience I find myself more sympathetic than most to Spellbinder, at least at first. Suffice to say me and my family suffered economic hardship, me and my sister being raised by a single mother with an absent father, winters where we would have to huddle up under blankets because we could not afford the heating. Growing up I encountered many utterly out of touch children from wealthy families who were so self-absorbed in their petty problems it bordered on delusional and they lacked the capacity to even contemplate just how privileged they were and how if they simply gained a bit of perspective they might see how pathetic and trivial their problems are. To be clear, as an adult now I don't blame these children from more well off families I encountered growing up, their outlook was shaped by the class bubble they themselves grew up in and for all I know many of them did gain some wider perspective when they got older. None the less at the time it was difficult for me not to find them insufferable, especially when I was the direct victim of some of their mocking condensation for being poor and assuming I was stupid, again, they may well have been just unthinkingly echoing the rhetoric of their parents that people are poor because they are too stupid to improve their situation while they were the "deserving rich" because they were just "better" etc. The question the episodes does not address is, if Ira Billings was only interested in money from the start, why did he choose to go into becoming a child councillor at a high school? It's not a well paid job and he would know that before taking it on. It's quite possible therefore he started with genuinely good intentions of wanting to help kids but it turned out the children coming to him for counselling, being from more well off backgrounds, began over time to start rubbing him up the wrong way until he eventually become utterly disillusioned. None of that in any way excuses what he did, unlike the resentment I felt as a child myself, Ira is an adult and frankly it demonstrates he was never a competent therapist in terms of not having the understanding to place these children's attitudes and world view in a proper context in regards to their own socialisation and personal history. While the couple of options presented in the video were only looking in the context of steps he could have attempted to improve his finical situation which as a side note, being a commie, while not rejecting those "individualistic" solutions, I would add a collective one of getting active in whatever teachers or therapist unions exist if he was really being so underpaid for his work, if we examine his options in terms of his disillusionment, again working on the assumption he started out with noble intentions, he could have taken his skills to help children in a high school that is in a more economically deprived area if he finds he can only really relate to and want to help children from more struggling backgrounds. The sympathy I feel is his failure of character to overcome what are for me relatable frustrations regarding privileged kids and succumbing to it and then worse, directing it towards taking advantage of those very same children who did not choose which class the they were born into with all the ways that has impacted on them. His second appearance Hooked Up is where the barest ambiguity of the character which touches on class themes is completely ditched in favour of turning him into a complete psychopath and where I agree with Serum Lake in him crossing the line to be pretty much irredeemable. While his actions in Hooked Up do not count as a character assassination given how vague his motivations were articulated by Ira Billings in his first appearance and can even be interpreted as a flimsy throw away line he made to throw Batman off during the verbal spar part of the fight and never reflected his actual feelings, I can't help but think there was something of a missed opportunity with Spellbinder to not develop those class themes further with the central premise. What if in his twisted mind he thought he was genuinely helping the poorer kids escape from their difficult circumstances and was giving them a version of his VR for free and it was neither addictive, nor harmful while children from more affluent families got the version we saw in the episode, both because of his hatred of privileged children but also because he wants them utterly hooked so they will steal from their parents to get him the money he needs to expand his operation. While his actions from a moral standpoint would still be utterly indefensible, it would add a complexity to the character that would have made him more interesting I think.
@@SerumLake Well it’s better as a one and done, not so much an overarching thing for at least a while. I don’t expect that to last more than an episode given how long Beyond lasted on air.
I still would love seeing Matt becoming Robin Beyond in the DCAU, alongside Max becoming Oracle Beyond, an older and more disillusioned Nightwing having a cyber-monocle, and so on.
At the end of the episode, the cops find Mad Stan and wonder if they should leave them in there. If there was something like Cadimus in BB, you can bet they'd take Spellbinder's technology to imprison people. Seriously, imagine a prison where the inmates don't want to leave.
I've been re-watching the anime "Cardcaptor Sakura" and there is one episode, in particular, that loosely reminded me of Spellbinder. In the sixth episode "Sakura and Memories of Her Mother," there is a Clow Card called "Illusion." Basically, the entity from the card makes you see what you imagine in your mind. In Sakura's case, she sees her late mother and initially believes that it's her ghost. Why does this remind me of Spellbinder? Well, in it's initial form, Illusion has the look of an orb of light. Another surprise is that that episode aired in Japan in 1998. Spellbinder appeared one year later. Now, I'm not saying that the Batman Beyond team saw that episode, as I have no evidence for that. It's just a coincidence.
*(whistles)* Did not expect good old Cardcaptor Sakura getting a mention. Hope you're referring to the original Japanese dub. Neither English dub has wrought the show justice.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Thank you for the reply. To answer your question, I am referring to the original Japanese version (the only version worth watching). It truly is one of the best series I've ever seen and it's been great watching it again after 11 years. I'm still surprised at how well written it is. Initially, you would think it was just a shallow "girly" show, but it's a lot more than that. It also has some of the best music I've ever heard in an animated series. Thanks again.
@@tyrannozilla You're welcome. Believe me, mahou shoujo shows then and occasionally now are big surprises. Beats Power Rangers and cop shows (barring stuff like You're Under Arrest! and Patlabor) at most. Concurring with that. You're welcome again!
I loved spellbinder. I always love a foe using some form of illusions and trickery. just wished they did more with him. Since he was a physoologies having him see that to make people's dreams/nightmares come to life would be bone-chilling. he would be a mix of Scarecrow and professor strange.
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PLEASE, you, and EVERYONE, if you haven't already, embrace the One True Only God YHWH Jehovah, Only One Jesus Christ His Only Begotten Son and Lord and Savior of our souls and the Only One Holy Spirit. God is good. God is love. Jesus is Lord. Jesus IS coming. Your soul depends on it!
I have seen God act in my life. He saved my soul, changed my heart, changed my mind, helped people through me, took care of people in my life, people I hurt before I found God. God is the only reason I was able to reconcile with my dad before he died.
God worked through Jesus Christ to save our souls. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and that God raised Him from the dead, repent of your sins, accept God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit into your heart and you will be saved. Be baptized in The Holy Spirit, and if He wills, water as well.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, that all who believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth and The Life. No one comes to the Father Jehovah God but through Him.
Not long after I got saved I prayed to God for help understanding the Holy Bible, and that same day someone knocked on my door asking me if I wanted to understand the Bible.
The Holy Bible says, "love thy enemy", "turn the other cheek", "If your enemy is hungry, feed him", "if he is thirsty, give him a drink", "pray for those who persecute you", "do not repay evil for evil".
LORD willing, all humans may commit sin of almost every kind (gay, straight), and that's wrong, and all humans sin, as God tells us through the The Holy Bible, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." The Holy Bible also says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
@@Dagenspear You call yourself a "man of God", and yet you annoyingly spam such alienating drivel to the likes of an entertaining channel? *Smooth.*
Hope you can talk about Livewire if you have the chance
I like how, although heavily inspired by Mysterio, they went with a polar opposite design. Mysterio is mostly green, spellbinder is red. Mysterio has a big blank dome helmet, but Spellbinder has a form fitting mask with lots of patterns on it. It helps make him more unique.
Such a sleek design too, it’s something I missed during the Justice League era if having more comic accurate designs. Would’ve been nice to see a more streamlined Dr Polaris, for instance.
@@SerumLake they did have some sleek designs like Amazo for instance
Even the personalities. Mysterio is a narcissistic showman while Spellbinder is a cold sociopath.
@@SerumLake the funny thing about Robin is, when he's misused by creatives and executives he's often times the worst part of any project, however when writers do want to use him, it usually works, still those writers need to be at the top of their class to get his character just right.
Spellbinder's Orange, though.
It's amazing that that there are only two adaptations of Spellbinder are out there but both them manage to be better than the source material.
The only Spellbinders that come to mind whenever I think of him is either this or the one from Ben 10 lol
@@deadcool3227 he was in the The Batman (2004)
@@tylerbertram7065 oh right! He had a pretty cool
@@deadcool3227he had a pretty cool what?
I forgot about Max's fantasy world in Hooked up. It's so sad that her fantasy addiction was just spending quality time with her family.
Unfortunately, a very relatable problem, as we also see in other fiction like Mrs. Doubtfire (which doesn't end with full reconciliation, albeit not on a bitter sense) and Ojamajo Doremi (Aiko Senoo's family arc does end with such, but it sure took a lotta hard work).
@@michaelandreipalon359 Ojamajo Doremi is a great anime series and I didn't expect it to get mentioned in a thread about Batman Beyond but glad to see the overlap isn't just with me XD
@@sonic8005 Amusingly, I actually mentioned it a buncha times in the channel's Totally Schway podcast, to the point that I fear I'm possibly overdoing it, hehe.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Hahaha, this is news to me but believe me as even though I'm also a huge fan of it I do believe there are much worse animes to overdose on lol
And it’s kind of sad to think that they’re really are school counselors that actually take advantage of vulnerable children.
I also want to add that Spellbinder complaining about how these "rich teenagers" have "no problems" actually showcases his lack of empathy and why he had no qualms exploiting them and their struggles. He minimized what they were going through in his own head and lacked any sort of care for what they are having problems with. He just looks at them as "rich teenagers" so he has no care for them in the least, they aren't going through "real struggles". But the thing he lacks any sort of thought was the given fact that these were all children, these "small problems" are going to be a lot bigger in their heads. They may not seem like "real problems" to him, but they are to those children. When you're a kid, the things you're going through seems a whole lot because it's still a struggle all while trying to learn how to regulate your emotions and the fact that you're not little anymore and are going towards a future, minimizing an issue doesn't mean it automatically goes away and you feel better. Those kids trusted him and he abused that trust and made them addicts all because he minimized their personal struggles on the basis that "they don't have real issues".
What's funny is that I'm pretty sure Bruce Timm at some point said that he wasn't even aware there already was a villain named Spellbinder before making the show.
that's right, and yet they wound up using a similar design and colour scheme.
Detestable and deceptive - nailed it, Luke. He definitely irked me more than most of the Batman Beyond villian primarily due to the abuse of his position for ill-gotten gains.
yeah, it's also the fact that he genuinely doesn't see the issue with what he's doing... what a slimeball.
I mean could have made himself legitimately rich by make essentially cyberpunk brain dances. Makes him seem like a shortsighted idiot.
At least Spellbinder is not an EVO Player. IYKYK
@@ZX-GearEh?
@michaelandreipalon359 I cannot say the actual word but at least he is no pdf
'Sleep my friend, and you will see. The dream is my reality.'
In a Gotham with so much advanced tech it'd feel weird if at least one villain *didn't* try this, sort of a spiritual successor to the Mad Hatter. If they ever did make 'Arkham Beyond' Spellbinder would make a good substitute for Scarecrow, trapping Terry in illusionary worlds that he must find a way out of by deactivating something that is spinning.
Speaking out loud its a tragedy that Rocksteady chose to make a crappy Suicide Squad game instead of Arkham Beyond before shutting down their doors for good. Now that would have been a beautiful way to end the Arkham series with a bang.
@@javiervasquez625 agreed
I really really want Arkham Beyond to be a thing. It has to be a thing! I want it so bad
@@andydrew3834 For real especially with Kevin Conroy still _alive_ back then to record lines as the old and hermit-like Bruce Wayne serving as the new "Oracle" for Terry after he resurrected Batman following the events of Arkham Knight. How awesome it would have been to explore a futuristic, Blade Runner-inspired Gotham City ridden with advanced skyscrappers and hover crafts not to mention buildings and locations referencing characters and storylines from across the Beyond series. Wasted opportunity Rocksteady.
As much as I would love an Arkham Beyond game, I think we all know Rocksteady would have done Return of the Joker.
This is exactly why I always prefer to keep a critical mind open in my everyday life since 7th grade, you never know what is going on and people are not what they appear.
Spellbinder who is in a power of trust where kids can go to sort out their problems and Spellbinder takes advantage of them. This goes back to a very important quote that people need to take into consideration:
“Being on the side of good, doesn’t necessarily make you a good guy.”
And being on the side of evil does not mean someone is completely evil..
Brings into mind Amanda Waller, Franco's quote, while Zemox's brings into mind Starro.
@@michaelandreipalon359 "I was happy. Floating. Staring at the stars".
3:45
Ironic, Spellbinder made that Barbara ended in the same situation like her father Jim Gordon, during "Over the Edge" episode, pursuing Batman for though that he was a murderer.
Making it ironic, particulary by the fact that "Over the Edge" was a nightmare of Barbara.
And was also a key plotline in a Batman Beyond Vol. 2 comic.
🤯
Honestly, Spellbinder kinda hit a bit hard for me. A school councilor with a vile ulterior motive. Someone you're supposed to count on. For me, whenever I went to the councilor, I always felt like I...couldn't trust them. I couldnt tell you why but I felt like I couldn't. Spellbinder kinda took that idea to the extreme.
I feel you there... I had a really bad councilor in high school and I never got another one after that person. Less interested in helping us with our problems and way more interested in creative ways to tear us down...
Yea I had school conseuler who something was off. It just hit what it was he was paraniod and didnt trust anybody. In some ways I pity the old man but man..
Ok maybe parniod is the wrong word but he was distructful of anybody who didnt think like him so theres that
The first couselor I had tried using shame tactics. If I talked about severe problems, everything had to be my fault, all my problems stemming from me. That was their way of me taking responsibility.
I grew up in a big victim blaming environment.
My mother keeps acting like I should be grateful for having a counselor, that not many are willing to work with young males. Given my experience with bad counselors, thank goodness many young males don't have to deal with them. Honestly, the things that would have helped me the most as a youth, like self-defense lessons, or just being able to do more constructive activities, would have been far more beneficial than the "counseling" given.
That's not to say there aren't good counselors. It honestly feels like a terrible stereotype to have so many comic book psychologists be evil. It would be good to see more acting like how counselors and psychologists should.
Is Leslie Thompkins the only good psychologist that Batman has experienced?
This is exactly why I'm training as a counselor, I can't stand when people are only in it for recognition or money. I want to be someone people do trust and don't feel afraid of opening up to.
I remember having a VHS as a kid that would have three episodes on it. "Spellbound", "A Touch of Curare", and "Hooked Up". Only two of them were Spellbinder episodes, but the video had both him and Batman on the cover. It was really cool as a kid.
I always saw Spellbinder as Batman Beyond’s Scarecrow, but inverted as he seems to be more suited to trapping people in their desires rather than their nightmares.
Never knew he was a preexisting character.
I used to envision an Arkham: Beyond game with Spellbinder playing a similar role to Scarecrow's in coming up with fantasy segues and nightmare sequences to combat Terry.
Pity that game will likely never get made...
But yes, Ira Billings is a villain we all love to hate. Empathetic but not sympathetic.
Ah, what could’ve been…
Granted, anything released after Arkham City is victimized by declining aspirations, so I'm actually GLAD there won't be an Arkham Beyond. Don't get me wrong, I still like Origins and Knight enough, but things seem to have gotten a bit off ever since Paul Dini left.
Spellbinder was one of the best Batman Beyond villains ever and one of my favourites from the show. I always looked at him as a combination of two classic BTAS villains, The Scarecrow and The Mad Hatter, one was about fear and the other about control, put them together and add in the theatrical illusions of Spider-Man's Mysterio, you get something like Spellbinder. He was very good at controlling people's minds and making them believe what they were seeing was real, hence the Scarecrow/ Hatter/ Mysterio combo approach. I loved his design and presence, he had a unique look and I thought they did a much better job with him than the one that was from the old comic books. His calming voice where he always says "don't be afraid, I don't bite" is the perfect way to lure his victims when he uses his eye orb to hypnotise them. If they ever do eventually make a live Batman Beyond movie, I would love to see Tom Cavanagh as Spellbinder as he would definitely nail his calm creepy and sinister presence.
Thanks for a great video and keep up the good work
in regards to the old guy who thought he was at war. I always have had a much darker interpretation of that scene: that Spellbinder was not creating some impossible scenario, but was instead exploiting the old man's PTSD from his very real memories of being in the army and fighting in a war when he was younger.
Of course, said war shouldn't be the Vietnam War (which should be like WW2 to 2000s era schoolers in Batman Beyond's timeframe, since he seems too young to have fought there). A more accurate possibility is that it's a Middle Eastern war in the 2010s or 2020s.
@@michaelandreipalon359 ehh, they never specify exactly how far into the future the Batman Beyond get's set, it could very well have some new SEA conflict (or possibly South America if we get particularly creative)
@@themanformerlyknownascomme777 The appearance of Huey or Venom helicopters isn't helping. They're trusty even now, but aren't they supplanted by Blackhawks or some fictional DCAU successor to those already?
@@michaelandreipalon359 Oh, don't get me wrong. META-wise, the scenes are absolutely supposed to invoke Veitnam vibes from the audience, but in-universe, it isn't necessarily that simple.
@@themanformerlyknownascomme777 Suffice to say, they succeeded with the vibes, but I wish they paid more hindsightful attention to the historical timeline of their fiction, even events like 9/11, Operation Enduring Freedom, and more haven't happened yet.
6:57 It is hard to get into the other psychologist jobs from the school one, sorta of traps you in that career unless you want to spend money to get recertified. So i think at some point he wante a to help the students
he would have chosen not just a general psychology major, but a school psychology one (basically most universities have branches for their psychologist programs but the main three you see are Marriage/Family Therapy, School and Clinical). Makes me thing at some point he did genuinely want to help kids. School psychologists make about half of what all the other types of psychologists make and so only people who really want to help kids choose it (these days it is about 50k a year on average, sometimes less which for something that requires a Masters is insanely pitiful) and makes affording such an expense harder than it should be
still, 50K (least in my country) isn't anything to sneeze at.
If he had really worn the hat and spoke in just a little more rhymes, he could have been a perfect "Mad Hatter Beyond"
Which they were desperately trying to avoid. I remember reading in an interview that Rule One was not to make Two-Face Beyond, Killer Croc Beyond, et al, because they thought that it would turn audiences away.
@nicholasfarrell5981, so, the opposite of how the Spider-Man 2099 villains were handled.
@@thebeavpercabethftw9604 pretty much, yeah.
Spellbinder being a psychologist who torments his own clients and puts them through illusions pretty much makes him Batman Beyond’s Scarecrow.
His design without the mask also somewhat resembles Jonathan Crane.
Spellbinder is the EA of supervillains
bold of you to assume EA isn't a villain already
Who would be the Activision of supervillains?
@@tylerbertram7065 what are the requirements?
@teteusseixas6466 huh, I going have to think about that.
@@tylerbertram7065 I'd go with Grant Rogers aka Stevil
This show was dark and gritty, and I love it. It's as if the creators had faith in the emotional fortitude of us kids, and that makes me feel proud. I wish that trend continued today.
It still does, just in a niche sense even in non-Western animation.
I like how his motivations are mainly based on a hatred of his job.
Spellbinder has a really great design, the spiral shape in the mask alongside the giant eyeball in his hand makes for a striking image (especially on VHS covers which is where i first saw him).
He's also a weirdly personal villain to Terry. He directly targeted terry's schoolmates and was a trusted school employee terry had known.A lot of spellbinder's schemes directly harm terry's friends, with the only outlier being his third appearance where he targeted batman directly (likely out of revenge). He also seems to really like hurting teens specifically, giving how many of his schemes involve at least one teen being harmed or manipualted by him.
He's easily the msot stand out of terry's rogues gallery and I'msurprised he only apepared thrice.
Okay, here's something that always bothered me about Spellbinder: the fact he never thought to patent any of his illusion tech. I found Shriek a bland character, but at least he had the forethought to try and sell his inventions. If Spellbinder really wanted money, there were other, easier options available to him. It just seems off that a guy who could create such things on a high school guidance counselor's salary was even one to begin with. Really him and his motivations needed to be fleshed out more beyond "I resent kids, they're so ungrateful."
I don't think he invented any of that tech, per se. I always thought that he was repurposing existing tech and making it less safe. There was no way he could make a profit from it legitimately.
@@SerumLake Not necessarily. It's true that VR technology is pretty commonplace in Terry's time, but Spellbinder took it a step further. His illusions felt real, directly tapping into areas of the brain. If he could work out the kinks, somehow make it safer and non-addictive, I think it'd sell very well. There's certainly people who would benefit from such a device. Quadriplegics, who lost all their appendages, can experience running again or, if they were born that way, for the first time.
majority of batman (both vanilla and beyond) villians could gain millions with their powers legally. what makes them villians are their motivations
in spellbinder's case guy just hates kids alot (?) idk if it wasnt for his cool gimmick hes P bland if you ask me
@@alperenakdas3479Ira acquiring his wealth via more legal means wouldn't make him any less corrupt or sadistic. If anything, it puts him in a better position to do as he pleases. Money means high priced lawyers and connections with the right people. I can totally see a rich Billings still torturing kids, just for the hell of it. I agree though, his motivations need to be fleshed out a little more. Maybe Ira was bullied when he was younger, and he resents kids because he sees his former tormentors in them. It isn't much, but it's something.
An interesting question to counter that is would an agency like the FDA be in charge and step in. Might just be that thing with mind control aspects are highly regulated and it being closer to dealing "things" than it looks at first glance.
I really like the Batman Beyond rouges gallery, there are some real gems in there.
In a way, he’s kind of like Scarecrow. They trap their victims in dreams to take advantage of them. Only Spellbinder uses fantasies instead of nightmares, which makes him more dangerous.
7 yrs ago when I made a video on my top 5 favorite Batman beyond villains, Spellbinder was my number 5th on the list.
That scene of him callously turning off his VR machines while the kids tumbled out always got to me as a kid. Clearly demonstrates that this guy doesn’t give AF
"Hooked Up"was great and I loved the drug addiction things. Oof, I remember how dark it was.
yeah i strongly agree with your summary. spellbinder episodes always made me viscerally uncomfortable in a way none of the others quite did, that very real kind of horor
I love Beyond, it was my favorite series when I was young, followed closely by Static Shock. But I think one of, or rather two of, the things that really caught me into the show were Shriek and Spellbinder, and what they did for the series.
For Shriek it had more to do with Terry then Shriek himself. In the first episode he shows up in we see Terry go undercover to research him despite Bruce not being there, it's Terry being 'Batman' in one of those less obvious ways that really made the DCAU Bruce such a good detective. And in Babel it ends with Bruce asking Terry what he would have done if it came time to answer Shriek's ultimatum, to turn himself in or let the city be destroyed. And Terry deflects to not answer, because we all know what Batman would do when that question is asked, we've seen Batman make that call before(look at the JL episode where he goes down with the Watchtower and Superman has to save him), and Terry IS Batman.
But for Spellbinder there's something very personal about him that always creeped me out as much as it fascinated. When he fights Batman he uses these stock illusions to get away, basically stuff out of movies, zombies rising or beautiful waterfalls. But otherwise? He tailors these illusions to manipulate children or Barbara, he gets to know them, gets to know what they fear and what they rely on, and he ABUSES it. He turns those things against them, for his own profit despite not having much power over these things. He can't fix these broken families, he can't bring those addicts real joy, and he can't make Batman kill nor make Barbara really trust or distrust Batman, but he can use his powers to make these illusions that make THEM thinks those things are true.
You hit it on the nail! Spellbinder in my opinion has to be the most despicable villains in Batman Beyond. That man was supposed to help kids and be there for them. But instead, he would rather exploit and take advantage of their vulnerable states and use them for his own selfish gain. He gleefully delighted in taking advantage of CHILDREN to achieve his petty and selfish ambitions. That alone is just repulsive. I loved watching Batman Beyond, it’s such an amazing show. Thank you so much for talking about this cool villain!!
6:27 I don’t really agree with that. The episode was ending soon and it appears that they needed a conclusion quickly. Instead of there being a chars moment of the situation Max just out of nowhere overcomes and stops Spellbinder despite the mindset she’s in of wanting to be hooked up. Even J Reviews states this.
Spellbinder is essentially a mix between Scarecrow and Mysterio with hiw he uses his gadgets to scare and fool people
9:12 And let it be know this comic has shown that two people related to Bruce has don the Batman outfit.
Never underestimate the power of cartwheels.
I still remember Terry diving into Gotham Traffic and how much damage he took. The skin of the batsuit is torn off as he scrapes against the street while desperately boosting away from a direct impact. He crashes into a bus station, bleeding from the mouth. You can't show that on Fox!
This is remarkable timing, I'm going to be playing a Vampire The Masquerade game soon and was planning to base my character on Spellbinder. You're videos are always insightful so this is wonderful.
Ooh, is it Bloodlines with the Unofficial Basic Patch?
@michaelandreipalon359 I don't think so. It's my first time playing, and we're starting as ghouls.
Unless you have chimerstry (illusions) it'd be tough. In a game of mage these powers would be pretty par for the course.
I also see Spellbinder as Terry's Scarecrow. Hell, he looks like Johnathan Crane without his mask.
Spellbinder maybe inspired by Mysterio but given his connection to the mind & how entitled he is he struck me as a combination of Scarecrow & Mad Hatter
A counselor putting worlds into a kids head is extra dark when you know that some psychologists put false memories into a patients head.
It's so cool that Spellbinder was an original Batman villain . . . but yeah when reimagining him -> Mysterio.
But even Quentin Beck has some redeemability - he only tried to make a name for himself when he wanted the spotlight, he never was willing to let kids die for his success at evil.
Excited for the Robin episode - especially since it's trying to combo Dick the acrobat with Tim the detective costume.
The fault of Marvel not having a high quality animated Spidey show that equals if not surpasses the DCAU's best, among others.
Wish Spider-Man: Far from Home kept Mysterio as an actual isekai'd hero from another universe. That cruel plot twist really ticked me off... gods, I hate it when Multiverse Theory is sorely misused.
Ah, I still remember those early tie-in comics letterboxes having lots of people argue about Grayson wearing the Tim Drake outfit.
I like how you break down these batman villains. I can just imagine what you would analyze and say about Ratboy from Batman Beyond
"a steriitypical incel" comes to mind i think. eather that or controling/abusive
@@TheRealNekora you too are definitely on to the right path 💯
This level of Virtual Insanity would make Jamiroquai jealous
Who?
That bug illusion would’ve put me in a catatonic shock
This guy has me convinced that Mysterio would be a better batman villain than spiderman
He's all about illusions and deception, which fits so well with Batman's whole duel identity thing.
He went from hypnotizing rich kids to steal random junk from their parents to giving underprivileged folks their wildest fantasies in exchange for whatever they could steal off passerby. His plans aren't the most thought out.
Thanks!
I love the channel. Curious what episode is your Outro Music from?? I know I've heard it from some episode of Batman TAS
No, thank you! Funnily enough, it’s not from BTAS, it’s a free track from Apple’s Royalty Free library. I think it’s called Latitude? It’s only 15 seconds long so I thought it was a good fit for the end screen.
Batman Beyond in my opinion has some or the best villains for that little show it was
You know, what really made me curious about this guy is a fact, if he has this much in the way of technological know-how you would think he would sell his inventions for some serious bucks to the military, at least ?
But nope, here he is using his inventions to get high schoolers to steal for him. He was not only Petty, but he also had no real ambition.
I haven't told you this, but thank you for these weekly videos you make. I look forward when you make a new one. It gives me more insight on facts I may not have known about otherwise, & these videos also serve as a way for me to relax for a bit. Keep it up!
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
@@SerumLake No problem, my pleasure. Take care.
As a kid i always wondered what it would look like if someone Rejected the addictive VR or someone with a tendancy to reject good things out if fear it isn't real or to good to be true
2:50 Wait this silly little man fought the Justice League TWICE!?
What you mentioned in the beginning about the creators initially being lukewarm about the show really resonates with how they ended it. I remember hearing that even though BB was supposedly greenlit for another season that it got dropped as soon as Justice League was greenlit. That never sat right with me, and I figure I wasn't alone because they did eventually throw fans a bone with a proper ending during the JLU run.
They definitely should’ve made a 4th episode featuring this dude! Maybe in a Team Up episode where he’s using his methods in conjunction with another to confuse and to even set up a potential Death Trap for Terry.
3:14 cakebinder mentioned!!
A former member of a school who complains about his wages who then decides to take on a creepy costume and use highly sophisticated technology to scare/trick people into believing a lie and do his bidding.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Spellbinder was Terry’s equivalent to Scarecrow…in more ways than one.
At least Scarecrow fought for education and against sexual harassment, at least according to the tie-in comics.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Really? That’s actually pretty cool.
@@jackofallclaws6672 Still doesn't stop him from being a fear freak.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Oh, indubitably.
Thanks!
No, thank you 🫡
IF HE'S IS A LIAR, THEN WHY AREN'T HIS PANTS ON FIRE?! Explain that Serum Lake - Sincerely, Spellbinder's Lawyer
THAT’S BECAUSE HE WAS USING HIS TECHNOLOGY TO HIDE IT!
Perhaps they took a little inspiration from red dwarf too.
Spellbinder's digital fantasy world sounds a lot like red dwarf's better than life, which had been featured in an episode of that show around that time.
To be honest, I never found any of McGinnis' nemeses particularly compelling. It's difficult for me to explain why other than to say that they seemed more like Hegelian beautiful souls who thought themselves to be above the general corruption of a cold, inhumane futuristic Gotham, yet they were in fact intimately bound up with and powerless before it. It didn't even feel like the new Batman decisively caused their downfall or foiled their plans; rather, he simply expedited the process of the system crushing these people underfoot.
In any event, I hope this doesn't come off as too pretentious. These are just some thoughts that came to mind as I was watching the video.
Donny Grasso is voiced by the same man who voiced Max Goof in A Goofy Movie, Gear in Static Shock, and Chace Young from Xaolin Showdown! GARSH ( Goofy voice)!
Oh, yes, Jason Marsden is also Snapper Carr in Justice League.
And Firefly in The Batman!
That first Spellbinder episode scared the living shit out of me as a kid. And y'know what? It still sorta scares me now.
Hypnosis by Cartwheel is an amaizing gimmick. Thanks for the video.
I'm new to your channel but I'm just happy that you're talking about great villain by Fall by the wayside
Welcome aboard, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying them.
Another excellent video 👏
I prefer the 2004 version of Spellbinder as I think he has potential to give Martian Manhunter a run for his money.
Great video. Can't wait for your spotlight on BTAS Robin. I liked this iteration of Dick Grayson, and how he was presented in the show. At least in the early BTAS episodes. From what I remember he was only in an episode every once in a while early. Even as a kid I thought that made sense. He was off at college or just not always available as young people also have their own lives. Later he becomes more a of a mainstay, which is wasn't as great, but since I think Grayson is the best Robin ever I didn't mind.
If I were to take a guess Ira Billings May have initially started working at a Hamilton High to build up enough revenue so that he could then at some point open up his own practice, But of course he's working for a school so the pay isn't going to be all that good unless you're in a union that's fighting for your paycheck.
Love your videos more batman beyond and batman the animated series good work 🤟❤️ love from sweden bro
his redefine was amazing
id love to see you do similar sort of video essay type things for the villains from The Batman (2004). i know you're more of a btas/dcau man, but its got tons of interesting interpretations of characters, from the new backstory of clayface to the new look of the joker, and does more with certain villains than btas, like hugo strange, or firefly, and even a couple of original villains, like D.A.V.E. or the everywhere man (though obviously nowhere near as influential as some of its predecessors original characters). who knows, maybe you could do it for the shows 20th anniversary coming up later this year, or something
Batman: Sooner or later I'll go down. It might be the Joker, or Two-Face, or just some punk who gets lucky.
Or in this case, a meddlesome groupie (Barbara Gordon).
Finally, I wanted to see how you would cover Spellbinder. Also I like the idea of Robin. Especially since in many Dick becomes a son to Bruce. Maybe a video essay over Time Drake as well, since there aren't too many from Jason Todd's day as Robin. BTAS and the New Batman Adventures didn't really have Jason, and some versions that have him don't have him long. Just enough for his backstory and subsequent "Death" by Joker.
I still think the most irredeemable villain in Batman Beyond is Ra's Al Ghul. I know he didn't start there, but she ended there.
Yes, Out of the Past is one of my favourite episodes. Delightfully messed up!
I dunno if we want to respect Rha's here due to more or less killing his daughter to transition.
Such is immortality peaked with misanthropy.
@@ZX-Gear I am not showing Ra's respect, it's just correct grammar. Ra's was born with an outie, during which time we refer to em as a 'he', by Batman Beyond, Ra's has a innie, and we call em 'she'. Bruce and Terry even refer to em as such after the big reveal.
Terry: "Lady, you are sick"
Bruce: "How do you think I feel? She kissed me!"
@@mesektet5776 The dude killed his daughter to steal her body.
SPELLBINDER FTW!
LET’S GOOOOOO!
The 2nd best Beyond villain (first being Blight imo)
It sucks I missed the premiere but hey at least I can finally watch it either way! LET’S GOOOOOOOOO
Spellbinder was definitely one of those villains who thought they were smart, but didn't seem to know how to apply their talents well. We already know that there's Virtual games but Spellbinder's worlds are on a completely different level even though they seem to be based on the same tech. But the best thing he can think of to do with them is charge kids by the hour on his VR setup? I wish they had explained that. Like that he tried to sell his upgraded VR realities but they were turned down due to the psychological or physical danger they had, or even pettier his setup violated a patent so he couldn't actually sell them. Maybe he doesn't care about the money and really just wants to make kids miserable.
Not going to lie I had a school counselor who was... *infamously* terrible at her job in so many ways I couldn't describe so Spellbinder in Batman Beyond truly it a lot closer to home for me than most superhero cartoon bad guys...
Awesome! :D
It's nice to *occasionally* have a villain who is just a plain old bastard. If it becomes the rule rather than the exception, though, it just wears away at the viewer/reader.
Better than the source material and somehow even a more vile villain yet fitting in with the Batman theming.
A corrupted source people are supposed to trust that abuses the position making everything worse to benefit solely themselves while they claim to be the one actually helping people or showing the truth.
Villain - Who can say those rich people deserved that money? That batman isn't a villain? That those children should not have happy lives... just ignore the smuggling, theft, robbery, dumping children in comas in the street (or selling them to organ harvesters) or the massive amount of money into my back account. It is what 'they' would have wanted.
Always wanted a _real_ story with both Spellbinder and Mad Stan, the idea of Spellbinder manipulating the media that Mad Stan consumes to get him to target specific people/institutions during one of his rampages always felt like a missed opportunity.
Might be wrong, but I think they reused the original design of Spellbinder for Teen Titan's Mumbo, especially since he was described as looking like a classic magician (also Glen Murakami worked on the design)
Great stuff as usual! Truly a despicable bad guy and I wish we'd seen more of his fiendish machinations.
My opinion on Robin is the same as most of the inclusions on Batman's various adaptations: Batman never needed a sidekick, it was absolutely forced, and then talented creators were inspired by that constraint to tell some of the most amazing and iconic stories which could never have been told if things had stayed the same. Robin is an unnecessary addition, but easily a great one.
1:26: Yes, and I don't remember much about The Zeta Project's villains.
In my opinion, any Spellbinder iteration should keep the leotard aesthetic, or at least an outfit with some resemblance to one.
2:04: I prefer the virtual world/dream world takes.
The female Spellbinder really needs a costume revamp into something more conservative. The 80s and 90s are way off in their fashion tastes. (Though that's coming from me, who somehow doesn't mind what the Dirty Pair is unabashedly wearing... guess it's because they're charming on their outfits, in which the second Spellbinder isn't.)
4:45: This one gets me. It looks like the Vietnam War of the 1960s to 1970s, but this victim isn't likely to have fought that war in actuality, considering that Batman Beyond is set in what may be 2039-2042. A more accurate conflict should have been a Middle Eastern conflict in the 2010s or 2020s.
4:47: Her new family, particularly her husband, will be quite important in the episode "Armory".
"Hooked Up" is quite something. Feels like a more relatable take on B: TAS' "Perchance to Dream" while foreshadowing JLU's "For the Man Who Has Everything". Could even say it's a slightly better anti-drug ep than "The Winning Edge", not that that ep is inferior because of it, mind you.
7:20: Am of the opinion that this ep is also Mad Stan's last appearance, because he's probably stuck in that VR prison permanently. The Zeta Project crossover featuring him, "Countdown", *doesn't and shouldn't* count.
7:39: Funny, I actually think that with Superman more, even before Man of Steel made that into a usual 2010s onwards trend.
7:53: Still, we do need real life VR prisons akin to Minority Report and The Matrix. Makes us innocents and lawbringers safe and happy, and also the crims and psychos perversely comforted and happy.
Really good issue, Batman Beyond Vol. 2 issue 1, but I have to admit, Bruce Wayne just going into action in his TNBA suit and not, say, the JL+JLU suit or some other improved suit can be weird and homages too much on The Dark Knight Returns.
Matt McGinnis really should become Robin Beyond, in my guilty opinion.
Overall, those tie-in comics mentioned are easily worth reading, since they don't clash with the canon, unlike the Inque stories.
Oh, don't worry. Dick Grayson, the first DCAU Robin and eventually its Nightwing, is one possible exec mandate that felt quite justified. Even his fall from Batman's trust is quite a treat to me. Now, Jason Todd becoming a thing in The Adventures Continue comics, on the other hand...
Surprised you didn't make a Hugo Strange connection
Turns out there’s a Spellbinder that appears in one episode of 2004’s The Batman, at least i think that’s what the villain is called. A so called monk that uses his abilities to steal a famous relic and that Bruce needed to break free of to beat
Yes that was canonically spellbinder
If they did a Batman Beyond movie, he would be great as a villain in that movie.
I find myself in a rare position of due to a combination of my political ideology of being a communist combined my lived experience I find myself more sympathetic than most to Spellbinder, at least at first.
Suffice to say me and my family suffered economic hardship, me and my sister being raised by a single mother with an absent father, winters where we would have to huddle up under blankets because we could not afford the heating. Growing up I encountered many utterly out of touch children from wealthy families who were so self-absorbed in their petty problems it bordered on delusional and they lacked the capacity to even contemplate just how privileged they were and how if they simply gained a bit of perspective they might see how pathetic and trivial their problems are.
To be clear, as an adult now I don't blame these children from more well off families I encountered growing up, their outlook was shaped by the class bubble they themselves grew up in and for all I know many of them did gain some wider perspective when they got older. None the less at the time it was difficult for me not to find them insufferable, especially when I was the direct victim of some of their mocking condensation for being poor and assuming I was stupid, again, they may well have been just unthinkingly echoing the rhetoric of their parents that people are poor because they are too stupid to improve their situation while they were the "deserving rich" because they were just "better" etc.
The question the episodes does not address is, if Ira Billings was only interested in money from the start, why did he choose to go into becoming a child councillor at a high school? It's not a well paid job and he would know that before taking it on. It's quite possible therefore he started with genuinely good intentions of wanting to help kids but it turned out the children coming to him for counselling, being from more well off backgrounds, began over time to start rubbing him up the wrong way until he eventually become utterly disillusioned.
None of that in any way excuses what he did, unlike the resentment I felt as a child myself, Ira is an adult and frankly it demonstrates he was never a competent therapist in terms of not having the understanding to place these children's attitudes and world view in a proper context in regards to their own socialisation and personal history.
While the couple of options presented in the video were only looking in the context of steps he could have attempted to improve his finical situation which as a side note, being a commie, while not rejecting those "individualistic" solutions, I would add a collective one of getting active in whatever teachers or therapist unions exist if he was really being so underpaid for his work, if we examine his options in terms of his disillusionment, again working on the assumption he started out with noble intentions, he could have taken his skills to help children in a high school that is in a more economically deprived area if he finds he can only really relate to and want to help children from more struggling backgrounds.
The sympathy I feel is his failure of character to overcome what are for me relatable frustrations regarding privileged kids and succumbing to it and then worse, directing it towards taking advantage of those very same children who did not choose which class the they were born into with all the ways that has impacted on them.
His second appearance Hooked Up is where the barest ambiguity of the character which touches on class themes is completely ditched in favour of turning him into a complete psychopath and where I agree with Serum Lake in him crossing the line to be pretty much irredeemable.
While his actions in Hooked Up do not count as a character assassination given how vague his motivations were articulated by Ira Billings in his first appearance and can even be interpreted as a flimsy throw away line he made to throw Batman off during the verbal spar part of the fight and never reflected his actual feelings, I can't help but think there was something of a missed opportunity with Spellbinder to not develop those class themes further with the central premise.
What if in his twisted mind he thought he was genuinely helping the poorer kids escape from their difficult circumstances and was giving them a version of his VR for free and it was neither addictive, nor harmful while children from more affluent families got the version we saw in the episode, both because of his hatred of privileged children but also because he wants them utterly hooked so they will steal from their parents to get him the money he needs to expand his operation.
While his actions from a moral standpoint would still be utterly indefensible, it would add a complexity to the character that would have made him more interesting I think.
6:27 that facial expression is terrifying! 😨😱
Good to know I wasn't the only one.
I actually would find the notion of Matt being a Robin alongside Terry as Batman to be hilarious. Also for a decent episode plot.
they did do that in the DC Comics Rebirth era Batman Beyond comics... AND I HATED IT :D
@@SerumLake Well it’s better as a one and done, not so much an overarching thing for at least a while. I don’t expect that to last more than an episode given how long Beyond lasted on air.
I still would love seeing Matt becoming Robin Beyond in the DCAU, alongside Max becoming Oracle Beyond, an older and more disillusioned Nightwing having a cyber-monocle, and so on.
You know what they say the people who children trust is always the ones who hurt those children
I thought at one point that he was related to Scarecrow, it made sense to me he was than that Ghoul guy.
It is interesting that by refining the re-design, they ended with something that had more rebalance to the original design.
At the end of the episode, the cops find Mad Stan and wonder if they should leave them in there. If there was something like Cadimus in BB, you can bet they'd take Spellbinder's technology to imprison people. Seriously, imagine a prison where the inmates don't want to leave.
Basically, Minority Report and The Matrix... not that I mind, for even I think the real world needs such necessary illusionary prisons.
I've been re-watching the anime "Cardcaptor Sakura" and there is one episode, in particular, that loosely reminded me of Spellbinder.
In the sixth episode "Sakura and Memories of Her Mother," there is a Clow Card called "Illusion."
Basically, the entity from the card makes you see what you imagine in your mind. In Sakura's case, she sees her late mother and initially believes that it's her ghost. Why does this remind me of Spellbinder? Well, in it's initial form, Illusion has the look of an orb of light.
Another surprise is that that episode aired in Japan in 1998. Spellbinder appeared one year later.
Now, I'm not saying that the Batman Beyond team saw that episode, as I have no evidence for that. It's just a coincidence.
*(whistles)* Did not expect good old Cardcaptor Sakura getting a mention.
Hope you're referring to the original Japanese dub. Neither English dub has wrought the show justice.
@@michaelandreipalon359 Thank you for the reply.
To answer your question, I am referring to the original Japanese version (the only version worth watching). It truly is one of the best series I've ever seen and it's been great watching it again after 11 years.
I'm still surprised at how well written it is. Initially, you would think it was just a shallow "girly" show, but it's a lot more than that.
It also has some of the best music I've ever heard in an animated series.
Thanks again.
@@tyrannozilla You're welcome.
Believe me, mahou shoujo shows then and occasionally now are big surprises. Beats Power Rangers and cop shows (barring stuff like You're Under Arrest! and Patlabor) at most.
Concurring with that.
You're welcome again!
Thanks for making these videos about Batman and Batman Beyond. Can you do one video of Patrick form the episode “Rats”?
He’s on the list 🫡
4:48 "mr dikens thinks hes a war"
What kind of sentence is that?
“Thinks he’s AT war”
I loved spellbinder. I always love a foe using some form of illusions and trickery. just wished they did more with him. Since he was a physoologies having him see that to make people's dreams/nightmares come to life would be bone-chilling. he would be a mix of Scarecrow and professor strange.
Yeah! More love for Lady Spellbinder!
he kind of reminds me of mad hatter who is equally irredeemable with a far more sci-fi twist to it