One of Batman: The Animated Series' writers rejects one major plot point from the DCAU. Alan Burnett is one of the names synonymous with the insanely popular cartoon, and he talked to the Above and Beyond Batman podcast about why he's not crazy about Terry McGinnis' origin story from Batman Beyond. For those who don't know, a special episode of Justice League Unlimited peers into the future of the Warner Brothers series. For fans of the futuristic Dark Knight, it's really interesting as he tries to get to the bottom of his origins. Cadmus head honcho Amanda Waller decided to make sure there would always be a Batman by overwriting McGinnis' DNA with Bruce Wayne's. A bold choice that Burnett doesn't exactly agree with.
"I never wanted (Terry) on Batman Beyond to have Bruce's DNA...and so I don't accept it. And Bruce (Timm) and I are friendly about this," he told the podcast. Burnett would also go on to reiterate that anyone could potentially be Batman, and it isn't the lineage that makes the younger Bat a hero. In his own words, "heir to the throne, they don't have to have the same DNA. It's your own willpower that makes you the superhero."
If you think that little factoid is wild, then Bruce Timm's comments from San Diego Comic-Con 2019 will blow your mind. It seems like the Batman Beyond movie could have had a sequel, and Epilogue would have been the basis for it.
Timm explained, "Catwoman was going to be our leading villain in the second movie... She was the one who cloned Bruce Wayne to create Terry, but that was going to be our big surprise in our next movie."
With Batman: The Adventures Continue going on right now, the BTAS nostalgia is rolling full tilt and Burnett teased some surprises coming fans way in the pages of the new book.
"What is different, however, is that we're going back to cover certain gaps in the original series, events that didn't have a bearing on the series at the time, but now do," Burnett said. "In other words, there will be secret histories that will turn Batman's world upside down. Things that no one knew were out there, until now."
"Perhaps the most intriguing character in the run will be young man whose story threads through most of the issues," Burnett mentioned. "He's a smart, super-elusive loner who knows way too much about the Dark Knight. How this mystery man fits into the world of Batman Adventures and what he means to accomplish should, I hope, be a real jolt for old fans."