Alright! After having a blast picking out my favorite Batman: The Animated Series episodes last July, I thought it was appropriate to make another Top 10 list of my favorite Batman Beyond episodes. Yes, I know. Another "Top 10" list, cue the eye roll. But I have fun making them and they're easy to produce.
10. Ace in the Hole - Season 2, Episode 26
Some of the very best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series were the episodes that focused on the origins of side characters like Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. Batman Beyond continued this tradition with an incredible episode about the origins of Ace the Bat-hound.
Then you take his backstory and apply it to the episode's plot (His previous abusive owner has returned) creates an emotionally charged episode with intense stakes. Ace was always a favorite, but this cements his place in the Batfamily legend.
9. King's Ransom - Season 3, Episode 1
One of the best supporting characters in Batman Beyond was a girl named Melanie, a member of the Royal Flush Gang (Whose backstory was later fleshed out in Justice League) who becomes Terry's on-again-off-again Catwoman parallel. King's Ransom is the finale in that trilogy of episodes spread throughout the show's run.
King's Ransom brings all this conflict between Melanie and her villainous family to a head, shows the slow defeat of a leader no longer leading. It's also the finale to Melanie and Terry's relationship, sadly broken off without a word spoken to each other due to Terry's dual role as Batman. It's an unjust and unsatisfying end for both parties, but sometimes that's life.
8. Splicers - Season 2, Episode 1
One aspect that Batman Beyond didn't always delve on was the culture change that happens in 50 years. Splicers was one of the few times it did, and the mere concept of the episode is incredible. It's a story about a new technology that allows human DNA to be spliced with animal DNA, creating humans with animal features and abilities.
Granted, the leader of the movement is a dirty scumbag trying to increase his personal wealth, but the exploration of the teen culture - how Splicing became a movement, prevalent in high schools, the "thing" to do - is scarily accurate to some fashion trends. It's a great piece of worldbuilding.
7. Meltdown - Season 1, Episode 5
I'm mixed about Meltdown - on one hand, I love Mr. Freeze, so seeing him again is pretty cool. On the other hand, Mr. Freeze's emotional drive to do evil is his wife Nora, and Batman: The Animated Series resolved that on a tragic end (Freeze's severed head frozen in an iceberg forever). So to bring him back from that dark ending, past Nora's death, and then to have him do evil? I dunno.
But it is nice to see Victor again, and his new ending is just as tragic as the last.
6. Earth Mover - Season 2, Episode 2
Earth Mover was honestly kind of terrifying for me as a teenager, I can't imagine what happened to the children that watched this. It's about one of Terry's friends who is being stalked by a mysterious figure that eventually kidnaps her, leading to the terrifying discovery that it's her real father who, after an industrial accident, has become a skeleton stuck in the ground.
It's a very dark episode, anchored by the emotional core of the villain's relationship with his daughter and the morally gray ideals of her adoptive father.
5. The Call Part 1/2 - Season 3, Episodes 7 and 8
One of my favorite aspects of Batman Beyond was seeing what happened to all of my beloved childhood heroes and the legacy of the DC characters that we know. The Call is about Terry's initiation into the Justice League - one of them is a traitor, and Superman needs help finding out who it is.
Of course, the eventual villain, Starro (One of DC's best), is revealed, but that leads to a really exciting and different action finale involving the Fortress of Solitude, an underground lake, and world-ending consequences. It's an underrated setpiece for sure.
4. Unmasked - Season 3, Episode 13
Unmasked is one of the best (And, surprisingly, only) examples of why masked superheroes revealing their identity is a terrible idea. To save a child who's frightened of him from a burning building, Terry lifts up his cowl to show his face and rescue the child. Later, the kid's kidnapped by some of the Kobra folks who want revenge on Batman.
The episode keeps you guessing until the very end as to how it'll go down. Attempt, rescue, save, stealing, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Luckily, everything turns out fine and the episode ends (Along with the series in this case).
3. Out of the Past - Season 3, Episode 5
The episodes with Ra's Al Ghul were some of my least favorite in Batman: The Animated Series. So to have a Ghul-centric episode as one of my favorites in Batman Beyond? Well well well, how the turntables.
What I liked about Out of the Past was the dark, twisted, and completely in-line continuation of the Al Ghul saga. Ra's was immortal from the Lazarus Pit, so it stands to reason he would still be alive. But for the episode's big plot twist to happen? You weren't expecting that! And you definitely weren't expecting a silly musical based around Batman!
2. The Winning Edge - Season 1, Episode 9
Call me a sucker for callbacks, but The Winning Edge's surprisingly dark storyline involving the legacy of Bane's venom serum is intense. I thought I was just watching a show about a teenage Batman, but then this one episode randomly is about substance abuse in high schoolers. And it doesn't sugar coat it either, it creates a plausible scenario that drives these jocks to try and improve their performance through illegal means (And even more depth is added with the coach's blind eye to the problem).
But perhaps my favorite scene is when Terry visits Bane. Bane, now very old, has been left physically destroyed by the serum that gave him super strength all those years ago. It's a fitting end for the character.
1. Rebirth Part 1/2 - Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2
That's right, the very best episode of Batman Beyond is the first. Watching for the first time, I got chills all over the place. An elderly Bruce Wayne realizing he was too old to be Batman after he had to use a gun to save his life and stop the bad guy? Street thugs calling themselves "Jokers?" Yes, please!
Rebirth featured some incredibly dark origins for the characters - Terry McGinnis's last words with his father are that of anger and disrespect. His emotional connection to the villain and stopping crime stem from this point, branching out into Terry becoming the fully-fledged Batman we see later in the series.
The head-over-heels approach to launching us into this new Gotham City works as well. It's fun to see how technology changes and the new dystopian aesthetic makes Gotham look even shadier. This is really the only way I see Batman's story ending now.
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