“It’s going to be a stinky rip-off”: Even Bruce Timm Couldn’t Digest DC Fan Toxicity for a DCAU Show Even Before it Aired
Bruce Timm, the mastermind behind the modern DC Animated Universe, is credited with the making of some of the best animated series out there. Even after the DCAU concluded, he continued making animated projects under the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. This movie line featured films like Wonder Woman and Justice League: Gods & Monsters.
One of Timm’s biggest contributions to the world of animated series is Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS). The series that succeeded were The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond. To Timm’s utter dismay, Batman Beyond‘s capability to match up to the original animated series was doubted much more. Not to mention that even before a single episode had aired.
Bruce Timm on How Fans Bashed Batman Beyond Before It Had Even Released
Remakes and reboots of the original movies and series have always been something that fans have been skeptical about more often than not. The same also stands true in the case of certain sequels. Batman Beyond was no different.
Fans could not stomach the fact that Bruce Wayne would be hanging his cape and cowl only for a teenager named Terry McGinnis to carry his legacy forward. In the ardent BTAS‘ fans’ eyes, it was blasphemous that not only Terry was a teenager, but also a Batman with no cape.
This resulted in huge fan backlash after the mere announcement of Batman Beyond. In an interview with IGN, Bruce Timm reflected on this:
“From the minute we announced the show was going to happen, a lot of our fans … already wrote it off. They were just like, ‘Oh my God, this sounds horrible. This is going to be terrible. A teenage Batman? It’s going to be a stinky rip-off. It’s going to be for kids.'”
Luckily, the doubts about a younger Batman being engaging and capable of handling dark tones were cleared after the release of the first two-parter.
Bruce Timm on How Batman Beyond Cleared the Air with Its First Two-parter Itself
Initially, even Timm was not the most confident about a younger Batman taking over the mantle. However, he and his team defied all expectations as Batman Beyond turned out to be a great series, if not better than its predecessor.
In the interview, the Justice League Unlimited producer revealed how the first two-parter helped them gain confidence:
“So we knew that when we had that shot of Batman pointing a gun … at a criminal, that was the best way to slap those [critics] upside the head and say, ‘Nope, this is a good show, and you’re going to love it.’ I love the pilot. I love both parts of it so much. It’s just a mission statement.”
He also admitted that this show was “much more adult, darker, and uglier” than any other project they had done before. According to late voice actor Kevin Conroy, Bruce Wayne’s character development in the series was also a rare but refreshing take.
Batman Beyond is available for streaming on Max.
