BATMAN BEYOND’s Terry McGinnis Is Joining The New 52

When DC announced its weekly-series Future’s End last month, the most prominent feature from the artwork released was Batman Beyond, better known from the late ’90s animated series. Co-writer Jeff Lemire later said that this would be Batman Beyond’s introduction into the New 52, but it wasn’t clear whether it would be Terry McGinnis himself being introduced or just another person wearing the suit. After all, we saw the Beyond suit in an issue of Scott Snyder’s Batman being worn by Bruce Wayne.

Well today fans of the future Caped Crusader can rest easy. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, other co-writer Brian Azzarello confirmed that Terry McGinnis would be making his official New 52 debut in the series that takes place five years in the New 52’s future. As for why he chose Terry specifically, Azzarello’s reason isn’t that complicated.

I just needed a character from the future, and that was the only one I knew. [Laughs] I thought we needed a hook — we needed somebody big, and somebody that hadn’t really appeared in The New 52 yet. Since we were dealing with this jump into the future, it made sense to bring in Terry McGinnis.

Azzarello also said that although this is Terry appearing, he might not be exactly the same character he is in the show.

He’s got the same costume, I think. [Laughs] Is he different? Yes. It’s different, it’s New 52. It’s from a different sort of future. Is it going to be recognizable? Yes, he’s going to be recognizable. Is it going to have differences? Yes, of course he’s going to have differences. I’m not going to tell you what they are.

Although Terry’s appearance was confirmed today, Kyle Higgins, writer of the Batman Beyond Universe digital series, also stated in a separate interview with Comic Book Resources that the Terry appearing in Future’s End is not the same Terry as the one he is writing. Future’s End will kick off in May 2014 with the #0 issue being released on Free Comic Book Day.

Terry’s introduction isn’t the first time an alternate universe Batman character has joined the New 52. Most recently Carrie Kelly, who became an elder Bruce Wayne’s Robin in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, appeared in the Batman and Robin series as  Damian Wayne’s acting teacher.

Terry will always be associated with the DC Animated Universe for me (blame it on being a ’90s kid), but I’m curious to see how he’ll be interpreted for the weekly series. Judging from the artwork that was released, this dystopic future seems to be the result of OMAC taking control, so we’ll probably see Terry operating in war-like conditions. Since it’s only five years in the future, it’s unlikely we’ll see Terry working under an elderly Bruce Wayne, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Terry becomes a replacement Batman and teams-up with at least one of the Bat-Family members. I’m also betting that the Beyond suit he’s wearing is the same one from Snyder’s series.

Does his mean we’ll also see other elements from the Batman Beyond universe in the series, like the Jokerz or Ace? I know, Damian bought his own Great Dane in the Batman and Robin series, but unless he named it Ace it doesn’t count.

SOURCE: Comic Book Resources