Batman Beyond S01E02 Review: The Hero Gotham Needs

Batman Beyond, Season 1, Episode 2: Rebirth, Part 2

Picking up right where we left off from the first part of this two-parter, Bruce Wayne quickly figures out that the data in the CD that Warren hid is some sort of mutagen data for a powerful flesh-eating nerve gas, which is a neat take on the whole "your company is producing destructive weaponry" theme that Iron Man is built on. Old Man Bruce is still surly, however, and refuses to personally do something about it, telling Terry to just give the data to commissioner Barbara Gordon (so that's what happened to one of the sidekicks), and Terry calls Old Man Bruce out on just how shit he's behaving. Something's happened to him, and it wasn't just getting old -- at this point, it's implied that it's just Bruce being emo and soul-crushed by the whole "forced to use a gun" thing, but honestly, after spending most of his life as the peak of humanity, having age turn you into merely above-average is probably going to hurt Bruce's psyche a lot.

After spending a significant amount of the previous episode just making smug smiles and implying horrible things happening off-screen, Derek Powers's master plan is shown in this episode. He's meeting up with a general from the war-torn country of Kaznia, one Vilmos Egans, and shows off the results of his nerve gas... using poor, poor, Harry being consumed by these maroon rust-like splotches into increasingly horrific shots -- which are offscreen to the audience, but we do get a pretty effective reaction shot from Vilmos to tell us that, yeah, it's probably not pretty. There's definitely a lot of Lex Luthor vibe to Powers, and I'm actually somewhat curious that the Big Bad of this series is going to be more of a Luthor-style calculating villain instead of a Joker-style anarchist. For now, at least.

Meanwhile, Old Man Bruce realizes that Ace has been tied up (Terry you dick!), shows that he still carries Batarangs even as an old man, and then quickly realize that Terry has snuck into the Batcave and stole the new, upgraded Bat-suit. We get to see what the Batman Beyond suit is able to do -- in addition to wings, we get to see Terry flying around and then use these cool fingerprint listening devices to listen in to Derek Powers' discussion with Egans, talking about the fatality rate of their nerve gas, while noting that the only cure is extreme heat or radiation. Also, the fact that it was Mr. Fixx that killed Warren, not the Jokerz gang.

We then have a bit of an action scene between Terry and a bunch of random soldiers with laser guns arrive, which ends up being a bit complicated when Bruce calls in with the suit's intercom and uses an immobilizer failsafe to straight-up just lock the suit down, which is hilarious. Bruce ends up relenting and decides to basically help Terry out for at least this one mission, because he can at least appreciate the need to, y'know, not let Terry die like an idiot as the guards beat him up. Directing Terry to enter a broom closet's fake wall, Old Man Bruce once again wants to leave everything to the police, but Terry ends up appealing to their shared lost parents, and Bruce ends up relenting and allowing Terry to use the suit, at least for now.

Terry shows up at the dock where Derek Powers and Fixx are supervising the nerve gas canisters being loaded, and I really do love just how inexperienced Terry is. Even with Bruce's instructions, he spends a bit too long monologuing, and it's honestly only everyone being baffled at the Batman's reappearance that he ends up being able to do so well. The fight scenes are... they're all right, if nothing too spectacular, but during the fight, a stray bullet from Powers' gun hits one of the nerve gas canisters, causing him to be afflicted and consumed by the gas.

Meanwhile, Terry continues to go after Mr. Fixx and the hovercraft, showing off the new bat-suit's absurdly sharp claws. The fight over the Gotham River is neat, and Mr. Fixx shows off a pair of Electrocutioner-style knuckle-duster fists. Terry gives the declaration that "I AM BATMAN!" and during the fight, Fixx gets knocked into the ship's controls, sending the ship tumbling out of control and into the bottom of the bay, also presumably killing Mr. Fixx as he's trapped with nerve gas and the river. Terry escapes, though, and I was baffled at how blase he is at the death of Mr. Fixx. Sure, he killed his dad, but not even a token effort to save him? Nothing from Bruce? I genuinely don't remember if Fixx returns as a villain later on or not, so I'm not sure if this is intentional.

It's a fun little first outing, and the end of the episode shows off a couple of little status quo things -- Bruce Wayne himself shows up at Terry's house, showing that even as an old man, he can still pull off the city's favourite son card and basically recruits Terry as a go-fer while talking to Terry about welcoming him to Bruce Wayne's world, formally accepting him as the new Batman... while Derek Powers, dosed by the gas, ends up going through extreme radiation therapy and the combination of the gas and radiation causes him to mutate into Dr. Phosphorus a metahuman with glowing, radioactive skin.

Overall... it's not the perfect opening to a series, but it's still a pretty neat one that handles the Bruce/Terry dynamic pretty well, sets up the state of future Gotham, as well as builds up one of the main villains. I'm not sure how regular these episodes will be. This isn't a show I pre-watched and took notes on like Ultimate Spider-Man or Superman: TAS, but I'll try my best to at least finish the first season before 2019 is over.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• While the character is entirely original, Blight's appearance borrows from minor Batman enemy Dr. Phosphorus, being a radiation-based supervillain whose skeleton is visible thanks to a glowing, transparent skin.
• The fictional country of Kasnia was featured in both Superman: The Animated Series and later in Justice League.