Batman Beyond, Season 1, Episode 3: Black Out
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Again, we continue the theme of corporate espionage and sabotage as Inque is a mercenary employed by Derek Powers to blow up the buildings of one of its competitors, FoxTech. Old Man Bruce confronts Derek Powers about it, showing that despite seemingly being neutered from being the be-all-and-end-all of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce still has some clout over the Wayne-Powers Corporation, and we learn that not only did Derek Powers take over Wayne Enterprises, he also fired Lucius Fox's son. What a dick!
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Speaking of the two Batmen, I do like the brief bit with Terry being basically called away from enjoying high school sports games with his girlfriend Dana (of course the sports of 2039 is some bizarre Tron/Hogwarts fusion of wacky not-football), although actually having a relatively legit-sounding excuse of "my boss is demanding" is a lot more acceptable than some other superheroes.
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Eventually Inque hitches a ride on the new Batmobile, and the fight ends up happening in the Batcave when Inque attacks both Batman and Old Man Bruce. Fighting in the Batcave has always been great because of just how wonderful of a setpiece the Batcave is, and how vulnerable Batman would be in this place where not only is he the likeliest to let his guard down, it's also where someone could easily figure out his identity together. Doubly so now that Bruce Wayne is, well, an old arthritic old man.
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Also found it great that Old Man Bruce quickly disguises himself... with the Gray Ghost's mask! Terry-Batman has a decent time fighting her, before Old Man Bruce uses a Mr. Freeze gun to freeze her. We get the first full appearance of old, grizzled police commissioner Barbara Gordon in this episode as well, as Bruce calls her to give her a heads-up on a new Batman who leaves the frozen pieces of Inque outside of the GCPD office.
While all of this is going on, we explore a bit more about Derek Powers and his new form. He still keeps the visage of a smarmy corporate overlord in front of Bruce, but when he's with Inque, we learn that when he gets pissed off, his face cracks and the radioactive-green spooky skin beneath ends up showing, and he has to return to his company and go through this whole process with a huge metal mould to basically make an outer shell to disguise him. Pretty neat gimmick for the villain.
Overall, though, this episode felt... pretty basic. Derek Powers' foreshadowing aside, Inque is a cool, threatening villain but there really isn't much substance to her beyond "holy shit, she has superpowers". The episode is visually striking, but it doesn't really have a whole ton for me to talk about beyond that.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- FoxTech is run by Lucius Fox Jr, son of longtime Batman ally Lucius Fox.
- Among the costumes on the displays in the Batcave are the TNBA costumes for Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Riddler, Firefly, Mad Hatter, Penguin and the Gray Ghost; as well as a bullet-riddled Scarface puppet and Mr. Freeze's gun.
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