Ever wondered what would happen to Gotham City if its saviour Batman retired, became old or wasn’t a threat to the goons who terrorised the citizens? In the animated series Batman Beyond — The Animated Series Guide, you get the answer to your queries.

Billionaire Bruce Wayne takes the backseat and lets Terry McGinnis don the Batsuit after he realises that the city needs young blood to counter the menace of young villains.

Written by Scott Beatty, this book takes you into a futuristic Gotham where Batman is a legend, but because of his absence from the scene. The City has become a playground for villains after Batman decided to call it a day, and Bruce Wayne was voted out from his own company. The book tells you why the aged Caped Crusader chose to make a comeback but as a mentor, a role his friend Alfred Pennyworth excelled in, why he picked up a young teenager to be his heir and what happened to his friends with whom he saved the world on a daily basis.

This book also tells you that the reason why Terry McGinnis became the new Batman had more to do with his life story being similar to Bruce Wayne’s, besides his fighting skills and ability to learn from the best. He wanted to save his city as much as the ‘old guy’, and with the new super-charged Batsuit aiding him in the field and Bruce Wayne behind the computer, there was hardly anything that could go wrong. Except for evolved bad guys and back from the dead villains, of course!

Unlike the rogues from the days of the Dark Knight, the new villains are stronger, deadlier and with a back story that explains their origin, or decision to operate on the wrong side of the law. This book also covers their superpowers, their weaknesses and why they want Batman out of their way.

Be it the Jokerz gang that followed Batman’s arch-enemy Joker, or Blight who blamed the new Batman for his state, every other villain wanted to seek revenge for one thing or the other. Some wanted financial gains whereas a few returned from the original Batman’s time, but they all had to go through the Terry McGinnis-Bruce Wayne duo to succeed, which was quite difficult.

Why was it difficult, you may ask? Through this book, you will realise that with the passage of time (we are talking about the year 2039 here!), Batman also had to evolve. How Bruce Wayne upgraded the Batsuit to fit Terry’s needs, what accessories he added in his arsenal to combat evolved villains and how he ensured that the new suit didn’t fall into the wrong hands, everything is explained with the help of pictures in this wonderful guide.

With Terry McGinnis becoming the Tomorrow Knight, order was restored in Gotham City, and we hope it stays that way!

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 15th, 2020