Batman Beyond (titled Batman of the Future in European territories) is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. Created and developed by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett and produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation, the series began airing on January 10, 1999 on Kids' WB, and ended on December 18, 2001 on Cartoon Network. In the United Kingdom, it began airing on September 4, 2000. After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video feature film, the series was brought to an end in favor of the Justice League animated series. Depicting a teenaged Batman (Terry McGinnis) in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, Batman Beyond is the third series (chronologically the final series) of the DC Animated Universe, and serves as the sequel to both Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.

Plot

The story begins in the then-distant year of 2019. An aging Bruce Wayne, despite being in his 50s, continues to fight crime as Batman in a new high-tech Batsuit, although he has increased difficulty in handling criminals he could once subdue with finesse and they are no longer afraid of him as he has lost his mystique. In what was supposed to be a routine mission, the rescue of kidnapped heiress Bunny Vreeland, the daughter of Veronica Vreeland, Batman suffers a mild heart attack and at risk of being beaten to death by one of the kidnappers, is forced to use a gun to fend him off. Despite not killing the man, Bruce is ashamed and, knowing his frailty and fearing that he will eventually succumb to his murderous temptation if he continues his crime-fighting, decides to retire from being Batman for good. By this point in his life, his butler, father figure and close confidant Alfred Pennyworth has died and his close allies Jim Gordon, Leslie Thompkins, Hamilton Hill, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Lucius Fox and Summer Gleeson have all either retired or died of natural causes. His crime-fighting partners Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Tim Drake are still alive, but are estranged from him following their retirements from their alter-egos and possible falling outs with him. His rogues' gallery, consisting of Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Man-Bat, Mad Hatter, Bane, Clayface, Catwoman, Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia, Phantasm, Ventriloquist, Firefly, Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Rupert Thorne, Deadshot, Baby-Doll and Killer Croc are all either in prison, institutionalized, reformed or deceased. He has also severed his ties with Superman and the Justice League.