Legendary DC writer Alan Burnett was never in line with an idea tossed around the studio for quite a while to make a shocking twist with the character of Batman. Burnett has had mastery over the DC characters in regard to animated features and series. He also has an astounding list of credits to his name including Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, and Justice League.
Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett-created show, Batman Beyond, was a critical darling and the has an astonishing connection to the 2004 series Justice League Unlimited surrounding the character of Batman. In a twist of events, the shocking revelation of Batman intensified the whole narrative to the core.
Alan Burnett Will not Accept Bruce Timm’s Surprising Twist To Batman Beyond
Alan Burnett restricted himself from his exclusive involvement in the Justice League Unlimited series. In the final episode, Epilogue, the ultimate revelation of Terry McGinnis’ Batman came to light and that Bruce Wayne is, in fact, the biological father of McGinnis.
The episode, set in the future world of Batman Beyond was written by Bruce Timm & Dwayne McDuffie, which was originated during the production process of the DC Animated Universe canon’s previous show, Batman Beyond. Brunett gave an insight into Timm’s idea reflecting on it while appearing on the Above and Batman Beyond podcast.
“I didn’t work on Justice League Unlimited and I never wanted him to be that maybe I never wanted Terry to be Bruce’s Bruce’s DNA and so I don’t accept. I’ll tell you that right off the bat, and I’ve talked about Bruce and I were are friendly about this and I just am I, feeling about Batman is that he’s the most democratic hero superhero because anybody can become him they don’t have to be heir to the throne they don’t have to have the same DNA it’s your own willpower that makes you the super guy.”
Burnett is vehemently critical of the idea that came out of the mind of Timm. Of course, it has its own merits, but Brunett insisted on never accepting it.
Alan Burnett Reflected On Writing Batman Beyond
As a character under the hood of Batman of the Future, Terry McGinnis extended the legacy of the character. Brunett, who was responsible for making the character evolve said that he wanted the Batman Beyond character to have some gravity. “Well we wanted to give him some gravity so we killed his father and so there’s a you know parallel to Bruce Wayne in that,” Brunett said in the Above and Batman Beyond podcast.
“We wanted to make him a rebel who would take chances to do things and he ends up stealing the suit and proving himself… So we thought about it a great deal before they actually wrote stuff down. We want Bruce to be a real SOB and we got that we, you know, he’s Clint Eastwood and so a toughened, so we got, I mean the guys, the guy, it’s a, it was a lonely life you know? The day he put on that costume was the best day for Gotham and the worst day for him. That’s how I said it and so and then the kid the kids the kid doesn’t take guff from him so it was a good it was a good father-son relationship.”
Batman Beyond remained an important story in the Batman saga engraving its essence to the inherent nature of the original Caped Crusader with added traits to his character. Surely, both the characters are distinguishable, but the relationship has provided the lineage to the storyline for Batman to survive even beyond the end.
