Batman will go down in history as one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. Over the years, we have seen many iterations of the Caped Crusader in multiple animated series, movies, and video games. However, most of these iterations revolve around Bruce Wayne’s version of Batman.
It wasn’t until 1999 that we saw a different version of Batman for the first time in Batman Beyond.
The writer of Batman Beyond opens up about how Terry McGinnis was different from Bruce Wayne
Batman Beyond was considered one of the most popular animated series back in the day. The series revolves around the story of Terry McGinnis, a teenage boy who is being trained by Bruce Wayne aka Batman himself to become his successor and watch over Gotham City. This is because The Caped Crusader has become too old himself.
However, shifting the focus of the Batman franchise from Bruce Wayne posed a unique challenge, and a huge opportunity in front of the writers. Bruce Wayne’s Batman never symbolized hope but with Terry McGinnis as the new lead character of the series, Batman Beyond started resonating a lot with younger fans of the character.
The writer for Batman Beyond, Stan Berkowitz, once opened up about the same in an interview with IGN. Talking about the characters of Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis, he said,
“It would be impossible for me to imagine a character, a teenager[Bruce Wayne] that dark, that damaged. The whole point of doing the series was to do one – you know, have a hero who is younger and could appeal to younger people.
Well, you make him someone who thinks he knows a lot and he’s got the raw material. You know, like, ‘No, you didn’t know that much and you made a mistake here, you made a mistake there, but you’re learning.'”
Shifting the focus of the series from Bruce Wayne to Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond was one of the best decisions made by Bruce Timm, or else the series could’ve just been labeled as a cheap knock-off of Batman: The Animated Series.
Will Friedle opens up about voicing the character of Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond
The character of Bruce Wayne’s Batman was always voiced by the legendary voice actor, Kevin Conroy. The American actor was responsible for voicing the character in over a dozen animated series, movies, and video games throughout his career before he passed away in 2022.
However, with the focus of the story shifting to Terry McGinnis who was just a teenager at the time, Warner Bros needed a new voice actor. That was when Will Friedle came into the picture and voiced Terry McGinnis and his version of Batman in Batman Beyond.
Friedle once opened up in an interview with CinemaDebate and talked about how he got the role of the titular character. Friedle revealed that it was actually the wife of Bruce Timm, the creator of Batman Beyond who suggested the actor to her husband for the role. He said,
“Bruce Timm, who created the show, his wife was a big Boy Meets World fan, which was the show that I was on and she said, ‘You should bring him in to read.’ And, I came in I think two or three different times. We worked on the voice to make sure that the Batman’s voice was different from the Terry’s voice.
It was something that I did think I had a prayer of getting and then I lucked out, and got the role.”
Considering that Batman Beyond was also Will Frielde’s first voice-acting gig of his career, he really did do a phenomenal job in the role.
Batman Beyond was first released in 1999 and quickly gained massive critical acclaim. Although the fans initially doubted if the story would be any good if the focus was shifted from Bruce Wayne, they were eventually proven wrong.
All episodes of Batman Beyond are currently streaming on HBO Max.
