The Batman Beyond movie already exists – and it’s brilliant

A new Batman Beyond movie is in the works, but there’s already an existing film with this character and it’s fantastic.

The Batman franchise has seen a ton of TV shows and movies dedicated to it, and it looks like another may be in the works as it’s been revealed that Spider-Verse artist Yuhki Demers has drawn up concept art for a new Batman Beyond film that’s in the very beginning stages of development.

The Batman Beyond franchise centers around teenager Terry McGinnis who ends up taking up the mantle of Batman in a futuristic Gotham City and aided by an older Bruce Wayne.

While news of a new movie featuring this character is exciting, Batman Beyond already has one movie under its belt titled Return of the Joker and it will be pretty hard to top as it’s absolutely fantastic.

Return of the Joker has the best and darkest storyline

The movie focuses on Terry and Bruce being attacked by a group of young adults dressed in Joker-esque costumes before coming face to face with the Clown Prince of Crime himself during a benefit dinner.

However, the reappearance of the Joker sends Bruce into a tailspin because, 40 years prior, Bruce watched as Robin (Tim Drake) shot and killed the Joker. The self-defense murder came after Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped and tortured Tim in an attempt to turn him into their pseudo-son.

Terry first suspects Tim of being the Joker as the stolen equipment seems to be materials for a satellite and the former Robin now works as a telecommunications engineer, but Bruce quickly dismisses any notion that Tim would want anything to do with Joker after his time in captivity.

Joker and his gang keep terrorizing the city until Terry, with Bruce in his eye, comes face to face with Joker only to realize that Tim is working for him, but not in the way they expect.

Warner Home Video

In one of the best third-act twists in all of Batman canon, Joker reveals that he copied his copy onto a microchip built with genetic technology and implanted it in Tim’s subconscious, giving him the ability to take over Tim’s body at will over the last four decades.

While most Joker storylines within Batman depict him as being funny and insane, Return of the Joker allows fans to see how incredibly intelligent and cunning he truly is.

Joker always says he’s one step ahead of Batman but, in this film, he was not steps ahead but actual decades.

Showcasing his forethought in case Batman killed him (which he comes pretty come to doing when finding Robin) is one of the best evil and well-thought-out plans Joker has ever come up with.

Plus, despite being a kids’ film, Return of the Joker wasn’t afraid to be incredibly dark and hard to watch, especially when it came to the Robin scenes.

While they don’t outright show his time with Joker and Harley, the implications shown in Joker’s home movies are enough to turn anyone’s stomach, child or adult.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is truly one of the best Batman films, live-action or animated, and it will be hard to beat such an intense and shocking storyline in the new film. But, if anyone has a shot at doing it, the minds behind Spider-Verse would be our first contenders.