This one-minute-plus short was written and directed by Darwyn Cooke to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Batman mythos, and it succeeds perhaps beyond expectation, leaving the viewer wanting more.
In the future elderly Bruce Wayne is attacked in the Batcave; when the new Batman, Terry McGuiness, arrives, Bruce reveals the Batcave was attacked by "me" - which turns out to be a robot replica of Batman in Bruce's heyday; the robot fights Terry, and as it turns out, there are seven other Batman Duplicates waiting in the wings.
The eight Batman Duplicates resemble the Batman character design spanning different periods of the character's existence; sharp-eyed viewers will recognize the Bill Finger original, the Adam West and Michael Keaton Batmen, and the Brave And The Bold character design.
The short screams for full-length treatment and brings back reminiscence of one of the strongest story arcs of The Animated Series - the HARDAC story arc, about a supercomputer and artificial intelligence that decides to replace human beings with robot duplicates. Given the success in the Batman Beyond series with such classic Batman villains as Mister Freeze, Ra's Al Ghul, and a reborn Joker, the rebirth of HARDAC makes too much sense not to be given full-length Batman Beyond treatment.
In the future elderly Bruce Wayne is attacked in the Batcave; when the new Batman, Terry McGuiness, arrives, Bruce reveals the Batcave was attacked by "me" - which turns out to be a robot replica of Batman in Bruce's heyday; the robot fights Terry, and as it turns out, there are seven other Batman Duplicates waiting in the wings.
The eight Batman Duplicates resemble the Batman character design spanning different periods of the character's existence; sharp-eyed viewers will recognize the Bill Finger original, the Adam West and Michael Keaton Batmen, and the Brave And The Bold character design.
The short screams for full-length treatment and brings back reminiscence of one of the strongest story arcs of The Animated Series - the HARDAC story arc, about a supercomputer and artificial intelligence that decides to replace human beings with robot duplicates. Given the success in the Batman Beyond series with such classic Batman villains as Mister Freeze, Ra's Al Ghul, and a reborn Joker, the rebirth of HARDAC makes too much sense not to be given full-length Batman Beyond treatment.