Batman (Terrence "Terry" McGinnis) is a fictional superhero appearing in the animated television series Batman Beyond (1999–2001) and in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and first appeared in the pilot episode of the aforementioned animated series, voiced by Will Friedle.

In the future, Terry McGinnis is the vigilante known as the Batman, having taken over the name after the aging Bruce Wayne went into retirement (in addition, in DCAU continuity, he is also Wayne's biological son).

Biography

Terry was born in Gotham City on March 27, 2023, to Warren and Mary McGinnis, a research scientist at Wayne-Powers and an astronomer at Astro-Tech respectively. By his own admission, he was once a "bad kid." As a former member of a street gang run by youthful racketeer Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow, Terry had his fair share of run-ins with the Gotham City Police at age fourteen while his parents were going through a divorce, even serving a three-month stint in juvenile hall (having been underage, he is spared Charlie's three-year sentence where Charlie was old enough to be tried as an adult).

Twenty years after Batman is last seen, Terry finds himself on the run from the Jokerz, another street gang, who have modeled themselves after the long-dead Gotham City legendary criminal, the Joker. Terry flees onto the grounds of Wayne Manor, where an aged Bruce Wayne comes to his defense. The strain of the fight places substantial stress on Bruce's weak heart, so Terry helps Bruce into the mansion and gets him his medication; Bruce proceeds to fall asleep afterward. Before leaving, Terry notices a bat stuck inside a grandfather clock. As he tries to free it, he stumbles upon the entrance to the Batcave and realizes that the elder man was the city's heroic Dark Knight. He is then forced to leave by an enraged Bruce.

Terry returns home to find his father murdered, ostensibly by Jokerz. He later discovers that Derek Powers (who has assumed leadership of a merged Wayne-Powers) ordered Warren's death after the latter discovered Powers' plan to mass-produce biological weapons. Powers' right-hand man Mr. Fixx leads a raid on the McGinnis home and shoots Warren McGinnis. (In the comic books, he orders one of his henchmen, who is a great grand-nephew of Joe Chill, to shoot Warren.) Terry then seeks Bruce's assistance in bringing Powers down but cannot convince the old man to inflict swift justice. Bruce is still shaken from an ordeal 20 years earlier of having relied on a gun for self-defense as well as the events portrayed in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Bruce suggests that Terry take the evidence against Powers to the current commissioner of police but, after a scuffle with Powers during which Derek is able to reclaim the evidence, Terry takes matters into his own hands and steals the latest incarnation of the Batsuit. Despite some initial mistrust, their similar backgrounds convince Bruce to aid Terry. Terry successfully derails Powers' plan, exposing Powers to his own hazardous chemicals in the process, resulting in his mutation into Blight.

Convinced that there is still a need for a Batman, Bruce hires Terry as his "personal assistant" and begins secretly training him for his new role as Gotham's Dark Knight. In addition, Bruce assists Terry in the field primarily by keeping in continual contact with him from the Batcave. Beyond the vigilante duties as Batman, Terry is also Bruce's chauffeur and provides assistance with Bruce's daily business and personal tasks at his home and office, which also allows him to bond with Bruce's dog Ace when he helps him care for the Great Dane. In time, the pair develops a bond of trust and respect, and confide in each other not only just their mutual missions, but also life issues as well, similar to a father and son. Bruce would even trust Terry over Barbara Gordon's words when the villain Spellbinder frames Terry for murder with another one of his illusions.

After Powers' criminal identity is revealed to the public and he finally brings retribution to his father's killer, Terry decides to continue his role as Batman to make up for his past sins, in the hope that it is his chance at redemption. Later in his career as Batman, he has a confrontation with an elderly Amanda Waller, who reveals that she engineered his origin to create a replacement Batman for Bruce Wayne. McGinnis learns that Wayne is his biological father; Waller used nanotechnology to ensure that Bruce Wayne's DNA overwrote the DNA in Warren McGinnis's sex cells.