Batman (Terry McGinnis)

Batman (Terrence "Terry" McGinnis) is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, as well as the protagonist of the animated television series Batman Beyond (1999–2001), in which he has succeeded Bruce Wayne as the protector of Gotham City. He was voiced by Will Friedle. His first appearance in mainstream comics continuity was in Batman #700 (June 2010).

Publication history
McGinnis was created for the Batman Beyond animated television series, as a continuation of The New Batman Adventures, originally meant as a character for the DCAU. For a long time, he was not considered a character for the main DC Universe. Countdown introduced Earth-12, an alternate universe with its own version of Terry McGinnis and other Beyond-like characters. However, in Batman #700, Grant Morrison finally introduced him into Batman's future in mainstream continuity in 2010, migrating him from television into comic books.

Fictional character biography
Terry was born in Gotham City on Earth-12, an alternate universe, on August 18, 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).

Years after Batman is last seen, Terry finds himself on the run from the Jokerz, another street gang, who have modelled themselves after the long-dead Gotham city legend, 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 actually leads the raid and the great grand nephew of Joe Chill is the one who shot Warren McGinnis. He seeks Bruce's assistance in bringing Powers down, but cannot convince the old man to take up the cowl once more; 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. 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, in the process exposing Powers to his own hazardous chemicals, 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 the boy at the Batcave. Beyond the vigilante duties as Batman, Terry is also Bruce's chauffeur as well as assisting Bruce's daily business and personal tasks at his home and office.

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 his heroic role is his chance at redemption.

Bruce Wayne
Despite his role as the new Batman, Terry leads a very different, far less privileged life than Bruce. In addition to coping with his father's death, Terry struggles to keep his double life secret from his mother and younger brother. Because of his responsibilities as Batman, he is not afforded the same licenses the Robins enjoyed and is expected to be on the call whenever he is needed. As a result, Terry is just barely successful at balancing out his dual life, on several occasions prompting both men to reconsider Terry's reliability.

Terry and Bruce develop a respect for each other, with Terry regarding Bruce as a surrogate father. This is demonstrated in the episode "Sneak Peek" where Terry pays reporter Ian Peek a visit to plead on Bruce's behalf:


 * Terry: "I don't care what you do to me, but he doesn't deserve this. He's done too much for this city to wind up in the middle of a media circus."
 * Peek: "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"
 * Terry: "Yes... he does."

Even though the stern attitude of Bruce with Terry is meant to ensure that he pushes Terry both emotionally and physically, and even though Bruce can at times be very emotionally distant to the young Batman, there have also been times he has shown genuine concern and love for Terry. In one instance he defended Terry to Commissioner Barbara Gordon when Shriek held Gotham hostage in exchange for Batman's life:
 * Bruce: "What are you saying Barbara? That I should just hand Terry over to Shriek?"
 * Barbara: "No, give him to me. I'll figure out something. I had some pretty good teachers, remember?"
 * Bruce: "I remember, but you work for a mayor who would sell out the kid at the drop of a hat."
 * Barbara: "Look, if you've got a better plan..."
 * Bruce: "All I know right now is this: That kid's done a lot for this city, it's time the city did something for him."

In turn, Bruce initially treats Terry the same way he treated Dick Grayson and Tim Drake. In time, Terry grows into the cowl, and Bruce grows to accept him as his heir to the Batman legacy, demonstrating a great deal of faith in him despite his criminal past; in the episode "Eyewitness," when Terry was framed for murder, Bruce trusted Terry's claims of innocence even after Barbara Gordon told Bruce that she had seen Terry kill a man. (It was later revealed to be an illusion created by Spellbinder). Over time, the generally private Bruce Wayne even told Terry about some of his old enemies and adventures as Batman, such as his old relationship with Selina Kyle, Terry also doing his own independent research into individuals such as Talia al Ghul, although Bruce rarely discussed Joker due to the intensely personal nature of his confrontations with the villain.

During the 'return' of 'Hush', Bruce briefly appeared prepared to replace Terry with Bat-Wraith robots, but admits when Terry is injured in a confrontation with Hush that Terry is an excellent Batman, with Bruce's issues with his performance stemming simply from his own inability to move on from the role that he had long believed only he could handle.

The Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue" reveals that Terry is Bruce's biological son due to Amanda Waller's "Batman Beyond" project. The project caused Warren McGinnis to have his reproductive DNA re-written into an exact copy of Bruce's when he went in for what he thought was a flu shot; this would make Bruce the biological father of Terry and his younger brother Matt McGinnis, even though they were born to Warren and Mary McGinnis. Waller even hired assassin Andrea Beaumont, AKA: The Phantasm, one of Bruce Wayne's many past lovers, and ordered her to kill Warren and Mary as they were coming out of a movie theater with their sons, hoping to recreate the same pyschological trauma that resulted in Bruce becoming Batman within Terry or his brother, but at the last minute Beaumont abandoned the job, refusing to subject an innocent child to the same tragedy that consumed Bruce's life (but in the end, Warren's death at the hands of a criminal still occurred, thus cementing Terry's destiny as the next Batman). This twist seems to be foreshadowed in a number of Batman Beyond episodes, as references to Bruce being a father figure are occasionally made, both by Terry and other characters, as well as the similarities the two men share. Both of Terry's parents are shown as having red hair in Batman Beyond, which is usually a recessive trait, which would make it extremely unusual for them to have biological sons with black hair. Additionally, by the time of "Epilogue" Terry has also grown into a much larger man, closer in size and build to Bruce Wayne in his prime, than he was at the beginning of Batman Beyond.

Family
Terry values his mother, Mary McGinnis, and his younger brother, Matt, as the closest family he has left. At the time of his death, Warren McGinnis was divorced from his wife and their sons split between them: Terry with his father, Matt with his mother. After the divorce, Terry's relationship with his father is shown in the episode "Rebirth" to be strained. The last time they spoke Terry and his father have a heated argument, something Terry never is never completely able to forgive himself for. After Warren's death, Terry moves back in with his mother.

Even though there exists the obligatory spark of sibling rivalry and tough love between himself and Matt, Terry would be there to raise his brother's spirits when he was feeling down, notably in the episode "Revenant" when Matt reminisces about their father. Matt also an obsessive Batman fan, which is ironic considering that he never realizes his brother and the hero he idolizes are one and the same.

As far as Mary and Matt are concerned, Terry is simply employed by Bruce Wayne to run errands during the series, finding the idea of Terry being Batman to be absurd, ridiculing him when he once attempts to reveal his secret in the episode "Sneak Peek."

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", Terry tells Bruce Wayne that he never once doubted that Warren McGinnis loved him with all his heart, and would have taught Terry right from wrong if the young man had been willing to listen.

Max Gibson
Maxine "Max" Gibson, a classmate of Terry's and later one of his closest friends, is an African American girl with short dyed pink hair who attends Hamilton Hill High School with Terry. Her parents are separated, and she has one older sister who often works late hours. Max is exceptionally intelligent and talented with computer programming, even among her peers. It is revealed in the episode "Babel" that the Gibsons own a seal-pointed Siamese cat.

Max becomes curious about Batman after his "return" to Gotham City. Exceptionally skilled with computers and electronics, she creates a program that is designed to uncover Batman's secret identity to satisfy that curiosity. After unmasking Terry (following an incorrect assessment of him being a Jokerz hooligan), Max insists on being a part of his secret life and helps him with everything from computer hacking to coming up with excuses to give his girlfriend Dana. She even expressed a desire to want to be the next Robin at some point, but Bruce Wayne refused to allow that possibility to become a real one.

Max's importance is similar to that of Barbara Gordon's in the comics, as her hacking genius. Terry and Max remain close, but their relationship is never shown to exceed the boundaries of friendship, which is in contrast to the relationship between Barbara and Bruce, who later got romantically involved with each other. Max is, essentially, Terry's version of Alfred Pennyworth; Terry even jokingly referred to her as such on one occasion.

The show has been revisited several times since its end, in Justice League and in the movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, but Max has not been seen or mentioned in any of these. However, she has made an appearance in the fourth issue of the on-going comic book series Batman Beyond.

Notable episodes
In the episode "Hidden Agenda," Max reveals that she is writing a computer program to analyze all the data available on Batman and deduce his secret identity. She informs her friends Terry McGinnis and Dana Tan that she believes that Batman is a new person in the old suit, and is somehow connected to their school. This concerns Terry, who is in fact the new Batman.

When the school is vandalized by a gang of Jokerz, Max reconfigures her program to search for Jokerz instead. Unknown to her, the vandalism was targeted at her personally. The leader of the Jokerz, Terminal, is actually an honor student named Carter Wilson, and Max's standing is higher than his, outperforming him academically; at the current rate, she will be valedictorian instead of him.

Terry, as Batman, discovers that Max is a specific target and mistakenly believes that it is because of her computer program. He convinces her to stop running the program, but when Max goes to delete it, she learns that it has completed its analysis. Much to her surprise, Terry's name comes up on the list of potential Jokerz, and she becomes convinced that Terry is Terminal and sends him a message, threatening to expose his secret if he does not meet her. Further confusing the issue, Terry does not get the message until late, and Terminal (who was following her) shows up at the meeting place with his Jokerz. Terry arrives as Batman and rescues Max, revealing Terminal's true identity in the process.

Max later admits to Terry that she had thought he was one of the Jokerz, but has now figured out the truth. She goes to delete her program, but Terry advises her that it's already been wiped after Bruce hacked into the school's computer systems. Max then immediately proves herself an asset by providing an alibi for why Terry did not call Dana the previous night when he was saving Max. Max tells Terry that he cannot call her Robin; he instead jokingly calls her "Alfred." (Naturally she fails to understand the reference, given Alfred's lack of exposure in Batman's exploits to the public.)

In the episode "Hooked Up", Max attempts to join Terry on patrol as his partner, even though both he and Bruce do not approve. Trying to prove her worth to Terry, she becomes addicted to Spellbinder's illegal VR technology, but fights off its influence and knocks Spellbinder out before he can injure Terry. Although Terry remains unwilling to allow her to physically assist him, he accepts her as his partner after she helps him defeat Curaré and disarming Mutro Botha's nuclear weapon in the episode "Final Cut."

Terry initially hides Bruce's identity from Max, but Max already has enough information to deduce that Terry's employer is actually the original Batman. In "Where's Terry?", when Terry goes missing in Gotham's maze of subway tunnels, Bruce and Max look for him together and manage to come to an understanding regarding their respective importance to Terry. Bruce however, steadfastly refuses to allow her to become more involved than is absolutely necessary, due to his not wanting her to take the risks that Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl had. Max and Bruce also find themselves at odds due to their attitudes about Terry's work and personal lives. Eventually, Bruce grudgingly accepts Max, and she befriends him in return.

Dana Tan
Although Terry flirts with several girls throughout the show, his main love interest has always been Dana Tan, his girlfriend and classmate at Hamilton Hill High School. In the episode "Big Time," she recognizes Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow by sight, suggesting that Dana and Terry were already together at age 14 in ninth grade, although in "Rebirth", Terry's mother notes that Dana, Terry's "friend", left him her number, suggesting that they became an item over the course of the series. Despite their commitment to each other, their relationship is strained as Terry struggles early on as Batman to balance his dual obligations. The two verge on the possibility of breaking up several times, especially before Terry meets Melanie Walker, AKA Ten of the Royal Flush Gang.

However, as the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue" reveals, Terry ultimately grows into full acceptance of his role as Batman, and somewhere along the line discloses his secret to Dana. Although it takes him some time to get over his fears for her safety in the event that his identity is ever compromised, the episode ends with Terry planning to propose to her.

Melanie Walker/Ten
In the midst of a breakup with Dana, Terry meets Melanie Walker and the two become attracted to one another. However, Terry is crushed when he learns she too leads a double life: as Ten, the youngest member of the latest incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang. In a burst of clarity, he discards a note Melanie had left him, choosing instead not to read it, and goes back to Dana, while Melanie remains in the dark about her enemy and her lover being the same person.

Terry has additional encounters with Ten and the Royal Flush Gang; each time, he advises her to turn straight, showing that he still cares deeply about her. Their relationship is somewhat reminiscent of the one the original Batman had with Catwoman, and Bruce even notes it.

Commissioner Barbara Gordon
Terry upholds tradition by forging an alliance with Gotham City's police commissioner, Barbara Gordon, formerly Batgirl and the daughter of James Gordon. The alliance starts out on a sour note, as Barbara never fails to take Terry's juvenile record into account and believes he is too reckless for the role of Batman. The fact that Terry occasionally ruins police stakeout operations by intervening without fully assessing the situation sometimes worsens the situation.

Barbara is reluctant to assist the new Batman and to have a teenager as Gotham's new protector. The direct-to-video movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker revealed that Barbara remains haunted by the torture that Tim Drake long ago suffered at the hands of the Joker. She advises Terry to give up being Batman, and once tries to arrest him after he is framed for murder by Spellbinder; however, when the truth comes out, Barbara rewards Terry with a civic service award as an apology. Barbara eventually relents, however, upon realizing that she could not deter him anymore than she could have been deterred from being Batgirl.

Barbara eventually warms up to Terry, assisting him when Bruce is put out of action by a revived Joker. She states that she hopes Terry would avoid the lonely existence that Bruce leads. However, Barbara's attitude is different from Jim Gordon's, and she notes once that she is "not [her] father", never working as closely with Terry as her father did with Bruce. (i.e. using a Bat-Signal, directly giving him cases, etc.).

Charlie Bigelow
Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow is a con artist who dragged Terry into a life of crime. In the episode "Big Time," Terry reveals his background with Charlie to Max, explaining that the same felony which landed him in juvie for three months had Charlie put away for three years. Guilt-ridden, Terry would e-mail Charlie periodically while he was in prison. When Charlie is finally released, Terry convinces Bruce to give him a job at Wayne-Powers. This turns out to be a ploy by Charlie to aid in a corporate espionage scheme, during which Charlie is exposed to an experimental growth compound and mutated into a monstrous, disproportionate creature.

Despite Terry's friendship with Bigelow and the regret that his time in jail did not reform him, subsequent events in the episode "Betrayal" make clear that Bigelow saw Terry merely as hired muscle. Terry finally lets go of his guilt toward Charlie and sees him for the monster he really is. Terry and Charlie's friendship is reminiscent of Bruce and Harvey Dent, two best friends who eventually become enemies, another similarity that Bruce notes.

With other superheroes
Terry grew up admiring other superheroes of his day, the Justice League Unlimited. Eventually, he is recruited by Superman to root out a traitor in the team, which turns out to be Superman himself, under the control of the extraterrestrial creature Starro. Though the rest of the team at first distrusts him due to his perceived inexperience, Terry gains their trust by saving their lives and freeing Superman from the alien's mind control. However, he says that he would prefer to be like his mentor and only partially serve on the Justice League.

When Static is sent 40 years into the future from the time of the Static Shock series, he is forced to work with Terry to rescue Static's future self from the KOBRA organization. While Terry doubts his abilities at first, he eventually develops respect for Static. Terry also sees the resemblance in both the teenage and adult version.

Terry seems to have rejoined, as later episodes of Justice League Unlimited show him as a regular member (and possibly leader). In the alternate timeline shown in the JLU episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped," Terry fights alongside Static (of that era) and Warhawk. He is killed in the episode, though his death is undone thanks to time travel.

Project Batman Beyond
In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", which takes place 15 years after Batman Beyond, Terry discovers the shocking truth about his parentage. When Bruce requires tissue for the cloning of a kidney to transplant, Terry is checked for compatibility. To his surprise, his DNA is similar to Bruce's. After hesitating for a time, he runs a DNA test and finds out that Bruce is his biological father. Terry tracks down Amanda Waller, the only person in the world he believes can answer his questions. As he does so, he imagines scenarios where he leaves the people important to himself because he believes his life was a lie.

Terry vents some of his frustration about Bruce and his plans to Waller, only to be surprised when Waller reveals that Bruce was not responsible for Terry's genetic makeup: she herself was, without Bruce's consent.

Decades earlier, Waller was the government liaison to the Justice League and she slowly began to realize and believe that Batman was the most capable person in the League; despite not having any powers; his willpower, body strength, and acute intelligence made him the most balanced and reliable fighter in the entire League. Because of this, Amanda Waller slowly began to respect and trust Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, Amanda Waller noticed something as the years went by: Batman was human. As such, he was getting older and more and more unable to handle the day-to-day intensities as a crimefighting superhero. She knew that one day Batman would have to retire, or there would be the chance that he'd be killed by one of his enemies eventually. Fearing that fact and believing the world always needed Batman, she decided to create a new one.

Waller, with old connections to Cadmus, gathered the technology necessary for her movement. She called this movement "Project Batman Beyond." Bruce Wayne's DNA was obtained from a mission where he got injured - a small blood sample on a piece of gauze left at the scene of the mission. Years later in New Gotham, she found a couple that was psychologically identical to Bruce's parents. Warren McGinnis was called in to get a routine flu shot that was actually a Project Cadmus nanotech solution that was used to reconstruct his reproductive material to match Bruce Wayne's. A short while later - approximately one year - Mary McGinnis gave birth to Terry, who was a combination of her and Bruce.

But that wasn't the end of Waller's plan. When Terry was eight years old, he and his parents went to a film&mdash;titled The Gray Ghost Strikes (The Gray Ghost was Bruce Wayne's hero as a child). While they were going home, they didn't notice someone following them. It was in fact an assassin - Andrea Beaumont, an old love of Bruce Wayne's and the enigmatic Phantasm - hired by Waller to kill Terry's parents. The trauma of seeing his parents murdered in front of him would cause Terry to someday become Batman. However, a problem came up just as Beaumont was about to do the deed&mdash;she refused to murder Terry's parents, saying that even though "Batman was obsessive and would do anything to achieve his goals, he'd never resort to murder." Waller knew that Beaumont was right, and if she wanted to honor Batman and his legacy, she couldn't order the murder in cold blood of two innocent people. This led to the project's inevitable cancellation, resulting in Terry's brother being born later.

In the end however, Terry's father was murdered anyway, causing Terry to become the new Batman in his search for vengeance against his father's killers. Because of this fact, Terry believes he'd been cursed with the fate of becoming Batman since he was born. This bitterness increased when Bruce Wayne's kidneys failed and Terry happened to be a perfect histo-compatibility match with him, allowing doctors to clone his kidneys and save Bruce's life. This event's small percentage of possibility (111 to 1 against) caused enough suspicion in Terry to run a DNA test, discovering that he was Bruce's genetic son. Believing Bruce had set the whole thing up, he became angry and bitter at his mentor, so much so that he compared what was done to him to what the Joker did to Tim Drake in the Batman Beyond movie Return of the Joker. This anger and bitterness made Terry create some scenarios in his mind wherein he abandoned all the people he was close to, Bruce, the Justice League, eventually his lover Dana&mdash;because of his apparent curse of the Batman mantle.

Waller's admission of guilt and affirmation of Terry's destiny allowed Terry to overcome his anger and bitterness. Terry then decided to propose to Dana.

According to episode co-writer Dwayne McDuffie, Bruce, as the world's greatest detective, becomes aware that Terry and Matt are his genetic offspring at some point after Terry assumes the role of Batman, and figures out the machinations of Waller and Project Cadmus. However, he never brings it up out of respect for Warren McGinnis, and because he wants Terry to be his own man.

Powers, abilities, and equipment
In addition to the training he receives from Bruce, Terry appears at least to be an able street fighter. In the pilot episode "Rebirth", he is able to fend off a number of Jokerz without aid, and appears to be a member of his high school's wrestling team. Under Bruce's tutelage, Terry has honed his body to at least Olympic levels. As expected of Batman, he engages in regular, rigorous training to minimize his reliance on the Batsuit.

Terry has engaged in combat outside of the Batsuit in various instances. His training has granted him exceptional reflexes, enabling him to evade gunfire and make impressive leaping attempts whether in or out of the Batsuit. In one instance, without the suit's aid, Terry survives a fall from several stories high by bouncing off a pillar that is about to crush him and lands on his feet. Terry even defeats his suit in single combat when it is controlled by the computerized consciousness of a deceased business mogul, armed only with the equipment in Bruce's vintage utility belt. Fifteen years after the last episode of Batman Beyond, as Terry reaches his thirties, he is able to get through Amanda Waller's security systems and overpower her guards without the aid of his suit, suggesting that his skills are rivaling his mentor's when he was in his prime.

In "Epilogue", Waller comments that Terry has inherited several of Bruce's qualities. He possesses a high intellect, though Waller notes that Bruce is the brighter of the pair. In the episode itself Terry is shown to have inherited Bruce's physical stature and build, although in the series Terry is much leaner than Bruce was as Batman. Although he tends to rely on Bruce for the intellectual details when in the field, Terry has been trained by Bruce as a detective, allowing him to perform such feats as tracking down Shriek or determining a connection between Joker and Tim Drake when Bruce was incapacitated. Despite his detective training, Terry's ambition is to be a physician, and, under Bruce, he learns to create cures, remedies and antidotes. As a student, his main interests are in health or medical sciences and history; however, his job as Batman and less-than-stellar study habits have caused problems with his grades, as seen in "The Eggbaby" where he needed to get a good grade on a Family Studies to pass the class.

As Batman, Terry emulates Bruce's deep, harsh tone. He does this of his own accord, to separate the entities of Terry and Batman (Terry can be heard using his "Batman voice" outside of the Batsuit in the episodes "Shriek" and "Future Shock"). Actor Will Friedle stated that, in his opinion, the reason Terry takes on a Batman voice is not just to strike terror into the hearts of criminals, but also to disguise the fact that he is an adolescent.

Terry is also capable of using a rather convincing Brooklyn accent when undercover ("Shriek," "Ace in the Hole"). Terry has also demonstrated considerable skill in handling a flight-capable Batmobile.

Terry's Batsuit
The Batsuit worn by Terry is the last incarnation created by Bruce before his retirement. Though the technology in the suit is 20 years old, it is still considered cutting edge. In addition, after Terry becomes Batman, it is implied that the suit is updated numerous times, and after it is destroyed, he and Wayne are seen modifying it and rebuilding it. This version of the suit has a mask which completely covers the face, the only opening being the mouth. Lenses in the eyes transmit visual data to the wearer, allow for various scanning abilities, and allow Wayne to monitor Terry's activities from the Batcave, seeing and hearing what he sees and hears and advising him. The cape has been eliminated, being replaced by retractable glider wings under the arms. Thrusters built into the boots allow Batman to fly in the absence of wind. For long-range flight, Terry has access to a flight-capable Batmobile. The circuitry in the suit can be paralyzed from the Batcave, in case the suit is stolen.

The Batsuit conforms to the size and physique of its wearer, being able to fit both the physically imposing Bruce and the much-slimmer Terry. The form-fitting material provides almost no reduction in flexibility, while muscular enhancement technology enhances the wearer's strength by a factor of ten, and also grants the wearer agility.

The material in the suit is resistant to massive concussive forces (in particular, it was able to take blows from Superman), fire, lasers, electric shocks, water pressure, wind force, bullets, and even low levels of radiation. After an episode where Terry nearly drowns, a built-in rebreather is added to allow the user to remain underwater for long periods or breathe in other inhospitable areas.

The suit possesses a two-way audio and visual link with the Batcave computer, allowing Terry to keep in contact with Bruce for superior tactical planning. The same applies to the Batmobile, which will automatically fly to the user's location when summoned. Directional microphones in the fingertips allow the user to hear and record audio through walls or at a distance. The suit's lenses can scan a number of frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing night vision among other things. However, as the suit's visual capabilities are entirely electronic, the user is effectively rendered blind if they are disrupted.

The suit has several defensive capabilities. A device on the belt can electrically charge the suit to repel close attackers, added after Terry's encounters with the shapeshifting supervillain Inque; this same feature can be limited to just the hands, turning the defensive technology into an offensive one if need be. The suit also possesses a cloaking device that can render Terry invisible to the naked eye, a feature also present on the Batmobile. It cannot, however, filter ultraviolet light. Pads on the feet can be magnetically charged, allowing the user to cling to metal surfaces even when upside-down.

The suit's offensive capabilities are also significant. It carries a large number of dispensable Batarangs which, when inactive, are compact enough to be invisible to the naked eye. These Batarangs come with a range of auxiliary functions, such as producing electric shocks or explosions. However, there is a limit to the amount of Batarangs the Batsuit can dispense; Batman has run out on at least one occasion. In addition, the Batsuit has discs that can be fired from the tops of the hands, grappling guns in the forearms, and launchable tracers. The belt on the Batsuit carries flashbang grenades, smoke pellets, Flexicuffs, and a buzz saw on the buckle. Retractable claws on the fingers can be used to slice objects and grip solid surfaces.

Finally, the Batsuit possesses a number of other devices to aid in detective work. The right index finger possesses a retractable decoding device for electronic locks, and the fingers can analyze most substances they are dipped into. Other, less-used devices, such as frequency scanners, also make appearance.

The Exosuit
Seen only twice in the series, the Exosuit is donned by Bruce in an encounter with Inque, who had kidnapped Terry and was holding him hostage. It is a suit of heavy armor with retractable plates that enhances the survivability of the wearer, boosting their physical strength and resilience to superhuman levels, at a level greater than that of the Batsuit. When retracted, Bruce was able to wear a trench coat over it and not look like he had any considerable increase in body mass.

Bruce created the Exosuit years earlier in light of his increasing heart problems, as a possible replacement for the Batsuit. However, during testing, using the suit nearly gave him a heart attack and he was forced to abandon that option. Understandably, Bruce will only use the Exosuit in dire circumstances.

It is featured in the episode "Disappearing Inque."

In other media
In addition to having his own ongoing comic book, the Tomorrow Knight made an appearance in Superman Adventures #64, chasing a futuristic version of Brainiac.

The Batman Beyond concept became DC Comics canon in the pages of Superman/Batman issues 22 and 23, wherein Bizarro is transported to an alternate reality somewhere in Hypertime which resembled the Batman Beyond-era Gotham City, with Batman Beyond in action with the 1999 animated black-and-red costume and the 1992 Batplane from the original animated series. This version of the character is in radio contact with Bruce Wayne, but was referred to as "Tim." The Batman Beyond cameo was enough to garner a DC Direct action figure, the character's first in years, listed as "Tim Drake";

McGinnis has made a guest appearance on the Batman Beyond spin-off series The Zeta Project. He also appeared on Static Shock in the episode "Future Shock," which involved time travel and a future Static. McGinnis later appears in three episodes of Justice League Unlimited; "The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales" (at the very end), "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped," alongside Static and Warhawk. (He is apparently killed in the episode by Dee Dee using their energy whips, though his death is undone later, as the episode's plot involved time travel.) After the timeline is fixed and Terry's death is prevented, Terry is seen 15 years older in the JLU episode "Epilogue," which is centered on him and takes place in his timeline, serving as the series finale to Batman Beyond.

Also, in Countdown to Final Crisis, former Robin Jason Todd, former Wonder Girl Donna Troy, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and Bob the Monitor travel to "Earth-12," which resembles the DCAU's future. They witness from the rooftops someone in a Batman Beyond costume defeating members of the Jokerz gang (although they do not know who is under the mask of the future Batman), to which Jason Todd says: "Huh. The more things change, the more they stay the same." The group speculates that either Tim Drake or Dick Grayson is under the mask. However, The Monitor confirms it is indeed McGinnis.

Dan DiDio announced in a recent questions segment with Newsarama that Terry McGinnis will be appearing within DC Comics again in the future.

The Batman Beyond miniseries began its run in 16 June 2010, set in 2039 Neo-Gotham, revolving around the assassination of anyone who had anything to do with Bruce Wayne's Batman, foe or friend. Dan DiDio stated that this "Terry McGinnis mini-series" is in response to the interest expressed by the "fans of the character." It will be penned by Adam Beechen, a non-DCAU Batman television writer. According to Beechen, the comic book arc will open the door for the "legendary" DCAU to enter into the mainstream DC Universe (comics), tying into both continuities. The series will take place after McGinnis had defeated the reborn Joker and pick up where Bruce Timm initially left off, but years before he learns that Bruce Wayne is his biological father.

In 2010, Terry appeared alongside Superman in the over-sized issue Superman/Batman Annual 2010, where it picks up after their first meeting together taking place in the DCAU, and also jibing with the DCU.

Terry became officially part of the DCU canon in Batman #700, which spans the life of the many men who have been Batman. It is shown that Terry has a history with Damian Wayne, who rescues him when he was a child from Two-Face-Two as Batman, and later becomes his successor as Batman, with Damian mentoring him, instead of Bruce.

On October 6, 2010, it was announced at New York Comic-Con that Batman Beyond would start as an ongoing series in January 2011. The series ended with only eight issues in August.

Terry's advanced batsuit has been featured as downloadable content in Batman: Arkham City as well as an avatar costume on XBOX Live.