Question about Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker · 6:11pm Jul 6th, 2022
Hey, guys, Mr. J here.
For those of you who have seen my review of the said film from 2020, you know that it is my favorite animated Batman movie of all time. In fact, I would always watch the film quite often since I have the DVD thereof. The movie never gets old no matter how many times you watch it.
However, there is one thing I just noticed recently as I re-watched the film a few days ago. During the flashback--for those of you who have seen the movie--Robin is seen patrolling the city of Gotham alone until he was lured into a trap by Joker who subsequently captured him and tortured him for weeks till he became Joker Junior. The blatant fact is that Batman wasn't with him when before he was kidnapped.
Why the hell wasn't Batman with him during that night? Where was he when that happened? Throughout The New Batman Adventures, ever since he was first introduced in "Sins of the Father", he always stood by Batman's side. Not once was he ever alone when fighting crime or handling thugs on his own without Batman by his side or at the very least watching him. Doesn't that seem out of character for Batsy to just leave Robin on his own? Did it ever cross his mind that Robin would one day--ONE DAY--get hurt by accident or possibly killed in any way? Considering how protective he is when it comes to fighting dangerous criminals with children by his side, you don't think Batman should have been with Robin to prevent his capture from happening?
Now that I think about it, look back at the TNBA episode "Over the Edge". Batgirl had a terrifying hallucination of seeing her own death by Scarecrow which resulted in her father declaring war on Batman, ultimately getting both of them killed in the end by Bane. I'm very certain Barbara told Batman everything that happened in her nightmare that would cause him to think carefully that maybe next time, he would be extra cautious and never allow her or Tim Drake to ever leave his side and fight crime on their own without his supervision. If Batman was actually smart and considerate of Robin's safety, none of the events of that night or the movie itself would have happened.
Share with me your thoughts, and thanks for coming to my ted talk.
I actually have an idea how Joker did that microchip
Maybe Bruce thought that Tim needed to spread his wings and be on his own for the future, trying to avoid the same mistake he made with Dick; only after the incident with the Joker did he regret that decision. That's just me, though.
5670560
Darth Wrex,
I’d like to hear your theory.
5670589
My guess Joker got his hands on Mad Hatter's stuff
5670596
Definitely plausible.
Thanks for the follow, BTW
5670598
Mad Hatter specialized in brainwashing. Those two could easily be friends.
And your welcome
5670601
I wouldn’t doubt it.
5670602
Joker's a chemist, but hypnotism is Mad Hatter's department
Actually, I think you overlooked a couple of key pieces of information regarding Tim Drake.
In STAS episode "Knight Time" (S3E2), it was stated that Robin had been patrolling Gotham for many days by himself, since Batman was missing and Nightwing & Batgirl were off following a red herring involving Ra's al Ghul. Apparently Robin had been fighting thugs and criminals, including a few of Batman's rogue gallery, by himself before Superman showed up.
Given that this is all the same continuity, it could be that after that incident, Batman loosened his oversight of Tim and allowed Tim to continue to patrol solo, likely with a communicator to call Batman or one of the others if he believed he was in over his head.
Additionally, in the TNBA episode "Growing Pains" (E8), Tim showed some initiative to go solo. This could be an indication that Tim was already looking to try and have some freedom as Robin.
5670618
I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve seen those two particular episodes, so I forgot those details about him. So, yeah, I can see why Robin would go solo during the flashback scene. However, it would have been nice to get an explanation where Batman was by the time Tim was captured. It just doesn’t make sense that he is conveniently not with him during that moment. But of course, the plot said so, so who am I to complain?