Following the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, the film received edits for censorship that delayed its release from Halloween 2000 to December 12, 2000, with an uncut version subsequently being released on DVD on April 23, 2002.
Plot
A new faction of the Jokerz gang—consisting of Bonk, Woof, Ghoul, Chucko, and the Dee-Dee twins—attempts to steal high-tech electronic equipment but are intercepted by Batman (Terry McGinnis), the protégé of the original Batman, Bruce Wayne. The gang reports back to their leader, revealed to be the Joker, Bruce's arch-nemesis who has been presumed dead for decades. The Joker kills Bonk for his defiance and to intimidate the other members.
Later, the Jokerz attack a press conference commemorating Bruce's return to Wayne Enterprises and the Joker reveals himself to Bruce, who insists that it cannot be him. After fending off the attack, Terry demands information from Bruce and Gotham City Police Department's Commissioner Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, but neither gives him answers. Not wanting Terry to face the Joker, Bruce orders him to return the Batsuit so he can investigate his old enemy on his own despite the limitations of his age. However, the Jokerz attack Terry, nearly killing his girlfriend Dana Tan, while the Joker poisons Bruce and his Great Dane, Ace — revealing that he knows Bruce was Batman and Terry is his successor.
After Terry saves Bruce's life with an antidote, Barbara finally explains the Joker's disappearance: Four decades ago, sometime following the departure of Nightwing (Dick Grayson) from Gotham City to Blüdhaven, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped his successor Tim Drake, then Robin, while he was on patrol, inflicting three weeks of torture and brainwashing on him at the abandoned Arkham Asylum. When Batman and Batgirl found Tim, he had been driven insane by the Joker's torture and become a miniature version of the Joker. A fight ensued, during which the Joker revealed Tim had told him Batman's identity during his brainwashing. After trying to goad him into killing Batman, Tim briefly came to his senses and killed the Joker, suffering a complete nervous breakdown. Harley meanwhile fell down a ravine while fighting Batgirl and was presumed dead. After Tim was treated with antidotes, he recovered a year later with help from Wayne family friend Leslie Thompkins. Bruce forced Tim to retire from superheroics, as he blamed himself for Tim's ordeal. Tim severed ties with Bruce and left to make it on his own in life.
Terry visits Tim, now a successful telecommunications engineer with a family, who voices bitterness towards his past as Robin but denies involvement in the Joker's return. Terry's next suspect is Jordan Pryce, a Wayne Enterprises executive who hates Bruce for ruining his chance to take over Wayne Enterprises in addition to him resembling the Joker, but he finds Pryce is not the Joker's successor however guilty of conspiring with him to have Bruce killed. When the beam of a directed-energy weapon strikes Pryce's yacht from above, Terry rescues Pryce before turning him in to the police. In the Batcave, after realizing the Joker only destroyed the Robin costume, Terry recalls Tim's grudge against his old persona and deduces he must be involved. Cross-referencing Tim's expertise as an engineer with the Jokerz' thefts, Terry and Bruce discover the stolen equipment can create a jamming system to seize control of a laser-armed military satellite.
When Terry goes to face Tim in the latter's workplace, he triggers a trap set by the Joker, who he then follows to an abandoned candy factory after surviving further attacks from the satellite. Subduing the Jokerz with Ace's help, Terry confronts Tim, who suddenly subdues Terry by disabling his Batsuit and then physically transforms into the Joker, who gloats that he encoded a copy of his consciousness into a microchip built with genetic technology hidden behind Tim's ear—allowing him to survive death by overtaking Tim's body and intending to take over him permanently. With the satellite, the Joker plans to kill Bruce and Terry's loved ones before destroying Gotham City. As they battle, Terry uses one of the Joker's lethal joy buzzers to destroy both the weapon and the microchip, saving Tim and the city, whilst the Joker again perishes. Terry, Tim, and Ace escape as the Joker's lair is destroyed by the satellite's laser.
Following the Jokerz' arrests, Barbara hides Tim's unwitting involvement to protect him, while the Joker is declared dead in the factory's explosion. The Dee-Dee twins are bailed out by their grandmother—an elderly Harley Quinn, who survived her fall and reformed. Bruce makes amends with Tim and Barbara while Tim recovers in the hospital, during which Bruce and Tim acknowledge Terry as worthy to carry the mantle of the Bat.
The Joker's death in the unedited version of the film (top) compared to his death in the edited version (bottom)
The film was initially put into production after the cancellation of Boyd Kirkland's Batman: Arkham, the intended sequel to Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero.[1] When Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami were given the green-light to produce a Batman Beyond feature-length film, they decided to use the extra time to answer questions pertaining to the time period between Beyond and Batman: The Animated Series.[2]
Return of the Joker was originally set for release on Halloween 2000, but following the backlash against violence in children's media that resulted from the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, and general apprehension by the higher-ups at WB over the film's content, the creative team was forced to make edits that delayed its release to December 12, 2000.[6]
The most dramatic change was the method of the Joker's death; in the original cut of the film, he is impaled by a flag shot out of a handgun by Tim Drake; in the re-edit, he is electrocuted after becoming tangled in water tubing. Nearly two years after the film's initial release, and following online petitions, Warner Home Video released an uncut and unaltered version of Return of the Joker, with more violence and some altered language, as well as the Joker's original death scene.[7][8]
While the 2000 release was not rated, the uncut version was the first animated Batman film to receive a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association,[7] as well as the only PG-13 rated film to be released under Warner Bros' now-defunct Family Entertainment label.
In 2011, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was released on Blu-ray only in the PG-13 version.
Marketing
A comic adaptation of the film was released in February 2001, drawn by Craig Rousseau. The page depicting the Joker's death had to be redone in accordance with the edits made to the film.[9] A tie-in video game was released in 2000 for Game Boy Color,[10]PlayStation,[11] and Nintendo 64.[12]Scholastic released a novelization of the film, penned by Michael Teitelbaum, on October 1, 2000.[13]
Released on October 17, 2000, the soundtrack to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker contains music composed by Kristopher Carter, as well as two tracks of music featured in the direct-to-video film.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "This feature length entry in the Batman Beyond mythos sends off the Mark Hamill-voiced Joker in thrilling fashion, hitting the same caped crusading peaks of the original series."[15]
Nisha Gopalan of Entertainment Weekly praised the uncut version of the film, in particular how it "sheds light on the dark, obsessive relationship between the villain and his vigilante counterpart."[16] Gerry Shamray of Sun Newspapers said that Return of the Joker "would have made a great live-action Batman movie."[17] Ryan Cracknell of Apollo Guide called the film "an animated masterpiece."[18]
Peter Canavese of Groucho Reviews called it an "energetic and unsettling Batman adventure," adding that it "provides a memorable showcase for Hamill's celebrated take on the Joker, and allows both McGinnis and Wayne to see action and face emotional challenges."[19] Michael Stailey of DVD Verdict gave the uncut version a score of 92 out of 100, calling it "a taut, high-impact film" and "a must-buy to Bat-fans and animation lovers alike."[20]
Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons had a mixed response when reviewing the uncut version, saying that "the script is pretty solid, the animation superb, and the voice performances all work well," but added that "the Terry character's personal scenes aren't anywhere near as engaging [as the scenes featuring the Joker or Bruce Wayne], and the investigative subplot doesn't work as well as it should."[21] Jeremy Conrad of IGN gave the uncut version a score of nine out of 10 for the movie itself, six out of 10 each for video and audio, and eight out of 10 for extras, adding up to an overall score of seven out of 10.[7]
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