Batman Beyond: The Death of Bruce Wayne Will Set Terry McGinnis Free

As readers prepare to explore Neo-Gotham in various upcoming series from DC Comics, Batman Beyond: Neo-Year sets up a brave new world for the Batman of the future, Terry McGinnis. Terry reels from the death of his mentor, Bruce Wayne, and must now assume the mantle of Batman without Bruce’s sage advice to steer him. While the death of his second father figure may be crushing to Terry now, McGinnis and readers will soon realize that the death of the original Batman is a painful, but necessary step to free McGinnis as the Batman of the future.

Batman Beyond: Neo-Year is an upcoming comic series by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Max Dunbar follows Terry McGinnis, the Batman of Neo-Gotham in his first year following the death of his mentor and original Batman, Bruce Wayne. After Bruce Wayne dies at the hand of a malevolent, citywide artificial intelligence known as the Living Gotham, Terry is left alone to wage a one-man war on Gotham’s criminals, and a city-spanning super intelligence determined on hunting him down. In a recent interview for DC Nation, Kelly and Lanzing speak more about what readers can expect for Terry McGinnis in his first year without Bruce by his side.

One of the biggest points Lanzing mentions in the interview is how isolated Terry now finds himself. Without his mentor, and having told most of his allies to leave Gotham or go underground for their own safety, Terry finds himself in a position as precarious as Bruce did back in his first year. Terry would need Bruce’s advice more than ever, but now he’s robbed of that opportunity. As Lanzing himself puts it: “It’s easily the darkest moment in Terry’s life thus far – But Batman has never been more needed. It’s a perfect crucible for Terry to rethink and reinvent the concept of Batman.”

Like any “crucible,” Terry’s new situation in Neo-Year will challenge him to grow and make the concept of Batman his. Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis may have been like father and son, but Bruce recognized that Terry would be the one able to take the concept of Batman beyond his own limitations, and make it into a true icon the people of Gotham could rally around. Without Bruce’s input, Terry now has to rely on his own intuition, and his own judgment. He will make mistakes, fail, and let himself down, and that is the most important part of being The Batman. His own mistakes, and how he’ll recover from them on his own terms, are what will let Terry reinvent Batman for Neo-Gotham. While it may be painful now, being free of Bruce’s advice and guidance is the next painful step in Terry’s journey as Batman, and will ultimately let him become the hero Gotham needs in the dark future.

After many years as the Batman of Neo-Gotham, Terry McGinnis now prepares for his first grim year without Bruce Wayne on his shoulder providing him critical counsel. With Batman Beyond: Neo-Year just around the corner, Terry has his work cut out for him in tracking down Bruce’s killer. It is incredibly painful for Terry to have lost someone so close to him, but Bruce’s death now frees him to be his own Batman, and become the Batman of Neo-Gotham in the same solitary manner Bruce originally created the persona.

Source: Twitter/DC Nation