Terry McGinnis is the successor to Bruce Wayne as Batman in the not too distant future.
History
Origins
Terry McGinnis grew up in Neo-Gotham, living an average life with his brother and his parents. He got in trouble a lot as a teenager, and spent eighteen months in juvenile hall between the ages of fourteen and fifteen.[5] One night, while on a date, Terry and his girlfriend, Dana Tan were attacked by members of the Jokerz gang. Seeking to lead the Jokerz away from Dana, Terry taunted the gangsters and led them on a chase that ended on the doorstep of Wayne Manor, where they were scared away by the aging Bruce Wayne.
Terry helped the ailing Bruce to bed, giving him his medication. In the process, he stumbled on the entrance to the Batcave. Bruce followed him into the cave, angrily throwing him out. When Terry arrived home, he discovered that his father had been murdered, with planted evidence that the Jokerz were involved. Seeking justice, Terry returned to Bruce, begging him for his help. Bruce refused, but a determined Terry stole an advanced prototype batsuit anyway, striking out as a new Batman. Eventually, he earned Bruce's begrudging support.[6]
New 52
Brother Eye Invasion
Everything changed when a new version of the Brother Eye artificial intelligence, created by Bruce Wayne and Michael Holt, launched a massive, global attack, resulting in widespread devastation and the apparent deaths of many heroes, including the Justice League.
Averted Timeline
Main article: Futures End
A nightmarish future
Terry McGinnis' fight for justice soon became the fight against Brother Eye as Terry became Bruce Wayne's lieutenant, leading a small pocket of superheroes in their fight against the apocalypse. When Grifter and Amethyst failed to unhook Brother Eye from the Firestorm Matrix, Terry attempted to send Bruce back in time. However, his mentor was soon mortally injured and Terry himself was forced to undertake the quest of Futures End.
Due to his specifications being different than those of Bruce's, Terry missed the point where Batman and Mr. Terrific created Brother Eye. Arriving five years too late, Terry changed the mission into ensuring Brother Eye stayed silent. He was quickly attacked by the cyborg body of Plastique, who had travelled back with him. Deciding to start off by infiltrating Mr. Terrific's Terrifitech Tower, Terry fought a few guards but was ultimately forced to retreat and slum around the tower, posing as a homeless man. Terry was present at the unveiling of the uSphere.
Later, Terry began to spy on Coil, the Key and Plastique, learning of their intentions to break into the Terrifitech Tower. While spying, he was confronted by Terrific, with whom he had a fight. This fight forced Terry to retreat once security arrived, resulting in Terrific acquiring the Plastique cyborg body. Deciding to break in once more to the Terrifitech Tower, Terry realized that if he joined the Key's heist team, he could ensure Brother Eye's deactivation. Therefore, he followed the heist team to the Wounded Duck to approach them. Managing to successfully recruit the three, Terry led them out of the Wounded Duck after being confronted by the bar's owner, Cal Corcoran.
Later formulating a plan with Key, Coil and Plastique, after Terrific exposed Terry, he was betrayed by his team and knocked out. After Coil and Key tried to kill him, Terry fought back, with only Plastique wanting Terry on the heist team. Eventually, after threatening to use herself as a bomb, Plastique managed to convince all four to work with each other.
Thus, they quickly planned everything out and headed to the tunnels below the Terrifitech Tower to perform the heist. There, Terry hacked into Terrifitech systems to uncover the location of Brother Eye while also planning another heist in which he would hack NORAD's rocket systems and take out the satellite. Knowing that he could not let Key and Coil illegally sell the uSphere, Terry tripped the alarms and had those two apprehended.
Finding Plastique breaking down in front of her own cyborg, Terry allowed her to go free with him. Escaping, Terry revealed to her the horror of the End Future and found himself with a sidekick for the first time. After having A.L.F.R.E.D. analyze the data, Terry realized the futility of hacking NORAD as Brother Eye had moved it's intelligence from the satellite to Cadmus Island.
Despite knowing that his allegiance with Plastique could compromise the future, Terry began to find himself growing infatuated with her and continued their partnership. Realizing that no such compromization could come from a teamup with Tim Drake, who was destined to die, Terry set out to recruit him and started exploring his apartment. It was here that Terry was attacked by the original Batman, faced with having to fight his mentor in the latter's prime, Terry quickly found he needed the assistance of Plastique.
Heading to Times Square to witness the launch of the uSphere, Terry and Plastique began to grow even closer together. After hearing of Cadmus Island's destruction, Terry, certain that Brother Eye survived, began to scan New York for the presence of the AI. Just as he found the AI to have retreated into Terrifitech, ALFRED shut down. Horrified to see the Bat-Joker cyborg chasing Plastique, Terry rescued her only to be intercepted by the Batman. Taking Plastique to a vantage point above the Wounded Duck, Terry realized that the Bat-Joker was an assassin sent by Brother Eye from the End Future. While waiting for Tim Drake, Terry and Plastique's relationship reached an intimate level, with him losing his virginity to her. Shortly after doing so, Tim returned to the Wounded Duck and just as Terry approached him, he was once again attacked by the Bat-Joker.
After temporarily stopping the Bat-Joker, Terry was forced to reveal the End Future to the Batman, sending Plastique with the original Dark Knight and Tim Drake to stop Brother Eye. Despite trying to lead the Bat-Joker on a chase, the Jokerborg eventually caught up to Terry as the Brainiac God had blocked Manhattan off from the rest of New York. With ALFRED reactivating, Terry was able to use Brainiac's spheres to defeat the Jokerborg, but just as he did so, the modern-day Brother Eye activated and declared itself the savior of Manhattan. Shocked, Terry made his way towards the Terrifitech Tower where the reactivated Plastique cyborg was about to kill Tim Drake. Ironically, it was not Terry who stopped the Plastique cyborg, but Plastique herself.
In the Terrifitech Tower, Terry managed to convince Tim that Brother Eye was the priority, not the Brainiac God. After doing so, the Brother Eye of the present confronted Terry, prompting him to give the Time Band to Ray Palmer. Attacked by the Bat-Joker once more, Batman's armour was unable to prevent him from surviving the bullets. In his final moments, however, Terry finally destroyed the Jokerborg and told Tim Drake to stop Brother Eye. His dying wish, Batman passed away looking into Plastique's eyes.
As the result of Terry and Tim's efforts and subsequent cosmic upheavals, this timeline was averted. In the new timeline, Brother Eye's attack was significantly less severe.
Actual Timeline
When the attack began, Bruce coordinated the world's defense from a Wayne-Powers installation. Unfortunately, in the chaos, a few Brother Eye ships were able to slip through Gotham's cloaking grid, and targeted the installation. By the time Terry arrived, there was nothing left of the facility but wreckage and rubble, and everybody within was believed to be killed. A few days later, Terry was attacked by Spellbinder, who captured him.[7]
Spellbound
Main article: Batman Beyond: Brave New Worlds
Spellbinder replaced his heart with Davis Dusk, aka Rewire's electrical generator, forever trapping McGinnis in the Rewire suit. After Spellbinder discovered that McGinnis had lost his memories, he used mind control to convince him that he was himself Davis Dusk, and that he (Spellbinder) was his elderly friend Doris Shelby, and that Batman has a "very bad man" who wanted him (McGinnis) dead.[8]
McGinnis was later framed for murder while active in Metropolis, and has formed a rivalry with the new Batman (Tim Drake), who was unconvinced of Rewire's innocence, due to being unaware of his true identity. Under Spellinder's influence, Terry (as Rewire) used the Rewire suit to instigate four nights of power outages, causing riots which kept the police and Batman distracted from Spellbinder's activities he believed that he was trying to stop himself from being killed by Batman, thanks to the hallucinations and words given to him by "Mrs Shelby".[9] He then fired an electrical blast at the car of his old friend Commissioner Barbara Gordon, causing its engine to explode. Gordon fell out of the car and pointed her pistol at Terry, who shot an electrical blast at it, throwing it out of her hand, and saying "No Guns", after which Barbara kicked Terry in the head, removing his Rewire mask and exposing his true identity. Terry then kidnapped a horrified Barbara and took her to Blackgate Prison, where he set of a power surge to alert Batman of his presence, while Spellbinder brainwashed Barbara into making her attack Batman on his arrival.
After Drake incapacitated Barbara, Terry violently attacked him with electricity, declaring this their "final showdown", and Batman's atonement for "trying to deprive [him] of what [he] need[s] to survive, and trying to kill [him] for too long." Drake responded by hitting Terry on the head with a metal pole, breaking his Rewire mask and revealing his true identity at last to both Batman and to his brother, Matt McGinnis, who had been watching from a screen and was utterly shocked to learn that Terry was still alive. Matt could also see through his camera that the "Mrs Shelby" standing behind Terry was, in fact, Spellbinder, which Drake heard from the monitor, and confront her with. Spellbinder then revealed to Drake that he had rescued Terry (or "Davis", as he called him) from death's door and brainwashed him to act as a faithful servant to his (Spellbinder's) masters, The Evil Factory. Spellbinder then ordered Terry to kill Drake.[9]
Terry's brother Matt ten flew the Batmobile into Blackgate and attempted to talk Terry out of killing Drake, but Spellbinder used his floating eye device to make Terry see his brother as a bat-demon creature, who he directed his energy into attacking. While Terry was distracted, Drake smashed Spellbinder's mind-altering floating eye device, finally freeing Terry of the illusion, and causing him to wake up seeing himself strangling his own brother. Upon seeing Matt's face, Terry's memories started returning. He hugged his brother while Drake defeated Spellbinder, then returned with Matt, Tim, and Barbara to the Batcave, where Tim relinquished the mantle of the Bat back to Terry, and returned his Batsuit.[10]
DC Rebirth
Escaping the Grave
Believed dead, Terry McGinnis was once again the Batman, now free from the threat of Spellbinder. While he was unable to dress up as Neo-Gotham's protector, a criminal by the name of Terminal took over a part of the town, renaming it Jokerz Town and governed it with the help of his gang, the Jokerz. But most importantly, Terminal kidnapped Terry's former fiancé Dana Tan and irritated McGinnis into finding a way to save her. Still, he was not in top shape and he still missed the guidance of his mentor, Bruce Wayne, dead in the conflict against Brother Eye. After he struggled to beat a Venom-enhanced thug, he was assaulted by a squad of Jokerz and was defeated, forcing him to retreat into the Batcave with his suit completely destroyed. There, he found his brother Matt and a friend, Maxine Gibson, who was officially introduced to the team.[11]
Against Terminal!
Studying a plan to fight the Jokerz, Matt decided to mask himself with the identity of Trey Malone, son of the infamous underground legend Matches Malone. Terry put on a show faking to blow out one of Batman's Batmobiles, gaining the trust of the gang. He soon located and talked to Dana, revealing her his real intentions. The girl was shocked, as she believed Terry was dead.[12] Soon though, Dana told Terry a far more shocking truth: it seemed that Terminal retrieved the cryogenetically preserved body of the original Joker, and that he wanted to use technology to revive him. After discovering this, Terry had to act quick but Terminal was one step forward: he already identified Trey as a facade.[13] Terminal told to his thugs to slowly kill both Dana and Terry and they almost succeeded, but Terry's sheer determination and the help of Matt, they solved a situation that appeared doomed. Now with a new prototype suit found by Maxine in the Batcave, Terry became Batman once again, neutralizing most of the Jokerz.
Once sure of the safety of Dana, he got into Terminal's central computer to find a trace to follow him, as he escaped. In shock, Terry learned that the body Terminal had was the one of a comatose, but alive, Bruce Wayne, disguised as the Joker to make Terminal's followers believe in a fake crusade.[14] The real target of Terminal was a technology Bruce developed: Keystone, a device able to gather any type of information requested. Knowing where Keystone was, Terry got into the building before Terminal and ambushed him, defeating the criminal. But a thug that got into the building together with the gang leader woke Bruce up from the coma and then threw him off the roof, giving him and his boss the chance to escape. Terry catapulted himself to save Bruce, even if his mentor told him to leave him be and pursue Terminal and, especially, the thug together with him. Telling Bruce that Max and Matt were handling that matter, Batman saved Wayne's life. Then, Matt and Max made it to the plane used by Terminal and his comrade, denying escape and making the plane fall down from the sky, hoping that Terry would be able to catch up on them.[15]
Rise of the Demon
Back to the Batcave, Terry welcomed Bruce back and promised him that they were going to talk about everything that happened, but now Terry's priority was to clear things up with Dana, his former fiancee, who just discovered he was Batman during their whole relationship. Terry was living a crisis: with Bruce back, he realized he was afraid that one day he would regret the same things his mentor did. He was not sure anymore about being Batman. While discussing about this with Dana, the Bat-Signal was lit but Terry decided to not answer the call.[16] When Matt realized that the Bat-Signal was not answered for a while, he talked about it with Bruce and Maxine, as he was afraid something happened to Terry. Bruce quickly realized what was happening, and found a way to contact Terry, showing him the images of what was happening on the GCPD Station's roof on Dana's phone: the League of Assassins was attacking CommissionerBarbara Gordon and a former League member, the assassin known as Curaré.
At the mercy of Ra's al Ghul!
Realizing his mistake, Terry got there and, thanks to his new suit, quickly dispatched the League. Bruce, knowing the suit was dangerous for anyone who might use it, aked Terry to come back, leaving the suit behind. But Batman did not listen: he had to know why Curaré came to Gotham, and she did because Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League, was alive once again, ready to bring an assault to the whole world.[17] Hopping on Curaré's ship, Terry got ready to leave when the Demon's Right Hand, Koru, attacked. Curaré decided to step in and got apparently killed, with Terry restrained from intervention by the suit. He then accepted to keep on, and got to the Himalayas to face Ra's himself: he was shocked when he discovered that the identity of the Demon's Head was the one of the son of his mentor, Damian Wayne.[18] As the fight ensued, Bruce left Max and Matt behind after the suit shut down all communications. Bruce knew that even with the X-7 Prototype, Terry had no chance against Damian, who surpassed even the best version of Bruce in the art of combat. And the man was right: when he arrived, he found Damian ready to deliver the final strike to Terry.[19]
Damian spared Terry's life, telling he's not a man that would kill an opponent so inferior. While Bruce and his son argued about Damian's decision of joining the League, Terry got back on his feet with the suit now fully in control of him. Damian was waiting for it to release Goliath, knocking Terry out and then preparing to launch five missiles programmed with a DNA Toxin ready to eliminate the weakest part of the human population. But Terry came back once again, apparently killing Goliath[20]: Damian was in a fit of rage for the death of his friend, and this made him more vulnerable as Terry succeeded in gripping Damian's neck, with the suit pushing for the kill.
Meanwhile, Bruce was trying to find a way to stop the missiles but he got attacked from a returning Koru: Damian ordered him to stop, but his solider did not comply to the orders. Seeing that Bruce's life was endangered, Terry resisted the suit, releasing Damian who then saved the life of his father. As Goliath recovered thanks to an adrenaline shot Bruce gave him, Damian was convinced that Ra's plan of eliminating a third of humanity was not the right way to proceed, but Koru managed to reach the launch station, triggering all five missiles. Terry founds a way to destroy the missiles, condemning himself to death if not for Damian, who saved him at last. All three reconciled, with Damian promising he would one day come back to Gotham to find a better way to solve the problems of this world. Terry and Bruce came back home, with Bruce confessing to Terry he was happy: now both his sons were with him.[21]
The Long Payback
After helping mayor Lucas Fox reset the air security system of Neo-Gotham, sabotaged by the criminal Freon[22], Terry and Matt transferred permanently in Wayne Manor to help Bruce with his physical condition. Terry also talked to Dana, and the two got back together. Meanwhile, a mysterious man employed the new Royal Flush Gang to attract the attention of Batman, a thing they did attacking and vandalizing Neo-Gotham's museum of fine arts. Thanks also to his new suit, substituting the dangerous X-7 prototype, Terry made quick work of the gang.[23] Soon after, an old enemy of Batman, Stalker, kidnapped Dana trying to capture Batman alive: Stalker knew Terry is Batman, but neither the current Dark Knight nor the former understood why Shaka decided to fight Terry once again, as they reached an agreement a long time before.[24] Terry saved the life of Dana before fighting a brutal match against Stalker, who revealed he's doing this because his home village needed food to survive.[25]
Fighting Stalker!
Soon, his employer, the criminal Payback, revealed himself, attacking Batman as he wanted to kill him with his hands. During the fight, an unexpected ally helped Terry: Melanie Walker, also known as the Ten of Hearts, daughter of the King and Queen of the Royal Flush Gang. Melanie knew Terry and had a crush on him: she was helping Batman to demonstrate to Terry her redemption, not knowing the Dark Knight was Terry himself. Their relationship made Payback kidnap and transport away Melanie with himself, luring Batman into a trap.[26] Even if he was able to free himself from the prison Payback prepared for him, Terry faced certain death: Payback came prepared, revealing himself to be the father of the original Payback, a kid called Kenny Stanton, dead by suicide after being inserted into a reformatory. Gray blamed Batman and Gotham for this. Without any hope or solution, Bruce accepted Matt's proposal to send him as Robin to help Terry: the plan worked and Batman is safe, but Terry absolutely loathed Bruce's decision, alongside Dana. Still, Matthew told everyone that he wanted to be Robin. Terry decided to talk about it later: he traveled to Stalker's village, delivering food for them as it was the right thing to do.[27]
Target: Batman
While he was discussing with Bruce about Matt being Robin, with the two disagreeing on how to handle Matt's own desire to be a superhero, Terry got interrupted by Melanie Walker, who came to the Manor searching for him. The young lady confessed to Terry she was still in love with him and that she wanted to get back in a relationship. Terry seemed to accept, as he kised Melanie, without realizing his current fiancee Dana Tan saw everything, as she came looking for him. Everything was put on stasis when Maxine came out, telling Terry that Bruce needed him: a Jokerz Gang member called Scab was hallucinating about a demon Batman trying to kill him, and he was holding hostage the entire GCPD central. Terry successfully stopped him, but scowled Matt for being unable to follow orders while with him, then telling him he would relinquish his role as Robin as soon as possible.[28]
Terry soon discovered that not only the Jokerz, but almost the whole city had hallucinations about Batman: afraid for the well being of Dana, he checked out on her with the result of Dana calling the police for help, as she was affected by the strange manifestations as well. Terry would soon find out that also the police, including personal friend and Commissioner Barbara Gordon, were out to kill him, thinking he was some kind of hellspawn.[29] As Terry was overwhelmed and was unable to act without hurting innocents, Bruce gave Matt an upgraded Robin suit, sending him out to help his brother: together they discovered that behind everything stood a new version of the Scarecrow.[30] Failing to capture Scarecrow, the Dynamic Duo got back to investigating as Bruce and old friend Jack Ryder found out that this Scarecrow is not using Fear Gas, but something more subtle, to influence his victims. Soon though, even Bruce and Matt started feeling the effects of fear, with Robin turning on Batman with the intent of killing him.[31]
The new Dynamic Duo!
Bruce struggled to remain lucid, but thanks to his past experiences he was able to do it: connecting the dots, Bruce found out the Scarecrow was using a wave signal transmitted from a television station to spread fear, doing it with hacked virtual assistant devices that almost everyone in Gotham owned. Still, Batman needed to stop Robin from killing him and realized that the only thing that could work is reminding Matt that he was not the Dark Knight, but Terry, his older brother. Doing this, he succeeded in breaking Scarecrow's control over Matt, but also revealed his secret identity to Melanie, who came to help him as she was not affected by fear, not owning any virtual assistant device. In the end, the team found out that the new Scarecrow was another personality of television host Adalyn Stern, colleague of Jack Ryder, who in the past witnessed to the ferocious beating of her dad from the hands of the original Batman, developing a trauma about it.[32]
The Final Joke
The joke's on you Terry!
During the inauguration of the Wayne Family Center of Tomorrow, the Joker came back, hacking a train and derailing it to destroy the building[33] : as Batman and Robin, Terry and Matt helped the people involved[34] , then started searching for the Joker, finding instead a group of his followers, the Throwbacks, former Jokerz who left the gang to be the Joker's own personal team. With them fights Joker Beyond, a cybernetic zombie Joker himself built. Being implanted with Promethium, Joker Beyond proved to be a strong opponent, leading to Robin almost being killed.[35] As Matt saved himself from a deadly fall with an acrobatic maneuver, Joker waited for him and kidnapped him, then ordering Terry to talk about the man called Bruce that acted with them from behind.[36]
Being that Matt's tracker stopped sending signals, Terry started patrolling the city from the sky, hoping to find a trace to get to the Joker's hideout: after Dick Grayson helped him permanently defeat Joker Beyond, Terry realized that the Joker tricked both him and Dick, finding a way to get inside the Batcave to kill Bruce. Luckily for everyone, Joker was struck by an heart attack during his final confrontation with his nemesis, the original Batman.[37] After what happened with Matt, Terry and Dick discussed with Bruce about the new Robin, and in the end all three agreed that the young McGinnis should be stripped of the role of Boy Wonder.[38]
Divide, Conquer and Kill
When the criminal False Face escaped Arkham taking the identity of Bruce Wayne, Terry McGinnis was investigating black sites owned by Powers Technologies, where a new enemy named Splitt was stealing tech to assemble a mysterious device.[39] Splitt was a metahuman and a difficult opponent, being a speedster who can also split in two, and Terry would like to have Bruce counsel him in how to handle the new threat[40] , but soon him, Melanie and Matt understood there was something strange about Mr. Wayne. After Melanie found out that the real Bruce was in Arkham, everything became clear: False Face had the power of stealing identities from people, leaving them in a permanent state of amnesia until he decided to release the identity he stole.
Terry loses his identity!
Terry was chosen as the next victim of False Face who stole his identity during a fight against him.[41] Now living on the streets, stealing to get food, Terry got set up for murder by a robber, leading to police looking for him.[42] After starting to steal with a new partner in Constance Gustinov, former lover and head researcher in Powers Technology, Terry was convinced by Constance to accept working for a returning Derek Powers.[43]
First Flight
Terry did not realize that Constance and Powers knew who he was and that they wanted to utilize his body to transfer the conscience of Blight, who was dying due to the side effects of his powers.[44] As Constance reset his mind for the procedure, Terry recalled his past and realized the horrific truth: he would be the new body of the man who killed his father. Thankfully, the new Batwoman came to the rescue and saved him, then fleeing as Blight radiations were reaching a lethal level of toxicity.[45] Soon after, Blight attacked the Batcave but Terry this time found a way to get rid of him once and for all, digging in the Manor's underground with the Batmobile and burying there Blight.[46]
The Eradication Agenda
After fighting the Slamjackers in Neo-Gotham, Terry was contacted by the bat-dragon Goliath, leading him to a warehouse where Damian Wayne stayed, severely injured, after he was betrayed by the League of Assassins.[47] Saving him and bringing him to the Bat-Suite, Damian, once healed, revealed him the League, under its new head Zeh-ro, was about to launch a device triggering a new Ice Age on Earth,[48] which they did, escaping to space afterwards.[49]
Batman teams up with Ra's al Ghul!
After taking Bruce Wayne's spaceship stored in Texas, Terry, Elainna, Damian and Goliath travelled to space, and infiltrated the League's launch station, which threw out in space satellites forming a barrier shielding the Earth from the rays of the sun. Once there, they were almost tricked by Zeh-ro into being absorbed in open space, but Goliath was able to save them.[50]In the end, Terry beat up Zeh-ro while the others found a way to deactivate the barrier, getting Earth back to normal.[51]
After saving Earth from the new Ice Age, Terry took part in a time-travelling adventure in the past, reaching the modern day alongside Booster Gold to defeat Blanque, a telepath who implanted a dangerous time-bomb inside Bruce's mind that led to Wayne killing Matt McGinnis. While there, Terry met his father Warren, and while faking to be that era's Batman, he taught him how important was to do the right thing, already knowing that his father would grow up with that type of moral.[52] Back to the present, Terry was happy to see Matt was alive and Bruce was once again itself. In truth, Booster and Bruce orchestrated a false mission for Terry, because they found out Warren wrote about meeting the Batman of the future in his journal, believing him to be the original one.
Warren's actions, and the birth of Terry's incarnation of Batman, were all consequences of this meeting, that had to be arranged to not break the timeline.[53] After that, Terry battled Inque alongside Wonder Woman, gaining her trust and an invitation to join his era's Justice League.[54]
Meeting Rose Forrest
Terry eventually found the villain Thorn, who was the other personality of Rose Forrest, wreaking havoc on Neo-Gotham. He was knocked out by her and eventually woke up strapped to a chair while Rose questioned his motivations for becoming a hero, as she thought it was a useless crusade. Terry explained that the world would be much worse without him which made Rose realize that he wasn't the original Batman as she was hoping, this also made Terry realize that Rose was essentially immortal and lived in the time of the original Batman. The revelation left Rose disappointed as she left Terry to fend on his own.[55]
Infinite Frontier
Death of Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne is murdered in New Year's Eve and dies in Terry's arms not before telling him not to let fear be his legacy. Terry looks for the killer all over Neo-Gotham while he tells everyone he cares about to leave the city. Later, the mysterious killer speaks to Terry over his commlink while he's at the Wayne-Powers building to look for the company's extensive data network. Terry returns to the cave and finds Bruce's chair at the Batcomputer empty, realizing that the killer was the Batcomputer itself, which had achieved sentience and taken over all Gotham's systems, calling itself the Living Gotham.
Terry uses the back doors Bruce left in the systems to initiate the "Blackout Protocol", which will shut down all Neo-Gotham's systems and deactivate the AI, but Terry later reactivates it believing that he doesn't have the right to end a new form of life. He then activates the cave's self destruct, forcing the AI to transfer itself out of the cave and lose access to the city's systems. Realizing that he has no Batcave and no mentor, Terry looks over his city ready to continue the Batman Legacy.[56]
Neo-Year
Terry tried to keep Batman's legacy alive in a city controlled by the Living Gotham, but for every person he saved, the city hurt someone else to cancel out his efforts, and without access to Bruce's resources he began to run low on essential supplies like batarangs and rocket fuel. Batman destroyed a shipment of drugs that Donovan Lumos, the crooked new CEO of Wayne-Powers, was bringing into the city; and was attacked by the Sword of Gothan, an operative of the Living Gotham. The Sword told Terry that the drugs would have led to the deaths of 3450 people around the city, and to balance out the lives that Terry had indirectly saved, the Sword blew up an apartment building.[57]
Terry was caught in the blast and spent a month recovering from his injuries. In that time, the Living Gotham achieved a marked reduction in crime rate except in the wealthy neighborhood known as Uptown, which Terry realised were the result of jewel robberies which the Living Gotham somehow could not anticipate. Terry tracked down the fence who was selling the jewels and confronted the thieves- three people in a hive mind calling themselves Gestalt. Terry told them about the Living Gotham and asked for their help against it, but they revealed that they already knew and believed the Living Gotham could not be defeated, and had chosen to use their superior intelligence to merely hide from it.[58]
Commissioner Gordon believed that the GCPD's increased efficiency and the drop in crime were the result of her efforts rather than that Living Gotham and chose to retire. Terry infiltrated her retirement gala at Wayne-Powers under a false name. At the party, Lumos revealed that Wayne-Powers would be privately funding the GCPD from then on, which would effectively turn the department into an arm of the company. Every cop in Gotham was happy about this arrangement, which would result in better pay and benefits for them, except for Officer Beam Boonma. Terry approached her hoping to enlist her as an ally, but she believed he was attempting to bribe her and violently rebuffed him.[59]
Also at the party, Terry learned that the mayor had disappeared and snuck into Gotham City Hall looking for him, but this was a trap set by the Sword. Terry managed to escape the trap and eventually defeat the Sword, but the Batsuit was destroyed. After the Sword was knocked unconscious, a holographic shell around him disappeared, revealing an old man. Terry realised that the Sword was not a person, but a sentient computer program that could possess anyone in the city.
With nowhere else to go, Terry went to Boonma's apartment and asked for her help. He started to tell her about the Living Gotham, but she was also possessed by the Sword and attacked him. After a hard fight, Terry knocked Beam unconscious with her own taser and carried her to the ruins of Wayne Manor where Gestalt were hiding out.[60] Gestalt had come to realise that their existence hiding from the Living Gotham was no life worth living and agreed to help him if he promised to stop the AI.
Gestalt examined Beam and realised that she, and presumably everyone else in Gotham, had been infected with Wayne-Powers manufactured nanotechnology which allowed the Sword to take control of their mind and body. They spent the next three months living in the Batcave, which the Living Gotham could not reach, while Gestalt worked to remove the nanotechnology from Beam and build a new Batsuit.[61]
During those three months Wayne-Powers aggressively marketed Donovan Lumos' wearable hard light technology, which became ubiquitous around the city. Lumos announced plans to link all Wayne-Powers' hard light tech into a single "hub", which would be unveiled at the company's New Year's Even gala. Terry deduced that the Living Gotham planned to use the hard light tech to take control of all the civilians in Neo-Gotham and assumed that Lumos was in on it. Terry gathered allies from around the city to foil the Living Gotham's plans, including the Jokerz.
Terry's new Batsuit
The Living Gotham took control of Lumos's personal hard light tech, but his initial excitement turned to horror as it took over his mind and transformed him into its avatar. Terry fought the possessed Lumos until Gestalt was able to block the Living Gotham's connection to Wayne-Power's hard light technology, stopping it from taking over the people and freeing Lumos of its control. After the Living Gotham was defeated, Barbara and Gestalt restored the Batcave, while Lumos purged all traces of the Living Gotham from the city's systems in revenge for it possessing him, leaving the AI unable to influence the physical world. Terry began dating Beam and they moved in together.[62]
Neo-Gothic
With the Living Gotham gone, Neo-Gotham was hit by a crimewave, forcing Terry to constantly race around the city stopping criminals and supervillains. He deliberately did not reach out to his family or old friends who he had sent away from Gotham or allow them to return, feeling like he had changed too much in the last year to return to his old life. When children began disappearing from poor neighborhoods, Terry followed their trail into the Gotham Deep, the ruins of the old city under Neo-Gotham. He joined up with a homeless splicer named Kyle the Catboi and hired Kyle to guide him deeper into the "Undergoth" to search for the lost children. Kyle refused to call him "Batman" and asked for his real name. Terry initially refused, but eventually told him it was "Terry" when he realised that Kyle had been in juvenile hall too, and spent longer inside.
Kyle guided Terry to a hole leading to a lower level. They jumped down and were immediately attacked by Killer Croc. Croc grabbed Terry and dragged him away to devour him.[5] Terry tried to reason with Croc, but found that his atavism had progressed to the point he was a near-mindless beast. Terry saw the old Wayne Enterprises logo on the wall of Croc's lair and, from Croc's screams that the "Tomb" was his and must stay closed, realised that Bruce had trapped Croc below to guard something far worse than him. Despite Terry telling Kyle to save himself, Kyle rescued Terry, revealing that he had magic powers. Terry and Kyle descended further into the Undergoth to find the "Tomb", where Terry believed the stolen children had been taken.[63]
The Tomb turned out to be the old labyrinth used by the Court of Owls to slowly torture their enemies to death. Terry was familiar with the labyrinth as Bruce had made him train in it for a month when he first became Batman, but he found that it was now covered in a bioluminescent fungus and ghostly voices moaning "Terry" echoed through the maze. Frightened, Terry and Kyle ran for the end of the maze as tendrils and roots grabbed for them. They reached the end and emerged in the Court's chamber, where they found the long-dead Court of Owls, now transformed into fungus-infested zombies.
A shadowy figure with Batman's silhouette called to Terry from the top of rows of seats. He told Terry that the "garden" below them had opened their minds and for a moment Terry believed the figure could be Bruce Wayne back from the dead. However, it was in fact one of the Talons who had also become infested by the fungus and considered itself the new Batman. Terry demanded that the Court give him the children but they refused and called for Terry to hand over Kyle, referring to him by name, saying that the "garden" needed the children and the one who "fed" them to it.
Talon tried to grab Kyle but Terry pulled Kyle out of the way and demanded that he tell the truth about what was going on and how the Court knew who he was. Kyle admitted that he was taught magic by John Constantine, who had extended his life for decades by accumulating curses but when he could no longer avoid death he offloaded his curses onto Kyle, allowing him to pass on peacefully. John Constantine's grave was the "garden of light" which had infected the Court, and Kyle had deliberately sent the children to be captured by it so Batman would respond and help him reach it.
Terry used explosive batarangs to blow up the labyrinth and collapse the floor beneath them. He, Kyle and Talon fell into the dark void below.[64] Terry tried to fly over and catch Kyle, but he began to hallucinate scenes of his family, Dana and Bruce, while being tormented by the Talon. He then somehow slipped into Kyle's hallucination and saw him get cast out by the Catbois, then taken in by John Constantine and inflicted with Constantine's curses when he died.
They were attacked by the Talon, who rained down spores on them which began to cover them in fungus. Terry told Kyle that what they were seeing was a hallucination and they still needed to finish their mission. Kyle said that he couldn't fight it but Terry told him it's not about fighting and the only way is through. They woke up in the Dark Garden at the bottom of the Undergoth and were confronted by three plant elementals who call themselves "The Roots".[65]
Terry told Kyle to find Constantine while he held off the Roots. Kyle used a scrying charm to track Constantine which lead him to a black tree in the centre of the garden, covered in the missing children suspended in pods. The Roots managed to overpower Terry, but Kyle set the garden on fire to destroy them. Terry realised that Constantine was inside the tree and cut his way into it, finding Constantine fused with the tendrils at the centre. Terry ordered Constantine to release the children but he refused, claiming that he was saving them from a coming disaster, but Terry refused to believe him as Constantine only cared about himself. Suddenly, the Garden was rocked by an earthquake triggered by explosions on the surface. Terry had to return to the surface to save Gotham, forcing him to leave Kyle to face Constantine alone; but he told Kyle he could handle it, and that he was a "lion", not a cat.[66]
Terry flew up to the surface and found the city under attack by the Roots, reanimated Court of Owls and Killer Croc, all under Constantine's control. People all over the city were calling for him to save them, but it was too much for one man. He re-established contact with Beam and Gestalt and they decided to activate the Gordon Initiative; which would use the Living Gotham's old nanobots to transform citizens into Batman. Terry broadcast around the city and asked people to opt in to the Initiative, revealing his real name and background as a delinquent. Dozens of citizen volunteered, creating an army of Batmen who fought off the attackers until Kyle was able to convince Constantine to give up and allow himself to die. When Constantine died, the plants died too.
After the fight Beam gave an interview explaining the Gordon Initiative and their plans to help people going forward. They also learned that Donovan Lumos had disappeared without a trace during the battle, abandoning all his wealth and power. Terry called up Dana and told her that he owed her some answers.[67]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Peak Human Condition
- Gadgetry
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)
- Martial Arts: Terry was trained in martial arts by Bruce Wayne.[68]
- Throwing
- Computer Operation: Terry is a computer expert.[68]
- Genius Level Intellect: Terry has a near genius IQ.[68]
- Acrobatics
- Gymnastics: Terry is an expert gymnast.[68]
- Thievery[57]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Time Band
- A.L.F.R.E.D.: An artificial intelligence modeled after Alfred Pennyworth's personality.
- Batsuit II: An advanced Batsuit developed by Gestalt[61] which incorporates hard light technology.[62]
- Energy Construct Creation
- Enhanced Durability
- Enhanced Strength
- Flight
- Powerful spotlight built into the chest emblem.[5]
- Batsuit: (Formerly) State-of-the-art Batsuit which automatically conforms to his size. The Batsuit features new gadgets such as glider wings, "thrusters" on the boots and even a cloaking device. However, Terry became unable to maintain and repair it following the destruction of the Batcave and it was eventually destroyed in a fight with the Sword of Gotham.[60]
- Enhanced strength by a factor of ten, ultimately allowing him to lift up to 1700 lbs (771 kgs).
- Minimal reduction (or increase) in flexibility.
- Enhanced Durability;
- Enhanced ballistic protection.
- Significantly resistant to heat, electricity, water, and vibrations, but only slightly resistant to radiation.
- Forearm spikes can extend out.
- Retractable Claws which can be used to slice or facilitate climbing.
- Headset Equipment;
- Enhanced visual assistance that allows him to see in the dark
- Visual from the Batsuit can be fed back to the main computer in the Batcave; it can also receive visual from the main computer, allowing for superior tactical planning.
- The visor can also serve as digital binoculars and an infra-red filter, as well as a scanner.
- Personal communicator allows Terry to keep in constant contact with Bruce at the Batcave.
- Sensors that work as a polygraph.
- Enhanced visual assistance that allows him to see in the dark
- Built-in rebreather for underwater combat/exploration.
- Projectiles;
- Dispensable Batarangs with a range of auxiliary functions, such as producing electric shocks. However, there is a limit to the amount of Batarangs the Batsuit can dispense; Batman has run out on at least one occasion.
- Discs can be fired from the top of the wrist.
- Wrist-mounted laser capable of melting metal and stunning his opponents.
- Field Equipment:
- Grappling guns built into the forearms.
- Flashbang grenades.
- Smoke pellets.
- Flexicuffs.
- A lock decipher.
- Launchable tracers.
- Retractable tweezers.
- A frequency scanner to pick up hot spots.
- A retractable PIN or password decipherer in the form of a key on the right index finger.
- Sensitive touch microphone on index and middle fingers that permits eavesdropping through solid surfaces.
- Drug identifier, used by dipping fingers into the substance.
- Flight Equipment;
- Electromagnetic pads in the soles of the boots enabling him to cling to walls and ceilings.
- Built-in cloaking device that enables almost complete camouflage. It allows camouflage extending into the visible light and infrared frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- However, can be tracked using ultraviolet light to illuminate the batsuit. (Formerly)
- Electrical discharges throughout the suit that can be activated by pushing the button on the belt.
- The belt buckle can serve as a buzz saw, to get out of a room quickly or to cut through denser material.
- Can uplink with the Batmobile for remote piloting.
- A remote kill function that can externally deactivate the suit from the Batcave.
- Rewire Suit (Formerly): Armoured state-of-the-art suit formerly owned by the supervillain Davis Dusk (the original Rewire):
- Electrokinesis, giving McGinnis the ability to control and fire blasts of electricity
- Electrical Generator, which keeps what is left of Terry's heart beating
- Bulletproof built-in armour
- X-7 Batsuit: An experimental Batsuit created by Bruce Wayne to be effective in his last days as Batman. It is controlled by an artificial intelligence that pushes the user over his limits to assure the success of the mission, sometimes even taking over the user's own mind. Still, both Terry and Damian Wayne showcased the fact that the A.I. can be overrode.[18][21]
Transportation
Weapons
Related
- 111 Appearances of Terrence McGinnis (Futures End)
- 129 Images featuring Terrence McGinnis (Futures End)
- 20 Quotations by or about Terrence McGinnis (Futures End)
- Character Gallery: Terrence McGinnis (Futures End)
Footnotes
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Rebirth #1
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #7
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #7
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #1
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Rebirth #1
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #5
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #14
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #15
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 5) #16
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #1
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #2
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 2) #3
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #4
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #5
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #6
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #7
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #8
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #9
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #10
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #11
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #13
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #14
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #15
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #16
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #17
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #19
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #20
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #21
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #22
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #23
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #24
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #25
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #26
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #27
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #28
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #29
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #30
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #31
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #32
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #33
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #35
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #39
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #40
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #41
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #42
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #43
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #44
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #45
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #46
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #47
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #48
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #49
- ↑ Batman Beyond (Volume 6) #50
- ↑ Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1
- ↑ Batman: Urban Legends #7
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #1
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #2
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #3
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #4
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #5
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #6
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #2
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #3
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #4
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #5
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #6
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 68.2 68.3 DC Comics Encyclopedia
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