The new Batman Beyond limited series, Beyond The White Knight, will explore Terry Mcginnis Asian-American heritage and make it canon.
The Batman of the future. Terry McGinnis is officially half Asian and will be canon beginning in the upcoming limited comic series Batman: Beyond The White Knight. Sean Murphy is the writer of the upcoming comic book series. Beyond The White Knight will be a reimagining of Batman Beyond. McGinnis first appeared in the Batman: Beyond animated series, which premiered in early January of 1999. The animated series lasted for three seasons consisting of fifty-two episodes and a direct-to-video feature film, Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker. The story of the series concluded during the final episode of the Justice League Unlimited Season 2 “Epilogue.”
In the animated series, McGinnis’s ethnicity is never explicitly explained. In “Epilogue,” McGinnis is revealed to be the genetic son of Bruce Wayne even though he was born to Warren and Mary McGinnis. Terry is technically half a genetic clone of Bruce thanks to an elaborate plan in creating a Batman for the future. This plan Waller schemed is named “Project Batman Beyond.” She collected DNA from Bruce Wayne, mixed his DNA samples with nanotech, and injected them into Warren Mcginnis to rewrite his baby-making DNA to make Bruce Waynes. Terry never knew until Waller told him, but he had suspicions.
The Asian American Origins Of Batman Beyond
Going back to Terry’s ethnicity, Murphy will write him as half-Asian based on his viewed setting of Gotham City in Batman Beyond. In Batman Beyond Gotham City is now called Neo Gotham. The animated series and subsequent comics depicted Neo Gotham as a futuristic city with Japanese influences, similar to Tokyo. During an interview with Screen Rant, Murphy explained why he would represent Terry as half-Asian in Beyond The White Knight. Murphy explained that:
“The trick with Terry for me was how to make him a little different,”… “I didn’t want to just mirror exactly what happened with the Batman Beyond cartoon series. I wanted to make it unique, but sort of familiar at the same time. One of the things I really wanted to do is make him half Asian. I didn’t realize this, but a ton of people — including myself — always assumed Terry was half Japanese, and half Irish, or something…
Only because there’s so much kanji in Neo-Gotham, and he has long, black, straight hair… like, a lot of people mistake him as being half Asian. Even though both of his parents are like, extremely white.”… “Maybe it’s just window dressing, and it doesn’t really affect story that much, but I just thought it was an interesting way to break out my Terry from the other Terrys out there, “…”And obviously to diversify the line, which is important.”
Sean Murphy|Screen Rant
RELATED: Why Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker Needs To Spin Out Of The Flash
Before his interview, Murphy shared photos of his design of Terry in Beyond the White Knight. Murphy also announced his intentions to reveal Terry’s ethnicity by sharing that his mother would be Asian and his father Irish.
Why Terry McGinnis Being Asian-American Is A Huge Win For Representation
As a fellow Asian-American and a massive Batman fan, Terry being Asian-American is a big deal for me. It’s mainly because I grew up loving Batman. I would read almost all of Batman’s major comic books, watch all the Batman animated shows, and all his live-action films. The Batman Beyond animated series was a show that I would watch religiously, and Terry is one of my favorite incarnations of Batman.
RE:ATED: Batman Beyond Creator Bruce Timm On Michael Keaton’s Exciting Return And Live-Action “Possibilities”
It’s also an enormous deal for the Asian-American community because a few Asian-Americans superheroes are in comics and films. Yes, we have Shang-Chi and Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) becoming mainstream, but having one of the world’s most popular superheroes, being an Asian-American, is a huge win for representation. As many Asian-Americans will now have another superhero to look up and relate to. This time it’s the Dark Knight himself. Hopefully, if a film adaptation of Batman Beyond is in the works and they explore Terry Mcginnis’ Asian American heritage for the masses.
The first issue of Batman: Beyond The White Knight will be on sale on March 29th, 2022. Beyond The White Knight is written and illustrated by Sean Murphy with colorization done by Dave Stewart.
What are your thoughts on Batman Beyond/Terry McGinnis being Asian-American? Did you watch the Batman Beyond animated series growing up? Wouldn’t Michael Keaton be perfect to play and old Bruce Wayne? Let us know what you think in the comments below, or let us know on Twitter.
Source: Screen Rant, Instagram
KEEP READING: Little Monsters #1 Review – An Entrancing New Series by Image
