Batman Beyond: Return of Joker
Years have passed since Joker’s death. Batman, batgirl, and especially Robin will never forget the night he died. He had tortured Robin far enough to get Batman’s true identity and had even caused Tim Drake, the new Robin, to go mentally unstable. It’s been 20 years since Gotham has heard of or seen any sign of Batman, but fear strikes criminals once again when a new Batman surfaces and shows that he’s picking up the police’s slack. Terry McGinnis is a high school student who happened to save Bruce Wayne from some Joker imitators one night and in so proved himself worthy of the Batman identity. With new technology and Bruce Wayne in his ear it’s no wonder why both are taken back when Joker resurfaces 20 years after being put in his grave. So how could a dead man rotting in a mineshaft come back to wreak havoc on a newly developed Gotham city? Genetics. Joker realized that he wasn’t getting any younger and neither was Batman. They’ve been playing a game of back and forth for who knows how long and eventually, one day it would end. With this in mind Joker stole technology from Project Cadmus, which is a genetic engineering DNA project. With this technology, Joker had essentially put his genetic make up, what makes him, him, on a microchip that he implanted on Tim Drake’s neck. This microchip stayed dormant until, at a preprogrammed time, activated and manifested itself within Tim Drake’s subconscious. Whenever Tim was reminded of that frightful night, his subconscious, the Joker, would take over and Tim was none the wiser as Joker rampaged through the city, in his body, concocting diabolical schemes. Eventually, Joker, or the essence that is Joker, manifested itself as part of the conscious mind and soon was able to take control of Tim Drake’s body by demand. Project Cadmus was a genetic engineering firm with the purpose of bioengineering. Dabney Donovan was dubbed “mad scientist” because he felt there should be no limits when concerning the expansion of knowledge pertaining to genetic code. His “mad” status made it no problem for Joker to rob his research that proved the possibility of transferring a human’s genetic make up to a microchip.
The time is unknown. Batman first made his appearance in what seemed to be the 1940’s. Fighting crime by night and helping in charities along with managing a multi-billion dollar corporation by day, Bruce Wayne has been living a double life for what seems to be an eternity. He started this nightlife between his 20’s and 30’s and continued it well into his 60’s. This was possible for Bruce Wayne because he developed a suit, which enhances his physical attributes. Eventually he does get too old to fight crime and after coming to this realization focuses solely on his company and leave the costumed life dormant for 20 years. Perceivably, from these figures, it can be deduced that Batman Beyond takes sometime in the early 2000’s. In a time where religion seems to be non-existent and science is pushing the limits, the new Batman in town has to fight splicers, genetically altered to be half human half animal, a woman with the genetic compound of ink, a walking nuclear power plant, and a man who can manipulate sound waves. Much controversy lies within all of these scientific breakthroughs and it’s up to Batman to keep the companies in check without tampering too much with the laws of nature and physics.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was produced during the last three years of the human genome project. The human genome project sought to break down the genes in all humans. The project discovered 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA and determined the sequences of three billion base pairs that are the blueprints for human DNA. The project had essentially discovered what genes were, their actions, and how they worked, furthermore cloning was becoming possible in something as small as a petri dish; why not store genes on a microchip?
This case puts into perspective the seemingly limitless capabilities of science and technology. Also, directly aimed at Dr. Dabney Donovan, the question of his “mad” status comes to mind in, “how was he mad?” Also, was it Joker that came back? This is the question of, are you still you without your body? Technically Joker’s genetic make up was in Tim Drake. But who was Batman fighting, Tim Drake, or Joker? These questions can only be answered by one’s own perspective.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Prod. Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Glen Murakami. Dir. Curt Geda and Alan Burnett. Perf. Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy. DVD. Warner Bros., 2000. "Project Cadmus." DC Universe Database. 21 Apr. 2009.
In the event of converting someone's genetic make up/transferring their brain to a non-organic "body" would this new compound be considered "person" or "thing", this would be used as a prime example for this question. However, in the movie when Joker takes over Tim Drake's body, the body takes the form of the Joker. Making the character, for all intents and purposes, Joker. Also, should Dr. Donovan be considered "mad?" What aspects about him make him mad other than the fact that he thinks there should be no limits placed on research of the human genome. There are laws for crimes against humanity, but if one volunteers, why not splurge into the given knowledge?