My Opinion.

[Carrieattheprom]

Okay, there has been talk about wheather Batman Beyond is real future or possible future. I have not seen Once and Future Thing, namley because I forgot to pay my cable bill again.

However I have a theory of my own:

Justice Leauge and JLU are "Elseworlds" (and that goes for the comics too.)

Why I feel this way? Because Batman is a hero that is (sorta) based on reality. Why is he hanging out with a bunch of demi-gods and battling aliens? Batman doesn't do that. The only fantasitcal element in Batman's universe is the Lazarus Pit.(and I'm not a big fan of that at all.) One of the reasons I didn't like TNBA was the crossover episodes with Superman. These two occupy completly different worlds.(I think I remeber reading an article about some Batman writers who hated such team-ups)

So I say that BTAS, MOST epiosdes of TNBA, and BB are all cannon. And that JL and JLU are not cannon.




If any of my rambling made sense to you, feel free to reply.

[Borg4of3]

One story I'd love to see would be of Batman shifting gears and coping with the switch from Gotham and moving into, as you put it, a world of demi-gods and aliens. Its kind of a leap that everyone on the world would have to make as soon as creatures like the White Martians and Superman start coming into the picture. Kinda makes you want to see his first encounter with Etrigan, and when he started realizing a damaged mind isn't the only thing that defies logic.

I love how its Batman who tells Green Arrow in Initiation that the world is bigger than they know now, but how did Bats come to realize this on his own?

[James]

If we go by majority, it's BTAS which is the odd one out when it comes to general feeling and world perspective.. maybe it's the alternate universe.. :D Perish the thought!

Maybe there was a "Infinite Earth Crisis" yet untold that happened between BTAS and TNBA and the world shifted in flavour and style..

Before season 2 of JL really cemented itself as canon with "Twilight", I sort of saw JL as non canon.. but now I see the whole thing as canon and just squint my eyes at the bits which don't make sense... Afterall, with the like of "Avatar", it's not like BTAS was totally down to earth... :p

[Squall]

I prefer to think of B:TAS/TNBA, S:TAS, JL/JLU, and BB as all taking place in the same consistent universe on a single timeline. My enjoyment of all these shows, both individually and together, increases dramatically when I think of them this way. :cool:

[Crimson]

Well, whatever works for you to help you enjoy the shows.

Personally I care very little for continuity, and regard the endless fanboy obsession with an iron-clad continuity -- and worse, trying to squeeze that continuity into a rigid, real world timeline -- as sucking the very life out of the superhero genre. Comic books today spend so much time "explaining things" and how everything fits together in a nice neat package, they forget to just tell fun stories.

As for why earlier shows featuring just Batman and his crew seemed more "realistic" and don't fit in with the more fantasy laden series that followed, I look at it this way: during the earlier Batman series, we saw only a very small corner of this universe -- essentially just Gotham City from a street crime perspective. Who's to say that other heroes weren't battling aliens and rogue gods at the same time, just because Batman wasn't involved? As the different series progressed, we saw a wider scope of this universe.