Time and place of batman Beyond

[rio_in_nyc]

Hello -- your feedback welcome here.

Just curious to know: Batman Beyond takes place in the 21st Century -- but exactly when?? early 21st Century?? aprox. what years(s) is the plot taking place.

Thanks in advance-

Rio

[Calhoun07]

I always thought it was supposed to be about 30-40 years into the future after the final episode of the Batman animated series. I might be mistaken, though, but given the age of Bruce in the series, I figured that was a safe assumption.

[MattL.]

I think of it like this.

I allow that the Batman and Superman series take place in a kind of mythical 20th century. Theastetics of the things we know from only with the existance of technology, a kind of Gernsback Continuum 20th century.

By that reckoning, Batman and Superman took place in that worlds 1940's and 50's.

Batman Beyond takes place in basically a mythical ampted out version of either now a few years from now.

JL happens somewhere in between. This would also be a way of explaining the archetecture changes in JL to. Its within that pre-cursor period to the kinds of cities we see in Batman Beyond.

[The Guard]

Timm originally didn't want the animated series tied to a specific time period. Hence the 30's cars and black and white TV's combined with futuristic police blimps. But since Batman Beyond mentioned a near apocalypse of '09...I'd say Beyond takes place in 2029. That's what Cartoon Network says...

[The Mad Hatter]

This is another one of those questions that it really depends on who you ask.

I seem to remember Dini saying that the show takes place 40-50 years from "now." So, in theory, there's not a specific year.

[Karkull]

It's purposely vague--just like the other shows.

[Justice League 2000]

THE year in batman beyond is 2040 terry is 17 years old. the joker died in october 1998. bruce is 85 years old in 2040. dick quit being nightwing in april 1996. tim quit being robin in october 1998 tim is 54 years old in 2040. barbara quit being batgirl in the year 2001. barbara is 64 years old in 2040 in batman beyond time. and batman superman take place in the year 1994. Justice league take place in mid 1994. BATMAN BEYOND is a dead future it not going to happen.

[James Harvey]

Actually, none of the shows have an exact time. The creator sof the show made sure that no exact times were mentioned. If they were, then ignore them. The cre won the sho would mix various styles togethor as to not pin down the exact time (like how in Batman:TAS there were super computers, but TVs were still black & white). Metropolis was ultra futuristic, but cars still had 4 wheels. None of the shows, even Batman Beyond and JL have specific times. The crew have even said this.

[MattL.]

See, thats an aspect of the shows that I like.

Because that way, you dont get into this whole kind of "well we better give Superman a nose ring and Jncos to make him relevant to today" mentality.

It makes perfect sense. Put these timeless characters into a timeless world.

That you can do it all and nobody can say its dated.

[rio_in_nyc]

I guess I can undertand that the authors want to keep the time period somewhat vague. This probably has to do with the idea of matching realism with the story: we really do not know how the buildings and architecture will evolve in the major cities in America, so they do not want to imply that buildings will look like the way they do by the time we get to the year 20xx.

Yet, some viewers and readers are somewhat compelled to want to know the time period. I think it's part of being human -- a reference point so to speak. Just as the location of the cities are never known -- though they seemed to be inspired by the skyline of Manhattan.