Batman Beyond Terry was born in
Gotham City to Warren and Mary McGinnis, a research scientist at Wayne-Powers and an
astronomer at Astro-Tech, respectively. As a friend of the youthful racketeer Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow, Terry as a small-time criminal had numerous run-ins with the
Gotham City Police at age fourteen, while his parents were going through a divorce, even serving a three-month stint in
juvenile hall. Twenty years after Batman's disappearance from Gotham, due to
Bruce Wayne's retirement on account of a
cardiovascular disease, Terry finds himself on the run from the
Jokerz, another street gang, who have modelled themselves after the long-dead legendary criminal, the
Joker. Terry flees onto the grounds of
Wayne Manor, where an aged Bruce comes to his defense and together they subdue and ward off the Jokerz. The strain of the fight places substantial stress on Bruce's weak heart, so Terry helps Bruce into the mansion and gets him his medication; Bruce proceeds to fall asleep afterward. Terry attempts to leave, but Bruce's dog
Ace stops him with hostility. He then tries to call his father but then notices a bat stuck inside a grandfather clock. As he tries to free it he stumbles upon the entrance to the
Batcave and realizes that Bruce was the city's heroic
Dark Knight. He is then forced out by an enraged Bruce. Terry returns home to find his father murdered, ostensibly by the Jokerz. He later discovers that
Derek Powers (who has assumed leadership of a merged Wayne-Powers) ordered Warren's death after the latter discovered Powers' plan to mass-produce
biological weapons. Powers' right-hand man, Mr. Fixx, leads a raid on the McGinnis home and shoots Warren McGinnis. (In the comic books, he orders one of his henchmen, Jake Chill, who is a great grand-nephew of
Joe Chill, the one who murdered Bruce's parents, to shoot Warren). Terry then seeks Bruce's assistance in bringing Powers down, but cannot convince the old man to inflict swift justice - Bruce is still shaken from an ordeal 20 years earlier of having relied on a handgun for self-defense (the event that forced him to retire as Batman for good), as well as the traumatic event of the
Joker's death and
Tim Drake's psychological torture in the flashbacks of
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and the limitations of his age. Bruce suggests that Terry take the evidence against Powers to the current commissioner of police, his former partner
Barbara Gordon, the retired Batgirl, but after a scuffle with Powers, during which Powers can reclaim the evidence, Terry takes matters into his own hands and steals the
Batsuit. Despite some initial mistrust, their similar backgrounds and the risks of a
pandemic that Powers' viral weapons might cause convince Bruce to aid Terry. Terry successfully derails Powers' plan, exposing him to his weapons in the process, resulting in his mutation into
Blight. Reminded by Terry of why he started crime-fighting and convinced that there is still a need for a Batman, Bruce accepts Terry as his protégé and successor, training him as Gotham's new Dark Knight under the cover of being a hired personal assistant. In addition, Bruce assists Terry in the field, primarily by keeping in continual contact with him from the Batcave, while also helping him out in the field occasionally and if necessary. Beyond the vigilante duties as Batman, Terry is also Bruce's
chauffeur and assists with Bruce's daily business and personal tasks at his home and office, which also allows him to earn money to support his family. Because of Terry's past as a criminal and his age, no one suspects him of being Batman, and this experience motivates him to try to reform criminals if they experience regret. In time, the pair develops a bond of trust and respect and confides in each other not only in their mutual missions but also in life issues as well, much like father and son. Bruce would even trust Terry over Barbara Gordon's words when the villain
Spellbinder frames Terry for murder with another one of his illusions. While getting his own unique rogues' gallery, in addition to contending with some of his mentor's former foes including the resurrected Joker, Terry also makes allies, such as high school student Maxine Gibson, and despite initial hostility between them, even Commissioner Gordon herself (in the comics, he also eventually meets and works with Bruce's other ex-partner, the former Robin/Nightwing,
Dick Grayson). He also meets Bruce's old allies
Superman and the
Justice League, even being offered full-time membership after he saves them from
Starro's world takeover scheme. However, he turns it down, preferring to remain a reserved member and work alone as his mentor did. After Powers' criminal identity is exposed and he finally brings retribution to his father's killer, Terry decides to continue his role as Batman, aware of the differences he makes and to atone for his past sins, in the hope that it is his chance at redemption. Later in his career as Batman, after Bruce began suffering from kidney failure, he ran a DNA test for suitable donors and discovered that not only was he a suitable match, but the perfect one. He then learns that he is the biological son of his mentor, who had discovered the truth himself sometime before but kept quiet out of respect for Warren, who raised Terry. Seeking answers, Terry then has a confrontation with an elderly
Amanda Waller, Bruce's acquaintance from his days with the Justice League, who reveals that she engineered his origin to create a replacement Batman for Bruce. Terry learns that Bruce is his biological father; Waller used nanotechnology to ensure that Bruce’s DNA overwrote the DNA in Warren McGinnis' reproductive cells. She had intended to take things one step forward and recreate the tragic circumstances that drove Bruce into becoming Batman (by hiring the
Phantasm to murder the young boy's parents in front of him), but her hired assassin refused at the last minute, forcing Waller to cancel the project, although Warren's eventual murder by criminals ironically cemented Terry's destiny to become the next Batman. In conclusion, Waller tells Terry that while he does not possess Bruce's level of deduction and analytical skills, he does possess the same heart. Initially disillusioned with who he was, Terry eventually reconciles with the truth and continues to have a relationship with Bruce, while also planning on proposing to his longtime girlfriend, Dana Tan. He is also revealed to have joined the Justice League, but like Bruce before him, he is only a part-time member.
Project Batman Beyond In the
Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", which takes place 15 years after
Batman Beyond, Terry has become a remarkable superhero in his own right, whose life as Batman mirrors his predecessor's, even oddly resembles him, and later discovers the truth about his paternity. When Bruce requires tissue for the cloning of a kidney to transplant, Terry is checked for compatibility. To his surprise, his
DNA is similar to Bruce's. After hesitating for a time, he runs a DNA test and finds out that Bruce is his biological father. Terry seeks
Amanda Waller, the only person in the world he believes can answer his questions, before confronting Bruce. As he does so, he imagines scenarios where he leaves the people vital to himself because he believes his life was a lie. Terry vents some of his frustration about Bruce and his plans to Waller, only to be surprised when Waller reveals that it was not Bruce responsible for Terry's
genetic makeup – it was her doing, without Bruce's consent or even his express knowledge. Decades earlier, Waller was the government liaison to the Justice League, and she saw that Batman was the most capable member of the League; despite lacking any powers, his willpower, physical strength, and acute intelligence made him the most balanced and reliable fighter in the entire League. In addition, based on his compassion for the dying original
Royal Flush Gang member, Ace, Batman's virtue makes him the League's conscience. Because of this, Waller slowly began to respect and trust Bruce Wayne. However, Waller noticed Batman was getting older and increasingly unable to handle the day-to-day intensities of crimefighting. She knew that one day Batman would have to retire, or he'd be killed on duty. Fearing a world without someone like Batman, she decided to create a new one. Waller, with old connections to Project Cadmus, gathered the technology necessary for her movement, codenamed "Project Batman Beyond." Bruce's DNA was obtained in Gotham City, where his arm got grazed after intercepting a gang war—a small blood sample on a piece of gauze left at the scene of it. Years later, in Neo Gotham, after Bruce retired, she found a couple that was psychologically identical to his parents. Warren McGinnis was called in to get a routine
flu shot that actually was a
nanotech solution to replace the DNA in his
reproductive system with that of Bruce Wayne's, turning Warren into Bruce's
surrogate. A year later, Mary McGinnis gave birth to Terry, who was biologically a child of her and Bruce. Waller executed the final phase of her plan when Terry was eight years old: hiring an assassin —
Andrea Beaumont, Bruce Wayne's former fiancée and the enigmatic Phantasm — to kill Terry's parents so that the trauma of seeing his parents murdered in front of him might motivate Terry to someday become a hero equivalent to Batman, during which Mary was again pregnant. However, Beaumont stalled at the last minute and realized that murdering in Batman's name would dishonor his legacy. Reluctantly realizing that Beaumont was right, Waller cancelled the project, resulting in Terry's brother (and potential successor) Matt being born later: it is implied that these events were what caused Terry's parents' later separation after Warren discovered that the children were not his and accused Mary of infidelity. Nevertheless, eight years later, by chance, Terry's father was murdered, and the young teen encountered Bruce, sealing Terry's fate forever. Waller's admission of guilt and affirmation of Terry's destiny allowed him to overcome his anger and bitterness. Terry then decided to propose to his longtime girlfriend,
Dana, and fully accepts his role as Batman. Knowing that Bruce is innocent and believing that he is also oblivious of their relation, as Terry was, Terry decides not to tell Bruce of what he discovered but privately acknowledges him as his father alongside Warren, who was still his father via surrogacy. According to episode co-writer
Dwayne McDuffie, Bruce, as a master detective, despite having no involvement with Waller's plan, becomes aware that Terry and Matt are his genetic offspring at some point after Terry assumes the role of Batman as he has been treating Terry's injuries by then, and figures out the machinations of Waller and Project Cadmus because they are the only people with such means; however, he never brings it up out of respect for Warren McGinnis including avoid confronting Waller about it, and because he wants Terry to be his own man: in the comics, he slowly comes to accept and love both Terry and Matt as his sons privately. This project was used in the
Batman Beyond original comic book miniseries, with the
Beyond version of
Hush being a twisted clone of Dick Grayson, created after the original Grayson was badly injured in a fight; Waller had reasoned that a clone of Grayson would be easier to control than one of Bruce, but the new Grayson went insane, killing most of Batman's survived-but-retired villains and nearly triggering a new earthquake before he was defeated by Terry, the original Grayson, and the new Catwoman.
DC Main Universe The
Batman Beyond concept became
DC Comics canon in the pages of
Superman/Batman issues 22 and 23, wherein
Bizarro is transported to an alternate reality somewhere in Hypertime, which resembled the
Batman Beyond-era
Gotham City, with
Batman Beyond in action with the 1999 animated black-and-red costume and the 1992
Batplane from the original animated series. This version of the character is in radio contact with
Bruce Wayne, but was referred to as "Tim". The
Batman Beyond cameo was enough to garner a
DC Direct action figure, the character's first in years, listed as "Tim Drake". Also, in
Countdown to Final Crisis, former
Robin Jason Todd, former
Wonder Girl Donna Troy, Green Lantern
Kyle Rayner, and
Bob the Monitor travel to "
Earth-12," which resembles the DCAU's future. They witness from the rooftops someone in a
Batman Beyond costume defeating members of the Jokerz gang (although they do not know who is under the mask of the future Batman), to which Jason Todd says, "Huh. The more things change, the more they stay the same." The group speculates that either Tim Drake or
Dick Grayson is under the mask. However, The Monitor confirms it is indeed McGinnis.
Dan DiDio announced in a July 2009 questions segment with Newsarama that Terry McGinnis would be appearing within DC Comics again in the future. The
Batman Beyond miniseries began its run on June 16, 2010, set in 2039 Neo-Gotham, revolving around the assassination of anyone who had anything to do with Bruce Wayne's Batman, foe or friend. Dan DiDio stated that this "Terry McGinnis mini-series" is in response to the interest expressed by the "fans of the character." It was penned by Adam Beechen, a
non-DCAU Batman television writer. According to Beechen before the comic was completed, the comic book arc as to open the door for the "legendary" DCAU to enter into the mainstream DC Universe (comics), tying into both continuities. The series took place after McGinnis
defeated the reborn Joker and picked up where Bruce Timm initially left off, but years before Terry learns that Bruce Wayne is his biological father. In 2010, Terry appeared alongside Superman in the oversized issue
Superman/Batman Annual 2010, which picks up after
their first meeting together taking place in the DCAU, and also jibing with the DCU. Terry became officially part of the DCU canon in 2010 debuting in
Batman #700 by Grant Morrison as a baby. On October 6, 2010, it was announced at New York Comic-Con that
Batman Beyond would start as an ongoing series in January 2011. The series ended with only eight issues in August. However, a new series,
Batman Beyond Unlimited, served as a return to the Beyond universe. The title features
Superman Beyond,
Justice League Beyond, and
Batman Beyond, starring McGinnis. Terry McGinnis officially entered mainstream DC continuity in the 2014
New 52 maxiseries,
The New 52: Futures End. ==Relationships==