I've seen Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, or parts of it, a number of times on HBO, and I find the story quite engaging. I'm wondering: Are this and its 1999 predecessor direct sequels of some other animated Batman film? I would be interested in checking it out. Thanks.

--THX

It's a movie based of the batman beyond television show. Which was a update on the batman mythos. A younger futurastic batman in a completely different world.

If you really want to check out a good batman movie though check out batman mask of the phantasm or any episode of the original batman animated series. It's much better then beyond.

It is a more recent part of the WB DC animated universe. All of these shows have linked characters/stories and I would recommend all of the Bruce Timm / Paul Dini / Kevin Conroy(he voices Batman) stuff.

I watched in this order and really enjoyed all of these shows.

Batman:TAS "The Animated Series"
Superman: The Animated Series
Batman Beyond
Justice League
Justice League: Unlimited

Movies:

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman & Mr Freeze: Sub-Zero
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker(Uncut Version)

Superman: Braniac Attacks was pretty crappy IMO with various character traits and voice changes.

Exactly what I was hoping to find. Excellent-- thank you, both.

I remember reading comments, when one of the later Batman live action features was playing, that the animated movies were far superior. I believe they were referring to Mask of the Phantasm at the time. Watching Batman Beyond, I can see why. Good stuff. Much more fulfilling than the last two Batman flicks of the '90s. Quite into the future Gotham storyline. Will Friedle is perfect as the new, young Batman. And all the other characters are so much more fleshed out in 2-D animation than their paper-thin counterparts in flesh and blood.

--THX

Batman Beyond is my favorite Batman incarnation, so if you enjoyed the movie picking up the first two season sets on DVD should be satisfying

Don't forget the animated "Superman/Batman: World's Finest"

There are a couple episodes of Justice League: Unlimited towards the end of the first and second seasons that directly deals with the Batman Beyond character. The end of the second season is particularly good and provides nice closure to the character.

Definitely check out Mask of the Phantasm, it's great too.

This movie was taken from animated episodes that can be found in the Superman:TAS Season sets. "Batman Beyond: The Movie" and the Justice League movies like "Star-Crossed" are also comprised of the season episodes.

In short, just watch the Season sets IMO as everything is in correct order, plus the other movies I listed above. Trust me if you are a fan of DC comics you will love all of these shows.

There are three other shows but I havn't been able to see them all yet.

"Static Shock" who also shows up in Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited, "Tean Titans" with the likes of Robin, and "The Batman" which not many people seem to like.

"Batman Beyond" and "The Batman" both get bum wraps but they're both pretty good. I think everyone compares them to Batman the animated series so they don't cut any other shows slack.

Batman Beyond = good
The Batman = crap

Hell, I love Batman Beyond and it's a nice story to jump to after watching Batman: TAS and Justice League.

The main difference is The Batman does not carry over the Bruce Timm design

Remember that there is a PG-13 director's cut of Return of the Joker that was released on dvd. It makes some action scenes and the awesome flashback sequence more intense.

I disagree but to each their own.

Well to each their own indeed, my good giantrobo. But I did make my point that the difference in animation styles from the bruce timm style to the batman style does make a difference.

If you say so Jack. I you say so.

I agree though, Batman Beyond was a great series, not quite B:TAS but very good in it's own right. Not so much with The Batman.

This is true, but to say that makes it no good is like saying the Timm/Dini stuff sucks because it deviates from the Miller stuff which blows because it isn't Adams which bites ass because it isn't Kane.

[IMO]The animation and character design kick ass. Some complain that this Batman is more of a fighter and less intellectual, but hey, look at his age. This is old school Batman, still gaining experience. And the character design? I like the sleek Batman. That Bane in the credits is awesome. Last week I saw the best design for Poison Ivy yet. (which reminds me that I have to set my alarm tonight as that was a "to be continued") and the animation is sweet. They've even started animating that cool handheld camera effect that Studio IG used a lot in Blood: The Last Vampire. And don't even get me started on the nifty noise the batarangs make. [/IMO]

I agree with the first part. But I think The Batman's Suckitude goes much deeper than character design. I absolutely loathed Tartikov's (spelling?) character design and overall look to Clone Wars animated series, but the show was so good you don't even care. The Batman is nowhere near the Dini/Timm era stuff. The Batman's story lines (if you can call them that), dialogue, etc are typical of what you expect from a bad cartoon aimed at 7-12yr olds. Like the Fantastic 4 cartoon, Ben 10 etc.

Batman Vs. Dracula was the only storyline I actually liked w/ the new Batman series. I can't get into it like the older series'.