MovieChat Forums > Batman Beyond (1999) Discussion > How many Marvel analogues?

How many Marvel analogues?


Watching the episode plague it was pretty clear all three villains were analogues of Marvel villains (Stalker = Kraven, Falseface = Chameleon, KOBRA = HYDRA). Obviously Terrific Trio = Fantastic Four but what are the other "Marvel" villains Terry faces? Inque reminds of a symbiote like Venom but I don't think I'd call her an analogue.

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Ratboy=Vermin
Bullwhip=Omega Red
Terrapin= Juggarnaut
Shriek=Shriek
Repeller=Unus

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I just saw April Moon and would have to agree with you. The chain saw guy in that episode reminded me of The Reavers, but that's just speculation.

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A lot of these Marvel references are creations of Jack Kirby, who also created the New Gods/Fourth World for DC. Kirby, like a lot of other creators, liked to recycle his ideas. Batman Beyond has a "Star Wars" homage episode, and Star Wars was clearly influenced by Marvel Comics (Dr. Doom = Darth Vader) and the New Gods (Orion's sinister parentage, "the Source"). I think that even by 1999 comics and popular sci-fi had become so inbred and self-referential that it is impossible to disentangle.
Terry is clearly a "Batman by way of Peter Parker" characterization, but when this show came out the whole troubled teenaged superhero thing had been done to death a hundred times over. Bruce Timm obviously wanted to do a Batman story in something closer to Marvel's universe than DC's.

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I love in the Return of the Joker movie, where Terry and Bruce are riding in the car and Terry says something like, "So...the Joker, huh? Looks pretty spry for a guy who must be what, 80? Got any explanations for that? Clone? Genetic manipulation? Suspended aging due to be stuck in a block of ice?" Which is obviously a nod to Captain America.

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