Movies - TV
Re-Editing Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Was ‘Torture’ For Bruce Timm
By ERNESTO VALENZUELA
The popular “Batman Beyond” series, which saw a new hero take up the Batman mantle under the guidance of Bruce Wayne, ran for 52 episodes and one animated movie, “The Return of the Joker.” The film saw a resurrected Joker terrorize Gotham once again, though the movie would be somewhat muted due to worries regarding violence in children’s media at the time.
Many of the movie’s key plot points needed to be changed after the extensive edits removed the darker moments and blood. The re-editing was excruciating for co-creator, writer, and producer Bruce Timm. The animator explained, “That whole editing and re-editing process that we went through was torture. Like cutting the fingers off your own baby.”
The PG-13 cut was released two days after the G-rated version, but the required edits had already changed much of the film’s original vision. After learning that both cuts were released, Timm believes he should have been more flexible with Warner Bros. who wanted to market the movie to children, adding, “Well, I’d probably be a little less adamant about pushing for such edgy material.”