Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker 2000

A new faction of the Jokerz—Bonk, Woof/Ace, Ghoul, Chucko, and the Dee-Dee twins—attempts to steal high-tech equipment but is intercepted by Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis, the new Batman, protégé of the original Batman Kevin Conroy. The Joker, voiced by Mark Hamill, leads the gang and makes a brutal example of Bonk, a ruthless display of power that sets a dark, menacing tone for what follows.

The Jokerz escalate their threat at a public event, crashing a press conference that celebrates Bruce Wayne’s return to Wayne Enterprises. The Joker reveals himself to Bruce, and Terry seeks answers from both Bruce and Commissioner Barbara Gordon Angie Harmon, but neither offers the clarity he seeks. With tensions rising and the stakes growing, Bruce urges Terry to hand back the Batsuit so he can investigate without risking Terry’s safety, even as the Jokerz strike again. The assault injures Dana Tan [Lauren Tom], Terry’s girlfriend, and in the Batcave the Joker poisons Bruce and his loyal Great Dane, Ace—revealing a chilling truth: he knows Bruce was Batman and that Terry is his successor.

When Terry finally acts, Barbara explains the longer arc of the mystery: four decades earlier, after Nightwing left Gotham, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Tim Drake, then Robin, and subjected him to brutal brainwashing for three weeks at the abandoned Arkham Asylum. Batman and Batgirl discovered Tim, and in the ensuing struggle, Tim briefly found clarity and killed the Joker, while Harley Quinn fell to a ravine and was presumed dead. The Joker was buried beneath Arkham, and that secret was kept by the first Commissioner Gordon. Tim recovered with help from trusted allies, retired from superheroics, and stepped away from Bruce to build a life outside crimefighting.

As Batman, Terry tracks Tim Drake, now a successful telecommunications engineer with a family, who harbors bitterness about his past but denies involvement in the Joker’s return. A secondary suspect, Jordan Pryce, a Wayne Enterprises executive, is exposed not to be the Joker but an accomplice who hoped to seize control of the company. The clue lies in the stolen high-tech gear, which can form a jamming system to seize control of a laser-armed military satellite. Terry and Bruce realize the connection and close in on the truth, tracing the scheme to Tim’s workplace. A trap is sprung when Terry follows Tim to an abandoned candy factory, where the Joker’s plan comes into sharper focus and the Jokerz are subdued with Ace’s help.

In a tense confrontation, Tim disables Terry’s Batsuit and, under the Joker’s influence, transforms into the Joker himself as Bruce watches from the Batcave in shock. The Joker explains that a copy of his consciousness has been encoded into a microchip implanted behind Tim’s ear, allowing him to inhabit Tim’s body and threaten permanent control. As the battle intensifies, Terry uses one of the Joker’s own electric joy buzzers to destroy the microchip and sever the Joker’s persona for good. Terry and Ace escape with the unconscious Tim as the satellite destroys the Joker’s lair and then goes dark.

In the aftermath, Barbara withholds Tim’s unwitting involvement to protect him, and the Joker is declared dead. The Dee-Dee twins are bailed out by their grandmother, a reformed Harley Quinn who has survived the fall decades earlier. Bruce makes amends with Tim and Barbara, and Tim begins to recover in the hospital, where he and Bruce acknowledge Terry as worthy to carry the Batman mantle as Terry resumes his life of crimefighting, carrying forward a legacy that now blends mentorship, memory, and a vigilant fight for Gotham.