"Batman Beyond" has a special place in the DC Animated Universe, becoming so popular with fans that the character of Terry McGinnis earned himself a spot in the DC comics canon. The idea of a new, younger, and inexperienced character taking the mantle of Batman while under the guidance of an older Bruce Wayne is too good of a concept not to permanently install into the DC Universe. The world that emerged from the animated only scratched the surface of the story potential, with 52 episodes spread out across three seasons. Aside from those three seasons, an animated movie was also released: "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker."

The film follows a simple and terrifying premise: the Joker has returned despite dying in one last confrontation with Bruce Wayne's Batman years before his retirement. Now, Terry McGinnis, still early in his career, has to face up against one of, if not the most deadly villains Bruce Wayne ever went up against. However, because of worries regarding violence in children's media at the time, "Return of the Joker" became a shell of its former self, with extensive edits done to remove many of the darker moments, and all the blood. Because of this, key plot points were taken out and the film played out in an almost entirely different way. This re-editing process was a pain in the butt to a particular creative involved — Bruce Timm, one of the creators of the series and a producer and writer of the film.

Fighting For Edgy Material

Thankfully, the original PG-13 cut eventually saw the light of day two years after the G-rated version. In an interview with World's Finest and Toon Zone, Bruce Timm looked back at the whole controversy and the events leading to the film's original cut making its way to home video. Hindsight is 20/20, so now knowing that both versions of the film were released, Timm believed that after all the ordeals with the movie he should maybe have been more flexible with the suits at Warner Bros. who wanted to market the movie to a younger audience. He shared, "Well, I'd probably be a little less adamant about pushing for such edgy material … the bottom line is that the home video dept. markets their cartoons directly at children."

No matter the case, Timm is adamant that "Return of the Joker" is not a "kid-friendly" film, no matter who in charge of the home video wanted to market it to. Everything surrounding the Joker's death in the movie is darker than anything seen in the original "Batman: The Animated Series" or "Batman Beyond." Even the toned-down version that was first released had dark implications when you take a closer look at it. Moreover, releasing the uncut version of "Return of the Joker" didn't change the fact that Timm and his team had to take apart their original vision in the first place.

Pushing Through Creative Setbacks

In the same interview, Bruce Timm described the painful process of re-editing "Return of the Joker," stating that while getting both versions was a win for everybody, taking apart the film and putting it back together was a less-than-pleasant experience he still has to live with:

"I mean, ultimately, it all worked out; they got the "age-appropriate" version they wanted (kind of!), and we fans eventually got the nastier version WE wanted, but that whole editing and re-editing process that we went through was torture. Like cutting the fingers off your own baby."

Despite the creative setbacks with this project, Bruce Timm would continue to have an active role in future DC animated film endeavors. And as you could guess from his work on "Return of the Joker," the films he had a hand in producing, writing, and directing would lean towards a more adult audience, such as 2007's "Superman Doomsday." It's good to know that although this "Batman Beyond" film was a struggle, Timm still came out of it with his creative integrity intact and continued to adapt and create his own stories in the DC Universe.

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