Warning! Spoilers for Batman: Beyond The White Knight
The Batman of Gotham City’s future, Terry McGinnis, will be depicted as half Asian in Sean Murphy’s Batman: Beyond The White Knight. Many fans had desired the change to Bruce’s protege, and it will soon be incorporated into the retelling of Batman Beyond.
As Sean Murphy’s Batman: White Knight universe expands, the writer and artist is moving farther down the timeline by reimagining Batman Beyond. Previously taking influence from Batman: The Animated Series, Murphy is similarly finding inspiration in the DC Animated Universe’s version of the future Dark Knight. However, he is also considering readers with the upcoming retelling of Neo-Gotham’s Batman. For many years, fans have vocalized their desire for Terry McGinnis to be Asian. Although some had simply assumed that the teenage Batman was Asian in the original animated series, others saw the potential for him to be diversified in fan casting for a theoretical live action movie. It was never confirmed whether the original creative team of Batman Beyond had Terry’s ethnicity in mind, apart from his father’s last name.
Writer and artist Sean Murphy revealed in an interview with Screen Rant that he is officially making Terry McGinnis half Asian in the fifth entry of the White Knight series, Batman: Beyond The White Knight. With the awareness that many viewers of Batman Beyond perceived Terry as being partially Asian in his previous incarnations, Murphy is solidifying the common interpretation. While speaking with Screen Rant, Murphy elaborated on the decision to make Terry half Asian, saying:
“The trick with Terry for me was how to make him a little different. I didn't want to just mirror exactly what happened with the Batman Beyond cartoon series. I wanted to make it unique, but sort of familiar at the same time. One of the things I really wanted to do is make him half Asian. I didn't realize this, but a ton of people--including myself--always assumed Terry was half Japanese, and half Irish, or something. Only because there's so much kanji in Neo-Gotham, and he has long, black, straight hair... like, a lot of people mistake him as being half Asian. Even though both of his parents are like, extremely white. So for this one, I decided to make his mom Asian, and his dad is obviously Irish, just to finally create a new kind of Terry. Maybe it's just window dressing, and it doesn't really affect story that much, but I just thought it was an interesting way to break out my Terry from the other Terrys out there. And obviously to diversify the line, which is important.”
The 8-issue limited series from DC’s Black Label imprint is set a decade after Murphy’s Batman: Curse of the White Knight. After Batman’s secret identity was revealed to the public, Bruce Wayne gave away his fortune to the citizens of Gotham and surrendered to authorities. Utilizing the donation, the city has evolved into Neo-Gotham. The remixed take on Batman Beyond adapts Terry McGinnis’ origin story, as CEO Derek Powers is responsible for his father’s death.
Retrieving the Batman costume to pursue justice, he doesn’t seem so interested in the Dark Knight’s reputation. Unlike the animated series, Terry doesn’t have big shoes to fill in the eyes of Gotham, as Bruce had become a disgraced vigilante by the end of his term as Batman. Upon hearing the news that Gotham has a new Dark Knight, Bruce vows to get out of prison and bring an end to Terry McGinnis' tenure. Batman: Beyond The White Knight begins on March 29.