Plagiarism in Pop Culture: Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond is a strange outlier in the Batman franchise. Billed as a sequel to the legendary Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond took the series in a cyberpunk/dystopian direction, steering it away from the Art Deco/classic style of its predecessors.

The show also put a new character in the batsuit. Bruce Wayne, now too old to serve as a full-time Batman, turns over the reins to high schooler Terry McGinnis. McGinnis dons the suit while Wayne provides information and guidance via a communications link.

The show was very much of its time. That time being the late 1990s and early 2000s. Though the show did well enough to last three seasons, it lacked the longevity and lasting impact of its predecessors. 

That said, the more youthful Batman allowed the show to tackle many topics relevant to high schoolers. This included difficulties in school, bullying, teenage relationships and more. 

However, it was in episode 23 of the second season that the show addressed plagiarism. But it turned out not to be a tale of classroom plagiarism. Instead, it was a literal war over ownership of a video game.

The Plot

Content Warning: Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 23 of Batman Beyond, Sentries of the Last Cosmos.

The episode begins with three soldiers flying through an alien land on hoverboards. After a brief battle with alien ships, one of the warriors saves the other two through a daring charge.

The warriors remove their helmets and reveal themselves to be Terry (Batman), Max, and Corey playing the VR game Sentries of the Last Cosmos. Corey is shown to be the one who saved the day, earning an all-time high score.

The next day, Corey receives an email from Simon Harper, the creator of the game. Simon invites Corey to his private estate, where he is joined by two other high-scoring players, Dempsey and Burfid.

Simon tells the starstruck players that the game is based on a real conflict and is meant as a recruiting tool. He claims to be the game’s hero, The Wise One, then invites them to join the real Sentries of the Last Cosmos.

He then gives them their first assignment, to destroy a data bank corrupted by the Dark Regent. Terry, as Batman, attempts to stop the break-in but is overwhelmed, and the records are destroyed.

Batman then confronts Simon directly, but he denies any involvement. After Batman leaves, Simon gives the Sentries their newest assignment: to kill the Dark Regent himself, who is in “disguise” as the human Eldon Michaels.

Batman learns of the plan through a listening device he planted at Simon’s apartment. He gets to Eldon first and is told by him that he created the game and that Simon is a fraud. The Sentries break in and manage to fight off Batman and kidnap Eldon.

Back at Simon’s estate, Simon berates the Sentries for not killing Eldon. The Sentries, however, say that would violate their code. Simon begins to attack Eldon, but Eldon claims it was just a lawsuit that he filed, nothing more.

The Sentries are confused. It’s then that Batman shows up and shows the Sentries the evidence that Eldon had been holding on to. Realizing that they were being lied to, the trio turned on Simon and eventually subdued him.

Afterward, the now-former Sentries visit Eldon to ask him questions about the game, claiming that he is the real “Wise One.”

Understanding the Plagiarism

The plagiarism in the episode is actually very simple. Eldon created the game (or at least the world it takes place in), and Simon produced the game without licensing or crediting him. 

Accusations like this are very common. Some major examples of this include the fight over the film The Shape of Water, the TV series Star Trek: Discovery, and the just-settled lawsuit over Destiny 2.

The vast majority of the time, these cases don’t really go anywhere. The burden of proof is simply too high and, often, the alleged similarities don’t amount to copyright infringement. There are exceptions, such as Art Buchwald’s case against Paramount over Coming to America, but those are, in general, extreme outliers.

However, with this case, Eldon apparently has some concrete evidence. We don’t know what it was, but we know that Simon first sent the Sentries to destroy the data bank to wipe out the evidence. He then had to turn the centuries on Eldon himself, who had a physical copy of the evidence on him.

In addition to being absolutely insane, it’s unclear how any of Simon’s actions would have helped him in the case. It’s hard to see how such concrete evidence could be wiped by taking out a databank and/or a single physical copy. Also, killing Eldon doesn’t help, as his heirs could just as easily take over the case.

Simon’s actions, ultimately, make zero sense. But you could argue that’s the point. He was supposed to be mad with power, so it’s easy to say that logical thinking wasn’t his forte at that moment.

However, the plagiarism focus becomes really interesting when you look at the episode more broadly. First, the show repeatedly references Star Wars. The DC Animated Universe wiki identifies 11 different references.

But the episode actually bore a closer resemblance to a different science fiction film: The Last Starfighter. That 1984 film featured an arcade machine, named Starfighter, which was a recruiting tool for a real war in space. However, in that film, the recruiters were genuine, and, thanks to his video game skills, a poor Earth teenager manages to save the galaxy.

To be clear, I’m not saying that Batman Beyond plagiarized The Last Starfighter. I’m pretty sure the episode title was, in and of itself, an homage to it and it’s plot does more to subvert rather than imatate it. But, interestingly, the film wasn’t referenced more in the episode, and neither Wikipedia nor the DCAU Wiki notes the similarity.

Still, it’s interesting for a Batman Beyond to use plagiarism as a plot device in an episode that so heavily references one science fiction franchise, while sharing such similar roots to another.

Bottom Line

As with other examples of plagiarism in popular culture, it’s impossible to get too upset about this. Though Simon’s actions are completely insane given the circumstances, if Batman’s villains acted rationally, there wouldn’t be much of a show. 

After all, it was in Batman: The Animated Series that the Joker tried to copyright a fish. We’re nowhere near that level of ridiculousness. In fact, this episode seems downright grounded by comparison.

I also enjoyed Eldon, as Simon is assaulting him, saying that “if 20% is too much,” he’d happily take 15%. It’s a hilarious moment that I’m sure many lawyers and legal watchers can relate to.

However, in the meta, things are more interesting. The episode was filled with inside jokes about Star Wars, but it bore a much closer resemblance to another film. That film wasn’t referenced at all, other than arguably the episode’s title.

And that says nothing about Batman himself. The character himself began life as a near-copy of The Shadow. Though 1939 was a legally and ethically different time, the similarities were and are difficult to ignore.

In the episode, plagiarism was a MacGuffin to give Simon a reason to terrorize a random person. But in the greater context of the episode and Batman more broadly, it’s an interesting choice of topic. 

That, more than anything, makes this episode meaningful.