Total Heroes Ultra Batman Beyond

First: this is not 'Batman Beyond.' There is no individual named 'Batman Beyond'.

This is Batman.

Or 'future Batman' if you must.

But never 'Batman Beyond.' 'Batman Beyond' is the name of the show he appeared on. And maybe the top secret Cadmus project that created him - but more about that later.

Now wrap your head around this one: Batman Beyond began airing in 1999. This future version of the Batman mythos put a teenager under the cowl and aged Bruce Wayne 40 years; which means the show originally took place in 2039. Batman had been retired 20 years by this time, meaning Bruce Wayne retired the role of Batman in 2019.

Think about that for a second.

2019.

That is only four years from now! It stands to reason that if Batman retired in 2019 he was probably already in his red-on -black get-up by 2015.

2015. Aka 'now.'

Which means this version of Bruce Wayne/Batman...

...is the Batman of today, according to the Batman Beyond timeline.

Whoah! Heavy!

Batman Beyond was a good show which wasn't perfect but should have lasted longer. Many concepts, like his tech saavy friend Max or his little brother Matt, never matured to their logical conclusions (ie future Batgirl and future Robin respectively.) Many more original rogues (or their heirs) could have been introduced, the future Justice League had tons of promise, and none of the villains created specifically for the Batman of Batman Beyond had enough time to develop and become icons in their own rights.

Fortunately the episode of Justice League called 'Epilogue' wrapped up Terry and Bruce's stories, revealing that Terry was actually Bruce's genetic offspring. (And here's something I only just realized the other day: Matt McGuinness is also Bruce's genetic offspring! Further cementing my regret that he never got the chance to become future Robin. Maybe it will happen in a comic someday.)

Not only did the show never get the chance to mature, but Batman Beyond action figures also never got the respectful line they deserve. During the initial cartoon run there was literally ONE figure that represented Batman from the cartoon. It was a good one for sure, but the rest of the line was total crap.

Seriously, after that one good Batman figure, you had a better chance of getting cool Batman Beyond toys from Burger King than from Kenner.

After that, DC Direct released a Batman Beyond Batman (actually, Tim Drake as Batman if you read the comic it was based on) which was pretty cool but was in the style of Ed McGuinness. A cool figure, but too buff to be the Batman we knew and loved from Batman Beyond.

Then Mattel released a Batman Beyond Batman as part of their DC Universe Classic line. There was a maskless (Terry McGuinness) version as well as a masked version. Thanks to Mattel's brilliant distribution strategies, I never found either at retail. And I really wanted the masked version. I'm pretty sure both will run you more than they are worth on the secondary market today.

Jump to today: finally we have this figure you see here. Arguably the best Batman Beyond Batman ever made. And again Mattel tried their damndest to keep him out of the hands of the general public - releasing him as part of their Total Heroes Ultra online only MattyCollector shipping-is-gonna-costya-plenty line. I intentionally do not follow Mattel's online store shenanigans, therefore I didn't even know this guy had been released until he was sold out. FOILED AGAIN! Or was I?

Hey, it's Mattel! Suddenly and without fanfare he was back in stock! Just in time for me to put him on my Christmas list and send it over to my big sister, who is a sucker for buying me toys. Seriously, when we were younger she would take me along to go shopping, and I would sit around in the 'boyfriend seat' outside the fitting rooms so she wouldn't be forced to shop alone. In return she'd buy me something - almost always a toy. Later in life when I worked at Target and would find a cool toy that I could not buy on company time I'd just hide it and call her to tell her where it was hidden, so she could buy it for me.

Anyways, thanks to my big sister who came through again I now own this wonderful Batman Beyond Batman!

The Total Heroes line is one of Mattel's currently running retail lines -  it thus far includes about six or eight figures. It's not certain whether the line will continue, but it seems to be petering out. There have been a couple 'Ultra' figures for the line, released as online or Con exclusives, and these 'Ultra' figures include bonus parts and interchangeable pieces and other extra bits that would apparently keep them from being sold at retail because no one wants to walk into a store and buy cool stuff, right?

One of the best bits here is that Batman comes with a small figurine of Micron, one of his future Justice League compadres. A real cool add-in - I really have to give Mattel credit here. He's tiny, sure, but you are getting two figures in one set. That's cool!

Batman also comes with multiple interchangeable hands, multiple batarangs, and a removeable set of extended wings. Finally, to go along with the removed mask accessory, he has three interchangeable heads: Bruce Wayne, Terry McGuinness and the Batman masked head.

This was really the selling point for me: A young-old Bruce Wayne head pushed this figure from cool looking to MUST HAVE and will be how I keep mine displayed. Because we've seen Batmans and Bruce Waynes and even old old Bruce Wayne action figures. But never has there been a 'mere moments before retirement' Bruce Wayne action figure.

At press time Batman is still available on MattyCollector.com. I highly recommend this figure if you have been waiting for a good Batman Beyond themed Batman; if you have a big sister who will buy it for you, all the better.