"Revenant" is the eleventh episode of the second season of Batman Beyond. It depicts the return of Willie Watt. Strange things that start happening at Hamilton Hill High School, and the students, particularly the girls, assume that the ghost of a past student is responsible for the occurrences. However, Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis think otherwise, and Terry (as Batman) goes undercover to discover what's really going on. After investigating, Terry soon discovers that his old enemy, Willie Watt, has been using some newfound powers.
Plot[]
Terry walks around school and discovers a group of students staring up at the school's sports trophies that have mysteriously been embedded into the ceiling. The coach is very upset over it. Chelsea confides that others are saying that the force behind it and many other strange occurrences that happened were probably caused by the ghost of Garrison Jacobs, a student who was somehow killed while the east wing of the school was being built. Terry and his friend, Max are skeptical, but the rest of the students believe it.
Later that night, Blade, Dana, Chelsea and a fourth girl hold a séance using an Ouija board. They call out to Garrison, but the only person who shows up is Nelson. Nelson is skeptical of the entire thing and kicks the board after being insulted by the girls. However, the board suddenly rises and strikes him in the back of the head. Just as suddenly, the fire extinguishers start to spray, and the lights of the room spontaneously explode.
The girls are sure that it's Garrison, but Nelson decides to leave. However, as he does, several chairs start flying around the room focusing especially on Nelson. Fortunately, Batman had been patrolling the school and intervenes. However, he's soon captured, and Nelson is nearly killed by the flying objects. When Batman saves him once again, a wall sized vid-screen starts to move in trying to smash them. Batman and Nelson still manage to escape.
Later Terry talks to Bruce about the occurrences and how he too is starting to believe it might actually be a ghost. Bruce admits to Terry that he himself does actually believe the supernatural, having encountered examples of it in his past crime-fighting career, but says that this situation feels much too juvenile to be an actual supernatural occurrence.
Back at Terry's home, Matt starts talking about the Ouija board and wants to hold a séance to talk to his father's ghost. His mother claims that things like séances and Ouija boards don't actually work. Matt is crushed, saying that he's afraid he's forgetting what Warren was like in the months since he died. Terry and his mother share an uncomfortable silence.
Back at the school, the girls start to shower in their locker room, but the showers start to go haywire. Soon water is bursting from the walls, the showers are spraying water everywhere. Dana manages to shut off the water, but after a brief period of calm, the showers reactivate with the hot water pushed up to the max. After escaping the girls wait for things to calm down and return to the locker room and discover a message written in the steam condensed on the mirror, "I still love you."
Later, Terry learns of the incident from Dana, who explains that she and the other girls believe that Garrison's ghost is trying to contact a girl he was dating before he died. Dana and the others want to find the girl and deliver the message to her. However, Terry and Dana realize the message was really for Blade as she saw it being written. Terry then begins to piece the clues together as the ghost attacked Nelson and left Blade the message and is wondering what their connection is. Dana, at first, claims there's no connection between Nelson and Blade, since they broke up after what happened at the pier. But then both she and her boyfriend realize that there is in fact a connection between everything that's been happening at their school: Willie Watt.
With this information, Terry goes to Juvenile Hall to talk with Willie. The guard's surprised that someone came for Willie, as no one's ever visited him before or called or wrote (not even his dad). In fact, the guard confides all the other prisoners are actually kind of scared of him. Terry's surprised to hear this and is unconvinced as to why people would be scared of someone like Willie, but then he gets his first look at Willie since he left for juvenile hall.
Since Willie got to juvie, he's stopped wearing glasses and has been working out a lot, so now he's got a much bulkier, more muscular physique. Terry acts as though he's there for a friendly visit and Willie seems happy to see him. Willie explains that with good behavior, he can probably get parole in less than two months, which Terry points out will be just in time for their high school's junior prom. Willie jokes that the gym will have to be repaired first—something that he couldn't possibly have known. To confirm his suspicions, Terry picks up a glass of water and hurls it at Willie without warning. Willie reflexively stops it in mid-air and reveals that he has developed telekinetic powers after the incident with the GoLeM. He admits to having used his powers to mess around with the school but has kept them a secret to avoid exposing himself. As he ensures Terry will keep his secret, the hall guards storm in, having witnessed the display through the security cameras, but Willie manages to escape.
Bruce helps Terry to prepare for Willie's inevitable attack on the school and even gets Barbara to convince Principal Nakamura shut down the school until further notice. The students are happy, but as Nelson tries leaving in his car, Willie arrives and forces him to drive his car directly into the school.
Nelson challenges Willie to a fair fight, hand-to-hand. Willie agrees and actually manages to hold his own at first, but despite the two of them being equally strong, Nelson still has more combat experience and nearly beats Willie. Willie goes back on his word and unleashes his powers. Nelson is downed, and Willie lifts Blade into the air, wanting to kiss her. While he is seemingly distracted, Batman grabs him, slams him on the ground, and tries to inject him with a sedative, but Willie stops it and destroys the gun easily. He then attacks Batman, who is clearly outmatched. However, Willie loses his temper and causes a tornado, which in turn hurls a tree directly into him, knocking him out.
Willie returns to Juvenile Hall, now fitted with a device on his head that prevents him from using his powers. Once again, he finds himself alone, without visitors.
At home, Terry and Matt look at old family photos and remember their father. Terry tells his brother that as long as people remember their loved ones, they're never truly gone.
Continuity[]
- Bruce makes references to immortals in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Avatar", and witch boys and demons in The New Batman Adventures episode "The Demon Within", and would face (production-wise) zombies in Justice League.
- Willie's vengeance on Nelson, his crush on Blade, and the accident he had with the GoLeM that he attributes his powers to follow the events of the episode "Golem".
Background information[]
Home video releases[]
- Batman Beyond - Season Two (DVD)
- Batman Beyond - The Complete Series (DVD)
- Batman Beyond - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Trivia[]
- This is the second episode in a row that deals with people with mental powers, after "Mind Games".
- Terry refers to some flying objects as "Casper," a reference to Casper the Friendly Ghost.
- The title has two fitting meanings; "revenant" can mean either "ghost" or "someone who returns".
Cast[]
Quotes[]
Bruce: These people believe anything they can't explain is magic. |
Nelson: What are you primas doing in my gym? |
Willie Watt: What are you saying? That I snuck out of Juvie and paid the school a visit? |