There are few things in fiction so effective as the return of a hated villain. Great drama is often built upon the bad guy returning for revenge or in a more dangerous form. Such a story seemed to be set up in one recent Batman Beyond comic. However, the return of one legendary villain proved to be incredibly anticlimactic.
The lackluster return came about in the final issue of Batman/Static Beyond. Written by Evan Narcisse, with art by Miguel Mendonca, the series was set in a variant future version of the DCAU. The cast includes older versions of the heroes from Static Shock, the Milestone Media comics. and the cast of Batman Beyond.
Most of the action centered around a new supervillain dubbed Shutdown. However, as Static and Batman dealt with him, another threat arose. The organization Cadmus took advantage of Shutdown’s attack on the Tomorrow Institute – a magnate school for young metahumans – to try and abduct the students for their own purposes. Among the Cadmus agents was a familiar Batman Beyond villain presumed dead after his final appearance on the show.
Batman Beyond’s Blight returns… and is defeated immediately
The villain in question was Derek Powers, aka Blight. Formerly the CEO of Powers Tech, Powers took over Wayne Enterprises in the future of the DCAU. It was Powers who pushed the combined company into weapons development. Ironically, he was exposed to one of these weapons; a nerve gas with mutagenic properties. However, the treatment his doctors used to save his life left him radioactively toxic. He served as the main villain of Batman Beyond Season 1, until his apparent death in the season finale.
Blight’s brief scene in Batman/Static: Beyond #6 confirms he survived. Precisely what he’s been doing since his last battle with Batman is unexplained beyond a reference to him working for the American government. However, he is easily defeated by the hero Beacon and anti-hero Ebon, who are dismissive of Blight’s being a threat.
This scene is a complete waste of one of Batman Beyond’s better enemies. Admittedly, Blight was not the most powerful villain. Indeed, he mostly served as a foil to Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis (whose father he arranged to have murdered) as Derek Powers. There was little intrinsically interesting or dangerous about his radiation powers. Nevertheless, it seems a waste of the character to reintroduce him only to have him defeated in a single page. It also seems strange to not have had him face the Terry McGinnis Batman.
Batman/Static Beyond #6 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
