Batman Beyond‘s take on the Fantastic Four was unpleasant and tragic. The Terrific Trio — Magma, Freon, and the 2-D Man — arrived on the Neo-Gotham scene as a “clean, wholesome” alternative to the Dark Knight in the series’ sixth episode “Heroes.” With the backing of the United States government and a media and promotional blitz, the ersatz versions of the Human Torch/Thing, the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic enjoyed fast fame before the truth behind their origins got them turned on by an already-suspicious general.
“Heroes” ended with the apparent deaths of the Trio, and it was a watershed moment for novice and weirdly empowered Batman Terry McGinnis, who expressed shock that his fellow heroes would be anything but and that the military would turn on them so quickly. McGinnis’ mentor Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, was skeptical of the new heroes and their public approval from moment one. In Batman Beyond, his attitude seemed like an example of how deeply cynical Bruce had become over his years of isolation, but a later DC animated series gave new context for the way he behaved.
Wayne’s doubt changed “Heroes” in several ways. It tipped off viewers to expect the worst and prepare for a hero-on-hero fight. It also played into the idea of Wayne being infallibly intuitive when there had been no indication something was amiss with the Terrific Trio. Perhaps it was because he knew about having a sinister identity (something The Batman acknowledged). But the introduction of a similar team in Justice League Unlimited (JLU) — airing almost six years later — proved that he had precedent for being wary of the new arrivals, and strengthened the Batman Beyond installment.
JLU’s “Ultimatum” introduced another team of media darlings backed by government interests called the Ultimen. Also much too good to be true, the young heroes learned they were artificial lifeforms with implanted memories. Soon to be killed by cellular deterioration, they decided to strike back at their Project Cadmus creators and find themselves at odds with the Justice League. Prior to that attack, they were never suspect, just like the Terrible Trio.
The Terrific Trio were the Fantastic Four and the Ultimen were the “made for television” members of the Super Friends. Both the Batman Beyond and JLU episodes also featured additional nods to their source material: the attack on the Terrific Trio’s headquarters (with a large ‘3’ at its top) was led by a J. Jonah Jameson-esque general and the Ultimen had the Super Friends theme song as their ringtone, with the snarling mutated beast seen from Cadmus’ labs serving as JLU’s take on Wonder Dog.
But the most striking thing in “Ultimatum” was Batman’s mistrust in the Ultimen, which was focused on their benefactor and Jacob Marlowe’s future rival Maxwell Lord. Batman said “all he cares about is money,” and he topk the young heroes themselves at face value. JLU chronologically takes place before “Heroes,” so it does explain why Bruce reacted more strongly to the Terrible Trio in Batman Beyond. While the Terrific Trio may not have been in mind when “Ultimatum” was made — Bruce Timm was involved in both series and JLU took inspiration from past DC stories, but the episode was written by Dwayne McDuffie — considering the two pieces together makes both of them clearer.
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