Plot summary: Derek Powers’ secret is finally revealed to the world, so Batman forms an unlikely alliance with his son to try and take him down in a final confrontation.
(Originally published on The Reel World October 23rd, 2021)
Notes
Original Air Date: May 22nd, 1999
Directed: Yukio Suzuki (2)
Written: Robert Goodman (3)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (13) & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (13)
Music: Lolita Ritmanis (4)
This marks Derek Powers/Blight’s final appearance in the show despite being the ostensible main villain. This is because the network wanted the show to tone down the corporate espionage aspect in favour of high school drama to fit with the originally requested tone.
Blight did return in every iteration of the tie-in comics, and is consistently used as a prominent part of the show’s marketing/iconography. Likewise in the comics, Powers’ assistant, Miss Winston’s apparent crush on her boss is explored further.
This episode also features the only usage of the Bat Signal in Beyond, and the final chronological use of it in DCAU continuity.
Recap
Blight raids a chemical warehouse with his flunkies. Batman arrives on the scene and many a barrel explodes during the chaos, granting Powers an easy escape as Terry saves the trapped workers.
Turns out Powers only has two weeks of fake skin left, hence trying to steal extra supplies. Dejected, he reveals an intention to make “new arrangements” as he submits to another round of grafting.
Thus Powers’ son, Paxton, is summoned from a South American branch of the company and offered a conditional version of the top job as Derek can no longer appear in public.
Bruce attends a televised board meeting regarding the move, which is interrupted by furious fishermen, who dump the poisoned contents of the rivers that Paxton polluted out on the table. Derek loses control, revealing his secret identity to the world!
After a botched attempt at apprehending Blight, Terry meets with Paxton, who lights up a Bat Signal and offers his help in capturing his father. Naturally, Terry is dubious, and for good reason as the moment he leaves, Paxton makes it clear he’s up to no good.
Following Derek Powers’ secretary, Miss Winston, Terry discovers Blight’s hiding place on a decommissioned nuclear submarine, the radiation of which hides his own from scans of the city.
Tipping Paxton off to the location, Terry assists in capturing Blight, but when it becomes clear Paxton plans to murder his father, their alliance disintegrates.
Blight goes into full meltdown, with Batman barely able to get Paxton and his men out before the submarine sinks. Derek is declared dead on the news, but Terry warns Paxton to watch his back, as no body was found…
Best Performance
Sherman Howard went out on a high, with Derek Powers’ mounting irritability spilling over into apoplectic rage as his true face is revealed to the world. He has been good throughout the series as a gross business magnate, and wisely paced himself when unleashing his fury, as it all needed to culminate in his literal meltdown. Loved the touch of him telling Terry to be more specific when he’s accused of killing his father.
It was a nice touch on Kevin Conroy’s part for Bruce to hesitate for half a second when calling Terry “Batman” given that we learned in ‘Shriek’ (that internally he still thinks of himself as the Caped Crusader.) He’s also decent when warning Terry about revenge.
Likewise, Will Friedle handles the vengeance plot well, threatening to go off the deep end and leading Blight out of hiding like some sort of serial killer, but ultimately snapping out of it and saving lives. We will actually see him repeat his penchent for creepy unseen narration way down the line in many fans’ favourite Terry moment.
Episode Ranking
While there’s a bit of haziness around the production order vs airdate order, this is clearly the season one finale, with Terry finally getting a big confrontation with his father’s killer. In that regard, this is kind of a massive bummer? As is often the case, things are going pretty well until they seem to suddenly run out of time to provide a satisfying ending.
Blight exhausting his supply of fake skin and being forced to hand the keys over to his son, who immediately double crosses him is a good story concept, and likewise the subplot of Bruce warning Terry about an all-consuming desire for vengeance. Both of these elements converge on the nuclear submarine, and it starts well with Terry taunting Blight and leading him to the bridge, but then it all just completely fizzles out into nothing. Paxton and his men catch Derek in a freakin’ net. A net! He melted his way through handcuffs earlier in the episode! What was a net going to do??? Terry prioritises protecting life over his grudge, which is good, but Blight simply breaks free, yells a lot, and the sub starts sinking and that’s the end of him. He rage quit on life! No big fight between our hero and his nemesis, the Final Boss of the show. Props for the use of a decommissioned nuclear submarine though, both because it hides Blight from radiation scans, and because it’s different to the typical Beyond setting.
Theoretically, Paxton steps into the role of new ongoing nemesis as he’s named Chairman of the Board, but without superpowers and a personal rivalry with our protagonists, what fun is he? Terry teases the idea of Blight returning (and he did in the comics), but that’s actually the end of the radioactive skeleton man, so it’ll be interesting to see where the show goes from here, given how key Powers was to the ongoing plot.
- Meltdown
- Shriek
- Disappearing Inque
- Rebirth: Part 1
- A Touch of Curaré
- Spellbound
- Black Out
- Rebirth: Part 2
- Dead Man’s Hand
- Golem
- Ascension (NEW ENTRY)
- Heroes
- The Winning Edge
Rogues Roundup
Derek Powers/Blight (Sherman Howard) (sixth appearance)
Smell ya later, Powers. I’m not saying Blight was the greatest villain in the world, hence his placement in the rankings, but it’s still a shame they did away with him given how useful he was as a narrative device. He was essentially Rupert Thorne/Roland Daggett AND a super-powered Joker rolled into one; both financial backer for many of the other villains, and main rival to both protagonists due to killing Terry’s father and usurping Bruce Wayne from his company.
He only had one chance to cut loose before now, and it’s more of the same really; neon green fireballs, melting handcuffs, radiation waves. All that. But his fight scenes here aren’t as well choreographed, and it sucks to see him just shout his way to oblivion.
The design is excellent, and I think fans fondly remember him as a huge part of the show, but part of that may be that Season One in general is the most memorable era. But he deserved to come back and I’m glad the comics kept making that happen… even if many of them aren’t good.
Paxton Powers (Cary Elwes) (first appearance)
I suppose we’re welcoming our new big bad to the show? (Spoilers, he absolutely is not!)
He’s certainly nefarious, dumping radioactive material in rivers, staging an elaborate plan to discredit his father and ultimately attempting to kill him but… he’s boring compared to the cavalcade of colourful characters Batman fought this season.
Given the network wanted more teen stories, you have to imagine Paxton won’t be the constant looming threat his father was, but who knows, maybe the writers will surprise us with some hidden depths… (Spoilers, they absolutey do not!)
- Inque
- Mr. Freeze
- Shriek
- Spellbinder
- Curaré
- Derek Powers/Blight (-)
- The Jokerz
- The Royal Flush Gang
- The Terrific Trio
- Willie Watt
- Dr. Stephanie Lake
- Howard Hodges & General Norman
- Paxton Powers (NEW ENTRY)
- Jackson Chappell
- Mr. Fixx
The Matt Signal 
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