Batman Beyond's villains have futuristic technology and the smarts to push Terry McGinnis to his limits.

Twenty years after Bruce Wayne's last night as Batman, high schooler Terry McGinnis stumbled upon the Batcave and stole the Batsuit. On his first night under the cowl, Terry avenged his father's death and inadvertently created Blight, the main villain of season one.

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Batman Beyond was unlike Batman: The Animated Series in so many ways. Terry was a very different Batman, and Neo-Gotham was a very different setting, full of advanced technology that villains used to hijack giant robots, revive the dead, manipulate sound, and warp people's perceptions of reality. Batman Beyond's futuristic setting allowed for smarter villains like Spellbinder, Repeller, and Shriek, who used science fiction to their advantage.

The Jokerz gang frequently appeared throughout Batman Beyond. They were the main antagonists in the two-parter premiere "Rebirth," they stole a high-tech vehicle in "Joyride," and they found a new leader in "Hidden Agenda." Carter Wilson was a model student at Hamilton High in Neo-Gotham, but he lived a secret life as the Jokerz leader, Terminal.

Terminal was extraordinarily bright and top of his class. He was by far the most intelligent member of the Jokerz gang. He sought revenge on Max Gibson for beating his academic scores and even reappeared in Batman Beyond vol. 7, a comic series that began after DC's Rebirth relaunch.

Dr. Suzuki developed a type of force field technology with a colleague, Dr. Blades, but Suzuki stole it and made some upgrades, incorporating it into an advanced suit that would repel all attacks. Suzuki became the villain known as Repeller and used this new suit to commit crimes.

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The technology was incredible as nothing could penetrate his force fields, including Batarangs and lasers. Repeller could also concentrate the fields into bursts of energy which he used as offensive weapons against Batman. Repeller was the main villain of the episode appropriately titled "Untouchable."

Derek Powers was a fantastic antagonist to Terry McGinnis and Bruce Wayne throughout the first season. Powers took over Bruce Wayne's company and used its resources to fuel his criminal exploits, and he was responsible for Terry's father's death.

After exposure to deadly toxins, the subsequent radiation that healed him transformed Powers into Blight, a villain with glowing, translucent, green skin. Blight was a powerful villain who manipulated others, including fellow villains like Inque and Mr. Freeze. Terry proved he was worthy of the Batman mantle after defeating Blight in the season one finale, "Ascension."

Spellbinder was originally a Batman villain who appeared in Silver Age DC Comics, but an original version of the character was created for Batman Beyond. Spellbinder was an ex-psychologist who specialized in hypnosis.

Beyond being one of the scariest Batman Beyond villains, tricking his victims into seeing things like giant insects or even undead creatures, Spellbinder was also one of the smartest. Spellbinder used hypnotizing technology, including sabotaging virtual reality arcade games and an electronic eye on his palm. His visual design was memorable, and his power set made him a strange hybrid of Scarecrow and Marvel's Mysterio.

Mr. Freeze was last seen in The New Batman Adventures episode "Cold Comfort," where he revealed that his body was lost, but his head and mind remained intact thanks to the initial accident that froze his body. Years later, Wayne/Powers Technologies revived Victor Fries and gave him a new body.

When his new body succumbed to mild heat, Fries built himself a new suit that enhanced his freezing capabilities and resembled his intimidating, red-goggled design from Batman: The Animated Series, and became Mr. Freeze again. Freeze may have been a villain, but his single-episode redemption arc was one of the best of the series.

Kirk Langstrom and Emil Dorian were two scientists who experimented with human and animal DNA, often combining them to create new species. Langstrom became Man-Bat, while Dorian transformed Selina Kyle into an actual cat-woman. Years later, Dr. Abel Cuvier continued their work and made gene-splicing accessible and fashionable as getting a tattoo.

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"Splicing" was popular at Hamilton High School, and Terry eventually battled several people who inherited the animalistic traits of snakes, tigers, and bulls. Cuvier was a brilliant geneticist who was ultimately defeated by his own work after Batman injected him with too many vials of the splicing formula.

Robert Vance was a Batman Beyond villain who only appeared in one episode, "Lost Soul," but he made quite an impression. Vance was a brilliant scientist who developed his own software company at a young age. Then, as his aging body slowly failed him, Vance digitized his brain and downloaded it onto his company's computers.

Years later, in an attempt to download his mind into his grandson's body, Vance's digital mind took over the Beyond Batsuit, forcing Terry to fight without it. Vance was brilliant enough to transfer his mind from a human body to a computer, and then to the Batsuit and Batcave. Thankfully, he was ultimately shut down.

Ra's al Ghul made several appearances in Batman: The Animated Series with plans to use his Lazarus Pits to reshape the world. He later appeared in Superman: The Animated Series and attempted to steal the Man of Steel's powers. Ra's al Ghul was one of the scariest BTAS villains because he was just as skilled and intelligent as the Dark Knight himself.

Ra's made one last appearance in the DCAU in the Batman Beyond episode "Out of the Past." Ra's developed working brain-swapping technology, stole his daughter's body to prolong his own life, and intended to subsequently steal Bruce's body.

Derek Powers, aka Blight, was the main antagonist of season one and was responsible for creating and enhancing other villains like Inque and Shriek. Shriek started a sound engineering company that went bankrupt until Powers funded his future experiments.

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Shriek appeared many times throughout the series. His design was memorable, and his power set was unique. Shriek manipulated sound in dozens of intriguing ways thanks to a suit he developed. He could create minor earthquakes, amplify sounds to harm his targets, or eliminate sound entirely to get the jump on opponents.

If Warner Bros. ever intends to make a live-action Batman Beyond movie, they should use Return of the Joker as the blueprint. Return of the Joker is not only a remarkable animated film, but one of the best entries in the DC Animated Universe. The film showcased how the Joker was far and away Batman's greatest foe.

Flashback scenes depicted the Joker kidnapping Tim Drake and transforming him into Joker Jr. Justice League Unlimited later elaborated on these events, stating that Joker used Cadmus technology. However he did it, Joker not only rewrote Tim's DNA, but developed a microchip that contained his own consciousness that slowly awakened over decades, leading to his eventual return in Batman Beyond.

NEXT: 10 Times Terry McGinnis Was A Better Batman Than Bruce Wayne

Cole spends most of his free time reading comics and fantasy novels, or watching TV and movies. If there's capes and superpowers involved, he's interested. He will forever debate which fictional characters would win in hypothetical fights, no matter how detrimental to his social life.

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