History Recap / JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E13Epilogue

* IgnoredEpiphany: Self-admitted and PlayedForDrama. After seeing Bruce Wayne in action, comforting a dying child robbed of a normal life by cruel experiments meant to make her into a living weapon, Amanda Waller learns exactly the wrong lesson, deciding that the world needs another Batman and coming up with ''another'' plan that hinges on robbing a kid of their childhood to make them into a living weapon. Only the would-be assassin's [[WhatTheHellHero reaction]] gets her to step back from that last step before it's too late, so at least Waller didn't power through ''another'' epiphany.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: As the Phantasm pointed out to Waller when she refused to kill Terry's parents, ordering a murder to be committed in Batman's name conveys a fundamental misunderstanding of his legacy and why he did the things he did.

* DenouementEpisode: For the Cadmus Aarc, serving as a final coda and reflection on the legacy of the Project and Waller decades into the future.

* ArcWelding: The unnamed government program that Joker compromised to create his Royal Flush Gang back in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E21And22WildCards "Wild Cards"]] was subsequently revealed in [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E6FearfulSymmetry "Fearful Symmetry"]] to have been connected to Cadmus (as one of the forerunners to the Program). "Epilogue" uses that to explicitly, if retroactively, tie ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' into the Cadmus Arc by revealing (or at least heavily implying) this is when and where Joker acquired the technology to implant his consciousness and genetic code into Tim Drake.

* DramaticIrony: While Waller abandons Project Batman Beyond and doesn't have Terry's parents murdered, Terry ''still'' ends up going through a Wayne Murders-esque scenario several years later when Derek Powers had Warren [=McGinnis=] killed. Terry even bitterly lampshades it.

** The episode ends with Terry flying past a police car as one of the cops in it (voiced by Creator/KevinConroy) asks his partner whether he saw it, mirroring the opening scene of the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "On Leather Wings".

* ShoutOut:

'''Waller:''' ...[[AccidentalInnuendo Not]] ''[[AccidentalInnuendo remotely]]'' [[AccidentalInnuendo what I meant!]]

'''Waller:''' ...Not ''remotely'' what I meant!

* SweetAndSourGrapes: A twisted variation. Waller's hitman chooses not to go through with killing Terry's parents to catalyze his becoming Batman, and Waller herself realizes it was a desecration of Bruce's legacy to consider it... but eventually, as Terry himself laments, death came for his father anyway, and she ended up getting her new Batman anyway, freshly traumatized by the death of a beloved parent and ready to devote his life to CrimefightingWithCash.

* ArcWelding: The unnamed government program that Joker compromised to create his Royal Flush Gang back in "Wild Cards" was subsequently revealed in "Fearful Symmetry" to have been connected to Cadmus (as one of the forerunners to the Program). "Epilogue" uses that to explicitly tie ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' into the Cadmus Arc by revealing (or at least heavily implying) this is when and where Joker acquired the technology to implant his consciousness and genetic code into Tim Drake.

* ArcWelding: The unnamed government program that Joker compromised to create his Royal Flush Gang back in "Wild Cards" was subsequently revealed in "Fearful Symmetry" to have been connected to Cadmus (as one of the forerunners to the Program). "Epilogue" uses that to explicitly tie ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' into the Cadmus Arc by revealing this is where Joker found the technology to implant his consciousness and genetic code into Tim Drake.

* ArcWelding: The unnamed government program that Joker compromised to create his Royal Flush Gang in "Wild Cards" is revealed to have been connected to Cadmus, and is also where Joker found the technology to implant his consciousness into Tim Drake in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker''.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Waller admits her failings in trying to make a new Batman, but is amused that "[[Literature/TheBible the Lord moves in mysterious ways]]" and Terry became a new Batman anyway. But she asserts that Terry is left to his own devices, he is not a recreation of Batman but his own man. "I've never met anyone who cared as deeply about his fellow man as Bruce Wayne, except maybe you. You want to have a little better life than the old man's? Take care of the people who love you. Or don't. It's your choice."

* WhamLine: The reason why Terry confronted Waller, and considered leaving behind the "cursed" Batman legacy, was because of a shocking truth that connects him and Bruce in a way he never expected. After confronting Bruce before Waller, letting out how much he cared about his father Warren despite their tension before the man's murder, Bruce asks Terry "What's your point?", to which the boy responds:

* {{Flashback}}: Amanda Waller's story of Bruce and the Justice League fighting Ace's Royal Flush Gang decades earlier.

* TheChessmaster: Waller, who manipulated Terry's early life to send him down the path to becoming Batman, though subverted in that she never went all the way with the plan due to Andrea making her realize that her actions were antithetical to Batman's core tenants. As she points out, everything that led to Terry actually taking up the mantle were the result of Terry's own actions rather than hers or Bruce's.

* ComfortTheDying: Terry confronts a now aged Amanda Waller about how he's Bruce's biological son. As she explains herself, she relates to him a story in which the Royal Flush Gang reformed (last seen in "Wild Cards") with new members save Ace who had given the others powers. However, she had developed an aneurysm from her psychic powers and her death could potentially cause her power to level Gotham from the feedback. Amanda had given Bruce a device that could kill Ace before this happened. But when Bruce got to her, he simply talked with her, knowing that she was simply a confused little girl terrified of her impending death. Thus, he stayed with and comforted her to the very end of her life, letting her pass on peacefully and nullifying the threat without violence.

* CursedWithAwesome: Terry initially feels the mantle of Batman has been a curse, even though being Bruce’s son has led him to become a superhero who’s saved countless lives, have a second father after Warren died, and made him the rightful heir to a multi-billion dollar company.

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Terry about his murdered father during his fantasized speech to Bruce.

** In the end, Terry calls Dana to ask if their date for a later night is still on. He tells her that he plans to ask her something else during that date, but then adds that Dana has to wait until then for that actual question, ie. he's going to propose to her.

** Queen, when de-powered, is actually a man, i.e. a drag ''queen''.

** The episode ends with Terry flying past a police car as one of the cops in it (voiced by Kevin Conroy) asks his partner whether he saw it, mirroring the opening scene of the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "On Leather Wings".

** Even a ProfessionalKiller like [[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm the Phantasm]] isn’t willing to kill an innocent boy's parents who have done no wrong to anyone just to make him the next Batman; after all, she’s a vigilante who always did prefer to PayEvilUntoEvil. She also rightfully points out that the entire reason Bruce became Batman was to prevent ''this exact tragedy'' from happening to anyone else and it would go against ''everything'' he stood for.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Ace explains what she has been seeing by reading Batman's mind, then pauses when she realizes she is dying.
* AFatherToHisMen: Deconstructed in the final scene since Bruce and his soldier Terry really are father and son.
* {{Flashback}}: Amanda Waller's story of Bruce and the Justice League fighting Ace's Royal Flush Gang decades earlier.

* ForWantOfANail: Phantasm refusing to pull the trigger was what motivated Amanda Waller to abandon her project. If Project Batman Beyond had gone through as planned, Matt never would have been born. Terry also would have been orphaned at a much younger age.