Production Credits:
One night during a botched attempt to stop a robbery, Batman receives some help from a new group of superheroes calling themselves the Terrific Trio: Magma, Freon, and 2-D Man, who were three former scientists that became mutated in a Freak Lab Accident and gained superpowers. At first, Terry is optimistic about the new heroes' intentions and wonders if Gotham will even need Batman anymore, but there's a dark secret behind the Trio...- Script: Rich Fogel
- Production Manager: Butch Lukic
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Mike Morgan (Magma) and Mary Michaels of the Terrific Trio, who operate from the Trio Tower (an obvious nod to the Baxter Building). Stuart Lowe/2-D Man is the Odd Name Out.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: The "Terrific Trio", three people who gained superpowers in a scientific accident. The whole thing was a parody/deconstruction of the Fantastic Four.
- All for Nothing: Hodges' plan to steal Mary only ends with him losing her forever. Of course, he's come to regret causing the accident to begin with.
- Blessed with Suck: You know how the Thing constantly bemoans how he was turned into an ugly rock-like monster, while the rest of the Fantastic Four still look human? In this version of the story, none of the Terrific Trio can pass as normal humans anymore.
- Contain the Kaboom: While rescuing hostages, Magma pulls a bomb off the chair they were tied to and clamps it between his rocky hands as it explodes.
- Corrupted Character Copy:
- The Terrific Trio strongly resemble the Fantastic Four. They start off as heroes, but soon learn they that their conditions are unstable. Worse than that, their friend Dr. Hodges orchestrated the "accident" that gave them their powers to kill Mike so he could swoop in on his fiancée Mary (who wasn't supposed to be there). After the military attempt to kill them, they become emotionally destroyed and try to duplicate the accident, not caring that the radiation would destroy the city. They all die horribly.
- General Norman is possibly based on Nick Fury, acting as liaison between a superhero team and the government. He doesn't trust said superheroes and launches a military attack to destroy them upon being informed of a slight chance they could be losing their sanity.
- Hodges is this to Doctor Doom. He's the jealous and inferior rival to the Reed Richards expy, but instead of being the victim of an accident which deforms him which he blames on "Reed", he instead causes the accident that deforms his rival. (Though it's downplayed in this case, since the original Reed didn't actually cause the accident that deformed Doom.)
- Deconstructed Trope: Of the Fantastic Four specifically, and of Freak Lab Accident superhero origin stories in general.
- Despair Event Horizon: The Terrific Trio reach this after discovering that not only will their mutations eventually kill them but their "friend" Dr. Hodges was the one who set the "accident" up in the first place to kill Mike and swoop in on Mary, unaware that she would take part in the experiment as well.
- Downer Ending: Although Gotham is saved from being blown up, it hardly outweighs the fact that three innocent people died, not to mention they were victims to an "accident" that ruined their lives. Even Dr. Hodges, who set up the accident, is grief-stricken that everything he did cost him his friends (among them being the woman he loved).
- Driven to Suicide: The Terrific Trio's final plans are to overload the lab's nuclear reactor, killing not only themselves but also Dr. Hodges, along with the rest of Gotham.
- Expy:
- General Norman, who appears to be an evil expy of Nick Fury, with elements of "Thunderbolt" Ross and a J. Jonah Jameson mustache, to boot!
- More subtly, Hodges shares some traits of Doctor Doom, both being jealous rivals of Magma/Mr. Fantastic.
- Face of a Thug: Magma is deeply hurt when a little girl that he rescued from criminals remains terrified of him and calls him a monster.
- False Friend: Dr. Hodges to the Terrible Trio.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: All three of the Trio, whom Batman is forced to kill to stop them from carrying out their plan to blow up Gotham. Freon and 2-D Man are sucked into a giant fan (the former screams as her body is ripped apart by the intense wind and 2-D Man is implied to be chopped to pieces by the fan blades) while Magma is sprayed with cold water, causing him to solidify completely.
- The Fantastic Faux: The Terrfic Trio are this, although remixed a bit. Specifically, Magma's living lava form makes him an expy of both the Thing and the Human Torch, Freon's see-through mist form, flight and ice blasts have elements of both the Invisible Woman and an inverse Torch, and 2-D Man is a straight Mr. Fantastic clone. Personality wise, however, Magma has Reed Richards' role both as the leader and as the love interest to the female member.
- Freak Lab Accident: Deconstructed when the recently superpowered heroes discover that it wasn't exactly an accident. It is a chilling reminder that the line between hero and villain can be as slim as the choice one is offered. Magma even lampshades how he's not a hero because the accident robbed any choice of being one or not.
- General Ripper: General Norman.
- Gone Horribly Right: Hodges had hoped that by setting up the "accident," it would kill Mike, taking him out of the picture and leaving Mary all to himself. Well, the accident happens, with both Mike and Mary there. And instead of killing them, it mutates Mike into a magma golem while turning Mary into a mutant of air and ice. Now the two can never be together physically, so Hodges accomplishes that much. At the same time, this falls under...
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Not only will the "accident's" mutation cause the Terrific Trio to eventually die, but even before that, they will become mentally unstable. Towards the end, Hodges bemoans that his plan to have Mary all to himself has led to all his friends dying.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Hodges was always jealous of Morgan for “having it all”, including Mary’s affection.
- An Ice Person: Freon. She seems to be made of frozen mist and shoots ice bolts, not unlike the Human Torch's flame form.
- I Am a Monster: Batman pleads with Magma to not destroy the city by continuing the experiment that gave them their powers, because he's a hero. Magma disagrees.
- I'm Not a Hero, I'm...:Batman: I've gotta shut that thing off! Thousands of people will die! Magma! Dr. Morgan, you can't let that happen! You're a hero, remember?
Magma: No, I'm an accident. Real heroes, they make a choice. I never did. - Ironic Echo: The General reminds Hodges that if the Trio found out about their deteriorating condition, then they would've become dangerously psychotic. Later:Dr. Hodges: But the whole city will become a hot zone! You're crazy!
2-D Man: I believe your words were "dangerously psychotic." - Karma Houdini: Dr. Hodges, who gets away scot-free after effectively murdering his three colleagues. He is, however, wracked with extreme guilt at the end. General Norman also receives no comeuppance for his assault on the Trio's headquarters as well.
- Little "No": When the Terrific Trio recreate the dangerous experiment that gave them their powers which threatens to kill thousands, after their colleague reveals it wasn't an accident:Dr. Hodges: Please, just turn it off!Magma: No.
- Living Lava: The appropriately named Magma.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Dr. Hodges confessed of setting up the whole thing to kill Mike so that he could take Mary for himself. He didn't mean for Mary to be affected as well, nor for them to end up in their current conditions.
- Love Makes You Evil: Dr. Hodges confesses that he had set up the accident in an attempt to murder Magma so that he could have a chance with Freon, but did not expect the other two scientists to be in the lab as well.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Terry is clearly pleased by Matt's opinion that Batman is a much more impressive hero than the Trio ("Those guys are twips. Batman rips!"). Terry is then suddenly nicer to Matt and offers to buy him some ice-cream, something that makes Matt baffled.
- Murder by Inaction: It turns out that Howard Hodges knew the "accident" was going to happen, but he deliberately withheld this information from his colleagues to get Mike killed so he would have a chance to go out with Mary, which is why he wasn't present during the experiment. Unfortunately for him, not only does Mary take part in the experiment with Mike, but the "accident" instead irreversibly mutates the trio while slowly killing them. The situation goes From Bad to Worse when the trio find out the truth.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: This was revealed to be the real motive of the science experiment "accident" that made the Terrific Trio what they were: Their supposed ally and colleague Howard Hodges knew beforehand the particle fusion generator was unsafe, but didn't inform them so that he could go out with Mary with Mike out of the picture. Unfortunately for both groups, Mary took part as well. The three aren't happy to find this out.
- Mythology Gag: While the Terrific Trio look suspiciously like a certain other family of heroes, the team's name originated in the Adam West series, referring to Batman, Robin, and Batgirl after the latter had been established in Season 3.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Corey Burton appears to be channeling Peter Cullen as General Norman.
- Odd Name Out: The 2-D Man is the only member of the Trio that does not have an Alliterative Name.
- Palette Swap: The character "Magma" of the Terrific Trio is a simple recoloring of Batman: The Animated Series' Clayface.
- Paper People: 2-D Man, as his name implies, is almost completely flat.
- Pet the Dog: After Matt sticks up for Batman when the public have fallen in love with the Terrific Trio, Terry decides to get him an ice cream.
- Properly Paranoid:
- Magma finds it convenient that Hodges went to the budget meeting around the time of the accident.
Hodges: What are you implying?
Freon: Calm down, Mike. It's not like he knew this was going to happen.- General Norman fears the worst:General Norman: How are they?
Hodges: Angry, frustrated, confused.
General Norman: You promised you could control them.
Hodges: Give them time. It's a big adjustment.
General Norman: I hope you're right, Dr. Hodges. 'Cus heaven help us if you're not.
- Pull the Thread: At first, Hodges insists that he had no idea the Terrific Trio's particle fusion experiment would go wrong, saying it was a one in a million accident. The Trio responds by switching the accelerator back on and continuing the experiment. Hodges immediately starts screaming to shut it off before it kills them all.
- Rubber Man: 2-D Man. His powers are nearly identical to that of Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic, although in this version of the story he's just a member while the big rock guy is the real genius and leader.
- Shoot the Dog: Batman is forced to kill the Terrific Trio in order to stop them from destroying all of Gotham City, considering they refuse to be talked down (as shown by Terry's failed attempt to reason with Magma), outnumbered him, and proved themselves to be more powerful than his Batsuit. It's clear that Terry is not proud of having to do so despite it being necessary.
- Shout-Out:
- Batman becomes trapped beneath machinery (and frees himself by lifting the massive object) in a scene that is a direct reference to an iconic Spider-Man sequence, even down to the shape of the machinery trapping the character.
- 2-D Man's name is a reference to Silver Age superhero 3-D Man, and his powers resemble Flatman of the West Coast Avengers.
- Stealth Pun: 2D-man has the least amount of lines, has little in the way of personality and the reason for the accident had nothing to do with him — he's a Flat Character.
- Supporting Protagonist: Most of the episode is dedicated to the Trio discovering the Awful Truth about their origins and being used and betrayed. Batman himself doesn't do very much until the end, where he stops the Trio from blowing up Gotham after they cross the Despair Event Horizon. While he is present when they are attacked and seemingly killed, he's too busy saving himself to help them, and nobody ever realizes he was there.
- Take That!:
- Judging by the Terrific Trio's rather horrible deaths, it appears the episode's writer isn't a fan of the Fantastic Four.
- Hodges seems to be based on the old fan theory that Reed Richards knew exactly what would happen to the four on their space flight, making him one on top of the one 2D Man already represents.
- It's also a takedown of the sorts of Saturday morning and syndicated cartoon heroes that were around before Bruce Timm's influence was widely felt. The sudden appearance of lots of toys based on the Trio and the name "2D Man" suggest the merchandise driven nature of such shows and the, er, flat characterizations found on them.
- True Companions: For all intents and purposes, the Terrific Trio still stick by each other even as they gradually lost their sanity after discovering what's really happened to them. Freon in particular is disgusted that Hodges wanted to steal her away from Magma, and she continues to stay with him even though they can't touch anymore.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Batman says this to Dr. Hodges, after being forced to kill the Terrific Trio.Batman: Satisfied?
Dr. Hodges: (distraught) No. You don't understand, I was their friend.
Batman: Right. - With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dr. Hodges concludes that the Trio are becoming "dangerously psychotic." Their actions toward the end of the episode would seem to bear that out, although their learning that a) Hodges caused the accident in the first place in order to kill Morgan and b) their transformation is killing them, doesn't exactly help matters.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Terrific Trio.
- Wreathed in Flames: Or Wreathed in Lava in this case — Magma.
