The End is Here For Tim Drake in Our Exclusive Preview of Batman Beyond #16

Next week is the final installment in writer Dan Jurgens's Batman Beyond before September 28th's Rebirth reinvention.

Batman Beyond #16 sees Tim Drake -- the titular Batman of the future -- squaring off against a brainwashed Terry McGinnis with the fate of Neo-Gotham hanging in the balance.

It's the full circle started when Jurgens co-wrote The New 52: Futures End two years ago, in which McGinnis apparently sacrificed himself to save the world. That story also saw an alternate future's version of Tim Drake step into the role of Batman in order to stop Brainiac -- just a little too late. Batman Beyond has featured everything from Jack Kirby-inspired post-apocalyptic mayhem to the return (slightly tweaked) of some Beyond Universe and DC Animated Universe favorites from days past.

"Batman Beyond is about a lot more than Terry McGinnis. It's about the world itself, the city that Gotham becomes, the other heroes, villains and the supporting cast. We're going to use all of that, as we saw here with the Jokerz, Max Gibson, Terry's younger brother Matt and Barbara Gordon," writer Dan Jurgens told us back when the series started in June of last year. "We also feel that Tim Drake is a compelling character in his own right-- one who deserves to wear the costume. Tim is particularly valuable as we pull all of this together because his reference point is the DC Universe past that we're all familiar with, and we get to see this unknown future unfold through him."

Now, as the series draws to a close, we know Terry McGinnis will reclaim the mantle of Batman in time for Batman Beyond's Rebirth later in the month. But we don't know whether Tim Drake will survive the experience -- and, if he does, what role he might play going forward in the world of Batman Beyond or elsewhere.

You can check the solicitation text out below and the pages in the attached image gallery. Batman Beyond #16 is due in stores on September 7. Batman Beyond: Rebirth #1 is in stores on September 28.

With the threat of Spellbinder behind them, Tim Drake and Terry McGinnis face an uncertain future. It’s time to rebuild New Gotham, but who will wear the mantle of the city’s defender? This is the biggest turning point in the series to date and sets the stage for BATMAN BEYOND: REBIRTH #1, also solicited this month.