First Time Watching Batman: Dark Knight Returns Part 1 & Part 2

[@pokeczarelf]

That "I'am the surgeon" part is really cold, when you realize that Batman's father Thomas Wayne was a Doctor and a Surgeon.

[@luisjauregui2197]

On the topic of Harvey, he was a good dude in most adaptations, just severely affected by multiple personality disorder and once his face was deformed he went absolutely insane. While his crimes are often just bank robberies and stuff, there is plenty of times where he is actually acting for the benefit of Gotham too, by putting down other crimals and putting himself on the top

[@JAYDOG1337A]

Yeah, sometimes he's even helped Batman out just based on the coin toss.

[@Zombieshark420x]

Two Face out of all the villains ran his originations clean. He was a bad guy, but he wasn't that dirty of one. He didn't mess with kids. He acts like a mob boss in the sense he would just make businesses pay him. But he kept the druggies away too. He was all about just robbing the rich and stealing jewels and such. Sometimes he dabbled in guns, but it was usually for his own groups to arm themselves.

[@LittleGalaxyBoy]

This is an Elseworlds story, not a part of the Mainline DC continuity at the time. It pre-dated DC's Elseworlds imprint that began with Gotham by Gaslight (1989), telling stories outside the DC continuity. Dark Knight Returns (1986) also pre-dates the death of Robin in A Death in the Family (1988) when Joker kills Jason Todd the second Robin. This takes place within the mainline continuity. So you can look at Dark Knight Returns as an alternate timeline where Bruce retired after the death of Jason Todd, unlike his mainline counterpart, who continued as Batman and would later be joined by Tim Drake, who would become the 3rd Robin. Frank Miller has stated that his Batman Year One comic, which re-invented the origin and early years of Bruce Wayne, is also canonical to Dark Knight Returns. It's also canonical to the Mainline DC universe as well. It is the basis for all Batman media focused around Batman's early years, such as Batman Begins, The Batman, and even the Animated Series like Mask of the Phantasm, all pulling from Year One. There is also an Animated Year One film, and I highly recommend it. Another great Batman film with a really cool spin is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. BUT. I highly recommend watching the first story arc from Batman Beyond to get introduced to this new era of Batman and specific characters. I think it's only a two-episode story arc called Re-birth, but it's very much needed if you're going into Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Batman Beyond is just a really amazing show and such an unique sequel to the Batman Animated Series but in general just a really cool setting and spin on Batman.

[@nuhrii3449]

but didnt they say in the movie that the last sighting of batman was a decade ago, thats a long time after jason

[@plantainsame2049]

​@nuhrii3449 No This movie and the comic.It's based on both. It seems to take place in the eighties Jason would have been robin at some point in the seventies The comic seems to have taken place when it was made, So it wasn't any future for eighties Batman , it was what if batman had actually aged over the years he Existed

[@ricochet1351]

To be clear, Harvey Dent has a split personality that was exacerbated out of his control when he got acid splashed over half his face, burning it. Getting his face fixed was a good start, but the problem was on the inside...

[@Matej_Sojka]

Also, the doctor in charge of his care was egoistic incompetent.

[@ricochet1351]

​@@Matej_Sojkain this case, that too.

[@ashwolf2006]

@@Matej_Sojka egotistic and a narcissist he and the other doctor's only thinks of becoming a bunch of big-shot celebrities of the medical world. by fixing harvey's face on the thought by fixing the physical damage to his body would also fix his mental state. but in truth they only made it worse for harvey by fixing the other half.

[@ser_random_video_watcher]

It's not clear whether or not in this universe Harvey's twisted side is the "correct" side. Perhaps the normal looking one is his bad side and by covering the rest of his skin like that, they manifested his pure dark side.

[@IncoherentName]

"Fred's voice actor can literally only play Fred." Frank Welker voices Abu, The Cave of Wonders, Megatron, Soundwave, and Scooby-Doo. The man has one of the biggest ranges of any voice actor.

[@FunnnyBros]

Bro has nearly 900 credited voice roles across all media. Probably one of the most prolific voice actors alive. Just the case of he's got so much range they don't know it's him when he shows up unless he does the Fred voice.

[@J__T]

Isn't he also every roar in Lion King?

[@FunnnyBros]

@@J__T Eeyup. There are clips of him making the noises into a bucket/garbage can to get the right echo.

[@l0sts0ul89]

Just goes to show you how talented he is, 6+ characters and they aren't any similar

[@CommanderSteelTrap]

Adore this little animated DC rabbit hole they’ve been going down.

[@G0d_Ginrai]

Just hope they don’t watch any of the DCAMU out of order. It’d suck if they ended up watching Apokolips War without any buildup.

[@pantyosashu8137]

@@G0d_Ginrai Oh please, PLEASE don't let that happen!

[@NK-dt1kp]

I hope they start with Batman assault on Arkham

[@CommanderSteelTrap]

@@G0d_Ginrai They’ve got a list of some of their upcoming reactions in their community section and the next two DC films they’ve got on there are Flashpoint, then JL War, so it seems like they’ve looked up the order on those films.

[@andalilbitqueer]

​@@CommanderSteelTrap Oh no, no worry needed, they bought the Bluray collection so they're definitely going in release order

[@SeanCRinaldo]

The question about Jokers death is that Batman didn’t kill him. He broke his neck enough to paralyze him, but still let him live. Joker snapped his neck to frame Batman for his death.

[@imed-ha77]

I think Batman actually killed him, but that scene was in Batman's imagination because he broke his code

[@Kingcrimson_1456]

In the comic I believe his speech bubble is the same color as Batman. It’s kinda one of those things where it’s up too interpretation

[@EalainEP]

​@@Kingcrimson_1456people say this but their text bubbles were always the same, I thjnk this is just some Mandela effect

[@Kingcrimson_1456]

@@EalainEP I mean typically when joker talked the speech bubbles were white and not this kind of grey color

[@EalainEP]

@@Kingcrimson_1456 maybe I'm misreprembering but when I first heard this I specifically went back to my comic to check and they were the same colour the whole time

[@mimic1984]

The way Joker dies in this movie stuck with me for a week when I first saw it. Man's literally snapped his own neck the rest of the way after it's been pretty badly broken, without even touching it! Gives me the heeby jeebies every time I watch it.

[@denzeldelaney6578]

Tbf, Joker didn't actually break his own neck , Batman broke it. He was just imagining that conversation because he finally killed someone which is against his code of honor, and since it was the Joker, it kinda messed with his mind, it kinda hints to it when he says stop laughing to his burning corpse. Still creepy regardless 😬😨

[@FurbyPurrson]

there are several clues batman killing joker. 1. couple running away screaming as soon as batman snapped jokers neck. 2. after joker snapped his neck it readjusting to the same position when batman snapped jokers neck the first time. 3. jokers hellish look after he died because as soon as he dies that look on his face wasn't there. 4. batman saying ''why won't you never shut up'' to the jokers burning corpse.

[@EalainEP]

​@@denzeldelaney6578 this is just a theory

[@denzeldelaney6578]

@jimmystewart1974 ngl, that interaction made this my favorite Batman movie of all time, even more than the Dark Night. And the cherry on top being the fight with Superman (wish Dawn of Justice was this good 😔)

[@buddabro6722]

"With a devil's strength, he twists. And twists."

[@brighamcathey4669]

The guy who voices Batman is Peter Weller freaking RoboCop

[@Baised-_-Urie]

Batman: Dead Or Alive, you're coming with me

[@dylanlee3324]

@@Baised-_-Urie😂

[@abelmulato8991]

I never got the vibe Batman or Superman hated each other in these films, they both were just different ideologies and frustrated that it had to come to this.

[@ChadBenjamin]

The sequels and prequels make it clear that they never liked each other until DKIII. This Superman always saw Bruce as a criminal, and this Batman always saw Clark as an idiot.

[@leafyishereisdumbnameakath4259]

this is an alternate version of both characters, two extremes

[@poochyenajones1362]

@@ChadBenjamin I tend to disregard DKII since it came out after Frank Miller went bonkers and DKIII is up to debate since was mostly written by a different writer anyway.

[@neloverg3774]

@@ChadBenjamin Generally OP is right, by the insane writings of Frank Miller you'd be right. But thats bad writing by a crazy man.

[@ChadBenjamin]

@neloverg3774 It's bad writing but it's also a completely separate universe from the main continuity. So he can write them however he wants to.

[@comicq837]

So the Dark Knight Returns is a comic from 1986, and these two movies are almost a one to one of the comic. You can pretty much thank this comic for making mainstream Batman as dark as he is.

[@greyygoblinn5639]

I think it’s the best comic book adaptation of all time. It’s so damn good

[@ThroneOfSalt]

Shame that this is canonically the same Batman as Crazy Steve

[@Master_of_Merol81]

@@greyygoblinn5639 Which breaks the assumption that adapting stories 1:1 or almost intact doesn't work, even though anime has been successfully doing it successfully since forever. They just need the right medium to do it and do it well, like in this case.

[@plantainsame2049]

Eh It gets a lot of credit but it's not the soul source of it Batman just got darker after the Comics code authority no longer was around

[@slurpingmario8006]

“Who IS this kid?!?” You’d be surprised how talented children just falls into Batman’s life

[@DamienDrake2940]

In the end the real winner was Ra's al Ghul. Bruce may not of taken over the League of Shadows but he did start a new one.

[@RockinAfr0]

1:00:10 well, this is actually true. As a bond of friendship between Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman, they each said their real name when holding the Laso of Truth. Batman, unable to tell a lie, answered with Batman.

[@ericemanwu]

The original comic book for this was written in 1986, so satellite tv wasn't really a thing yet.

[@nesrovlahsurvivalist8399]

54:30 "Freds voice actor can only do Fred" Put some respect on Frank Welkers name. HE'S MEGATRON FOR GODS SAKE.

[@greyygoblinn5639]

EXACTLY WHAT I SAID, Frank welker is freaking MEGATRON!!

[@constructking8850]

“I! AM! MEGATRON! I WILL NOT HE COMPARED TO SOME WORTHLESS INSECT WITH A MUTAED CANINE!”

[@robertwalker7454]

The history for Two Face is that he was terribly abused by his father, and his father always flipped a coin on what he wanted to do with him. And Harvey Dent(Two Face), struggled with his inner demons, and he always used a coin to flip on what to do. But when he was injured, he grew Two personalities.

[@SorchaSublime]

Realistically he grew the second personality in childhood. Thats how DID (formerly known as MPD) works, trauma before the ego forms in childhood causes it to split. The disfigurement likely gave the darker side real purchase where before it was marginalised by Harvey attempting to rise above his past.

[@ricochet1351]

@robertwalker7454 to add to the context, the coin his dad used to decide "whether or not" to beat him had two heads, so Harvey never won the toss. This compelled him to carry a coin of his own to flip to choose what to do all the time growing up.

[@Kaempfdog]

This is a LEGENDARY movie. This is DC’s animated finest. It has all the love of so many legendary Batman moments. I can barely critique it because it truly captures the legend of the Batman and all that surrounds him.

[@bradenanders9105]

I have a critique. They nerfed Superman worse than anything else that comes to mind. Superman struggling to push a ICBM? Are you joking? Superman could stop the whole Soviet arsenal being launched.

[@saltymisfit6566]

"It's an operating table and I'm the surgeon" has to be one of the hardest Barman lines ever 😊

[@colinvandenberg3446]

In the comics Superman met Spider-Man twice, Batman met The Hulk and the Punisher separately, the Teen Titans met the X-Men, and the two most famous crossovers are "DC VS. Marvel" and the excellent "JLA/Avengers."

[@ultimax10doesgaming48]

Spidey also teamed up with Batman to stop Carnage and The Joker.

[@KEEPTALKIN8215]

Don't forget the amalgam comics

[@colinvandenberg3446]

@@ultimax10doesgaming48 Yeah, I forgot about that one. Wasn't there also a Batman/Cap crossover where the Joker refused to team up with the Red Skull because he was a Nazi?

[@popump2617]

​@@colinvandenberg3446I vaguely remember hearing about that, I guess even Joker has standards.

[@J__T]

Just want to point out that canon to those kind of comics, Batman defeated the Hulk. Because of course he did.

[@quann9820]

They should watch Batman beyond after this since it’s also in the future

[@oneautumnleaf2622]

damn shame we haven't gotten more on Terry he's such a great successor to Bruce.

[@Andrew-Bastin]

This is a great Batman story but it’s main issue is that it completely misrepresents the character of Superman, Superman is not some lapdog for the government and has on many occasions gone against government officials to do what’s right, what makes it worse is that his inclusion in the story is completely unnecessary and seems like he’s only here due to the author’s dislike of the character and just wants Batman to beat him up regardless of how little sense it makes.

[@antoniomedina2848]

This is frank millers universe and he hates Superman and it was a vehicle for the times that it came out.

[@Andrew-Bastin]

@@antoniomedina2848 his hate for Superman is fairly obvious in his works as well as the fact that he just doesn’t understand the character. He might actually be somewhat responsible for the asinine idea that Batman and Superman should fight each other which has plagued a lot of modern stories.

[@wil2560]

I mean he's not a willing lapdog. In the TDKR comic series it's revealed he does it because Lex and Reagan are holding Kandor hostage somewhere he can't find it. If he ever goes against them they'll kill the final city of krypton. It's why he doesn't snitch after realizing Bruce faked his death he trusts Bruce knows what he is doing.

[@Andrew-Bastin]

@@wil2560 “The Dark Knight Strikes Again” came out 15 years after Returns, it’s unlikely that Miller had the Kandor plot line in mind at the time. Also “The Dark Knight Strikes Again” has its own issues as well as questionable portrayals of Superman, Wonder Woman and other heroes.

[@John-kc4cg]

The portrayal here is definitely off, it's also kind of annoying that they never really mention the other leaguers and none of them show up for Bruce's funeral.

[@royalreptile923]

If I had a nickel for every time I saw Joker in a Talk Show that didn’t end well, I would be making an overused reference right now.

[@ColeEclipse]

If I had a nickel for every time a person said this format was overused, I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[@Montesama314]

Be careful, Joker coated those nickels in liquid toxin.

[@dannybob42]

Ah so we get to the story that started the whole Batman with prep time vs Superman Debacle, Frank Miller's classic: The Dark Knight Returns. Set in its own timeline and future, old man Bruce gets back in the game, wins an army of mutants, has a new Robin in Carrie Kelley (voiced by Ariel Winter, sadly not Ashley Johnson) - Carrie did show up in normal comics continuity but it was a bait and switch, she was a tutor for Damian in a few issues after he briefly died, is pinned for killing Joker in the Tunnel of Love, and has to fight Government Dog Superman. Marvel and DC haven't crossed over properly in film and tv, but they have done in comics a few times; Bats has teamed with Spider-Man, Superman has fought Hulk, and one time Joker attacked Red Skull after realising he was actually a Nazi. Superman does age, just very slowly, this is also the most Murica he's looked with the eagle and such. So the Joker gas was interestingly first designed to be a way to censor death, instead just making you freeze with a smile, the end results were even more horrifying though and became a staple of Joker kills. Joker is also immune to most toxins and poisons, so his drugged lipstick doesn't work on him. But in the comics at least it's not in his head, Joker - knowing that he's won, that Bruce stooped to his level, and that the world will come for him for it - finishes breaking his own neck. But yeah, the big Batman vs Superman crescendo has been adapted a lot, including the DCU with the Armored Batsuit

[@bradenanders9105]

This version of Superman was nerfed to hell and back, even the live action one did better than this.

[@timothyfinch7295]

@@bradenanders9105 Yeah, you can really tell how much Frank Miller was just using Supes as an outlet to vent all his criticisms of Reaganomics

[@goodgamesir1750]

That Joker attacking Red Skull is the most stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. The Joker wouldn’t care about your ideologies, he just cares about wreaking havoc. Do you think he cared about Ra’s ideology when he work for him in Under the Red Hood? No, he just wanted to mess with Batman. It’s so inconsistent to Joker’s character just because the writer is John Bryne

[@theber2cbabble]

"Bitch, I started tired." Ok, that one got me lmao.

[@Senkoau]

I'm just amazed they sat through this entire movie and not one comment about "Billy" being a common term in it considering what they call the viewers.

[@LuisChavezTV]

Fun Facts for you guys about Part 2: the voice of the Kid Joker takes hostage in the hall of mirrors is Tara Strong who actually used her Ben 10 voice for the character of the child and the Mayor is played By Frank Welker who is in fact the original voice of Fred Jones ,The Voice of David Endocrine who is the television host who gave Joker his cup is played by Conan O Brien and The Voice of Ellen The New Commissioner is played by Maria Canal Barrera who played Hawk girl in the 2000’s Justice League Animated TV Series🍿📺🦇🃏

[@harryjohnson9215]

2:48 Just imagine what Bruce Wayne, Oliver queen, Bruce banner and tony stark would be able to come up with if put in the same room for 10 minutes.

[@Zachstorm_Gamer]

Scariest Joker death: he snaps his neck

[@Ddanielx27]

They need to watch Superman VS The Elite

[@callmejacob3234]

It's the best Superman movie of all time.

[@Ddanielx27]

@@callmejacob3234 And the best fire-fuel for the no killing in superhero. As well as Superman boring critic.

[@callmejacob3234]

@@Ddanielx27 I don't get why people hate the no kill rule it's what makes superheroes heroic in the first place.

[@derekmarquez9719]

1:04:49, you know what a neck cast is for right? It’s for when you break your neck. It’s important to keep your head still because moving it when you have a broken neck has a risk of paralysis or DEATH. The joker got his neck broke and moved it further and died

[@josuevargas1952]

1:07:01 yeah, that almost happened irl during the cold war once, the machine on the USSR that dettects if they have been shot with a missile detected a nuclear strike comming from the US, it was a wrong read, the higher up ordered a response, but this 1 soviet soldier in charge of actually doing the thing just knew something was wrong and refused the orders. They later saw that the machine made a mistake. So that soldier prevented WW3, wich would've been much worse than WW2 and probably could've actually ended it all. I may have gotten some things wrong, but if you wanna actually know about it, google it, the name of the soldier was Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, i think he was a marine

[@matthewpaul6904]

You can see how the comic this was adapted from inspired so many movies: appearing on TV in "Joker" (2019), young Bruce falling into the cave in "Batman Begins" and more.

[@robertwalker7454]

When a nuke goes off infront of Superman, that kind of Radiation drains him of his Solar powers. And Superman absorbs the solar energy from plants.

[@tahumphreys6543]

Fred's voice actor, frank welker, also plays megatron in transformers.

[@JamesRhed935]

54:33 I will not tolerate any slander against the mighty Lord Megatron

[@mikemedina6486]

1:04:53 I think he did kill joker and that conversation where joker is all like “Your in trouble nowwwww” I think it’s Batman coming to terms with something he was restrained himself from doing for so long The part where he tells joker to ‘stop laughing’ kinda supports this

[@spider_fan_boi]

01:07:49 He’s sucking the SUNLIGHT out of the plants

[@Beachboy757]

Batman stood on business when took down the mutant leader💪🏿👊🏾

[@shinyagumon7015]

Oh I thought you meant the Nolan movie, but this is even better.

[@Dctctx]

This is better than the Nolan movie

[@TheBoondocksaint117]

DC and Marvel have crossed over many times. There have been smaller crossovers between individual heroes, and larger ones between universes. In JLA vs Avengers, the two teams are pitted against each other to determine which universe survives. Fun fact, Darkseid battles Thanos (who has the full Infinity Gauntlet), and mops the floor with him. When Darkseid takes the Gauntlet, he tosses it away.

[@tristandodd4806]

I love animated films, but I actually found a podcast on Spotify. That's about batman, and it's super interesting. The first episode is about two-face it's a lot of funn

[@K2niarDneK]

Couple clarifications. 1. You guys are getting universes and storylines mixed up. Unless they obviously and directly connect with one another, DC movies are often self-contained within their own universe that has their own histories and series of events. Jump City seemingly does not exist in most universes, used only in the _Teen Titans_ cartoons (the original 2003 run and the _Teen Titans GO!_ reboot) and in _Batman: The Brave and the Bold._ Batman's contingency plans (the ones shown in _Justice League: Doom)_ didn't exist until July of 2000, with the _Tower of Babel_ storyline, nearly 20 years after the run this movie is based on. *This* Batman having *a* contingency plan for Superman is mostly a coincidence. Jason Todd in this universe is *completely dead*, as the story that brought about his resurrection didn't exist until December of 2005. TL;DR - Just assume that any events from a specific storyline are specific to *that specific* story or movie. Don't assume that one Batman movie has the same background story as another Batman unless explicitly stated. 2. Dick Grayson presumably _is_ Nightwing in this universe, he's just not in Gotham. He's (again, presumably) still defending one of Gotham's sister-cities, Bludhaven (pronounced "Blood-haven") which is *even more* crime-riddled than Gotham in most stories. 3. It's purposefully left ambiguous whether Batman actually killed Joker in this story. In the original comics, after Batman 'paralyzes' Joker, Joker's text bubble font uses Batman's font instead of Joker's normal font, which heavily implies that their final conversation is just Batman's psyche refusing to acknowledge that he finally broke his One Rule. This movie leaves it even more ambiguous due to the medium, as there aren't any text bubbles to change the font of.

[@isaiahhatter2062]

New Watch suggestions: Batman: The Animated Series Superman: The Animated Series Young Justice Batman Beyond Ben 10: Ultimate Alien/Omniverse Each of these series has a compelling, and well-written story of their own, save a few plot holes

[@AustinFoss00]

I do kinda wish we could have gotten a similar story to this, but with the BatFam in play. Like, what would Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, Barbara, Steph, Cassie and Duke have been doing during all this?

[@slightlycynical4308]

The reason for all the movies feeling disjointed is because most of them are fully self-contained comic runs with their own cannon lines, this one is basically stand-alone, and most of them are loosely cannon to young justice, the art styles are usually a good indicator of which are cannon to eachother

[@BigSteve9713]

If you guys want too see a really dark Batman movie, I HIGHLY recommend the 2003 film that was shown on Cartoon Network way back in the day - Batman vs Dracula with Rino Ramano voicing Batman

[@Insomniac_Hart]

THIS is the first REAL Batman Vs Superman fight... with no mentioning of mommies... lol

[@jamescasson9483]

Appreciate you got to these animated films

[@kraddaku1567]

I have been waiting for this reaction. Y’all were not ready

[@riftwalker190]

Jokers death was quite unclear. We don't know exactly what happened and im all for it.

[@robertjohn2907]

58:01 And that's why this should not be your first Batman and Superman story. I mean it can be, anything to make you interested. But these are versions of characters that are so far from their 'usual' characterization for the sake of the story it wants to tell. They're not meant to be the version of Batman and Superman we know. So it dont make sense to use these as a representation of the characters as a whole or compare these on their usual characterization. These are not your Superman and Batman.

[@DCComicsGamer]

One of the best DC animated movies and I'm glad you watched both parts. You can't do this live-action because it cannot get any better than this. May I also suggest The Death and Return of Superman two-parter? And both parts of Batman: The Long Halloween?

[@alexanderjamesaustin]

These 2 are absolutely my favorite batman films

[@shanecampbell7423]

Peter Weller (Robocop, Buckaroo Bonzai) is perfect as old Bruce/Batman.

[@gojifan101]

2:36 "Yes, there was a comic run called "DC vs. Marvel comic" in the mid-1990s."

[@MIGRANTmindset]

Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the real person. 🦇

[@yummlunch8522]

Man, ever since you guys first reacted to Under the Red Hood I’ve been hoping for this.

[@AlphaNanite]

48:22 instead of saving the one guy By taking him off the tracks, he decides to stop the train and give dozens of people concussions.

[@milesparker557]

I think it's really important to note that the source material came out during the 80s. Also, the original comic basically changed how Batman was portrayed for years to come. All of the modern Batman movies have this to thank.

[@richardmarshall7338]

So the joker's death in The Dark Knight returns is left ambiguous to the audience as to whether or not Batman killed him or the joker killed himself, even more so in the comic.

[@Soren-Index]

Hell 👏 YES 👏 I clicked so damn fast when I saw you guys reacting, just started the vid and am excited!!!

[@procow2274]

They go together but each one works stand alone

[@shanecampbell7423]

Guys, this is a really well done adaptation of Frank Miller's (300, Sin City, Daredevil:Born Again) 1986 four issue miniseries of the same name. It's iconic in comic book geekdom. Just FYI!

[@LemonDrop-zt9xx]

2:36 yes, there's been alot in fact. I'd recommend one crossover called JLA/Avengers (what makes this one special is that it's actually canon to both Marvel and DC).

[@milkiassamuel780]

This two-part movie is an incredibly faithful adaptation of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. Even though I do kinda think this storyline is fairly overrated comic, I still greatly value the story and narrative as a cathartic, poetic, and very powerful end to Batman's legacy as a character and one of the many depictions of an Old Man Batman story. It really was such a wildly influential comic that really changed the game in the comic book industry kickstarting the 90's era of more mature, brutal and grim dark of comic books If you guys want to check out other great animated DC films, Id highly recommend: - Superman vs The Elite - All-Star Superman - Superman and Shazam Vs Black Adam - Batman: Under The Red Hood - Batman: Year One - Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1 & 2 - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - Batman and Superman: Apocalypse - Wonder Woman (2009) - Green Lantern-First Flight (2009) - Green Lantern Emerald Knights (2011) - Flashpoint Paradox - Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - Justice League: New Frontier - Suicide Squad: Assault on Arkham Etc...

[@liamfoley6963]

Watch Superman Vs The Elite, it's the single best Superman movie PERIOD

[@joshuacampbell7493]

Speaking of Batman, I recommend The Animated series. It's totally worth it 👌.

[@ChamarM]

I recommend the whole DCAU (minus Zeta Project)

[@callmejacob3234]

Batman: The Animated Series is the definitive adaptation of Batman.

[@Z-fighter126]

“If I was Batman, I’d cry every night.” Who says that he doesn’t?

[@Elrowgy]

1:11:44 Oliver Queen ( formerly known as Green Arrow ) was a superhero who was arrested and had his left arm broken off by Superman when he refused to retire.

[@glennwelsh9784]

Yes, there have been crossovers with Marvel and DC. Some involve individual characters meeting each other in one-off stories (Batman meets Daredevil, Superman meets Spider-Man, etc.), but they've also done Justice League vs. The Avengers and even a massive Marvel vs. DC crossover that saw all of the major characters duking it out with each other. Marvel vs. DC briefly resulted in the creation of the Amalgam Universe that involved mash-up versions of characters from both companies (the character Darkclaw mixed together Batman and Wolverine, Superman and Captain America were blended together to make a character called Super-Soldier, and so on).

[@GKinslayer]

Guys a huge part of this story is when it came out - in 1985. Reagan was president for a 2nd term, the USA and USSR had nukes pointed at each other. In 1985 nuclear was totally possible it at the time. It is from this series that all of Snyder's Batman, and all the "darker" Batman stories sprang. BvS - that whole fight was a piss-poor take on the story you saw here. Hell, the whole trope of Batman beating Superman started with this series - Dark Knight Returns. Heck Rolling Stone featured it on a cover.

[@lucas.n.carvalho.artist]

These two-parter animations are awesome, and a great way to adapt the original story! It was a major point of hype back in the day when Batman V Superman was about to come out! I loved and still love the movie, especially the Ultimate Edition, and one of the major highlights for a young fan like me were the nods towards the Dark Knight Returns storyline. The best part? Jay Oliva, the director and storyboarder of these animations plus many others, is a good friend of Zack Snyder, and one of the few who got to read the script for the canceled Ben Affleck Batman movie and loved it! (For anyone who wants to respond to my comment: Please don't be mean. )

[@reflectionist]

I'm so happy you guys checked this out, and I thought it would be way, way later down the line for you. Thank you so much!! As soon as I stumbled on your channel and heard you talk about Billy, I was immediately thinking about The Dark Knight Returns. The two part animated feature was released in 2012, but the original graphic novel by Frank Miller was released in 1986. I'm 35, that was two years before I was born. In fact, it's kind of wild to see you guys react to something like this almost completely blind. I can see you don't have a huge playlist of Batman film reactions on your channel, just a couple of the animated features. We haven't hit any of the Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, or Robert Pattinson Batman movies, and the reason that this is so unique is because... there's always at least ONE scene that's either a direct reference to The Dark Knight Returns (Rises, In For A Show Tonight Son), a visual reference to The Dark Knight Returns (Affleck "tiny-ears, fat-bat" Suit, or the "fuck Superman" suit) or a direct line quoted verbatim from it... I'm not sure how obvious those moments might be to you guys NOW, having watched The Dark Knight Returns, but as somebody who had seen most of the films before seeing this animation, it kind of plays off as a sizzle real of cool shit from different Batman movies.

[@spencernaugle]

Super important history about this comic! When it came out in the '80s most people's experience with Batman was Goofy live-action TV show. And the comics had been stuck under the "comics code authority" for years. This comic completely changed the game. Dark and gritty stories became the goal of many writers, trying to emulate the success of this story. Which leads into the super cynical, overly edgy, overly sexual, era of 90's comics. There is a lot more that this comic impacted about the comic book industry, But I Don't have time to explain.

[@Montesama314]

Batman has not just experience, but literal old man strength.

[@callmejacob3234]

Frank Miller didn't make Batman dark and gritty with The Dark Knight Returns that's completely untrue. Batman was already dark and gritty way before Frank Boy came aorund. Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams are the ones to thank for Modern Batman not Franky Boy. All Frank Miller did was give us toxic Batman fanboys.

[@Dannieboy215]

A side movie to watch was kind of a reference in this movie part 1. Saying batman looked like Dracula there is a movie called batman vs Dracula. It involves a version of batman from the cartoon called the batman. It's a very good movie

[@aronmcraney3465]

In the comic world, there were a lot of comic crossovers in the 80s and 90s. Batman and Spider-man, Batman and Daredevil, Superman and Spider-man, DC vs Marvel, Teen Titans vs X-men, Silver Surfer and Green Lantern, etc.

[@Grimbear13]

I'm sure other people have mentioned this in the comments but these two movies are pretty closely based on the The Dark Knight Returns comic story. So it's one story that they broke into two parts of a movie.

[@granvilledavid7814]

If you didn't know Superman absorbs radiation from the sun but harmful radiation from nukes can drain or kill him.

[@Andrew-Bastin]

Not really, sure Superman gets his powers from the sun but outside of Kryptonite, radiation doesn’t really have an effect on him, he’s brushed off nukes before with no issues and has tanked attacks from radiation based characters like Captain Atom and Major Force. “The Dark Knight Returns” is one of the only stories where a nuke has affected him.

[@b3yourself91]

One of the best comics and movie adaptations

[@robling1937]

There is a comics run called the Amalgam Universe that combines DC and Marvel characters and was a joint venture. some highlights of their characters: Iron Lantern, Lobo the Duck, Speed Demon (Flash/Etrigan), Amazon (Storm/Wonder Woman), Doctor Strangefate, Super Soldier (Superman/Captain America), Dark Claw (Batman/Wolverine).

[@SolidSnake2345]

Fun fact: Superman originally fought by the motto "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"

[@bradenanders9105]

I have no problem with him fighting comies, but they literally nerfed him to hell and beyond to make the story they wanted work.

[@greyygoblinn5639]

@@bradenanders9105I always thought what they made Superman in this is a commentary and evolution on him being a huge propaganda machine during WW2. We don’t see it as modern fans (I’m 24) but for back in the day Superman becoming the lap dog of the US gov def makes sense

[@bradenanders9105]

@@greyygoblinn5639 The removal of Superman's Americanness bothers me. He is supposed to be a boy scout with nigh invincibility. He is supposed to be what if the small town America's ideal man was granted nigh immeasurable power. Now he is a bland caricature of what he was, that gets nerfed through the stratosphere whenever the writers like. As for the "commentary" from what I here the creature of this Batman universe has a bias against Superman, most likely due to what he represents. The use of the evil Reagan trope was about as subtle as Superman's outfit.

[@greyygoblinn5639]

@@bradenanders9105 oh yeah, miller fucking HATED Reagan and he also had a dislike for Superman, but remember this book originally was supposed to kinda be like watchmen where it was a deconstruction/ commentary piece. And like I said I think it’s funny bc when miller was a child Superman was a propaganda machine so making him a USA war dog I always thought was funny. Not what the MAIN Superman would do but that’s why this is an else world

[@bradenanders9105]

@@greyygoblinn5639 I am aware of what he was trying to do and if he was going to do it he should write a story that made sense instead of nerfing Superman to make it work. He could come up with a clever way for the Soviets to get a missile past Superman or for Batman to defeat Superman but instead he just nerfed him.(Batman could have opened a hidden led box of kryptonite after luring Superman and the Soviets could smuggled the bomb into the US instead of launching it. Same story no Superman nerf.) That's part of the problem I have with "deconstructionist" works, they are often lazy. Also he was born in 57 so Superman propaganda ended about 20 years before his childhood.

[@michaelriddick7116]

Peter Weller is fantastic as Batman/Bruce Wayne :) "I'm not done with you ... and you're not done with me either!" CHILLS!! Everytime!! :)

[@3Kings_Industries]

The animated films came out in 2012. The conic spurce material is from the 1980s. Was written by Frank Millar, and rewrote the idea of Batman into the template that would inspire the Batman '89, and the The Animated Series. Well, this and Year One. Do your research right fellas.

[@danielthenorwegianguy]

Superman is a Kryptonian being nurtured by the Earth yellow sun. Under a red sun like Krypton he’s like a regular person

[@tres7351]

Ah yes, the PERFECT movies to watch if you're unfamiliar with Batman.

[@danielwhitt6435]

great call on joker snapping his own neck being in batmans head. you were correct in the comic.

[@StevenHouse1980]

In this version of the 1980's Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow was classed as a criminal and Superman prevented him from killing some badguys by cutting of his arm.

[@yermatedave4930]

Glad you enjoyed this, it's a tremendously faithful adaptation, one of the best I'd strongly recommend "All-Star Superman"

[@aa_battery7]

Superman at the end absorbed the sun's energy from the plant life, as kryptonians obtain powers from the sun

[@greyygoblinn5639]

Fun fact the voice actor for this Batman is the original actor who played robocop in the 80s. I freaking love these movies

[@FirstLast-yh7gj]

Jump City is just a thing in the Titans cartoon Nightwing fights crime in Bludhaven

[@DiamondBatToons]

2:34 YES!! There actually was, way back in the 90s! There was also a thing called the "Amalgam Universe," where they combined Marvel & DC heroes, origins & all! Examples include the "Iron-Lantern," "Spider-Boy," & "Dark Claw (Wolverine/Batman)."

[@matthewstanley1521]

I love the disguises he uses in this. That definitely came from the Scarlet Pimpernel (one of the inspirations for Batman).

[@rodgill9376]

It’s still kind of crazy of how beefy and jacked Bruce looked in his old age. He’s in better shape that most people at that age and can still move fast. Old Bruce is a beast.

[@oneautumnleaf2622]

1:04:14 this is what I hate about Batmans character, he refuses to kill and yet he acknowledges that him not being willing to kill joker is what has caused so many to lose there life's. and it also makes 0 sense that Joker hasn't gotten the death penalty considering all that he has done...

[@EthanEnsley]

So glad they finally tackled this one. Def one of my top 10 DC movies. Fingers crossed they do Superman Vs. the Elite

[@erickreyes3443]

In the 90' s there was a comic event DC vs Marvel and later Amalgam Comics was a collaborative publishing imprint shared by DC comics and Marvel, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones

[@BaithNa]

In the comic that this movie is based on, they make sure to let you know Batman doesn't kill anyone throughout this story. Also, Nightwing is in a different city called Bludhaven, although I'd think he's probably retired and married with kids at this point because unlike Bruce, he's well adjusted.