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

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

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.

I just love how tense that scene was of Superman hearing Bruces heart beating and how scared robin was. Only for Superman to be like "Don't worry, your secrets safe😉".

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.

"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.

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.

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

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

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...

"In all the years to come, in your most private moments. I want you to remember the one man who beat you..." God, that line goes so hard!

The guy who voices Batman is Peter Weller freaking RoboCop

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

They need to watch Superman VS The Elite

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.

FUN FACT: Batman is voiced by RoboCop

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

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

2:46 on the topic of Marvel/DC crossovers, there was this whole comic event in like the mid 90s called Marvel vs DC that was followed up by the Amalgam Age, its an incredible story and the books for both Marvel vs DC and the Amalgam Age come out in September if y’all are interested l

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

Scariest Joker death: he snaps his neck

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

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

people complain about how jaded , dark and violent Snyderverse batman is when this is literally the same mf hes based off. PTSD and everything

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.

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

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.

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

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.

These 2 are absolutely my favorite batman films

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.

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🍿📺🦇🃏

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

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

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

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!

Appreciate you got to these animated films

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

1:05:01 No, the conversation with the joker was not in his head. He broke his neck and paralyzed him. Joker just finished the job. Because he wanted Batman to be seen as a cold blooded killer. 😊

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).

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

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

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.

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.

Stan Lee once wrote, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.E.I.D.

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.

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.

There are/were DC/Marvel crossover comics. There was one comic where Superman and Spider-Man teamed up to fight Lex and Dr. Octopus, this one just treating it like both characters lived on the same Earth. You also have, what I think were called, the "Marvel versus DC" comics, where heavy hitters from both fought each other, and the winner was decided by popular vote. You then have "JLA/Avengers" where bith superteams band together to find super powerful artifacts from both universes, in order to stop a multiversal threat. What's funny about that one, is that I don't think it was ever briught up again in the Marvel universe, but was still considered canon to the DC side of things, at least before the New 52. Then there's also the various "Amalgam" comics, where they take a character from each property, and fuse them together, like Storm and Wonder Woman becoming Amazoness, Superman and Captain America become Super Soldier, etc. The closest we've gotten to these in the here and now, are, like ya'll said, Stan Lee being in the TTGo movie, or some sprt of reference in the comics, like how Marvel's Captaon Marvel was given the Reality Gem, and that led to different alternate reality versions of a Captain Marvel having one, including one that looks suspiciously like DC's Shazam, who was once called Captain Marvel himself, before they lost the right to use that name.

Nightwing is based in Bludhaven that as the superheroes of the DC universe would say is his turf

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

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

Are yall ever gonna watch Batman Beyond?

This movie is a very faithful adaptation of the 1986 4 part comic book mini-series The Dark Knight Returns. A fight scene in (Zach Snyder's) Batman vs Superman is loosely based off of this story. DC Comics was in the process of rebooting their entire universe.. Superman in this story incorporated some of the upcoming changes for the character being that he just could absorb solar energy which in implied that he is doing from the plants in this story. That being said Frank Miller (the author) has never appeared to be a Superman fan so his version is not in line with most typical interpretation of the character. This is considered one of the best Batman stories ever. The movie doesn't have the inner dialogue that the comic has which weakens the story IMHO. As I mentioned before DC was rebooting and part of that was a follow up prequel to this story called "Batman: Year One" written by the same author. This story has also been adapted into a faithful animated movie of the same name. FYI there are follow up comics to this storyline but the first was very poorly received in general and I thought is sucked myself and for that reason I never read the next one.

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

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.

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)."

Keep watching Carrie Kelly/Robin's progress through the entire DK series, and you just know you're looking at Hit-Girl from "Kick-Ass", only with a less disturbing origin. 😲

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

Back in the mid to late 90’s, there was a crossover mini-series between Marvel and DC called Avengers vs Justice League or just called Marvel vs DC. And after the comic debuted, there were other crossover stories because at the time, the universes merged and there was team ups like “Teen Titans & The X-Men”, “Batman & Spider-Man”, “Punisher vs Batman”, “Captain America vs Batman”, “Venom vs Superman”, etc. Eventually, this lead to an event during that crossover called the Amalgam universe. Where the two universe mish-mashed characters, creating fusions of two different characters like Darkclaw (Batman/Wolverine), Spider-Boy(Superboy/Spider-Man), Super Soldier(Superman/Captain America), Iron Lantern(Green Lantern/Iron Man), Hyena(Joker/Sabertooth), etc. Eventually another event came where the two universes finally separated and then they all had their minds wiped of the crossover, keeping the stability between universes. Because there was this whole thing where both worlds were created by two cosmic beings who were brothers and created their separate worlds and it was them fighting that created the crossover. There is so much lore to it, I don’t have all the time in the world to go into it but there’s a lot.

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

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.

I hope someone told them about Amalgam comics. Where DC and marvel fused.

Velma actually became Robin temporarily in Scooby-Doo Meets Baan: The Brave And The Bold! Shaggy also becomes Nightwing lmao, it's a really fun movie that I highly recommend! As for TDKR, it's based on the 1986 graphic novel by Frank Miller and Klaus Jansen, and seriously changed the perception of Batman in the public. The darkness of the book bled into the mainline monthly Batman comics and led to stories like the Death of Robin and Killing Joke. It's negatively impacted Batman too, like the rivalry between Superman and Batman being taken out of context and used as the basis for their interactions in several reboots of the mainline DC comics and the idea that Batman treats his mission as a tactical mission rather than a fight for hope and justice. All in all, an incredible story that's been used both wonderfully and improperly to further the myth of The Batman

Unlike some of the DC animated movies, this one stays VERY close to the original comic book source, which came out in 1986. Most of what seems modern or current was actually in the original comics. Which shows both how little things change, and how on point the storytelling is. Frank Miller's later work is godawful (including his two sequels to The Dark Knight Returns), but he was unstoppable in the 80s.

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.

the comic comes from the 1980's and this comic is very 1980's very blade runner idea of the future.

They go together but each one works stand alone

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

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.

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

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.

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

This comic has a great origin story. Back when he was still doing "Daredevil", I think, Frank Miller thought about Batman and how all we remembered about him was the Adam West Batman, when by then he thought the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams Batman comic was so much darker and cooler. Then, while smoking his Marlboros and feeling burned out, he thought about how Batman always peaks at his mid-20s and 30s and that kinda pissed him off. So then he realized years from now, when he's old and washed up, the guy would be, sure, tired but really angry, too. The last Batman story. One last chance to make things right. An epic blaze of glory. And that's how it ends. With a whole new generation of Batman fans from Tim Burton to Christopher Nolan and more. 😲

Small story exposition: this took place after Jason Todds death i think before the Red Hood story line

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...

56:06 Joker is Unleashed!

You dont know how much i love this 2 dc anime films..am glad u guys are continuing the dc animated movies watching

The Batman voice is Peter Weller from "Robocop" (I think originally when he was writing this comic, Frank Miller imagined the "Dirty Harry" Clint Eastwood.) Oh, and the creepy Joker voice?...that's Michael Emerson from "Lost". 😉

One of the best comics and movie adaptations

The bat is more than just metaphor!!

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

Yes they made a comic series DC v marvel.

There are so many great DCAU movies. I hope this becomes a regular series that you watch in release order.

The original Dark Knight Returns comic book came out in the 1980s. So this is Batman in the future through the lens of the 1980s. That's why Superman is such an agent of the US government and why all of these talk shows have equal time.

This is based on a comic series that came out in the 80s

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

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

Always liked how this story ends with Bruce becoming Big Boss

With a marvel versus dc, it has happened a few times, but only in comics

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

The comics this movie was based on is what started the cool idea where Superman and Batman fight. Sure they’d had scuffles here and there but this is what started the down and dirty, knock down drag out fight between the two giants. Since this all major super/batman fight pay homage to this.