Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Dark Knight Returns | Comics

After the demise of second Robin, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne has given up fighting crime as vigilante hero Batman and is 55 now. Later, all known superheroes except Superman were banned by government and forced into retirement as well. All of these happened nearly ten years ago and in this future; crime has been escalated in high levels as never seen before because of rise of a new gang. After a decade-long voluntary retirement from crime-fighting and vigilantism, he mostly keeps himself indulged in alcohol and various death-defying sports on a regular basis just to bury his guilt.

However, a new breed of terrorizing criminals of Gotham City called "The Mutants" has made Bruce wear his legendary cape and cowl once again. One of his allies; Commissioner Gordon was forced to retire from force and that very day, two major incident hits Gotham City. The first blast from past came in form of Bruce's old friend Harvey Dent, who used to be a district attorney and then psychotic villain Two-Face, who has been cured of his facial scars but the mental instability is something that has not been cured. As Dent has returned back in his old ways, The Dark Knight returns in action again.

frank miller batman
The Dark Knight Returns | Comics

When Batman went into a departure, his oldest arch-nemesis, The Joker slipped into a catatonic state and upon hearing about his return in a television report, he reawakened after nearly a decade with an evil grin and his old twisted obsession over him. Gordon was now replaced by a new Commissioner Ellen Yindel, who is not a supporter of any vigilance. A 13-year-old girl Carrie Kelley was saved from a small gang of Mutants by Batman when a major crime wave hit the city. Wearing a Robin costume, she goes looking for The Dark Knight while also taking on few petty criminals on her way.

With Mutant gangs running rampant over with no one to stop them and their secret leader, Batman decides to step in. He discovers a connection to a United States Army general, who has been supplying weapons to them and during confrontation the latter commits suicide. The Mayor remains silent on this while leader of Mutant gang threatens Gordon and following a lead, the Bat found their secret lair. Incapacitating most of them from armored supertank-like Batmobile, he engaged the Mutant leader in a hand-to-hand combat but got beaten badly because of his growing age.

Carrie got mixed up into this chaos while following Batman and is recruited later as newest Robin after she managed to save his life from Mutant gang. He is taken back to Batcave so that Alfred could tend to his wounds and Mutant Leader is arrested. In custody, he kills Mayor and Jim Gordon schemes on luring that bastard in a fight in front of his gang. As his followers watched, Batman brutally cripples him down with tactics, humiliating him. While many are arrested, some of the Mutants start seeing The Dark Knight as a role model and calling themselves as "Sons of Batman".

Obsessed with Batman, the Clown Prince of Crime puts his plans on motion to meet his old friend once again and make his dramatic return. So, he escapes Arkham Asylum by killing his psychiatrist Bartholomew Wolper and every audience member from a reality show. Then he proceeds by torturing an elderly Selina Kyle, formerly Catwoman, leading Batman to face him for one last time. In a twisted way, his greatest villain delivered him one final blow that would mess him up badly and would set some events in motion. In an epic final showdown, he faces the Man of Steel, now a government agent sent to stop his reign.

For more information on The Dark Knight Returns, you can check out these links below.

 The Dark Knight Returns (Comics) Wikipedia

 The Dark Knight Returns (Comics) DC Wikia
dark knight joker
One Last Joke

Here is your links to buy “The Dark Knight Returns" from DC Comics in issues on Amazon.

 The Dark Knight Returns 01

 The Dark Knight Returns 02

 The Dark Knight Returns 03

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Here is your links to buy “The Dark Knight Returns" from DC Comics on Amazon.

The Dark Knight Returns (Softcover)

The Dark Knight Returns (Hardcover)

"The Dark Knight Returns" is a four issue mini-series published monthly by DC Comics in 1986. It was written and drawn by legendary comic-book creator Frank Miller (All-Star Batman and Robin, The Dark Knight III – The Master Race) and Klaus Janson. A direct sequel to this epic mini-series, "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" from same creator was later also published later in 2001. Nearly three decades after, Miller decided to complete his Dark Knight Trilogy by writing the third arc and completed Dark Knight III: The Master Race with artist Andy Kubert (Damian – Son of Batman, Flashpoint). He was also responsible for creating the definitive "Batman – Year One" story, which was critically praised.

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The Man of Steel Vs. The Dark Knight

The series also worked as a part of inspiration for director Christopher Nolan's 2012 release The Dark Knight Rises, a finale to his Batman trilogy starring actor Christian Bale. The story was later adapted for a two part animation movie titled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2012) from DC Universe Animated Original Movies line. The Dark Knight Returns heavily influenced director Zack Snyder to cast actor Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill respectively for portraying a near-similar brawl scene of World's Finest in his 2016's live-action superhero movie "Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice" from DC Extended Universe, which also features cameo appearance from Aquaman and a special appearance of Wonder Woman.
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