The Next Batman Movie Will Finally Adapt The Dark Knight's Greatest Storyline

Of all the superheroes who’ve made their mark on the big screen, Batman is one of the few that Hollywood rarely seems to get tired of. The Dark Knight’s been the focus of multiple silver screen adventures, ranging from Tim Burton‘s gothic, gripping vision of Gotham to Christopher Nolan‘s more grounded character studies. Batman also thrives in animation, with plenty of animated series and movies to his name; one could even argue that the greatest Batman movie of all time is animated, if you talk with fans of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. A new trilogy of Batman animated movies is slated to debut starting this year, and it’ll adapt a story that fans of the Caped Crusader have been waiting to see for years.

Batman: Knightfall — Part 1 will adapt the first part of the sprawling “Knightfall” storyline, which pushed Batman to his limits by introducing one of his deadliest foes: the masked mastermind known only as Bane. Wanting to take Gotham City for himself, Bane breaks into Arkham Asylum and frees all of its prisoners, which leads Batman into a series of physically and mentally taxing conflicts. While The Dark Knight Rises previously adapted elements of Knightfall, this new trilogy intends to bring the entire storyline to life, even gathering a top tier cast that includes Anson Mount as Batman and Michael Mando as Bane.

‘Batman: Knightfall’ Was One of Two Storylines That Radically Reshaped the DC Universe

Knightfall helped establish multiple elements that are still present in DC Comics’ current slate of Batman titles; chief among them is the idea of a crossover spanning all of those titles that usually pits Batman against one of his deadliest foes, like “City of Bane” by Tom King, Tony S. Daniel and Mikel Janin that features another major confrontation between Batman and Bane, or the upcoming “Bad Seeds” storyline where Poison Ivy will unlease an extinction-level event in Gotham City. Knightfall also features one of the most shocking moments in comic book history, where Bane defeats Batman in battle and breaks his back. What made this storyline even more impactful is that it took place around the same time as The Death of Superman, meaning that longtime comic book fans had to watch Superman die and Batman get beaten into a bloody pulp.

Even more shocking was the fact that a new successor to the Batman mantle would take Bruce Wayne’s place: Jean-Paul Valley, the former assassin known as Azrael. Valley manages to defeat Bane with the help of a mechanically augmented Batsuit, but starts to grow more violent and erratic due to the conditioning he underwent at the hands of the Order of St. Dumas. Bruce Wayne, having been healed through supernatural means (because comics) eventually returns to Gotham and trains himself into fighting shape so he can take back his mantle from Valley. Dennis O’Neil, who helped conceive the Knightfall storyline, would later confirm that Valley’s tenure as Batman was meant to serve as commentary on the antihero trend that permeated 90s-era comics.

“We’d been wondering for a long, long time, with his stricture against killing and his Boy Scout morality, if our hero was outmoded…So instead of continuing to avoid the question, we decided to confront it and put out there a Batman who was as genuinely nuts as our Batman was sometimes accused of being.”

‘Batman: Knightfall’ Is Finally Giving One Robin A Much-Needed Spotlight

When Batman: Knightfall — Part 1 premieres, it will see Batman working side by side with Tim Drake, who was Robin at the time. This is a major deal because Tim is rarely depicted in most media. Most of this is due to other adaptations choosing to zero in on Dick Grayson, who eventually becomes Nightwing; Jason Todd, who dies and is reborn as the violent vigilante Red Hood; or Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s biological son and the grandson of Ra’s al Ghul. Most people forget that what makes Tim a compelling character is that he willingly chose to be Robin, and helped pull Batman out of a dark place. With most heroes choosing to be heroes after suffering a tragic event, that makes Tim a truly refreshing character.

The Batman: Knightfall trilogy might be one of the rare Batman adaptations that will please longtime fans and newcomers alike. Its first installment is receiving rave reviews out of the Annecy Festival, and with an R-rating it’s bound to push the boundaries of what a Batman film can be. Bane may have “broken the Bat”, but Batman’s silver screen streak remains untarnished.