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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Cover of Issue #1
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Publication date	February – June 1986
No. of issues	4
Main character(s)	Batman Jim Gordon Carrie Kelley Two-Face Mutants Joker Superman
Creative team
Written by	Frank Miller
Penciller(s)	Frank Miller
Inker(s)	Klaus Janson
Letterer(s)	John Costanza
Colorist(s)	Lynn Varley
Editor(s)	Dick Giordano Dennis O'Neil
Collected editions
Trade Paperback	ISBN 0930289137
Hardcover	ISBN 0930289153
Trade Paperback (Warner Books)	ISBN 0446385050
Trade Paperback (Titan Books)	ISBN 0907610900
10th Anniversary Edition	ISBN 156389341X
2002 Edition	ISBN 156389341X
Absolute Edition	ISBN 1401210791
Noir	ISBN 1401255140
Deluxe Edition	ISBN 1401256910
30th Anniversary Edition	ISBN 1401263119
Book with Blu-ray & DVD set	ISBN 1401264271
Gallery Edition	ISBN 1401264433
Collector's Edition	ISBN 1401270131

The Dark Knight Returns (alternatively titled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) is a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, with color by Lynn Varley, and published by DC Comics. It tells an alternative story of Bruce Wayne, who at 55 years old returns from a decade of retirement to fight crime while facing opposition from the Gotham City police force and the United States government. The story also features the return of classic foes Two-Face and the Joker, and culminates in a confrontation with Superman, who is now a pawn of the government.

When originally published, the series was simply titled Batman: The Dark Knight, with a different title for each issue (The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Triumphant, Hunt the Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Falls), but when the series was collected into a single volume, the title of the first issue was applied to the entire series. Some of the earliest collected editions also bore the shorter series title. The story introduces Carrie Kelley as the new Robin and the hyper-violent street gang known as the Mutants. In the Pre-Flashpoint DC Multiverse, the events of The Dark Knight Returns and its associated titles were designated to occur on Earth-31.^[1]

The miniseries has since been followed by a number of sequels: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, and Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child. A one-shot prequel, Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, takes place ten years before the original series. Both Batman: Year One and All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, are considered by Miller to be canon. Likewise, Superman: Year One takes place in the Dark Knight universe.

The Dark Knight Returns is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential Batman stories ever made, as well as one of the greatest works of comic art in general, and has been noted for helping reintroduce a darker and more mature-oriented version of the character (and superheroes in general) to pop culture during the 1980s. Various elements of the series have since been incorporated into depictions of Batman in other media, while a direct animated adaptation of the story, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, was released as a two-part film across 2012 and 2013.

Plot[edit]

The Dark Knight Returns is set in a dystopian version of Gotham City in 1986. Bruce Wayne, aged 55,^[2] has given up the mantle of Batman after the death of Jason Todd ten years prior. Crime is running rampant throughout the city and a teenage gang calling themselves "The Mutants" has begun terrorizing the people of Gotham. After watching news reports about the Mutants' crimes, Wayne decides to return to his role as a vigilante. On his first night as Batman, he stops multiple assaults – including one on two young girls, Carrie Kelley and her friend Michelle – and targets the Mutants.

While foiling an armed robbery, Batman learns that the criminals are working for Harvey Dent. Previously known as Two-Face, Dent underwent extensive therapy and plastic surgery to reenter society before disappearing. Batman informs close to retirement Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon that Dent may be planning a larger scheme. Soon after, Dent announces his intention to hold Gotham ransom with a bomb. After Batman defeats Dent and his goons, he discovers that Dent's mind has completely warped into his Two-Face persona.

Inspired by Batman, Kelley buys an imitation Robin costume and searches for him. Batman attacks the Mutants at the city dump with the Batmobile, but the Mutant Leader goads him into a hand-to-hand fight. Batman, due to his age and a decade of physical inactivity, is beaten and almost killed. Kelley creates a diversion that allows her and Batman to return to the Batcave, where Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth tends to his wounds. Impressed with her bravery, Wayne decides to make Kelley his new protegee. Batman strategically defeats the Mutant Leader in a fight surrounded by the Mutants. Seeing Batman defeat their leader, most of the Mutants disband into smaller gangs. One of these gangs renames itself the "Sons of the Batman", using excessive violence against criminals.

At the White House, Superman and current President Ronald Reagan discuss the events in Gotham, with the latter suggesting that Batman may have to be arrested. Clark Kent talks with Wayne and is then deployed by Washington to the Latin American country of Corto Maltese, where he fights Soviet combat forces in a conflict that may escalate into World War III.

Gordon's successor as commissioner, Captain Ellen Yindel, declares Batman a wanted criminal for his vigilante activities. Batman's return stimulates his archenemy, Joker, to awaken from catatonia at Arkham Asylum. Joker manipulates his caretakers to allow him onto a television talk show, where he murders everyone with Joker venom and escapes. Batman and Robin (Kelley) track him to a county fair while evading a Gotham police pursuit. Batman fights Joker, vowing to stop him permanently, feeling responsible for every murder the villain has committed. Batman paralyzes the Joker but is unable to take his life. Disappointed with Batman's refusal to kill him, Joker breaks his own neck and dies.

A citywide manhunt for Batman begins. Elsewhere, Superman diverts a Soviet nuclear warhead which detonates in a desert, nearly killing him in the process, and survives only by absorbing the sun's energy from the plants in a nearby jungle. The United States is hit by an electromagnetic pulse as a result and descends into chaos during the following blackout. In Gotham, Batman and Robin turn the remaining Mutants and Sons of the Batman into a non-lethal vigilante gang, making Gotham the safest city in the country. The U.S. government orders Superman to take Batman into custody. Superman demands to meet Batman, and Wayne chooses Crime Alley.

Superman tries to reason with Batman, but Batman uses his technological inventions to fight him on equal ground. During the battle, Superman compromises Batman's exoframe. However, an aging Oliver Queen manages to shoot Superman with a kryptonite-tipped arrow to weaken him. Standing over the defeated Superman, Batman has a sudden heart attack, apparently dying. Alfred destroys the Batcave and Wayne Manor before suffering a fatal stroke, exposing Batman as Bruce Wayne, whose fortune has disappeared. After Wayne's funeral, it is revealed that his death was staged using a chemical that suspended his vital life signs. Clark attends the funeral and winks at the disguised Carrie after hearing Wayne's heartbeat. Some time afterward, Bruce Wayne leads Robin, Queen, and the rest of his followers into the caverns beyond the Batcave and prepares to continue his war on crime.

Characters[edit]

• Bruce Wayne / Batman: Bruce Wayne is 55 years old and has been retired from his Batman persona for a decade. When he sees violence becoming more common not just in Gotham City but also the world, he feels a strong desire to return as Batman and emerges from his depression.
• Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne's trusted butler, medic, and confidant; now in his 80s.
• Carrie Kelley / Robin: A 13-year-old girl with absentee parents, who later becomes Batman's sidekick, Robin. Throughout the story, she is frequently mistaken for the former "Boy Wonder". After she saves the Dark Knight's life, the aging Batman places his trust in her against Alfred's wishes.
• James "Jim" Gordon: The elderly Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, who retires on his 70th birthday. He is aware of Batman's true identity.
• Harvey Dent / Two-Face: Having spent 12 years in Arkham Asylum, Harvey Dent has been treated by Doctor Wolper for three years and his face has been repaired with plastic surgery. Dent's doctor gives him a clean bill of mental health, but he is still Two-Face in his mind. Dent terrorizes the city with his face swathed in bandages as he now perceives both sides of his face as scarred.
• Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime and Batman's archenemy, who has been in a catatonic state at Arkham Asylum since the latter's retirement and awakens from it upon learning of his re-emergence. He plans a violent crime spree to draw out Batman, setting in motion the events leading to their final confrontation.
• The Mutant Leader: The ambitious, brutal, and albino head of the Mutants, who seeks to control Gotham and kill anyone who opposes him.
• Dr. Bartholomew Wolper: Two-Face and Joker's psychiatrist and opponent of Batman's "fascist" vigilantism. Wolper is convinced that the Joker and Two-Face are both victims of Batman's crusade. He is killed by the Joker's robot doll, which snaps Wolper's neck then floods the television studio they're in with poisonous gas.
• Ellen Yindel: James Gordon's successor as Commissioner. A captain in the Gotham City Police Department, she is a critic of Batman, but begins to doubt herself after the Joker's crime spree.
• The Mayor of Gotham City: The weak-willed and inept unnamed mayor of Gotham City. He tries to negotiate peace with the Mutant Leader at the time he was in police custody, only to be killed by him.
• Deputy Mayor Stevenson: The deputy mayor of Gotham City, who later becomes the new mayor after the former mayor is killed by the Mutant Leader. He states that Commissioner Ellen Yindel will decide how to act with Batman.
• Ronald Reagan: The President of the United States. He instructs Superman to deal with Batman in Gotham City.
• Oliver Queen: After superheroes are outlawed, Queen undertakes a clandestine rebellion against government oppression, including the sinking of a nuclear submarine. He lost his left arm after an encounter with Superman. Despite this disability, Queen is still a highly skilled marksman.
• Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman: Superman is now an agent of the U.S. government and his secret identity as the former Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent is publicly known. In his inner thoughts, he despises being a government tool, but he believes it is the only way he can save lives in this day and age. Because of his Kryptonian physique, his aging process is slower than his former allies', which is one of the reasons why he is no longer able to hide his secret identity. In the final climax, Superman battles Batman in a final attempt to rid the government of his opposition but is weakened by a Kryptonite arrow fired by Queen, allowing an armored Batman to stand up to him.
• Selina Kyle: No longer the Catwoman, Selina Kyle now runs an escort business.
• Lana Lang: The managing editor of the Daily Planet who is an outspoken supporter of Batman, appearing on a series of TV debates in which she argues with others over his methods and influence.
• Dave Endochrine: A late-night talk show host who invites the Joker and Dr. Wolper on his show; he and his audience are later killed by the Joker's poisonous gas. He is a characterization of David Letterman.
• Lola Chong: A Gotham City news anchor who serves as the story's main talking head, providing exposition and narration in the form of her reporting.
• Bruno: The leader of a group of neo-Nazi criminals. Working for the Joker, she battles Batman and Robin but is caught by Superman.
• Fat Abner: The Joker's hulking henchman. He builds bombs for Two-Face that he sabotages on the Joker's orders, then robotic dolls armed with explosives and poison gas in order to kill the Joker's TV audience and terrorize the county fair; he attacks Robin on the fair's roller coaster tracks, and is accidentally killed in the fight.
• Rob and Don: Two Mutants who are among the members of the gang tricked by Robin into witnessing Batman's defeat of their leader at a sewage runoff pit. Because of this they switch allegiances to Bruno and join her in robbing a liquor store, but are easily taken out by Batman.
• The Sons of Batman (S.O.B.): A group of teenagers who were formerly Mutants. They become vigilante followers of Batman after witnessing him defeat their leader, although they are unruly and violent, taking overly severe measures to punish criminals and even some civilians.

Background and creation[edit]

Since the 1950s, when the Comics Code Authority was established, the character of Batman had drifted from his darker, more serious roots. It was not until the 1970s when the character began to feature in darker stories once again; however, Batman was still commonly associated with the campy theme of the 1960s Batman TV series, and was regarded more as a father figure to Robin rather than as his original identity as a vigilante.^[3]

In the early 1980s, DC Comics promoted Batman group editor Dick Giordano to editorial director for the company.^[4] Writer-artist Frank Miller was recruited to create The Dark Knight Returns. Giordano said he worked with Miller on the story's plot, and said, "[t]he version that was finally done was about his fourth or fifth draft. The basic storyline was the same but there were a lot of detours along the way."^[5]

"With Batman, you've got a character that you can describe in just a few seconds: His parents were murdered by criminals; he's warring on crime for the rest of his life," Miller explained in the documentary Comic Book Confidential. "He was created in 1938, and the character was just ruthless in his methods, terrifying to criminals. Over the years, that got softened and softened, because people started thinking that comics had to be just for kids... and Batman had to be made much nicer. And eventually, no kid could relate to him anymore."^[6]

During the creation of the series, fellow comics writer/artist John Byrne told Miller, "Robin must be a girl", and Miller agreed.^[7] Miller said that the comic series' plot was inspired by Dirty Harry, specifically the 1983 film Sudden Impact, in which Dirty Harry returns to crime-fighting after a lengthy convalescence.^{[citation needed]} The series employed a 16-panel grid for its pages. Each page was composed of either a combination of 16 panels, or anywhere between sixteen and one panel per page.^[8] Giordano left the project halfway through because of disagreements over production deadlines. Comics historian Les Daniels wrote that Miller's idea of ignoring deadlines was "the culmination of the quest towards artistic independence".^[9]

While the comic's ending features Batman faking his death and leading up the Sons of Batman to continue with his crusade against crime, symbolizing that Bruce Wayne dies but Batman lives on, this wasn't the original intention. During the MCM London Comic Con 2018, Miller revealed that in his original plans for the ending of The Dark Knight Returns, Batman was going to be gunned down by the police while fighting them, but the story got away from him and changed his mind.^[10]

The issues of The Dark Knight Returns were presented in packaging that included extra pages, square binding, and glossy paper to highlight the watercolor paintings by colorist Lynn Varley.^[11]

Collected editions[edit]

The entire series has been collected in trade paperbacks, hardcovers, an absolute edition, a noir edition, and a deluxe edition.

• Trade paperback (ISBN 0930289137) and hardcover (ISBN 0930289153), DC Comics, 1986.
• Trade paperback (ISBN 0446385050), Warner Books, 1986.
• Trade paperback (ISBN 0907610900), Titan Books, 1986.
• 10th Anniversary Edition, trade paperback (ISBN 1563893428) and hardcover (ISBN 156389341X), DC Comics, 1996.
• 10th Anniversary Edition, trade paperback (ISBN 1852867981) and hardcover (ISBN 1852867884), Titan Books, 1997.
• 2002 Edition, trade paperback (ISBN 1563893428) and hardcover (ISBN 156389341X), DC Comics, 2002. (Note that the ISBN numbers share the same numbers as the 10th anniversary edition.)
• Absolute Edition, hardcover (ISBN 1401210791), DC Comics, 2006.
• Noir Edition, hardcover (ISBN 1401255140), DC Comics, 2015.
• Dark Knight Saga Deluxe Edition, hardcover (ISBN 1401256910), DC Comics, 2015.
• 30th Anniversary Edition, trade paperback (ISBN 1401263119), DC Comics, 2016.
• Book with Blu-ray & DVD set, hardcover (ISBN 1401264271), DC Comics, 2016.
• Gallery Edition, hardcover (ISBN 1401264433), DC Comics, 2016.
• Collector's Edition, hardcover (ISBN 1401270131), DC Comics, 2016.

Reception[edit]

Despite the cost of the single-issue packaging, The Dark Knight Returns sold well.^[11] Pricing it at $2.95 an issue, DC Comics promoted The Dark Knight Returns as a "thought-provoking action story". Time said the series' depiction of a "semi-retired Batman [who] is unsure about his crime-fighting abilities" was an example of trying to appeal to "today's skeptical readers".^[12] More than one million comics were printed.^[13]

Retrospectively, the series is today widely considered one of the greatest works in the comic medium. IGN Comics ranked The Dark Knight Returns first on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels and called The Dark Knight Returns "a true masterpiece of storytelling" with "[s]cene after unforgettable scene."^[14] In 2005, Time chose the collected edition as one of the 10 best English language graphic novels ever written.^[15] Forbidden Planet placed the collected issue at number one on its "50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels" list.^[16] Writer Matthew K. Manning in the "1980s" chapter of DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle (2010) called the series "arguably the best Batman story of all time."^[3] It was placed second in a poll among comic book academics conducted by the Sequart Organization.^[17]

The series also garnered some negative reviews. In April 2010, Nicolas Slayton from Comics Bulletin ranked The Dark Knight Returns second in his Tuesday Top Ten feature's Top 10 Overrated Comic Books behind Watchmen. Slayton wrote, "[t]here is no central plot to the comic, leaving only a forced fight scene between Superman and Batman as an out of place climax to the story." "Gone are the traits that define Batman," he said, also citing "misuse of the central character."^[18]

Influence[edit]

The immense popularity of The Dark Knight Returns served both to return the character of Batman to a central role in pop culture, but also (along with Watchmen) started the era known as the Dark Age of Comic Books (also known as the Modern Age and the Iron Age).^[19] The grim, seedy versions of Gotham and Batman updated the character's identity from the campy Adam West version from the 1960s Batman TV series, and proved critically and commercially successful enough that a new wave of "dark" superheroes were either created or re-popularized, and preexisting heroes were redesigned or retooled to fit this new trend.^{[citation needed]}

The Dark Knight Returns was one of the two comic books, alongside Watchmen, that inspired designer Vincent Connare when he created the Comic Sans font.^[20]

Sequels, prequels, and spin-offs[edit]

Batman: Year One (1987)[edit]

• Writer: Frank Miller; Artist: David Mazzucchelli
• The story recounts Batman's first year as a crime-fighter as well as exploring the life of recently transferred Gotham police detective James Gordon – eventually building towards their first encounter and their eventual alliance against Gotham's criminal underworld. The story is considered canon to the mainstream DC Universe as well as Frank Miller's own Dark Knight Universe.

Spawn/Batman (1994)[edit]

• Writer:
  Posted on September 5, 2008

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