DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, THE 139
resulting showdown between DC’s
two fl agship heroes ends when
Batman, using superior intellect
and strategy, defeats Superman, and
then lapses into a death-like coma
caused by chemicals of his own
devising. Robin and the remaining
Sons of Batman dig him up later,
and they retire to the caves beneath
the now-destroyed Wayne manor
to begin planning and training for
new campaigns against crime and
injustice.
Although its narrative occurs
outside of the established DC
continuity, Th e Dark Knight
Returns helped establish a grittier,
darker style of comics that would
prevail, not only in DC’s various
Batman titles, but in the industry
as a whole. Frank Miller’s noir tone
greatly infl uenced major Batman
writers like Jeph Loeb and Chuck
Dixon. It also paved the way for
events like the death of the second
Robin, Jason Todd, as well as Bar-
bara Gordon’s/ Batgirl’s paralysis
and brutalizing at the hands of
the Joker. Th e dark, nightmar-
ish Gotham City of Th e Dark Knight Returns greatly infl uenced the look of both Tim
Burton’s and Christopher Nolan’s Batman fi lms, particularly Nolan’s Batman Begins,
which very self-consciously adapted scenes from Miller’s Batman: Year One.
Along with Alan Moore’s Watchmen, which appeared the same year, Th e Dark
Knight Returns also contributed to a growing unease with the traditional representations
of superheroes in popular culture. Miller’s Batman remains a dedicated crimefi ghter, but
Miller’s narrative also questions just how much Batman may be responsible for inspiring
the various criminals he opposes, such as the Joker, Two-Face, or even the Mutant gang.
His willingness to ignore the law and endanger a young girl as his sidekick casts all of his
triumphs in a somewhat unstable light.
Miller seems to reserve most of his criticism, however, for Superman, who appears
as a naïve and somewhat bumbling “yes” man, now become the tool of American hege-
mony. Seeming to represent America itself, Superman takes orders from a very Ronald
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, story and art by Frank
Miller (1986). DC Comics Inc./Photofest
