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[[File:dark-knight-returns.jpg|frame]]
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'''''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns''''' is a four-issue [[Batman]] comic book miniseries written and drawn by [[Frank Miller]] and published by [[DC Comics]] from February to June 1986.
In this storyline, Batman has been retired for ten years, alcoholic and consumed with grief after the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin<ref>a full ''two years'' before ''A Death in the Family'', mind you</ref>. [[Superman]], still as young and handsome as ever, has become little more than an icon, answering to the government and trying to stay as neutral as possible. Commissioner Gordon is weeks away from retirement, [[The Joker]] has been silently locked away in Arkham for years, and Two-Face is about to be released back into the world with a brand new skin. In Batman's absence, and in the midst of a killer heat wave, Gotham City is overrun with crime, plagued by a monstrously violent gang known as The Mutants. After encountering a Mutant gang in the alley where his parents were murdered, Bruce Wayne resurrects Batman, aided in his renewed crusade by Carrie Kelly, a 13-year-old girl who becomes the third Robin. Defeating the Mutants, though, turns out to be child's play compared to what Batman faces next...
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Since its release, a number of Miller's Batman-related works have tied into TDKR in one way or another:
* In 1987 Miller did ''[[Batman: Year One]]'' with David Mazzucchelli during his one-arc-long run in the main ''Batman'' book. Though it was supposed to be the origin of New Earth's Batman, [[Word of God]] says that it was written so that it could also serve as a prequel to DKR.
* In 1994 the much ignored ''Spawn/Batman'' came out, written by Miller and drawn by Todd McFarlane. It was an (ill-advised) crossover between the [[Spawn]] Universe and the Dark Knight Universe and [[Canon]] to both, whose only tie to TDKR was that it showed where Batman got the technology that he would use to build his power suit...and that's only a couple of pages.
* In 2001 and 2002, Miller produced a sequel, ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]]''. It was more set ''around'' Batman than ''about'' Batman, being closer to a [[Justice League]] story or even a Superman story than a Batman story.
* In 2005 to 2008, Miller wrote a prequel, ''[[All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder]],'' which was even more controversially received than ''Strikes Again''. Though it's been on hiatus the series will return under the name ''Dark Knight: Boy Wonder''.
The series itself finally received a "proper" adaptation in the form of a [[DC Universe Original Animated Movies]]-line [[The Dark Knight Returns (film)|film adaptation]], the 15th in the series. ([[Movie Multipack|A two-parter, no less!) Part 1 was released September 25, 2012, and Part 2 was released January 29, 2013; a deluxe edition combining both films was released on October 8, 2013.
----▼
Not to be confused with ''[[Batman Returns]]'' or ''[[Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders]]''.
* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: The gigantic leader of the Mutant gang is behind bars awaiting trial. Batman knows that being in prison won't hurt his gang cred one bit (it helps that the Mutant leader spends his free time annoying the prison guards and bragging about what kind of havoc he will make when he gets out, instead of showing remorse) -- to break the Mutant gang, you must literally ''break'' its leader. Thus, he and Gordon arrange for the leader to escape via the prison air vents and meet Batman for a mud pit duel. ▼
* [[Arc Words]]: ▼
▲----
{{tropelist}}
▲* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: The gigantic leader of the Mutant gang is behind bars awaiting trial. Batman knows that being in prison won't hurt his gang cred one bit (it helps that the Mutant leader spends his free time annoying the prison guards and bragging about what kind of havoc he will make when he gets out, instead of showing remorse) -- to break the Mutant gang, you must literally ''break'' its leader. Thus, he and Gordon arrange for the leader to escape via the prison air vents and meet Batman for a mud pit duel.
** For Batman: "Lucky" and "This would be a ___ death."
** For Gordon: "I think of Sarah. The rest is easy."
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* [[The Alcoholic]]: Dialogue from Gordon and Alfred at the start of the series suggests that Bruce is dangerously close to becoming one.
* [[Anime Hair]]: [[Coincidental Broadcast|TV reporter]] Lola Wong. See [[Fashionable Asymmetry]].
* [[Anti-Hero]]:
** Batman is a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|type IV]]
** The Sons Of Batman are [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type V]].
* [[Ax Crazy]]:
** The Mutants, especially their leader, and The Sons of the Batman once The Mutants are no more.
** There's also the Joker, who is depicted as having a love/hate fixation on Batman that he feeds with his indiscriminate killing.
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* [[Badass Boast]]:
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** [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Which is quickly answered in kind]]:
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* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Batman, obviously, but also Jim Gordon, [[Green Arrow]] and even Alfred to some extent. And less sympathetically, the Joker too.
* [[Badass Normal]]: [[Batman|Do you need to ask?]]
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* [[Bulletproof Vest]]: See [[Chest Insignia]] below.
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: A variant, from Alfred after Bruce waxes on about Carrie's qualities as Robin:
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** It turns into a subversion, though, as Bruce pretty much blows him off.
* [[Casa Lane Parenting]]: Carrie's parents seem to have trouble remembering that she even exists.
* [[Chest Insignia]]: [[Justified Trope|Turns out it's bulletproof.]]
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* [[Civilian Villain]]: Happens twice, when the same psychiatrist [[What an Idiot!|declares Two-Face and the Joker legally sane]].
* [[Coincidental Broadcast]]: Used throughout for [[Exposition]].
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]:
** The Mutant leader puts his claw-like fingernails and filed teeth to good use in {{spoiler|the first fight against Batman}}.
** Batman becomes one in {{spoiler|his second fight with the Mutant leader}}, since brute force failed spectacularly the first time.
* [[Comic Book Time]]: Averted. Part of the inspiration was Frank Miller wondering "What if Batman actually got older after taking up crimefighting in the '40s?"
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: C'mon now. Batman, Alfred for being so up in the years, still serving ''and'' snarky, Jim Gordon, and even the Joker in a dark and nasty way.
* [[Could Have Been Messy]]: Averted. Sharp Batarangs are sharp no matter what they hit.
* [[Crapsack World]]
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Well of course. You do know who this comic is about right?
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: {{spoiler|Batman's second fight with the Mutant leader.}}
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* [[Deconstruction]]: Batman's tactics spur debates on toughness on crime, while Superman's idealism makes him an ideal government cat's paw. The story also deconstructs many elements of Batman's mythos, particularly Batman's potential craziness, as well as showing what kind of [[Crapsack World|world]] would make Batman not only possible, but necessary.
* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Happens to Batman and Superman a lot but Batman's X Ray seeking missiles wouldn't be able to tell Superman from anyone else normally because Superman's X-Ray Vision doesn't actually emit X-Rays <ref> not since the [[Golden Age]] when they pulled double duty as his [[Eye Beam]] attack.</ref>
* [[Doesn't Like Guns]]: Both played straight and subverted. In issue 4, Batman invokes the trope in his speech to the Sons of the Batman:
{{quote|
** That being said, he will use them when they're necessary. In the first issue, he uses a rifle to shoot a grappling line between the Gotham Towers to {{spoiler|confront Two-Face and his henchmen}}. In the fourth issue, he uses {{spoiler|Commissioner Yindel's}} gun to shoot some plastic explosive. He also gets pushed into using one when taking on {{spoiler|three Mutant kidnappers who have a toddler as a hostage. The confrontation culminates with Batman pointing one of the Mutant's guns (a frigging [[BFG|M60 GPMG]]) at the last kidnapper, who is holding the hostage at gunpoint.}}
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{{spoiler|'''Batman''': (Shoots the
* {{spoiler|[[Defeating the Undefeatable]]}}: {{spoiler|Batman beats Superman.}}
* [[The Eighties]]: A lot of the action and political commentary stems from real-world politics of the period, in particular {{spoiler|the U.S.-Soviet arms race, which comes to a head in part four}}.
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* [[Fat Girl]]: {{spoiler|'''Lana Lang.'''}} [[I Was Quite a Looker]] is averted, though, as her usual depiction is never addressed.
* [[Flatline Plotline]]
* [[Foe Yay]]:
** Let's not talk about the [[Brain Bleach|Joker/Batman subtext here]]. More specifically, the Joker seems to be absolutely convinced he and Batman have [[Foe Yay]] going on. Batman does not agree.
** There's also a bit of subtext to the imagery of Batman analyzing the Mutant leader before their first fight, although he's completely clinical in his internal dialogue.
{{quote|
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: A psychiatrist blames Batman for making the Joker into a raving loon. {{spoiler|He might have a point, but the Joker kills him.}}
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: S<ref>ons</ref>O<ref>f</ref>B<ref>atman</ref>s.
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* [[Gang of Hats]]: The Mutants and their various splinter groups.
* [[Good News, Bad News]]: The President has a very cheerful way of telling the American People about the dangers of nuclear fallout.
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* [[Grandfather Clause]]: The Bat-signal is discussed here.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Happens to {{spoiler|Batman at the foot of the Mutant leader during their first fight}}.
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* [[Go Out with a Smile]]: {{spoiler|Joker, in one of the most disturbing examples.}}
* [[Hall of Mirrors]]
* [[Handicapped Badass]]: See [[Improbable Aiming Skills]] below.
* [[A Handful for
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: {{spoiler|The Joker}} hits Batman with one just before {{spoiler|killing himself}}.
* [[He's Back]]: ...and ''how''.
{{quote|
* [[Heat Wave]]
* [[Heroic BSOD]] / [[Despair Event Horizon]]: In the first issue, Bruce, lost in thought, wanders to the spot where his parents were killed and is confronted by Mutants. Their dialogue, casually referring to killing Bruce, having a ''quota'' for murders, and then dismissing Bruce as their target because he's "into it", shakes Bruce to his core, as he's been equating them to his parents' killer up to that point.
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* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Batman knows that {{spoiler|it's best if he just shoots the Mutant leader in the dump}}, but he can't bring himself to cross that line... and it nearly gets him killed.
* [[Hulk Speak]]: The Mutant leader's dialogue.
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* [[The Insomniac]]: The Joker's insomnia is addressed here.
* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: The [[Green Arrow]] is better than you at archery even with one arm... in the dark... in the rain... ''hanging upside down''.
* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Selina Kyle didn't age well. {{spoiler|The Joker notices.}}
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: One of the Mutant leader's [[Catch Phrase|Catch Phrases]] is his boasts that he will eat Batman's heart.
* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]:
** In one instance, Batman scares a perp (the one who had the page quote applied to him earlier on) into talking simply by {{spoiler|walking toward him; the perp falls through a window trying to get away, injuring himself, and talks after Batman tells him that he's the only person who can save him from bleeding to death.}}
** In another instance, he {{spoiler|hangs an unconscious Mutant upside-down from a gargoyle at the top of a skyscraper, puts a hand over the Mutant's face, and slowly moves his hand away when the Mutant wakes up and tries to cut a deal}}. What makes this even more effective is that the reader doesn't realize all this until it's all said and done; the sequence is drawn from the Mutant's perspective.
{{quote|
* [[Jekyll and Hyde]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|Recent breakthroughs in plastic surgery restore Two-Face's appearance, but at the unforeseen cost of forever destroying the good-natured "Harvey" half of the personality and leaving the criminal "Face" in complete control.}}
{{quote|
'''Batman (internal)''' : The scars go deep... too deep. Not fooled by sight, I see him... as he ''is''. (''the panel shows Dent with his entire head a monstrous ruin'')
'''Batman:''' I see... a reflection, Harvey. A reflection. (''the next panel shows a bat's snarling face'') }}
** What makes this scene even more powerful is that Two-Face is the only one of Batman's enemies in the story that he is sympathetic to, as he funded Harvey's surgery and rehabilitation efforts and knows what it's like to be living a dichotomy (Bruce Wayne/Batman vs. Harvey Dent/Two-Face). For bonus points, in ''Batman: Year One'' which occupies the same universe as this book, it's made clear that Harvey Dent was one of Batman's closest allies and friends early in his career.
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* [[Man Bites Man]]: The Mutant leader puts his filed teeth to good use against Batman {{spoiler|and the mayor}}.
* [[Media Watchdogs]]: The public broadcast of the Mutant Leader's video after his capture is cut off after a few sentences... with good reason.
{{quote|
'''Newscaster''': The rest of the Mutant leader's statement is unfit for broadcast. }}
* [[
* [[Mistimed Revival]]
* [[Monster Clown]]: It should be [[The Joker|obvious]] at this point.
* [[Necessary Evil]]: During the transition between retiring Commissioner Gordon and his incoming replacement, Yindel, she asks him how he could stand by as a vigilante operated in Gotham. He replied referring to the speculation that [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] might have let [[Pearl Harbor]] happen in order to get the US into WWII and defeat the greater evil. He said he gave up thinking on it when he realized the whole thing was 'too big' for him to contemplate. {{spoiler|During the riots after the bomb, Batman rallies the rioting ex-members of The Mutants outside the jail by sheer force of will, and harnesses them to help bring order to the chaos. When one of the officers present asks Yindel if they should do something, she replies, "No. He's too big." realizing that his actions were better than letting them run wild.}}
* [[Neck Snap]]: Self-inflicted, no less.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: While Batman's return helps save Gotham from the [[Crapsack World]] it has become in his absence, it also causes the Joker to snap out of his 10 years of catatonia and gives him a motive to return to crime.
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* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: {{spoiler|Batman's first fight with the Mutant leader. Robin's intervention is the only thing that saves Batman from getting killed.}}
* [[Oh Crap]]: The Joker realizes Batman isn't screwing around this time when {{spoiler|he gets a batarang [[Eye Scream|in the eye]].}}
{{quote|
'''Batman (internal monologue)''' : No, Joker. You're playing the wrong game. The ''old'' game. Tonight you're taking no hostages. Tonight I'm taking no prisoners.
{{spoiler|1=<nowiki>*cue batarangs*</nowiki>}}
'''Joker''' (''runs away shooting wildly''): Out of your ''mind--'' }}
* [[Older Hero vs. Younger Villain]]
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* [[Powered Armor]]: Used (among other things) to fight [[Superman]].
* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]: A variation, in that it's the '''winner''' of the climactic battle that delivers it just before he dies.
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* [[Recurring Extra]]:
** The...ill-tempered ([[The Sociopath|to put it mildly]]) Byron Brassballs, who both encounters Superman (who saved the handicapped man Byron had ''knocked onto the train tracks'') and later plays a role in the Gotham riots...{{spoiler|and in a nice bit of Karmic retribution, gets his ass profoundly kicked by Batman.}}
** You could arguably count Rob and Don here, too. They keep running into Batman but hardly play a significant role in the story.
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* [[Rule of Three]]: Batman tells Robin that if she disobeys, she'll be fired. She disobeys three times, but the third time, she saves his life.
* [[Servile Snarker]]: Alfred has always been this, but in TDKR he takes it [[Up to Eleven]].
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** Corto Maltese is a shout out to an Italian comic book by that name. Strangely, the name was used in the 1989 ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' movie as an apparent [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' without recognizing that it was already a [[Shout-Out]].
** There is also a reference to a porn star named "Hot Gates". In Greek, "Hot Gates" is translated "Thermopylae," the setting of [[300|another]] of Frank Miller's creations. However, since ''300'' wasn't released for another twelve years, the reference ''here'' is to [[The 300 Spartans]], an older film that was a favorite of Miller's, and inspired him to write ''300''.
*** Except that The 300 Spartans never used the phrase 'Hot Gates'. The reference is to both the literal translation of Thermopylae and William Golding's (now out of print) collection of essays 'The Hot Gates and other occasional places'.
** Batman's sarcastic internal monologue describing Superman quotes, of all things, ''[[Monty Pythons Meaning of Life]]''.
* [[Silent Scapegoat]]
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]:
** One interpretation of Batman in this story, especially in the later chapters. [[Alan Moore]]'s introduction in one printing of the TPB specifically noted that one interpretation of Batman was "revenge-driven psychopath."
** A '''very''' generous interpretation of the Sons of Batman.
* [[Split Personality Takeover]]: Happens to {{spoiler|Two-Face after getting reconstructive surgery}}.
* [[Spotlight-Stealing Title]]: ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was originally released as ''Batman: The Dark Knight'', with "The Dark Knight Returns" being the first issue's title.
* [[Standing Between the Enemies]]: Batman does this with a [[Big No]] that occupies an entire panel.
* [[Stock Subtitle]]: "Returns."
* [[A Storm Is Coming]]
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* [[Strawman Political]]: Features vapidly meaningless strawmen for all parts of the political spectrum. Because, of course, [[Golden Mean Fallacy|that's how you make a valid point, right?]]
* [[Super Registration Act]]: Superman gets strong-armed into working for the government.
* [[Take That]]:
* [[Tank Goodness]]: This version of the Batmobile, which would go on to be an inspiration for the Tumbler in [[The Dark Knight Trilogy]]. It's got treads. It's got armor strong enough that "the only thing I know of that can cut through its hide isn't from this planet." <ref>He's referring to Superman, who proves the point in short order in the fourth issue</ref>. It's got machine guns. {{spoiler|"Rubber bullets. Honest."}} It's got at least two decent-sized artillery pieces. It takes up three lanes on the highway. It even has a gyro-stabilized medical bed and can be piloted home by Alfred. It's a god-damned Bat-Tank. ▼
** A barely disguised version of [[Ronald Reagan]] is the president of a dystopic United States where vigilantism was repressed with extreme violence and crime has skyrocketed in its absence. Reagan is also well known for implementing heavy laws on gun control on California as governor, an pretty obvious parallel to vigilantes who try to resolve what the police can't or will not. One may say it's not even dystopic: Miller was just displaying what he thought of eighties' America where homicide rates were breaking records and Reagan had imposed laws that made people unprotected against violence.
** The Mutants can be seen as a [[Take That]] to "angsty", rebellious teen superheroes made popular by [[Marvel Comics]]. They're named the Mutants ([[Stan Lee]]'s working title for ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''), they wear red shades that look a lot like [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Cyclops']] visor, and they despise adult authority figures. They form a perfect contrast to Batman, who's the epitome of the "traditional" DC superhero—an adult superhero who's driven and fearless, and has zero tolerance for crime.
▲* [[Tank Goodness]]: This version of the Batmobile, which would go on to be an inspiration for the Tumbler in [[The Dark Knight Trilogy]]. It's got treads. It's got armor strong enough that "the only thing I know of that can cut through its hide isn't from this planet." <ref>He's referring to Superman, who proves the point in short order in the fourth issue</ref>. It's got machine guns. {{spoiler|"Rubber bullets. Honest."}} It's got at least two decent-sized artillery pieces. It takes up three lanes on the highway. It even has a gyro-stabilized medical bed and can be piloted home by Alfred. It's a god-damned Bat-Tank.
* [[Technical Pacifist]]: Batman will beat nine kinds of hell out of you, <s>drop you off a building</s> ''threaten'' to drop you off the ''tallest'' building in Gotham, and break every bone in your body... but he won't ''kill'' you.
* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]:
** The Sons of the Batman, who have turned their over-the-top violence as former Mutants to fighting crime instead of creating it. At one point, it's mentioned that they used napalm to break up a three card monte game. One SOB, after killing the aforementioned Nixon mask robbers, took a pair of wire-cutters and sliced off the store owner's fingers on one hand because, as he put it, "you did nothing to stop them."
** The nuke that nearly {{spoiler|killed Superman}} was ''designed'' to create a "nuclear winter" scenario.
* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Rob and Don.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Also behind Batman's dislike of guns.
**
* [[Totally Radical]]: See [[Future Slang]], above.
** Played for laughs when Carrie reprograms the Bat-Copter to accept verbal commands from her. In ''slang''.
{{quote|
'''Carrie:''' Peel.
[''cue Boosters''] }}
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]
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[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]
[[Category:The Eighties]]
[[Category:Batman (Franchise)]]▼
[[Category:DC Comics Series]]
[[Category:The Dark Knight Returns]]
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