Don Shanahan
With its arrival on physical media this month courtesy of DC, Warner Bros. Animation, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment after a digital debut in late August, Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall launches a three-part movie event that brings to life one of the most iconic and beloved sagas in Batman comics history. Starring the voice talents of Anson Mount, Michael Mando, and Pablo Schreiber, this first animated entry was hotly anticipated and has been well received by critics. Film Obsessive received an advance copy from WBHE for our “Off the Shelf” physical media review series. Let’s explore the film and special features.
THE FILM
To help those light on their Batman comic book history, the “Knightfall” story arc spanned three chapters across 1993 and 1994. Featuring the meteoric emergence of the (at the time) newly introduced Bane character, “Knightfall” became famous for its dramatic turn of events where the hulking villain paralyzes Batman, putting Bruce Wayne on the shelf a year after DC Comics shockingly “killed” Superman with their “Death of Superman” publicity stunt storyline. In the ensuing power vacuum, a dangerous, more lethal replacement for the Dark Knight’s cap and cowl emerges and changes Gotham City.
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall establishes its setting by including sequences that introduce the pre-Knightfall origins of Bane (Mando), the Caribbean-born and super-steroid-powered villain, and Azrael (Schreiber), an extremist enforcer of the Knights Templar sect who has turned to Bruce Wayne (Mount) to help him mentally rehabilitate from his assassin ways. Another new addition to the regular Batman ensemble is Dr. Shondra Kinsolving (TV actress Toks Olagundoye), a key behind-the-scenes medical professional trying to reach Bruce Wayne therapeutically after all his hard years of pain and loss.
Upon reaching Gotham City, Bane sets his sights on forcibly liberating the inmates of Arkham Asylum. His methodical plan is to overwhelm the Caped Crusader and the Tim Drake incarnation of Robin (Jack Griffo of Netflix’s series Alexa & Katie) with the daunting gauntlet of trying to re-apprehend a series of his old foes, including The Mad Hatter, Victor Zsasz, Catman, Scarecrow, and Mr. Freeze. Forced to the edge of madness and exhaustion after defeating a physically enhanced Riddler (Late Night with the Devil’s David Dastmalchian), Bane reveals himself, knowing Batman’s secrets, and proceeds to pummel the hero at his weakest in front of his city of supporters, culminating in the humiliation of leaving him paralyzed rather than mercifully killing him.
With Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, the creators at Warner Bros. Animation were granted full expanse to take their time with this revered epic. The three films, beginning with Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, are titled to match the three segments of the comic storyline. The second part, Knightquest, will follow before the end of 2026, and Knightsend will close the trilogy in early 2027. OG fans will tell you the best stuff happens in this first Knightfall portion, and this animated entry delivers from the drama to the brawling. If you’re tantalized, hang around for Part 2. Buyer beware, this film, and likely the next two as well, is an R-rated affair for “strong bloody violence.” Put the younger kids still wearing Batman pajamas to bed before spinning this disc.
THE DISC
Released on September 8th, Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall was given the high-end 4K-UHD treatment for its picture and sound quality. As with most animated films, that level of resolution delivers sterling clarity to something already perfected through artistic filters that outnumber those of a live-action feature. Some might say it looks “too good,” with static, less-detailed backgrounds that can’t keep up with the moving, carefully drawn foregrounds. If that’s a movie’s sole aesthetic complaint, it should be so lucky.
Where Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall is comparatively thin compared to its digitally polished pixels is in its special features. Granted, most animated movies don’t hold commentary parties after their completion or carry nicely manicured deleted scenes, thanks to their elongated creative process where editing equals deletion. Still, this disc offers only two middling featurettes.
The first is “Breaking the Bat: Adapting the Knightfall,” a diary from the behind-the-scenes design and planning process for animating the action, emulating comic art styles, and embracing the story’s darkness. This one will lasso in Gen-X comic fans who, through name recognition of the storyline, still remember the industry frenzy it caused and carry the broken dreams of never really having “Knightfall” done properly in movie form. The sideshow version of Bane presented in 1997’s Batman & Robin still stings and, while plenty sturdy, Tom Hardy and Christopher Nolan merely borrowed a dash of it for The Dark Knight Rises. This animated film stands as the most complete effort to date.
The second and final special feature is a short piece entitled “Batman Needs a Robin.” At the time of “Knightfall” in the early 1990s, Batman’s third Robin, Tim Drake, was relatively new and untested and had the uphill battle of following Dick Grayson graduating to become his own man as Nightwing and the psyche-scarring murder of Jason Todd, Bruce’s second Robin, at the hands of the Joker. “Knightfall” would be the place where Tim proved his vital role alongside Batman, and the animated film gives that burgeoning relationship a special spotlight.
