Today, Warner Brothers revealed the trailer for Batman: Knightfall, a new addition to the DC Animated Universe. Knightfall will follow a comic run from the early 1990s, featuring a massive breakout from Arkham Asylum and numerous classic villains. Bane serves as the series’ main antagonist.
The most recent DC animated movies, or additions to the DCAU, have been a part of the Tomorrowverse. Since 2020, ten films have come out within this cinematic universe. This includes Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020) and Batman: The Long Halloween parts one and two. Knightfall marks the beginning of a new era.
In Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall, when the mysterious behemoth known only as Bane frees Batman’s entire Rogue’s Gallery from Arkham Asylum, the Caped Crusader is pushed to his mental and physical breaking point.
The movie is based on a three-part comic series. Knightfall comes first, with Knightquest and Knights End following. The trailer declared it a trilogy, so we can expect the movies to follow the titles of the comic series. The animation looks incredibly detailed, especially in comparison to what DC has been animating of late. The DC Animated Movie Universe has not been bad by any means, but this is a noticeable step up.
What to Expect in Batman: Knightfall
If this movie follows its namesake comic run faithfully, there are a lot of cool cameos to expect during the trilogy. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the Knightfall comics.
Knightfall serves as Bane’s introduction. We meet a villain born in Peña Duro, a Santa Prisca prison, who watched his mother wither away and endured years of solitude and torture before he escaped to Gotham. He was experimented on by doctors there, which is how he got his steroid-enhanced abilities and skull implants. The comic oscillates between following his perspective and Batman’s as they meet for the first time.
A final frame of the trailer shows a costume with an aggressive cape resembling horns and a suit with armored, gold and silver elements. This fits in well with the comic runs, where the costume aesthetic draws inspiration from the Knights Templar, but it also makes it clear that this is a different iteration of the caped crusader.
I’m definitely hoping they use lines directly from (or are heavily inspired by) the comic in the scriptwriting. And I hope they give good screen time to building Bane’s backstory. The authors spent an entire issue on it in Vengeance of Bane #1, which served as Knightfall’s intro.
By the looks of the Batman: Knightfall trailer, the movie is shaping up to showcase incredible animation alongside an interesting story that somehow cameos a lot of major Batman villains. The movie is not yet rated, though fans speculate it may be R-rated. There is no set release date, but the trailer says the movie is “coming soon.”