Published in the beginning of the new millennium, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again (DK2), was supposed to exist a continuation of the new-age Batman that Frank Miller had ushered in with The Night Knight Returns. Fans expected something different grade the comic volume, but in the terminate, perhaps it was too much. DK2 was also colorful, also over-the-elevation, and too outlandish for some people, which led to quite a few negative reviews.

Story-wise, there were plenty of big names in attendance. Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Catgirl, and the Atom all had a role to play and often intermingled with each other. Superman and Wonder Woman, in item, had such a connectedness that they also had an effect on the world effectually them.

eight The Story Then Far

Cover Of The Dark Knight Returns

In 1986, Frank Miller came out with a miniseries that let readers glimpse into the life of an older Batman, who is tired but nonetheless passionate near the truth. Titled The Dark Knight Returns, and published by DC Comics of class, the comic book saw a 55-twelvemonth-sometime Bruce Wayne emerge out of the shadows of retirement and become the caped crusader again.

It was not an like shooting fish in a barrel job for him, non just considering of the aches and pains of center age, just the Gotham City police force force and the United States government were both against him. Bruce had to traverse a very tricky terrain to run across justice done.

seven Inspired Past Muddy Harry

Clint Eastwood As Dirty Harry

The transition into a darker Batman was a long time coming. In fact, since the 1950s when the Comics Code Authority was founded, Batman had been slowly moving towards a more serious and mature outlook. In the 1970s, information technology seemed the character was on the verge of breaking into its darker shades, but it wasn't until Miller's Dark Knight came about in the 1980s that this new characteristic was divers and solidified in the canon.

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry had a pregnant office to play in this. Co-ordinate to Miller, the 1983 film Sudden Bear on, in which Dirty Harry returns to crime-fighting after a long time, was an immense source of inspiration.

6 Introduction To Catgirl

Carrey Kelley Catgirl

Although Caroline Keene Kelley gets introduced (as the new Robin) in the previous comic, it'due south just in The Dark Knight Strikes Again that she transforms into Catgirl. (In the third comic volume series she gets a tertiary identity, that of Batwoman.)

In DK2, as Catgirl, she is still Batman's second-in-command. Wearing a tight, leopard-impress true cat costume, and accessorizing herself with equipment such as motorized roller skates and an arm-cannon that fires batarangs, Caroline is more than memorable every bit a grapheme. Her main purpose in The Dark Knight Strikes Once more, though, is to be in charge of an regular army of Batboys.

five A Different Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson In The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Much like Batman himself, Dick Grayson is traumatized by the murder of his parents at a young age. And much like Batman himself, he adopts a criminal offense-fighting persona to ensure no one else undergoes what he did. While he flits between Nightwing and Robin in the original DC universe, fighting injustice alongside Batman, in the Dark Knight world he is not quite the same.

In The Dark Knight Strikes Once more, Grayson appears as a genetically altered supervillain who has exceptional healing and shapeshifting backdrop. He is in cahoots with Lex Luthor, the government, and the insane mission to kill every superhero in existence.

4 Atom Gets Trapped In A Petri Dish

Atom In Comics

The tiniest superhero of them all, Atom has been trapped inside a Petri dish (by Lex Luthor) for quite some fourth dimension before he is rescued past Catgirl. He is very thankful, of class, and more than willing to bring together forces with batman.

Afterwards, he plays a very of import part in liberating Kandor. He does and then past hiding within Lara, who is Superman and Wonder Adult female'southward daughter, and waiting for the right moment to skid inside a canteen that permit the Kryptonians inside to defeat Brainiac.

three Criticism Of Outlandish Plots

Dark Knight Strikes Again Writing

Critics and fans alike didn't quite know what to think of the unusual artwork, storyline, and character arcs in The Night Knight Strikes Once more. Often adjoining on nonsensical with shock dialogue that often belittled characters with storied histories.

There was an all-girl pop group called Superchix, a President of the United States who was actually a hologram, and a fight betwixt Superman and a robot-dinosaur. On meridian of that, the color scheme itself was kitschy and garish, which gave the characters quite the outlandish look.

two Miller Expected Negative Reactions

Frank Miller Writer Of Batman Comics

For all the negative reviews, Frank Miller expected there to be such a reaction from the public. In a 2006 interview with Comicdom, he said that he had wanted to "celebrate their [superheroes] delicious absurdity." Most people saw the superheroes as invincible, and he "wanted to drag these Gods and Heroes out of that musty museum they'd been stuck in and drag them dorsum to the streets where they belong."

Therefore, Miller added, "I expected daze. I wanted information technology. I never make it my mission to reassure people. Time will make its own sentence."

i Next In The Series

Cover Of Dark Knight III

Despite its many plotlines and story arcs, The Night Knight Strikes Again wasn't the end of Miller'due south imagination with regards to what an aged Batman could cook up. From 2022 to 2017, the third installment in the series, The Dark Knight Three: The Master Race, was released into the world. It continued Bruce Wayne's fight equally a superhero, helped by his sidekick Carrie Kelley equally Robin, and features famous faces such as Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

The primary plot focused the terror that the ane,000 inhabitants of Kandor, restored to their full heights by Ray Palmer, began to unleash on Gotham and the world.

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