r/DCcomics • u/Predaplant Be Without Fear • Aug 25 '26
r/DCcomics Batman: Knightfall - Part 1: Knightfall Discussion Thread
Batman: Knightfall - Part 1: Knightfall is releasing August 25 worldwide. Come talk about the latest flick here!
All spoiler discussions will take place here. This will be THE thread to talk about the movie. Enjoy!
And as a reminder, subreddit rules do apply:
Be civil. Everyone is entitled to their opinions of this movie. Whether you enjoy it or not, respect that others may not agree with you, and move on. Racism will not be tolerated.
No piracy discussion. Don't post piracy links, don't ask where to download it, don't make comments about the high seas, just don't.
Keep it on-topic. This is a thread to discuss the movie, not the comics.
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u/DreamSad9323 5d ago
First time I thought Bruce needed a whooping, he was both protective yet quick to disregard. Like I understood not slowing down, but to put Tim on bench mode and not even try to properly fix his wounds was stretching it. Azareal was nuts ,opening act was damn near horror movie, the napalm blade or whatever was nuts to see, though never realized he might be a "moon knight case". Every iteration I've seen was him full on azaleas. So this new take is interesting though. Though if I could have it my way, we could have saved time if they changed how they spoke to him and about him, granted time frame doesn't help. Essentially no re- enforcing of the idea of being broken and needing to be fixed( Alfred before the detective patrol scene), no egging him on or disregarding his fears (tim) I know he didn't do that in the sense of how is stated it but if you're following what I'm trying to get to , hopefully you'd understand, an example would be right after the fight scene , wheres he's afraid and messed up. Dont immediately say you did good, you need to level with him , second it would probably help if you tell him to focus and be aware of his surroundings, basically Jean Paul has to be mind present at all times. His body is already trained to move if he was " azareal" what you need to do now is make him look ahead, and focus his mind to tap into that but not as azaleas but as Jean Paul, and lastly if he cannot remember his past , then like I said earlier encourage him to move forward. Tbh if anyone needed therapy, it was him and Bruce collectively lol, that aside since that's not happening I'm intrigued to see how he's gonna handle this bane situation. I read he's the "main character" of this three part trilogy, I expect a lot bite back from Tim, not sure if they can work together but I'm hoping. As far as Bruce goes, he needs the timeout, and maybe he lets his therapist in a lil closer. Might help him get back on track mentally
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u/mmm_migas Batman 25d ago
Just watched it. I started the first half of the comic but haven't finished it. I felt it was odd how much it abbreviated Bane's origin at Pena Duro. The whole movie is a truncated version of what I read. They left out Trogg and his gang completely which was an interesting choice narratively. Also, the movie version of Bane is physically closer to Absolute Bane, which I found interesting. I also love the character designs which reminded me a lot of Batman the Animated Series. JPV was a badass in this movie and it's great introduction to him.
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u/BKT23 26d ago
Easily the best Batman animated film, i hope the rest of the parts are as good as part 1...Banes story is tragic 😥 Batman and all his villians have serious Trauma
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u/Catfishsleuth 23d ago
I liked it but it seems too rushed to be best animated bat film like a many are saying. They're making it top 3 at least.
To be fair I watched it broken up so maybe it seemed too fast for me.
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u/toxicgloo 22d ago
I don't think it tops Long Halloween in my opinion. At least not yet
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u/Catfishsleuth 22d ago
I'll have to see if that's available to stream.
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u/toxicgloo 22d ago
Oh man you haven't seen it? It's a 2 parter in HBO Max. Not sure where else it's available at
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u/OwlRepresentative380 27d ago
This comment mostly deals with the changes made from the comics to the movie. There are major spoilers ahead for both the movie and the comics.
I think a lot of the complaints in this thread get to the overall point that you just can't condense this massive, 18-month comic-book arc into three 90-minute movies. This first movie ends about halfway through first Knightfall comics storyline, and the second movie is already being billed as Knightquest, but if it picks up at the beginning of the Knightquest comics storyline, we're going to be missing half of Knightfall! By the time the original Knightquest comics had begun, Azrael had already taken over for Batman, went crazy with power, designed a new costume and taken out Bane. Yes, that all happens before Knightquest begins. So you have to assume much of this upcoming Knightquest movie is just going to be the second half of Knightfall.
The Knightfall comics started after LODK Venom, Sword of Azrael, the death of Jason Todd and Tim Drake's transition into Robin, with Drake's father Jack becoming paraplegic and receiving the help of Dr. Shondra Kinsolving. Also missing is the important fact that Batman was already extremely exhausted before the Arkham breakout happened, when he nearly got taken out by a D-list foe named Metalhead. The assumption at that time was the readers already knew those stories before going into Knightfall, but we can't make this same assumption in this movie, and those three or four storylines could have been a movie or two in themselves to set all this up. Without that, we're missing a ton of context.
But I will say that in abridging all those stories, the filmmakers got off to a good start with the cold open in the movie. It was pretty badass seeing Azrael just straight murking people left and right. And having him take off his mask and say "please you have to help me" goes a long way in explaining the Sword of Azrael plotline in an extremely abbreviated fashion. We can clearly see the violence is due to Manchurian programming.
I like the idea of the movie not having Dr. Kinsolving simultaneously healing both Jack Drake and Bruce Wayne. It was always too convenient, IMO, in the comics how it just so happened that she was in the process of healing Robin's dad's non-functioning legs when Bruce's legs also stopped working. It looks like they might correct that in the movie, which I think is a good change.
By not including the Metalhead bit in the movie, they're probably also not going to call attention to how similar his costume was to Azrael's, which was another thing I never liked in the comics. In the second half of the Knightfall comics, they actually drew attention to that fact with Robin telling Knightwing "Maybe I made (Azrael's costume) too similar to a bad guy Bruce had just put away," which I always assumed to be a hilarious example of that old trick where you write into a later episode an excuse for a problem identified in an earlier episode. Probably the most famous example of this is in Breaking Bad when fans pointed out that the pizza on the roof wasn't sliced, so in a later episode they order pizza from that same place and say "They don't cut the pizza, and they pass the savings on to you!" Lol.
I have mixed feelings about the change in which Bane doesn't escape by being mistaken for dead and tossed off the cliff. On the one hand, the writers pretty much copied "Count of Monte Cristo" without paying proper homage to that which they were sampling from. You could write it off as intentional — like in those scenes in the comics where Bane was reading all those books, you were to just assume one of those books was Count of Monte Cristo, giving Bane that idea — but Dixon and Nolan passed on the opportunity to write or draw that in back then. The piles of books Bane was reading were nondescript when it would have been pretty easy to make one identifiable as Dumas' work, which never sat well with me.
On the other hand, it would have been cool if, in the movie, they stuck to Bane's original method of breaking out, but actually corrected that problem from the comics by clearly showing him reading Count of Monte Cristo. This could have also established him as being smart and well read, which — as others have pointed out in this thread — was omitted in the movie, and not for the better. Also, in the movie, by having Bane just walk out of the prison and not engage with the warden, we're not sure how he gets off the island. In the comics, "the fools in the capital" send a helicopter to save the warden, and Bane and Co. are able to get on it and toss the warden out (along with Bane's teddy bear, which was beautiful writing).
As to some of the other plot holes pointed out by others in this thread, the thing with Robin not telling Wayne that Bane knows their identities is a major blunder, and I have a hard time imagining that the writers didn't consider this. I assume the thinking is that Tim was getting to that bit, but then Bruce fired him first and stopped allowing him to speak, so he didn't get a chance to tell him. The other potential plot hole of not explaining that Bruce was already tired prior to the Arkham breakout, and seeking out Shondra's help because he was exhausted and knew she was a good doctor due to his exposure to her from Tim's Dad (who was his neighbor in the comics) could also be problematic down the road when it comes time for Shondra and Jack Drake to get kidnapped. But if they just ignore the connection to Jack Drake altogether (which I think would be a good change, as mentioned above), they could avoid the entire storyline of looking for him, which takes up a ton of ink in the Knightquest comics. This might explain how they plan to condense this upcoming Knightquest story so much.
Giving Shondra long hair (or maybe it's a wig) in the movie might turn out to be a problematic change; I foresee see people complaining about the animators feeling the need to make her more glamorous, not sure if that's been discussed yet but it's bound to come up. In the comics, Bruce was clearly attracted to her for her amazing mind, and if you make her too glamorous in the movie it will take away from that angle.
But I did really like the animation overall. I loved the change where Bane just tosses Bruce directly into the bat signal instead of having him bounce off the awnings and land on the pavement, because in the beginning credits I was wondering "what's with this broken glass motif?" But then in seeing that part I was like "hell yeah that's awesome how they set that up in the beginning and explained it at the end." Really nice, artistic touch.
I thought the animation was great but I agree the voices were flat, (at one point I double checked to make sure they weren't AI), and I was hoping they'd do something more like Tom Hardy's voice for Bane. But I can understand why they didn't do that — Frankie Pulitzer would not approve!
TLDR: As a reader who followed the original comics closely, I did really enjoy this first movie, but I question some of the changes it made.
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u/Trigger_Fox 27d ago
The movie was awesome, the shot of batman walking down to the cave as bane just fucking demolished the tunnel behind him might genuinely be my favorite shot ever. My only complaint is that Tim was all happy n shit when he was getting patched up by alfred, the first thing he should have said to bruce was "he knows who you are dude, we need to gtfo of here right now"
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u/Jorrissss Sep 12 '26
Enjoyed it overall. I hated, HATED the idea that Zsasz was literally in a room killing people and Gordon would not send police in because he was waiting for Batman. No reason Batman thinks he cant stop at all. Utterly ridiculous.
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u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach Sep 11 '26 edited Sep 11 '26
OK I was apprehensive on the lead up with the trailers and set my expectations accordingly. I was getting more excited when the film actually did come out. Now that it's here, it's ... good-ish. It's all right, but not incredible.
On the one hand, I get that they are trying to condense dozens of issues of comics into a movie runtime and they obviously cannot include every cool thing from the original story, but on the other hand, there are things that are missing that really should be here and it's frustrating that they aren't.
The biggest disappointment is that I did want, if they do Knightfall, to do it as an adaptation on the level of the Red Hood and DKR adaptations, and that's just not what this is.
Positives
- It is clear that someone making this has read the comics. There are some nice nods and details that I do appreciate.
- Tim is the film's biggest strength, this is a very good adaptation of 90s Tim. His VA is doing the best job out of the entire cast, this adaptation captures the energy of that version of the character well.
- The character work with Azrael is also mostly good. It is unfortunate that they had to condense all of Sword of Azrael into one scene and I wish they had described more specifics of how the Order of St. Dumas and Azrael's dad brainwashed him for people who hadn't read the comic, but the moments he get garner him some nice sympathy and do a decent job setting up where he ends up later.
- The scene of Shondra talking to Bruce was very good, and I think actually did a better job than some aspects of how the comics did it at showcasing her as intelligent.
- They did an okay job adapting Vengeance of Bane in the time they had. Though I wish they'd showcased more of how he impressed the other prisoners, how much he read and studied once he got out of the cage, and I'm sad they cut Zombie, Trogg, and Bird. Still, they got across the major points, and I don't mind the change of having his mother sort of teach him his ideology.
- The ending sequence of Bane kicking Bruce's shit in is done well and very effective, and mostly well-adapted.
- I'm glad the movie is R-rated and is allowed to show more brutality than the comics were.
- On the whole, the movie does a good job trying to condense and shorten but still get in the major narrative beats and character arcs of the Knightfall saga in where they can. Bruce's fatigue, Tim's struggle to earn his mentor's respect, Jean-Paul's struggle against the system, and Shondra's dynamic with Bruce with a hint at her past are largely set up well for where they'll be taken next.
Negatives
- The art and animation is okay but again, not at the level of UTRH or TDKR, which is a shame. Everyone also looks too muscular but ig that's not exactly an uncommon thing in animated or comic superhero art.
- Tim does not inform Bruce that Bane knows his identity for no reason, which is a massive plot hole that could very easily have been avoided by having Bane just beat Tim's ass at the manor before he could tell Bruce.
- The VAs are pretty meh besides Tim, which is a shame. The Bruce VA at least sells the "getting shit beaten out of him" sounds in the beat down scene, but everywhere else he sounds way too flat and lacks the intensity that Kevin Conroy, Bruce Greenwood, Jason O'Mara, Roger Craig Smith, etc. had. I really don't know why they couldn't have gotten Bruce Greenwood or Roger Craig Smith to do this one, both have done these things in the past and relatively recently.
- While this Bane adaptation is fine, I wish they had put more focus on his intelligence, which is the major thing the comic does. When Bane is around the movie focuses a lot on Bane's physical strength making him threatening when everyone knows this already, they should have put a greater focus on Bane's intelligent side. Again, cutting Zombie, Trogg, and Bird means you don't have people for Bane to showcase his intelligence in front of, which is annoying.
- It is very annoying that some of the best moments in the comic were cut when they could easily have been fit in, or altered in ways that just don't make sense to me cuz why not just do the original thing when it was way better that way? The biggest one is that Joker isn't here, so while they do the Scarecrow hallucination, they don't keep one of the most memorable scenes in the comic of Batman crashing out at Joker because of hallucinating Jason's death. Same with the Zsasz scene which is much better adapted but I wish they'd kept in Bruce yelling at Zsasz from the comic. And while this was already shown prior to the release of the film, I don't like that they changed the pre-fight dialogue between Bruce and Bane, the original dialogue is far better and there is no reason they couldn't have kept it. Same with the speech Bane gives when he throws Bruce off the roof.
- While I get that this is a long story and they couldn't have kept in every villain fight the comics showed, I do think the ones they picked were odd. Why did we need to have full scenes of the Mad Hatter and Riddler encounters when those weren't all that important or particularly badass, but we confine the cooler ones like the Scarecrow/Joker encounter and the Firefly one to be part of the montage? They really weren't needed to explain the plot so I don't know why they fleshed those fights out more than the cooler ones, or devoted that time instead to other things that could have been fleshed out.
- I wish they'd explained Bruce's thought process in going to Shondra for help for his injuries instead of Alfred, since that obviously puts his identity at risk. Either have him say in the car to himself that the injury is too severe for Alfred to fix or have him say he doesn't want to bother Alfred.
- Why does Bane say he's going to kill Tim earlier, but then not do so at the manor?
- This is more of a nitpick but I wish they'd referenced that Superman died recently.
- Again, nitpick, but no reference to Bruce's history with using venom.
Random thoughts
- I don't totally mind the change of trying to expand Bane's motivation of breaking Batman and ruling the city to also be about liberating the city and making them stronger. Shades of Zero Year's Riddler motivation to some extent.
- Interesting that they used the Kelley Jones suit when Bruce doesn't get that until after Knightfall, he still has the Jim Aparo look for this part of the story. I don't mind the change, and it does fit the darker tone and the idea of Bruce kinda going off the deep end.
Overall, despite my stack of negatives, don't get me wrong, this is a good bit of fun, but not a replacement for reading the comic. I really wish it had left in more of the comic's most iconic and memorable moments, and the presentation is unfortunately hampered by the film's budget. Still, on the whole, it does a mostly good job trying to condense the most important narrative arcs of Knightfall into a more compressed version of the story, and as its own thing, it's a pretty good Batman movie.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
I thought the story was not great, I get that it's a "Part 1" but it's also sold as a stand alone movie and it feels like a very choppy first act with to many balls in play and not enough execution of any of them.
Azazel could have been cut from the story entirely and it wouldn't have mattered. Bane's backstory got way to much screen time and not enough time was spent on his planning he got a lot of credit for things other people were doing.
And a lot of this would have been forgivable had this been an episodic show, but not for a 4 month wait between movies'.
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u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach Sep 16 '26
Spoilers for the entire Knightfall comic as well as comics that tie into Knightfall like Sword of Azrael and Vengeance of Bane, click at your own risk
Azrael is very important to the overall Knightfall saga, he is the main villain of it, so you have to set him up. Given that they cut Sword of Azrael, you gotta give him something, and set up why he's behaving the way he is. My biggest issue with him is that they don't delve into the specifics of how and why he was brainwashed by the Order of St. Dumas. A few throwaway lines summarizing the events of SOA would've sufficed.
Bane's backstory and motivation for breaking Batman is also important, otherwise he'd just be "generic doomsday villain". Def agreed that a lot of this film's time would've been better spent showcasing Bane's intellect as the comic does.
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u/Ok_Series7866 28d ago
My biggest issue with him is that they don't delve into the specifics of how and why he was brainwashed by the Order of St. Dumas.
They still have two parts left, in which Azrael will definitely have a much bigger role. Bane was the main threat of this one, so it makes sense they decided to focus more on him, but once he is out of the way, they can delve into Jean-Paul's past and the order.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
The problem is there's simultaneously to much and not enough.
The movie needs to stand on its own, you can't expect people to wait 4 months per episode especially with Warner bros potentially shelving a project at any time.
And they've taken noneffort to rework the story for the format, if anything they've cut it down making everything move at a breakneck speed and nothing has time to build where it should be by the end of act 1.
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u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach Sep 16 '26
Given how many comics they had to condense, they got through most of the major points. And while I do think the runtime hurts the film, cutting out more of the comic when I think there's already some cool and important things missing, I do not think would be a good solution. And this is part 1 of a trilogy. Waiting for the next part is kind of just part of the format of this kind of thing.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
Movies should stand on their own.
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u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach Sep 16 '26
Movies can stand on their own and set up things for later. The Empire Strikes Back doesn't resolve every single plot thread in the story but still is enjoyable to watch on its own. The same applies here.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
Except empire can still stand as it's own movie.
In a movie context you'd cut someone like azazel out of the plot or you expand his role much more than What was in that film
Truthfully Tim was the best part, but he should have been cut and his roll wrapped into azazel.
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u/UnknownEntity347 Rorschach Sep 16 '26
I think this can too. Clearly you don't agree. That part of the conversation is going nowhere.
Azrael is given personality and development that is entertaining to watch, and helps with the mission to find out what happened at Arkham. There's both setup for later events, and things that just improve the narrative of this film. If it was just Tim, that development would not exist. You can't just combine Tim and Azrael as they serve separate purposes: Tim as the weaker fighter but more experienced vigilante, and Azrael as someone affected by brainwashing, less experienced at vigilantism, but a stronger fighter. The film is more fun to watch as a result than it would otherwise have been if it was just Tim doing all this. There wouldn't be any contrast there, it'd just be Tim going from plot point A to plot point B.
Also, this is still an adaptation. If you adapt Knightfall and don't include both Tim and Azrael, that is a problem because both are vitally important to that story. If I adapted Under the Red Hood and, say, just removed the Joker from that story, even if the movie still worked if we ignore the existence of the comic, that would be a problem.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
Except the movie isn't about joker its about Jason. But Joker is well known enough that you can throw him in as a set piece rather than a character. Red hood knows how to adapt the story to its runtime, what did they do with Nightwing? They benched him because he didn't need to be there.
Knightfall is the bane and azazel story and they need to make room somewhere for them and unfortunately batman and Tim are in the way.
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u/dtagonfly71 Sep 11 '26
The film has a few holes in it, but I really enjoyed it. One of the best DC animated films in awhile and it more than makes up for Crisis. 8/10
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u/Dark_Knight_TN Deathstroke Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
Not bad..not good, Bane's Orgin story is intense but felt something is missing. Bane is going to break Batman that was so predictable. Glad they included characters like Zsaz and Mad Hatter. Stuff like League of Shadows, Court of Owls are still unexplored and I hope they fix the plot holes in the next movies.
edit: The animation as usual looks awesome but the plot is pricking my mind a little.
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u/ANTEC221 Sep 07 '26
I enjoyed the hell out of the movie.
One thing I found odd was the scene with the doctor. She was telling him he needs a hospital and stitches and went to get bandages. Then Bruce falls asleep and shes like screw it guess I'll sleep too. At least throw a bandage on first.
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u/heynowjesse82 Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26
there were so many bizarre plot holes. Bane aged decade or more but every single prisoner, guard, warden remained exactly the same. why would Freeze be taken down by freezing? why didn't Tim immediately warn Bruce that Bane knew his identity, therefore their home location? Why did Bane keep Tim alive if only to monologue and attempt to kill him immediately after waking him up (as opposed to using him as live bait)? why did Bane keep Tim and Alfred alive at the end? Could have easily snapped their necks and further broken Bruce. i could keep going but what a mess this film was.
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u/dtagonfly71 Sep 11 '26
One thing is for sure…this Robin should be fired ASAP. The first thing he should have said was “he knows who you are!!!”
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u/OffensiveBranflakes Sep 05 '26
Don't really read the comics, but have read some stuff, follow Absolute and have grown up loving every film. So normie's opinion here.
I enjoyed it, it was a decent watch, Was happy to see Bane not be a brawny goon for once and actually show off the whole tactican side of his character. Robin was also a stand out and I enjoyed the detective side story.
That said, I really didn't like the art style or animation all too much. It just looked incredibly flat and I feel like the majority of DC animated films I see suffer from budget and they rarely look attractive to me. Can't state enough how much I dislike the animation and overall look.
Wasn't massively into Batman's portrayal and voice acting in this either, with Bane and Robin outshining him for me.
Again, normie opinion but yeah.
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u/Available-Affect-241 Sep 03 '26
I loved this film. It showcases Batman’s competence and gives us a VALID REASON why he's getting hit by losers (not Bane) who aren't on his level. Bane tiring him out so he could dominate him at Wayne Manor was the goal. This film resonates with creativity, while live-action Batman films haven't done so in a while. Bane was done right here.
8/10
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u/ninjaman68 Sep 02 '26
dont know this comic storyline but holy shit this is easily a top tier batman animated film. was blown away
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u/HelpUs0ut Sep 01 '26
Thought the Bane stuff in the beginning was strained and simultaneously the Azrael stuff wasn't explored enough. Funny how I'm just now realizing the parallels between these two characters and it's a missed opportunity not to connect them more in the film.
A fair amount of dialogue is too direct and clunky and the story would have benefited from a more artful remix of events instead of a straightforward retelling.
Still, very decent production. The Batman fighting villains montage is what I was waiting for and the final fight with Bane was orgasmic. If the other two chapters are as good, then this could be one of the standouts along with Dark Knight Returns and Flashpoint.
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u/Czar824 Sep 02 '26
"Thought the Bane stuff in the beginning was strained and simultaneously the Azrael stuff wasn't explored enough. Funny how I'm just now realizing the parallels between these two characters and it's a missed opportunity not to connect them more in the film."
it is 3 part film. a chance they explore that at some point in the next two. could be wrong but we'll se
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
It doesn't get points for being episodic if it's a stand alone film with the sequel months away. Even if you do judge it by those standards the act 1 is very choppy.
If part 2+3 were to get canceled and this was all that existed it would be terrible.
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u/ANTEC221 Sep 07 '26
I strongly feel like thatll come in part 2. Bruce will be sidelined and recovering and Azrael and Bane will take center stage. Bruce comes back in the final minutes.
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u/Alternative_Arm_824 Sep 01 '26
Watched this blasted on ketamine and it was incredible. Of course there are something’s that can be improved like the run time and story pace. As far as the visuals, action, and story telling it was good for what they have. Can’t wait for part 2.
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u/cumalotharris Sep 03 '26
Just got my ketamine trouches and nasal spray. Can’t wait to watch it while blasted? Tge runtime is perfect for ket as well.
Watched the Spiderverse film last week on K, can’t recommend it enough to watch while in a k hole
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u/J_onn_J_onzz Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I'm glad we've dispensed with the pretense and the movie embraces Bane as a roided luchador
Edit Review: Zack Snyder's Knightfall
This movie doesn't understand the point of the Knightfall comic. The late 80s into the 1990s was a time of increasing popularity for ever more aggressive and violent characters (such as Wolverine and Punisher), there were storylines that critiqued this push such as Kingdom Come where Superman steps away as the public embraced the violent hero Magog, or more relevantly "Captain America No More" with the crazed John Walker taking over as Cap. Knightfall was one of these stories, where the writers gave their readership a more deranged and violent Azrael-Batman, to show why Batman is restrained and doesn't partake in such viciousness.
Here, the violence is the medium of the movie. The runtime and script are slight, but it takes every moment to add in vicious, gory and unnecessary violence. It's very reminiscent of a Zack Snyder movie, where the violence is why you're going to see his movies in the first place. The core is certainly not the story which is underdeveloped and unmotivated -- it should have been reworked to fit the format like the 2007 animated "Superman: Doomsday".
The story was way too abrupt to believably break Batman's spirit, especially by someone he just met. Bane is an awful villain. He's like a tank on a warpath; they're only trying to get out of the path of destruction. But he does not inspire fear in them. Batman and Robin have literally just met him. Robin, a teenager, is dismissively unafraid of him ("you're just a crazy guy").
Heck, I'm not afraid of him, his muscles and the violence are so ridiculous it breaks the reality of the world, and it becomes a parody.
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
Ya the story is way to choppy, a movie needs to stand alone as a movie, and this one doesn't, and as an act 1 to a larger story it was choppy.
To many balls in play not enough development of any one of them. To much time on a montage of killers bane gets credit for but has very little to do with. Azazel could have been cut from the story and it wouldn't have mattered. Bane's actual time in Gotham is super condensed that it comes across less as master strategist and more like any guy who's able to break out the inmates of Gotham could have just as easily destroyed batman.
Black Mask took over Arkham in the Red Hood movie, is Black Mask going to destroy Batman? Did he fail because he opened 1 cell instead of 3?
The story was in desperate need of reworking. And unfortunately I think to do that you need to combine Tim and Azazel's role into one. Tim was the best part of the movie, but he took up screen time that Azazel desperately needed to expand his character. Either the movie should have been longer or I don't see how you keep Tim in this movie.
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u/Dream-Impala Sep 01 '26
Happy to se either brought to life, but definitely feels rushed in some ways. Wanted to see more of that tactical, scary intelligence that Bane has but they try to fit so much into a short run time.
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Aug 30 '26
1h18m was an odd choice. Should've been at least an hour and a half. Preferably 2 hours
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
It does not feel like it had enough time to breath, a super condensed act 1.
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u/Czar824 Sep 02 '26
is everybody in the comments forgetting its a 3 part movie?
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
No, but what we have so far is super condensed and choppy. This story was ROUGH to put it kindly.
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Sep 02 '26
No. But there were certain parts that were left out that we know probably wont get added into the next 2 parts (because that point in the overall story is already past now).
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u/Czar824 Sep 02 '26
oh ok. i was asking because so many comments was treating it like it that was the entire movie but i get what u mean now
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u/Valentinee105 Sep 16 '26
It shouldn't get points for being an episodic movie. If it's a movie it's got to stand on it's own and this feels super choppy.
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u/AmberDuke05 All about the Dick Aug 31 '26
Honestly I’m happy it was this look. These DC animated movies tend to be just over an hour.
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u/questhro Aug 30 '26
As someone who hasn't read the Knightfall arc in the comics: is Gotham such a futuristic mega-city in them? Arkham Asylum being a building on top of a skyscraper kinda took me out of the movie a bit. Feels like it's just 'city' everywhere without any breathing room.
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u/Pebrinix Batman Aug 30 '26
is Gotham such a futuristic mega-city in them?
Not really, but it's definitely very art deco.
Arkham Asylum being a building on top of a skyscraper kinda took me out of the movie a bit.
Eh, I mean, it's not realistic in anyway, but it looks fuckinf rad so I'm fine with it
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u/Jeff_goldfish Aug 31 '26
Same with the Batmobile. It looked fucking awesome even though it got a new look.
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u/Demomanx Blue Lantern Aug 29 '26
Movie had me feeling like a kid reading the comics and watching the animated series again.
I kept yelling at the screen "afraid to fight batman at his best wuss?" Like when I was a kid. This really took me back to that enjoyment of comics.
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u/Dream-Impala Sep 01 '26
Seriously. This always irked me when I was younger owning the 3 omnibus hardcovers. Like his whole thing is valuing strength and his plan is to create chaos and fight a tired batman at his weakest 😭
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u/sleepyheadswag Aug 29 '26
Loved Tim in this movie wish more adaptions gave him more attention. Bruce’s arc of refusing help is great too, cant wait for the next parts. I would def watch a theatrical release of the 3 cuts put together
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u/Illustrious_Fee8116 Aug 29 '26
Pretty good movie. As someone who did not read the original comics, I am excited to watch the other parts
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u/Levi_PigPiss Aug 29 '26
Me too. I remember reading like a quick summary about the main idea (when The Dark Knight Rises was being filmed) and I was amazed by how they made Bane a tactical strategist while being a physical menace.
Also, the fact that he broke Batman's back and threw him in front of Gotham to show them how their symbol has fallen really shocked me.
Glad to see that it's getting animated so that I could see the full plot in action.
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u/tiMartyn World's Finest Aug 29 '26
I want to say a few things to preface: Knightfall the actual event will always be special to me. Doesn't mean it's perfect. DC's animated movies, especially predating the direct to video animated universes, will also always be some of my favorites. So I'm glad they went in this route with a standalone adaptation. But... the animation has some issues. Some moments look unevenly rendered compared to other scenes. It's shocking, even, how some parts look rushed. There's many scenes which are fine, but others look worse than animation from 20 years ago.
Overall, this movie is a strong tribute to the ’90s era, and captures the feeling of reading Knightfall as a kid. I wish we got a 90s period set Batman movie in live action now. But adaptations should aim to elevate the source material... The opening scene abruptly pivots to Batman recognizing Azrael’s fragile mental state and deciding to take him in for training and rehabilitation. Bruce also reveals his secret identity to the stranger for some reason. The sudden trust he places in Azrael feels unearned, even when accounting for the movie’s 78‑minute runtime and brisk pacing. Although the nonstop action generally works in the story's favor, this specific beat stands out because the fix feels obvious.
The fix: Just as Batman normally would with any mentally unstable villain, he should've left Azrael to be treated at Arkham. Later, after Bane blows up the asylum to free its inmates, the Dark Knight hunts them down one by one and eventually encounters Azrael again. But to his surprise, Azrael's mental state has improved from his time at Arkham, a subversion of the Batman villain trope. Since Batman has become exhausted by the recent chaos in Gotham, it would've made sense for him to compromise and recruit him at this moment instead of the opening scene. Their partnership would feel driven by necessity rather than convenience, neatly setting up the premise of the trilogy.
Instead, this first movie is focused on directly adapting the comics. It's still a fun time. Tim Drake's Robin is a clear highlight - maybe the best adaptation of the character yet? However, a story issue like this feels all the more glaring as a result.
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u/Silverjeyjey44 Aug 29 '26
So the movie followed the story of the comics too closely without modifying its weaker points?
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u/Pebrinix Batman Aug 30 '26
Kinda, it fixes Bane's character by giving him a much better motivation imo
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u/tiMartyn World's Finest Aug 29 '26
In my opinion, yes. Some things work fine for comics, but I think feel jarring when you see them in the context of a movie with a clearer sense of cause and effect.
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u/JustTheme7254 Aug 29 '26
How tf did Bane just walk into the manor like that??? What happened to all of Batman’s defenses? Where are his gadgets? I’m confused, I thought Batman was in his prime at this point.
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u/cartoonweasel Aug 31 '26
Remember, Bane has been studying Bruce Wayne his entire life, and as they showed Bane as a kid, he was able to move pretty stealthily without being noticed, despite his size. He merely snuck through knowing a direct attack would trigger the alarms. Also, as someone pointed out, Bane ran Batman through the gauntlet which is a factor even when Batman is defending home.
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u/djfreedom9505 Sep 01 '26
This was my take on it. Bane is not just a brute, he’s tactical and has had prep time against Bruce. Him rolling up on the manor was not surprising to me. Bane is ruthless and I loved it.
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u/Pebrinix Batman Aug 30 '26
The whole point of this story is that Batman is in his lowest point
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u/hedgehog-vs-chilidog Aug 31 '26
It still doesn't make sense, bc his defenses are technological....and are exempt to human fatigue.
Even if he was too tired to notice a break-in alarm......Alfred and Tim should be aware of it.
Bane is smart, but hes not 1/10th of the genius Bruce is in order to sneak past the defenses.
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u/Pebrinix Batman Sep 01 '26
Bane is supposed to be a genius, that's part of his character. You're really just underestimating a character created to be that much difficult for Batman in every single characteristic that he has
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u/hedgehog-vs-chilidog Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I know hes a genius, but Bruce is largely considered a top 5 mind in DC, and this is including Brainac 5 from the future.
Comparing the two of them regarding intelligence would be like comparing t-ball to the major leagues.
Batman has defenses that are autonomous in the comics and not dependent on whatever his current mental/physical state is at any point in time.
People like to pretend that a good story is infalliable. As if it can't have brain fart-writing at certain points or willingness to pretend something isnt established in order to jam through a "new" story.
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u/JustTheme7254 Aug 31 '26
Thank you that’s exactly what I’m saying. He should have military grade defenses. I feel like they made Batman completely helpless. It seems like Bane gets all the buffs while Batman doesn’t have any gadgets, strategy or intelligence. He’s just supposed to be tired therefore he’s no longer Batman. Just wanted dogwalk Bats in my opinion.
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u/AtharSiddiqui21 Aug 29 '26
I honestly enjoyed it, and I am also glad that Tim Drake gets his shine in some media. Honestly, it makes me want him to be the DCU Robin instead of Damian
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u/Illustrious_Fee8116 Aug 29 '26
They very well could use Tim Drake more, but Damian presents a lot more dynamic story arc because of his abrasive character, which they seem to like better. They even made it where Damian made the Teen Titans for a run and that was weird
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u/Pebrinix Batman Aug 30 '26
Damian presents a lot more dynamic story arc
Eh, debatable. Damian is "edgy and cool" and that's what most people like in him. The fact that "he's not your typical Robin" is also another big factor that makes him popular
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u/Head-Philosophy-4447 Aug 29 '26
It was good. I've always liked the Knightfall storyline, I had the audio, novelisation and comic books (apart from that blasted Knights Quest - took me 15 years to get that one!! Grrr!!) But I've never liked the enormous Bane, the one with his head apparently coming out from the middle of his chest. That has always seemed silly to me. A lack of Bird, Trogg and Zombie seems to isolate Bane in this movie adaptation, would have liked to have seen them, but the main thing that I felt was missing was:
"Broken...and done."
7/10
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u/cjpilch88 Aug 30 '26
Yeah i missed his henchmen. I also didnt like that the movie is so short and the first 20 minutes had to be devoted to bane's origin (which was in vengeance of bane and not even in the knightfall series) so then u have less than a hour to cover the best part of the comic trilogy...they had that really short montage of villains with scarface only appearing for 10 seconds....75% of the villains from the comics do not appear at all.
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u/JT9212 Aug 29 '26
Love the new suit, reminds me of the Thomas Wayne suit with the point shoulders. The height on the cowl was great. Interesting storyline but bane's story was definitely better than Nolan's. Love the muscularity of everyone here. I can't wait for part 2 and 3.
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u/Aggressive-Row84 Aug 29 '26
I really liked batman outfit and it's probably my favorite hopefully someone makes a mod out of it
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u/RoyalJoker248 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
I watched it last night and I thought it was pretty damn good, wish I could watch all 3 back to back
Animations are good, Bane is brutal instead of PG. Then the backstory of Bane is very engaging and really makes you understand what drove him to this. And at the end he was a victim. I would give it like a solid 8/10
Also It necessarily wasn't gore porn but it was brutal and made villains feel like true villains. I very thoroughly enjoyed that
Was pretty damn good
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u/Space_Eagle9990 Aug 28 '26
This animated movie makes The Dark Knight Rises look like the joke that it is! I only wish it was longer so it can fully explore Bane's backstory which they changed for shock value. In the comics, it was amazing and they skipped key parts that could of easily been included. The DCEU could learn a thing or two from this movie. There's a way you can be colorful, gritty, and brutal. The same goes for the MCU and Star Wars, who was completely neutered by Disney.
Bane would break every monopoly until the world would be reset back to where it was before egomania increased from 50% to 95%, lol. The only critique I have is how stiff the animation style is. I love the alternate muscle-bound Bruce Timm style though. The Bruce Timm Style has its place, but I'm tired of it. It's evolved into something ugly and doesn't have the same elegance like it did 20 years ago.
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u/suss2it Sep 05 '26
What do you mean by Bruce Timm style? I feel like these movies have rarely used it. There’s Soul of the Dragon, Gods and Monsters and the DCAU revival movies like Justice League vs the Fatal Five, but I feel like for the most part these movies have used the more “realistic” faux anime designs for the DCAMU movies and then the Tomorrowverse’s more cartoony and thicker outlined designs, neither of which feel Timm inspired IMO.
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u/Space_Eagle9990 Sep 05 '26
Very true and well said. I agree with 95% of what you said, but it's still always so stiff. Just look at shows like invincible and even the new Knightfall film. If we're not doing old-school bruce timm which was much FAR more dynamic and fluid, they could at least innovative with the “realistic” faux anime designs. Teen Titans was amazing, but now it's like the poses/movements suck and are struggling. Even anime is struggling at times as we got people studios using CGI more and more. Like 2D hand-drawn/digital is a think of the past. I put a lot of blame of these shady-ass corporate executives especially overseas for their inhumane manga and anime schedules.
It's disgraceful and disgusting, this is why we need AI integration not replacement by megalomaniacs. When you go home at a reasonable hour to sleep, AI takes over with human supervision. We'd be eating hella good right now in term of media instead of seeing this these monopolies ruin everything they touch, like a STD. Let's hope we can achieve this... then GTA 7 won't take 14 years with no myths and urban legends, lol.
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u/suss2it Sep 05 '26
I agree that the animation in these movies can be stiff sometimes and not as fluid as I would like but that’s different from character designs, which certainly does impact the animation as more simplistic designs like Timm’s style or Sean Galloway who did Spectacular Spider-Man does make the animation easier to do.
As for ai, it’s still gonna be in the hands of the shady ass corporate execs so instead of making animators jobs easier they’re just gonna replace their jobs altogether.
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u/Space_Eagle9990 Sep 05 '26
Get ready for societal collapse and mass protests, followed by nuclear detonations. You got you're billion dollar bunker set up, yet? Don't forget to invite all your cult-er... I mean friends who aren't poor-uh, ahem... I mean evil.
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u/cjpilch88 Aug 30 '26
The origin of bane did not appear in knightfall, it was in the Vengeance of Bane. This movie was an hour and 18 minutes with most of the first 20 dedicated to his origin. Very little of the knightfall series made it into this movie
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u/Space_Eagle9990 Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26
Didn't even know that! Seriously though, why do this studios do that when they literally have the blueprint?! It's so egotistical, then again... it's the entertainment industry and some of these fanbases will murk you if you dark give feedback on their favorite thing so it just breeds this overly thirsty, dysfunctional, codependent relationship of slop which leads to more slop, and people will hype it up because it's the 2000s anymore.
There companies have been consumed by monopolies and mega-conglomerates which is ultra suspect and have these fucking megalomaniacs who think the know more about your idea than you, the person who created it, but when they offered that nice check, many people sold out. We have the brainchild of humanity in the hands of these tyrants and "elites" who are so smart, but apparently not smart enough to stop waging war 24/7. Aliens be like: "I love earth, humans are so amaz-WTF?! WHERE ARE THEIR NUCLEAR DEFENSE SYSTEMS POINTED AT THEMSELVES?!! Nevermind they ain't ready for nothing yet, we'll visit them every century just to make sure they don't blow themselves up and disturb the cosmic harmony that is not being a fucking idiot."
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u/Silverjeyjey44 Aug 29 '26
Bane seemed genuinely frightening
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u/Space_Eagle9990 Aug 30 '26
Ikr, it was amazing to see. They did the homie so dirty. Still pissed off at that warden. Ngl, Bane's mom was equally as terrifying. I think treated him like that because she knew what would happen if she coddled him in that hellhole prison.
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u/AnimeFan7952 Aug 28 '26
One of few cohesive stories, and that is well told.
This and flash point paradox for 10 years ago are some of the few that I can think about where the story is continuous, for the lack of a better word, and well told.
And now I am wondering if it is because the people who made it are talented, or did they get some help from ai with the script and how to tell the story.
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u/suss2it Sep 05 '26
I feel like if they used ai for the script it would’ve been worse.
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u/AnimeFan7952 Sep 06 '26
As someone who has seen possibly all the animated movies made since the 2000, and many of the non animated ones. And then also many other movies and shows.
I wonder if they did use ai, because this and flashpoint are the ones that possibly share the same level of quality when it comes to the story and how it is told.
Both have some problems, sure, but overall these two could be "the best". Maybe.
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u/Min_craft Aug 28 '26
When does part 2 and 3 come out
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u/MakeMineMarvel_ Aug 28 '26
i think part two comes out this year but part 3 is next year
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u/Min_craft Aug 28 '26
Awesome I loved part one I had only seen panda redd on TikTok talk about the story
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u/The_Koala_Knight Aug 27 '26
Can anybody list the differences between the movie and the comics please.
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u/Ambitious_Let_8985 Aug 29 '26
they also missed out killer croc attacking a mall and bane absolutely destroying him, but they probably hat to cut that out for a) runtime and b) because robin is the first to encounter bane in this adaptation
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u/egw0tan Aug 28 '26
Well there's a few details regarding Banes origin and his obsession with Batman that are different. For example, Bane learns about Gotham through a fellow inmate (and then goon)of his , Bird who is from Gotham. Also you know his first kill the creep,well the circustances leading to that are different for that too(Bane meets another to be goon of his ,the guys appeareance is different and is not a child predator I think) .But most importantly before he kills that guy he falls and hits his head hard and while in a coma sees his future peak self and a bat monster representing his fear which he has to overcome(no idea how just hiting his head makes him have that experience but comics lol). Then theres a sequence of events that's similar, Bane Kills the guy, Bane gets sent in the hole, Bane survives and becomes jacked and a prison legend, Bane gets picked for the venom experiment . Now the differences start ,instead of breaking out and killing everyone right there he fakes his death and after they throw him in the sea to be foof for the sharks he comes back and kills almost everyone and frees the inmates.Now when the army sends help he kills the warden and steals the armies helicopter to escape with his crew(Bird.a big buff guy Throg or something and another guy that can produce venom for him). And so they start for the land of opportunity Gotham City. Oh btw he starts reading books later in life as an adult, in fact Bird teaches him to read.
Also the circumstances of his first encounter with Batman are different as Batman personally first encounters him instead of Robin. Now that's as much as I know because I'm currently going through this entire arc but that's what I've found so far;
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u/popober Aug 27 '26
I get comic book logic is in full force, but the police commissioner refusing to send guns after what is essentially just a knife was still weird.
Also, what was the sequence of events between the Batmobile and Shondra's apartment? Batman calls his therapist, finds an alley where the Batmobile can go in and walk out as a bleeding Bruce Wayne and...walks and trails his blood all the way there? Did he bleed in a cab or rideshare? Did he grapnel to her roof and stick the blood-soaked batsuit in a closet? Lot of pressure to put on this woman just to nap and bleed on her couch, BTW.
I understand the narrative motivation about him asking for help and stuff, but the in-universe logic seems a little off. It also seems like he stopped to put on the suit AND wrap his arm after being told his third surrogate son got hurt, but maybe the Batmobile has autopilot or smth.
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u/jeffthekilledyou Aug 28 '26
aside from that it was an amazing movie, no?
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u/popober Aug 28 '26
Oh yeah. I didn't mean it as a critique; just the idea of a battered Bruce Wayne trying to be inconspicuous on the street or stuffing the suit in a box or bin somewhere, all to dirty this poor woman's couch in the not fun way, is funny to me.
Perhaps the worst I can say is it has pacing issues, likely because it had to cram a lot of setup in what is essentially a new animated continuity. But it seemed like the writers respected the audience's familiarity with the mythos.
My favorite part was Bane smashing his way into the batcave. Brought back horrible memories of that triceritops from Crash Bandicoot, but that horror helped in this case.
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u/Greek_Arrow Aug 27 '26
It was awesome! The fights were very good, Batman and Tim were great, I even liked Azrael. Bane was f*cking amazing, even though I would like to see his henchmen. Looking forward to Knightsquest.
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u/bat447 Aug 27 '26
Where can i see it legally
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u/LocalEmergency6955 Aug 28 '26
You’d be paying about $20 on Amazon prime so just keep that in mind
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u/Persian_Assassin Nightwing Aug 27 '26
I loved it but it really wasn't enough, very eager for part 2. The Robin and Azrael dynamic feels spot on. The whole story really could've benefitted from a fleshed out animated series, it really fits an adaption better.
Honestly this movie just makes me wish they did a proper animated series following the whole general chronology. I would go crazy if they did Cataclysm/No Man's Land next.
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u/CourierV 8d ago
I’m interested to see how they spread everything out, I almost wonder if it could have been 2 1.5-2 hour movies instead of 3 shorter ones
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u/I_Pay_in_Cash_Only Aug 30 '26
Unfortunately, it probably would never have been made if it wasn't just a one-hour animated film
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u/batinthebelfry5 A good life...good enough Aug 27 '26
Someday. Its hard to fit 87 years of stories into one streamlined continuity but it'd be nice if they did. So many stories that have yet to be told.
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u/Persian_Assassin Nightwing Aug 27 '26
Well you know, heavily abridged and just the highlights. Basically the movies they've already been doing like Year One, Long Halloween, would be amazing to see in this format but longer and fleshed out with the character development and continuity. This movie makes me feel like it could be done. I'd at least be happy if they kept going with this after part 3.
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u/CraftyWillingness730 Aug 27 '26
checked all the boxes. It's fair to say that they brought their A game. Can't wait for part 2!
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u/ConfessingToSins Aug 26 '26
This has to have had more budget than most of the prior films were getting. It has a lot more direct action sequences and a more complicated style including a lot of musculature movement which is something that they had really shied away from previously.
I am 99.9% sure that gunn taking over caused budgets to be reallocated and looked at and they got some more money for this. This looks better than any movie has since before the tomorrowverse stuff.
The biggest thing is there's no longer any thick black outlines around every character to make them easier to place in scenes. That's the direct sign that they spent more money and time on this.
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u/Asleep_Usual6173 Aug 26 '26
where was the joker? maybe i missed something in the movie explaining his abscence but in the comics he was one of the criminals released from arkham.
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u/Professional_Sample2 Aug 27 '26
Based off this site he's gonna be in part 2
https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/movies/Batman-Knightfall-Part-1/
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u/IlluminatiConfirmed Riddler Aug 27 '26
He's in the trailer so seems like he will show up in part 2
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u/Asleep_Usual6173 Aug 27 '26
hell yeah. it wasnt a point of critcism for me because part 1 was insanely good and im kind of sick of joker stories anyways but i did find it strange at first that he wasnt there. I'm excited to see how a more brutal and less forgiving batman (Azrael) will deal with him.
I hope they tweak his more high tech suit later on in the arc to be a little bit less overdesiged in the movie like it was in the comics because its ugly as hell. also is it true that part two is coming later this year and part 3 sometime early next year?
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u/I_Pay_in_Cash_Only Aug 30 '26
Spoiler for Joker in the original comic run: Basically, joker shows up in one issue with Azbats where he's making a silly movie with hostages, and he thinks he's being foiled by the usual batman. So he acts all cheeky and coy, only to get the ever-living shit unexpectedly kicked in by Azrael Batman in a pretty comedic sequence. It was one of the few memorable moments in the very long run of Azbats. Maybe they'll adapt that
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u/Major-Tiger-7628 Aug 28 '26
Wasn’t the point of the Azrael Batsuit to be over designed as a critique of the image maximalism style?
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u/I_Pay_in_Cash_Only Aug 30 '26
All of Az-Bats over the top look and violence was an intentional parody of violent 90s comics ya.
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u/Asleep_Usual6173 Aug 29 '26
yes it absolutely was but you can critique the edgy anti hero trope of the late 80s-mid 90's while still making it look cool.
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u/IlluminatiConfirmed Riddler Aug 27 '26
I do wish they did their take on the scene where scarecrow gasses Batman and he takes it out on joker, but yeah they can't include everything
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u/Liquid_Chicken_ Aug 27 '26
Not integral to the story so he can be left out. Most likely did it to avoid taking away focus from the the main story
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u/I_Am_Killa_K Aug 26 '26
Haven’t watched the whole thing yet but saw the first ten minutes on YouTube and already kinda letdown by the animation. The character models don’t feel like they’re inhabiting the space. The proportions don’t seem to match the backgrounds at times. Character movement is almost static when talking. No breathing, no acting.
However, the character designs themselves are gorgeous and thankfully the sound design so far is a step up from previous DC DTV movies I’ve watched. I still remember watching The Long Halloween and being struck by how much dead air they left in.
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u/gosukhaos Aug 26 '26
Sounds like modern animation then. The last WB animated project to get some quality production must have been Year One
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u/American_Jesus Plastic Man Aug 26 '26
They didn't miss that 90s comics look, exaggerated muscles and costumes.
I'm currently reading the Knightfall (started before the movie) story arc, but so far is not that is not that far from the comics.
Skipped some stuff, Bane origin maybe it would be better if they stick to the original from comics, but wasn't that bad.
I'll try to finish the story arc before the release of the remaining movies for better comparison.
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u/I_Pay_in_Cash_Only Aug 30 '26
I actually liked their changes to the Bane origin tbh in terms of his motivation. Makes much more sense in the show. Honestly, I'm more curious about how they will do KnightQuest and KnightsEnd, because it eventually gets long and tedious and Azrael really overstays his welcome after a while. The story would greatly benefit from it being cut down, so I'm sure the animated pictures will do it better
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u/gosukhaos Aug 26 '26
Which is really odd because the early parts of Knightfall were illustrated by Breyfogle and Aparo, two artists who couldn't be further from the 90s Image style people usually associate with the decade
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u/ranbling011 Aug 26 '26
I think it was a very solid adaptations, I was okay with most of the changes (though, I don't really understand the decision behind having Bruce fire Tim like 10 minutes before the end, when it's not something that ever happened in the comics), but some of the pacing felt weird to me and I felt like the movie could've been at least 1.5 hours long, or even more
Also, while I read the comics and was familiar with JVP and the Azrael lore, I feel like it should've been mentioned a little bit more in the film 'cause this way Bruce trusting JVP enough to have him in the Cave after their first meeting in the film feels kinda OOC
But I liked this version of Shondra better than her comic counterpart
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u/Southern-Form-2804 Aug 28 '26
I think firing Robin was meant to add tension of where Batman is at mentally at his most extreme and sets the stage for how a radical like Jean Paul could take on the mantle over a Robin who won’t even fully obey him.
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u/Liquid_Chicken_ Aug 27 '26
I don’t think it was implied that it was only after the first meeting he trusted him with the cave. Jean Paul has been training for a long time with them as it’s said in the movie. How long what I don’t know but could very well been months up until the point we saw them.
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u/Cold-Error7771 Aug 26 '26
I loved it. Drenched in atmosphere, very ominous music, I think it perfectly captured a feeling of dread throughout that just exploded during the last 10 minutes.
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u/negaprez Y The Last Man Aug 26 '26
a fun movie, made me want to see the other movies. Also SUPER bloody.
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u/Cold-Ambition2315 Aug 28 '26
If you liked this you'll love the other movies, gorey and bloody as well.
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u/gsnake007 Aug 26 '26
This movie was great. Tim and Bane were nailed to a tee. So fucking gory those kills were like mortal kombat. Batman got his ass whopped, like damn. I need part 2 now
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u/Kingjwavy Aug 27 '26
2027💔
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u/haaiiychii Aug 28 '26
Part 2 is 2026 and Part 3 is 2027 https://dcanimated.com/2026/07/batman-knightfall-part-one-knightfall-arrives-august-25-2026/
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u/shagman_ Aug 26 '26
This is great, its like the Superman: Doomsday era of Warner Brothers direct to video animated movies. I can easily overlook any of my criticisms solely for the fact that the team involved listened to the criticism surrounding the last 2 rounds of interconnected animated movies. I hope they keep on this train of creativity because I had a blast watching this.
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u/HankSteakfist Aug 26 '26
Is it out yet to buy? Can't see it on Google or Prime.
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Aug 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Getting_Schwifty14 Red Robin Aug 26 '26
Red Robin Compendium drops on the same day Knightfall pt. 1 releases. Tim Drake fans feasting after a decade of malnourishment. Part 1 was fantastic.
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u/Independent-Cost-453 11h ago
As a semi-informed batman fan, i've played most of the games and watched most of the movies and series; I've never really delved into the comics besides the popular ones.
I found this movie quite enjoyable, it was predictable yes, this is based on a story most of us know and have probably seen before, but i found the voice acting great, the music spectacular and the animation felt gritty, a bit gory and quite on theme with the caped crusader. I wish the movie was longer, I do feel like Bane stumbling on a magazine and deciding Gotham City is his main motivation a bit week, but the way they fleshed it out "That he got to the city and was so disappointed to the point of deciding to break the one crutch protecting the weak i.e Batman" to be an in theme characterisation of Bane. I feell like had the movie had more runtime to really flesh out his upbringing in Santa Prisca, it would have gone a long way.
Otherwise great film but not yet up there with the greats. Can't wait for pt 2 though.