Celebrating 40 years of The Greatest Batman Ever Made

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 16 seconds ago

For better or worse, we currently live in the age of superhero cinema, and movies like this Avengers: Endgame again Superman (2025) ruling the box office. But would you believe that this entire genre exists because of one joke? A comic that has inspired some of the greatest TV shows the world has ever seen?

That comic is by Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returnsthe old Batman comic that just celebrated its 40th anniversary is here. Miller’s comic is almost perfect, and helped usher in the modern era of dark and light superhero stories. That much is well known, but today, I would like to focus on a little-known fact: that the genre of modern superhero movies would not exist without The Dark Knight Returns.

You’ll Believe Batman Can Fly

1978 success Superman the movie proved that tights-and-flights films had the potential to become critical and commercial hits. So, that movie got three sequels, but the franchise never went “up, up, and away.” Finally, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace proved to be such a critical and commercial disaster that we didn’t get another Superman movie for almost two years decades.

Following the initial success Superman movie, a new Batman movie was developed at Warner Bros. in 1980. After surprising everyone Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (his first film), a young Tim Burton was hired in 1985 to direct this new Batman film. He immediately looked for a dark, campy text.

Simple enough, The Dark Knight Returns came out one year later, and the success of Frank Miller’s comic made the public hungry to take on the Caped Crusader as did Warner Bros. was enthusiastic about bringing The Darker Knight to the big screen.

Apparently, in 1989 Batman The film has gone through several rewrites over the years, including some light-hearted drafts featuring Robin, the Boy Wonder. But Burton really wanted his film to have the gritty, gritty atmosphere of Miller’s comedy, so he insisted on a story with the same basic beats. The Dark Knight Returns: Batman is selfish, the Joker is murderous, and Gotham City is a cesspool. Burton’s film ended up being a hit, launching the Batman film franchise that continues to this day.

When Cartoons Go Dark

Photo by Tim Burton Batman made the character more popular than ever, and Warner Bros. he soon began creating a new cartoon featuring the Caped Crusader. The result was Batman: The Animated Seriesa show that modeled Gotham City after one scene from the 1989 film. There were various architectural flourishes (in particular, the lavish Art Deco style of the buildings), but Gotham retained the dark and gritty atmosphere that electrified fans of the live-action film.

Batman: The Animated Series has won multiple Emmy awards, so you might be shocked to hear that Warner Bros. they were nervous about the new system. They feared that executive producer Bruce Timm was doing everything way very violent towards children.

Warners wanted to cancel the series before a single episode was animated, but the success of Burton’s movie made that impossible. Eventually, Timm was able to create the pilot episode “On Leatherwings,” which was so impressive that it helped his controversial series (complete with music from and inspired by Danny Elfman, Burton’s composer. Batman) get the green light.

Batman: The Animated Series it quickly became one of the most popular cartoons ever made, and the release of various sequels (incl Superman: The Animated Series again The Justice League) created the fan-favorite DC Animated Universe. The DCAU was the first truly functional cinematic superhero universe, which helped pave the way for the MCU. However, before that happens, The Dark Knight Returns helped promote the world’s most powerful revolutionaries.

Rise Of The Mutants

Photo by Tim Burton Batman It wouldn’t exist (or at least, it wouldn’t be worth watching) without the influence of Frank Miller. I The Dark Knight Returns. But after Burton’s departure, the franchise was in the hands of Lost Boys director Joel Schumacher. He made the franchise top-notch Batman Forever and really silly Batman and Robin. After audiences rejected the campy crapfest and Blade proved too popular, 20th Century Fox made a decision: they were going to swoop in and take the DC comic book crown. X-Men the movie.

That film came out in 2000, eventually spawning two sequels, four prequels, and three spin-offs featuring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Fox’s success X-Men prompted Sony to make a Spider Man Filmed in 2002, and Sam Raimi finally delivered a trilogy of webslinging beauties.

Ironically, these characters were only available to studios because Marvel had to sell the movie rights in the late 90s to avoid bankruptcy. After seeing how successful Fox and Sony were, however, Marvel decided to create their own films and television projects, all of which would later be known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Apparently, the MCU proved to be a big it touches the audience, it has produced almost 20 films. Ultimately, this inspired Warner Bros. to try his hand at the cinematic superhero scene, and they created the DCEU as a direct competitor to the MCU. The second film in this new world of cinema was Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justiceand (for better or worse), returning director Zack Snyder based his older, darker version of the Caped Crusader on Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

Everything is Connected

Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns has had a major impact on movies and television, serving as i the foundation of modern geek culture. Despite the success of this comic, we don’t get any successful Batman movies; without fail later on Batman and Robin (from Miller’s dark voice), we don’t get X-Men movies. Without those films and Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, we wouldn’t have the MCU, and without that, we wouldn’t have the DCEU or (later) the DCU.

It’s all connected, and comic nerds everywhere owe it to themselves to read this comic again. Considering it may be years before we see Batman properly seen in the DCU, rereading it is the best way to experience the most iconic and fully fleshed out version of the Caped Crusader ever made. Just be careful when handling this old comic; After all, you have a real piece of pop culture history in your hands!