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As fans eagerly await the release of the first chapter of DC Studios' R-rated Batman: Knightfall trilogy, there's time to enjoy the company's wider animated library. The franchise that once dominated the medium, humbling Marvel with masterpieces like Batman: The Animated Series, has made its share of errors. In their adaptation of a crucial '90s story arc, it's key to avoid the trap DC keeps stumbling into.
Batman: Knightfall promises to be the latest in DC's adaptations of its finest story arcs from the comics. Set to join the ranks of Justice League: The New Frontier, Watchmen, and Superman: Red Son, it could be its best animated release of the decade. However, to achieve that, it has to learn an important lesson from past projects: honor the source material.
DC Animation Refuses to Faithfully Adapt Most Stories
Since the DCAU began, DC's various animation creators have shied away from direct adaptations of famous stories. In fact, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett's Batman: The Animated Series made a point of reinventing some of the hero's greatest adversaries. When looking at how they changed the way people saw Mr. Freeze, there's certainly an advantage in this degree of creative freedom. However, it's crucial to admit that this franchise had a different goal in mind from the numerous purportedly "direct" adaptations. While the DCAU was always intended to reinterpret the worlds of Gotham and Metropolis, the company's standalone stories are different.
Throughout the last two decades, DC Animation has adapted classic stories like "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" and "The Death of Superman." At every turn, writers have made a point of changing key endings and details, completely killing the idea of them as true reflections of the comics. More than that, it makes it feel like they don't have enough faith in viewers to keep up. When looking at something like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, fans had a prime example of something that enhanced an original story without really changing it. Minor details are tweaked and dialogue added, but it nails everything that readers of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's original comic were looking for.
Some of the animated alterations made some degree of sense. Batman & Superman: Public Enemies, for example, trimmed away the presence of the Earth-2 Superman, something that traces back to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. For a standalone project, this was entirely defensible. However, when looking at egregious changes to movies like Batman: Gotham By Gaslight or Injustice, it shows an unwillingness to commit to the source material. Quite often, these stories end up feeling much worse for the alteration, especially turning Jim Gordon into Jack the Ripper for the Elseworlds steampunk movie. It missed the point of the graphic novel entirely, hoping to cash in on a cheap twist ending, losing the mystery hook. That alteration is a good representation of the wider problem, with too many creators shirking the original plot for one overly tied in with more popular characters.
Batman: Knightfall Is Perfect As It Is
Created in 1993, "Knightfall" was designed to join stories like "The Death of Superman" and "Emerald Twilight" in bringing heroes to their downfall. Superman was slain by Doomsday during their battle, Wonder Woman became an outcast, Hal Jordan became Parallax, and Bruce Wayne's back was broken by Bane. The Caped Crusader's arc sent him on an epic manhunt to capture his villains after they were freed from Arkham by Bane. One by one, he pushed himself to his physical and mental limits, going days without rest and taking a beating from his adversaries. Weakened and exhausted, he returned home only to be confronted by the luchador menace, who swiftly defeated him.
"Knightfall" achieved two things for DC; it established Bane as a force to be reckoned with, and it proved just how far the World's Greatest Detective will go to keep Gotham safe. On both fronts, it's as perfect as it gets, leaving little room for change beyond filling in the gaps between chapters. All the core story beats are there, from the breakout and manhunt to the drama between Azrael and Robin in the backdrop. In short, there's more than enough story to fill in the whole animated trilogy without writers forcing their own retcons and "what if" scenarios into the plot.
When creative teams change the direction of a story, it can lose the attention of actual comic book fans and set up newbies for disappointment when they turn to collecting. Importantly, it doesn't really achieve anything. The people tuning in to see their favorite arcs come to life will leave disappointed, and newcomers to the franchise will be left with a bad impression of those tales. Where a shared animated universe has plenty of room for reinterpretation, these standalone films that claim to faithfully adapt the books should do so. These comics are iconic for good reason and owe their success to the work of the original writers and artists.
Batman: Knightfall Should Show the Importance of Respecting Source Material
After the missteps of the Tomorrowverse and needlessly edgy vibe of the DCAMU, fans have been waiting for a true return to form. When producers promise fans true-to-form animations of their favorite stories, they seem to underestimate the fact that those readers do want a faithful version. Every key story change and unnecessary plot twist takes the originality out of the story, feeling less like a real window into DC and more like a studio-directed showcase of A-list characters. Batman: Knightfall must avoid this, and has plenty of character star power to make it not needed.
Bruce Wayne's best stories have earned their place as some of the most iconic tales ever told in comics. In Batman: Knightfall, DC Studios needs to prove it has some faith in the source material and give fans the saga they want, not one the producers think they need.
