Batman: Bad Blood, 2016.
Directed by Jay Oliva.
Featuring the voice talents of Jason O’Mara, Sean Maher, Yvonne Strahovski, Stuart Allan, Morena Baccarin, Steve Blum, Gaius Charles, John DiMaggio, James Garrett, Ernie Hudson, Robin Atkin Downes, Vanessa Marshall, Bruce Thomas, Matthew Mercer, Jason Spisak, Travis Willingham and Kari Wahlgren.
SYNOPSIS:
Bruce Wayne is missing. Alfred covers for him while Nightwing and Robin patrol Gotham City in his stead. And a new player, Batwoman, investigates Batman’s disappearance.
After a confrontation with a bunch of super villains, including Firefly, Killer Moth, and Tusk goes sideways, Batman (voiced by Jason O’Mara) is MIA and the bat signal in the sky is going unheeded. Gotham City heats up with more crime than usual since the assumption that the Caped Crusader is dead starts getting around on the streets. Even Alfred has to cover for Bruce Wayne’s absence at Wayne Enterprises shareholder meetings. It’s not looking good for Bruce/Batman, and so his protégés Dick Grayson/Nightwing (voiced by Sean Maher) and the young Robin (voiced by Stuart Allan) are stepping in to battle crime, with Grayson donning the batsuit to fool thugs on the street that Batman is still alive and well. Only the mysterious Katherine Kane (voiced by Yvonne Strahovski) seems to know what really happened to Batman on that fateful night when everything went wrong.
Kane, who is a self-made vigilante who models herself after Batman by calling herself Batwoman, witnessed the crucial moment when Batman went down, and so she forms an uneasy alliance with Nightwing (in Batman’s suit), Robin, and Lucius Fox’s son Luke (who creates his own snazzy suit and calls himself Batwing) to go up against the League of Shadows and a conspicuous villain named Heretic to find out if Bruce Wayne is still alive. When they realize that Bruce has been brainwashed (along with a whole bunch of politicos in Gotham), they have their work cut out for them as Bruce turns against them.
Following in line with previous well-produced entries of DC Universe Original Animated Movies, Batman: Bad Blood is appropriately pulpy, action-packed and adult-centric, with brutal violence, a tightly conscripted story (scripted by J.M. DeMatteis), and solid direction by Jay Olivia, whose previous entry in this series was Batman vs. Robin. The film, while being full of side characters and where Batman is relegated to a supporting asset, should appeal to the mature comic book lovers who’ve supported this franchise since getting started with Superman/Doomsday in 2007.
Warner Bros. is releasing Batman: Bad Blood onto DVD and Blu Ray on February 2nd. There are several special features exclusive to the DVD/Blu Ray Combo Pack.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
david j. moore
Originally published January 30, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
