Batman: Under the Red Hood 2010

Ra’s al Ghul [Jason Isaacs] hires the Joker [John DiMaggio] as a distraction to tear down Europe’s financial districts, only to discover too late that he cannot control the chaotic will of the clown. The plan spirals as the Joker abducts Batman’s partner, the second Robin, sending a clear message that violence can outpace any scheme. In Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Joker brutally tortures Batman’s ally in an abandoned warehouse with a crowbar, and then leaves him trapped with a bomb. The blast fatally ends the partner’s life just as Batman arrives, setting off a long shadow over Gotham’s vigilante world.

Five years slip by, and Gotham wakes to a new, mysterious force: a vigilante known as Red Hood. He holds a meeting with the city’s major drug dealers, declaring a ruthless takeover of the trade—taking 40 percent in exchange for protection from Black Mask and Batman, while warning against selling to kids. The clash escalates when Batman intervenes to stop a shipment connected to Black Mask that houses the deadly android, Amazo. Batman’s intervention, aided by Nightwing, exposes that the thieves answer to Red Hood. The criminals are cut down by a sniper before they can reveal more, and Batman tracks the shooter to Ace Chemicals. The Red Hood’s reference to the Joker’s origin within this very building hints at a tangled past before the facility is detonated. A tense interrogation at Arkham Asylum yields a denial from the Joker about Red Hood’s involvement, fueling Batman’s resolve to uncover the truth.

Black Mask responds with a direct hit on Red Hood, sending the Fearsome Hand of Four to finish him off. Batman and Nightwing fight alongside the antihero to subdue three of the four, but the fourth is slain by Red Hood, leaving Batman horrified by the path his rival has chosen. Red Hood explains that he intends to do what Batman refuses to do: kill criminals who aren’t afraid. A blood sample taken from the battle confirms Red Hood’s connection to Jason, forcing Batman to confront the possibility that Jason’s corpse was not what it seemed and that Ra’s al Ghul had a hand in reviving him. Ra’s reveals that he felt responsible for Jason’s death and, as an uneasy peace offering, swapped the body for a fake and revived him in the Lazarus Pit—only for the resurrection to push him toward madness and withdrawal.

When an assassination attempt against Red Hood nearly succeeds, Black Mask frees the Joker and the drug dealers, planning to burn them all. But the Joker abducts Black Mask and the rest, setting them up in a perilous trap while Red Hood closes in with a sharper, personal aim: to kill the Joker. Batman arrives just in time to rescue the hostages, and Red Hood finally corners the Joker, dragging the conflict into a brutal confrontation. The revelation that Red Hood is Jason shatters Batman’s moral boundaries and tests the limits of their fraternal bond. The two men clash through a collapsing, derelict building, with Jason forcing Batman into a crucible: he will shoot him or Batman must shoot him first. Batman refuses to kill, dropping the gun, and Jason fires, but a jammed and broken pistol foils his plan. A time bomb is triggered, and Batman’s quick actions save Joker, but Jason is lost in the explosion.

In the aftermath, Joker is returned to Arkham and Black Mask is arrested, while Alfred tends to the battered vigilante in the Batcave. Bruce Wayne makes a quiet choice: he won’t remove the memory of Jason by erasing the past, but he also won’t let it define his future. A final flashback revisits Jason’s first day as Batman’s ally, a moment he once described as the best day of his life, leaving the city with a haunting reminder of the cost of vengeance and the fragile line between justice and revenge.