The Black Knight Returns 2009

Over a decade after the United Nations outlawed superheroes and the Joker murdered Batman’s protégé, Robin (Jason Todd), a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne battles alcoholism in a dystopian 1986. Having long abandoned his mantle, he remains deeply estranged from Jason’s predecessor, Dick Grayson. Batman’s absence has left Gotham City overrun by crime, much of it driven by a gang called “the Mutants”. Haunted by his parents’ murder and spurred by the Mutants’ escalating crimes, Wayne ends his retirement to return to his role as vigilante. After thwarting multiple assaults—including one on young Carrie Kelley—he targets the Mutants, whose leader publicly vows to kill him personally. Batman’s return is reported on the news, prompting the Joker to awaken from catatonia at Arkham Asylum.

Batman foils a group of criminals working for Harvey Dent. Previously known as Two-Face, Dent underwent extensive therapy and plastic surgery to reenter society before disappearing. Batman informs close-to-retirement Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon that Dent may be planning a larger scheme. Soon after, Dent announces his intention to hold Gotham ransom with a bomb. Batman defeats Dent, whose psyche has now completely warped into his Two-Face persona.

At the White House, Superman and President Ronald Reagan discuss Batman’s actions, with the latter suggesting he may have to be arrested. In Gotham, Kelley, inspired by Batman, buys an imitation Robin costume and searches for him. Batman attacks the Mutants at the city dump with the Batmobile, but the Mutant Leader goads him into a hand-to-hand fight and beats Batman to near-death. Kelley creates a diversion that allows her and Batman to retreat to the Batcave, where Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth tends to his wounds. Impressed with her bravery, Wayne decides to make Kelley his new protégée. Batman returns to strategically defeat the Mutant Leader in front of his followers, who splinter into smaller gangs as a result; one faction renames itself the “Sons of the Batman” and adopts violent tactics against the underworld.

Clark Kent talks with Wayne and is then deployed by Washington to the fictional Latin American country of Corto Maltese, where he fights Soviet combat forces in a conflict that may escalate into World War III.

Gordon’s successor as commissioner, Captain Ellen Yindel, declares Batman a wanted criminal. Meanwhile, Joker manipulates his caretakers to allow him onto a television talk show, where he murders everyone with his trademark toxin and escapes. Batman and Robin (Kelley) track him to a county fair while evading a Gotham police pursuit. Batman fights Joker, vowing to stop him permanently. Batman paralyzes Joker but stops short of taking his life. Disappointed with Batman’s refusal to kill him, Joker breaks his own neck and dies.

A citywide manhunt for Batman begins. Elsewhere, Superman diverts a Soviet nuclear warhead which detonates in a desert, nearly killing him in the process, and survives only by absorbing the sun’s energy from the plants in a nearby jungle. The United States is hit by an electromagnetic pulse as a result and descends into chaos during the following blackout. In Gotham, Batman and Robin turn the remaining Mutants and Sons of the Batman into a non-lethal vigilante gang, making Gotham the safest city in the country. Embarrassed, the U.S. government orders Superman to take Batman into custody. Superman demands to meet Batman, and Wayne chooses Crime Alley.

Superman tries to reason with Batman, but Batman uses his technological inventions to fight him on equal ground. During the battle, Superman compromises Batman’s exoframe. However, an aging Oliver Queen manages to shoot Superman with a kryptonite-tipped arrow to weaken him, which allows Batman to beat him into submission. Standing over the defeated Superman, Batman has a sudden heart attack, apparently dying. Alfred destroys the Batcave and Wayne Manor before suffering a fatal stroke, exposing Batman as Bruce Wayne, whose fortune has disappeared. After Wayne’s funeral, it is revealed that his death was staged using an antiarrhythmic agent that suspended his vital life signs. Clark attends the funeral and winks at the disguised Carrie after hearing Wayne’s heartbeat before she starts digging him out. Some time afterward, Bruce Wayne, now looking forward to life, leads Robin, Queen, and the rest of his followers into the caverns beyond the Batcave to continue his war on crime.