Why did this never get a proper live action adaptation?
It was a huge hit in the mid 80s and there was a lot of talk of adapting if, but instead they made the Burton movies which were very influenced by it but shared no similarities plotwise at all
Then Schumacher got involved, and he apparently wanted to adapt Dark Knight Returns, but Warner wanted his movies to be brighter and cheesier. While he did what they asked, Batman Forever does adapt Bruce’s falling into a cave of bats, which came from the book. After Batman and Robin flopped, Schumacher is like “I’ll make it up to the fans, let me adapt Dark Knight Returns.” but he just got booted.
So Nolan comes along and makes his movies. They’re clearly largely based on Year One and Dark Knight Returns in a lot of ways, but they still don’t just do a straight adaptation of the plots. A couple scenes, some aesthetic choices, but as a whole his trilogy is different.
Then Batman V Superman comes out. Okay, this is is the climax of The Dark Knight Returns, and it’s being done by Snyder, whose 300 and Watchmen were pretty close to the comics adapted (Watchmen obviously taking more liberties).
But it was completely different. Again, aside from aesthetic choices and a few scenes, it’s not the same story at all, it’s completely different
Joker comes out. And nobody expected it to adapt The Dark Knight Returns, but it’s most famous scene was taken straight from the comic - Joker goes on David Letterman, kisses Dr. Ruth, kills (just Letterman in the movie, the whole crowd in the comic).
Anyway, why? Why no straight live action Dark Knight Returns? It’s like every Batman movie dances around this comic, snatches a scene here, a prop there, but refuses to do the whole thing.
Do you think it will ever get a straight adaptation? DC constantly reboots Batman.
Because DKR is a very comic book story hindering on a lot of expectations of a comic book, where as WB and comic movies were apprehensive about doing a lot of comic book stuff anywhere close to faithfully for years. Most of the movies, with the exception of TDKRises, were made with the expectation of continuing or growing a franchise, where as DKR has an ending that doesn't lend itself well to launching a universe(even with two sequels).
>Do you think it will ever get a straight adaptation? DC constantly reboots Batman.
Probably not without some heavy concessions;i.e. reworking the very 80's political plotlines.
>Probably not without some heavy concessions
I mean hell, you could argue just about every Batman movie is a Dark Knight Returns adaptation with heavy concessions
I get not wanting to do a straight adaptation of Year One, it’s a slower and more low key story. If you adapt it into a film, you’ll probably want to mix it with elements of Legends Of The Dark Knight, stories of Bruce globetrotting and all that, and when you get down to it aside from the weird Ras that’s basically what Batman Begins was.
But The Dark Knight Returns is an epic story, with a lot of action. As is, I think you could make it into a pretty good movie. Of course, your point about franchises is well taken
I kinda like to imagine Robert Rodriguez doing it Sin City style. Just a hyper-stylized, extremely comic-booky, extremely faithful adaptation. Likelihood of that happening is about zero though lmao
Sin City still cut a lot for time.
if Rodriguez didn't make everything look so cheap these days I'd like him to do a TDKR limited series in that original Sin City style
>I get not wanting to do a straight adaptation of Year One, it’s a slower and more low key story. If you adapt it into a film, you’ll probably want to mix it with elements of Legends Of The Dark Knight, stories of Bruce globetrotting and all that
Have you not seen batman begins? Frick I hate zoomers
Stop being illiterate you illiterate Black person.
>I get not wanting to do a straight adaptation of Year One, it’s a slower and more low key story. If you adapt it into a film, you’ll probably want to mix it with elements of Legends Of The Dark Knight, stories of Bruce globetrotting and all that,
Okay now, that’s where you stopped reading. If you had continued, you’d have read this
>and when you get down to it aside from the weird Ras that’s basically what Batman Begins was
Stupid dumb motherfricker gorilla monkey ooh ooh eeh eeh aah aah looking ass subhuman vermin garbage homosexual have a nice day
I really wish I could kill you through my computer you subhuman piece of trash
I’m still steaming over this. Is this just really good bait? I hate you I literally hait you
I don't know man, Frank is crazy.
Alan Moore said so and Moore never lies.
Alan Moore’s introduction to The Dark Knight Returns
https://www.teako170.com/knight.html
Good
I think Moore said all that gay shit against Miller not only to stick up for his own homosexual sensibilities, but also because he was disappointed in Miller, and not just in the superficial way. From his reviews of Daredevil and TDKR, it looked like high hopes.
His clashing of Euro, manga, and American comics in Ronin was also the beginnings of greatness.
The later parts of Sin City, Martha Washington, and basically anything after the mid 90s was regression from Miller. As we all know, post-9/11 was an absolute disaster for him.
I love his 80s and early 90s work, but that's as good as he got.
Makes this video, while good and inspirational, a bit sad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9DsltLuEM4
harlan ellison
DK2 was genuinely good
I still haven’t read it
you admit you're full of shit, then? you're regurgitating all this shit you've picked up through osmosis but you haven't even read his "bad" comics.
Calm down moron, I’m not the anon you were replying to
Frick off you homosexual ass zoomer
2000s Miller is a pleb filter.
We missed our chance Clint Eastwood Bruce and David Bowie Joker so now I honest don't want it at all anymore.
The climax depends on Batman and Superman fighting. Most Batman directors want to go “grounded” and despite its rep, DKR is not grounded at all.
>Nazi woman (troony?) hench with naked torso and swastikas on the breasts
>Joker has tiny talking flying doll minions
>gang leader is a huge inhuman monstrosity, probably the only true mutant of the gang, no explanation ever given
Yeah. Dark Knight was bonkers.
The real conundrum is why they didn't adapt Year One to live action, it'd have been easier to film than Batman 89 and Batman Begins.
I think it’s partly cause there had already been a Batman movie kicking in the works for over a decade by then. Batman 89 wasn’t really a clean break
I think if they started from zero they would have just adapted Year One
There were plans for Year One with Darren Aronofsky directing and Joaquin Phoenix as Batman
https://thebatmanuniverse.net/image/General/Downloads/Scripts/Batman%20Year%20One.pdf
Frank Miller wrote a script
That script is fricking insane, and only a third in a good way.
Batman begins is the closest you’ll get. I have no interest in a year one movie, personally.
I’d prefer mid-career Bruce. I’m so sick of fricking young Bruce.
>shits on conservatives
>female Robin
Cinemaphile would call this "woke" if it came out today
DKR would have been great as a movie, but if you read the comic first, the movie would not have any surprises.
The animated movies exist. And, I think they were pretty good.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI1zuZdCSlNYQOLQ9b9RGiBIIa0JBukoH
They're pretty shit. They have no inventiveness like the comic, and no balls.
The animation in these direct to video specials is always so flat and stiff
Gotham Knight is a notable exception
i recently rewatched them and caught the featurettes on bluray.
the director made some interesting changes to keep it a little fresh and surprising, or even try and improve the continuity between scenes.
for example, in the hall of mirrors joker runs out of ammo so ditches his gun and leaves bruce under that scaffold/railing thing. once outside and stopped by security, we get a glimpse of joker's hidden knife which he uses to take another fully loaded gun off the poor mook who stopped him. they did this so it didn't seem like joker used a single clip for clear out 2 separate attractions, and also to foreshadow the knife's reappearance a few minutes later.
there were some others that were purely to be more 'filmic', like the introduction of superman cutting around the oval office instead of the flag morphing into the cape.
while yes, most of it was straight adaptation (and why would you want any tampering when it ends up like the killing joke movie) but the staff put a lot of extra attention and consideration into those 2 releases in particular.
i recommend seeking out those BTS featurettes anon but i can't find a link online to share with you.
there are that two parter animated film
I wish they had kept Dave Letterman, even an impersonator, instead of Conan O’Brien