Film number 50 in The DC Animated Original Movies Lineup. It is based off the 2000 Elseworld comic by the same name, and before this movie I had never heard of it. I often hear it is the most obscure work they have adapted, and I am glad they did it, as I really enjoyed reading it.
Batman battles a Cthulu like entity called Iog-Sotha (I know nothing of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, and I will not pretend to understand it). It takes place in the 1920s, so it will be compared to fellow Elseworld film Batman Gotham by Gaslight. I am surprised many people say they should be sequels. For one this takes place in America, not Great Britain. It is much more fantastical, and Batman’s abilities are very different. Gaslight might have the weakest film Batman I have ever seen, and this version is high up there with the best. Not to mention as elseworld taking place in a different time period is hardly unique to Gaslight. It is much closer to The Dark Knight Returns, with how they view Batman’s death and focus on why the absurdity of Batman is not actually absurd in the world he lives in.
It opens in Antarctica foreshadowing a cold and rough terrain they will have to manage in Gotham. Bruce Wayne is looking for survivors from a research expedition particularly Professor Cobblepot. He is with Jay (Jason is Indian in this version), Dick, and Kai Li. Kai Li is designed and loosely based off Cass Cain. The name change is to make her fans know this version is very different, as she is also based off Carrie Kelley, and Tim Drake.
They find many bodies with only Cobblepot and Grendon unaccounted for. It is left unknown why he is looking so fiercely for Cobblepot, but he reads his journal which says something from the ice is calling him home and coming. Bruce finds him covered in spore looking parasites and naked completely pale running for a cave. Bruce calls him “Oswald” like he is an old friend. It is later revealed Cobblepott and Thomas Wayne have major hiitory with each other, so Bruce likely views as an honorary uncle.
This movie is about finding the truth in the unknown. Plenty of details are left out, but most are given, as the characters must figure out what type of movie they are in. The first mystery is what is that cave and what is on Cobblepot.
Next comes a very creepy scene. Bruce finds Grendon trying to break free from the ice a giant squid like monster, as he has been chosen to be the messenger of “him who looks down on Earth.” Just looking at “him” brings madness, so Grendon gorged out his eyes, and Bruce falls over and is attacked by penguin monsters.
These things look like hybrids of biblically accurate angels and penguins. Grendon swallows a squid like thing from inside the ice, and then Bruce knocks him unconscious and takes him back to the ship. We are then introduced to Kai Li, the deuteragonist. She is shocked when Bruce tells her to bring all the explosives to destroy the cave entrance.
This movie is about determining the truth, and here comes The Occam Razor fallacy, assuming the simplest explanation is correct. Bruce tells them it is a prehistoric frozen monster that is full of a prehistoric virus that is affecting the local wildlife. Thus they need to cut it off especially with Covid this seems very reasonable to modern audiences. This takes place after the Flu Pandemic making it even more reasonable to them. It is not the case, as this is a monster from another dimension, but it is reasonable. The problem is it cuts off the ability to check his work. To make up for that they bring Grendon with them and place him in the meet freezer.
He tells them Cobblepot is gone while avoiding eye contact seemingly blaming himself. This happens as Cobblepot watches them leave. Cobblepot has left his humanity behind to become an animal.
When he goes to new Cities Bruce keeps picking up new children hence his crew. For his Robins Dick is the one who helps Bruce look into everything and believes in the logical explanations. Jay seems to think there is a supernatural explanation. Kai Li does not know what to think other than she wants to be a part of it, and Alfred just wants everybody to have a normal life. Bruce has a conspiracy map. He thinks the killings which often have “Gotham City” written are from a cult. He declares it is time to go back to Gotham City and shows Alfred his batsuit.
Only Kai Li doubts they will stay in Gotham, and Grendon (now in a Mr. Freeze costume) tells them they are returning for their doom. He and Jay clearly really hate each other.
The flashback to the Wayne murder is full of foreshadowing. Their is a pillar like statue of Thomas Wayne foreshadowing that he basically founded Gotham. He says Bruce must learn to stand on his own two feel instead of somebody else’s foreshadowing the help Thomas got in the past. Their killer uses a knife instead of a gun, and this more skill based weapon makes this Batman have an easier time killing than usual. In the comics it also shows why Batman is willing to use a gun like he does on the cover, but the film adaptation cuts that.
When fleeing Iog-Sotha calls to Young Bruce and is then quieted by the bats. One reason this gives me so many The Dark Knight Returns vibes is the bats. There he would speak to a specific bat in a way that made it seem like another personality at times. Here it is the same way, but it is a whole Cauldron of bats he regularly listens to. It gives a strong supernatural element.
Jay loses the straws and has to stay behind and watch Grendon. Bruce does not trust the police and we briefly see all the homeless, foreclosures, and prohibition rules and hypocrisy. It just takes a few seconds to show it. One thing I love about Direct-to-video movies is they are almost always quick and to the point. I really think a modern blockbuster would pad this out with so much generic dialogue about how important it all is.
At Wayne Manor they find Kirk Langstrom’s dead body waiting for them along with the alive Jason Blood/Etrigan. Bruce and Dick look at Langstrom and determine something with thumbs and claws killed him. Some viewers have complained Etrigan’s backstory was not explained but I disagree. We immediately see his demon form, and with his yellow eyes clashing with Bruce’s blue eyes so well it is obvious he is a demon. We do not need to know his backstory with King Arthur.
He tells Bruce in order to defeat the spirts “Bruce Wayne must die and through death become himself” and Gotham must be burned to be saved. Bruce laughs this off. For the first part it obviously means becoming Batman, and he has not been called that. He perceives himself as a Wayne right now, not a superhero but an avenger. With Bruce not believing Etrigan turns into a demon in front of him and jumps out the window.
Bruce is left flabbergasted, an emotion we rarely see on him. He then comically tries to brush it off like it is nothing with Alfred right there trying to figure out what is going on.
Ollie Queen is introduced as a drunk that nobody really likes who sucks at details like knowing the difference in scientific names for plants and animals. Mayoral candidate Harvey Dent shows up introduces as the likely hero of Gotham. Normally either of these two would be the villain, but instead they are both heroic and will help save the city even if they are not Batman.
Ollie falls unconscious while drunk saying he owes Bruce more than he can know, as he cries saying “the sins of the father are heaped upon the son.” One one hand I am glad I saw this for the first time half asleep due to how eerie that made it. On the other I cannot accurately say if I could solve all the mysteries.
For the first time Bruce puts on the costume and the visuals are very similar to The Animated Series. First he takes out some corrupt cops taking liquor from Langstrom’s house. Not very interesting and more about how much he will grow later. He reads his journal saying the bats call to him and know about an entity from another dimension coming for their world, and he realizes Cobblepot had the rest of his work.
Batman finds the book by calling about it so the librarian will check, but Talia al Ghul trailed him and takes it first. She uses a tiny demon to possess the librarian. This establishes that while demons must possess people they take none of their will or acceptance. Bruce is shocked showing he still does not believe in the supernatural. He gets saved by Etrigan who takes himself and the demon out. This results in Talia capturing Etrigan in a bottle removing him from the picture.
Batman escapes using acid and faces Talia still calling them just a cult. He does not believe until she pulls out another monster, Killer Croc. This scene shows how in a short time Bruce is coming to believe in the supernatural, and it should now be clear to the audience that they are the real deal and not goons in costumes. As a big Batman fan I enjoy the change seeing him completely out of his league and surprised at what is going on. He is completely wrong genre savvy for the first third of the movie.
Talia reveals she is 812 years old and releases Killer Croc on Bruce. After getting whipped Bruce escapes on a train before falling unconscious. He gets back to Alfred now admitting he has no real idea what he is fighting.
Gotham harbor is completely frozen by Grendon. Dick goes to the their ship to check on Jay just to find Grendon killed him and then Killer Croc kills Dick. Less than 40 minutes and already they are dead.
Talia brings her father back from the dead, and she seems to start crying. Like Bruce they both want their dead parents back and take drastic measures. The difference is Bruce puts the pain on himself and Talia puts it on others.
Unlike Alfred Bruce still disbelieves he is dealing with supernatural, but he looks into the legend looking for fact (I do not buy it. He is scared it is all supernatural and hiding it). He finds that Ra’s al Ghul is from 2000 BC and trying to summon Iog-Sotha. Deciphering a code he sees their temple is underneath Gotham.
Bruce goes there and this time knows what he is facing and uses this to defeat Talia and kill Killer Croc. Then he has trouble comprehending Ra’s Al Ghul using magic to defeat him and send a plague of reptiles on Gotham. As Harvey promises to fix this he is easily elected mayor.
In one of the most important scenes in the movie Batman barely crawls out of the sewers like the reptiles and into crime alley where he has flashbacks to his parents death, and the bats call out to him how only he can stop them and only “The Bat” can stop them. Now he accepts his mark of madness and he is dealing with the supernatural. When Alfred gets him he calls him “father.” It is ambiguous if he thinks he is Thomas or acknowledging that Alfred is a father to him (I think it is the first one). Later Alfred does call him “son” and Bruce in response still calls him “Alfred.”
The Al Ghuls and Grendon declare that Dent is the key and the key is within Grendon. Talia rips it out of him killing Grendon and Ra’s turns it into Poison Ivy. Their view of allies as just agents to be disposed of is then contrasted with a scene of Bruce, Kai Li, and Alfred mourning as Lucius contemplates putting Bruce in Arkham who is just saying “doom” trying to figure it out.
Kai Li finds Ollie dressed like a crusader and, he reveals his 300 year old father killed Thomas and Martha Wayne unleashing Iog-Sotha back on Gotham to destroy it. He has been preparing to fix it, as only he can because the sins of the father are heaped upon the son. Thinking he is crazy Kai Li flees. It does not help that she then finds Bruce dressed as a bat and talking to his bats about doom.
A little scene shows that Harvey has a horrendous poison ivy infection. We all know where this is going for him.
Ollie kills poison Ivy but gets mortally injured. He gives Bruce his holy sword and four holy arrows, and he debates the sins of the father with Bruce. I think the film takes Ollie’s side that the child must try to redeem the parents. The people who do the most good had fathers who are later revealed to have worked with Iog-Sotha. It gives motivation needed for greatness. Bruce himself changes sides next scene, and calls himself a man who needs to run right into the fire to save Gotham. So much about this movie about discovery is about self discovery. Bruce sees more and more than a city in need of a hero needs himself to be the larger than life hero. Forget about the nonsense like donating all his money. This world needs a man dressed in spandex to fight demons.
There is a debate for what to name their base; is it a wine cellar or a cave. They call it a wine cellar when depressed like now and a cave when they are happier.
Bruce tells Kai Li and Alfred he is not coming back accepting his upcoming death. When Alfred protests he responds that he does not know what he faces, but is this is what he was meant to do. I think this is my favorite scene. For one it highly resembles many parts of The Dark Knight Returns when Alfred and Carrie accept his upcoming death and Batman’s deontological ethics. It also shows how he has changed from a skeptic who now accepts how much he does not know. He has placed the pieces together that he must die a hero and accepts what information he has.
Still being a detective he finally goes to The Oracle (something he has avoided for years) for answers, and they get into why the bat. It is not just the fear they inspire but their ability to see beyond the darkness. It is their echo location, which is a metaphor for discovering the truth amidst all the darkness and gloom.
She lets him speak with his father who reveals he was born in 1585, and that he Kirk Langstrom’s father, Cobblepot, and Ollie’s father were original settler of Gotham. With them all dying off they made a deal with the devil and did “terrible things” (it shows animal sacrifice, but I think the implication is they also did human sacrifices on the natives). In doing this they released Iog-Sotha on the world, and it drove them all but him mad, and he was killed. They both agree as the son it is up to Brue and only he is capable of stopping Iog-Sotha at the doorway, and he must gain “communion” with the bats.
Bruce immediately then does the logical things in the circumstances, draws a star, drink a mysterious (to the audience) potion and prays to the bats. They ask his if he is ready to become one of them, and he accepts now that he is to become The Bat, and they teleport him to the mausoleum underneath Gotham.
First he find the door, Harvery, flipping his coin. Surely this drives him for madness… Or he flips his coin to Bruce (recognizing him easily) and wishes him luck, and Bruce promises to see him soon knowing they are both about to be dead. A very sweet and surprising scene amidst all the darkness.
Next the music gets way darker and slower as he fights zombie like versions of Dick, Jay, and Ollie. He uses up three holy arrows on them, and this makes him more miserable.
Next while Ras” Al Ghul finishes the spell he battles Talia. They have been changing methods this whole time and this time Talia has glowing green eyes, great strength and magic weapons giving her the early advantage. Bruce pretends to fall unconscious so he can kill her with the last arrow in the only time he clearly kills a human.
So without his parents being killed by a gun but a knife he never saw the incredible ease of killing, thus he has less restraint against it. In addition after last fight he is in a rough time, and she has been cheating death for over 800 years (not to mention Iog-Sotha is about to come back). It makes rational sense to kill her, even if I do not like that. At least the fight was really good. I have really enjoyed their rivalry this movie.
After that he goes to fight Ra’s Al Ghul who tells him it is already too late and merges with Iog-Sotha and wipes out Bruce effortlessly taking and then destroying his last holy weapon. Ra’s Al Ghul tells him no human can comprehend Iog-Sotha or look at him without going mad (too late for the last one). He turns into Iog-Sotha and traps Bruce and turns the sky to a blood red color. Bruce then accepts that he is one with the bats.
He breaks out of the cocoon like substance declaring himself to no longer be alive and “I am Batman.”
I know it might just be the recency bias, but I think is my favorite usage of the iconic line. He has now accepted the supernatural to a greater extant than even Iog-Sotha and proceeds to tear it apart. It also means I can finally quit calling him “Bruce.” This is the first time the word “Batman” is ever used, and it is glorious.
Iog-Sotha retreats to his ginormous true form ( I love that the other dimensional abomination is so scared and confused), and Batman releases Etrigan who finishes him off and in the process fulfills the prophecy of burning Gotham before it can be saved. From what I have heard of H.P. Lovecraft this is the bid difference. His work is very cynical about humanity, and they cannot win. Here the great heroes remain great heroes and win.
A few months later, and the Wayne Memorial Fund has rebuild Gotham, and everybody mourns Bruce not knowing he still watches over them in death.
I cannot think of a better image to end the movie on. I really love this. Between the great fights, mood, character development, and mystery it is a full on masterpiece. Like The Dark Knight Returns it focuses on the idea Batman is mentally unstable and turns it on his head by focusing on how fantastical his world is.
Five Tree Stars
Next time I return to Universal Cartoon Studios with Alvin and the Chipmunks meet Frankenstein.
The Animation Historian 