Batman: Bad Blood is the sixth installment in the DC Animated Movie Universe and is a sequel to Batman vs. Robin. It was released on February 2, 2016. A fourth Batman film titled Batman: Hush released three years later on August 12, 2019, however the film doesn't serve as sequel to Bad Blood.
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.[1]
Plot[]
Batwoman intercepts a group of criminals in Gotham City that includes Electrocutioner, Tusk, Firefly, Killer Moth, and others. When a fight ensues, Batman arrives. They‘re confronted by the apparent leader of the criminals, a man called the Heretic, who detonates explosives planted within the facility. Batman flings Batwoman to safety and apparently perishes in the explosion.
Weeks later, a concerned Alfred Pennyworth sends a distress signal to Nightwing. Meanwhile, Damian Wayne watches a news report of Batman's disappearance and sets out to return to Gotham. Batwoman's civilian alter-ego, Katherine Kane, meets with her father Jacob, explaining she feels responsible for Batman's apparent death. In the past, Katherine was traumatized by an incident in which her sister Elizabeth and mother Gabrielle were abducted, held for ransom, and eventually killed by their captors, while she was the sole survivor. After her time in the military, she became a promiscuous drunkard who was saved by Batman from street thugs, which motivated her to never need to be saved again, resulting in her becoming Batwoman.
Batman apparently resurfaces and is quickly noticed by Robin and Katherine. Both of them intercept Batman and quickly deduce that it’s Nightwing wearing an old version of the Batsuit. They begin their own investigations into the Heretic, unconvinced that Bruce is truly dead. The Heretic and his henchmen attack Wayne Enterprises, forcing Lucius Fox to open the way into the vault by threatening his son Luke. Though Nightwing and Damian arrive, they’re unable to prevent the Heretic from escaping with Wayne technology, and Lucius is injured. Before they leave, the Heretic kills Electrocutioner when the latter is about to kill Robin.
The Heretic returns to his headquarters, where it’s revealed that he’s working for Talia al Ghul. They’ve got Bruce captured and the Mad Hatter is causing him to hallucinate. The Heretic then breaks into the Batcave and kidnaps Damian. He explains that he’s a clone of Damian, created by a genetics program run by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins. They used Damian's DNA to genetically engineer a perfect soldier with accelerated growth and development, but he was the only subject of the program to survive. Due to his feeling of not being a real person, he wishes to have Damian's memories and personality implanted within his own brain, but Talia arrives and kills the Heretic. Nightwing and Batwoman then arrive, having located Damian through a tracker in his costume. They’re quickly joined by Luke, clad in an advanced combat exosuit and styling himself as Batwing. The three rescue Bruce and Damian, but Talia and her henchmen escape.
A week pass and Bruce seems to have recovered, though he remains adamant that Katherine and Luke not be involved. After Katherine is forced to fight her father after he suddenly attacks her, Dick learns from this that Bruce is still under the effects of the Mad Hatter's mind control, though Damian is unconvinced. Luke realizes that the League of Assassins are planning to brainwash a number of world leaders at a tech summit held by Bruce. As the brainwashing takes place, Nightwing, Robin, Batwoman, Alfred, and Batwing arrive and fight Talia and her henchmen. During the fight, the Mad Hatter is killed, interrupting the mind control. Bruce, still brainwashed, defeats Nightwing. Talia then orders him to kill Nightwing and Damian, but Bruce, through Grayson's pleas, resists the brainwashing. Incensed, Talia escapes in a vessel, only for Onyx, a subordinate of the Heretic, to confront and attack her in revenge for the Heretic's death. The vessel subsequently crashes and explodes, implying their deaths. Bruce is later seen comforting Damian over Talia's supposed death. Alfred remarks to Grayson that despite Talia's madness, she was still Damian's mother.
As the Bat-Signal shines in Gotham City, Batwoman, Nightwing, and Batwing meet Batman and Robin on top of the police station to respond to a crime committed by the Penguin. On a nearby building, Batgirl observes the group and prepares to join the pursuit.
Cast[]
- Jason O'Mara as Batman/Bruce Wayne
- Sean Maher as Dick Grayson/Nightwing/Batman
- Stuart Allan as Robin
- Yvonne Strahovski as Batwoman/Kate Kane
- Gaius Charles as Batwing/Luke Fox
- Morena Baccarin as Talia al Ghul
- Travis Willingham as The Heretic
- John DiMaggio as Tusk
- Robin Atkin Downes as Mad Hatter and Electrocutioner
- James Garrett as Alfred Pennyworth
- Vanessa Marshall as Renee Montoya
- Steve Blum as Firefly and Black Mask
- Jason Spisak As Killer Moth and Noah Kuttler The Calculator
- Geoff Pierson as Colonel Jacob Kane
- Matthew Mercer as Hellhound and Chuckie Sol
- Bruce Thomas as James Gordon
- Kori
Notes[]
- Chuckie Sol is seen at the beginning of the movie. He previously made his first animated appearance in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
- When Bruce is seen on TV arriving at the summit, the name of the television channel is News 52.
- Batwoman's first appearance in the film is similar to her reveal in 52, where characters initially think they're dealing with Batman before realizing the truth.
- Lucius Fox's appearance resembles Morgan Freeman, who portrayed him in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
- Dick convinces Batwoman to use rubber bullets.
- As with the previous films, the original costume that Dick Grayson wore as Robin appears. This time around, his original Nightwing costume is shown as well, hanging right beside his Robin one in the Batcave.
- The climax happens on board the Watchtower, although this version isn't in outer space.
- At the end of the film, Nightwing mentions that he'll be heading to "the tower". What team is Nightwing typically a part of that happens to be based in a tower? The Teen Titans. Also lines up with him dating Starfire in this series of films, along with DC's next planned animated film being a Teen Titans film that takes place after this one.
- Black Mask and Firefly (and, to a lesser extent, Electrocutioner) resemble their Batman: Arkham Origins designs.
- The music resembles that of Batman: The Animated Series a few times.
- The moment in the first scene when Batwoman emerges from the water after getting thrown clear of the exploding building visually resembles a scene in Batman and Robin when she gets Lazarus Pitted, especially due to the orange color scheme.
- One of the guests at the tech summit resembles Cameron Kaiser from Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Wild".
- At the very end, the Penguin is seen running from the cops.
- As the new Bat-family gives chase to the above criminal, a new hero arrives: Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, wearing her New52 leather-jacket-based costume.
- In the comics, Damian was killed by the Heretic, but here, Talia kills him before it can happen, indeed, Heretic goes out of his way to ensure no harm comes to Damian.
- Nightwing is once again seen in a flirty phone call with Starfire.
- Blockbuster and Black Mask are seen in very brief fight scenes irrelevant to the plot.
- Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller appear at the tech summit.
- A report on the News 52 channel reveals that there have been strange sightings on Mars. This could be a Foreshadowing to Martian Manhunter's appearance.
- Mad Hatter and Calculator, who are exclusively referred to by their surnames (Tetch and Kuttler, respectively).
- When arriving at the conference, Bruce Wayne was incorrectly named the CEO of Wayne Tech and not Wayne Enterprises. This is a common mistake in all media as over the years Wayne Enterprises has been known as, Tech, Corp and Industries even when known as Enterprises.
- When Batwoman meets Batwing, she says "Hello Nurse." A quote that is often heard in Animaniacs
- The Wayne Enterprises building has the same outer design as in Batman Begins.
- In the beginning of Bruce's dream, he wakes up to 3 women in his bed with one of them being Samantha Vanaver from Batman vs Robin and another one looking like Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. Either She and Bruce had an encounter before or Bruce imagined her looking like that as an easter egg.
- She would later appear in Batman: Hush as Bruce's Love interest.
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