DC Animated Movie Universe Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Batman vs. Robin is the fifth installment in the DC Animated Movie Universe and a sequel to Son of Batman. It premiered at WonderCon on April 3, 2015, and was later released on April 14, 2015. A third film titled Batman: Bad Blood released on February 2, 2016.

Synopsis[]

The shadows of Gotham City are no place for a child but Damian Wayne is no ordinary child. Now bearing the mantle of Robin, he blazes a headstrong and sometimes reckless trail alongside his father, Batman. While investigating a crime scene, Robin encounters a mysterious figure, Talon, who leads him on a life-altering course through the depths of Gotham's secret society, known as the Court of Owls. It’s a dangerous journey that will force Batman and Robin to face their most dangerous adversary, each other! Witness the epic battle that will shape a destiny and forge the future of Robin forever.

Plot[]

During an investigation of missing children, Damian Wayne, also known as Robin, has taken the Batmobile out to an abandoned toy factory, where he finds Anton Schott, who’s responsible for the children's disappearance and has also transformed some of them into grotesque, mutilated "Dolls". Damian's father, Bruce, arrives as Batman to aid Damian in the resulting battle, with Damian chasing after the Schott while Batman knocks out the Dolls with gas and frees the remaining children. Damian chooses to spare Schott, only for an owl-masked assassin to kill him, telling Damian to never doubt his instincts. The assassin leaves Damian and the Schott's body behind, leading Batman to accuse Damian of murdering him when he arrives. Damian insists he spared Schott out of respect for Batman, and after inspecting the body further, Batman discovers an owl feather.

The next night, Bruce has dinner at Wayne Manor with Samantha Vanaver, a wealthy woman whose family, like the Waynes, have had positions of influence in Gotham for years. After dinner, Bruce shows Samantha his plans to make Gotham City a better place. Samantha then meets Damian, and after she leaves, Bruce tries to connect with Damian by watching a movie with him. However, Damian later tries to sneak out of the mansion, but is thwarted by Bruce's security systems. Damian voices his frustration of being "kept prisoner" as both Damian and Robin, saying that Bruce never trusts him. Bruce tells Damian he needs to earn his trust, with Damian telling him it should work both ways. Bruce goes out as Batman, leaving Damian with Nightwing to look after him, as he investigates the owl feather he found, leading him to the Gotham Museum of Natural History's Hall of Owls. Bruce is reminded of a story of the Court of Owls, a secret society of wealthy citizens who ruled Gotham from the shadows and killed any who opposed them by sending agents called "Talons". On the night his parents were murdered, Bruce saw an owl clutching a bat flying away from the scene and became convinced the Court of Owls was to blame, but after finding no evidence of their existence from a high society club, Bruce dismissed the legend. And more Damian in Robin costume rescue the couple of civilian from the punks who mug the couple.

In the present, Batman is attacked by three owl-masked assailants, all seemingly inhuman and impervious to harm. Although he manages to destroy one with explosives, the other two nearly kill Batman before they suddenly liquefy into black ooze, and Batman sends out a distress beacon to the Batcave before losing consciousness. Damian, having escaped Grayson and the mansion, stops a mugging and is again approached by the assassin he met, who introduces himself as Talon. Talon encourages Damian's choice of punishing criminals, and offers Damian a chance to join him. Damian is unsure of this decision, and returns home where Bruce is waiting, disappointed that Damian sneaked out again. Bruce warns Damian that he will be sent away to military school unless he learns to discipline himself. However, the next night, Damian sneaks out again.

On the way to a date with Samantha, Bruce is attacked by white owl-masked people and brought before the Court of Owls, who offer Bruce a chance to join them as a member of one of Gotham's wealthiest families but kindly declines with the Court returning him home safely. It is revealed that Talon is working for the Court of Owls, who are secretly raising an army of the inhuman warriors, also known as "talons", through a process similar to the Lazarus Pit, so that they can destroy Gotham City and allow the Court to rebuild it as they see fit. Unfortunately, the serum they have developed to awaken the talons only lets them last for 24 hours at a time outside of their storage tanks before they rot and dissolve. Also, the talons will become brittle and become vulnerable to being shattered if they‘re exposed to extreme cold. Talon will soon be forced by the Court to undergo the process himself and become one of these monsters and the general of this army, but not before bringing Damian over as his replacement.

Damian, having contacted Talon, has gone out on missions with him to take out some criminals. Damian has constantly hesitated to kill due to Batman's code, which frustrates Talon. Sensing how Damian looks up to Batman as a father, Talon tells his story about how he and his own father were thieves; Talon looked up to his father and wanted to be just like him, but couldn’t, and was always punished for it. One night, Talon gave his father up to the police, who shot him, and afterwards, Talon was recruited by the Court of Owls. Batman shows up, having tracked Damian's activity, but is blocked by Damian from capturing Talon. Batman tries to convince Damian that Talon and the Court of Owls are using Damian to get to him, but Damian believes Batman is trying to hold him back from his potential. A confrontation breaks out between father and son, with Damian almost killing Batman before leaving.

Talon is revealed to be in a relationship with Samantha, who’s secretly the Grandmaster of the Court of Owls. Despite their social class divide, Samantha wants to spare Talon from the ritual and have him stand by her side, as they plan to destroy Batman with Robin. Batman sneaks into the Court of Owls through the sewers which has been flooded with a psychotropic gas by the Court, causing Batman to hallucinate the night his parents were murdered when he finally reaches their headquarters. There, he sees the shooter is revealed to be not Joe Chill, but a grown up Damian as Batman. Bruce realizes as Batman will cause Damian the same rage and hatred as the Court of Owls and has the potential to turn him into a villain that will bring destruction on the world. He asks the grown up Damian for forgiveness, who reverts to the child Damian.

Bruce awakens from his hallucination, finding himself back at the Batcave with Alfred Pennyworth and Grayson. Meanwhile, Talon introduces Damian to the Court of Owls, but when Damian reveals himself to the Grandmaster, Samantha realizes that if Robin is Bruce's son, then Bruce must be Batman. Ordering Talon to kill Damian, Talon instead turns against the Court of Owls, murdering every member, including Samantha. Now in control of the Court's army of Talons, he leaves Damian behind at the Court, offering him another chance to join him once he has killed Batman.

Talon and his undead soldiers attack the mansion, breaking into the Batcave as Batman, Grayson, and Alfred fight them off. Batman utilities a mechanized battle armor in the fight, while Nightwing is wounded and crippled by the talons attacks. Alfred activates a coolant system that freezes all the talons in the cave solid. Batman and Talon ultimately face off, with Talon gaining the upper hand and wounding Batman, before Damian, who escaped from the Court, enters and fights Talon to protect Batman. Damian eventually defeats Talon, holding a sai to his throat. After telling Damian one last time never to doubt his instincts, Talon commits suicide by forcing Damian's sai through his neck, leaving Damian stunned and confused.

Bruce tries to welcome Damian back home, but Damian refuses, claiming he needs to sort out who he is. Damian leaves for a monastery in the Himalayas that Bruce told him of when he was leaving.

Cast[]

Notes[]

  • The film is based on the graphic novel, "Batman: The Court of Owls", released from 2011-2012 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion
  • Dick getting a call from Kory (A.K.A. Starfire)
  • The Talon's comment to Dick that "You would have made a good Talon". In the original story, Dick was indeed groomed to be a Talon.
  • The suit that Damian wears during Batman's hallucination is the same suit he wears as Batman in Batman # 666 and subsequent stories by Grant Morrison about a nightmarish post-apocalyptic future. Indeed, Bruce's hallucination evokes the imagery of that comic-book story.
  • Alfred telling young Bruce his parents' deaths just happened, there's "no ulterior motives". In the Golden and Silver Age, Joe Chill was a hitman hired by crime boss Lew Moxon who wanted revenge on Thomas Wayne. In some versions, Joe Chill was just a random mugger, and in post-Zero Hour, the killer's identity is never revealed nor does Batman never confronted him; though it is implied the Post-Zero Hour version of Lew Moxon was involved in it.
  • The way Bruce unmasks himself in front of Talon before the final battle (ripping the mask off its neck) is similar to how he unveiled himself to a deranged Selina Kyle in Batman Returns.
  • The shot of Damian! Batman standing over bloody corpses is similar to a similar event with Two-Face in the comics.
  • Like in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Bruce's love interest is secretly a masked person, who was assumed to be her father.
  • It's a very, very loose adaptation of the comic Night of the Owls, but only a few basic parts are kept, many parts are removed, and many others changed. The added drama of the strained relationship between Robin and Batman is borrowed from the Born to Kill story-arc, with the Talon essentially playing the part Nobody did in the comic. It also borrows an element from Morisson's Batman #666.
  • The undead Talons can now only survive a very short time out of stasis, while in the comics they were completely immortal. They have also become mindless zombies, while in the comics they had distinct personalities and the ability to speak.
  • The undead Talons can now only survive a very short time out of stasis, while in the comics they were completely immortal. They have also become mindless zombies, while in the comics they had distinct personalities and the ability to speak.
  • An image of the Joker appears for a brief moment on the Bat-computer next to Dollmaker.
  • Batman never really takes on the Court of Owls. He only meets them twice in the film Once as Bruce Wayne and another as Batman to which he winds up drugged and being rescued by Alfred and Nightwing. By the time he recovers, Talon pretty much killed them for him.
  • A picture of Starfire appears briefly on Dick's cell phone.
  • The corpses of Batwoman and Talia al Ghul appear in Batman's hallucination.
  • It's in the title! Despite this, Batman and Robin fight only at the midway point of the movie. The real crux of the film is shaky relationship between Bruce and Damian.
  • A lot of the film's problems could've been avoided at the start if Damian had bothered to tell Bruce someone else killed the Dollmaker instead of lashing out at him. Bruce, being as observant as he is, could've also figured out that Damian wasn't the one after seeing there wasn't any blood on Damian's knife and the way Dollmaker was killed.
    • Even without this inciting incident, there are several instances where a simple conversation would defuse the entire conflict of the movie. Through the entire movie Bruce refuses to tell Damian a single thing about the Court of Owls- giving Damian the growing impression that Bruce doesn't trust him- and even once Batman finds out Robin is consorting with Talon he still doesn't tell Damian that Talon is working for a secret order that wants them both dead
  • Based on Bruce’s comment of a 1948 movie adaption by david lean, Damian was reading Oliver Twist

Media[]

Images[]

Videos[]

References[]

Advertisement