Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 is a 2012 animated adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel. Bruce Wayne has been absent from Gotham City for ten years, and in that time crime has taken over the streets. At fifty-five, he puts the cape and cowl back on, though his body no longer responds as it once did. He finds an ally in Carrie Kelley, a teenager who becomes the new Robin, and together they set out against the mutant gangs that have overrun the city. A released patient named Harvey Dent, meanwhile, has returned to his old ways, and the Joker waits in the background. The film covers the first half of Miller's story, with the second part arriving the following year.

Jay Oliva directed, working from a screenplay by Bob Goodman and producing with Alan Burnett. It is the fifth of the thirteen films Oliva directed, arriving between Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and the second half of this story. Peter Weller voices Bruce Wayne, with Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelley, David Selby as James Gordon, Wade Williams as Harvey Dent and Michael McKean as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper, among a credited cast of thirty-one.

Made for about four million dollars, the film was received well: on IMDb it holds 7.9 from roughly 67,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.7 from a much smaller base of 1,745. A critics' rating of 8.1 from six reviews places it slightly above the audience scores, though both are close. The eighty-minute runtime suits the source, which is split across two features.