Arkham Asylum has been destroyed, and all its inmates have been unleashed upon Gotham City. As Batman races to round up some of his greatest enemies, he is pushed to his physical and mental limits and into a final confrontation with a new threat: the man called Bane!
Batman: Knightfall – Part 1: Knightfall doesn't just bring one of the Dark Knight's most infamous stories to the screen; it also digs into the characters and motivations behind it.
While Bane's brutal victory over Batman is the moment most fans remember, this adaptation takes time to explore the man behind the mask, as well as the emotional and psychological state that leaves Bruce Wayne so vulnerable when the inevitable confrontation arrives.
We caught up with producer Jim Krieg to discuss bringing the "Vengeance of Bane" storyline into the movie, giving Tim Drake a chance to shine, and introducing Jean Paul Valley ahead of his much larger role in the next two chapters.
Krieg also breaks down the thinking behind Batman's gradual mental and physical deterioration, how the filmmakers approached that iconic "break the Bat" moment, the influence of Kelley Jones' distinctive 1990s artwork, and what fans can expect from Bruce Wayne's surprising and heartbreaking relationship with Shondra in the films to come.
You can check out our latest Batman: Knightfall – Part 1: Knightfall interview in full below.
The "Vengeance of Bane" storyline being in this film and connected to "Knightfall" was a pleasant surprise for me. Where did the inspiration to take a deep dive into Bane's origin story come from?
Well, the creative team that worked on this is very passionate about this story. And like many fans, as much as we might have enjoyed it in Nolan and Bale’s, the thing that we want to see is, where did this guy come from and what’s his motivation? He’s a really complicated character, and when people look at the art, there’s a tendency to just say, oh, he’s a giant pile of muscles. I wonder. He broke Batman’s back. But that’s not how he broke Batman’s back. He did it because he’s cunning and he is a strategist, and he has a strong motivation for his actions. And honestly, I think you have to spend some time with him. We spend a lot of time with him to understand his motivation. And that’s not to say that we should have sympathy for him, but because he is still a monster. But sometimes you have to spend a little time with the monster to understand him.
Another character we get to spend some time with is Tim Drake, a lot of people’s favourite Robin. How excited were you to bring him to the screen and to tell a story with a character who’s maybe been overlooked a little bit in the past?
It was great. And we knew we had to use him because he was so integral to this story. Jason had to be dead as this story starts because that’s what puts Batman, makes him so emotionally and spiritually vulnerable because he’s taken a huge blow. And Tim is there, really, I think, to help. So much of the story’s about healing and how Tim helped him feel about healing. Even Jean Paul and Shondra, of course, are focal points of that healing that you’ll see in that upcoming movie. Spoiler alert. And it was a real joy to do Tim because he’s so different than the other Robins. I mean, he’s still physical, but he’s primarily a detective. And in this story, Batman spends the least amount of time detecting. And so he really filled that role. And it’s great to see him do his CSI thing, you know, at Arkham and tracking down Bane and even figuring out what Bane is. It’s a lot of fun. And then it also gives him an opportunity to team up with Jean Paul, so we get to spend at least a little bit of time with him. So when he comes back as Azrael, we’ll have a connection with him emotionally.
I’m glad you mentioned Jean Paul there, because fans of the comics will know there’s a lot to come with that character in the next films. But to introduce him here, what made him such a compelling character to delve into in these films, would you say?
Well, it’s interesting. He’s a strange… he’s an interesting mirror to Bane. He is someone who… bad things happen to him throughout his life, but they’re totally out of his control. But he is the product of those. He didn’t make a choice. He was programmed by this cult. And Bane, on the other hand, these terrible things happened to him, and he found a way to process it into an agenda to destroy Batman and the Wayne family. And so in a weird way, they’re sort of opposite characters. Jean Paul is sort of an innocent victim. And although Bane starts out as a victim in prison, he later has to make a choice. And he makes a terrible choice.
As a fan, I really appreciated the stylised kind of 90s artwork with Batman’s longer ears on the cowl. How soon did you guys know that that was the direction you wanted to head down for the visuals of the film?
I think Rick Morales knew that before he even suggested that we do Knightfall. He knew all of that. I think he had a strong vision of what it could be. Interesting because there are so many artists who worked on this saga. But Kelley, I guess, is who he really responded to. And it’s wonderful to see that worked out. And it really is a comic book come to life.
Another great standout sequence is that almost montage where we see Batman against all these different villains. And you’re really breaking him mentally in a way before, obviously, he’s broken physically by Bane. So can you maybe talk a little bit about the thinking behind that? And obviously, delving into Batman in such a psychological way in the film.
Well, I think that’s what makes Bane such a great villain. I think if you were unfamiliar with the comics, you would look at the image of Bane, just say, wow, this guy’s big and strong. You must be like the Hulk. There’s an idea that we have where if someone’s huge, he’s gotta be stupid. And in fact, Bane is so tactical; his defeat of Batman happens because he’s playing Batman. He’s manipulating him because he knows he’s so dedicated and such a workaholic that he’s not gonna stop until he’s put every single one of these escaped lunatics away, and it’s going to exhaust him and put him in a place where Bane can beat him. And he’s right. So watching that happen, if it just happened off-screen and we just said, oh, Batman’s been going for 72 hours, it wouldn’t have any emotional impact. But seeing him being beaten down little by little, some of the villains are surprised when they’re able to, you know, get a punch in on Batman. And so are we. When the villains are shocked, we are as well.
That all leads up to that iconic break-the-bat scene when Bane puts him over the knee. You’ve got an R rating to play with, so you can get pretty brutal with that. But in terms of paying homage to the comics and the way it plays out on screen, what was the process of bringing that moment to life?
Well, there are some subtle little changes in the scene. It does start at the Batcave, as it does in the comic, and then we have to really have him publicly show Gotham City that he’s broken the Bat, which is how we decided to end the movie. And so it’s a slight change, but I think thematically it works. And when we were working on these things, on one hand, you think, well, people know this story, so they’re not going to be shocked or surprised. But as we thought about it, it really adds something to it because there’s a dread knowing that fate is going to break Batman’s back at the end of this movie or at some point in this movie; you feel it coming. And so it’s a little Hitchcock knowing that the bomb is going to go off and just dreading it coming inches by inches.
We’ve got part two and part three on the horizon. Is there a particular scene or moment you’re really excited for fans to see in those? I know you guys sometimes make some changes to the comics, which are always exciting, but anything in particular you’re really excited for people to see unfold?
Well, there are many. But I think the thing I’m most excited about is Bruce’s relationship with Shondra, which ends up being very germane to the plot, but also is an element we don’t get to play with Batman very often. Maybe occasionally with his relationship with Selina Kyle. But this is a totally separate relationship that I think has real emotional weight. And I’m so happy with the voice actors, with Anson and, oh, I’m spacing out her name, but she’s so good. Shondra… don’t put the part… I’ll be spacing out her name. But they’re so strong that it’s, you know, great to see him have that romantic relationship. And it’s spoiler alert. It’s also heartbreaking. So I’m anxious to see that play out and see what audiences think of it. And there are a few changes that we had to make for efficiency’s sake. So I’m also dreading the outcry over the things we have to change. But hopefully, overall, the fans are going to enjoy these other pieces as much as they did the first one.
Batman: Knightfall - Part 1 is now available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.