Batman Ninja Review

Batman Ninja (2018), Directed by Junpei Misuzaki

Batman Ninja is the latest of DC's animated films that takes place in it's own continuity. When Gorilla Grodd's newest piece of tech, the Quake Engine, goes off and takes some key Bat-characters seemingly out of existence, Batman finds himself stuck in Feudal Japan.

Turns out that Grodd was monkeying around with time travel, and Batman's interference made it malfunction. The major disadvantage, however, is that Batman has arrived in ancient Japan two years after some of his biggest villains have. The Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, and Deathstroke have all conquered their own areas of Japan and are under complete command. What makes it worse? They each have a piece of the Quake Engine, so Batman must fight all of them if he stands any chance of going back to the future.

Batman Ninja feels like one of those comics that has a ridiculous one-off premise ("Marvel's What If", "Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe", "Gotham By Gaslight"). That idea of a self-contained story works in spades here because the entire premise is so wonderfully gonzo. Time travel, Feudal Japan, Lord Joker, Sumo Bane, Basket head Red Hood, Robin half-bald and talking to a monkey sidekick. That's without even getting to the massive robots and Bat-cult. None of this should work! It shouldn't be as fun as it is! It's a crazy story with an even crazier execution! But with the sorrowful state of the live-action DC movies, it's a breath of fresh air. You don't have to worry about continuity, just the basics of these characters. Batman Ninja has gorgeous animation to it, which is usually the downside of these straight-to-video DC movies. For me, it was a great surprise that never let go of it's crazy premise. And sometimes, that's what we need with comic book movies.