Batman Ninja

Batman Ninja is a Japanese animated film directed by Junpei Mizusaki, produced by Warner Bros., and animated by Kamikaze Douga and YamatoWorks, which features the DC Comics character Batman. Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai, is the character designer for the film. The film was released in the United States digitally on April 24, 2018 and released physically on May 8th. It was also released theatrically in Japan on June 15th. For its American release, writers Leo Chu and Eric Garcia have admitted to rewriting the film from the original Japanese script written by Kazuki Nakashima, ultimately making two entirely different versions of the same film.

The film aired on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on October 16, 2021 at 12:30 AM.^[1]

Synopsis[]

While battling Gorilla Grodd at Arkham Asylum, Batman is caught in Grodd's Quake Engine time displacement machine and sent to feudal Japan. There, he is chased by samurai working for the Joker. During his escape, Batman meets up with Catwoman, who reveals everyone else arrived two years earlier (due to Batman being in the outermost area affected by the Quake Engine). He learns from her that all of Gotham City's top criminals have become feudal lords after deceiving the Sengoku daimyō, battling each other until only one state remains. In order to stop the villains from altering history, Batman and Catwoman must get to the Quake Engine in Arkham Castle (formerly the asylum). Batman discovers that Alfred Pennyworth is also in the past and has built a Batcave outside Edo.

When the Joker's troops ambush the hideout, Batman storms his way in his Batmobile towards Arkham Castle, which transforms into a giant robot fortress. Just as Batman confronts the Joker, he is forced to leave and save a mother and child below from being crushed by the robot's hand. He transforms his Batcycle into an armored suit to defeat a sumo Bane and stop the robot hand, only to learn the mother is Harley Quinn in disguise. As Batman is surrounded by the Joker's minions, he is suddenly whisked away by ninja led by Eian of the Bat Clan of Hida. He learns the Bat Clan helped Nightwing, the Red Hood, Robin and the Red Robin upon their arrival and the clan has followed a prophecy of a foreign bat ninja restoring order to the land. Robin gives Batman an invitation from Grodd to a nearby hot spring. There, Grodd explains he intended to send the villains far away so he could take Gotham for himself, but Batman's interference sent them all to feudal Japan instead. Batman and Grodd agree to work together to return to Gotham.

Batman, Grodd, Catwoman, the Bat-Family and the Bat Clan battle the Joker and his forces by the river. They defeat the Joker and Harley, but Grodd turns on Batman, revealing his alliance with Two-Face before the Joker and Harley escape and blow up their own ship, taking Batman down with it. Having captured a power converter from Harley, Catwoman attempts to bargain with Grodd in bringing her back to Gotham; however, they need to obtain other power converters from the Penguin, Poison Ivy and Deathstroke to complete the Quake Engine. Two days later, Batman recovers from his wounds and encourages the Bat-Family to learn the ways of the ninja in order to defeat Grodd. The Red Hood locates the Joker and Harley, but Batman discovers they lost their memories from the explosion and are living as farmers.

A month later, the villains mobilize their castle robots for battle at the "Field of Hell". Batman leads the Bat-Family and the Bat Clan into the battlefield. After defeating the other villains, Grodd puts them under his mind control, with the intent of ruling the country himself. The Joker and Harley, however, crash his party from above, reclaiming their castle from Grodd. The Bat-Family saves Catwoman and Grodd before the Joker merges all of the castles into the super robot Lord Joker. An injured Grodd gives Batman control of his army of monkeys; Robin enables them to merge into one giant samurai monkey to battle the Joker's robot. The samurai monkey then combines with a swarm of bats to form the Batgod to defeat Lord Joker before the Bat-Family storm into the castle to battle the villains. The Joker reveals to Batman that as farmers, he and Harley planted special flowers that triggered their memories back once they bloomed. As the castle falls, Batman and the Joker engage in a sword fight. Using his ninjutsu skills, Batman defeats the Joker. With the Joker and the Gotham villains defeated, feudal Japan is restored to its original state and the Bat-Family takes the villains back to the present day.

In a mid-credits sequence, Catwoman sells weapons and furniture from the castle robots to an antique shop, while Bruce rides a horse-driven Batmobile to a party hosted by the mayor.

Characters[]

Batman/Bruce Wayne
Alfred Pennyworth
Nightwing/Dick Grayson
Robin/Damian Wayne
Red Hood/Jason Todd
Red Robin/Tim Drake
Catwoman/Selina Kyle
Gorilla Grodd
The Joker
Harley Quinn
Two-Face
Bane
Poison Ivy
The Penguin
Deathstroke
Eian
Monkichi
Monmi

Voice Cast[]

Character	Voice Actor
Bruce Wayne / Batman	Roger Craig Smith
The Joker	Tony Hale
Selina Kyle / Catwoman	Grey DeLisle
Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn	Tara Strong
Dick Grayson / Nightwing	Adam Croasdell
Gorilla Grodd	Fred Tatasciore
Alfred Pennyworth	Adam Croasdell
Jason Todd / Red Hood	Yuri Lowenthal
Tim Drake / Red Robin	Will Friedle
Damian Wayne / Robin	Yuri Lowenthal
Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin	Tom Kenny
Slade Wilson / Deathstroke	Fred Tatasciore
Harvey Dent / Two-Face	Eric Bauza
Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy	Tara Strong
Eian	Matthew Yang King