History ComicBook / TheDarkKnightReturns

* In 1994 the much ignored ''Spawn/Batman'' came out, written by Miller and drawn by Todd [=McFarlane=]. It was an (ill-advised) crossover between the {{Spawn}} Universe and the Dark Knight Universe and {{canon}} to both, whose only tie to TDKR was that it showed where Batman got the technology that he would use to build his power suit...and that's only a couple of pages.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Of a sort. At the start of the story, Bruce has a mustache, but after a sleepwalk into the Batcave, Alfred notices that he's shaved it off...and he didn't realize he'd done it.

--> '''Mutant leader''': ...and then I'll find your new cop - your ''woman'' cop - and I will-\\

** The...ill-tempered ([[TheSociopath to put it mildly]]) Byron Brassballs, who both encounters Superman (who saved the handicapped man Byron had ''knocked onto the train tracks'') and later plays a role in the Gotham riots...[[spoiler:and in a nice bit of Karmic retribution, gets his ass profoundly kicked by Batman.]]

* RobotKid: One of the Joker's mooks builds them...to explode.

--> '''Weatherman''': ...like the wrath of God, it's headed for Gotham.

* DarkerAndEdgier

* ArcWords:
** For Batman: "Lucky" and "This would be a ___ death."
** For Gordon: "I think of Sarah. The rest is easy."
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Par for the course with Batman, right down to his fights. The page quote is one such example.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Batman and Catwoman.

::That being said, he will use them when they're necessary. In the first issue, he uses a rifle to shoot a grappling line between the Gotham Towers to [[spoiler:confront Two-Face and his henchmen]]. In the fourth issue, he uses [[spoiler:Commissioner Yindel's]] gun to shoot some plastic explosive. He also gets pushed into using one when taking on [[spoiler:three Mutant kidnappers who have a toddler as a hostage. The confrontation culminates with Batman pointing one of the Mutant's guns (a frigging [[{{BFG}} M60 GPMG]]) at the last kidnapper, who is holding the hostage at gunpoint.]]

* [[spoiler:DefeatingTheUndefeatable]]: [[spoiler:Batman beats Superman.]]
* TheEighties: A lot of the action and political commentary stems from real-world politics of the period, in particular [[spoiler:the U.S.-Soviet arms race, which comes to a head in part four]].

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Joker, in one of the most disturbing examples.]]

* AHandfulForAnEye: During their second fight, Batman cuts the Mutant leader over the eyes to blind him with the blood, then compounds that by throwing mud in his face.

* HeatWave: Gotham has been stuck in one for a while at the start of the series.
* HeroicBSOD / DespairEventHorizon: In the first issue, Bruce, lost in thought, wanders to the spot where his parents were killed and is confronted by Mutants. Their dialogue, casually referring to killing Bruce, having a ''quota'' for murders, and then dismissing Bruce as their target because he's "into it", shakes Bruce to his core, as he's been equating them to his parents' killer up to that point.
--> '''Bruce''': No. Not him. Not him. He flinched when he pulled the trigger. He was sick and guilty over what he did. [...] These... These are his children. A purer breed. And this world is '''theirs'''.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: The GreenArrow is better than you at archery even with one arm... in the dark... in the rain... ''hanging upside down''.

* ImAHumanitarian: One of the Mutant leader's {{Catch Phrase}}s is his boasts that he will eat Batman's heart.

* In 2005 to 2008, Miller wrote a prequel, ''AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder,'' which was even more controversially received than ''Strikes Again''. Though it's been on hiatus the series will return under the name ''Dark Knight: Boy Wonder''.

::That being said, he will use them when they're necessary. In the first issue, he uses a rifle to shoot a grappling line between the Gotham Towers to [[spoiler:confront Two-Face and his henchmen]]. In the fourth issue, he uses [[spoiler:Commissioner Yindel's]] gun to shoot some plastic explosive. He also gets pushed into using one when taking on [[spoiler:three Mutant kidnappers who have a toddler as a hostage. The confrontation culminates with Batman pointing one of the Mutant's guns (a frigging [[{{BFG}} M60 GPMG]]) at the last kidnapper, who is holding the hostage at gunpoint.]]

* ShoutOut: Two-Face [[AClockworkOrange was fixed, all right]].

* ShoutOut:

* MediaWatchdogs: The public broadcast of the Mutant Leader's video after his capture is cut off after a few sentences... with good reason.

* AntiVillain: Superman is a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains Type IV]] in this miniseries.

* AntiVillain: Superman is a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains Type IV]] in this movie.

* BodyHorror: While not quite a straight example of this trope, Batman himself 'transforms' gradually from the standard normal-looking Neal Adams Batman to the uglier and more-stylied Frank Miller Batman over the course of the book.

--> '''Bruce''': No. Not him. Not him. He flinched when he pulled the trigger. He was sick and guilty over what he did. These... These are his children. A purer breed. And this world is '''theirs'''.

There have been a handful of animated references to TDKR as well. The first is a ten-minute segment in the DCAU, considered to be among the best adaptations of a FrankMiller work. Carrie Kelly also made a very brief cameo as a future Robin in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', fighting mutants in a "what-if" story. In 2012, DCUniverseOriginalAnimatedMovies released [[MovieMultipack the first of two parts of]] [[Film/TheDarkKnightReturns a film adaptation]].

Though a movie deal has been kicking around DevelopmentHell for a long time, the only real adaptation as of yet is a ten-minute segment in the DCAU, considered to be among the best adaptations of a FrankMiller work. Carrie Kelly also made a very brief cameo as a future Robin in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', fighting mutants in a "what-if" story. Recently, it's been announced that the DCUniverseOriginalAnimatedMovies line [[Film/TheDarkKnightReturns is adapting the story in]] [[MovieMultipack a two-part adaptation]].

** There's also the Joker, who is depicted as having a love/hate fixation on Batman that he feeds with his indiscriminate killing.
---> '''Joker (inner dialogue)''' : They could put me in a helicopter and fly me up into the air and line up the bodies head to toe on the ground in delightful geometric patterns like an endless June Taylor dancers routine -- and it would never be enough. No, I don't keep count. But you do. And I love you for it.

* BatmanGambit: Bruce uses quite a few over the series, even his final trick relies on [[spoiler:knowing Clark will let him go.]]

* BrassBalls: There is a character that literally has this as a last name, but who is a nasty inversion.
* BreakTheCutie: This is essentially what happens when [[spoiler:Carrie sees the bodies of the Cub Scouts who took the poisoned cotton candy from the Joker.]] Batman's internal dialogue lampshades it.

* DeathSeeker: Bruce has become one by the start of the story.

** That being said, he will use them when they're necessary. In the first issue, he uses a rifle to shoot a grappling line between the Gotham Towers to [[spoiler:confront Two-Face and his henchmen]]. In the fourth issue, he uses [[spoiler:Commissioner Yindel's]] gun to shoot some plastic explosive. He also gets pushed into using one when taking on [[spoiler:three Mutant kidnappers who have a toddler as a hostage. The confrontation culminates with Batman pointing one of the Mutant's guns (a frigging [[{{BFG}} M60 GPMG]]) at the last kidnapper, who is holding the hostage at gunpoint.]]

* FlatlinePlotline

* FunWithAcronyms: Sons Of the Batmans = [=SOBs=]

** Issues later, after Batman [[spoiler:rallies the Sons of Batman and the Mutants to quell the mass riots]], Yindel finally relizes the same. When asked by an officer if they should do something, she can only respond "No. No. He's too big."

* HallOfMirrors

* HeatWave

** Corto Maltese is a shout out to an Italian comic book by that name. Strangely, the name was used in the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie as an apparent ShoutOut to ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' without recognizing that it was already a ShoutOut.

* TruthInTelevision: At the beginning two Mutants try and mug Bruce Wayne. They turn out to be [[DirtyCoward Dirty Cowards]] when he sees them, they take into account his size, and run off when he stands his ground and is prepared to fight. It's common in RealLife for thugs like the Mutants to only target those who cannot defend themselves, and want nothing to do with those who can.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: It's not discussed in-story, but it's worth noting that during the first issue, when Batman is at his most straightforwardly heroic, he wears the classic blue cape/black-on-yellow bat symbol costume. As the story progresses and his actions, motives, and mindset get darker, he wears the costume seen in the page pic.

* TruthInTelevision: At the beginning two Mutants try and mug Bruce Wayne. They turn out to be [[DirtyCoward Dirty Cowards]] when he sees them, they take into account his size, and run off when he stands his ground and is prepared to fight. It's common in RealLife for thugs like the Mutants to only target those who cannot defend themselves, and want nothing to do with those who do.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark-knight-returns.jpg]]

-->-- '''Batman'''