History YMMV / TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Batman bringing up that [[spoiler: Dick Grayson being]] the New Joker was the result of a long series of experiments on him by "your masters" (Luthor and Braniac). So perhaps all his taunts about [[spoiler: having "fired" Dick]], let alone his rant about it being due to [[spoiler: Dick]] being a "sissy" DirtyCoward, were just to make New Joker mad so as to catch him off guard, as Bruce understood that [[spoiler: the long-brainwashed Dick is sadly beyond saving at this point]]. FridgeBrilliance and AlasPoorVillain all rolled into one.

** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} is an alien cyborg who partners up with Lex Luthor in order to make sure that Superman is compliant with Luthor's regime. Holding the bottled city of Kandor hostage, Brainiac murders a Kryptonian family for every time that Superman refuses to follow their orders. In an attempt to publicly discredit superheroes, Brainiac attacks Metropolis and orders Superman to not fight back or he'll have all of Kandor destroyed. Brainiac proceeds to wail on Superman when he refuses to flee, and continues on his rampage. While he is eventually stopped by Superman's daughter Lara, Brainiac's assault ends up killing thousands of people, including [[spoiler:Captain Marvel, Jimmy Olson, and Lois Lane]]. Lara travels to Brainiac's hideout to free the citizens of Kandor by pretending to surrender, but not before Brainiac attempts to turn her into his subservient slave. Driven by {{sadis|t}}m rather than his usual logic, Brainiac takes immense pleasure in the pain and suffering that he causes others.

* LoveItOrHateIt: Many dislike it for being an ugly self-parody of the original work, while some like it for exactly that reason.

** ComicBook/LexLuthor is Superman's ArchEnemy and the [[ShadowDictator current de facto ruler of the United States]]. Seizing control of the country after installing a hologram to [[PuppetKing assume the role of the president]], Luthor proceeded to turn the entire country into a police state. Recruiting the help of Brainiac, Luthor kept the superheroes of Earth in line by [[AndYourLittleDogToo threatening to kill their loved ones]]. The heroes that Luthor did not find useful were either imprisoned or subjected to horrific genetic experiments. After a series of raids by led by Batman reinvigorates the public's interest in superheroes, Luthor snaps and begins cracking down on any super-heroic activities. Luthor launches a missile strike against Costa Rica that kills [[spoiler:Hawkman and Hawkgirl]], while he orders his forces to open fire on a concert held by "The Superchix". Luthor has Brainiac kill thousands of people in Metropolis in an attempt to discredit superheroes, not caring at all about the innocent lives lost. Luthor later captures Batman and begins [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] him while [[EvilGloating gloating]] how the rebellion has given him the perfect opportunity to use his [[KillSat satellite defense network]] to kill most of the world's population and allow him to rule what's left. [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Lacking any pretenses of helping his fellow man]], Lex Luthor is motivated [[ItsAllAboutMe entirely by his lust for power]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: A story about a dystopic future where and older Batman has to team-up with several other older superheroes to take down Lex Luthor and Brainiac is a fantastic idea. Just not when it's buried under tons of bad art, talking heads, internal monologues, hamfisted social commentary, poor characterization, and dumb subplots about a new Joker.

* CrazyAwesome: Plastic Man fights soldiers by turning into a toilet. And then flushing them.
* DesignatedHero: Batman, who despite his aim at overthrowing Luthor, displays very little regard for human life. He breaks into Luthor's office early on and has the chance to end things right there, and instead just leaves. When Superman explains to his daughter why they shouldn't just take over the world, Batman actually argues against him, and perhaps the crowning MoralEventHorizon is that he assembles a rebellion composed of girls in costumes, who play no important role in the story and simply die and accomplish nothing.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Many fans of ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' would prefer to pretend this comic doesn't exist.
* HilariousInHindsight: The moment where, amid Hal Jordan's destruction of the orbital cannons, an Islamist terrorist calls out "JIHAD!" And someone offscreen goes "Ah, ''shaddap''!" See: ''ComicBook/HolyTerror''.
* LoveItOrHateIt: Many dislike it for being an ugly self-parody of the original work. Some like it for exactly that reason.

* SoBadItsGood: The art contrasts extremely with that of its predecessor in being neon, simplified, [[http://i.imgur.com/5KLjf.png and much worse.]] Also, Frank Miller seems to think that female pelvises are horizontally placed. In fact, there's barely one woman in the entire comic who ends up looking normal/slightly physically possible/not horribly warped, and when they do, it's usually because they're concealed behind something. Even when they are ostensibly standing up straight, they get warped into having one leg massively thicker than another or are leaning waaay over to one side.

* UncannyValley: FM was pretty new at using Photoshop and this was his first attempt to make a full book with it. It shows.

** ComicBook/LexLuthor is Superman's ArchEnemy and the [[ShadowDictator current de facto ruler of the United States]]. Seizing control of the country after installing a hologram to [[PuppetKing assume the role of the president]], Luthor proceeded to turn the entire country into a police state. Recruiting the help of Brainiac, Luthor kept the superheroes of Earth in line by [[AndYourLittleDogToo threatening to kill their loved ones]]. The heroes that Luthor did not find useful were either imprisoned or subjected to horrific genetic experiments. After a series of raids by led by Batman reinvigorates the public's interest in superheroes, Luthor snaps and begins cracking down on any super-heroic activities. Luthor launches a missile strike against Costa Rica that kills [[spoiler:Hawkman and Hawkgirl]], while he orders his forces to open fire on a concert held by "The Superchix". Luthor has Brainiac kill thousands of people in Metropolis in an attempt to discredit superheroes, not caring at all about the innocent lives lost. Luthor later captures Batman and begins [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] him while [[VillainousGloating gloating]] how the rebellion has given him the perfect opportunity to use his [[KillSat satellite defense network]] to kill most of the world's population and allow him to rule what's left. [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Lacking any pretenses of helping his fellow man]], Lex Luthor is motivated [[ItsAllAboutMe entirely by his lust for power]].

*** OlderThanTheyThink: The Atom had been going through phones for decades prior to this, most modern stories (including WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold) state that he can't travel into cell phones, that he requires a land line.

* ContestedSequel

* FridgeLogic: Batman claims Arkham degenerated into anarchy and cannibalism five years before [=DK2=]. Looked perfectly fine (although staffed by a certain celebrity psychologist) in TDKR, three years back.

*** OlderThanTheyThink: He's been doing that for decades.

** When [[spoiler: Dick plunges to his death as a result of Batcave's destruction]], Bruce seems to have something of a solenm or possibly sadden expression before saying [[spoiler: "Farewell, Boy Wonder."]] It even looks like his eye was wet for a moment. This seems to he regreted his past behavior and what it drove [[spoiler: Dick]] to do.

* SoBadItsGood: The art contrasts extremely with that of its predecessor in being neon, simplified, [[http://i.imgur.com/5KLjf.png and much worse.]] Also, Frank Miller seems to think that female pelvises are horizontally placed. In fact, there's barely one woman in the entire comic who ends up looking normal/slightly physically possible/not horribly warped, and when they do, it's usually because they're concealed behind something. Even when they are ostensibly standing up straight, they get warped into having one leg massively thicker then another or are leaning waaay over to one side.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Several times.

* VillainDecay: Played with. It's not Luthor's best showing, and Miller lets you know why: Luthor--his look, his views and his motivations--is little more than an ObviouslyEvil, unhinged, trollish, rage-filled thug in a business suit threatening the world to give him what he wants ([[FridgeBrilliance which is precisely what Luthor's always been; here you just get to see its unvarnished form]]). And yet, it's fairly cool to imagine that this is the man, or kind of man, that at the end of DKR Batman calls "worse than thieves and murderers."
** Brainiac however, suffers an inexcusable amount of this. He's working for Luthor because, because...

* UnfortunateImplications:
** Batman taunts [[spoiler: Dick Grayson]] with homophobic slurs in their final battle.
** Franchise/WonderWoman's line about Superman "throwing her down" and "claiming" her has more than a few overtones of [[SexEqualsLove Rape Is Love]] too.
%%*** Not to mention a not so well hidden mysoginistic hints. "Claiming" makes it sound like Wonder Woman is being taken as property, or as an inferior being.
** The fact that Miller seems to imply Superman should be a world conqueror that rejects his "human" side to act as a PhysicalGod is ''really'' unsettling as a concept.
%%*** Batman actually ridicules Superman for ''not'' using his powers to sovereign the earth. This despite an InternalMonologue mocking Superman for thinking he was better than everyone else in ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns.

* TheyJustDidntCare: Frank VERY clearly has little respect for the characters that aren't part of the Batman mythos.
** Though he does treat Hal Jordan, The Atom, Captain Marvel, and Plastic Man[[note]] to the point of emphasizing that Plastic man is SO powerful, EVEN BATMAN [[{{Deconstruction}} fears what would happen if he were to lose it]] [[/note]] with a great deal of respect--along with Steve Ditko's original treatment of The Question.

* LoveItOrHateIt

* UnfortunateImplications: Batman taunts [[spoiler: Dick Grayson]] with homophobic slurs in their final battle.

* The fact that Miller seems to imply Superman should be a world conqueror that rejects his "human" side to act as a PhysicalGod is ''really'' unsettling as a concept.
%%*** Batman actually ridicules Superman for ''not'' using his powers to sovereign the earth.
%%*** This despite an InternalMonologue mocking Superman for thinking he was better than everyone else in ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns.

** Brainiac however, suffers an inexcusable amount of this. He's working for Luthor because, because...

* JerkSue: Batman. He's a total {{Jerkass}}, and anybody that calls him out for it or the things listed under DesignatedHero are treated as idiots.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Batman bringing up that [[spoiler: Dick Grayson being]] the New Joker was the result of a long series of experiments on him by "your masters" (Luthor and Braniac). So perhaps all his taunts about [[spoiler: having "fired" Dick]], let alone his rant about it being due to [[spoiler: Dick]] being a "sissy" DirtyCoward, were just to make New Joker mad so as to catch him off guard, as Bruce understood that [[spoiler: the long-brainwashed Dick is sadly beyond saving at this point.]] FridgeBrilliance and AlasPoorVillain all rolled into one.

* GaryStu: Batman.

%%*** This despite an InternalMonologue mocking Superman for thinking he was better than everyone else in DarkKnightReturns.

%%* UnfortunateImplications: Batman taunts [[spoiler: Dick Grayson]] with homophobic slurs in their final battle.
%%** Franchise/WonderWoman's line about Superman "throwing her down" and "claiming" her has more than a few overtones of [[SexEqualsLove Rape Is Love]] too.

%%** The fact that Miller seems to imply Superman should be a world conqueror that rejects his "human" side to act as a PhysicalGod is ''really'' unsettling as a concept.

* VillainDecay: Played with. It's not Luthor's best showing, and Miller lets you know why: Luthor--his look, his views and his motivations--is little more than an ObviouslyEvil, unhinged, trollish, rage-filled thug in a business suit threatening the world to give him what he wants ([[FridgeBrilliance which is precisely what Luthor's always been; here you just get to see its unvarnished form]]). And yet, its fairly cool to imagine that this is the man, or kind of man, that at the end of DKR Batman calls "worse than thieves and murderers."

* HilariousInHindsight: The moment where, amid Hal Jordon's destruction of the orbital cannons, an Islamist terrorist calls out "JIHAD!" And someone offscreen goes "Ah, ''shaddap''!" See: ''ComicBook/HolyTerror''.

** Though he does treat Hal Jordon, The Atom, Captain Marvel, and Plastic Man[[note]] to the point of emphasizing that Plastic man is SO powerful, EVEN BATMAN [[{{Deconstruction}} fears what would happen if he were to lose it]] [[/note]] with a great deal of respect--along with Steve Ditko's original treatment of The Question.

** Though he does treat Hal Jordon, The Atom, Captain Marvel, and Plastic Man with a great deal of respect--along with Steve Ditko's original treatment of The Question.

* HillariousInHindsight: The moment where, amid Hal Jordon's destruction of the orbital cannons, an Islamist terrorist calls out "JIHAD!" And someone offscreen goes "Ah, ''shaddap''!" See: ''ComicBook/HolyTerror''.

* UnfortunateImplications: Batman taunts [[spoiler: Dick Grayson]] with homophobic slurs in their final battle.
** Franchise/WonderWoman's line about Superman "throwing her down" and "claiming" her has more than a few overtones of [[SexEqualsLove Rape Is Love]] too.
*** Not to mention a not so well hidden mysoginistic hints. "Claiming" makes it sound like Wonder Woman is being taken as property, or as an inferior being.
** The fact that Miller seems to imply Superman should be a world conqueror that rejects his "human" side to act as a PhysicalGod is ''really'' unsettling as a concept.
*** Batman actually ridicules Superman for ''not'' using his powers to sovereign the earth.
*** This despite an InternalMonologue mocking Superman for thinking he was better than everyone else in DarkKnightReturns.