Movie Substrate · Film
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)
★ 7.7 · 1,701 ratings on TMDB
Old heroes never die. They just get darker.
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
DirectorJay Oliva
The emergence reading
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E10/E12 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing power, authority, justice, violence, fear.
zero-distanceUSpowerauthorityjusticeviolencefear
Also inFilms about justice
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
The Suicide Squad (2021)E8/E10/E12 · rare rung · authority, power
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)E8/E10/E12 · rare rung · authority, justice
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)E8/E10 · authority, fear
Lord of the Flies (1963)E8/E10 · authority, fear
Jack Frost (1997)E8/E10 · authority, fear
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1976)E8/E12 · rare rung · authority, powerSame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Ultraviolet (2006)E4/E11 · rare rung · authority, power
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · power, violence
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)E11/E13 · rare rung · authority, power
Hail, Caesar! (2016)E9/E11 · authority, power
Office Christmas Party (2016)E9/E11 · authority, powerSame people
Shared director or cast.
