Batman: Bad Blood

Batman: Bad Blood is a 2016 direct-to-video animated superhero film that is part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and DC Animated Movie Universe. It serves as a sequel to the 2015 film Batman vs. Robin. The story features Batman, Damian Wayne aka the current Robin, Dick Greyson aka Nightwing and introduces Kate Kane as Batwoman and Luke Fox as Batwing.

Synopis[edit | edit source]

Batwoman intercepts a crowd of criminals in Gotham City that includes Electrocutioner, Tusk, Firefly, Killer Moth, and others. When a fight ensues, Batman arrives. They are confronted by the apparent leader of the criminals, a masked man calling himself "the Heretic," who detonates explosives planted within the facility. Batman flings Batwoman to safety and apparently perishes in the explosion.

The absence of Batman after the explosion prompts Alfred to be worried and to cover for Bruce via video call at board meeting; Damian to leave his training at a monastery in the Himalayas to return to Gotham, and Nightwing to reconnect with Alfred and Damian and pretend to be Batman. The Heretic and his henchmen attack Wayne Enterprises, forcing Lucius Fox to open the way into the vault by threatening his son Luke. Though Nightwing and Damian arrive, they are unable to prevent the Heretic from escaping with Wayne technology, and Lucius is injured. Before they leave, the Heretic kills Electrocutioner when the latter is about to kill Robin.

The Heretic returns to his headquarters, where it is revealed that he is working for Damian's mother, Talia al Ghul. They are holding Bruce prisoner and the Mad Hatter is slowly trying to brainwash him. The Heretic breaks into the Batcave and kidnaps Damian. He explains that he is a clone of Damian, created by a genetics program run by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows. He wishes to have Damian's memories and personality implanted within his own brain so that he can feel like a real person, but Talia arrives and kills the Heretic for defying her orders. Nightwing and Batwoman then arrive, having located Damian through a tracker in his costume. They are joined by Luke Fox, clad in an advanced combat exosuit designed by his father and dubbing himself Batwing. The three rescue Bruce and Damian, but Talia and her henchmen escape.

A week passes and Bruce seems to have recovered, though he remains adamant that Katherine and Luke should not be involved. After Katherine is forced to fight her father after he suddenly attacks her for no reason and having no memory of attacking her after she hit him in the head, Dick realizes that Bruce is still under the effects of the Mad Hatter's mind control. Luke realizes that the League of Shadows are planning to brainwash a number of world leaders at a tech summit held by Bruce. As the brainwashing takes place, Nightwing, Robin, Batwoman, Alfred, and Batwing arrive and fight Talia and her henchmen. During the fight, the Mad Hatter is killed, interrupting the mind control. Bruce, still brainwashed, defeats Nightwing. Talia orders him to kill Nightwing and Damian, but Bruce resists the brainwashing. Incensed, Talia escapes in a vessel, only for Onyx, a subordinate of the Heretic, to confront and attack her to avenge Heretic's death. The vessel crashes and explodes, implying their deaths. Bruce is later seen comforting Damian over Talia's supposed death. Alfred remarks to Dick that despite Talia's madness, she was still Damian's mother.

Bruce appears to be in the midst of enjoying some female company...
when he notices his mother's pearls on one of his lady companions
Bruce suddenly finds himself back in the alley...
where his mother and father were killed...
see a younger version of himself in the pool of water...
and then sees his parents killed again
Bats then suddenly appear and begin to bite Bruce
He's then grabbed by his parents...
and pulled under water by then
Bruce gets free and tries to swim back to the surface...
but is pulled back down by Nightwing with Alfred and Commissioner Gordon approaching
Damian and others join in to keep Bruce under water
Damian grabs Bruce and then bites him...
as Bruce is pulled deeper into the water
All the vision are revealed to be a method to break Bruce's will and make him compliant
Bruce is being subjected to conditioning by Jervis Tetch aka the Mad Hatter
Damian, after being captured by the Heretic, is being prepared by Jervis
Damian frees Bruce from the conditioning chamber
Damian places Bruce against the wall when Bruce can't stand
A week after being free Bruce appears to be fine
Bruce makes his entrance at the tech conference in Gotham
Jacob Kane stands by the refrigerator when the cell phone rings...
Jacob's programming kicks in...
and he begins to pull a gun from inside his jacket
Kate sees her father point the gun at her in the TV's reflection...
and gets out the way
Jacob follows Kate into the kitchen...
where she disarms him with a frying pan
Jacob and Kate get into a knife fight...
where Kate disarms her father by jamming him with a butter knife...
and knocks him out with the frying pan
The dignities at the conference listen to Bruce's speech...
while wearing Wayne Tech's communication devices in their ears...
which appear to translate and further communication
Jervis begins to set the conditioning tech
which interfaces with his hat
With all the tech set up...
see above
The screens commence to show the conditioning images
The guards in the room begin to react to the threat...
but they come under the control of the devices...
which begins to program them
Nightwing, Batwoman, Batwing, and Robin realize that Talia is trying to bring the major figures in the world under her control
The conditioning continues...
as the dignitaries continue to be conditioned
Bruce knocks Alfred out
Jervis begins to explain that the dignitaries will belong to the League of Shadows
Talia and Bruce arrive at the control center to see Nightwing and company raiding the conference
Talia informs Bruce that she has brought some things for Bruce to handle the intruders...
his cowl and Batgear
Batman enters behind Talia to fight Nightwing
Batman leaps in to attack Nightwing
Alfred looks at the dignitaries being brainwashed and decides to do something to stop it
Batman and Nightwing go at each other
Batman catches Nightwing's kick not once...
but two times...
and puts him on the floor
Batman manages to get Nightwing's arm...
and dislocates it leaving Nightwing fighting with one arm
Alfred takes out the henchman Cutler...
and sends him into the computer wall...
shocking him which causes a surge...
which fries the Mad Hatter...
and causes the conditioning signal to stop...
freeing the dignitaries from the conditioning
Batman continues attacking Nightwing...
disarms him and beats him with his own stick...
and pins him to the ground
Talia comes over and says they can take a victory away
and throws her gun to Batman...
and orders Batman to shoot Nightwing
Damian comes in and tries to talk to his father...
which prompts Talia to order Batman to shoot Damian
Batman struggles with the command to kill his son
and Nightwing tells Batman that he and Damian need Batman...
which makes Batman unable to pull the trigger...
and makes him turn the gun on himself
Batman shoots the karana out of Talia's hand when she attempts to cut down Nightwing
which leads to Batman breaking the conditioning...
and collapses...
and gets supported by Nightwing