Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"I must break you."

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 5, 2026

I wasn't a huge Batman collector after first dipping my toes into the world of comics back in 1992, mostly sticking to the breakout titles put out by Image soon after they infamously began as a hot new label. But even more mainstream stuff was always on my radar when I perused comic displays since they were seemingly everywhere, so obviously any major story arcs featuring well-known characters were impossible to ignore. The Death of Superman was a pretty big one... as was Batman: Knightfall, the infamous year-long saga in which The Caped Crusader's back was shattered by Bane, a massive supervillain whose formidable strength was matched only by his intelligence. Knightfall now joins the ranks of multi-part DC animated adaptations alongside other major arcs like that Supes story, Batman: The Long Halloween, and The Dark Knight Returns, as this self-titled first chapter is part one of three.

This means that Knightfall has a lot of ground to cover, and as such its 79-minute plot is packed with exposition and "twists" that should be all too familiar to anyone greatly familiar with the source material. (More on that later.) I myself haven't read the Knightfall arc in several decades... but judging from summaries of its story broken down by issue, this first animated chapter covers most everything through Batman #497 when the gigantic Bane dishes out a climactic, life-changing beatdown that leaves our hero in tatters and Gotham City scrambling for a new savior.

Needless to say, this is pretty bleak stuff... and it starts that way too, beginning with a nighttime conflict involving the vigilante Azrael who's confronted by Batman after mercilessly destroying a number of gangsters and earning the film's "R" rating for violence inside of three minutes. (Again, more on that later.) From there, this self-titled first installment of Knightfall juggles between Batman's attempted rehabilitation of Azrael (real name Jean-Paul Valley), the childhood and early rise of the young boy who would become Bane -- which involves a lot of push-ups and rat-eating -- and their eventual convergence, which includes a slew of escaped Arkham inmates that throws Gotham into chaos, impressive detective work by Jean-Paul and Robin (the Tim Drake version) that eventually leads to Bane's discovery, and a series of increasingly grueling injuries inflicted on Batman that culminates in... well, you-know-what.

Knightfall updates portions of its source material for the modern world with cell phones, sleek laptops, and even an utterance of the phrase "deep dive" that I could've done without, yet it stays largely true to what I remember from those 30+ year-old comics. But there are a fewdeviances, including a massive push towards gory violence that again earns Knightfall a well-deserved "R" rating... and while I understand that violence is the underlying theme of this story, it's so brutally portrayed here that the eventual decimation of Batman seems a little tame by comparison. Add in a few pacing issues -- including the rescue and quick turnround time of Jean-Paul Valley's recovery, which is barely explained -- and you've got a first-of-three film that might alienate new viewers, since many of these characters and motivations may be entirely new to certain audiences. I'm not suggesting they cater exclusively to rookies, of course, but Knightfall could've used another round of polish to be the seamless adaptation that it obviously wants to be.

I'll still give it a generous-for-me 4/5 since Knightfall gets most of the fundamentals right, not to mention earning a bonus half-point for finally adapting a story that, for myself and countless others, has a tangible amount of nostalgia attached to it. While it's certainly a soft 4/5, this is a solid effort in the hit-or-miss world of DCAU films -- incidentally, their first since the two-part Watchmen in late 2024 -- and I'm optimistic that the next two installments will perhaps take a slightly more careful approach to pacing that'll smooth out a few of Part 1's rougher edges.

As usual, Warner Bros. offers Knightfall: Part 1 as separate 4K and Blu-ray editions; there's no Steelbook option, nor is there any indication that a future collection featuring all three parts in one handy package. Both offer comparably solid A/V merits and few short but interesting extras to sweeten the pot given this film's short running time.

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the Blu-ray edition, which is available separately.

Since WB's last DCAU release arrived in late 2024, they've finally begun to add Dolby Vision to most catalog and new titles, which may broaden the visual differences between their 4K and Blu-ray releases depending on your setup. But while these differences may not be quite as dramatic as some might be expecting, given Knightfall's native 2K source material, they can still be appreciated by those with larger displays for two very familiar reasons. The colors and black levels are obviously better handled via HDR, where the glow of Azrael's flaming swords, explosions, computer displays, bright lights, and similar elements leave a stronger impression, contrast is improved, and of course the compression is noticeably tighter thanks to UHD's greater real estate and more efficient HEVC encoding, which basically eliminates any signs of banding or other artifacts. It yields a smoother and "thicker" appearance overall, and one that can basically be seen as definitive under the circumstances... even if for some, that might be overkill.

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One thing that WB hasn't done (yet) is regularly mix their DCAU titles for Atmos, which means that the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix heard here follows the lead of the other animated films before it. Again, for most it'll be plenty as the dialogue is crisp, channel panning and separation are very active during key sequences, and there's more than enough support for the original score. While the Atmos-exclusive overhead height channel could've been put to good use on more than a few occasions, especially given some of the settings and Bane's towering size, the "larger" sequences during Knightfall are still conveyed through this default track's six channels so fans won't be disappointed.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the film and all bonus features listed below.

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with artwork that evokes the style of original Knightfall comics cover artist Kelley Jones (as do many of the character designs). A Digital Copy code is included, but no slipcover this time. As for the extras, we get a pair of short but very enjoyable featurettess that add a bit of context to the story.

• Batman Needs A Robin (7:01) - DC archivist Benjamin Le Clear, former DC animation director Mike Carlin, writer Jeremy Adams, producer Jim Krieg, and supervising producer Rick Morales lightly detail the history of Batman's sidekick... or at least the first three boys to take up the mantle: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and of course Tim Drake. Their words help to provide a bit of much-needed context for Robin's importance as part of various story arcs including Knightfall, especially as an ideal counterbalance to Batman's darker impulses, and clips/stills from various DCAU films and vintage comics are also seen.

• Breaking the Bat: Adapting Knightfall (10:17) - Several of the same participants return for this closer look at the book-to-movie adaptation, which of course pays tribute to the original 1993-94 comics written by Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, Alan Grant, Dennis O'Neil, Doug Moench and penciled/inked by too many artists to name. Panel to storyboard comparisons are provided here, as is a selection of character/concept artwork, and we even get a bit of behind-the-mic footage with voice actor Pablo Schreiber (Azrael). Collectively, this is another very solid featurette and adds more support for the film than we usually get from these brief BTS pieces.

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The original Batman: Knightfall comics were a huge deal back in 1993-94, tracing a brutal and year-long story arc that found The Caped Crusader in tatters at the hands of the massive Bane. This first of three animated films gets the DCAU adaptation off to a good start, though it's not without a couple of nitpicks including ridiculously excessive violence and exposition/pacing issues. These will hopefully get ironed out as the story progresses, but I'd imagine that most fans of the book and Batman DCAU films in general will like what they see here, so they should definitely consider picking this up on either Blu-ray or 4K depending on their setups. Both versions come firmly Recommended.