Written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson. You knew this one was coming. When Zack Snyder and Co. announced at Comic Con their plans to bring Batman and Superman together in one movie, the monologue they used to introduce the fated Superman-S-Imposed-Over-Batsymbol logo came from Bruce Wayne's lines to Clark Kent during their most epic confrontation:
"I want you to remember, Clark, in all the years to come, in all your most private moments ... I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you."
This scene is in the finale of "The Dark Knight Returns", Frank Miller's seminal 1986 Batman book about an aging, retired Bruce Wayne coming back into the world of crimefighting. While it just missed the top spot on the list of 50 Greatest Batman Comics, "Returns" is still the greatest standalone Batman graphic novel ever written - and it's partly due to the epic battle between Bruce and Clark. How will it influence Batman vs. Superman? Director Zack Snyder has said that Batman vs. Superman will not be a direct adaptation of "The Dark Knight Returns", but that it would "help to tell the story", whatever that means. Still, the casting of older-than-expected Ben Affleck as Batman leads one to believe that the Caped Crusader will already be an established crimefighter when Batman vs. Superman finally rolls around. If the tentative title of the film is any indication, there will indeed be a Big 2 brawl, and while story lines like "Hush" can inform this fight, the best source is undoubtedly "The Dark Knight Returns". Source material for Batman vs. Superman will become more apparent as the release date gets closer (provided they don't keep moving it back), but which other comics would you recommend reading at his point, given what we know about the film so far? Let us know in the comments section below!
