One of Batman’s most iconic storylines is being adapted into a multipart animated feature film epic. Even though fans will have to wait until 2027 for The Batman – Part II, and likely longer for the DCU’s Batman film The Brave and the Bold, fans will still have plenty of media based on the Caped Crusader to look forward to in 2026. There will be the video game Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, the Batman-villain film Clayface coming to theaters, and a new animated series of films to be enjoyed at home.
At New York Comic Con, via Variety, Warner Bros. Animation announced plans to adapt the iconic Batman storyline “Knightfall” into a multi-film epic, with Part 1 set for release in 2026. Announced at the end of Warner Bros. Animation panel “The Art Knight: Batman in Animation, Batman: Knightfall will adapt the Knightfall trilogy, often regarded by fans as one of the greatest Batman storylines ever. Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall will be directed by Jeff Wamester (Justice Society: World War II) and written by Jeremy Adams (Supernatural). No word on an exact release date or who the creative team behind the upcoming entries will be.
The Legacy of ‘Batman: Knightfall’
Batman: Knightfall was an epic story that was created by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Dennis O’Neil, Peter David, Jo Duffy, Jim Aparo, Graham Nolan, Norm Breyfogle, and Jim Balent. Published between 1993 and 1994 in three story arcs titled “Knightfall”, “Knightquest”, and “KnightsEnd”, it is the iconic storyline where Bane breaks Batman’s back, and the character of Jean-Paul Valley, aka Azrael, briefly takes up the mantle of Batman. Elements of the storyline, particularly the iconic moment of Bane breaking Batman, were adapted into 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Warner Bros. Animation has found great success adapting DC comics into animated films, and starting with The Dark Knight Returns in 2012 and 2013, began splitting up high-profile comics into multiple films. These have included Batman: Hush, Batman: The Long Halloween, Watchmen, and Knightfall‘s spiritual comic predecessors, the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen. Crisis on Infinite Earths was the first time Warner Bros. Animation did a three-part adaptation, and it sounds like Knightfall could be equally epic.
Batman: Knightfall was an important book at the time of its publication, as it and The Death of Superman featured new towering villains that destroyed the classic DC hero, only for them to be replaced by newer, more violent heroes that reflected the 1990s fascination, whose end goal was to highlight why the original characters’ classic status quo was better. The comic was published at the height of Batman’s popularity, released between Batman Returns and Batman: Forever, and shortly after Batman: The Animated Series debuted. It will be interesting if Warner Bros. Animation tries to adapt it as closely as possible to the comic, or to reimagine and add new elements to make the comic speak to Batman at this moment, since the comic reflected the early 1990s.