The newest film in the DC Animated Universe is Batman: Bad Blood. Batman: Bad Blood centers around the most popular DC family, the Bat family. In Batman: Bad Blood, Batman goes missing and the only person that witnessed the events is Batwoman. The remaining Bat family members (Nightwing, Robin, Batwing and Batwoman) gather together to find Batman, protect the city and to stop a group of villains set on taking over Gotham City.
Now for Batman/Bruce Wayne fans, you may not be happy that Bruce Wayne Batman doesn’t have much screen time, but there is still a big Batman presence as there should be. When it comes to the plot, it’s a little similar to what went on recently in the New 52 comics, where nobody was sure if Bruce Wayne was alive or dead. Just in this case, it’s Nightwing (Dick Grayson) taking over as Batman and not Commissioner Gordon. Nightwing taking over as Batman is actually pretty damn cool to see and it makes sense. Not only is this that main plot going on, but there’s also more to the plot.
This film serves as the introduction of Batwoman and Batwing into the DC Animated Universe. Their origins are subplots in the film. The Batwing in this film is the alter ego of Luke Fox (son of Lucius Fox) and not the first Batwing, David Zavimbe. Katherine Kane is the Batwoman used in the film and when it comes to her origin, flashbacks are used throughout the film (like in new 52) to reveal where she came from and how she got to where she is.
The story was great. Each Bat family member shinned, even Batman (Bruce Wayne) when he was on screen. As for the villains, there are a lot used in this film, even a new one, but I felt like some of the villains could have been used more and some just looked a bit weak. Talia al Ghul was my favorite. Also, within the last 20 seconds of the film, we get to see two fan-favorite characters and it literally made my mouth drop.
Bonus Features
Included exclusively with the Blu-ray, you get two featurettes; “Putting the Fight in Gotham”, which takes you behind the scenes of the choreography of the fight scenes and the director and writers talk about the different fighting styles of Batman throughout the comics, animated series and animated films. The other featurette is “Expanding the Batman Family”. In this one, the director and writers talk about each of the Bat-family members from their introductions in the Detective comics in the 50’s to the New 52. Both featurettes were really great and interesting. Also exclusively with the Blu-ray, you get two bonus cartoon episodes of Batman: The Brave and Bold.
Included with both the Blu-ray and DVD are: “A Sneak Peak at Justice League vs. Teen Titans”. This is a great sneak peak because it’s almost like featurette where you get a lot of insight as to what to expect in the film and why the two teams are facing off. Also included is the first trailer for the upcoming Suicide Squad.
Packaging
The packaging of the Blu-ray combo pack is pretty cool. You get a cardboard slip cover that has a 3D feel to it and protects the standard Blu-ray case which holds the Blu-ray disc, the DVD disc and a Ultraviolet digital HD code.
Verdict
As a DC fan, I really liked the film. Though some of the Bat family members are missing from the film, the ones in the film really shinned. As a Batman (Bruce Wayne) fan, I was a little disappointed that Batman wasn’t in the film much but I like what DC/WB did by putting Nightwing in the cape and cowl. There were a lot of villains used but it felt like some were’t used enough or to their full potential. Still, it was nice to see some new heroes and villains in the DC Animated Universe. The bonus features were great and I really had no complaints other than personally not being a big fan of Batman: The Brave and Bold series, but the fact that it’s added to the bonus features is better for the value of the combo pack and better for Batman fans.
I give the Batman: Bad Blood Blu-ray combo pack 8.5 fridges out of 10.
Batman: Bad Blood is now available on digital HD and comes to Blu-ray/DVD Feb. 2.