How Frank Miller Reacted To Batman: The Animated Series' Dark Knight Returns Tribute

Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley's "The Dark Knight Returns" remains one of the best Batman comics of all time. It continues to be the standard bearer for more mature retellings of the Caped Crusader's escapades. However, that didn't stop "Batman: The Animated Series" from adapting it — much to Miller's approval.

The tribute arrives in "Legends of the Dark Knight," the 19th episode of "The New Batman Adventures," a continuation of "Batman: The Animated Series." In one of the segments, Carrie Kelley (Anndi McAfee) imagines herself as an older Batman's (Michael Ironside) Robin fighting against the Mutants gang of Gotham City. This is a direct homage to the original story from "The Dark Knight Returns."

According to the show's co-creator Bruce Timm, Miller loved the episode. "After I'd sent [Miller] the show — I happened to be out of the office that day — he called back three times to talk to me about it," Timm said in "Modern Masters Volume 3: Bruce Timm" (via /Film). "He was just raving. Every phone message that he left was longer than the previous one. 'Wow, I just watched it again, and Lynn [Varley] was going crazy, going, 'Oh, my God! There's Carrie Kelly!"

Apart from the tribute in "Batman: The Animated Series," "The Dark Knight Returns" received a two-part animated film adaptation. In addition, Zack Snyder borrowed elements for his depiction of Ben Affleck's Dark Knight in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

Snyder has never been shy about his love of the source material either. In fact, while discussing the 10-year anniversary of "Batman v Superman" with "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Snyder admitted that's one comic book movie he'd still like to do. "I would still make 'The Dark Knight Returns' as a film if that opportunity arose," he said. "Did I steal, or borrow, or homage as much as I could within the context of the mythology that I was creating? Yes. But the thing about 'Dark Knight Returns' is it is a closed loop of awesomeness that owes nothing to anything except for a masterful deconstruction of gods that we all grew up with." 

Truth be told, Snyder would be a perfect director. On top of knowing who he'd want to star in his adaptation, "The Dark Knight Returns" is a grim and violent affair that proves Gotham will never turn into a beacon of sunshine, which is in line with the narratives and themes found in Zack Snyder's movies.