Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #4

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

by Frank Miller, Lynn Varley (Colorist), Klaus Janson (Inker)

In this final legendary issue, it's Batman vs. Superman with the fate of the Earth at their feet. Nuclear Armageddon stands just within reach as the two biggest heroes on earth battle it out and the world watches on. Can The Dark Knight possibly take down the Man of Steel? This series contains material suggested for mature readers.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Dc Comics, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

52 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Frank Miller is an American writer, artist and film director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics, and is one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His most notable works include Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One and 300.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is it: two men with 'steel' will will try to break each other; Batman (B) is Achilles - Superman (S) is Odysseus - both believe they are 'serving' the greater good. Thus you have the ultimate test of Utilitarianism; a test that rends the bonds of friendship; even as complacent society watches 'reality shows' on TV. This is a hard book to read; at times I have wanted S to win - more often I have wanted B to win - you will have to read this and make your own decision.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great ending to a older style story. The main conflicts (ie Russia) maybe old and irrelevant but depicts a great old Batman whos at the end of his tether.

[Diana Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant. And now I want to watch the animated version from warner!

[Koen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thing of beauty!!
A worthy end to a magnificent story

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sad to admit this was my least favorite issue in the volume. It starts with too much talk from journalists that got boring real fast, then the fight with superman was not as thrilling as imagined. Luckily the ending was good and salvaged the work.

[Wyatt Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Batman riding a horse, which is so fucking cool, due to a nuclear fallout from a Soviet warhead detonating and disrupting electrical fields. Afterwards Batman is confronted by Superman, who is there under presidential order, in crime alley and they begin their fight to the death. Needing some assistance from Green Arrow and a kryptonite arrow, Batman gains the upper hand on Superman and ultimately wins the fight but suffers a “heart attack”. He in reality used chemicals to sustain himself till after his funeral. Unfortunately, Alfred has a stroke and dies for real.

5/5 no notes.

[Wael Mansour · Rating 5 out of 5]

epic story, and make sure to also watch the animated movie with the same name, one of the best batman comics I ever read, complicated story mixing superheros with politics and other various factors, makes it a master piece for Frank Miller

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many cool panels here - Batman on a horse!! Superman all shrivelled absolutely sent me, and the prose! Fantastic finale, I loved the Superman vs Batman fight, all the nuclear war stuff, and a brilliant ending! The bat lives on!

[Shreya]

finally finished it all!! last one was bit tough to get through

[Aidan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...

[Whatslifeanyways · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect ending to this story , the giants of the dc clash and have a spectacular battle! One of my all time fav versions of green arrow is also present
Being all badass and fucking cool he shoots superman with a kryptonite arrow. “I want you to remember the man who beat you” chills! Absolute cinema. Also the visuals when superman takes on the nuke is fucking perfect one of the creatives ways of showing superman’s invulnerability he tanks the nuke but it does have an effect on him until the earth blesses him with its nature and the sunlight!

[Digi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

The finale. A showdown between Batman and Superman. A chance for Batman to show Gotham that he is not evil, and to also disappear from public view. Epic fight. Good ending to the series.

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Moly– YES.

As someone who thoroughly disliked Man of Steel and didn't finish the Dark Knight movie, I have to say that this graphic novel series was surprisingly fantastic and showed me something about DC that the movies just didn't communicate to me.

Favorite out of the series. So impactful and iconic.

First of all, this was my first graphic novel, so I may just be reeling from this new style I've been exposed to. But I cannot deny how much the style, art, and story absorbed me from the very beginning.

For people like me who have never read a graphic novel or superhero comic before, I'll lay out the main things about this read that surprised me that I liked:

1) The style was like watching a really old cartoon– in each panel, you can tell that there is almost a shocking amount of thought going into the components and layout of each panel. It's more poignant than a movie because every single panel/frame tells a miniature story of it's own. I didn't know that the position and dialogue of the characters mattered so much– I'm used to funny comics, so I didn't consider the careful design of the story through the panels in Dark Knight Returns. It was super cool because it was like a game where the goal is to find all the information/symbolism in a picture (speech bubbles, posters in the background, color, lighting, etc). It was like a powerful storyboard to a movie– I could almost hear a soundtrack!

2) Satisfying characters. Although the backstories of the characters are not fleshed out as much as in a book or movie, the character art, dialogue, and storyline is so masterfully designed/plotted out that it makes up for the lack of words (as in a book) or screentime (as in a movie). I particularly thought the speech choices for Clark Kent and Commissioner Gordon said a lot about their characters in a way that was to the point and almost better than reading a book or watching a movie. I hate every DC movie I've seen (with the exception of Wonder Woman :)), and this book does a much better job of handling the characters than the movies, in my opinion. I've always been uncomfortable with Batman because I didn't understand his motivation or how we were supposed to think of him– but, reading this, I get now that he's troubled and you're supposed to go-"heyyy...maybe, wait....are you...?" etc, every once in a while. From the movies, I got that he had issues, but I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to forgive them or not. This Batman made a lot more sense to me. I also really liked...Yindel? Is that her name? The art style made each character sharp and unique, which I loved. I loved the art for Yindel and Robin!

3) Variety. It wasn't just one type of panel. I really liked how some panels had rounded edges to show that we were watching TV, and how other panels were huge for cityscapes or falling-off-building shots... the art wasn't just good and perfect for the story– it was also creative and varied in its design, and that went for the speech bubbles as well– I was surprised that I could easily figure out if a character was thinking, talking, on TV, in a recording, etc. Certain styles were used when people were talking in different ways, which I suspect is common in graphic novels, but I had never considered it before, and I liked that that was an aspect of this type of book. The fact that the panel styles changed strategically, modeling quick movie scenes and with interested transitions/cut-off points between each– that was neat. Also, the repetition of different styles of panels (like with the TV broadcasts) made the story more impactful and exciting.

4) For people who don't like dark or intense stuff– hey, there's violence but it isn't that bad! I'm not even kidding! There's bright red blood and punching and people planning how to destroy each other and these creepy mutant guys that maybe want to eat people? I didn't really understand them besides the fact they were mean and had crazy teeth... point is, I was expected huge, distasteful amounts of blood and gore and guns and explosions– but, like the panels, the conflicts were varied, and it wasn't a giant punch-fest! There was more psychological stuff going on, really. And there was hardly any swearing (which I wasn't worried about but was expecting). A huge part of the reason I hate most DC movies I've seen is how dark they are– not scary, but just the whole hopeless ambience really gets me down, and the knowledge that people are making the Joker as awful as possible just to freak you out and make you doubt yourself– that gets under my skin. But the Joker here was actually a really interesting character who didn't make me uncomfortable– you got a sense of...if not his depth, than of the depth and uniqueness of his evil.

I thought Batman v. Superman was just "pretty good" until the end– but I really, really liked Dark Knight Returns 4. I may even call it epic– iconic, of course! And I'm saying this as someone who knows of comic superheroes only what I've heard from A) my nerd friends B) pop culture and C) Big Bang Theory.

Complaints? Couldn't stand the bold/italicizing of every third word. Made for some interesting dialogue, but it was mainly distracting.

In general, a surprisingly good read in a style I found awesome– with less violence and more variation in design than I expected! I recommend it to teens– I don't think tweens would understand some political themes and darker ideas presented in the book... and you want the readers to understand. It makes a bigger impact that way.

[Moataz Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man of Steel, the Superman receives the order to stop Batman just after the War between Russia and America developed to another level.
After certain events, the Batman leaves Superman with the memory of the one man who beat him. And then, he passes away. Or does he? That's left for you to find out.

As for the whole quadrology, I really enjoyed reading it. I really enjoyed ending it while knowing that the Batman legacy isn't lost after all, and that if one Batman falls, ten will arise.

[Cyril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 11.2022: still 4.5 stars

[cauldronofevil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh! Not this one! And it’s bogus, the other fights were between the actual Superman and Batman! These are two Elseworlds characters who never existed and never will exist!

”Issue #4” starts in the Tunnel of Love at the county fair where the police are surrounding the place to capture both the Joker and Batman. The Joker’s body is found, but it explodes on fire.

Batman calls Robin and tells her to summon the bat-copter. Batman punches the Commissioner when she tries to capture him.

The bat-copter picks up Robin off the roller coaster.

Batman shoots a wad of plastique to below up the S.W.A.T. team following him.

Robin lassos Batman with the bat-copter and they fly away.

Various TV reports on those against Batman and the punk-rock citizens who are for him. Joker is found dead and mutilated.

Another news story tells of a 7-11 being robbed by the Nixon gang (an offshoot of the mutant gang Batman captured).

President Reagan tells the news that the Soviets have launched a missile. Superman intercepts and alters its course to point to a desert.

Batman rides a horse with Robin to the dump where the bat-gang is hanging out. Batman gathers the gang up, tells them not to use guns and says ‘I am the law!’.

The punk mutant gang escapes from jail. James Gordon tries to to get home and stop the chaos on the way.

Superman is greatly weakened because the bomb blotted out the sun. Then he is hit by lightning.

Then a guy fights a priest for a gun. A plane falls out of the sky on Gotham City. There is looting and rioting.

And then Batman, Robin the mutant gang he has convinced to follow him and some bat-boys on horses arrive. They break up the riots.

Then it’s a week later. We are still watching the news.

Clark Kent tells the president that he will never let me bring him in alive.

There is a black out all over America.

Bruce Wayne talks to Oliver Queen. Oliver says that he always knew it would come down to those two. He wants a piece of Superman as well. Oliver is missing an arm.

Robin asks who that was? Bruce tells him he used to fight crime.

Where are they?!

Then Superman sends Bruce a message. Where do you want to fight. Bruce says ‘Crime Alley’.

More news footage. Batman and his gang have been cleaning up crime.

The army troops clear the area around crime alley. The military leaves a whole for a tank to drive through. And it does.

Batman fires missiles at Superman as he comes into the area. He then has Robin fire a missile from the tank at Superman.

Superman lands and attacks Batman. Batman fights in his power suit until Superman rips off his helmet. Superman breaks three of Batman’s ribs.

Oliver Queen shoots a Kryptonite arrow at Superman. While Superman is weakened, Batman pounds on him.

News the next day is that Batman was revealed to be 55 year old Bruce Wayne who had a heart attack while battling government troops.

Well, I have mixed feelings. In many ways, it’s even worse than I remember it. The art is still lousy. The story - such as it is - is still a bunch of talking heads with little rhyme or reason and a vague idea of what the characters want and why they act the way they do. Especially Superman who appears more plot device than person.

I remember feeling it seemed dated when it first came out and it seems even more so today. The action is still muddy as well.

There is however, some good intent. I don’t think it really achieves it. There’s too much that doesn’t seem in character for either Batman, Superman or Oliver Queen.

And Bruce Wayne suddenly giving the Wayne Stables to a bunch of punks? And having stables he’s never had before? Weird and forced.

So for the try - and the try only, I’ll give it 2**

[Agung Wicaksono · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story opens with a literal global crisis. The Cold War tensions reach a breaking point as the USSR launches a nuclear missile in response to Superman’s actions in Corto Maltese. Though Superman manages to redirect the missile, the resulting EMP plunges the U.S. into darkness, symbolically and literally. As the world reels, Gotham (of all places) finds its footing, thanks to an aging, battered, but unyielding Batman.

What makes this issue so powerful is the poetic irony: while the rest of the nation falls into chaos, Gotham rises, becoming a model of order and resilience under Batman’s leadership. His methods may be controversial, but the results speak volumes. It’s a testament to Bruce Wayne’s willpower—even near death after his battle with the Joker, he’s the one man capable of restoring hope.

But the government can’t allow a vigilante to upstage their symbol. Superman (now a pawn of the establishment) is sent to stop Batman once and for all. This leads to the fight. Batman vs. Superman. Mythic. Personal. Raw. And yet, unlike in so many modern interpretations, this isn’t just about brute strength; it’s about ideology, legacy, and two friends torn apart by duty and belief. Miller crafts the confrontation with emotional and philosophical weight, while Lynn Varley’s moody colors and Klaus Janson’s gritty lines make every page feel epic and grounded.

Batman’s "death" is staged with precision and gravitas. The destruction of the Batcave. Alfred’s passing. The funeral. It all feels like the end of an era. But then comes the heartbeat. The wink. The reveal. Bruce Wayne isn’t finished—he’s simply evolved. The legend of Batman has become something even greater: a symbol of quiet revolution, built from the shadows.

“The Dark Knight Returns #4” is not just a conclusion, it’s a transformation. Batman is no longer the lone vigilante on a rooftop. He’s a movement. A myth reborn in secrecy, with Carrie Kelley, Oliver Queen, and the Sons of Batman now part of a new legacy.

Miller’s finale is heavy with consequence, rich with subtext, and ultimately filled with hope—the kind only earned after surviving absolute darkness.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to see Batman not just fight crime, but outsmart the world.

[পাঠক · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished it a few days ago, maybe a week at most. Today is 28 April, 2025. Before finishing, I sort of started from the first, as I had begun it, and then there was a large gap.

Did not like it very much. It may actually have been the worst of the books. The first is too old to remember. But now, I remeber a little, two-face, that was bad, maybe worse.

Just the action, so much, and so much commentary from different sources, not bad, in principle as a story telling technique for graphic novels. It was just all a bit much, and too fast paced, for nothing. Even if it was the culmination and supposed to be climactic - all the running around and everything seemed unnecessary. Of course, the excuse was given by the secondary plot, involving superman and the cold war turning hot..

And batman really recruted all those boys from some other genre, clockwork orange, perhaps Akira...

It was not like he was going to fight them after jail, they became part of his team, just on sight.

And the whole unnecessary fight with superman.

And then the twist..

He took all his money out and started working in the same cave, just at a different corner, and with a hundred rowdy boys, and a girl, and this is supposed to be a good ending?

And the night of lights out, even if the fires and crashes are all believable, the whole panoply, in the entire context of speed, action, no moment to just sit and relax for one person in that world, was a bit much.

And Lola, who calls Tom, after every segment or sentence..is that where Family Guy took Trisha and Tom from? Who are the original models? Whoever, no one in this universe, would cut off the guy wanting to talk about the impending missile, and just move to some other thing, about some flowers or cakes (it didn't say which), or say that they had already moved to that segment, and no one would be unconcerned personally, and no one would be thinking about ratings, and the station, and that channel, and the job, the salary, or even some year end academy award for reporter unflinching at the most untoward situation..

[Hamza · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the last Book of the Saga of the Dark Knight Returns. Nuclear Armageddon has fallen upon the face of the earth and the man of steel is ordered to take down the Dark Knight. The two heroes duke it out on the streets of Gotham as the world watches. Superman is arguably one of the strongest characters in fiction. It is so mesmerizing that Batman is able to fight with Superman as an equal. This one shows how powerful Batman is and how Batman is more than just a character. Batman is an idea, he symbolizes justice and doing the right thing even when people tell you otherwise. Batman’s legacy lives on through his history in gotham and through the sons of batman who Bruce Wayne his life’s work

[Radio Dormouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man. This is still a masterpiece; it's BETTER at thirty-five than it was when I was a teenager or even in my twenties. And this is coming from someone who has outgrown most comic books, even the ECs don't hit the way they used to and I have to adjust my expectations as a reader to still appreciate them for anything other than the artwork. Likewise, the Christopher Nolan Batman movies seem increasingly childish with each passing year, I could not get into Matt Reeves' The Batman and it's harder to appreciate Batman: The Animated Series. But it is clearer and clearer with each passing year why Frank Miller's four Dark Knight books have stood the test of time. But The Dark Knight series contends with the best prose novels I've read as an adult, as well as the best live action films.

[Emiliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fight is just awesome what else do I say

The buildup to the fight that was teased from the very beginning of this comic run finally culminates in this issue and man wow it goes nuts. It’s just such a good ending for a superhero as prevalent as Batman and this was written decades ago. It may be sorta a hot take but also not really and it’s that I love the paneling and artwork of this run a looooooot. It’s just so weird and odd and I love it. I know Miller has terrible written shit later on and his art gets significantly worse but man I’ll appreciate what I can right now. Yeah just a definitive Batman story what’s new.

[Colin Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fittingly over-the-top ending to this book. What other book could include Batman riding through the streets on a horse after a nuclear weapon sent Gotham into an unending winter AND Batman faking his own death in a 3D chess fight against Superman? Oh, and Robin cruising in a tank and jumping on a helicopter. The action is wild but the story that undergirds it is so strong. In the quiet moments, Clark says a prayer to Mother Earth while redirecting a warhead.

[Dee Villarreal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't quite take the turn I was expecting. Felt a bit like they weren't sure where they wanted to take this story. Overall, though, I enjoyed the series (still not sure if the misogyny is an honest tone or a statement). Maybe Dark Knight Strikes Again will be a satisfying follow-up

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars. I like the overall storyline, and particularly the setup at the end which is intriguing. However, the reasons behind the Batman vs Superman fight weren't explained sufficiently for me. I know these guys are men of few words - but really!

[Elena M Freed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

Conclusion of the greatest Batman story ever, a masterpiece of writing and art...I don't know how many times I've read and reread the story...it never gets old.

[César Gómez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un final épico!!!

[Usman Baig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic!

[Quinnus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely not the ending I was expecting.

[Plainerchair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg what’s next?!?

[Ali Hirschy Rambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this one was my favorite.