Batman Ninja

is a 2018 American-Japanese animated superhero film directed by Junpei Mizusaki, produced by Warner Bros., and animated by Kamikaze Douga and YamatoWorks, which features the DC Comics character Batman. Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai, is the character designer for the film. The first poster was revealed on October 5, 2017, and the trailers were released later on December 1, 2017. The film was released in the United States in digital format on April 24, 2018: it was released in physical formats on May 8 and was released theatrically in Japan on June 15. In its American release, writers Leo Chu and Eric Garcia have admitted to rewriting the film from the original Japanese script written by Kazuki Nakashima, ultimately making two very different versions of the same film. Plot While battling Gorilla Grodd at Arkham Asylum, Batman is caught in Grodd's Quake Engine time displacement machine and sent to feudal Japan. There, he is chased by samurai working for the Joker. During his escape, Batman meets up with Catwoman, who reveals everyone else arrived 2 years earlier due to Batman being in the outermost area affected by the Quake Engine. He learns from her that all of Gotham City's top criminals have become feudal lords after deceiving the Sengoku daimyo, battling each other until only one state remains. To stop the villains from altering history, Batman and Catwoman must get to the Quake Engine in Arkham Castle (formerly the Asylum). Batman discovers that Alfred Pennyworth is also in the past and has built a Batcave outside Edo. When Joker's troops ambush the hideout, Batman storms his way in his Batmobile towards Arkham Castle, which transforms into a robot fortress. Just as Batman confronts the Joker, he is forced to leave and save a mother and child below from being crushed by the robot's hand. He transforms his Batcycle into an armored suit to defeat a sumo Bane and stop the robot hand, only to learn the mother is a disguised Harley Quinn. As Batman is surrounded by the Joker's minions, he is suddenly whisked away by ninja led by Eian of the Bat Clan of Hida. Batman learns the Bat Clan helped Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin and Robin upon their arrival and the clan has followed a prophecy of a foreign bat ninja restoring order to the land. Robin gives Batman an invitation from Grodd to a nearby hot spring.