Before Terminator Zero, Batman Ninja revived an American franchise by setting it in Japan

Japan usually brings out the best in Batman. When Japanese studios are given the chance to put their own spin on the character, it can result in glorious spectacles that make the most of the animation medium, as this year’s Suicide Squad Isekai or the 2008 anime anthology Batman: Gotham KnightThe effect is just as impressive when Western creators simply set a Batman story in Japan, as in the episodes “Night of the Ninja” and “Day of the Samurai” of Batman: The Animated Series that explored Bruce Wayne’s martial arts past. But when a Japanese studio sets a Batman story in Japan, you get something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. You get 2018’s Batman Ninjaan animated film about the Dark Knight and a group of his villains who are thrown back in time to 16th century Japan.

One of the most creative Batman films ever made, Batman Ninja doesn’t depend entirely on a new, skyscraper-less setting that renders the Bat grappling hook useless, although that scene appears in the film and is pretty funny. It’s a film where director Junpei Mizusaki and screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima try to figure out who the urban ninja is outside of an urban environment and without his high-tech gadgets. Japan of old certainly seems like the perfect place to do that and get to the heart of who and what Batman is, while reminding the audience that the character isn’t Iron Man-lite with a Halloween theme. The end result is a film that expands the world of Batman, much like the recently released anime Terminator Zero creates its own franchise by playing on the elements that make a story set in Japan so unique.

In the 2018 film, Batman gets trapped in the temporal field of Gorilla Grodd’s time machine and wakes up in feudal Japan without access to his computer or satellite-based weaponry. He still has his Batmobile, which he uses to attack Joker, who has become a powerful warlord in the time since he and other villains landed in Japan two years prior to Batman’s arrival, for plot-convenient reasons. The Batmobile is subsequently destroyed when it is revealed that Joker has partially rebuilt his castle into a giant robot in the grand tradition of Japanese giant robot shows like Super Sentai (the basis for Power Rangers). Batman is not yet doomed, however, as the crashed Batmobile transforms into a smaller Batwing, a Batcycle, and eventually a power armor suit to battle Bane.

Only after all those vehicles are taken from him in a series of dark Looney Tunes-esque devastation does Batman truly despair, asking himself, “Who (is) Batman stripped of all his technology?” Thankfully, he overcomes this when he eventually realizes that he still has the most important weapons he has: his body, mind, and soul, and the support of his family, as Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, and Alfred have also been transported back in time. Along with a bat-themed ninja clan who predicted his coming, Batman returns to his analog roots, showing that his true strength is a will to fight and the support of his loved ones, the latter of which has unfortunately been too often overlooked in recent cinematic depictions of the Dark Knight. Batman is no lone vigilante; he’s the gruff but nurturing head of a large extended family who puts their trust and life in the hands of other people on a daily basis. This is who Batman is under the hood, but Mizusaki and Nakashima don’t stop there. As they get to the heart of the character, they also discover some fascinating parallels between his world and Japanese history.

Batman Ninja is set in 16th century Japan, when the biggest badass on the block was Oda Nobunaga, the lord of Owari province who initiated the unification of the country during the Warring States period. In the film, Joker takes Nobunaga’s place in history, as well as his castle, which is what you’d expect. Joker is Batman’s arch-nemesis, so if Mr. J was going to take over anyone’s territory in feudal Japan, it would naturally be that of the most powerful warlord. However, the Clown Prince of Crime replacing Oda Nobunaga makes an eerily better sense when comparing the two, as the latter was known in his youth as “The Fool of Owari” who wore flashy clothing like colorful pants made from tiger and leopard skins.

The young Nobunaga was also known for his cartoonish mane, which his chronicler likened to a tea whisk, a hairstyle Joker sports early in the film. To really emphasize the Joker-Nobunaga connection, Joker is also nicknamed “The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven” (Dairokuten Mao) by his samurai vassals. This was the real-life nickname of Oda Nobunaga, who went down in history as a particularly brutal man, including his slaughter of thousands of Buddhist monks, women, and children at the Enryaku-ji temple complex on Mount Hiei in 1571. Given this, it makes sense that Joker, as one of Gotham’s most skilled and deranged killers, would be the perfect supervillain to stand in for the historical figure. There’s even an added Easter egg for fans of Japanese history in the form of Harley Quinn’s nickname, “Demon Page” (Makosho), as she and Joker are a couple in the film and Nobunaga had a sexual relationship with his page Mori Ranmaru.

Joker and Harley Quinn are far from the only Batman villains getting the Japanese historical treatment in Batman Ninja. Other temporarily displaced villains are also connected to real-life samurai in the story, such as Deathstroke, who is nicknamed “One-Eyed Gun Masamune” (Dokuganju Masamune) in the film. Again, this makes sense. Deathstroke only has one eye and, in addition to the katana, is also very skilled with firearms, which were becoming common on Japanese battlefields around this time in history. But as with Joker and Nobunaga, there’s more to the connection than meets the eye. The whole one-eye thing, the name “Masamune,” and Slade Wilson’s crescent-shaped samurai helmet ornament are meant to draw parallels between Deathstroke and Date Masamune, the lord of northeastern Japan who is remembered as “the One-Eyed Dragon” (Dokuganryu). Like Deathstroke, he also didn’t enjoy 3D films, was also a big fan of firearms, and was known as a tactical genius. Honestly, the more you read about Date Masamune, the more you begin to suspect that the Deathstroke comic is secretly based on the infamous daimyo.

But by far one of the largest historical ‘Easter Eggs’ in Batman Ninja is the simple addition of Gorilla Grodd, whose time machine brought Batman and his villains to Japan in the first place. While he is not given a nickname in the film, it is very interesting that after Joker is overthrown by Batman, Grodd takes his place as the most powerful warlord in Japan. It is clever because Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was known as Japan’s second great unifier, was originally in Nobunaga’s employ and was frequently teased by his lord with the nickname “ape”.

There are countless other ways in which Batman Ninja contains parallels between the character’s universe and 16th century Japan. For example: It was also a stroke of genius to recreate Jason Todd’s Red Hood mask in the form of a tengai-gasa straw hat, the kind that covered the entire face and was typically worn by komuso wandering monks… or, as was sometimes the case, ninjas in disguise. An excellent choice for a film called Batman Ninja.

The thing is, Batman originally had very little to do with ninjas or Japan. When Batman was created in the late 1930s, he was inspired by pulp characters like The Shadow and especially Zorro. His whole urban shinobi vibe didn’t come until much later. But as it stands now, the worlds of Batman and Japan intersect in truly fascinating ways, creating opportunities for fresh and imaginative storytelling that few other superheroes can match. With Batman Ninja‘s recently announced sequel, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza Leagueexpected to be released soon, now is the perfect time to watch Batman ninja. Hopefully the sequel is as good as the original!

Batman Ninja is available for rent on Amazon and Apple.