Summary
Warning: Spoilers for The Immortal Thor: Annual (2024) #1 ahead!We live in a golden age of comics and superheroes, in large part thanks toMarveland the widespread success of the MCU. But the comic tropes that make the genre popular today are very different from the ones that popularized comics in decades past, and the comparison isn’t always favorable to what came before. This is demonstrated by Marvel taking some potshots at the notoriously “grimdark” work of Frank Miller, particularlyThe Dark Knight Returns.
Al Ewing, David Baldeón, and Federico Blee’sThe Immortal Thor: Annual#1 introduces readers to yet another living incarnation of the Infinity Stones: Prince Otherone, who embodies the Power Stone (and later takes it as his superhero name). Eager to test his newfound strength, “Powerstone” immediately looks for the roughest planet he can find to try his hand at heroics.
Powerstone’s inner monologue, coupled with the classic “lightning bolt” pose fromThe Dark Knight Returns, draws comparisons to the grimdark stories of the ’80s and ’90s -but his incredible stupidity also makes it clear that this is all parody.
The Dark Knight Returns is Technically a JOKE in DC Canon
Batman reached new levels of destruction in The Dark Knight Returns, so it’s only right that the story became an inside joke in actual DC canon.
Marvel Calls Out The Classic ’80s And ’90s Power Fantasies
Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, John Costanza, and Lynn Varley’sThe Dark Knight Returnsis a classic tale of one man’s fight against a corrupt world, and its dystopian, brutal worldview set the tone for comics in the decades to follow.Miller’s Batman is a creature without nuance, fighting against monsters and the systems that would cosset and coddle them and meting out vigilante justice with extreme violence. This grimdark worldview would become Miller’s hallmark, and his star would rise throughout the ’90s withSin Cityand300- works that shared this brand of machismo.
When the cultural zeitgeist moved on, however, Frank Miller didn’t move with it. Miller’s return to Batman inAll Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder (2005)was widely panned, with theoutrageously callous take on Batmanoften held as a franchise worst. Similarly, Miller’s 2011 response to 9/11,Holy Terror,was seen as reductive at best and outright racist at worst.Miller is still a prominent figure in comics, but has lost much of his cultural cache since the era of power fantasies he helped usher in has passed.
Marvel’s Powerstone Is A Frank Miller Pastiche
Everything about Powerstone’s introduction is a parody ofThe Dark Knight Returns. From the repetitive and hyperbolic narration (“Adirty planetorbiting agrimy starin agrubby sector”) to the comically evil gangsters openly committing transparent crimes in an unjust society (their victim is an “innocent toxic waste manufacturer”), it could all be lifted straight from a Frank Miller plot. Instead of a lone beacon of justice, however, Powerstone is an idiot -a metaphor for how overly simplistic and thin these grimdark stories really are.
Comics have come a long way since the ’90s. The medium isn’t perfect, but there is much more room now for stories with depth and nuance alongside the classic power fantasy - even in the superhero genre - and Marvel has been a major player in helping to expand the medium. While there’s a time and place for the grimdark power fantasy,Marvelalso doesn’t hesitate to point out how far comics have come - even if that means puttingThe Dark Knight Returnsin its crosshairs.
The Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is a comic book miniseries centered on an older Batman. Set in a dystopian future, this iconic DC storyline follows Batman as he comes back from retirement to fight criminal gangs and cross paths with characters such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Superman along the way.
