The next film adaptation of Batman is on its way, as the DC icon will return in 2026 with one of the biggest installments yet for the Caped Crusader. While DC Studios has both Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II and the DC Universe’s The Brave and The Bold movie in the works, the world of animation is also bringing the iconic hero back.
At the end of the Warner Bros. Animation panel, The Art Knight: Batman in Animation, at New York Comic-Con 2025, WBA, DC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that a four-part film adaptation of Batman: Knightfall is being developed. The first film, which is set to release in 2026, will be titled Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall.
The synopsis for Part 1 describes the plot as follows: “When the mysterious behemoth known only as Bane frees Batman’s entire Rogue’s Gallery from Arkham Asylum, the Caped Crusader is pushed to his mental and physical breaking point.”
The first installment is currently in production, with an exact release 2026 date slated to be announced at a later time. At the time of the announcement during the NYCC panel, no voice talent was revealed for the multi-part animated event.
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall will be directed by Jeff Wamester, who wrote and directed several installments in DC’s animated Tomorrowverse franchise, while the script was written by DC Comics’ Jeremy Adams. Rick Morales is set as supervising producer, with producers Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau, while Sam Register and Michael Uslan are attached as executive producers.
Batman: Knightfall was a big crossover arc from Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Dennis O’Neil, Peter David, Jo Duffy, Jim Aparo, Graham Nolan, Norm Breyfogle, and Jim Balent, that would become a defining chapter for Bruce Wayne from April 1993 to August 1994. When encountering Bane, Bruce ends up being crippled by the supervillain, who breaks the hero’s back.
Elements of Batman: Knightfall have previously made it into other DC media. In 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises from Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne had his back broken by Tom Hardy’s Bane, along with other aspects of the famous comic arc being utilized for the trilogy finale.
The original Batman: Knightfall comic run was tackled in three parts, from Knightfall to Knightquest, before ending with KnightsEnd, which will likely be how the three follow-up films will be structured. Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall arrives in 2026.