"Knightfall" is a 1993–1994 Batman story arc published by DC Comics. It consists of a trilogy of storylines that ran from 1993 to 1994, consisting of "Knightfall", "Knightquest", and "KnightsEnd".On the comic book covers, only the third part had its title written in CamelCase. The story takes place over approximately six months. Bruce Wayne (Batman) suffers burnout and is systematically assaulted and crippled by a "super steroid"-enhanced criminal genius named Bane. Bruce is replaced as Batman by an apprentice named Jean-Paul Valley (a.k.a. Azrael), who becomes increasingly violent and unstable, tarnishing Batman's reputation. Eventually, Bruce is healed through paranormal means and reclaims his role as Batman.
"Knightfall" resulted in long-term ramifications for the Batman continuity, as Batman's trust from the police, the public, and his fellow superheroes had to be rebuilt due to Azrael's violence. Additionally, Bruce realizes the peril and burden of attempting to work in solitude, leading to the eventual creation of the modern incarnation of the Batman Family. The events of "Knightfall" also led to the temporary resignation of Bruce's loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
The entire "Knightfall" storyline took over a year to complete in the comic book serials. In later years, the comics were reprinted several times, though never in full, as the "Knightquest: The Search" story arc was not collected until the second omnibus edition in 2017.
Publication The initial idea for the character of Azrael stemmed from a two-part story idea pitched by Detective Comics writer Peter Milligan circa 1991, as he was leaving that position. After line editor Dennis O'Neil decided to expand it into a larger epic, he and the Batman line writers Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench and Alan Grant convened an authors' summit over a long weekend to flesh out the details and story points. At the same time, the Superman team was planning for a similar character-altering storyline, and neither they nor the Batman group initially had any knowledge of each other's plans. Dennis O'Neil denies the Knightfall storyline was in any way inspired by The Death of Superman storyline and states that it was already in development by as much as three years, saying that if the Batman staff had known, the storyline would likely have been pushed down a year.Wizard: The Guide to Comics #35 - publication date July 1994
The serial stories of the monthly Batman comics titles began slowly building toward the "Knightfall" arc several months prior, in conjunction with the publication of the four-issue Sword of Azrael miniseries and the Vengeance of Bane one-shot, which also laid foundation for the larger story.
"Knightfall" ran from April to October 1993, Batman issues #492-500 and Detective Comics issues #659-666, with the two titles sharing a single narrative during this time. The two series each hit numerical milestones at the end of the arc, with a triple-size 500th issue of Batman and the ominous Detective Comics number 666 wrapping up the storyline only one month apart. The massive story was quickly collected into two volumes of trade paperbacks. Volume One was subtitled Broken Bat and Volume Two Who Rules the Night. "Knightfall" was the first time that multiple Batman titles had shared a single narrative for an extended period since the Crisis on Infinite Earths era.
"Knightfall" was immediately followed by "Knightquest" in the monthly serials. "Knightquest" is divided into two storylines, one following Bruce Wayne ("Knightquest: The Search") and the other on the new Batman ("Knightquest: The Crusade"). The stories were not treated as crossovers and the Batman titles continued as they had before "Knightfall" where the creative teams each pursued its own storyline. Instead of a crossover, "Knightquest" was more of an umbrella title that also encompassed some issues of Batman: Shadow of the Bat (to avoid giving away their plans, the publishers treated it as though it were the new status quo, so issues were not numbered as chapters). Additionally, The Crusade served as a launching point for the first ongoing monthly series featuring Robin in solo adventures. Neither thread of "Knightquest" was collected in book format until over two decades later.
Although previous parts of the "KnightSaga" had taken considerable time to run their course, the entirety of "KnightsEnd" was published within a two-month span, as the Batman books had to prepare themselves for DC's impending company-wide crossover Zero Hour, which would immediately follow the "KnightSaga". Nothing was truncated, as the Batman editorial line made use of all of the Batman-related titles at their disposal, such as Catwoman, Robin and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (normally an anthology title with stories set in the past). "KnightsEnd" was collected in trade paperback as Knightfall Volume 3 soon after completion.
The serial nature of the Batman titles continued beyond the end of "KnightsEnd", with the "Prodigal" and "Troika" storylines, and into subsequent unbannered stories. This setup resurfaced in later arcs such as "Contagion", "Legacy", "Cataclysm", "No Man's Land", and "War Games", and has on occasion continued into the present.
The intent of Knightfalls writers was to counter the then-popular style of violent heroes in comics and demonstrate that the traditional Batman made for a better hero. The issues featuring Jean-Paul Valley as Batman on the cover depict him with highly exaggerated musculature and legs which taper into disproportionally tiny feet, mimicking the styles of contemporary "violent hero" artists such as Rob Liefeld.
Storyline Prelude The prelude to "Knightfall" began with the introduction of two new characters key to its storyline in issues prior to the release of "Knightfall": Azrael, a.k.a. Jean-Paul Valley (introduced in Batman: Sword of Azrael #1-4 (October 1992-January 1993) by Dennis O'Neil and Joe Quesada), a graduate student at Gotham University who discovers he has been unconsciously trained since birth as an assassin for an ancient religious order. Bane, introduced in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993) by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan, an orphan born and raised in a Central American island prison, self-taught and ruthless, who underwent an involuntary experimental operation to become a new type of supersoldier, before breaking free and deciding to take Gotham City from its "king", Batman.
The two characters were quickly added to the cast in the monthly Batman titles, with Azrael being a superhero-in-training who fights alongside Batman, while Bane was introduced as a supervillain.
Within the regular series, the buildup to "Knightfall" begins with a six-issue run in Batman #484-489 (September 1992 - February 1993), in which Batman (at the onset of a personal psychological mid-life crisis) is forced to deal, in rapid succession, with the returning villain Black Mask and his gang (who target Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox), a crazed killer called Metalhead, and a sharpshooter assassin hired by an imprisoned mobster to murder Commissioner Gordon. Batman begins to feel that he has lost his edge, especially after his failure to capture Black Mask. He finds himself unable to meditate or even focus. As Bruce Wayne, he contacts holistic therapist Shondra Kinsolving for treatment. He also assigns Robin (Tim Drake) to train Jean-Paul Valley in detective work to aid them as an ally, hoping to guide Valley's brainwashing away from making him a villainous threat. Despite the advice of everyone in his life, including Dr. Kinsolving, Bruce refuses to rest and continues to pursue his self-imposed duty despite his worsening condition (although not explicitly noted as a cause, these events take place immediately after the death of Superman, Batman's peer, elsewhere in the DC Universe). In addition, since the events from A Death in the Family, Batman struggles with the trauma of the loss of his protégé Jason Todd.
The next storyline, in Detective Comics #654-656 (December 1992 - February 1993), involves a young military student usurping power in Gotham's underworld and assaulting a police station, with Bruce's fatigue continuing to worsen. At the conclusion of this story, Bane and his henchman are shown monitoring Batman's performance.
Bane begins a series of encounters letting Batman know of his presence and his intentions. In Batman #489-490 (February–March 1993), Bane interferes with encounters pitting villains Killer Croc and the Riddler against Batman, and, to test Batman's limits, goes so far as to inject the Riddler with the Venom drug. This escalation culminates in an assault on Arkham Asylum in Batman #491 (April 1993), where Bane breaks the inmates free and supplies them with numerous weapons to escape. Meanwhile, Robin finds it difficult to work with Jean-Paul, due to the man's violent subconscious training and lack of social skills, and also finds himself being shut out from working alongside Batman.
"Knightfall" The plot of "Knightfall" begins with Bane freeing all of the maximum-security inmates of Arkham Asylum, a notorious psychiatric facility in Gotham City. Aware that he would lose in a direct assault against Batman, Bane's plan consists of weakening Batman by forcing him to deal with the escaped villains simultaneously. The scenario creates a rift in the relationship between Robin and Batman, as Batman irrationally seeks to face the outbreak alone.Batman #491 was the final prelude issue and therefore not an official part of "Knightfall". However, this issue was included in the original trade paperback edition, Broken Bat, as well as the 2012 and 2017-2018 re-printings.
Over the next few issues, Batman becomes weaker and weaker as each criminal is put away. The rescue of Mayor Krol from the teaming of the Joker and Scarecrow pushes Batman to his mental and physical limits: a dose of Scarecrow's fear gas makes him relive the murder of Jason Todd, which he considers to be his greatest failure. After this encounter, Bane's men assault Batman before he himself makes his move and attacks him at Wayne Manor, his home as his alter-ego—long before this time, Bane had deduced the secret identity of Batman. The fight between Bruce Wayne and Bane is detailed in Batman #497. After three months, the exhausted Batman was no match for Bane; Bane pummels him ruthlessly before breaking Batman's back, symbolically "breaking" Batman. Bane takes Batman downtown to Gotham Square and throws him from a rooftop to demonstrate his superiority to the populace. Quick action by Robin and Alfred spares Batman's life, but he is left paraplegic. Bruce uses a special wheelchair created by Harold Allnut. With Batman incapacitated, Bane assumes control of Gotham City's underworld and takes over several illegal operations within it. After his defeat, Bruce Wayne enlists the aid of Dr. Shondra Kinsolving to rehabilitate him and asks Jean-Paul Valley to take up the mantle of Batman so that Gotham has a protector.
Soon after, Kinsolving and Tim's father Jack Drake are kidnapped and Bruce and Alfred leave the country to find them. Jean-Paul is shown to be a different, but not dangerous, Batman until an encounter with the Scarecrow, which results in Jean-Paul being infected by Scarecrow's fear gas and "The System"—his programming as Azrael—taking over, in order to combat Jean-Paul's fear. Following this, Jean-Paul is unable to shake the influence of the System, giving in to it completely after his first defeat at Bane's hands and being increasingly influenced by it during the rest of his tenure as Batman. Gradually, Jean-Paul alienates Robin with his paranoia and arrogance.