Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 Date and Details Announced

The second half of the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns animated feature set has been given a release date of January 29, 2013.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 is rated PG-13 and concludes the story based on Frank Miller’s classic graphic novel. It’s available as a Blu-ray Combo Pack (with DVD and UltraViolet, list price $24.98), a DVD ($19.98 list price), on demand, or as a digital download.

This part of the film will feature Batman’s battles against both the Joker (voiced by Michael Emerson, Person of Interest, Lost) and Superman (Mark Valley, Human Target, Fringe). Also appearing in this installment is Conan O’Brien as talk show host Dave Endochrine. Batman is voiced by Peter Weller, continuing from the previous film, with Ariel Winter as Robin. I’ve previously linked to the trailer.

Special features on the Blu-ray include:

• Sneak Peek at Superman: Unbound, the next DC Universe animated original movie
• All-new featurette “The Joker: Laughing in the Face of Death”, providing “perspective as to why this engrossing character is the true arch nemesis of Batman”
• All-new documentary “Superman vs. Batman: When Heroes Collide”, looking at the characters’ “long history of friendship and conflict”
• All-new featurette “From Sketch to Screen” in which “director Jay Oliva gives a fascinating animatic breakdown of five of his favorite moments”
• Sneak Peek at Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
• Three cartoon episodes — from Batman: The Animated Series, “The Last Laugh” and “The Man Who Killed Batman”, and from The New Batman Adventures, “Legends of the Dark Knight”
• Digital comic excerpt from The Dark Knight Falls by Frank Miller (which turns out to be the name of the fourth and final chapter of the overall graphic novel)