Batman: Soul of the Dragon sounds like an interesting departure from the usual slate of DC animated movies. The story is set during the 1970s and follows a young Bruce Wayne on the path of martial arts mastery. We’ll see him training with and battling other elite martial artists, including Richard Dragon, Ben Turner and Lady Shiva, all of whom are under the tutelage of O-Sensei.
We don’t know too much about the plot just yet, but the synopsis has teased that the students will have to face off against “a deadly menace from the past.” Who this is remains a mystery, but given the location the film is set in, the kung fu movie tone and the 1970s time period, I think the chances are good that the menace will be a bare-chested Ra’s al Ghul.
Now, we have the first clip from the pic, showing Bruce Wayne ascending a mountain to discover a hidden martial arts temple. This is presumably the home of O-Sensei and the place where Bruce will learn the skills needed to fight crime on the streets of Gotham. The footage is somewhat reminiscent of Batman Begins, though at least Mr. Wayne gets a friendlier reception here than he did at the hands of the League of Shadows.
The project is being billed as an homage to classic martial arts movies like Enter the Dragon and boasts a script by Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge‘s Jeremy Adams, the direction of Reign of the Supermen‘s Sam Liu and Batman animation legend Bruce Timm as a producer.
Grimm and A Million Little Things star David Giuntoli is playing Bruce Wayne, with support from legends like Michael Jai White, Robin Atkin Downes, Kelly Hu and Mark Dacascos. Even more promisingly, James Hong of Big Trouble in Little China and Blade Runner fame is voicing O-Sensei.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon will be released on VOD, Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, and 4K + Figure Editions on January 12th, 2021. A DVD debut will then follow on January 26th, 2021.
