Batman: Soul of the Dragon

Happy Batman Day. The original Batman Day was celebrated on July 23^rd, to commemorate his Detective Comics debut, but it was subsequently moved to September, for marketing reasons. There have been many Batmans—Adam Westverse, Frank Miller’s Dark Knight, Matt Reeves’ The Batman, etc., so maybe there can be multiple Batman Days too. This Batman Day, fans can celebrate with the 1970’s martial arts Batman, who fights evil with a Richard Dragon who now looks amazingly like Bruce Lee, in Sam Liu’s Batman: Soul of the Dragon.

Before he became the Caped Crusader, Bruce Wayne trained under the mystical O’Sensei in his hidden Himalayan sanctuary. He studied with five other disciples, Dragon, Ben Turner (a.k.a. Bronze Tiger), Lady Shiva, Jade Nguyen, and Rip Jagger (a.k.a. Judomaster). (If you are wondering, DC’s Karate Kid, who predated the 1980s movies, exists in a far-future timeline.)

Obviously, when Wayne returned, he donned the Batman costume to instill fear in criminals’ hearts, while Dragon became a globe-trotting secret agent. Some of their fellow disciples made disappointing choices, like Lady Shiva, who now controls the Gotham Chinatown crime syndicate. However, she still guards their old master’s sword, which also serves as a key to unlock the portal to the dimension of Naga, the apocalyptic snake god.

Ominously, the leader of the Kobra cult wants to do exactly that, so Batman, Dragon, Lady Shiva, and Turner must band together again to stop them. Although he is the last to join them, Turner is most familiar with Kobra, having targeted their criminal operations for years.

Soul of the Dragon lovingly recreates the look and vibe of vintage 1970s martial arts films, first and foremost, by deliberately designing Dragon and Turner to resemble Bruce Lee and his Enter the Dragon co-star, Jim Kelly. While not slavishly imitative, composer Joachim Horsley’s soundtrack also clearly evokes the vibe of Lalo Schifrin’s classic theme as well.

For further authenticity, genre fans will happily recognize experienced on-screen martial artists Mark Dacascos, Michael Jai White, and Kelly Hu (Sammo Hung’s Martial Law) supplying the voices of Dragon, Turner, and Lady Shiva. (You can hear White’s enthusiasm for the subject matter and the films that inspired Jeremy Adams’ screenplay in all his scenes. He was also familiar with the character, having played him on a recurring basis on CW’s Arrow.) Just as fittingly, James Hong (Rush Hour, Kung Fu Panda) adds the appropriate sage crustiness as O’Sensei.

Liu and company embrace the elements and aesthetics of old school martial arts cinema in ways that are respectful and visually dynamic. By re-conceiving Dragon as an Asian character, they basically did what many woke critics demanded of the Iron Fist series, even though they probably never read an issue of the character’s comics. In this case, Richard Dragon had a much smaller footprint in the DC universe, so there are fewer continuity issues and less long-term fan investment to worry about. However, it is somewhat disappointing they turn Judomaster into a bag guy, especially after explicitly identifying him as a veteran.

Regardless, Soul of the Dragon is a prime example of the adventurousness of DC’s animated films that is absent from most live-action superhero movies, especial those of cookie-cutter MCU. It would make a nice double feature with Batman Ninja. Enthusiastically recommended for DC and martial arts fans, Batman: Soul of the Dragon is on DVD, for Batman Day.