Inspired by the comic book series by Mike Mignola, Richard Pace and Troy Nixey, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is a 1920s-based tale that finds explorer Bruce Wayne accidentally unleashing an ancient evil, expediting his return to Gotham City after a two-decade hiatus. The logic/science-driven Batman must battle Lovecraftian supernatural forces threatening the sheer existence of Gotham, along the way being aided and confronted by reimagined versions of his well-known allies and enemies, including Green Arrow, Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Two-Face, James Gordon and Bruce’s beloved wards. Prepare for a mystical, often terrifying Batman adventure unlike any other.

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Video Quality

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham comes to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a 2160p transfer that is incredibly bold with an admirable amount of depth. This disc provides some obvious improvements over the Blu-Ray in certain areas including more nuance to the colors and the elimination of any digital artifacting. While this does have splashes of color when appropriate, this is a Batman film which does lend itself to a darker and more earthy color palette. This universe is less vibrant than films from other DCAU characters, but even more so than the typical Batman film.

This presentation handles the gentle gradients of the artwork in a way that really aids in the artistry of the work. This disc provides steady line detail and more distinct shading, which gives the characters greater definition to help overcome their rather flat rendering. The use of HDR yields some lovely enhancements to the dynamic colors on display such as in the costumes or explosions, and the disc provides much deeper black levels for a cleaner viewing experience free of black crush. The Blu-Ray disc will do in a pinch, but those with a proper display will find the 4K UHD Blu-Ray the winner hands down.

Audio Quality

This release boasts a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that more than gets the job done during this kinetic and atmospheric film. Dialogue is often accompanied by a memorable score from Stefan L. Smith or all manner of sound effects, but all of the information comes through clearly without getting muddied. There is a substantial amount of activity in the low-end which will make good use of your subwoofer throughout this presentation. The track engages all of the channels with panning effects and sounds of hand-to-hand combat and a few supernatural flourishes that really place you in the middle of the action. There are no obvious sync issues or other anomalies present. Warner Bros. has delivered a faithful track that serves this entry well. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Producer/co-director Sam Liu, screenwriter Jase Ricci, DC creative director Mike Carlin, and producer Jim Krieg provide a solid commentary track in which they discuss the origins of the project, what influenced them, what they wanted to accomplish with this, going into more of a horror territory, how this story stands apart from other DCAU films, and more.

Batman – Shadows Of Gotham: A 13-minute featurette that delves into the themes and development of this picture with the creative team. This is not quite as substantial as usual, but it is still worth a watch for fans.

Superman: Red Son Preview: An eleven-minute featurette which takes you inside the previously-released Superman: Red Son.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight Preview: A nearly nine-minute featurette which takes you inside the previously-released Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.

From The DC Vault: Two classic episodes from Batman: The Animated Series are provided here in HD: “The Demon’s Quest – Part One” (episode #57) and “The Demon’s Quest – Part Two” (#58). The thematic links are appreciated, and they are also just fun episodes.

Final Thoughts

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is a pretty effective Elseworlds tale that embraces the weird and supernatural more than most other entries outside of the Justice League Dark stories. Some of the pacing is a bit sloppy, but the unique spin they give to some classic characters proves to be a lot of twisted fun. The animation style is effective for what it is trying to accomplish. While the film could have used a bit more focus and payoff, most fans should have a good amount of fun here. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a strong A/V presentation and some cool special features. If you are a fan of DC animation who wants to shake up the formula a bit, give this one a shot. Recommended

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.