Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023): A Lovecraftian Missed Opportunity Wrapped in Decent Animation
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023): A Lovecraftian Missed Opportunity Wrapped in Decent Animation
"A cursed prophecy, a bat-shaped god, and a film that should’ve been far more terrifying." — 3/5 Stars
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023) arrives with a tantalizing premise: a 1920s Batman, cosmic horror, and a Gotham City built on occult bloodlines. Based on the cult-favorite Elseworlds comic of the same name, the film leans hard into H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos—specifically echoing The Doom That Came to Sarnath—and reimagines Bruce Wayne not as a detective, but as a reluctant avatar of primordial dread.
It’s certainly better than most straight-to-video animated superhero fare—more ambitious in scope, more atmospheric in tone. But let’s be clear: it doesn’t hold a candle to DC’s animated high-water marks like Batman: Under the Red Hood, The Killing Joke, or Gotham by Gaslight. Those films understood that great animation isn’t just about style—it’s about emotional stakes, moral complexity, and characters who feel real enough to bleed. Doom offers none of that. You never quite feel invested in its characters—and, strangely, you’re never even sure if you’re meant to care about Batman himself.
Lovecraft Without the Dread
The story’s strongest moments come when it leans into its supernatural noir roots: Gotham as a city founded on a dark pact, Thomas Wayne’s hidden past as a seeker of forbidden knowledge, and Bruce’s slow descent into a mythic role that blurs the line between man and monster. These are genuinely chilling ideas—perfect for October, perfect for horror.
But the execution falters. The pacing rushes through emotional beats, the horror often feels ornamental rather than existential, and the film never truly interrogates the psychological unraveling that should accompany confronting cosmic insignificance—the very core of Lovecraftian terror. Batman has always been a character haunted by trauma; here, that trauma is outsourced to monsters, not internalized. Worse, the script gives us so little reason to care about Bruce, Kai Li, Dick, or even Alfred that their fates land with a thud, not a gasp.
Voice, Costume, and Tone
David Giuntoli’s Bruce Wayne lacks the gravitas the role demands—his performance is serviceable but never compelling, especially when stacked against legends like Kevin Conroy or even Jensen Ackles in recent DC animated outings. Worse still are the costume choices, particularly for Ra’s al Ghul, whose design feels more like a rejected Mortal Kombat skin than a centuries-old eco-terrorist mystic.
Tonally, the film can’t decide if it wants to be a gothic tragedy, a pulp adventure, or a straight horror film. The result is a muddled aesthetic—gorgeous 1920s set pieces undercut by flat character animation and dialogue that veers between poetic and perfunctory.
“Animated films are films.” — Comrade Kas
Let’s be clear: animated films are films. And as a film, The Doom That Came to Gotham is competent, occasionally inspired, and visually distinct within DC’s animated catalog. It deserves credit for attempting something different in a franchise often stuck in moral binaries and cape-flapping theatrics.
But it also represents a squandered opportunity. Batman, more than any other superhero, is uniquely suited to explore the terror of the unknown—the fear that justice is meaningless in a godless universe. This film gestures toward that abyss… then quickly cuts away to a fight scene.
Final Verdict: A decent, atmospheric entry that stumbles under the weight of its own mythos. Worth watching for Lovecraft fans and Batman completists—but don’t expect it to haunt you. 3/5 stars.
Official trailer for Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023)
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