DC COMICS: Batman Family (Batman Under The Red Hood)

Batman: Under the Red Hood is a 2010 direct-to-video animated superhero film based on the Batman storylines "A Death in the Family" and "Under the Hood". The film is the eighth in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line released by Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation. It was released on July 27, 2010. The film stars Bruce Greenwood as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jensen Ackles as the Red Hood/Jason Todd, John DiMaggio as the Joker, Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Jason Isaacs as Ra's Al Ghul, and Wade Williams as Black Mask. The screenplay was written by Judd Winick, who also wrote the "Under the Hood" run in the monthly Batman comic

PLOT
At a manor in Sarajevo, Ra's al Ghul ruefully realizes his mistake in allying himself with the Joker, while his assistant informs him that the Joker has captured Jason Todd, the second Robin. In a warehouse, the Joker brutally beats Jason with a crowbar while Batman races there. Joker then leaves the warehouse and traps a half-dead Jason inside. Although Jason attempts to escape, a planted explosive destroys the building before Batman can rescue Jason.

Five years later in Gotham City, a masked criminal known as Red Hood takes command of the drug trade, assuring eight prominent drug lords protection from Batman and crime boss Black Mask in return. Elsewhere, Batman intercepts a stolen truck carrying Amazo, an android weapon, and Nightwing arrives to help take it down. The drivers reveal they were under Red Hood’s orders before being assassinated by their employer. Batman gives chase and eventually ends up at the chemical plant that created the Joker, who was the original Red Hood. The current Red Hood confronts Batman and comments, before escaping, that it is the site of Batman's first great failure.

Regrouping, Batman and Nightwing check on the Red Hood's movements; since the Red Hood had appeared, drug trafficking is high, but crime as a whole is down in Gotham. Afterward, they interrogate the Joker at Arkham Asylum about Red Hood; the clown merely taunts them with Jason's death and denies involvement. Angered over his stolen android, Black Mask puts out a hit on Red Hood, who promptly hijacks another weapon shipment, with Batman and Nightwing interrupting. During a chase over the city rooftops, Red Hood displays physical skills similar to Batman and Nightwing's. Red Hood then eludes them at a train station, where a planted bomb explodes and injures Nightwing's leg. Back at the Batcave, Batman sends Nightwing home and then discovers Red Hood knows his secret identity.

Batman also recalls that Jason once used such escape maneuvers, and that he became violent and impulsive as he grew older. Meanwhile, Red Hood is attacked by the Fearsome Hand of Four, a group of four assassins working for Black Mask. He stalls them to lure Batman out, and together they incapacitate three while Red Hood kills one. When Batman confronts him about it, Red Hood insists that he is doing what the Dark Knight is unwilling to do: killing criminals who step out of line. Batman offers to help Red Hood, who refuses and leaves. Batman later uses a blood sample from the battle to confirm that Red Hood is in fact Jason Todd, back from the dead. Meanwhile, Red Hood fires a rocket-propelled grenade into Black Mask's office, nearly killing the crime lord. Pushed to his breaking point, Black Mask cuts a deal with the Joker: He will be released from Arkham in exchange for killing Red Hood.

Bruce discovers the body in Jason’s coffin is a fake. Enraged, he visits Ra's al Ghul for the truth. Ra's reveals that five years previous he commissioned the Joker to distract the Dynamic Duo during their investigation of one of Ra's' terrorist plots, but the clown kidnapped and murdered Jason, which Ra's saw as unnecessary. To make amends, Ra's chose not to make war with Batman anymore, and attempted to revive Jason in the Lazarus Pit, which yielded disastrous results: Jason was driven over the edge by the chemicals in the pit, and fled. Meanwhile, the Joker abducts Black Mask and his associates and tries to burn them alive in a bid for Red Hood’s attention. Red Hood reveals his plan the whole time was to intimidate Black Mask into freeing the Joker so he could arrange a meeting. Batman intervenes, saving Black Mask and his underlings, but Red Hood gets away with a captured Joker in tow.

Red Hood takes the Joker to an abandoned apartment and savagely beats him with a crowbar the same way he was beaten five years ago. He then meets Batman in Crime Alley, where they first met, and they get into a fight that culminates with Jason holding Batman at gunpoint and demanding to know why he has not killed the Joker. Batman says that although he’s thought every day about killing the Joker, he can’t bring himself to do it — he knows if he starts killing, he’ll never stop. Jason gives Batman a gun and an ultimatum: Either Jason will shoot the Joker, or Batman has to shoot Jason to stop him. Batman silently declines participation, drops the gun, and walks away. Angry and hurt, Jason shoots his gun at the back of his former mentor, but Batman dodges the bullet. Batman then disables Jason's gun with a batarang. Jason activates a bomb, and slumps to the ground, defeated.

Batman tries to defuse the bomb, but the Joker stands in the way, determined to see that they all die together. Batman knocks the Joker aside to try and save Jason as the explosive goes off. When the smoke clears, the Joker and Batman are revealed to have survived, but Jason is nowhere to be found. In the aftermath of the incident, a news report reveals that the Joker was returned to Arkham and Black Mask is back on the streets after paying a million dollars bail. At the Batcave, Alfred Pennyworth asks Batman if he should take down the memorial holding Jason’s old Robin costume. Batman refuses, saying nothing has changed. The film ends with a flashback of Jason’s first day as Robin, in which the boy declares that it is the best day of his life.

CAST

 * Bruce Greenwood as Bruce Wayne / Batman
 * Jensen Ackles as Jason Todd / Red Hood
 * John DiMaggio as The Joker, Additional Voices
 * Neil Patrick Harris as Dick Grayson / Nightwing
 * Jason Isaacs as Ra's al Ghul
 * Wade Williams as Roman Sionis / Black Mask
 * Gary Cole as Bobo,Commissioner James Gordon (uncredited), Shot (uncredited), Guard #2 (uncredited)
 * Kelly Hu as Ms. Li[6 ]
 * Jim Piddock as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Chi Chi, Thug #1 (uncredited), Baton (uncredited)
 * Robert Clotworthy as Leon
 * Brian George as Ra's Assistant
 * Phil LaMarr as Rick
 * Vincent Martella as Jason Todd / Robin (teen)
 * Alexander Martella as Jason Todd / Robin (young)
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Tyler Bramford, undefined Additional Voices
 * Andrea Romano as Reporter #1
 * Dwight Schultz as Freddie, Yurp
 * Fred Tatasciore as Mercenary #1, Amazo (uncredited), Guard (uncredited)
 * Keri Tombazian as Reporter #2, Fearsome Hand Leader (uncredited)
 * Bruce Timm as Edward Nygma / The Riddler
 * Michael Villani as Reporter #3
 * Esteban Matos as Sexy Guy #1