Batman Versus The Terminator? Forget John Connor, Bruce Wayne’s the one who’s going to take Skynet down.
The Terminator franchise may have only four films to its name, but in the world of comic book crossovers it has an impressive presence. Just about every contemporary fictional character there has faced the killer androids at some point, including Robocop, Superman, and a tag-team of Aliens, Predators, and Ellen Ripley. That just makes it strange that Batman never had his chance to take out Skynet, presumably because robots from the future didn’t kill his parents. Thankfully, Mitchell Hammond filled that void with an animated fan film last Saturday, depicting a version of Batman stoically dispatching Terminators in post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The film is set in 2029, over thirty years after Skynet sparked Terminator 2: Judgement Day‘s nuclear holocaust. Bruce Wayne has survived the attack thanks to the protective shelter of the Batcave, and is making a trek west to meet John Connor’s forces. Unfortunately, Batman still needs to get past the HK and Terminator units patrolling the wasteland, not to mention a machine compound that three rebels are getting dangerously close to.
Hammond’s film, based on a concept by Tony Guerrero, feels more like the introduction to a larger project than a complete story. Perhaps it was intended to be at one point, but from the look of the animator’s blog, Hammond is content to stop with what’s been done so far. It’s understandable, but a little disappointing; the animation is impressive given Hammond’s solo effort, and the Dark Knight Returns visual style meshes well with The Terminator‘s 1980s aesthetic.
Perhaps one day Hammond, or even DC Comics, will take the concept to its logical conclusion. But in the meantime, we’ll have to imagine a conclusion ourselves: How do you think Bruce Wayne’s war with the machines is going to end?
Source: YouTube, via Comic Book Resources
