It Is A Dark Knight For Skynet With Batman Versus Terminator

Friends, when The Terminator was released in 1984 in my neck of the woods, my Father and I somehow missed it in theaters. We didn’t actually get the opportunity to catch James Cameron’s vision of a science fiction post-apocalyptic future until it was released on VHS. The bizarre thing about it all is on the way home from the video store – we noticed that the local Drive-In was opening that night and was showing The Terminator and a film called The Return of the Living Dead. There is really no other way to describe that evening than to say it was absolutely epic. Even though we had just rented the film, we managed to hold off watching it on VHS until after seeing it that evening – after all how could our 19-inch television set compare the grandeur of the Drive-In screen?

The following day before it was time to return The Terminator to the video store, we had managed to watch it three more times – so I feel it is safe to say that we were quite impressed by the film. Granted with James Cameron in the Director’s seat and a cast made up of Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger – how could you not be won over by the film? Throw in some amazing practical effects by the Stan Winston Studios and others – with that incredible soundtrack by Brad Fidel (Fright Night, True Lies) – and it is quite easy to see how this 1984 picture managed to jump start an entire franchise.

Beginning in 1988 thanks to NOW Comics picking up the licenses to film and television properties like Fright Night, The Real Ghostbusters, The Green Hornet, and of course The Terminator – fans like myself could pop into their local comic book shop and learn how the fight against Skynet was fairing in 2031. It was just before Terminator 2: Judgement Day was released in ’91 that Dark Horse Comics obtained the comic book rights to the franchise and held it until 2019 as I understand it. During that time releasing some memorable comic book crossovers though – just a few include RoboCop Versus The Terminator, Superman versus The Terminator: Death to the Future, and even Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator!

The Man of Steel however is not the only iconic DC Comics character to find themselves in a crossover comic with a science-fiction franchise – as Batman crossed paths with the Xenomorphs from Alien and even the Yautja from Predator on multiple occasions. The Dark Knight has even gone toe to toe with the Terminator throughout the years… although in all honesty that would be Deathstroke the Terminator aka Slade Wilson. However thanks to this fan made animated short film by Mitchell Hammond that was originally released back in 2014 – we can see the Dark Knight take on Skynet in the war-torn remains of Los Angeles of 2029 with Batman versus the Terminator.