Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a DC heroes story that meets a Kung Fu battle for the ages, which premieres on digital January 12 and on Blu-ray January 26. In the animated adventure, Bruce Wayne has only recently put on his Batman cape when he finds himself reunited with old martial arts classmates in a race to save the world.
Those classmates include Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and none other than Bronze Tiger. The latter is played by the same actor who brought the role to life on Arrow, Michael Jai White.
The actor spoke to Screen Rant about reprising the role of Ben Turner and the personal connection he has to the world of martial arts and the lifestyles of the 1970s, a decade which the film uses to maximum effect.
I loved you as Bronze Tiger on Arrow, and now you're playing him again in Batman: Soul of the Dragon. What was it like taking on a slightly different and voice-only version of him?
Michael Jai White: Well, this was really fun. As a big fan of the 70s and of that genre of Enter The Dragon spy type of stuff, this was a great deal of fun to me. Wonderful.
Speaking of the 70s, how do you get into that mindset without the costumes and music to aid you?
Michael Jai White: Because it's in me already! It's how I grew up. I'm the guy who wrote Black Dynamite and performed it, so that is largely what has influenced me throughout my life. My first heroes were these guys that were bigger than life in the 70s. They're deep within me, as is that time period. Even though I was a kid, I knew how my uncle spoke, and how everybody dealt with each other. The music and the feeling of that time is just deep within me, and it's not hard to conjure up.
You're already experienced with the character, but did you do any research into the comic book version of him or find anything surprising about the differences in this new iteration?
Michael Jai White: When I get a script, and I see the world that the writer has laid out for me, I gotta go with that. This one, of course, is very different from the contemporary Bronze Tiger. So, I just go with what was written there, and then I paint my strokes around that.
What would you say is the biggest lesson that Ben needs to learn over the course of the film?
Michael Jai White: The biggest lesson? Well, it's about teamwork. I think the arc of this character is that he had, like a lot of us, pain that he grew up with. It's all about knowing what to do with that, and knowing that there are certain things that are bigger than you. You have a bigger purpose, and some of your ills might be holding you back from that purpose. When you find that purpose, that's the most important thing in your life.
Speaking of the teamwork, why do you think these characters go so well together?
Michael Jai White: I think their diversity is such a such a power. With a lot of villages, in the feudal times or whatever, you have people that had to play certain positions. The diversity of those positions is the most important thing: one person is the doctor, and another one is this.
I love that message that this diverse group of people have their own strength, and they're an unstoppable force when they are together. I could build up myself, and I would be as powerful as I might be as an individual. But if I build up my friends, if I arm my friends, I'm far more powerful. It's that kind of concept: there's what I can do as a individual, but I'm far more powerful if I arm my friends.
O-Sensei is the glue that holds the group together in this film. What do you think is special about Ben's dynamic with him in the flashbacks?
Michael Jai White: There's some personal stuff right there for me; I feel like that was life imitating art. Because I had a very strict sensei, and he was the toughest and scariest man I've ever met in my life. My fear of this guy would make me do things that were a little supernatural.
But what I learned was that even though I feared this guy, and there'd be times where I thought I was spent and couldn't go any further, I always could. One time, I was hitting a bag and my knuckles were bleeding. I thought he lost track of our time, because he got a phone call. I was like, "Okay, well, he forgot to say stop." He comes in, and I'm thinking he's gonna say sorry. But he grabs a stick, and he swings it over my head and hits the bag above me. Out of my fear, I just basically started again like I was reinvigorated.
I thought it was so unfair, but the lesson learned was that I had a gear I had not gone to that was within myself. He unlocked that gear and, without the pain of going through that, I would have not known it existed. I, luckily, was trained in the martial arts when it was still hard and it wasn't a business. So, I got to learn that firsthand. Now, you have to go to the Navy SEALs to get that kind of message.
Clearly, you connect a lot to Bronze Tiger on the martial arts level. How else do you relate to him?
Michael Jai White: I just think of him as the earlier version of myself, when you're kind of ruled by your anger and your sense of the ills of society. As I grew and matured, I understood that there's a there's a reason for this. And if you concern yourself with the reason, you're usually gonna find a logical reason for all your adversity. Once you have that reason, you're no longer angry about it because you understand it.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon arrives January 12 on digital HD and on January 26 on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.