‘Gotham Knights’ Character List

‘Gotham Knights’ promises an exciting brand new adventure that will take fans and gamers new to the Batman franchise to areas of Gotham unseen outside of the DC Comics that have inspired the game.

And, with the game’s release on next gen consoles and PC only a week away now. Join me as I break down the confirmed list of characters for the game, both heroes and villains, discussing who they are and what their role in the game will be. As well as discussing their comic origins and how those origins will be important to ‘Gotham Knights’ story.

Now Read: Gotham Knights release date, launch trailer and more

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Player Characters

‘Gotham Knights’ can be played solo or co-operatively online with up to three other players, and gives players the choice of stepping into the boots of four of Batman’s most iconic allies:

Nightwing

Real Name: Richard “Dick” Grayson
Origin: Dick has the distinction of being the first ever “Robin”, fighting alongside Batman from he was a young boy right into his teenage years, before leaving Wayne Manor to forge his own path, and his own superhero identity as “Nightwing”.

Throughout the decades, across comic books, TV, movies, and videogames. Dick has always been one of Batman’s oldest and most trusted allies, with Batman even commenting in the iconic “Hush” storyline that of all his allies, Dick was one of the few who he felt had earned the right to question him.

Dick was born into the famous “Flying Graysons” family of acrobats who lived and toured with “Haley’s Circus”. As a boy, he witnessed the murder of his family when the Gotham Criminal, Tony Zucco, sabotaged their trapeze ropes as a threat to the circus’ owner, C.C. Haley, who had refused to pay Zucco protection money.

Orphaned by the incident, Dick became the ward of Bruce Wayne, soon discovering that Bruce Wayne was in fact Batman, and soon after donning his own, albeit brightly coloured, superhero costume, as Batman’s sidekick, “Robin: The Boy Wonder”.

In those years, Dicks optimism and sense of joy and fun, acted as a much needed balance to Bruce’s darkness, more than once pulling him back from the edge of becoming like the very criminals he sought to stop.

Dick has always been considered and treated by Bruce as a son, and he is often the voice of reason that Bruce would seek out when he didn’t trust his own opinions. Dick is also, historically, one of the most trusted heroes in the DC Universe, with many superheroes, such as Superman, trusting Dick’s opinion on important matters.

It is also because of Superman that Dick took the name “Nightwing” as his superhero identity. As Superman told Dick the story of a Kryptonian hero born several hundred years before Superman, who, after being cast out of his family, became a vigilante fighting crime under the name of “Nightwing.” So, when it came time for Dick to step out on his own, he took “Nightwing” as his identity, both inspired by the story, and inspired by Superman himself, who had been of his heroes since childhood.

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Batgirl

Real Name: Barbara Gordon
Origin: Barbara Gordon is another of Batman’s oldest allies. First debuting in comics back in 1967, Barbara has been involved in one way or another in many of Batman’s most iconic stories, spanning comics, TV, movies, and videogames.

Headstrong and incredibly intelligent, Barbara is very much Jim Gordon’s daughter, carrying her father’s sense of justice, which can oftentimes put her at odds with Batman and the other members of the Batfamily as she is not afraid to voice her disagreement to any plans or actions that step outside her sense of justice.

Barbara has come through many events in her life that could easily have destroyed her life and left her bitter such as being paralysed by The Joker, who, completely unaware that she was also Batgirl, shot her through her spine as she was opening the door to her father’s home. As he wished to use Barbara’s pain as a means to break her father, just so that he could prove to Batman, that all it would take was “one bad day” and any man could become evil no matter how good or how righteous they were.

But The Joker failed in his attempt to break Jim Gordon, just as he failed in his attempt to break Barbara. As, following The Joker’s attack, which left her living as a paraplegic, Barbara became more determined than ever in her fight against crime.

Using her incredible intellect and skill with technology, she became invaluable to not only the crime fighters of Gotham, but across the DC Universe, operating from the Gotham Clock Tower under the superhero name “Oracle”. Barbara acted as a central point monitoring all criminal activity in Gotham in addition to leading the superhero team, the “Birds of Prey”, and mentoring the young heroes, Cassandra “Cass” Cain, who would replace her for a time as Batgirl, and Stephanie “Steph” Brown who would become Robin while Tim Drake had retired the mantle, before taking over the mantle of Batgirl from Cassandra.

Later, Barbara, having recovered the use of her legs due to surgery funded by Bruce Wayne, would once again suit up as Batgirl, in addition to later returning to her clock tower to operate as Oracle where she felt she could be of more use once more.

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Red Hood

Real Name: Jason Todd
Origin: After Dick left to forge his own path and his own superhero identity, Jason became the second Robin.

In addition to being the second person to carry the mantle of “Robin”. Jason also has the distinction of being one of the few, if not potentially the only person, to ever successfully steal from Batman. As, while Batman was dealing with a case. Jason successfully managed to steal several of the Batmobile’s tyres, and was caught only as he was working on stealing another.

Sensing the boy’s potential but fearing that if left unchecked, he would grow up and become lost among the criminals of Gotham as just another faceless henchman, or worse, a criminal leader. Batman offered him the chance to become his new Robin, offering to teach him how to harness his anger and his skills and use them for the good of Gotham.

But, what Jason didn’t know, at least initially, is that within him, Bruce saw not only another child orphaned by Gotham’s criminal underworld, but a mirror image of what his life could have been after his parent’s death if he did not have Alfred to raise and care for him.

Jason became the second Robin and with Bruce and the other members of the growing “Bat Family” he found a family and a home. But, sadly, as tensions between Jason and Bruce rose over Jason’s increasingly more violent treatment of criminals. He discovered that his mother was alive, before, he was baited into a trap by The Joker as he tried to save his mother. But, The Joker, was waiting for him, and brutally beat him with a crowbar, leaving him and his mother for dead, as a bomb counted down to their deaths.

Despite racing to try and rescue them, Batman was too late and the bomb exploded killing Jason and his mother. Jason’s death was a loss that haunted Batman continually for years, until, the actions of Superboy Prime during the Infinite Crisis, reset reality, and Jason was returned from the dead, inside his coffin…

Clawing his way out, Jason was taken in by Talia Al Ghul of “The League of Assassins”, who threw him into her father’s rejuvenating “Lazarus Pit”, before sending Jason back to Gotham, where upon seeing that mere months after his death, not only was The Joker still alive, but Batman had taken on a third Robin (Tim Drake).

Enraged, Jason took on the identity “Red Hood”, an identity once said to have been held by The Joker before his fall into the vat at Ace Chemicals. With this identity, Jason took control of much of Gotham’s criminal underworld, killing any criminals who stood against him, and working with the villains, The Riddler, and Hush, to torment Batman, with his failure to save him from The Joker.

Jason clashed with Batman several times as Red Hood before his identity was revealed to Bruce’s shock. For a time after, Jason continued to operate as an anti-hero in Gotham seeing the only way to save the city was to ensure that its criminals could never hurt anyone again. Then, eventually, he agreed to come back into the fold of the Bat Family, operating as an agent of Batman, but still pursuing his own agendas, and using non lethal ammunition in his weapons. During this time, Jason would also form a new iteration of “The Outlaws”, first with former Teen Titans, and Titans’ members, Koriand’r/Starfire, and Roy Harper/Arsenal, before firming a new team with the Amazonian warrior, Artemis, and the Superman clone, Bizarro.

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Robin

Real Name: Timothy “Tim” Drake
Origin: Tim is the third person to take on the mantle of “Robin” and holds the distinction of being the only Robin who chose himself to be Robin, and didn’t become Robin because of a tragedy, or because he was asked to become Robin by Batman.

As Tim had been a fan since childhood of Dick Grayson, having been taken by his parents to see “The Flying Graysons” perform, and receiving special attention from Dick, when his father asked the Graysons if they could take a photo with them to help ease his wife’s concerns that the circus might frighten Tim who was only a toddler at the time.

When Dick’s family fell due to their trapeze ropes being sabotaged, Tim’s family were in the crowd, and as they were being ushered away, Tim saw Batman consoling Dick over his loss. Then, years later, while watching footage of Batman and Robin capturing The Penguin, Tim noticed Robin perform an acrobatic manoeuvre synonymous with The Flying Graysons.

Already possessing a keen intellect and interest in forensic science/detective work. Tim began investigating and it wasn’t long before he’d successfully deduced that Dick Grayson, the lone surviving member of The Flying Graysons, was Robin, and that, as he’d been taken in by the millionaire, Bruce Wayne, as his ward, then Wayne, with his wealth and resources, must be Batman. Tim continued to follow the exploits of Batman and Robin, including Dick’s adventures as Nightwing while Jason Todd was Robin.

But, it was then, after Jason’s death, that Tim noticed Batman acting erratically, dangerously psychotically, and it was then that Tim knew, when no one else did, that Batman needed Robin to be the light to his darkness, the balance that stopped him from becoming what he fought. And so Tim tracked down Nightwing and tried to convince him that Batman needed a Robin, but Nightwing felt he needed him more because of their shared history and so left to help Batman.

But, Nightwing and Batman were captured by Two-Face, leading the teenage Tim, with the help of Alfred, to don the Robin suit and rescue his heroes. It was after this that Tim explained his belief that Batman needed a Robin and the reasons why, and, although reluctant, Batman eventually relented, but only on the proviso that Tim be trained first by Alfred, himself, and Nightwing before being allowed to join him as Robin.

Passing his training, and later overcoming his own doubts, Tim would go on to become one of Batman’s most trusted and important allies, as well as an important hero in his own right. Having been one of the few people in the DC Universe to be trained and respected by the master assassin, Lady Shiva, and one of the few people to ever outsmart the immortal leader of The League of The League of Assassins, Ra’s Al Ghul.

Time and again through repeated hardships, losses, and tragedies, Tim has continued to rise above them all, proving himself as a hero, and as a leader having lead both the Teen Titans, and Young Justice teams.

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Non Player Characters – Heroes

As for non player characters, several important heroes from the DC Universe will be appearing throughout the game, with Batman, and Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon, being two of the most important as it is Batman’s death, and presumably, based on the character trailer for Batgirl, Gordon’s deaths that set in motion the events of the game, which bring Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin, together.

In addition, based on the trailers, it seems that following Gordon’s death, Renee Montoya, becomes the new commissioner of the Gotham PD, assuming Gordon’s dual roles of Police Commissioner, and ally within the police force to the Bat Family. Although, Renee has long been an ally of the DC Superheroes, including being a superhero herself for a time, when she took over the mantle and mask of, The Question.

Finally, Alfred Pennyworth, quite possibly The most important non player hero character to appear in the game, as it appears based on the trailers that, like his comics’ counterpart, he will be providing both emotional as well as tactical support to the Bat Family in their quest to uphold Batman’s legacy and protect Gotham.

Non Player Characters – Villains

For Batman fans, ‘Gotham Knights’ is set to include many of Gotham’s most famous villains, beginning with the videogame debut of The Court of Owls, the nefarious organisation comprised of Gotham’s wealthy elite, who convene to rule Gotham from the shadows, manipulating everything from street level crime, right up to the financial dealings of Gotham in international markets.

Ruling through fear, and the belief that they are nothing more than a nursery rhyme told to Gotham’s children to scare them into behaving, The Court, are one of the Bat Family’s deadliest enemies, using their undead warriors, The Talons, to enforce their will, and silence any who would stand against them.

The game is also set to see the return of several villains who will already be familiar to fans from their various appearances in recent Batman, and DC Universe videogames, such as The Penguin, Mister Freeze, Clayface, and Harley Quinn.

All of whom, from what we’ve seen in game’s trailers and gameplay clips, are set to pose a considerable challenge to players as they unravel the mystery of Batman’s death and face the corruption and chaos plaguing Gotham in the wake of his death.

‘Gotham Knights’ FAQ

Is ‘Gotham Knights’ a sequel to ‘Arkham Knight’?

Although, ‘Gotham Knights’ is developed by Warner Bros. Montreal who developed “Batman: Arkham Origins”, the developers have confirmed that it is not a sequel to the ‘Arkham’ series but is a brand new game intended to start it’s own franchise.

Can you play as Batman in ‘Gotham Knights’?

Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, as if you can, it’s very likely a surprise that the developers don’t want to ruin. As the game begins with the death of Batman and follows Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin, reacting to this and coming together to protect Gotham in his absence.

What is the release date for ‘Gotham Knights’?

The game is due for release on Friday 21st October 2022 on X-Box Series X, Playstation 5, and PC.

Will ‘Gotham Knights’ have cross play?

No, unfortunately, as detailed in this article, Warner Bros. Montreal have confirmed that the game will not include cross play at launch.

 Videogamer.com is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API / Last updated on 2024-03-25