The upcoming title Gotham Knights is set to use the death of Batman, one of the world's most popular comic book characters, as its main narrative hook. Not only is the Dark Knight's death set to rock Gotham's criminal underground to its core, but his collection of sidekicks, ex-sidekicks, and troubled adopted children must also now step up and fill his shoes. A recent teaser image shared by the team behind Gotham Knights appears to shed some light on what, exactly, happened to Bruce Wayne as well as hinting at the potential challenges faced by his surviving family.
A post recently uploaded to the official Gotham Knights Twitter account appears to show a heavily damaged copy of the Gotham Gazette reporting on Bruce Wayne's death. While the original game reveal trailer made it clear that Bruce Wayne seems to have died in an explosion, the teaser image goes a step further by reporting that he died in a "freak accident."
Apparently, the explosion collapsed Wayne Manor, killing Bruce Wayne. Before he died, destroyed the Batcave and everything it contained, triggering an automatic message that explained the situation to the motley collection of heroes, antiheroes, and occasional villains known as the Batfamily. This Code Black situation appears to serve as the jumping-off point for the whole game, so it may not be surprising that fans seem to be pouring over the teaser image for hints at where Gotham Knights will take the story after Batman's death. The post itself may feed the flames of speculation with cryptic text reading "As the Knight falls, a new legacy will rise."
The newspaper also appears to feature a number of other articles, including job ads taken from the bloodstained Classifieds section. Several of these ads seem to be direct references to classic Batman characters such as Catwoman, Poison Ivy, the Penguin, and possibly even the teenage radical Anarky. It's currently unclear how many of these references are nods to the franchise's lengthy history and how many are hints at what Gotham Knights will be throwing at Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood.
As of writing, several fans have already shared their certainty that Batman is still alive. Superhero deaths are notoriously easy to reverse, but it remains to be seen if Gotham Knights will take the easy way out.
Other fans have begun speculating about the specific details of Batman's death, with one arguing that the collapse of Wayne manor could have been a distraction to hide the fact that he actually died in a completely different way--and possibly even in a different location.
Another fan expressed confusion over whether or not Gotham Knights was connected to the Arkham series of games. Reportedly, the two are not connected, although Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set in the Arkhamverse.
Gotham Knights releases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.