Gotham Knights has recreated Gotham City to include an entirely unique history and give players the chance to uncover all the mysteries hidden within the iconic city. Among this recreation, the game features new historical details for the founding families of Gotham City which includes both Bruce Wayne’s maternal and paternal families. However, the frequent focus of Gotham Knights seems to be on the Kane family, who play a vital role in Gotham City as well as in the game's story.
The Kane family is most notable for having Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman, among its members; however, in the new history of Gotham Knights, Kate is not mentioned once. Instead, the Kane’s still amassed their future thanks to the success of Kane Industries. Jacob Kane inherited most of the money and became CEO of the company. The power of the family is felt throughout the game, whether it is through the new Commissioner of the GCPD, Jacob’s wife Catherine Kane, or through the strings that Jacob Kane pulls to toy with the Bat Family.
Warning: Story spoilers for Gotham Knights ahead
Kane Family Origins
The Kane’s are an industrialist family that made their fortune in the lands just north of Gotham City by building weapons and ships for the military. Their wealth grew even more once the family constructed a bridge that would connect them to Gotham City, expanding their business and giving them access to other families like the Cobblepots and the Waynes, both of whom could greatly benefit the Kanes. Prior to the events of Gotham Knights, the Kane family continued to grow in power, with Kane Industry growing more successful under CEO Jacob Kane. Meanwhile, Catherine Kane gained the role of Commissioner of the GCPD following the death of Jim Gordon.
Gotham Knights sheds a lot of light as to how the Kanes were able to remain so successful for so long in Gotham City. The Kane family is filled with business-minded people that are capable of turning any situation into a positive, something that is especially clear when Catherine Kane targets the Bat Family simply for good press coverage. On top of this, Jacob Kane controls a secret organization known as the Court of Owls that basically runs Gotham City from the shadow and greatly benefits the Kane’s business, allowing them to gain positions of power throughout the city.
Kane Family in The Comics
In the comics, the Kane family is popular for being the family of Batwoman, Kate Kane, and various other notable characters, including Martha Wayne, the mother of Batman. Jacob Kane is a retired military man who lost his wife and focuses his attention on helping Kate fight crime, using his military access to assist her the same way Oracle assisted Batman. His main role, however, was always as a supporter of his daughter, ensuring that she does not stray to the dark like his other daughter, Elizabeth, who ended up becoming the DC villain Alice.
Unlike in Gotham Knights, Jacob Kane did not amass a lot of wealth by running his family business, which fell to one of his cousins, Nathan Kane. Instead, Kate grew up without the unlimited wealth that the Kanes seem to have in the game. However, when Jacob Kane married an heiress, the family was immediately thrown into high society, and they used this money to help Kate become Batwoman and to protect Gotham City.
Notable Members of The Kane Family
The two most notable members of the Kane family are Kate Kane and Martha Wayne, both of whom have close ties with Batman. Jacob Kane's assisting role earns him some notoriety too. Other than these, the remaining Kanes are not well-known, but some of them have had significant roles in certain DC comic storylines.
Kate’s sister, Elizabeth, was thought to have been killed along with her mother, but she survived and would eventually return to the limelight as the villain Alice. Kate’s cousin, Bette Kane, is also a member of the Bat Family and served as Batwoman’s sidekick, going by Flamebird or Hawkfire. Other notable members include Kathy Webb-Kane, a onetime Batwoman and the headmistress of Spyral, and Philip Kane, an uncle to Bruce Wayne who takes him in after the death of his parents in certain storylines.
The Kane family is the most explored founding family in Gotham Knights. While the game does feature the Wayne family through Bruce Wayne, and the Cobblepots through the Penguin, the family that gets the most time under the spotlight is the Kane family. They may differ from their most popular version in the comics, but both Jacob and Catherine Kane are important figures in the main storyline of Gotham Knights as thorns in the sides of the Bat Family who are trying to protect Gotham City.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.