Following Warner Bros’ decision to push Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s release back to 2023, just one month into the new year, the door has been left wide-open for other superhero games to shine in 2022. WB Games Montreal’s Gotham Knights, an open-world action RPG set on the streets of DC’s meanest city, has to be at the very forefront of this movement. Inspired by Grant Morrison’s iconic Batman comic book run, the co-op oriented experience is set to follow the exploits of Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood after the apparent death of their mentor.
Even though WB Games Montreal is trying its hardest to put some physical space between Gotham Knights and The Dark Knight, Batman’s presence is guaranteed to loom over the game in more ways than one. The topic of who inherits the hero's cowl, regardless of whether Bruce Wayne returns to action, will likely underpin the game’s narrative as the surviving members of his family fight the Court of Owls. Based on historical precedents and fan reception, Dick Grayson’s Nightwing is the most likely candidate to pick up the mantle of Batman at some point during the game’s story.
Dick as Batman in the Comics
Throughout Batman’s 83-year comic book run, Dick Grayson has frequently been positioned by Bruce Wayne as the person who will one day inherit his mantle. It’s a fairly common practice for writers to justify Bruce’s motivations for adopting the orphan Dick as being rooted in his desire to channel the youngster’s grief into ensuring he becomes a better version of the Batman. While that concept has often been framed with a desire for Dick to do so under his own Nightwing moniker, that hasn't stopped the character from becoming The Dark Knight on high-profile occasions. Even though WB Games Montreal is putting its own unique spin on DC’s most popular franchise, there’s plenty of subsequent comic book source material for the studio to pull inspiration from.
Grant Morrison’s Battle for the Cowl storyline, a series of books that’s seemingly forming the backbone of Gotham Knights narrative, is the most prominent and popular example from DC’s main continuity. Following Bruce’s apparent death at the hands of Darkseid, Dick begrudgingly picked up the Batman mantle when it became clear that both Gotham and the Bat Family needed the iconic figurehead. Offering a more grounded and human take on the hero, Dick quickly cemented himself in the hearts of comic book fans as being a more than worthy successor - so much so that following the revelation that Darkseid had merely propelled Bruce back through time, both continued to operate as Batman upon his return. If it wasn’t for DC’s polarizing New 52 reboot, it’s feasible that the pair would've job-shared for some time.
Gotham Knight’s Gameplay Potential
One of the aspects that defined Dick Grayson’s run as the Batman during his most prominent tenure in the position was the fact that the character wasn’t just a copy of the original inhabitant. Throughout The Batman Reborn comic book run, Dick was portrayed as a more humanized individual who had to grapple with the responsibility of looking after Damian Wayne’s Robin.
That shift in tone also led to a different take on crime fighting, which is easy to imagine WB Games Montreal adapting to create a gameplay experience in Gotham Knight that's unlike previous Batman games. While he never quite reached Spider-Man's levels of quippyness, Dick’s version of the Batman was far more prone to dropping cutting one-liners as he adopted an agile fighting style. Being a former circus acrobat, the Batman of the early 2010s was subsequently faster, lighter, and surprisingly graceful.
Each of those traits could be used to create a melee-based fighting style in Gotham Knights, for Dick’s version of the Batman, that would feel unlike anything else in gaming. In some respects, the blending of heavy hitting punches and somersaults could theoretically turn out to be a concoction that embodies the best of Rocksteady's Arkham games and Insomniac’s Spider-Man series. Dick’s run as the Batman was also marked by a more enthusiastic adoption of detective work that could translate nicely into Gotham Knights’ Court of Owls-themed crime thriller, too. On the important gadgets front, Dick’s Batman was fond of his own unique tools, such as a highly powerful electric taser that could be added into the game to facilitate the creation of some interesting mechanics.
Other Batman Candidates
While each of the 4 Bat Family members that are set to appear in Gotham Knights would make for interesting Batmen, Dick is by far the leading candidate for the role. Being the most experienced crime fighter out of the bunch makes it harder to see him in any role other than that of a leader. Damian Wayne and Jason Todd’s respective time as the Batman in comic continuity has also often been undone in disastrous fashion for good measure. The latter in particular adopted the mantle briefly in Battle for the Cowl during the character’s most murderous phase, for example.
While Bruce’s son has often been positioned in parallel Earth-based stories as the Batman of the future, he’s still on the young side of things in Gotham Knights, which makes it hard to see the cowl fitting his head, both metaphorically and physically. With DC having scrapped a Damian-led game in recent years, it's hard to envision the company wanting to go down that route again, either.
Gotham Knights is scheduled to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022.