When you hear about “Gotham Knights,” its more than likely in reference to the video game of the same name. In it, four members of the Bat-family team up to help restore order to Gotham in the wake of Batman’s death. They also hope to discover how Batman was killed and bring the killer to justice. Coincidentally, a completely unrelated television series of the same name, with a similar premise, has been developed for The CW.
This Batman universe is seemingly unconnected to any others that we’ve seen on television, film, game, or print; picking and choosing elements it wants to use. For example, we have the Carrie Kelley iteration of Robin from Frank Miller‘s “Dark Knight” series in addition to Harper Row, aka Bluebird, who prominently featured in the “Batman Eternal” comic arc. Instead of using Bruce Wayne’s canonical son Damian Wayne, there’s also an original character, Turner Hayes, who is the adopted son of Batman.
The added twist is that Hayes, wanting to find out who killed his father, recruits the children of Batman’s rogues gallery. The hope is that they’ll want to clear the name of their parents, making them unlikely allies in this circumstance. So joining the team are Duela, Stephanie Brown, and Brody March. In the comic universe, Duela is a Dent, the daughter of District Attorney Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face. She’s claimed to be the daughter of numerous other villains, mostly she’s named as the Joker’s Daughter. Which is what the police refer to her as in the trailer. Stephanie Brown and Brody March are the children of Cluemaster and Owlman, respectively.
So, it’s like Disney’s “The Descendants,” but for Batman.
The trailer focuses primarily on three characters; Duela, Turner, and Harvey Dent, played by The CW mainstay Misha Collins. We only see Collins as Dent during the trailer, indicating that he’s either not Two-Face yet, or he is, but we don’t see the physical scarring that he’s known for in other adaptations.
The rest of the trailer is pretty standard fare with bits of random action and soundbites. We learn Turner is suspected of killing his adopted father for the money, that Robin is still active, and that Dent is trying to convince Gotham of the city’s safety. So while there’s not an awful lot to go on in terms of getting to know the characters, there’s enough happening to give a basic idea of what to expect. Then again, it’s a The CW superhero show, so we pretty much knew what to expect to begin with.
“Gotham Knights“ is set to debut on March 14th, 2023.
