Gotham Knights Should Help Rebuild The New DC Universe

With the extraordinary success of Joker (2019) and The Batman (2022), there has been a great surge of interest in the DC comic characters again. If Warner Bros. can get the new Gotham Knights game to be a massive success, then there is a chance they can finally catch up to Marvel.

The DC Extended Universe (DCEU), launched by Warner Bros. and DC all the way back in 2013, was nothing less than a ginormous flop. The beginning of the universe, Man of Steel, was a decent movie, but it was a largely forgettable affair (although Henry Cavil is probably the best iteration of Superman to date).

Contrarily, Iron Man 1 was the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that movie resurrected Robert Downey Jr.’s career by earning him numerous nominations and awards for the role, while the film itself won two Academy Awards.

Yeah, not much of a comparison.

And the bad comparisons continue from there as five of the twelve release DCEU movies have received sub 60% scores on Rotten Tomatoes. While only three of the twelve have received 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes.

On the other hand, there has only been one Marvel movie, The Eternals, to receive a score of less than 60% (it got 47%). And there has been 12 MCU movies to reach the 90% threshold with Rotten Tomatoes critics. Clearly, the DCEU was a poorly-throughout plan to begin with and has never been a legitimate rival to Marvel.

Gotham Knights (DC/Warner Bros.-Gotham Knights-World Premier Trailer) — Gotham Knights
(DC/Warner Bros.-Gotham Knights-World Premier Trailer)

Yet, the two most recent DC-inspired movies, Joker and The Batman, have been super successful both critically and with mass audiences. The Batman currently has an 85% Critics Score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 87% Audience Score, while plans for a Robert Pattinson Caped Crusader sequel are in full swing.

Meanwhile, Joker exceeded all expectations as the movie earned 11 Academy Award nominations in 2019 and won two (with Joaquin Phoenix winning Best Actor for his portrayal of the infamous villain). Hmm, has there been a Marvel actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor/Actress yet? I don’t think so.

Plus, there is also a sequel for Joker in the development as of the moment I am writing this article.

For Gotham Knights to be successful, it is obvious what universe/direction the game should be catered to. The original Batman Arkham saga, which was universally acclaimed and won numerous Game of The Year Awards, featured a much more grounded, realistic Gotham that the new DC films have tapped into. It is vital that this Gotham Knight game’s open world follows that trajectory.

And it seems like it will as the newest trailers have revealed that the game will take place immediately after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight. We will be playing as Batman’s famous sidekicks, Robin (Damian Wayne), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), and Red Hood (Jason Todd) as they fight Gotham’s infamous villains in place of the recently deceased Batman (though we all know he’s just as dead as an opossum).

This game will benefit heavily from the fact that it is an open world, action RPG that derives directly from the Arkham games. That version of Gotham was just so good and enthralling to play in that it would have been foolish to disregard it for a new design.

Anyway, just like its predecessors, Gotham Knight’s graphics and game mechanics look unbelievable. The only thing I’m not too sure about is how will we be able to switch between characters.

Will it be like a Lego Star Wars game, where you can seamlessly transition between characters while on a mission? Or will it be more like the Last of Us 2’s narrative shifts between the central protagonists?

Whatever it is, as long as the story, graphics, and game mechanics are great, then I don’t see why this game can’t kick off another award-winning Batman game universe…and maybe help create a new DC universe.

It will all comes down to Warner Bros. and DC’s ability to tell a convincing story with likable, conflicted, and emotionally deep characters. We’ll know on October 25th if Gotham Knights can live up to the hype.

Images Source: Featured Image: (DC/Warner Bros.) (Gotham Knights – World Premiere Trailer – YouTube)