WB Games Montreal’s Gotham Knights, which finally launched on October 21, follows the adventures of Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Robin after Batman is killed. This bold move sets off an unpredictable plot that ultimately centers around two secret societies that want Gotham for themselves.
While the game’s middling reception and a plethora of performance issues might turn you off from picking the game up, Batman fans might still want to learn about its entertaining story. As such, here’s a recap of what goes down in Gotham Knights and how it all comes to a head in its exciting ending.
How does Batman die in Gotham Knights?
Gotham Knights kicks off by showing you exactly how Batman died. Ra’s Al Ghul ambushes Bruce Wayne in the Batcave, resulting in an entertaining brawl throughout Batman’s iconic base of operations. Batman sends out a call to his sidekicks, but none of them are close enough to help him in time. When it becomes clear that the only way to defeat Ra’s Al Ghul is by blowing up the Batcave, Batman does so and also kills himself in the process.
Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Robin arrive on the scene soon thereafter and find Bruce’s dead body. We then see his funeral, where Kane Industries CEO and Bruce Wayne’s uncle Jacob Kane gives a speech about how Bruce Wayne served Gotham City well. The former sidekicks quickly realize they now must defend Gotham City and decide to investigate Batman’s final case. Their efforts bring them to the murder scene of Dr. Kirk Langstrom, where they learn they need to infiltrate the GCPD to get a biometric key off his body.
There, they run into Talia Al Ghul, who’s burning the body of Ra and claims that she is not in charge of the League of Shadows anymore. From there, the case continues as the crew sets up a base of operations at the Belfry in Gotham City and confronts the likes of Harley Quinn and the Penguin, who is now reformed but knows about Gotham’s secret society.
The secrets of the Court of Owls in Gotham Knights
Penguin directs the Bat Family to The Powers Club, an old-money Gentleman’s Club in Gotham City. There, they find an entrance to an underground cave network and the Court of Owls, a secret society thought to just be an urban legend, even by Batman. They are led by The Voice of the Court, who eventually catches the heroes and throws them into a death pit. The heroes escape and obtain a key in the process.
Using that key, they find information about how the Court of Owls murdered the brother of Judge Elena Moreno as she tried to stop construction at Gotham City’s Chelsea Tunnel. Sneaking into that build site, the Bat Family comes across feral zombified creatures called Talons, who the Court of Owls revived with an element called Dionesium. After escaping the tunnel, Talia reveals that Dinoseum has the same properties as the Lazurus pit, causing the League of Shadows to declare war on Gotham.
She asks the heroes to take down the Voice of the Court to stop the conflict, and they comply. After more investigating, they learn that Bruce’s uncle Jacob Kane is the Voice of the Court and knows Bruce was Batman. He escapes in the chaos of the League of Shadows, murdering many Court of Owls members at a masquerade. Penguin then calls, asking for the heroes’ help, but it turns out to be a trick, and whoever you’re playing as is sedated and brought to the Court of Owls’ Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth is a massive mechanical stage that, combined with toxic gas, makes the captured hero hallucinate and question whether Batman actually cared for them. Eventually, the captive hero breaks out of the illusion, but the Court of Owls starts to attack Gotham City more publicly. The Bat Family decides it’s time to take down Jacob Kane and work with Renee Montoya and Judge Moreno to get a warrant for his arrest.
After this, there’s a long siege of Kane Industries so the heroes can get Jacob Kane out in the open and arrested for the murders of Kirk Langstrom and more. They eventually arrest him, but just as he’s about to be put in a police car, Talia assassinates him. Following a chase, she reveals she’s always been in charge of the League of Shadows and plans on a massive attack against Gotham City.
Gotham Knights’ ending
After saving some of their allies from being attacked by The League of Shadows around Gotham City, the Bat Family tracks Talia to Arkham Asylum. There, they find that she’s taken the Dionesium the Court of Owls used and combined it with an actual Lazurus Pit located in Gotham to create more powerful creatures: Man-Bats. After nearly dying when taking one down, the heroes fight more Man-Bats who are terrorizing Gotham City.
Eventually, the heroes discover that the Lazarus Pit is near the now-destroyed Batcave and confront Talia there. That’s when her plan becomes clear: she’s reviving Bruce Wayne in the Lazarus Pit and plans on brainwashing him so he’d kill and control Gotham City with her. Her plan works, and Bruce Wayne is revived and becomes loyal to Talia. A boss fight ensues, with the mentees holding their own against their mentor.
Bruce Wayne eventually comes to his senses and learns of the goings-on in Gotham, but gets mortally wounded again when a strike meant for the player hits Bruce instead. Here, the final boss fight ensues against Talia. The Court of Owls even reappears during the battle with a new, unnamed Voice of the Court, and they make it clear that they intend to claim this Lazarus Pit as their own. Talia powers up to attack some of them and then goes back to fighting the player. When the fight ends in a standstill, and it becomes clear she won’t win, Talia teleports away.
The Court of Owls is still there and intent on utilizing the Lazarus Pit. Recognizing this, Bruce tells his former sidekick to run as he climbs in the Batwing, still hanging in the rubble in the Batman. As the player escapes, Batman denounces the Court of Owls and anyone else who uses their wealth or power to control and hurt others before crashing the Batwing into the Lazarus Pit. This defeats the Court of Owls and destroys the Lazarus Pit, but comes at the cost of Batman’s life … again.
Knowing that Batman is now dead for real, the hero that defeated Talia dons a new suit and vows to protect Gotham City in their own way. Back at the Belfry, the heroes watch a video of when they interrupted Bruce while he was recording the Code: Black message that was sent to them when he died. After telling him not to worry about it and to come to dinner with them, Batman ends the recording by saying, “You’re always looking out for me,” before the Bat Family that has been watching walks away.
