Ever since the Gotham Knights game was announced by Warner Bros. and the plot was revealed, those looking forward to the game have held onto a theory about Batman that suggested things might not be what they seemed in the game. The premise of Gotham Knights requires the death of Batman at the beginning of the game to make way for players to play as Batgirl, Robin, Red Hood, and Nightwing, but given that he’s, well, Batman, people were pretty sure he’d still be alive in some capacity.
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According to Gotham Knights creative director Patrick Redding, however, Batman is really and truly dead in the game. Redding addressed this Batman theory during a fan Q&A conducted during a San Diego Comic-Con panel this week where he was asked about the face of Gotham. Redding said (via IGN) that not only is Batman dead, he dies in the first 10 minutes of the game to set up the story and is still dead at the end of the game, too.
While some may consider this revelation to be a spoiler, it’s nothing different from what the Gotham Knights creators have said since the beginning. They always maintained that Batman was dead โ it was only the speculations and theories from fans that suggested otherwise.
Even if Batman is for real dead in Gotham Knights, we’ll probably see or hear from the character periodically through recordings and perhaps memories since Bruce Wayne has already been seen in a past trailer for the game. Batman could easily steal the spotlight if he were actually in the game even if he wasn’t a playable character, and if people didn’t like the interpretation of Batman, it could honestly be a bit distracting, so perhaps it’s better in this case that Batman is removed from the picture so that players can focus on the supporting Bat Family.
Gotham Knights is scheduled to release on October 25th.