Last week on Gotham Knights, Harvey Dent found himself at the scene of the crime, examining the night Bruce Wayne died and the city changed forever. The episode really kickstarted the Court of Owls part of the story in a big way, and gave fans a sense of what the rest of the season's detective story is likely to look like. There's a lot of darkness in the film, but there's also a lot of love for the source material, which shows through with the Easter eggs and DC comics references that are showing up in each episode.
Like all the Arrowverse shows, Gotham Knights hails from Berlanti Productions, which means it's being made by people who really love the comic book source material. Executive producers Natalie Abrams, James Stoteraux, and Chad Fiveash have provided ComicBook.com with a guide to the Easter eggs and DC Comics references found in the episode. Tomorrow, check back for a rundown of this week's episode, which airs on the west coast in less than an hour as of this writing.
You can check out the full list below, after the show's official synopsis.
Batman is dead, and a powder keg has ignited Gotham City without the Dark Knight to protect it. In the wake of Bruce Wayne's murder, his adopted son Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan, 'De Son Vivant") is framed for killing the Caped Crusader, along with the children of some of Batman's enemies: Duela (Olivia Rose Keegan, "Days of Our Lives"), an unpredictable fighter and skilled thief who was born in Arkham Asylum and abandoned by her father, Harper Row (Fallon Smythe, "grown-ish"), a streetwise and acerbic engineer who can fix anything, and her brother Cullen Row (Tyler DiChiara, "The Virgin of Highland Park"), a clever transgender teen who is tired of being polite and agreeable. With the charismatic and hard-charging District Attorney Harvey Dent (Misha Collins, "Supernatural") and the GCPD hot on their trail, Turner will rely on allies including his best friend and formidable coder Stephanie Brown (Anna Lore, "All American"), and unlikely Batman sidekick Carrie Kelley (Navia Robinson, "Raven's Home"). But our Knights will soon learn there is a larger, more nefarious force at work within Gotham City. This team of mismatched fugitives must band together to become its next generation of saviors known as the GOTHAM KNIGHTS.
From Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Gotham Knights is written by Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams. Fiveash and Stoteraux will serve as showrunners and executive produce the series alongside Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. Abrams also serves as co-executive producer. Danny Cannon directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot, along with David Madden. Gotham Knights is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.
Gotham Knights airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, following new episodes of Superman & Lois.
Harper Row's Hair
(Photo: Tom Griscom)
Harper sports a new hairstyle starting this episode: a half-hawk and blue streaks, along with blue feathers, a nod to her comic book counterpart's hairstyle as Blue Bird.
Mayor Hamilton Hill has been appearing in the comic books as Mayor of Gotham since the 1980s. In the old comics, he was in league with criminal lord, Rupert Thorne, who helped him become mayor. In our show, he's similarly a corrupt politician in league with the Court of Owls, who were directly responsible for putting him in office.
As Brody falls in step with Stephanie in the hallways of Gotham Academy and they discuss Turner, he says, "You'd think your classmate becoming the most wanted fugitive since Ed Nygma would get us the whole day off."
Ed Nygma is better known as The Riddler, one of Batman's many iconic villains. Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Arthur Brown AKA Cluemaster, who's been called a "second rate Riddler knock-off" by Batman himself in the comics as both villains use clues as their trademark.
In Gotham Knights, Arthur Brown is the host of a highly successful trivia show called Quiz Bowl. This is pulled directly from the Batman Eternal comic book run.
The loading area of the Antiquities Shop where Duela plans to sell the Owl-engraved watch has a graffiti tag on a wall: "BRAKA BRAKA". This graffiti is inspired by this panel below from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
As the episodes draws to a close, it is revealed Cressida is directly working for the Court of Owls. This is the one thing she shares with her comic book counterpart, who in the comics assisted the Court in hunting down the Joker in exchange for restoring her family's honor and retaking her family's seat on the Court's council.
Turner reads from Bruce's journals and the events described are a nod to Young Bruce's investigation into the Court after the death of his parents as depicted in Batman: Court of Owls.
