Poll of the Day > Gotham Knights game reveal trailer

(+) Yeah! (+)

SpeedDemon20 posted...

Is there an official "canon" for Bruce's life?

Yes and no.

There technically is, but DC resets the continuity of its universe every 10 years or so (and have done since the 1980s), so whether or not any specific story "counts" depends on when it was written and whether or not it still "counts". Things that used to be canon may not be canon today, things that are canon today may not be canon tomorrow.

And that's before you get into alternate universe shenanigans. DCU Batman isn't the same as DCAU Batman, who isn't the same as 1960s TV Batman, who isn't the same as Telltale Games Batman, and none of them are exactly the same as comic book Batman.

What makes it worse is that you get writers like Grant Morrison, whose attitude has always been "I don't give a shit about canon, so I'm just telling whatever story I feel like telling, and I don't care if it doesn't match up with previous canon at all, nor do I care whether or not it creates problems for writers who come after me. Also, I firmly consider anything I write to be holy writ that should be canon forever, and will throw a childish tantrum if a future writer ever dismisses or retcons my stories the way I did to the writers who came before me." So he'll completely ignore anything he doesn't like, making continuity even harder to parse out.

So generally speaking, whether or not the people writing the comics TODAY assume a certain event did or didn't happen (and when) is sort of nebulous. Because no one in comics really cares about that sort of thing anymore, and editors stopped doing their jobs somewhere in the 1990s.

Not that any of this really matters anyway, because both Marvel and DC tend to operate on the premise these days that the comics are pointless garbage, and they exist solely to brainstorm new ideas for the movies, so you can retcon or retrofit as much as you want. Which is why most of the comic characters undergo sudden 180-degree personality changes or backstory shifts just to make them more like the movie versions whenever a movie comes out and is really popular. Like Pepper Potts reappearing in the comics after being gone for more than 30 years solely because the Iron Man film was successful.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Like Pepper Potts reappearing in the comics after being gone for more than 30 years solely because the Iron Man film was successful.

That's not entirely true, but she did get way more prominent after the movie.

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Metalsonic66 posted...

That's not entirely true, but she did get way more prominent after the movie.

She was Tony's secretary in the 60s, and had a crush on him though he was mostly disinterested. He was never really all that interested in her, and she was a minor character at best (she was a basic secretary, not a full personal assistant essentially running his company for him). She eventually got married off to Happy in the mid-70s and almost never appeared again.

Aside from the VERY occasional, very minor appearance, she was effectively GONE for more than 30 years.

Then the movie had her in it because it was mostly influenced by the origin story from 1963.

In exceedingly quick order, she appeared out of nowhere in the comics again. Suddenly she and Happy were divorced (and they eventually killed him off). She was also suddenly a business expert, indispensable to Tony, and out of nowhere they sparked up a new romance. Now she's pretty much ubiquitous in the comics, up to the point where she's arguably a main character on her own now, what with her having her own armor and often doing stuff without Tony.

Basically, the success of the movies retroactively altered the entire setting of the comics, to force the comics to be more like the movies. I understand why - the logic is that only hundreds of thousands of people are reading the comics but millions of people are watching the films, so their hope is if they make the comics more like the films they can attract more readers (though this never seems to work). But it does mean that there's almost no reason to ever get invested in the comic universe, because you know no storyline will ever play out to a satisfying end and things will always get dragged back to better fit the films... so you might as well just skip the comics and watch the films.

I feel like the comic industry has always been a victim of its own success, though. And it would have died (at least the Big Two) years ago, if there were massive corporations keeping them alive solely to brainstorm new ideas for films, cartoons, video games, and other merch.
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wwinterj25 posted...

What series?

i mean the arkham series. the series this game is a part of.

are you schrabbing me?

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Noop_Noop posted...

i mean the arkham series. the series this game is a part of.

Nope.

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/gotham-knights-why-its-not-set-arkham-universe/

However, Rocksteady's new Suicide Squad game is a part of the Arkham-verse:

https://www.ign.com/articles/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-in-batman-arkham-universe

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Aside from the VERY occasional, very minor appearance, she was effectively GONE for more than 30 years.

I was just pointing out that she wasn't completely gone. I know she at least had a small part in the aftermath of the first Civil War.
Noop_Noop posted...

i mean the arkham series. the series this game is a part of

Wat

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Far-Queue posted...

Nope.

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/gotham-knights-why-its-not-set-arkham-universe/

However, Rocksteady's new Suicide Squad game is a part of the Arkham-verse:

https://www.ign.com/articles/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-in-batman-arkham-universe

so the fact that arkham knight ended with nightfall and then this game starts with nightfall is just pure coincidence?

fuckin dumb

"we want to start a fresh game free of the "arkhamverse", while clearly trying to capitalize on its popularity"


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https://www.ign.com/articles/batman-gotham-knights-co-op-combat-biggest-questions-answered

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Nice. I like the idea of skill trees developing into differing character builds. Hopefully adds some replay value

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Noop_Noop posted...

so the fact that arkham knight ended with nightfall and then this game starts with nightfall is just pure coincidence?

Yes. It probably took inspiration from Arkham Knights ending but they are not connected. Suicide Squad is actually the game part of the Arkhamverse.

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Suicide Squad is rumoured to be a live service trashfire btw

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Blightzkrieg posted...

Suicide Squad is rumoured to be a live service trashfire btw

Seems it could be a live service game. Although you can play solo and the A.I will fill in for your other team members. You can also switch between characters on the fly. I'll have to see gameplay but I'm curious.

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Rocksteady has a decent track record so I'll wait and see before jumping on the live service rumors

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Maybe it's just me but it seems really weird that Dick and Jason are just fine letting there be no Batman despite literally fighting over the mantle

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Muscles posted...

Maybe it's just me but it seems really weird that Dick and Jason are just fine letting there be no Batman despite literally fighting over the mantle

Doesn't look like they are fine from the trailer.

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wwinterj25 posted...

Doesn't look like they are fine from the trailer.

I mean, they are just going about fighting crime in the absence of Batman instead of having someone take over as Batman, let's be real a battle for the cowl should at least be part of it with Dick taking over as Batman

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I don't think we can judge the story based on a short trailer only meant to introduce the concept.

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Muscles posted...

I mean, they are just going about fighting crime in the absence of Batman instead of having someone take over as Batman, let's be real a battle for the cowl should at least be part of it with Dick taking over as Batman

Why would they need to be the next Batman when all four can help takedown crime? Also I doubt Bats is dead so that's another reason.

Blightzkrieg posted...

I don't think we can judge the story based on a short trailer only meant to introduce the concept.

Yeah we have no idea where it's heading.

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wwinterj25 posted...

Why would they need to be the next Batman when all four can help takedown crime? Also I doubt Bats is dead so that's another reason.

Yeah we have no idea where it's heading.

Batman is a symbol of justice, every iteration I've seen has someone take over after Bruce (or while he is incapacitated) whether it was Jean-Paul Valley, Dick Grayson or Terry McGinnis. He might not be dead but he wasn't in battle for the cowl either and Dick and Jason still battled it out to be the one to continue the legacy, but I guess bligh is right, we don't know yet. It just seems weird that every other time something happens to where Bruce can't be Batman there is someone filling the role.

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Yes video games and comics are weird. :3

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wwinterj25 posted...

Yes video games and comics are weird. :3

Cool, we're on the same page now

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Far-Queue posted...

Rocksteady has a decent track record so I'll wait and see before jumping on the live service rumors

The problem isn't so much Rocksteady as the developer, the problem is Warner Bros as the Publisher.

If Warner Bros says "Yeah, so, you're live-service now", Rocksteady doesn't really get much say in the matter. And Warner Bros is kind of notoriously shit about that sort of thing (just ask Monolith if they wanted to cram tons of unnecessary bullshit microtransactions into Shadow of War after the success of Shadow of Mordor).



wwinterj25 posted...

Why would they need to be the next Batman when all four can help takedown crime? Also I doubt Bats is dead so that's another reason.

It's kind of canon in the comics that the entire purpose of Batman is to be a figure of fear, that prevents crime in Gotham from growing out of control, because criminals are terrified of him. It's also kind of canon that his power as a symbol is so great, that any time he disappears and only his apprentices are left to deal with things, everything starts to spiral out of control. Because criminals aren't afraid of Batgirl and "that guy who used to be Robin". Or anyone else. Gotham NEEDS a Batman.

This is why someone almost always picks up the mantle of Batman to become Batman, even when they don't really WANT to be Batman (Dick), or aren't necessarily the best choice for the job (Azrael). And why in the cartoons, Waller literally MAKES a new Batman (Terry).

It's why "Battle for the Cowl" happened as a storyline, where Dick, Tim, and Jason all wound up being Batman at different points. And why Dick was Batman (as opposed to Nightwing) in the wake of Knightfall (where Bruce was still too weak to be Batman full-time) and Final Crisis (where everyone assumed Bruce was dead). There's very much a mindset among those trained by Bruce that SOMEONE has to be Batman. Even if you'd rather be your own person.
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