#watching gotham knights

[ltleflrt]

The fact that even Fugue!Harvey was protective of Duela gets me right in the daddy issues.  Sure, he’s a bastard about it, but he still cares about his daughter.

[hauntingblue]

Cullen exercising topless and stephanie canon queer.... gotham knights knew what they were doing on pride month

[groovyace]

Average gotham knights experience (the game crashes not even 30 seconds later). Shoutout to @magnusj the most stealthy redhood player.

[Robin: OK. Let's do this SNEAKY STYLE.

[Robin: Jason NO-]

[lastadis]

jason has no business being this funny during such a serious/sad scene😭

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Adding on to my The Batman post, I forgot to mention how much I adore the way they handle the no killing rule. In terms of plot, I don't think it's mentioned at all as a sticking point. He won't kill and that's that.

But there's one particular scene. Carmine and Selina. Bruce has just punched Carmine to the ground, saving Selina's life, and is now trying to wrestle the gun away from her. She tries to convince him. "He has to pay!"

And right here is where I thought that stupid classic line was gonna be. I could see it coming like a freight train. "If you kill him, you'll be just as bad as he is." But then... I'm wrong. It doesn't happen. Instead, Bruce makes a very different statement.

"You don't have to pay with him. You've paid enough."

And with that, he gets the gun and Carmine is arrested. There's no moral high ground, there's no shitty logic.

Bruce has seen what The Roman has done. Who he's hurt. What he's taken away. Selina's mother. Her girlfriend. Bruce's own parents. He knows better than anyone the need for revenge. For justice. But he also knows that this man before him, lying bloodied on the floor, has taken enough. He's taken their families, their morals, their innocence. But he doesn't get to take away their lives. He doesn't get to have that power.

And then Carmine is shot and killed anyway so Selina got what she wanted in the end either way.

[bronzemettle]

Does Talia still have a relationship with Damian? Does she have a relationship with Batman?

in BronzeRealms, Polyamory is common among superheroes in the 21st century. Batman/Clark/Diana/Lois is a full quad. He's also married to Selina.

He's not with Talia, though. They're not enemies, but not involved. The League of Assassins, now led by Talia, is mildly reformed. Still a League of Assassins, tho. Just no longer trying to actively topple civilizations, and slightly more principled about what jobs they'll take. Talia can visit with Damian, if Damian wants her to, and for his sake the Fam will refrain from trying to capture her for her many, many (some still ongoing) international crimes. But she's not exactly sitting down for most family meals.

I will now tell big parts of the story of how things got like this.

Turning back the clock to 2006, Batman has been Batman-ing for over 3 years, but he is not known as a great fighter. He's got some passable martial arts, enough to outmatch nearly any street crooks, but primarily at this point he is the World's Greatest Detective, with some wonderful toys and a stealthy spooky cape. Dick and Barbara could either one kick his ass out of costume.

Bane comes to Gotham. He has no civilian identity to detective out, can see in the dark well enough that his stealth is useless, and isn't scared of bats. Bane arranges for Batman to be isolated from his allies and cracks his spine over his knee. Most of Gotham assumes Batman is dead. His cousin Kate takes up the mantle as Batwoman (after the short and disastrous tenure of Jean-Paul Valley). But Bats himself isn't ready to call it quits. He leaves Gotham, not telling anyone, even Dick, where he's going.

He's going to find the League of Assassins. He only heard rumors about them in his original world journeys preparing to become Batman, but now, he finally meets them. He asks to be taken in and have his back healed, and they do. He sticks to his word and stays with them, and begins his training. Talia falls in love with him, and they get together.

But this is still the League of Assassins under Ra's al Ghul, and Gotham is a target on their map. I won't say that Batman never loved Talia back, but if it's a choice between her and Gotham? It was only a matter of time. A year and change after he found them (and having become one of the more formidable martial artists on the planet), he leaves.

And here's the thing. He suspected. He knew that the League of Assassins wanted their heir. He knew Talia wasn't on any kind of birth control. He saw what might be early-months signs. But if he KNEW, he wouldn't have been able to abandon her and return to Gotham. And he needed to return to Gotham. He had a mission, and already had a family. He couldn't afford to know, so he convinced himself that he didn't, buried his guilt, and he got on the next boat.

Skipping through some stuff I'll give more details on in different posts, 2008 he takes in Jason Todd. In 2012 Jason Todd is murdered by The Joker, then his corpse is taken by the League of Assassins. 2016, Batman fights the Red Hood, finds out he's Jason resurrected by the Lazarus Pit. Jason wins the fight, but can't kill him.

The next year, 2017, Red Hood tells young Damian, Talia's son, that he knows who his father is. He brings Damian to Gotham. Damian is surprised that his father is the Batman, the legendary protector of Gotham, the very city that his grandfather has been trying to destroy for Damian's entire life. Talia comes for him, but Damian decides he wants to stay and get to know his father and the city. Against her father's wishes, Talia agrees to let him stay, and he becomes Robin and takes the full name Damian Wayne.

Ra's doesn't stand by this, and he partners with Scarecrow and Astrid Arkham, providing them with a private army, thousands of soldiers, tanks, drones, advanced technology, some of which is Batman's own gadgetry stolen by Red Hood when he was still working for them. Late 2017 the League of Assassins wages all-out-war against Gotham and a full scale military occupation. Scarecrow fits people with Fear Toxin collars to enforce his own law, with the Arkham Knight as the enigmatic enforcer of his Fear State.

(Tangent): During the fight, two of the Arkham Knight's soldiers are accidentally killed in a battle against Batman. He discovers the two had brought their son, Turner Hayes, to Gotham with them. Turner had never known that his parents were mercenaries. Batman decides to cover up the circumstances of their deaths so that Turner never has to know, and as Bruce Wayne he adopts the boy, but continues to keep him in the dark about his own identity as Batman, or all the rest of the family's hero lives. He honors Turner's parents, the first people he considers himself to have murdered (even if accidental), by protecting Turner from the world of heroes and villains altogether, just as they had, giving him the normal life that tragedy robbed Bruce himself of. (End Tangent)

Early 2018 sees the end of the Fear State, and proves the final defeat of the League of Assassins' campaign against Gotham. After his repeated failures, Talia ousts Ra's from power. He flees, along with a splinter faction of loyalists, becoming the League of Shadows based out of Infinity Island, and Talia begins instituting reforms, inspired by her son having chosen Batman's methods over the ones he was raised in.

And while Batman respects her readiness to improve the organization... she is still literally the Queen of Assassins and the last time he killed someone he adopted a kid out of guilt so no they're not getting back together.

And I think that gets us basically up to speed on why things with Talia are strained, but not hostile (mostly for Damian's sake tbf).

[warpedwings]

How many times have I rewatched the latest episode, just going to the Buck & Tommy scenes? Yes.

[oifaaa]

Stephanie Brown only being allowed to kiss other girls in the shitty cw Gotham knights show is somehow Tim Drakes fault I just know it

[booasaur]

Gotham Knights - 1x07

[hood-ex]

I was like I need Dick to see Bruce explode. And then I was like oh but he kinda did, and he had a panic attack, and Tim had to drag him back to the batcave. Angst impulse abated.

[allgremlinart]

the “Working Through Pain” short from Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) remains one of the best animated Batman character studies and I’ll die on that hill

[ltleflrt]

Today’s episode of GK

[hauntingblue]

The actress that plays Carrie in gotham knights is called Navia ROBINSON

[magnificent-winged-beast]

Scene of the Crime ∞ GK S1E2

[beeceit]

[guy who's about to suggest the farthest thing from what you actually want voice] ermmm actually if you like that specific interpretation of these characters you're WRONG, here's what you REALLY wanna be reading

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

The Batman (2022) isn't perfect by any means, but it is still a phenomenal film and one of the best pieces of Bat-media in recent memory.

Firstly, the aesthetic. Seemingly small but an incredibly important part. BTAS was broody, '89 was gothic, Forever was campy, TDK was... bad. And TB I think finds a real sweet spot in between vibes. It's dark, serious, it's got a technological noir, and yet still has vibrancy and color and (the key to my heart) neon.

One scene, you'll be sitting in an abandoned tunnel with shadows and muddy colors, the next you'll be surrounded by police under white lights, and the next you'll be in a night club with LEDs of every color you can think.

The fights. This film has some of the best Batman fights I've ever seen period. Really just action in general. The night club, the hallway, the finale. It's not like TDK where every fight is slow, precise, methodical, and honestly boring. Each fight or chase here is energetic and entertaining. The choreography is excellent, the stakes are legitimately high, and the settings are always unique.

The night club is crowded and overwhelming, with people swinging, shouting, and grabbing at Bats who aren't even apart of the fight. His skills and equipment save his life multiple times, whether it's block a bullet with a precise pipe throw or survive a shotgun blast with his armor. When he finally grabs Penguin you feel as overwhelmed and animalistic as he does.

The precinct escape is tight and tense. From the punch to the jump, every second makes you feel the absolute abominable stress of trying to escape a building like this. Officers pouring out of every room, bullets whizzing by and beaming off his suit. Merely seconds to get the flight suit on before they come pouring out to the roof. We experience the fall with him as his nerves spike, all culminating in a quick second decision that ends with him crashing into the side of the road.

Gotham. The beloved city feels full here. Subways are crowded, streets are packed. The crime feels real. Vandals, gang violence, thieves, assassins, crime families. It's not just militants and killers. We see the systemic issues in place that cause these. We see the feelings and social strains that make people do this. It's like you're taking a peak into another world with context and history you don't know but understand. It feels right.

The characterizations. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the real you" thing inflamed by TDK. And I really don't like "the Waynes were corrupt and did bad things, even for good reasons".

I think there's so much more to say about the two very different, very real sides to Bruce's personality. The one that comes out as billionaire playboy philanthropist, and the one that comes out as a violent and vengeful demon. Both who are willing to suffer for their causes. And I think there's so much more when the Waynes die from a mugging. That the crime is so bad it took the highest. That it could take anyone at any time, even the beloved elite.

However it does something right that most other Bat-media fails at. It makes Batman a symbol of hope. It demonstrates a growth in himself. That he can do more good to inspire the people than to instill fear in them.

Pandaredd made a good video on this, but in Crisis On Two Earths, Bats' opposite is represented as the ultimate nihilist. This means that at his core, Batman is really the ultimate optimist. And that makes sense. You don't put on a suit and fight crime, you don't try to create resources to help people, you don't befriend and reform your own Rogues gallery unless you believe you can change something. That all the work you do, all the suffering you experience will be worth it when you get to know the world healed.

And that's something The Batman understands. Batman started as a symbol of fear. So that every criminal hesitates at an alley. Panics at a shadow. But he became something else. A symbol of optimism. So that people can walk the streets at night. That they can get the help they need. That they can look into the sky with hope.