Warning: Plot spoilers for Gotham Knights ahead
One of the biggest controversies surrounding Gotham Knights in its early marketing was Batman’s death. This was one of the first narrative reveals for the game, and because Batman is such an iconic character, many fans were quick to disbelieve it. Theories suggested that he had either faked his death, or was kidnapped by Gotham Knights’ Court of Owls and brainwashed into being a Talon assassin. It would seem that fans were relatively close with the latter theory, though Bruce Wayne’s death is in fact legitimate and conveniently dubious in Gotham Knights.
The circumstances of Batman’s death in Gotham Knights are intriguing, though they are also self-contained within the game’s opening cutscene. Batman fights Ra’s al Ghul within the Batcave in a lengthy cinematic, and the events that conspire do not seem entirely strange besides the fact that Bruce finally concedes to killing someone via a Batcave explosion. More goes on behind the scenes in an attempt to explain why Bruce died while fighting Ra’s al Ghul, but these explanations are rather nonsensical and hardly amount to a concise or satisfying answer.
Batman’s Multiple Deaths Are Convenient in Gotham Knights
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In order to thwart Ra’s al Ghul, Bruce decides he needs to impale himself on Ra’s’ blade to get close enough to strike him. Then, Bruce detonates fail-safes in the Batcave with him and Ra’s inside. Both actions seem hyperbolic, especially because it is not made clear what stakes are involved in Ra’s’ survival.
Batman is notorious for allowing villains to live in an effort for him to not disrupt his moral code, and it does not appear as though keeping Ra’s alive would make Gotham Knights’ Gotham City susceptible to some horrible disaster. Further, all villains seemingly want Batman dead, as Alfred later states.
But the reason given for Ra’s going after Bruce in this circumstance is nonsensical. Talia al Ghul explains that Bruce was Ra’s elected heir, and thus killing him makes no sense of that prophecy. Gotham Knights’ Bat Family comes to the conclusion that Batman was simply caught in the crosshair of Ra’s finding out about the Court wanting to use Lazarus Pits, but it seems more like an excuse to have Bruce killed off for the events of the narrative to play out the way they do with Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood.
Ra’s al Ghul’s Death is Convoluted in Gotham Knights
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Moreover, Ra’s al Ghul’s death is equally nonsensical. Talia plots to take over the League of Shadows, and to do so she stands idly by as Ra’s and Batman duke it out. This works out precisely how she wants it to, but she could have seemingly had him killed herself beforehand. She must not have known that their fight would result in both of them dying, and therefore it was an uncalculated and fortunate result that they did. Talia does not come across as a master planner, but as someone who picked up the pieces after a fortuitous opportunity landed in her lap.
It is uncharacteristic of Bruce to intentionally kill anyone, but it seems as though she assumed he would kill Ra’s for her. Then, the GCPD somehow recovers Ra’s’ body and not Bruce’s. Otherwise, they would have found remnants of the Batcave and Bruce half-dressed in armor, thus clueing into the fact that Bruce is Batman.
Talia is able to retrieve Ra’s’ corpse from the morgue and burn it, which is reckless on the Bat Family’s part if they knew that the League of Shadows may want to resurrect him in a Lazarus Pit. Overall, Gotham Knights’ narrative seems to have simply needed both characters dead for its narrative events to proceed, and failed to incorporate satisfying explanations for how or why.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
