Gotham Knights: The Three Robins Explained | Game Rant
Gotham Knights will take place after the death of Bruce Wayne, when Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin are left to fight Gotham's supervillains and the mysterious Court of Owls. Three of the game's player characters were once different versions of Robin, the "Boy Wonder" and Batman's trusty sidekick.
Many different characters have taken on the role of Robin across different Batman runs, so here's what fans need to know about who will appear in Gotham Knights as Robin such as their origins, and their stories so far.
In most Batman continuities Dick Grayson is the original Robin, who premiered all the way back in 1940 as part of a wildly successful ploy to attract young readers to the Batman comics. Richard "Dick" Grayson's fictional biography begins at Haly's Circus, where he grew up with his parents John and Mary.
Together, the three composed an acrobatic troupe known as the Flying Graysons, that travelled the country as the circus' greatest attraction. The details of what happens next depends on the exact DC continuity. In the New Earth continuity Haly's Circus arrived in Gotham for a performance when it attracted the unfortunate attention of a local mobster.
Anthony "Fats" Zucco and his associate Edward Skeevers saw the circus trucks arriving in the city, and decided that they would be the perfect cover for an expansion of their drug trafficking operation. They attempted to pressure the circus' owner to no avail. Out for revenge, they sabotaged the wires used by the Flying Graysons in order to rob the circus of its most valuable act. This, they hoped, would force the circus' owner to cooperate with their scheme.
Bruce Wayne was in the audience when John and Mary Grayson fell to their deaths in front of a live audience, leaving their son an orphan. Having lost his parents to Gotham's criminals as well, Bruce decided to adopt Dick Grayson as his ward. In the original Detective Comics, Dick was just 8 years old at this time.
Dick would be the first Robin and later an original member of the Teen Titans. At the age of 19 Dick was shot by the Joker. He survived, but this caused Batman to rethink Robin's role. Dick adopted a new superhero moniker, Nightwing, which will appear in Gotham Knights. In some future stories he would return to help Batman, but developed into his own formidable and independent crimefighter.
Jason Todd was the second Robin. Described by Alfred Pennyworth as having a "mean streak" that Dick Grayson lacked, Jason was orphaned in the New Earth continuity when his mother supposedly died of an overdose and his father was murdered by his boss, Two-Face. Jason first met Batman when the Caped Crusader caught him stealing the wheels off the Batmobile.
Batman originally dropped Jason Todd off at a "School for Boys" in the north of Gotham. Jason, however, quickly discovered that the school was a criminal front. He escaped and helped Batman bring down the school's owner and her criminal gang. Seeing his potential, Bruce took Jason in and began training him when he was 12 years old.
Though he would have a good relationship with Nightwing when they met, Todd's recklessness and unaddressed anger made him far more impulsive than his predecessor. In Batman #424 it was heavily implied that Jason pushed the son of a foreign ambassador to his death after finding out that the man had diplomatic immunity. Eventually, he was barred from being Batman's sidekick.
In the New Earth story Batman: A Death in the Family, Jason Todd learned that his mother was still alive in Ethiopia and was being blackmailed by the Joker due to her criminal past. He left to find her, but ended up crossing paths with Batman anyway, who was tracking his nemesis. While Batman attempted to stop a truck filled with Joker Venom, Jason tried to save his mother. She betrayed him, however. He was lured into a warehouse where the Joker beat him with a crowbar and eventually sets off a bomb that killed both Jason and his mother.
Jason Todd was dead for six months when an evil version of Superman punched the very fabric of reality, causing a ripple in the timeline. Todd awoke with amnesia after a year in a coma. He was looked after by Talia al Ghul, who restored him to full health by bathing him in a Lazarus Pit alongside her father, Ra's al Ghul. Jason emerged with his memories in tact, but with an even darker personality than before.
Jason would eventually return to Gotham as a the antihero known as Red Hood. Though he would often perform heroic deeds, he was also involved in the criminal underworld, and would later spend time in and out of Arkham Asylum.
Tim Drake is the Robin who will appear in Gotham Knights. As a young child Tim was also present when Dick's parents died at Haly's Circus, which he was visiting with his wealthy parents. When he was older, Tim recognized Dick's acrobatics when viewing old footage of Batman and Robin fighting the Penguin. With this information he found Batman and offered to become the new Robin. Though he was turned down at first, he then saved Batman from Two-Face, and got the job.
Tim's parents were kidnapped by the villainous Obeah Man while in the Caribbean. His mother was killed and his father paralyzed, requiring a personal nurse for the rest of his life. In the comics Tim would later be forced to give up the role of Robin, returning under the name Red Robin. He was then succeeded by Damian Wayne. However, it appears that in the Gotham Knights continuity Tim Drake was the final Robin at the time of Bruce Wayne's death. How the previous two Robins will judge Tim as their successor, and how he will view them in turn, remains to be seen.
Gotham Knights is set to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X in 2022.
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