Gotham Knights: How The Bat Family Recovered After Batman's Death
Battle For The Cowl
Not all of Bruce’s retirement plans have ended so neatly, however, as demonstrated during Final Crisis. The massive Justice League event culminated in a climactic battle against Darkseid where Batman was seemingly vaporised by his omega beams.
With Batman gone, this left Gotham in an epic power struggle between the various gangs, with war breaking out between Two-Face and The Penguin. Each of the villains took advantage of the disappearance of Gotham's protector, with Black Mask staging a massive Arkham break out. Gotham Knights has a similar agenda for its villains, with the gameplay demo explaining that Mr. Freeze only recently returned.
In a similar fashion to what we saw in the trailer, Bruce had left personal messages to each of his family members as Dick once again remains reluctant to become Batman.
It is Jason Todd who is the first to decide he should be the next Batman, going on a murderous rampage in one of the coolest Batsuits in comic history. With Dick doing his usual brooding, Tim Drake decides to don the classic blue Batsuit to spread a little bit of cheer. This event kicked off the epic storyline known as The Battle for the Cowl.
Tim’s Dark Knight career is short-lived, as he ends up in a one-on-one against a furious Jason Todd. To make matters worse, Tim manages to beat Jason several times with a crowbar - which any Red Hood fan will know is a big no-no.
The fight ends with Tim being impaled in the chest with a Batarang and dragged into Jason’s twisted take on the Batcave. The comic ends with Dick accepting his fate and defeating Jason, while Damian saves Tim from a collapsing cave.
Battle for the Cowl gives us the best insight into the mindset of each of the Robins, and how they emotionally handle the loss of Bruce. Dick remains stubborn in finding his own path, Tim is afraid to let the past die, and Jason lashes out with rage.
While Jason is working with the crew this time, it wouldn't stop him from acting more hostile to his partners, even if it's just in dialogue. Red Hood and Robin have had a particularly strained relationship in the past, and have only been close since the Rebirth event. Therefore this could be taken either way; by either having the two constantly bickering over ideals, or having them share a closer bond like they currently do.
Out of all of them, it is Batgirl who always appears to be the most level headed, often acting as support when it is needed. Hopefully, these individual mindsets will be explored in the game with a dash of sibling rivalry thrown into the mix. Barbara already appears to be taking the lead in the new game and will hopefully be keeping the rest of them in check.