Gotham Knights takes place in a version of the DC Universe where crimefighters Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Redhood take up the mantle of Gotham’s Caped Crusader after the death of Bruce Wayne. The game is currently in development at WB Games Montreal, and will give players access to an open-world version of Batman’s home city, as well as letting them choose from any of the heroes as player character. This will even allow them to play through the entire game as just one of the four “knights.”
In Gotham Knights, the entirety of Gotham City will be accessible from the time the game is first booted up. This doesn’t mean that some locations won’t be more plot central than others, however. There’s one particular location in Gotham City that will likely be very central to Gotham Knights’ plot, and also has the potential to provide the new game with some of its most interesting set pieces and battlegrounds.
Haly’s Circus, though only ever passing through Gotham, is central to plot points in a few key DC timelines. In New Earth comic Robin: Year One, Haly’s Circus is headlined by “The Flying Graysons,” an acrobatic troupe composed of John Grayson, Mary Grayson, and their son Dick Grayson. In the New Earth continuity, Haly’s Circus attracts the attention of Anthony “Fats” Zucco and Edward Skeevers, who are attempting to expand a drug trafficking operation on behalf of several Gotham crime families.
When Haly’s Circus comes through Gotham, Zucco realizes that the visitors’ circus trucks are perfect for trafficking drugs and other contraband throughout different cities. In order to intimidate the circus owners into complying with the mob’s demands, Zucco has his men sabotage the Flying Graysons’ ropes, causing John and Mary to fall to their deaths during their act and robbing the circus of their greatest attraction.
Bruce Wayne is at Haly’s Circus at the time of the accident and, sympathizing with the newly orphaned Dick Grayson, adopts the boy as his ward, and Dick Grayson becomes the first Robin. Dick eventually ends his time as the Boy Wonder to become Nightwing and is succeeded by Jason Todd, who himself later becomes Red Hood. Both Nightwing and Red Hood will be playable characters in Gotham Knights. In some early versions of Jason Todd’s origins, he also grew up as an acrobat when his parents were killed by Killer Croc.
Haly’s Circus isn’t just central to the origins of the heroes of Gotham Knights, it’s also potentially central to its villains. Gotham Knights’ DC FanDome footage revealed that the main villains of Gotham Knights would be the Court of Owls, who are a secret society in Gotham which acts an organized crime syndicate run by select members of the city’s wealthy elite.
In the New 52 continuity, it is revealed that the Court of Owls had been exerting influence over Gotham for years, including having assassinated members of the Wayne family in the past. The Court of Owls has a deal with Haly’s Circus, who would show off their best young performers to the Court as potential candidates for Talons.
The Talons are the Court of Owls’ assassins, with the latest recruit generally succeeding one of the previous Talons by assassinating them. The New 52 comics reveal that Dick Grayson was, unbeknownst to him, all set to become a Talon and that the Court of Owls had even marked him with an engraved electrum alloy tooth. Electrum is an alloy that the Court of Owls uses to reanimate its dead Talons. The process was imperfect until the Court manipulated Mr. Freeze into completing their work for them by convincing him that it would lead to Batman’s demise, which is may be why Mr. Freeze has made an appearance in some Gotham Knights gameplay demos.
The death of Dick Grayson’s parents inadvertently saved him from recruitment by the Court of Owls. However, it remains likely that Gotham Knights will involve Talon characters who were recruited from Haly’s Circus and that Dick may even have known growing up, potentially making Nightwing one of the most interesting player character options in Gotham Knights in terms of how the main plot ties into his backstory.
It’s also possible that Nightwing could still be able to be reanimated using the Court of Owls’ methods if he was killed in the game, though since it’s possible to play through the entirety of Gotham Knights as just one player character, it seems unlikely that the plot will focus too singularly on Nightwing. The only other Talon known to have escaped his fate was Calvin Rose, an escape artist who later helps Batman in the comics.
It seems very likely that Haly’s Circus will be a central location in Gotham Knights. The circus itself could provide for some very interesting fights, able to make full use of the game’s vertical dimensions using high-wires. Circus imagery surrounds the Batman lore from Dick’s backstory to the Joker and even the tights. Haly’s Circus has the potential to be more than just a visually impressive set piece; it could also draw out some interesting things about the entire dynamic of Gotham’s crime and its crimefighters, particularly in the wake of Bruce Wayne’s death as Dick returns to the place that his real parents were killed.
What remains to be seen is how well WB Games Montreal is able to bring individual locations like Haly’s Circus to life within a large and accessible open world. That’s unclear for now, but it is likely that Haly’s Circus will have a central role to play in Gotham Knights’ story even for players who choose to ignore Nighwing entirely to focus on Batgirl, Red Hood, or the latest Robin, Tim Drake. Haly’s circus is one of the Batman comics’ creepiest locales thanks to its bloody past and its secret history, and could be the site of some of Gotham Knights’ most memorable moments.
Gotham Knights is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Gotham Knights: Balancing Red Hood Will Be a Challenge
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