The Animated Batman Movie You Didn’t Know Was A Prequel To The Dark Knight

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If you’re a Batman fan (or even if you aren’t), you must’ve heard of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” Trilogy. Led by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, these three movies — “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” and “The Dark Knight Rises” — have raised the bar for every Batman movie made since. But are there truly only three Dark Knight movies?

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The 2008 animated feature “Batman: Gotham Knight” was released as a tie-in to “The Dark Knight.” Warner Bros. sold the film as a prequel to their new blockbuster, set between “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”

“Gotham Knight” is not a single-feature, but an anthology of six shorts, each one with a different director and writer. The six shorts lead into each other, forming a narrative thread but still an episodic one. The shorts, which offer treats for both Batman and anime fans, are as follows:

1. “Have I Got A Story For You,” animated by Studio 4°C (who would later produce the “Berserk: Golden Age Arc” films), and written by Josh Olson (writer of “A History of Violence”).

2. “Crossfire,” animated by the legendary Production I.G. (production company for “Ghost in the Shell”) and written by prolific comic writer Greg Rucka.

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3. “Field Test,” animated by Bee Train (“Noir”) and written by Jordan Goldberg.

4. “In Darkness Dwells,” animated by Madhouse (which has made some Batman-esque anime like “Death Note,” serial killer thriller “Monster,” and “Black Lagoon”) and written by David S. Goyer, the screenwriter of the “Dark Knight” films.

5. “Working Through Pain,” animated by Studio 4°C, written by comic writer Brian Azzarello.

6. “Deadshot,” animated by Madhouse, written by Alan Burnett, a prolific writer/producer on “Batman: The Animated Series.”

“Batman: Gotham Knight” has been compared to “The Animatrix” in structure and style, for good reason. But “Matrix” creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski were directly involved in “The Animatrix” as writers and producers. Nolan had no such involvement in “Gotham Knight” — so does it deserve to be considered canon?

The cast of the “Dark Knight” films did not reprise their roles in “Gotham Knight” and were replaced by professional voice actors. Batman in “Gotham Knight” is voiced by Kevin Conroy, not Christian Bale.

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Again, Nolan himself also doesn’t have a credit on the film as a writer or producer. However, his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas is an executive producer on “Gotham Knight.” Mixed with Goyer writing one of the segments, that lends the canonicity of “Gotham Knight” some legitimacy.

The film also uses characters and plot beats from “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” Goyer’s “In Darkness Dwells” is the segment that most directly ties into the films. At the end of “Batman Begins,” Jonathan Crane/the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) escapes, riding off into the night as the Gotham slums (“The Narrows”) devolve into hysteria from his fear toxin. “The Dark Knight” itself tied up that loose end with Batman capturing Crane, but “In Darkness Dwells” depicts another encounter between the Bat and ‘Crow.

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Crane, who has fled into the sewers and leads a cult of former Arkham Asylum inmates, abducts a local Gotham Cardinal to end his homelessness relief efforts. (“You tried to help the city’s homeless, tried to save the wretched and forgotten. But the Scarecrow… wants them driven downward into my kind and loving arms!”) Batman ventures underground to save the Cardinal. He mentions that Crane “hasn’t been seen since that night in the Narrows,” directly referencing “Batman Begins.”

Along the way, he encounters a face familiar to Batman fans: Killer Croc/Waylon Jones, depicted as a former Arkham patient brainwashed by his “doctor.” Croc seems like one of Batman villains least able to fit into a realistic world. A crocodile man, really? But like Nolan’s films do to Batman’s gear and such, Goyer grounds Killer Croc in pseudo-scientific pretense. Croc’s appearance is attributed to a real skin condition (epidermolytic hyperkeratosis) and his flesh is a sickly brown, not scaly green.

“Working Through Pain” fills in some of the ten years Bruce spent traveling the world during “Batman Begins.” While stumbling through the sewers with a gunshot wound, Batman remembers training in India with a guru, Cassandra (Parminder Nagra), to control his pain. Cassandra sent her student away when she realized the pain in his heart couldn’t heal. In “Deadshot,” Bruce tells Alfred (David McCallum) that while he’s sworn off using guns, he understands the power of one — in “Batman Begins,” Bale’s Bruce Wayne did try and murder his parents’ killer Joe Chill (future Night King Richard Brake) with a revolver.

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“Field Test” shows Batman testing some new equipment with the aid of Lucius Fox (Kevin Michael Richardson), like many scenes in “The Dark Knight” films. That segment and “Crossfire” focus on a gang war between Sal Maroni (Rob Paulsen) and the Russian mob, who both feature in “The Dark Knight.”

“Crossfire” also includes Detective Anna Ramirez (Ana Ortiz), an original character from “The Dark Knight” (where she’s played by Monique Gabriela Curnen). Yet this also shows how the connections between “The Dark Knight” and “Gotham Knight” go one way. 

Rucka previously wrote the series “Gotham Central,” a comic about the Gotham Police Department and the eccentric cases they deal with. One of the lead “Gotham Central” characters was the Latina Detective Renee Montoya. So, in “Crossfire,” Rucka writes Ramirez like he’s writing Montoya. She’s partnered with Crispus Allen (Gary Dourdan), Montoya’s partner in the comics, and an idealist who believes in Batman. Her faith is rewarded when he saves her and Allen from Maroni. In “The Dark Knight,” Ramirez is dirty and on Maroni’s (Eric Roberts) own payroll.

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“Batman: Gotham Knight” sets itself between “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” but has no true bearing or consequence on either film. It falls into what most “canon” tie-in material ends up being. It’s an extra bit of fun for the fans, but not on the level of importance that the source material films are.