Batmanhas one of the broadest and best known rogues galleries of almost any comic book IP. This givesGotham Knightsa huge number of villains that could be included in the upcoming game.
It has been confirmed that the game’s main story will involve the Court of Owls. However,Gotham Knight’s “villain crimes” missions will focus on otherBatmanbad guys, potentially giving underrated villains their time in the spotlight inGotham Knights.
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Calendar Man
Calendar Man is often among the first mentioned in anylist ofBatmanvillainswith seemingly silly premises. The citizens of Gotham never get a day off; Calendar Man most frequently makes appearances on national holidays, often dressed appropriately for whatever celebration is taking place.
Real name Julian Gregory Day, a pun on the Julian and Gregorian calendars, Calendar Man’s ever-changing visual design is one of the most fun things about him. In theopen world ofGotham Knights, Calendar Man could be a great reason to keep an eye on the date, and could allow players to do some real detective work figuring out when the villain might strike next.
Professor Pyg
In contrast to Calendar Man, Professor Pyg is amongBatman’s most disturbing villains, which says a lot considering the line up of bad guysthe Dark Knighthas faced over the years. Real name Lazlo Valentin, Professor Pyg is a skilled surgeon. His villainous moniker is a reference to Pygmalion from Greek mythology, a skilled sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created. Pyg created the “Circus of the Strange” as a cover for kidnapping victims.
The Professor is obsessed with perfection. He wears a pig mask, and performs surgery on people to turn them into mindless “Dollotrons.” They have doll-like masks permanently attached to their faces, and undergo a form of chemical lobotomy that destroys their identity. Professor Pyg’s lair could make for one ofGotham Knights' most disturbing settings, and his henchman are a horrifying far cry from the usual goons found inGotham City.
Pyg makes an appearance as one of the sidevillains inArkham Knight. In that game, Batman finds a series of crucified bodies that lead him to Pyg’s lair, and finds the Dollotrons particularly tough to defeat because they appear to be unable to feel pain. InArkham Knight,Batman has to identify the parts of Pyg’s victims that, despite his quest for perfection, the Professor is unable to change. This kind of detective work could be realized even more fully inGotham Knights, while Pyg’s quest to create perfection could take on new thematic resonance in a story where the four main characters are all, in some way, modelling themselves after Batman.
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The Eraser
Back on the sillier side, the Eraser is the alter ego of one of Bruce Wayne’s college classmates, Lenny Fiasco. Mocked for constantly making mistakes in class and rarely seen without an eraser, he turned to a life of crime where he would completely erase all evidence of a crime for a 20% cut of the profits. In the comics, part of the Eraser’s turn to crime was becauseBruce Wayneruined his chance to go out with a woman named Celia Smith, who Batman didn’t even remember. If players start finding crime scenes with surprisingly few clues, one villain’s crimes may end up being connected to the Eraser as well inGotham Knights.
Although he may seem harmless, the Eraser wears shoes which can release a sleeping gas. In one comic, he knocked Bruce Wayne out using the gas. Bruce awoke in a recreation of the ice carnival that Lenny had hoped to take Celia to before she ended up going with Bruce. For a series that so often puts characters in fairgrounds and circuses, the Eraser’s lair could be one of the strangestplaces from theBatmancomicsto uncover inGotham Knights.
Signalman
Phillip Cobb started out as a small-time Gotham gangster, but he failed to gain the following he had hoped to form his own organization. It was then that Cobb began to form a new philosophy about how society worked, concluding that people were totally influenced by symbols, signs, and signals. The character made his debut in theBatmancomicsall the way back in 1957, and while he never really reached his potential in the original run, he has new relevance in a digital age.
The Ventriloquist
The Ventriloquist is one of Gotham’s strangest gangsters. He comes in two parts. The first is timid and mild-mannered Arnold Wesker. Wesker grew up as an orphan, but one day his repressed rage burst out and he found himself inBlackgate Prisonafter taking part in a bar brawl. In prison he found a man who had carved a ventriloquist’s dummy. The dummy resembled Al Capone, and was named Woody. One night Wesker began to believe that the puppet was telling him to kill its owner. He did, renaming the dummy Scar Face. Upon leaving Blackgate, the puppet allowed Wesker to express his violent side in a way that made him one of the city’s most formidable crime bosses.
These are just some of the huge array ofBatmanvillains that could appear inGotham Knights' villain crimes. While characters likeMr. Freezehave already been confirmed, hopefully WB Games Montreal takes the opportunity to show off some of the more weird and wonderful characters inBatman’s rogues gallery.
Gotham Knightsis set to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X in 2022.
