Batman: Gotham Knight

2008 animated film by Bruce Timm

Batman: Gotham Knight is a collection of six animated short films set in between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, depicting Batman's transition from novice vigilante to experienced crime-fighter.

  • It works too well. I'm willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But it has to be mine. No one else's.
  • You're MCU, aren't you? Gordon's squad? Lieutenant Gordon is a good judge of character.
  • It was just like that night in the alley, Alfred... the closeness of the walls, the gunfire. It seems I've been trying to stop those two bullets all my life.
  • Now why would someone want to shoot me, Mr. Fox?
  • Shoot your mouth off now, Deadshot.
  • I admire a man who vows to rebuild the neighborhood and starts by building a golf course.
  • You get the docks. You stay in the slums. That's the arrangement 'til I can get something on you. And then you can fight over who gets the top bunk in Blackgate. Got it?!
  • It's like I've been trying to stop those two bullets my entire life. It's a fool's dream, Alfred. Sometimes I feel like I should just be done with it.
  • It's something I manage.

Dialogue

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Ronald Marshall: Got any interest in some poker tonight?
Bruce: I have some business to attend to.
Ronald: Is that right? Blonde or brunette?
Bruce: Half Russian, half Italian.
Ronald: Wow. Now that's a handful.

Homeless Man: Hey Bat, when you flyin', what the city look like from up on high?
Batman: It looks dirty.

Alfred Pennyworth: It's a bagful of tragedy, sir. I can't see how you could even bear to handle one.
Bruce Wayne: You have to know your enemy, Alfred. I'd never use one, but even I can appreciate the attraction of a gun. The heft. The sleekness. The cool steel. The precision. And the power. The power to change lives, history. The power of God.

Deadshot: He's either the bravest man I've ever faced, or a complete fool.

Batman: Alfred, how's the satellite picture?
Alfred Pennyworth: Splendid. I can almost see your pointy ears, sir.

Sal Maroni: I'll do it! I'LL DO IT!
Batman: No. You won't.

Lt. James Gordon: Are you in pain?
Batman: I work through pain.

Alfred: Sir! Give me your hand!
Batman: I... I can't.

Batman: The Scarecrow's here with an army of escaped Arkham inmates and homeless. They've all be poisoned with toxin.
Lieutenant James Gordon: Where are you, Batman?
Batman: Beneath the East Reservoir, I guess. In the old Weir Chambers.
Lieutenant Gordon: I'm sending reinforcements now. Just hold tight until we get there.
Batman: No time for that.

B-Devil: Yo, wait a minute. Batman never cut nobody's head off. Everybody knows he don't ever kill nobody.
Meesh: I'm making it more colorful, yo

Bruce Wayne: [W]hy don't you leave?
Cassandra: Because, this is where I belong. In your life, isn't there such a place?

Deadshot: Another happy customer.

Lt. Gordon: Got a lead on your 'Killer Croc.' His name's Waylon Jones. He was an inmate at Arkham Asylum - and a former test subject in Dr. Crane's fear-aversion therapy program.
Batman: Which means he's twice as twisted now that Crane's had a go at him.

About Batman: Gotham Knight

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  • If I have a story, if I have something to say, that’s my motivation. For this film, I had something to say about Bruce Wayne as a character, what his motivations are. That there’s something dark and wrong about what drives him. Batman is a super hero and he does good. But I think the Bruce Wayne part of the character’s motivation is slightly twisted. Bruce’s motivations don’t come from a good place. He’s angry and, in that revenge is really his goal, he’s a dishonest character. That’s why he has to wear a mask. He’s doing good, but he’s not doing all the right things for all the right reasons.
    That plays into this story. It should be a story about non-violence, but that’s the lesson that Bruce doesn’t learn. On the surface, Bruce is on a spiritual journey, but his spirit was corrupted when his parents were killed. And it’s not something that I think he’s even interested in fixing.
  • The image of Batman coming through flaming wreckage was pretty much exactly as I wanted it. I really was trying to get the psychological impact of seeing this man, who maybe isn’t a man if you don’t know, coming through the flames – literally a walking, talking, burning bush, standing and staring the villain down. If somebody was staring me down from the middle of flames, they could have anything they want. I think the animators executed that really well.

Cast

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 The Lego Movie franchise    The Lego Movie  (2014) · The Lego Batman Movie  (2017) · The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part  (2019) 
 Video Games     Batman: Vengeance  (2001) · Superman: Shadow of Apokolips  (2002) · Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu  (2003) · Batman Begins  (2005) · Teen Titans  (2006) · Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters  (2011) · Injustice: Gods Among Us  (2013) · Injustice 2  (2017)