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Batman & Superman have been the face of DC comics for the last 8 decades. Their stories and pain have influenced the world, evident in modern art forms such as animated and live-action movies.
One such animated movie isBatman: The Gotham Knight, released in 2008. The movie is an anthology of 6 different stories of Bruce Wayne’s life dealing with different aspects. The movie is set between Christopher Nolan’sBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knight. In this movie, Batman fights off the mob from the first movie and other comic-based supervillains.
It dives deeper into the lore of Batman and Bruce’s psyche.Working Through The Painis the most notable short story in the movie dealing with Bruce’s psychological trauma.
India’s Connection With Christopher Nolan’s Batman BeforeThe Dark Knight Rises
The short story begins with one of Scarecrow’s minions shooting Batman and his struggle to get out of the sewer. The story goes back and forth between Batman’s time in the sewer and Bruce’s time in India.
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On his journey to become Batman, Wayne understands that he needs to learn to overcome or minimize the pain. To learn this, he travels to India where he meets Cassandra, an Indian monk, who teaches him about mental, physical, and spiritual pain.
Understanding Batman Through Bruce’s Memories
Cassandra opens up his mind to several possibilities of dealing with pain. The story poses deep intriguing questions to us fans through the characters such as when he asks Cassandra, who is standing on burning coal, “Does it scar?“. To which she simply replies, “Which pain doesn’t?“.
This may come as a generic statement. However, Cassandra is hinting at the psychological pain Bruce has been carrying around since he was eight. She imparts knowledge to him that pain is part of life and one cannot overcome it. Thus, changing his entire perspective about overcoming pain to working through it.
As time goes by, Cassandra learns that Bruce’s psychological wound is beyond her capabilities and she cannot stop him from going down the path he has chosen. He desires that path and uses his pain to continue moving on it.
The ending scene of the short story perfectly captures Bruce’s psychological trauma. After Alfred arrives to help Batman he asks for his hand to pull him out of the sewer and Batman responds that he can’t. He is holding multiple guns found in that garbage and is so fascinated/scared and is unable to let go of them even to save his own life.
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Carrying those guns makes him uneasy. Those guns are a constant reminder of the battle he has to fight. Very few mediums except comic books subtly delve deep into Batman’s psyche. Most modern art media tend to forget the “man” behind “Batman”.
How Was Nolan’s Batman Connected ToBatman: Gotham Knight? Why Did He Never Mention It In His Movies?
As mentioned earlier the movie takes place betweenBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knight. The producers of the movie worked in tandem with DC Comics andWarner Bros. Animationwith Japanese animation studios such as Studio 4°C, Madhouse, Bee Train, and Production I.G.
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The movie was an ancillary work, meaning it was an addition to the Nolanverse but not necessarily a part of it. However, many fans do consider it as part of the Nolanverse. Since the short stories are written by David Goyer who also wrote all ofThe Dark Knight trilogy. So, Nolan may or may not have felt necessary to mention the stories of this movie in his own.
Contrary to Nolan’sDark Knightmovies, this movie has amazing action sequences. So in some way, it was better that Nolan did not link it in his movies. Also, the technology used by Batman inBatman: Gotham Knightis much better than Christian Bale’s Batman. The movie also had the legendary,Kevin Conroyreprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
It is available to stream on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Dewang Ruke
Articles Published :15
I’m your go-to wordsmith for turning otaku dreams into epic reads. From shounen power-ups to slice-of-life feels, I’ve been living in the anime-verse, blending humor, heart, and deep dives into character arcs, plot twists, and fan theories.
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BatmanBatman BeginsBatman: The Dark KnightBatman: The Dark Knight RisesChristopher NolanThe Dark Knight Trilogy
