We’re Getting a Robin Video Game (Among Others)!

Holy guacamole! I wasn’t sure how I was going to share the various DC FanDome trailers we’re going to get today. Do I flood my blog with trailers? Do I space them out over the next few days so that I can digest them all? Well there’s no point in holding onto this one because I’m freaking out.

Gotham Knights is the next game in the Arkhamverse series and it will focus on the Bat-Family: Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl and Robin! I’m getting a Robin video game!

This is beyond my wildest dreams. I love the Arkham games, and Batman is great…but a game that focuses on the Bat-Family instead?! A game where Robin and the former Robins (and Batgirl) are the stars? Where you get to play as all of them throughout the game?!

Here’s some gameplay footage from an early build of the game! It’s got two-player co-op!!!

I am salivating. This is a dream come true. I was so prepared for another game where Arkham Batman fights the Joker. But a game where Robin and the Family have to take on the Court of Owls?! Are you kidding me?!

Somebody pinch me.

Now all I need is confirmation of Tim Drake as Robin and not Damian. He looks short and young in the trailer, but he’s taller, seems older and is dressed as Red Robin in the gameplay footage (though is called just “Robin” in the HUD). Could Red Robin just be a skin? Alternate costumes seems like a pretty common thing in these games.

UPDATE: Robin has been confirmed as Tim Drake!

Here’s the flavor text for all of the characters:

  • Batgirl, also known as Barbara Gordon, is a determined fighter and a skilled hacker. As the daughter of deceased Gotham commissioner, Jim Gordon, she had helped Batman as Oracle in the past. Now, after years of recovery and preparation, she is ready to step into her new role, wielding her melee tonfa, and harnessing her training in kickboxing, capoeira and jiu-jitsu.
  • Nightwing is Dick Grayson, the first Robin, who was Batman’s protégé before becoming a hero in his own right. He’s a natural leader and the eldest and wisest member of the Batman Family. Nightwing’s mastery in acrobatics is complemented by his expertise use of his signature dual Escrima Sticks, making him proficient at taking out enemies.
  • Red Hood, formerly known as Jason Todd, is an intense and volatile anti-hero, which stems from his death and forced resurrection by one of Batman’s most dangerous foes. Red Hood has trouble keeping his temper in check but will not hesitate to step into the line of fire when a friend is threatened. His training has given him peak human strength and proficiency in multiple combat techniques with all manner of weapons – both traditional and high-tech.
  • Robin is Tim Drake, the young prodigy and genius of the team, who is a master of deductive reasoning. As a true believer in Batman’s mission, he is motivated by the conviction that Gotham City needs protecting and hopes to be the type of hero Batman personified. An expert fighter armed with his collapsible quarterstaff and skilled in a variety of stealth techniques, Robin also possesses a background in combined psychological warfare and behavioral sciences.

Anyway, game is due out in 2021. Looks like this might be my Playstation 5 upgrade game.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/22/20

Welcome to DC FanDome weekend! Or at least the first of them. I guess there’s a second one coming next month? We’ll see! At least we have some DC Comics this week…or at least one, Batman! We’ve also got more Power Rangers spin-offs and just a bit of Spider-Woman, maybe?

Comic Book of the Week goes to Thor #6, though I don’t really want to praise it as such. Still, it’s a big, momentous comic that looks gorgeous, so at least there’s that.

Epic

Meanwhile, I finished the novel Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis and it’s fine. I’m a huge Lindsay Ellis fan and love her work, but I don’t think her debut novel is anything special. It’s OK, with a fun, casual writing style. But nothing I can actively recommend unless you, like me, wanted to support her and needed something new to do in the pandemic.

Comic Reviews: Batman #97, Drakkon: New Dawn #1, Empyre: X-Men #4, Spider-Woman #3 and Thor #6.

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Here’s a Fancy Look At That Upcoming Batman Movie

DC FanDome starts tomorrow and there have been a couple of teasers flying across the internet already. The one I feel like sharing is this first look at some of the iconography for the upcoming The Batman movie. Director Matt Reeves shared these yesterday.

First up is the official logo and Bat Symbol.

Looks fancy!

Even fancier is this drawing from Jim Lee that shows off the upcoming Batsuit for Robert Pattinson.

Looks fancier!

Here’s hoping we get some kind of teaser trailer for The Batman at FanDome. I don’t know what to expect, but I’ll be eager to see DC show off all the stuff they have.

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Check Out the Trailer for Death on the Nile

Not that we’re going to get movies back in theaters anytime soon, but here’s a new trailer for the Death on the Nile movie. This is a sequel to Murder on the Orient Express, which starred Kenneth Branagh as legendary detective Hercule Poirot.

I liked Murder on the Orient Express, and I liked Branagh as Poirot, so I think it would be fun to turn this into a whole series. I’ve never read either book, let alone any other Poirot mysteries, but it could be really fun.

Death on the Nile, in theory, is scheduled to come to theaters on Oct. 23. We’ll see.

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6 Things I Want from Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad Game (Before We Know Anything About It)

We recently got the first visual confirmation that the video game studio Rocksteady is making a Suicide Squad video game. The geniuses who brought us the Arkhamverse trilogy will be tackling a new DC Comics crew and I am very excited.

The thing is, all we know about the game is this single teaser image. Looks like they’re targeting Superman? Who can say for sure.

Come and get it, Superman!

The point is, having nothing but a single teaser image is not going to stop me from speculating. Even if I only have to wait until this weekend for DC FanDome to actually reveal and explain the game, I’m gonna waste everybody’s time by speculating on things I want to see in the game right now. I don’t see why not. It’s the middle of August. The heat and humidity are terrible. The pandemic shows no signs of slowing down. Life is hell. Patience does not exist. I think it’s perfectly fine to spend my time day dreaming about a new video game from the studio that brought us the Arkham trilogy.

So join me after the jump for all the things I want to see in the Rocksteady Suicide Game, reduced to six entries. And come back after DC FanDome for a new list that will be based on everything we do learn about the game. Maybe some of the ones on this list will prove correct!

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