Part Two of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies
Next up is Batman: Gotham Knight which ties into the release of The Dark Knight in 2008. Batman: Gotham Knight is an anthology film, which means a film made up of several different short films tying into a single theme, that tells a series of stories that take place between 2005's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. This was the first movie to ever use authentic Japanese anime from five different animation studios.
Segments:
Have I Got a Story for You
Have I Got a Story for You was written by Josh Olson and animated by Studio 4°C. It's the story of three teenagers telling their one friend about Batman. Each kid has a different version of Batman, one as a living shadow, one as half-man and half-bat kinda like Man-Bat, and the last is more like Iron Man. Friend that hasn't seen Batman finally gets to see him, when the bad guy, called Man in Black, he is chasing ends up where the kids are. The young man sees him as what he really is; a very human warrior in costume. As the segment ends you hear the fourth kid tell his friends; "Have I got a story for you guys!"
Cast for Have I Got a Story for You:
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Jason Marsden as Cop
Scott Menville as B-Devil
George Newbern as Man in Black
Corey Padnos as Porkchop
Crystal Scales as Meesh
Alanna Ubach as Dander
Crossfire
Crossfire was written by Greg Rucka and animated by Production I.G.. Crispus Allen and Anna Ramirez are partners and members of the Major Crimes Unit that have been hand-picked by James Gordon. The two are assigned to take the recently captured Man in Black (captured during Have I Got A Story For You), revealed to be Jacob Feely, an escaped inmate from Arkham Asylum with an expertise in advanced electronics and explosives, to the Narrows to be incarcerated. So on the way back Ramirez and Allen get into a fight about him leaving MCU, but they get caught in a confrontation between tow gangs, Sal Maroni and The Russian. Batman saves them both gangs and Ramirez from Sal Maroni. He recognizes them as Gordon's officers and tells them that Gordon is a good judge of character, and disappears.
Cast for Crossfire
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Corey Burton as The Russian
Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen
Jason Marsden as Doctor
Scott Menville as Cop
Jim Meskimen as James Gordon
Pat Musick as News Anchor
Ana Ortiz as Anna Ramirez
Rob Paulsen as Maroni
Andrea Romano as Dispatcher
Field Test
Field Test was written by Jordan Goldberg and animated by Bee Train. An accident involving a new WayneCom satellite's gyroscopic electromagnetic guidance system gives Lucius Fox an idea to create a device with the satellite's gyro with an advanced motion sensor that will electromagnetically deflect small-arms fire. Bruce Wayne takes the device and attends a charity golf tournament being held by developer Ronald Marshall, with whom he discusses the mysterious death of a woman, Teresa Williams, who had opposed some of Marshall's plans. During the tournament, Bruce takes Marshall's PDA. Later, Batman hijacks a boat owned by Sal Maroni and drives it into The Russian’s, and attacks both gangs at once, while using his new device. He attempts to force a truce between the two gang leaders until he can get evidence against them, but is disrupted when one of Maroni's men fires at him. The bullet deflects and instead hits one of The Russian's men. Distressed, Batman takes the injured man to the hospital. Later, he returns the device to Fox, stating, "... 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." A side note about Field Test, the Bruce Wayne in this one is much younger than the others we've seen so far, Kevin Conroy does an awesome job at making Bruce Wayne sound like he's ten years younger.
Cast for Field Test
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Corey Burton as The Russian, Ronald Marshall
Will Friedle as Anton
George Newbern as Guido
Rob Paulsen as Sal Maroni
Kevin Michael Richardson as Lucius Fox
In Darkness Dwells
In Darkness Dwells, was written by David S. Goyer and animated by Madhouse. The police respond to a riot in a cathedral where Cardinal O'Fallon was giving a sermon. According to eyewitness testimony, the Cardinal was abducted by a large lizard-monster and taken down into the crypts below. Lieutenant Gordon, Crispus Allen, and Anna Ramirez investigate; Gordon has a brief conversation with Batman, who agrees with Gordon's theory that the Scarecrow's fear toxin is behind the riot as the doctor has been at large since the riot at the Narrows (during the event of Batman Begins).
Batman gives Gordon an earpiece that will allow them to stay in contact and descends below ground, trying to find Cardinal O'Fallon and his abductor. A homeless man living in an abandoned subway station identifies the abductor as Killer Croc. Batman and Gordon briefly discuss the villain's past, but are cut off when Killer Croc himself shows up, under the influence of the fear toxin, and attacks Batman. Batman defeats him, but not before sustaining a bite that transfers some of the toxin to him.
He then finds Cardinal O'Fallon being put on trial and sentenced to death by the Scarecrow, who is unhappy with O'Fallon's efforts to help the homeless. Batman leaps in to defend the Cardinal. Using the methane already present in the room, he sparks an explosion that destroys several water pipes, flooding the area and allowing him to escape with the Cardinal. Gordon appears in a helicopter to retrieve the Cardinal. The Cardinal offers to help Batman, but Batman refuses, saying, "Maybe next time."
Cast for In Darkness Dwells:
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Corey Burton as The Scarecrow
Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen
Will Friedle as Cultist
Brian George as O'Fallon
Jim Meskimen as James Gordon
George Newbern as Man
Ana Ortiz as Anna Ramirez
Rob Paulsen as Mole Man
Working Through Pain
Working Through Pain was written by Brian Azzarello and animated by Studio 4°C. Continuing on from In Darkness Dwells, Batman is shot in the stomach by a man hallucinating in the sewers of Gotham.
He cauterizes the wound and attempts to get out from underground, reflecting on his experiences with managing pain as he does so. First, he remembers volunteering with a relief effort and assisting a doctor in performing surgery without anesthesia. Next, he reflects on the lessons he learned from a woman named Cassandra, who was cast out of her community for disguising herself as a boy in an attempt to become a Fakir.
Over several months, she teaches him to minimize his pain to the point where he can control it, sleeping on a bed of needles or standing on hot coals without reacting. One night, several young men appear to harass Cassandra, who takes their blows without seeming to feel them. Bruce steps in to defend her, not only demonstrating his ability to withstand their attacks, but defeating them all with his martial arts skills. Cassandra then tells him to leave, saying that he has learned what he came to learn.
She then comments on how Bruce's pain was beyond her, or possibly even his, ability to handle, but how it also appeared to be leading him down a path he desired. Back in the present, Batman ends up in a gutter, where he discovers a cache of guns buried in the garbage. Alfred arrives to assist him and tells Batman to give him his hand so he can pull him out of the gutter, but Batman, arms full of guns, replies that he cannot.
Cast for Working Through Pain:
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Will Friedle as Youth 1
Brian George as Arman, Scruffy Man
Jason Marsden as Youth 2
David McCallum as Alfred Pennyworth
Parminder Nagra as Cassandra
George Newbern as Youth 3
Rob Paulsen as Youth 4
Kevin Michael Richardson as Avery, Wounded Man
Hynden Walch as Young Cassandra
Note about the cast. David McCallum as Alfred is awesome. Dude, it's Ducky from NCIS!
Deadshot
Deadshot was written by Alan Burnett and animated by Madhouse. Bruce Wayne has a flashback to the murder of his parents. In his penthouse, he examines the firearms he took from the underground tunnel's gutter (during the event of Working Through Pain) which he intends to turn in to the police. Wayne admits to Alfred that even though he vowed never to use them in the memory of his parents, he can still understand the temptation to use one. Meanwhile, in another city, an assassin known as Deadshot carries out an assassination on a local mayor with a spectacularly difficult shot from a ferris wheel literally miles away from the man and returns to his tropical base. There, one of his associates hires him to carry out a hit in Gotham. It is revealed that The Russian has put out a hit on Lieutenant Gordon, and Batman is called in to protect him.
Batman gives Crispus Allen Ronald Marshall's handheld PDA device (which he stole as Bruce Wayne in Field Test), containing a link to encrypted e-mails proving that Ronald Marshall hired Deadshot in the past. He then follows Gordon's motorcade, with Alfred providing satellite-imagery assistance using the new WayneCom satellites. Deadshot attempts to shoot Gordon from a moving train, but Batman deflects the bullet. Deadshot then gleefully reveals that Batman was his real target the entire time, and that the threat against Gordon was merely a ruse to draw him out. He opens fire as the train enters a tunnel, and as Batman attempts to charge Deadshot, he is injured, falling off the train. Deadshot advances to where he saw Batman fall, gloating, but is ambushed from behind and disarmed. He and Ronald Marshall are arrested. Wayne confides to Alfred about how similar the fight in the tunnel seemed to the night his parents were murdered, and comments that "I've been trying to stop those two bullets all my life." He expresses discouragement, and Alfred agrees, but adds that he thinks Bruce has a higher purpose. Bruce then looks up at the sky and sees the Bat-Signal.
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Gary Dourdan as Crispus Allen
Jason Marsden as Thomas Wayne, Doctor
Jim Meskimen as James Gordon, Floyd Lawton / Deadshot
David McCallum as Alfred Pennyworth
Pat Musick as News Anchor
Kevin Michael Richardson as Bulky Man
Andrea Romano as Martha Wayne
Hynden Walch as Young Bruce, Female Campaign Worker
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