Batman: Gotham Knight
Batman Gotham Knight , Battoman Gossamunaito? is a 2008 directtoDVD anthology film of six short anime superhero films intended to be set in between the films Batman Begins 2005 and The Dark Knight 2008. It depicts Batman battling against the mob of Gotham City, as well as other villains. The producers have acknowledged that it is not necessarily meant to be canon to the The Dark Knight Trilogy and any of the six segments could easily fall into almost any Batman continuity. The shorts, or segments, are written by Josh Olson, David S. Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg and Alan Burnett. Although all based on Japanese anime art style, each segment has its own writing and artistic style, just as the works from the DC Universe, and with the same style of The Animatrix although some segments are connected. All six films of the feature star Kevin Conroy, reprising his voice role as Batman from the DC animated universe.
A street kid meets with his three friends at a skate park. All three of them claim to have seen Batman earlier that day. Batmans battle with the Man in Black, a hightech criminal, is told in reverse chronological order, with three very different interpretations of Batmans form and abilities one describes him as a living shadow that can melt away and reappear at will similar to Vampire Batman from Batman amp Dracula Red Rain, another describes him as a halfhuman, halfbat creature similar to ManBat, and one describes him as a combat robot that can leap tall buildings in a single bound. At the end, Batman pursues the Man in Black to the skate park, and captures him with the help of the fourth street kid. The fourth kid is able to see what Batman truly is after seeing him sustain injuries from the battle a very human warrior in a costume. He proceeded to tell his experience to his friends after Batman disappeared.NOTE Though the film credits give story by acknowledgment to firsttime writer Jordan Goldberg, Josh Olson acknowledged it was actually based on a very similar story by Frank Robbins called The Batman Nobody Knows. The story was first printed in Batman 250 in 1973, and subsequently adapted as Legends of the Dark Knight in The New Batman Adventures. According to Olson The first time its stealing, the second time its borrowing, the third time youre creating a genre. Also, the three different versions of the man in black have many similarities to other members of Batmans Rogues gallery, though they all resemble a member of the League of Shadows. The first story features a techwielding villain who has teeth similar to Killer Croc, the second uses a jetpack, and the third has similarities to the villain Deadshot. Also, the Batman of the second encounter is very similar to the villain ManBat. When the Man in Black is seen by all the teenagers, he has no identifiable characteristics. Lastly, the story is told backwards, with the kid who claims he saw Batman most
Source: Wikipedia
