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ammomancer · 1 year

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Gotham Knights Characters in Comics: A Guide For Non-Comic Readers

Are you a Gotham Knights viewer curious about what your new faves are like in the source material? Well, you're in luck, because I love to talk about them!

I'll preface this by saying that while I haven't actually sat down and watched the show, I have read the full episode transcripts. Additionally, if you're wondering where Turner, Cressida, or Rebecca and/or Brody March are in this post, they're original characters for the show and have no comic book counterparts.

(characters are in no particular order)

Carrie Kelley/Robin

Carrie originates from Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. TDKR takes place in a (non-canonical) not-too-distant future where Batman has retired after the death of Jason Todd (the second Robin; his death happened in main continuity too, Bruce just responded... differently to it), but takes the cape back up for... reasons. I haven't actually read this comic despite how influential it is (basically every hyper-macho, weirdly-militarized, violence-glorifying take on Batman owes its existence to this comic, which should tell you why I haven't read it). Anyway, Carrie is Batman's Robin when he comes out of Bat-Retirement. She doesn't have too much going on to my knowledge, but is notable for being the first female Robin and for her use of a slingshot. In the sequel comic The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Carrie uses a different costume and the name Catgirl. Yes, really.

The Mutant Gang and its leader (though idk about the name Vernon Wagner since, again, haven't read it) are also taken straight from this comic. Including the part where they don't look like mutants and just look like weird punks wearing Cyclops visors.

Navia Robinson's Carrie is great, I really like her design and her performance.

Duela Doe (Duela Dent)/Joker's Daughter

Oh boy, Duela. She made her first appearance in 1976, where she initially claimed to be the daughter of various villains such as Scarecrow and Riddler before finally revealing that her father is Two-Face (according to one of the writers, this was because Harvey was the only villain who it had already been established was married; he has an estranged wife named Gilda). At some point she started using the name Harlequin (note that this was before Harley Quinn was introduced) and was a member of the Teen Titans for a bit. This Duela is definitely the most normal—she's just a bit odd (the whole Joker's Daughter thing was just to spite Harvey for abandoning her because she wasn't a twin).

One reboot (Crisis on Infinite Earths) later, Duela's parentage is once again a mystery, though she still uses the "Joker's daughter" theme. One of her most notable appearances is in the Titans East arc of the 2000s Teen Titans run, where she is a member of the villainous Titans team assembled by Deathstroke (aka Slade from the Teen Titans cartoon, they just didn't want to say "death" on kids' TV). Eventually she gets bored and switches sides to fight alongside the heroic Titans.

Some time later, it's revealed that Duela is actually from an alternate universe and because of this she's killed by a Monitor (genuinely do not know what the Monitors' deal is but they have something to do with the universe/multiverse). Later on in the same big event (Countdown) we find out that the universe she was from is Earth-3, where characters who are normally good guys are bad guys and vice versa (for instance, instead of Batman there's the villainous Owlman). Her parents are the Jokester (Earth-3's heroic Joker) and Three-Face (Evelyn Dent, Harvey's heroic Earth-3 counterpart who is a lady for some reason).

Yet another reboot later (the New 52, noted for its many... questionable decisions), Duela is now just some girl with major issues and an obsession with the Joker. She also wears his severed face as a mask. Yyyyyeah, you can pretty much ignore this version.

The Gotham Knights version seems to be going with Duela actually being Joker's daughter, since she describes her background in such detail and she seems troubled enough by it that I doubt she made it all up. I'm interested to see what direction they go with her, at any rate!

Harper Row (Bluebird) and Cullen Row

Harper and Cullen get to share a section. Do Not Separate Them etc.

Comics Harper and Cullen's mom, Miranda, was murdered rather than having walked out on them (though I get why they changed this, as it ties in to the story of another character who probably won't be on the show—Cassandra Cain, who's currently on Batwheels and DC has this weird thing about characters appearing in more than one show at once). Since their shitty alcoholic dad was in and out of jail, Harper ended up having to be the one to take care of herself and Cullen. Eventually she applied for emancipation and they both moved out.

Harper is very good with machinery, and she provides for herself and Cullen by working as a professional electrical engineer. Harper was inspired to become Bluebird when Batman saved her and Cullen from some homophobic assholes (specifically they were targeting Cullen for being gay, though Harper is also bi. They never say if Cullen is trans or not). After this she and Cullen became fixated on Batman and his exploits (well, more so than the average Gothamite is), and eventually Harper went out fighting crime as Bluebird. Bluebird mostly uses gadgets she made herself, including a big taser gun. She's currently in college and volunteering at a clinic.

Cullen... doesn't do all that much. Tyler DiChiara noted in an interview that as much as he likes comics Cullen, he doesn't like how passive he is and he's excited to show him stand up for himself more. I definitely see that in the show and I'm totally here for it!

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler/Robin/Batgirl)

No, that's not a spoiler warning, she actually uses the name Spoiler.

I'll be honest, Steph is one of the main reasons I made this post, just 'cause the show version is such a far cry from her comics iteration (and not in a good way) that I felt almost duty-bound to try and set the record straight. I'm all for new interpretations of characters, but this goes beyond that into "in name only" territory.

So, what is comics Stephanie like? Well...

Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Arthur Brown, a failed game show host better known as the C-list supervillain Cluemaster (basically a lamer knock-off of the Riddler). Growing up with a criminal father (who alternated between being in jail and being an abusive prick when he was home) and a mother who, albeit loving, was limited in her ability to take care of her due to her drug addiction, Steph had to be tough. When her dad broke out of jail and was a fair bit more competent than normal, she decided she'd had enough and tried to stop him as Spoiler (because she "spoiled" her father's plans, you see). The first time she met Robin (specifically Tim Drake, the third Robin) she hit him with a brick. That must have been a good first impression, because they actually dated for a while. There's a story arc where Steph finds out she's pregnant (from a shitty ex-boyfriend, NOT Tim) and ends up giving her baby up for adoption. When Tim couldn't be Robin for a bit (his still-alive father Jack found out he was Robin and grounded him), Stephanie showed up to the Batcave in her own homemade Robin costume and basically declared herself Batman's Robin. When Bruce fired her from the position (for really dumb reasons), in an attempt to prove herself she tried to carry out one of Batman's plans to stomp out organized crime in Gotham. However, Steph made a mistake (part of the plan involved one of Bruce's fake identities but she didn't know it was one of his fake identities and thought it was an actual person) and ended up accidentally starting a huge gang war. In the midst of this gang war, she was kidnapped and tortured by Black Mask (the one Ewan McGregor played in the Birds of Prey movie, yes), and when he eventually let her go and she got to a hospital, she ended up succumbing to her injuries and dying. Messed up!

Some time later it turns out she actually faked her death and was in hiding for a while. She's given the Batgirl mantle by the aforementioned Cassandra Cain (who was Batgirl at the time) but after the New 52 she's Spoiler again (currently she's like, both? it's weird).

The big issue I have with her portrayal in Gotham Knights is with her background. Steph not only being a rich girl, but a big part of her story involving her being a rich girl, is missing the point SO hard in my opinion. A lot of who Stephanie is is because of her lower-class background (much like her fellow dead Robin, Jason Todd, who Bruce would compare her to a lot while she was Robin). She's someone who's had to fight for everything she has, that's like the whole point of her character! She and Harper were actually roommates in the comics for a bit.

Harvey Dent/Two-Face

(first image is regular ol' Harvey, second image is him as Two-Face. There are a lot of variations on 2F's design, but pretty much all of them fit the description of "at least reasonably handsome-looking normal guy face on the left, messed-up scarred face with a glaring eye and constant snarl on the right".)

Here we get to the part I imagine a lot of you were waiting for. There are people who could explain this better than I (maniac-reboggles, for one), but I'm including my own attempt for the sake of completeness.

As he's existed since 1942, there's a lot of different ways Harvey's backstory has been told. The Incident that makes him into Two-Face has been pretty consistent since day one, but what happens before then varies more. In modern comics, though, it's generally something like this:

Harvey Dent grew up with an abusive father who kept a lucky coin that he would flip to decide whether or not he would beat his son. (This is where the DID comes from; childhood trauma is pretty much a prerequisite for the disorder as far as we know.) As an adult, Harvey is a close friend of Bruce Wayne (just to be clear Bruce and Harvey have had Gay Undertones for a long time, it's nothing new) and the youngest District Attorney in Gotham's history. Since this is Gotham, the justice system is corrupt as hell, but Harvey is doing his best to straighten things out and trying to root out corruption, earning him the nickname of Gotham's "White Knight". Things go bad when, while prosecuting mob boss Sal Maroni, Maroni (or sometimes one of his lackeys) throws sulfuric acid in Harvey's face, horribly scarring him. This is the last straw for Harvey psychologically--this incident has proven to him that the legal system is beyond hope. Taking inspiration from his father, Harvey reinvents himself as Two-Face, making decisions using a coin that has one clean side and one scratched-up, "scarred" side. (Originally it was that he'd either do a good deed or a bad deed, and sometimes it's still that, but other times it's more between "evil" and "less evil"). In more recent comics Harvey's alter (referred to by different names depending on the continuity; most often Two-Face is the name of the alter, but in BTAS he's "Big Bad Harv" and in at least one continuity he is referred to as Harvey's "associate") is depicted as a "protector" (which is more realistic to DID- people don't just have "evil" alters unlike what some movies would have you believe) who just happens to be rather ruthless in his methods.

Bruce is forever upset at what happened to his friend, and is often depicted as wanting to help him get his life back together and go straight; sometimes Harvey even agrees to that, but due to the nature of comic books he always goes back to villainy eventually. Sigh...

Lincoln March

This is....Mmmm.

I haven't read the comic arcs with him in them, but in the Court of Owls arc, Lincoln March (which is apparently an alias) is seemingly a cool guy who supports Bruce in his endeavors to make Gotham better, he wants to run for mayor, a real stand-up guy. He even seems to want to assist Batman against the Court of Owls.

Buuuuut it turns out he's actually working with them. But they like, betrayed him or something, and also he claims that he's actually Bruce's secret twin brother, Thomas Wayne Jr.? It's left ambiguous if this is true or not.

(I mentioned before that Rebecca and Brody were made up for the show--for clarity, comics Lincoln is single.)

I don't know what direction they're gonna go with Lincoln in the show but I have to hope it isn't as dumb as the comics. But who knows, it could be way better, or it could be even dumber. We'll see!

#gotham knights #gotham knights cw #gotham knights tv #duela doe #duela dent #stephanie brown #cullen row #harper row #harvey dent #lincoln march

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