Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the video game Gotham Knights.
DC has had a bit of a drought in video games as of late. The big two franchises, Injustice and Batman: Arkham, have not seen releases in years. However, in 2022, WB Games Montréal released a role-playing action game called Gotham Knights (not to be confused with the upcoming CW series) where you can play as a member of the bat family, either as Red Hood, Nightwing, Batgirl, or Robin.
The game received mixed reviews, but one thing the game did right was jam-packing it with Easter eggs from the wider DC Universe. So let’s take a look at ten Easter eggs you might have missed in Gotham Knights.
The Flying Graysons
Let’s start off with a fairly simple Easter egg that you might have missed if you have not journeyed to the second floor of the Belfry. The second floor of the Knights’ headquarters has a few posters referencing the DC Universe and the first up is a reference to Dick Grayson’s origin story. The boy who would become Robin and then Nightwing was a part of his family circus troupe until his family was killed and he was adopted by Bruce Wayne.
The poster, which you can see in the image above, references Haly’s Circus and The Flying Graysons themselves. Before a performance one night, gangsters sabotaged the trapeze wires with acid, causing Dick’s parents to fall to their deaths. Dick goes on to purchase the circus in the comics. It is also important to note that Batman: The Court of Owls introduces that Dick’s father was left at Haly’s Circus after his grandfather joined the Owls as their Talon.
Black Canary
We already mentioned one poster located on the second floor of the Belfry, and there is another that holds an Easter egg that references another DC character, Black Canary. The poster in question seems to denote that she toured as an entertainer in the world of the game, appearing at the Monarch Theater, which is the same theater that the Wayne family walked out of before Thomas and Martha’s death. You even visit the theater over the course of the game, where you can see Alfred’s past as an actor.
Her tour was called the “Kicking and Screaming” tour, referencing her sonic voice abilities. The poster is not the only reference to Black Canary in the game, she also calls Barbara Gordon at one point. If you don’t know Black Canary she is a superhero who also appeared in Arrow as well as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).
Queen & Lane Constructions
In one of the more blink-and-you-miss-it style references, while you are biking around Gotham City you might notice a construction sign that reads “Queen & Lane Constructions.” While it might just be the name of a construction company, it also happens to share the last name of two fairly prominent DC characters, Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow, and Lois Lane.
Of course, we are not implying that a reporter for the Daily Planet and a wealthy archer suddenly pooled their resources and ventured into the construction business. It is more likely that they wanted to put a construction sign in the game and included the names as a fun nod for DC fans, as a great little Easter egg.
Memorials honoring artists
All across Gotham, you can find the saddest but most honorable references in the game. In 2022, the year the game was released, both Neal Adams and George Pérez passed away and you can find plaques dedicated to them in the world. Neal Adams was one of the co-creators of one of the villains in the game Ra’s al Ghul, while Pérez had a rather lengthy run on Teen Titans, which is intrinsically linked to the Gotham Knights. While they did not work on the game, without their contributions to DC continuity over the years, the history of DC would not have been nearly as rich as it is now. Therefore, it is great and rather touching to see them immortalized in Gotham Knights.
Big Belly Burger
It can’t be a DC property without a reference to Big Belly Burger, the prominent burger chain fast food restaurant in the DC Universe. Big Belly Burger is mentioned or referenced in nearly every different form of DC content, like comics, games, movies, series, and animation. It was even in the background in 2022’s animated film, DC League of Super-Pets. The only sad thing is that you can’t walk in as one of the characters and order a burger.
Emails
One of the hidden gems of the game is how they have managed to push meaningful Easter eggs through lore drops in your emails at the Batcomputer. Occasionally you will find a message sent to you from someone in the DC Universe, and there are different messages depending on which hero you play as, for example in the image above you can see that Clark Kent aka Superman has emailed Dick Grayson to console him after the death of Bruce Wayne.
You can see in the gallery above that there is a cast of characters who email you, all of which make sense regarding the relationships between the character who receives the email and the characters who send them. For example, Dinah Lance, Kara Danvers (Supergirl), and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) email Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), while Roy Harper (Arsenal) emails Jason Todd (Red Hood), and both Bart Allen (Impulse), and Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl) email Tim Drake (Robin).
Vicform
If you have been paying attention to the buildings around Gotham City, you might have noticed that more than a few of them are either iconic buildings from the Batman franchise, like the building for the Gotham Gazette, Stagg Industries, and Daggett Enterprises. One of these buildings you might have noticed is Vicform Security Services.
At first glance, you might think that the name is a reference to Victor Stone aka Cyborg. However, it has more to do with the game than you might think. In the comic books, Vicform was the company run by Ethan Cobblepot, the son of Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin. It is unknown whether or not he is the CEO of the company in Gotham Knights, but as Oswald’s mother, Constance, is an antagonist of the game that connection might exist.
Star City Trust
One of the many Easter eggs you can find while roaming around Gotham City is the name of a trust that originates from out of town. You will have seen the green sign of Star City Trust that occasionally pops up while you are in the middle of a mission. While it is not as famous as Gotham City or Metropolis, or maybe even the Flash’s Central City, Star City is the home of the Emerald Archer, the Green Arrow.
The game does not explicitly state that Oliver Queen is the owner of the Star City Trust but like “his” construction business, you would like to think that one of the richest men in the DC Universe has diversified his income and invested in a few different industries. The same name also appeared as a bank in the CW’s Arrow.
Scarface
There are a few things in one of the earlier missions in the game that count as Easter eggs. When you go into the Gotham City Police Department for the first time you walk through the evidence room, you can see evidence from some of Gotham City’s greatest criminals like Catwoman’s stolen diamonds, Ra’s al Ghul’s armor, and even the now-deactivated Bat-Signal. But the real Easter egg is the inclusion of Scarface.
Scarface is a Batman villain that is a small puppet, who when paired with the Ventriloquist, turns him into a mob boss. The puppet sits in the room, almost exactly like he did in the Batman: Arkham games. Just don’t look at him too long, he might get in your head.
The Gray Ghost
The last Easter egg on our list is a poster of the Gray Ghost you can find in the game. Interestingly, the Gray Ghost seems to be a movie in the world of Gotham Knights, one that you could have watched in 1992. The Gray Ghost is a character that was played by Adam West in Batman: The Animated Series. The episode saw Batman (Kevin Conroy) solve a case with the actor who played the Gray Ghost, who was his idol growing up.
The Gray Ghost is an allusion to the 1966 Batman television series, which served the same role to children all over the world, as it did for the little Bruce Wayne in the series. What makes this Easter egg even more of a deep cut is the date on the poster reads Nov. 4, 1992. Nov. 4, 1992, is the same date as the first airing of the first appearance of the Gray Ghost, in the episode of Batman: The Animated Series, titled “Beware the Gray Ghost,” which is one of the best episodes of the show.
Did you catch all of these Easter eggs in the game? There are plenty more as the game is filled with references to DC characters, places, and wider storylines. Gotham Knights is available to play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC.