Summary
Christopher Nolan’sBatmanfranchise - AKA the Dark Knight series - included a fourthDCmovie that you have probably never heard of. Nolan’s Dark Knight franchise is the mostcelebrated adaptation of the Caped Crusader in live-action, flipping the script on the campier rendition of the character that preceded it. The live-action trilogy set a new standard that subsequent DC movies would continue, with darker themes and realism being more prevalent in comic book movies than ever before.
While Batman remains one of the most iconic DC characters brought to the big screen, culminating in his most recent live-action outing in Matt Reeves' Batman trilogy, the animated facet of his cinematic career is often overlooked. There are scores ofanimated movies that star the Caped Crusaderin addition to many in which he features as part of an ensemble. While these are typically canonically unrelated to live-action movies, one of these animated outings is a spinoff ofNolan’s Dark Knight franchise.
Live-action
Batman: Gotham Knight Is A Secret Fourth Movie In Nolan’s Dark Knight Series
Batman: Gotham Knightis an animated Japanese-American anthology moviecomposed of six animated shorts. It was released on June 30, 2025 - just two weeks beforeThe Dark Knightlanded in cinemas - and tells the story of Christopher Nolan’s Batman in betweenthe events ofBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knight.In it, he tackles Gotham’s criminal underbelly including villains that would not appear in live-action in Christopher Nolan’s universe such as Killer Croc.
Deadshot, Crispus Allen, James Gordon, Alfred, Tom and Martha Wayne
Madhouse
The six shorts withinBatman: Gotham Knightare depicted with different animation styles. All ostensibly follow the same narrative tract, however, as they flesh out Batman’s crime-fighting career in the intervening years between his first two cinematic outings. While characters like Killer Croc and Deadshot would later make their live-action debuts in the DCEU (a franchise separate from Nolan’s), these animated shorts suggest that the characters are also canon in Nolan’s trilogy - though producers stressed that the stories ofBatman: Gotham Knightare not integral to viewing the Dark Knight trilogy.
Why Batman: Gotham Knight Is So Different To The Rest Of The Dark Knight Movie Series
The obvious difference between the Dark Knight movie series andBatman: Gotham Knightis the medium through which the stories are told. Not only isBatman: Gotham Knightan animation, however, but they are stories told with distinct styles animated by different studios -none of which involve Nolan. This invariably gives the anthology movie a distinct feel from the originallive-action Batman movie franchise, bringing a new spin on the character that is canonically the same as Bale’s rendition.
Michael Cain
David McCallum
Additionally, all returning characters inBatman: Gotham Knightare voiced by entirely different actors. Kevin Conroy, who portrays the titular hero himself, is best known for his work onBatman: The Animated Seriesin the same role, so it’s no surprise that he was enlisted for a very similar job inBatman: Gotham Knight. While their salaries aren’t common knowledge, however, it can be safely assumed that this new cast of actors was significantly more affordable for the lesser-known installment than the A-listers in Nolan’s live-action franchise.
How Batman: Gotham Knight Improves The Overall Nolan Dark Knight Series
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Series was acclaimed for its retelling of Batman’s origin story and ultimate retirement in the space of three movies. Nonetheless, a fourth movie that helps flesh out Bale’s Batman is not to be sniffed at, especially when it involves him going toe-to-toe with more obscure adversaries. In the same vein, the anthology features other characters that have their characters fleshed out similarly.
Despite this, the movie is another example of how animated movies often go overlooked, even in the comic book movie space. It did not receive a cinematic release, which would have hampered its prominence, but managed to rake in $8.5 million through domestic sales (viaThe Numbers) while earning a healthy 75% onRotten Tomatoes. With that in mind,Batman: Gotham Knightis well worth a watch for fans of the Dark Knight series.
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
