This is a sequel to Batman: Gotham Guardian written by Doc Nygma and Jeph Loeb and directed by Paul Greengrass.
Cast[]
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Batman/Bruce Wayne
- Josh Hutcherson as Dick Grayson/Robin
- John Simm as Ed Nygma/Riddler
- Jared Harris as Oswald Cobblepot
- Bill Nighy as Alfred Pennyworth
- Gary Sinise as Jim Gordon
- Victor Garber as Carmine Falcone
- Bradley Cooper as Harvey Dent
- Denzel Washington as Lucius Fox
- Matt LeBlanc as Harvey Bullock
- January Jones as Vicki Vale
- Sigourney Weaver as Leslie Thompkins
- Rosario Dawson as Renee Montoya
- Matthew Perry as Jeremiah Arkham
- Guy Pearce as Kirk Langstrom
- Nicole Kidman as Sarah Essen
- Andy Garcia as Sal Maroni (cameo/flashback/archive footage)
- Christopher Eccleston as Joker (cameo/flashback/archive footage)
- Doug Jones as Scarecrow (cameo)
Plot[]
The film starts off with a flashback to Sal Maroni's trial in the first film. We see Sal getting shot. We then see a scene from later on showing Sal Maroni dying, with Oswald Cobblepot next to him. He then gives Oswald complete control of his empire. After that, we see the same scene that played during the end credits of Gotham Guardian. Then, the voice says, what's black and white, and red all over. Cobblepot says that it is a newspaper, but the man says "A dead penguin." He then tells Cobblepot to meet with him in one week.
6 months later: Batman is talking with Lucius, who says that his new "weapon" will be ready by the end of the week. It then shows Batman fighting street thugs a couple days later. One of the thugs is holding Batman with a knife to his neck. Batman presses a button and jumps out of the way and a car comes out of nowhere and hits the thug, knocking him out. Two of the other thugs try to run away, but Batman uses grappling hooks to tie them up. He puts the three in his car, and drops them off at the Bat-Signal where he meets with Comissioner Gordon.
Gordon tells him that crime boss Carmine Falcome will be at trial in one week, and due to the fact that the last time a major crime boss went up for trial, something bad happened, he would like Batman to be there. Batman agrees and then flies off. Harvey Bullock then comes up on the roof and says that he doesn't trust Batman, and he and Gordon have an arguement about it.
On the evening of the trial, Batman is hidden in the air vent of the building. Suddenly, all the lights go out, and Batman jumps out. A message starts playing on the speakers, stating "Advancing every other movement, in between reverse. Leave me to my own device, I get direct and worse". When the lights come back on, Falcone is gone. Batman deduces that it means electricity, and jumps into the Batmobile. He pulls up a list of electrician companies in Gotham, and picks the Claude Tibet and Co. Electrical Company. When he arrives at the building, he finds another riddle. It states "This given name is shared with I, a significant other. Many consider me to be Edgar's brother." Bruce deduces that it is referring to Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, the pioneers of Impressionism, and he heads to the Gotham Art Museum. Once there, he finds the only painting they have by Monet, The Train in the Snow. A piece of paper is sticking out of the frame, and it reveals that the painting is a fake. Batman looks around the painting, and discovers a tiny plane hidden in the steam. The plane wasn't invented until twenty-eight years after the painting was made. Bruce takes out a knife and rips open the painting at the spot where the plane is. However, he finds no more riddles. He takes the painting and goes to talk to Jim Gordon.
Batman and Jim meet on the roof of the GCPD building, and discuss the meaning of the painting. By this time, it is one o'clock in the morning. Gordon also signals for a third man to come on the roof, and this man is Harvey Dent, the newly appointed District Attorney, and Bruce's former best friend. After they finish talking, Batman goes to the Batcave and works on the riddle and who could've sent it. He also schedules a lunch with Harvey for later in the week, so that they can catch up. Eventually, Alfred comes in and tells Bruce that it is 5 o'clock in the morning, and his date with Vicki Vale is in six hours. Bruce sleeps for three hours, and then gets ready for the date.
He then meets up with Vicki, and they go to the Jack Haly Circus for their date. While there, he spots the thug that got away, plus two more. Bruce pretends he has a phone call waiting, and goes outside. He activates a device he invented that allows him to hack into other phones and listen to the conversation. He discovers that they want to get revenge on Batman for defeating them and because they think he kidnapped Falcone, and they came to the circus to attract his attention. Buce calls Alfred and tells him to bring the Batsuit. He arrives five minutes later, and Batman hears the thugs taking out guns and shouting.
Batman uses a device to turn off the lights in the building. He then sneaks in and crawls around the back, before finally pouncing on one of the confused thugs. Batman knocks away the thug's gun, ties up the thug, and throws him into the second thug, knocking them out, and the lights turn back on. The other thug, startled, runs away, but two of the acrobats swings down and knock him across the room. However, the thug lands next to the discarded gun, and shoots the acrobats. Batman tries to jump in the way because his bulletproof cape would stop it, but is too late, and the acrobats die. Batman flees the scene and goes to talk to Alfred about what happened, and he blames himself for not preventing the death of the acrobats.
Bruce goes back into the Batcave to study the painting some more, and realizes that it is not the painting he should be investigating, but rather the wood. He does a scan of the wood, and the Batcomputer pulls up a list of locations in Gotham that are built from that type of wood. He discovers that the Iceberg Lounge is the most prominent of these locations.