Batman: White Knight Should Be DC's Next Animated Series

Sean Gordon Murphy's Batman: White Knight is flipping the Dark Knight's mythos on its head. DC Comics' Elseworlds-like tale depicts Bruce Wayne's superhero alter ego as the main catalyst of Gotham City's descent into madness, with a cured Joker (now going by Jack Napier) trying to heal the city and show that it can live without vigilante justice.

To do this, Murphy has locked both men in a war, not just physically, but on cerebral and political levels. The high-octane story not only basks in its unconventional narrative, it also sets the stage for the next possible hit series for the DC Animated Universe.

With DC's very own streaming service in the pipeline, White Knight as an animated series has the potential to be what Voltron and Castlevania are to Netflix. It would fit right in with DC Entertainment's ever-expanding archive of cartoons that don't follow traditional comic stories, a line-up that includes the highly successful Young Justice and Batman Beyond series, as well as the upcoming anime-influenced Batman Ninja film.

Batman: White Knight Is Telling A Unique & Original Story

Murphy, who both writes and illustrates the book, holds nothing back. He's telling a unique tale that's very much intended for mature audiences. Not only does he switch up the roles of Batman and Joker, he gets people to root for Napier as he dives into the duo's mind games with each other. And as both men continue their dance of chaos, Gotham has come under siege from the Neo Joker, the new identity taken on by the second and rejected Harley Quinn known as Marian Drews. The Neo Joker brings a chilly vendetta with her to terminate the city, and more so, to get "her" Joker back.

Meanwhile, the original Harley is trying to rekindle her romance with a rehabilitated Napier and convince him to leave his unhealthy feud behind. But Jack persists with his Batman obsession, eventually convincing Batman's allies such as Commissioner Gordon, Nightwing and Batgirl, to side with Napier against Batman's violent crusade.

Along the way, readers learn just how much Bruce's post-traumatic stress disorder, from years of fighting crime and living with his parents' death, have impacted him. In short, this character study paints everyone -- from the Bat-family to the villains -- in a human light, exposed and vulnerable. The emotions run high, giving us an action-filled drama that can be expanded upon on screen in an R-rated series.

White Knight's Rich History Predates Gotham

In Murphy's story, things aren't just confined to present-day Gotham City and its denizens. BWK dives into the past; World War II to be more specific as we learn about Victor Fries' (aka Mr. Freeze) family who turned their backs on their Nazi roots to work with the Allies and more so, Thomas Wayne.

Traditionally, stories that dig into the Waynes' earlier years, it's either them getting shot in an alley, or linked to the Court of Owls, or embedded in a twisted reality like Flashpoint. In Batman: White Knight, we get much more depth, and how they literally helped save, not just Gotham, but the world as philanthropists wanting to use science for medical advancement on a global scale. Basically, we see what heroes looked like before capes and cowls, and how they'd inspire mankind to either follow in their footsteps, or tread dark waters.

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It's a nice breath of fresh air to see such meaningful portrayals of lesser-developed characters, and an animated series could elaborate even further on how history was shaped after WWII. Murphy already laid the template down with Victor's family: where his wife, Nora, was actually Jewish, and his father, Baron von Fries, hated their relationship. Coupled with Baron's still-existing genocidal mentality, Victor and Nora were driven into Thomas' care, with the Wayne patriarch eventually becoming a father figure to them, while risking his family name.

In short, the ability to rewrite history allows White Knight to really blur the line between villains and heroes, exploring the sinister duality of human nature, and how redemption can be sought later in life. Such complex themes would also differentiate a potential animated series from its predecessors, informing Gotham's rise as a city and the path its citizens initially started out on.

So Many Characters Have A Blank Slate

Batman White Knight 3 cover header Nightwing Batgirl

Beyond the aforementioned families, White Knight leaves potential for almost anyone in Batman's lore, at any time, to be subverted, as no character's story is set in stone. This provides the opportunity to tell reinvigorated stories of the Harley who walked away from Joker but who's still truly, madly and deeply in love with him. The can focus on the jealous Neo Joker who wanted to replace her, as well as the swath of heroes we've been introduced to. The Commissioner who's at his wit's end with Batman, the reformed urban gang leader Duke Thomas, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, and a Bat-family that's had enough of Bruce's endless thirst for vengeance.

Murphy has only scratched the surface of his overall message of how social justice should be dispensed, and it would be intriguing to see how an animated series would handle this war on vigilantism and against the Bat. Ultimately, breaking away from the shackles of old is a risk worth taking, and Batman: White Knight has all the ingredients to do just that. Whether Murphy returns for a second series or not, he's already provided enough material for a show to mine for multiple seasons, without any danger of growing old or stale.