Batman: Knightfall: Who is Batman?

Written by: Rebecca Devanport

What is Batman: Knightfall?

Batman: Knightfall is a trilogy event consisting of three storylines: Knightfall, Knightquest, and KnightsEnd. This trilogy is a Batman Family crossover event published in 1993. How exciting! Who doesn’t love the Batman Family? The stories were originally published in several DC comics editions, such as Batman, Catwoman, Legends of the Dark Night, and so on. But what is the story of this series exactly? Read through to find out, but be careful of spoilers!!

Synopsis of Batman: Knightfall

As mentioned before, Batman: Knightfall consists of three different storylines. So, this article will bring you to the three storylines that, together, create Knightfall!

The First Stage: Knightfall

We start with Bane, one of Batman’s enemies who is clearly a villain. He freed all inmates in Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to face these inmates one by one and, in the process, weakening him. These inmates included Joker, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, and so many more. Imagine all Gotham City’s most notorious villains being gathered together.

Bane’s plan succeeded. Batman got very weak, and he was defeated by Bane. After that, Bane took control of Gotham City and started to run illegal operations all over the city. Batman a.k.a. Bruce Wayne sought for aid from Dr. Shondra Kinsolving, and he asked Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) to be Batman to protect the city. Robin, Tim Drake, suggested making Dick Grayson as Batman instead, but Bruce disagreed. Secretly, Bruce didn’t want Dick to face Bane.

In short, Jean-Paul became Batman and started fighting some villains. However, he got under the effect of Scarecrow’s Fear Gas, and somehow Jean-Paul became unstable. On the positive side, he also became strong and he was able to defeat Bane and hand the villain to the police with his current condition.

Batman: Knightfall: Knightquest

Knightquest has two stories: The Crusade and The Search. In Knightquest: The Crusade, the story of Jean-Paul as Batman continued as he continued to grow unstable and violent. Jean-Paul still protected the city and fought crimes, but he always did it aggressively, even Robin and Police Commissioner James Gordon weren’t sure that what Batman did was wise.

In Knightquest: The Search, we follow the story of Bruce Wayne and Alfred who were searching for the kidnapped Shondra Kinsolving and Jack Drake, Tim’s father. The two were kidnapped by Shondra’s brother, Asp, because he wanted to use Shondra’s power to kill people. When Bruce found them in England, Asp and Shondra were caught in a telekinetic duel that caused two important things: Bruce’s broken spine to be healed and Shondra’s mind to be like a child. Bruce had to send her to a mental institution.

After this event, Bruce went back to Gotham City, while Alfred decided to stay behind in England for a while.

Batman: Knightfall: KnightsEnd

Once Bruce returned to Gotham City, Tim told him everything about what Jean-Paul did, and Bruce asked Jean-Paul to step down. Jean-Paul, of course, refused, especially since he already had a plan to take down some people to avenge his father’s death. Worse, Jean-Paul threatened to kill Bruce if he came back. Bruce decided to step away for a bit and retrain himself with the help of Lady Shiva.

Finally, after the retraining was over, the hunt began. Bruce and Tim were tracking Jean-Paul, and Nightwing, Dick Grayson, also came to their aid–after saying that all Bruce taught him was a lie. Coincidentally, Catwoman was also after the guy. Somehow, the hunt brought them to a helicopter where Jean-Paul fell into the Gotham River, but he was still alive.

Jean-Paul managed to escape again, but the final battle finally took place in the caverns surrounding Batcave. Bruce tried tricking Jean-Paul by going into narrow areas of the caverns. Earlier, Jean-Paul added tons of gadgets to his armor, and with how narrow the caverns are, he was forced to remove most of the gadgets. Finally, Jean-Paul admitted defeat and decided to travel the world to find his purpose.

Batman: Knightfall’s Artists and Writers

Batman: Knightfall and all the stories related to it are proudly presented to you by Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Dennis O'Neil, Doug Moench, and Jo Duffy as the writers, and Barry Kitson, Bret Blevins, Graham Nolan, Jim Aparo, Jim Balent, Mike Manley, Norm Breyfogle and Ron Wagner as the illustrators. We also have Doug Moench and Jim Aparo as the main creators.

This was about the Batman: Knightfall! What do you think about it? Share with us in the comments about your experiences and thoughts to earn a Limited Edition Comic Book Pack for your collection!