‘Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’ Developer on Bringing Together Caped Crusaders From Christopher Nolan, Matt Reeves and More for the Ultimate Game

For the first time ever, you can play as Robert Pattinson’s Batman, drive around in the tank-like Tumbler from “The Dark Knight,” team up with Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman from “The Dark Knight Rises” and take down Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” — all in adorable Lego form. The new video game, “Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight,” is a Batman fan’s dream come true, bringing together every iteration of the Caped Crusader across film, TV, comics and more.

Related Stories

'Obsession' Review: Clever, Creepy Indie Horror Applies an Old-School Monkey's Paw Device to Modern Relationships

'Obsession' Director Curry Barker on His Theatrical Debut, Cutting a Darker Ending and Taking on 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Next

Developed by Traveller’s Tales, known for its Lego video games with Marvel, “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “Indiana Jones” and more, “Legacy of the Dark Knight” puts gamers in a massive Gotham City to play through Batman’s greatest hits. You’ll play as dozens of versions of Batman as he’s joined by Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon and Talia al Ghul on his journey to become Gotham’s iconic hero.

The amount of different costumes, characters and references in “Legacy of the Dark Knight” is staggering. From Adam West’s classic 1966 hero to the futuristic Caped Crusader from “Batman Beyond,” no iteration is forgotten. There are big-screen versions like Ben Affleck from “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” George Clooney from “Batman and Robin” and even Will Arnett’s own minifigure from “The Lego Batman Movie,” plus more niche characters like “Batman Ninja” and comics such as “Gotham by Gaslight” and “Absolute Batman.”

Players will have to use the fighting and detective skills of every Batman to stop the expansive rogue’s gallery from taking over Gotham. In addition to classic villains like Joker, Bane, Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and Mister Freeze, there are more obscure baddies like Condiment King and Kite-Man lurking around the city. To stop crime, Batman will have to get around in style, which means bringing several different Batmobiles into the game. He’ll have the luxury of driving around in the red-striped 1966 Batmobile, Pattinson’s muscle car or even the zippy Bat-cycle.

With Variety, Jonathan Smith, strategic director and head of development team at TT Games, explains how “Legacy of the Dark Knight” brought together all the different versions of the world’s greatest detective.

Where did the idea come from to pull from all over the Batman lore?

We have a narrative team leading early stage design. As soon as the brilliant idea that this time we could tell the whole, definitive story — from young Bruce Wayne through the years and take the player on that journey to become the hero and savior of Gotham City — we couldn’t let it go. It’s such a fantastic framework and arc for this game. I don’t think it’s been done before. When you put it all together, the experience is so compelling and it’s been so exciting to be able to tell that story.

How did you decide which versions of Batman would make it into the game?

Within that framework of the definitive story, we were so lucky to have access, through our close partnership with DC Comics, to the whole history of the character in so many different media. A lot of the joy and fun that we had in making the game came from the glee with which you can put those different Batman versions, story modes, memorable and iconic moments now side by side together. In Lego form, we can coalesce all those different independent tones and takes into an all-encompassing experience. We found that so enjoyable, and it’s given us so much fuel as we’ve been working on the game.

We’ve seen so many different takes on the same villains, like Colin Farrell’s and Danny DeVito’s Penguin or Zoe Kravitz, Michelle Pfeiffer and Anne Hathaway playing Catwoman. How did you settle on which version would be the main one in the story?

Being a Lego game, we have a unique advantage. We found this in our previous games, now with “Lego Batman” more than ever before, we can coalesce. It’s sort of a universal solvent for the imagination. The Lego form allows other versions of these characters to be brought together and for their unifying personality and traits to come out. So our Selena Kyle Catwoman can be both dressed as Zoe Kravitz in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and later in an outfit which iconically was worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in “Batman Returns.” In a Lego game, that is the same character — that is Catwoman. We’ve been able to do that with with all the characters.

Joker, for example, we’ve seen him over decades of different media. Our Joker will begin on in the alleyways of Gotham City working for Carmine Falcone. He will fall into a vat of acid as the Red Hood character that some fans may remember from the comic book. He’ll emerge white-faced, sharply and extraordinarily dressed that players will recall in Jack Nicholson’s performance in the 1989 movie. Later on, we’ll see him as he becomes ever more extreme, more erratic and then we’ll see him in moments we’ll remember from the Christopher Nolan trilogy of movies. They all fit together on the journey that we take these characters over the course of the narrative.

You have the older references, but there are also some brand new costumes, like Absolute Batman from the comics.

That’s right up to date in terms of its reference. There are original suits as well that the team created just for the game. Those haven’t been seen before at all, but we wanted to go deep and wide with the selection of references. We’ll go right back to the very first appearance of the character in comics, through the TV show, the ’80s, the movies in the ’90s and bang up to date. We have 100 collectible costumes for our playable characters. Our character team designed many more costumes than that for all the different villains and many, many other characters and enemies that you’ll encounter across the city and the story.

“Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” is now available.