Batman: A Gathering of Shadows

Teaser poster

Jim Lee

***Batman: A Gathering of Shadows*** is a neo-noir superhero action thriller based on the DC Comics character Batman. Directed by Gareth Evans, it is the seventh installment in the DC Cinematic Universe and the second entry in the *Caped Crusader film series*, acting as a sequel to *Batman* (2014). Keanu Reeves leads the cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman, alongside a large supporting cast including Bryan Cranston, Naomie Harris, Bill Nighy, Donal Logue, Leo Howard, Colin Farrell, Ernie Hudson, Hugh Laurie, and Susan Sarandon. Taking place two years after the battle with Red Hood, the film follows Batman as he uncovers a secret cabal of assassins known as the "Court of Owls" and his efforts to stop their growing numbers from threatening the citizens of Gotham.

Following the critical and commercial success of *Batman*, Warner Bros fast-tracked production on a sequel with Evans set to return. He sought to draw more on elements from the New 52 incarnation, specifically the *Court of Owls* storyline. Using *The Raid 2* (2014) as a visual influence while drawing from Machiavellian dramas, the film, was once again principally shot in New York and Chicago, relied heavily on traditional stunts and miniature effects, with minimal computer-generated imagery as well as featuring extensive fight choreography.

*A Gathering of Shadows* was released theatrically on May 20, 2016 to rave reviews from critics who praised the action sequences, performances (particularly that of *Reeves, Harris, and Farrell*), mature tone and themes, and visual style as well as highlighting the film's blending of the mystery and martial arts film genres. The film was a massive success, grossing over $1 billion against against its $200 million production, making it the highest-grossing film of 2016 and the highest-grossing film in the *DC Cinematic Universe* until the release of *Teen Titans: The Judas Contract* (2018). Since its release, critics have considered it an improvement over its predecessor, citing it as one of the best superhero film ever made. It was followed by two sequels: *Batman: Last Knight in Gotham* (2023) and *Nightwing* (2024).

## Plot

The film begins in the winter of 1922 in Gotham City with a frightened elderly man, wearing a bloodstained gown, racing through the snow-covered streets in a panic. He stumbles into a busy intersection where he finds two police officers, who prevent him from being struck by a car. They give him a coat and attempt to quell his fears, with one of them recognizing him as Alan Wayne, remarking that “he built half the city”. Alan frantically rants about “nests” in his home, inconsolable as he stutters through fear. While the officers argue amongst each other, Alan seemingly falls into an open manhole, screaming in agony within the darkness as the officers scramble to help him.

In the present day, Batman and Robin race through the Bowery in a reconstructed Batmobile, headed to stop a standoff between members of Blask Mask’s gang and the GCPD. In the Bowery, Lt. Harvey Bullock and several other officers are pinned down outside of an apartment building where the gang are raining gunfire. Urging Robin to follow his lead, Batman remotely drives the Batmobile in front of the officers to shield them from the gunfire as he and Robin infiltrate the building. Batman intends a stealth approach but Robin brazenly rushes in, engaging the gang, to Batman’s ire. The two fight them, with their skirmish culminating in Batman saving Robin from being shot by one of the gunmen. Delivering the gang to the GCPD’s custody, Batman and Robin depart after Bullock sarcastically thanks them. En route to the Batcave, Batman chastises Robin for his overzealous nature, remarking that he needs more training. Arriving home, the two are greeted by Alfred who commends Robin on his bravery in drawing fire away from the GCPD but Batman “grounds” him, forbidding him to go on patrol until further notice. Robin somberly obeys, apologizing to Batman before leaving to remove his armor. Bruce removes his cowl, revealing to Alfred that he is frightened that Tim will befall a fate like Jason. Alfred tells Bruce that if he was truly afraid of losing them, he would give up his crusade. He reminds Bruce of his “Better Gotham” party before departing the Batcave. Elsewhere near the Upper West Side, Selina Kyle breaks into an upscale loft, rappelling through its skylight. She searches the loft and finds a safe hidden in the master bedroom. Forcing it open with her toolkit, she steals a pouch of diamonds from inside but notices a smartphone. Hearing a door open in the distance, Selina hastily closes the safe and escapes the loft without a trace of her presence. The next morning at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce meets with Lucius Fox, commending him on the Batmobile’s durability. Fox thanks him and informs him that his “Better Gotham” project has upset many of Gotham’s elite. Bruce responds that it is supposed to as he is attempting to reshape the city into something better, a city that won’t need Batman but Lucius doesn’t believe him. Lucius then leads Bruce into their secret workshop within the walls of his office where unveils a projectile cryogenic grenade, based on the work of Victor Fries. Bruce admires the ingenuity but surmises that he won’t have a use for them in the field which prompts Lucius to joke that he will find some use for them. Later that night at Wayne Manor, guests arrive for the party, filling up the Grand Foyer. Commissioner Gordon awkwardly mingles among the socialites and elite until seeing the face of Dick Grayson comforts him. Dick happily greets him and the two converse, with Gordon expressing sympathy towards his split with Barbara. Dick simply shrugs it off as Bruce gathers the guests for his speech. In his speech, he announces that his “Beter Gotham” project has successfully established two affordable housing projects in Burnley and hopes to build more across the city as well as creating programs to aid the homeless and lower class families, with an intent to repair and reestablish the Willowood Home for Children which was erroneously built atop a sinkhole. After his speech, Bruce moves through the crowd, encountering Gordon who commends his charity and thanks him for his grant to the GCPD. The two are interrupted by business magnate Amelia Wycliffe and mayoral candidate Lincoln March who is enthusiastic about meeting Bruce. While Bruce converses with them, Dick finds Tim who tells him he is “grounded”. Dick comforts him, telling Tim that Bruce is probably protecting him. Tim retorts that Bruce is protecting himself. March tells Bruce he supports his vision for a revitalized Gotham and the two set up a meeting. Spotting Selina, Bruce approaches her and she playfully remarks that he is finally using his privilege for good which elicits a wry smile from him. She informs him that she has information on the arms dealer who has been supplying the gangs of Gotham but Bruce notices Gordon moving away to take a call. Using a technologically advanced contact lense, reads Gordon's lips, overhearing information about a homicide in Old Gotham. Bruce apologizes to Selina before slipping away to the Batcave. In Old Gotham, Bullock is overseeing the crime scene which is a dingy apartment. Inside, Batman emerges from the shadows to investigate, finding the corpse of a middle-aged man stapled with knives that have owl emblems etched into the handles. Joined by Bullock, he further investigates the crime scene using the forensic scanner in the lenses of his cowl, discovering an abundance of paint thinner. Batman takes Bullock’s cigar and rubs it in the paint thinner, revealing a hidden message that reads, “Bruce Wayne will DIE tomorrow”.

At the Gotham City Morgue, Gordon is escorted to view the John Doe’s corpse. After the medical examiner departs, Batman, who had been in contact with Gordon via earpiece, remotely scans the body with a small drone which gives him projection back in the Batcave. Examining it together, they determine the man had been killed slowly and upon seeing the knives, Gordon makes reference to an old nursery rhyme about a rumored secret society called the Court of Owls. Batman denies their existence before ending the conversation as Dick enters the Batcave. He attempts to dissuade Bruce from going out tomorrow, revealing Alfred told him of the message left at the scene. Bruce removes his cowl and reassures Dick that he is the most protected man in Gotham. The next day, Bruce is met in his office atop Wayne Tower by March. He erroneously believes the purpose of their meeting is due to a financial endorsement but March informs him otherwise, telling Bruce he only desires his vote. Revealing that he also lost his parents as a child, March tells Bruce he supports his vision for Gotham because it is realistic and it is something that scares the upper class who seek to maintain their status “at the top of the hill”. He further tells Bruce of the only memory of his parents, a broach his mother wore, before adding that something evil has come to Gotham. Gunshots ring out in the hallway before the office is attacked by a masked assassin wielding the knives with owls on the hilts. He wounds March with a stab to the abdomen before engaging Bruce in an intense fight, with the latter sustaining several knife wounds. As they fight, the masked man recites the nursery rhyme about the Court of Owls. To his regret, Bruce manages to throw the assassin out of the tower’s window to his apparent death. In the aftermath, GCPD arrives on scene and Bullock praises Bruce for defending himself while March is hauled away in an ambulance. Gordon informs Bruce that March will be alright but Bruce is focused on the assassin whose body is placed into the back of a coroner’s van. En route to the morgue, the assassin springs back to life and murders everyone in the van. At an unknown location, a group of masked men and women convene a secret meeting where they are joined by the masked assassin whom they address as “Talon”. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce’s wounds are treated by family friend Leslie Thompkins who informs him that if he keeps going the way he does, he will die. Bruce reassures her as she asks him who attacked him and he replies he doesn’t know but plans to find out. In Coventry, Selina Kyle meets with her old friend Holly Robinson who is happy to see her and wonders if she has come out of retirement. Selina replies that she hasn’t before requesting Holly’s help in removing the security on the stolen smartphone. Holly is unable to help but informs she knows who Selina must seek out but she refuses. After a moment of hesitation, Selina begrudgingly allows Holly to lead her to the person who can help: the Riddler, who has been hiding out in a secret bunker in Tricorner, monitoring Gotham’s activity through a sophisticated data network. Riddler initially refuses to help, citing his current underground state to both Selina and Batman. However, Selina uses their past friendship to convince to help her and they discover information on the smartphone, revealing that the arms dealer known as “the Broker” is none other than Roland Daggett and data regarding an isotope that concerns synthesized electrum. At the GCPD headquarters, Gordon looks over the forensic reports for the John Doe murder and the report of Bruce’s attack. Bullock joins him in his office where the two discuss the state of Gotham, with Gordon stating that there is a “storm cloud casting a shadow over the city”. At Elliot Memorial Hospital, Bruce visits the recovering March who asks him about the attack. Bruce inquires about March’s word before the attack, concerning an evil. March tells him that if the Court is real, they will not stop until they are both dead. Bruce believes it is merely a criminal organization, seeking to use Gotham’s legend to instill fear but March believes otherwise. While departing the hospital, Bruce contacts Alfred to ask him about his great-grandfather Alan who was known to have experienced paranoid delusions before his death. Alfred informs him that Alan was reported to have an obsession with owls, prompting Bruce to tell Alfred to exhume his crypt. Later that night on the Upper West Side, Selina returns to Daggett’s loft, breaking in to confront him about the weapons he’s been selling on streets but discovers his corpse, mutilated with knives. Back at the Batcave, Bruce and Alfred examines Alan’s bones, discovering a strange residue and markings on his bones that indicate he was murdered in the same manner as the John Doe, contradicting the initial report that says he drowned after falling in the manhole. Bruce is horrified by this revelation as Alfred tells him that Alan’s delusions led him to believe that owls were nesting in the walls of the manor. Bruce recalls that Alan was superstitious and had the thirteenth floor removed from Wayne Tower, however, there had to be a space built to hold the bad luck of the thirteenth floor. Bruce then dons his Batsuit and heads to Wayne Tower, with Tim in his Robin armor following him. Suspecting that Talon used this space in his attack, Batman is proved correct, discovering a room filled with weapons and armor. Hearing Robin’s breathing, he chastises him for disobeying him, sternly ordering him to return to the Batcave. Robin proclaims that Batman needs him and as they argue, an explosive is triggered which detonates, destroying the “thirteenth floor”. Batman and Robin are able to escape the explosion but the resulting explosion causes a sword to puncture Robin’s torso, in turn, causing him to crash into a neighboring building, breaking his arm and leg. As Batman retrieves his unconscious body, Talon watches from the shadows.

Batman races to Park Row where the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic is located which is run by Leslie Thompkins. Arriving, he bursts in and carries Robin into one of the examination rooms, urging Leslie to help him. Leslie is able to stop Tim’s bleeding and stabilize him while also setting his broken bones. Batman resolves to find and “end” the Court of Owls as Leslie attempts to stop him, telling him that Tim needs him. Batman leaves anyway, remembering the residue found on his great-grandfather’s bones. Using his lenses’ forensic scanners, Batman travels into the sewers of Gotham where he discovers the same residue on the walls. While investigating, he is ambushed by Talon, causing the two to plummet deeper into the sewers. Batman finds himself in a subterranean lair where he is attacked by a group of Talons who are revealed to be the brainwashed assassins of the Court. The Talons brutally beat Batman until a high ranking member of the Court orders them to cease, this allows him to take advantage of the cave’s structural integrity, detonating a small explosive which causes him to fall into a river below. As Batman is lost in the river’s torrents, the Court member orders the Talons to initiate their attack on Gotham. Meanwhile, a wounded Batman washes up near an outflow located in Tricorner and frantically contacts Gordon to inform him of the Owls’ plan. Fighting through his pain, Batman remotely summons the Batmobile and races to Elliot Memorial. Arriving, he finds the GCPD locked in a gruesome battle with the Talon and intervenes, minimizing the casualties while fighting his way to March’s room. Batman finds a dying March who had been impaled by a Talon who gives him a list of the Court’s targets which includes Lucius Fox and Leslie Thompkins, among others. March tells Batman he tracked the heads of the Courts through his donations, urging him to tell Bruce to “build a better Gotham” before seemingly dying. Knowing Nightwing has a better chance of saving Lucius, he races back to the clinic. Back at the Batcave, Alfred watches as the city falls into chaos, following the Talon’s attacks. In Park Row, the Talons besiege the clinic as Leslie attempts to hide with the unconscious Tim while the Talons search for her. As they close in on her location, Selina emerges and rescues them, engaging the Talons. Batman intervenes, crashing through the window and using his forensic scanner to aid him in combat, notices the Talons have no pulse. He and Selina successfully repel the Talons when he uses the experimental cryogenic grenade. Seeing how battered and heavily wounded Batman is, Selina suggests that he let the GCPD handle the rest of the Talons but he refuses. She reminds him of a promise he made to her years ago during their brief relationship about not letting the city kill him. Passing a silent glance to both Leslie and Selina, he departs the clinic. In the Batmobile, Gordon tells Batman that they are still having trouble fending off the Talons, prompting him to order Lucius and Nightwing to supply the GCPD with the cryogenic grenades. Gordon asks Batman what he is going to do and he replies, “I’m going to finish it” before racing off toward the Upper East Side.

Ameila Wycliffe uses the rickety lift to ascend to her apartment where she is startled by Batman, waiting for her in the shadows. Batman crushes her owl mask and intimidates her into revealing the location of the Court’s meeting place. He tells Wycliffe that the GCPD will collect her but she stops him from leaving, saying that the Court has successfully given Gotham a fear worse than him, reminding him that they perfected reanimation of human tissue. Batman departs her apartment building, traveling to the owl hideout: a rotting summer house near Miller Harbor built by Alan Wayne. Breaking in, he discovers a secret sanctum where the Court have all seemingly committed suicide by poisoning. Batman angrily exits the summer home in silence. Almost a week later, a recovering Bruce sits in Wayne Manor with Selina and Alfred who adamantly reassure him that it is over, despite the Court’s group suicide bothering him. Selina remarks that he is “getting too old”, adding that he should let Dick take over but Bruce vehemently dismisses her suggestion. She asks how Tim is doing and Bruce informs he is good but is still angry about him getting hurt. In an attempt to liven the mood, Alfred switches on the television which shows the GCPD discussing the “Night of Owls”, however, Bruce’s mind lingers on the words of Ameila Wycliffe about “overcoming death” Instinctively, Bruce descends into the Batcave and dons the Batsuit, heading for the Gotham City Morgue where he finds Lincoln March’s body is missing. The trail leads Batman to the Willowwood Home for Children which is dilapidated and condemned. Inside, he finds an alive March who informs him that the Court’s initial plan was just infiltration and corruption from within myself but once they learned of the “old ways”, they employed the Talons, assassins from their past which they reanimated using the electrum, to eliminate their enemies. Batman surmises that March betrayed the Court because the Talons would make him obsolete, which is why he killed Daggett, to stop their flow of the electrum compound which in turn resulted in the Court trying to kill him. March proclaims the Court betrayed him by denying him what was rightfully his. He reminds Batman of the story of the broach his mother wore, addressing him as Bruce before alleging that in the car accident that had apparently killed his mother, he had seen his mother wearing a broach - a misshapen heart made of clay and that his mother is Martha Wayne. Bruce surmises that March had concocted the story after seeing a picture of Martha wearing that same pin. March responds that there was truth in the lie as the broaches are only given to mothers of children who lived at Willowwood, adding that the accident had caused him to be born early, prompting Thomas and Martha to hide him at Willowwood to heal. Bruce believes this to be a fabrication by the Court of Owls but March further informs that the hospital’s funding dried up when Thomas and Martha died. Blaming Bruce for their deaths, March removes his cloak, revealing Talon armor and the two engage each other. After a grueling and tense fight which sees March gaining the edge, Bruce musters a burst of energy, allowing him to beat March, knocking him in the sinkhole accidentally. As Bruce tries to save him, March seemingly releases his grip on Bruce’s hand and sinks into the sand and gravel with a sinister smile. The next morning in Park Row, Bruce visits Tim in the clinic, telling him that he is stripping him of his position as Robin and sending him to Jump City, California for boarding school. This upsets Tim but Bruce finally reveals that the loss of Jason Todd took a toll on him and he couldn’t go through that again. Bruce then departs to an intersection in the Bowery where he somberly places a rose on the concrete before looking at the street sign, revealing the cross streets as Lincoln and March.

In the film’s post-credits scene, set six months later, Tim sits on a Metro train en route to school when a young goth girl approaches him and asks if the seat next to him is taken.

## Cast

* Keanu Reeves as Bruce Wayne/Batman
* Colin Farrell as Lincoln March/Talon
* Naomie Harris as Selina Kyle
* Ernie Hudson as Lucius Fox
* Leo Howard as Dick Grayson/Nightwing
* Bryan Cranston as Commissioner James Gordon
* Donal Logue as Lt. Harvey Bullock
* BIll Nighy as Alfred Pennyworth
* Aiden Granger as Tim Drake/Robin
* Hugh Laurie as Edward Nashton/The Riddler
* Susan Sarandon as Ameilia Wycliffe
* Joanne Whalley as Leslie Thompkins
* Mia McKenna-Bruce as Holly Robinson
* Michael Gambon as Alan Wayne
* John Hannah as Roland Daggett