The CW's Worst DC Superhero Series Has A Harsh Rotten Tomatoes Consensus
Warner Bros. has had a pretty rough time with its DC properties over the last year. Not only have big-name movies like "Shazam: Fury of the Gods," "The Flash," and "Blue Beetle" all underperformed at the box office, but other new spins on The CW properties, like "The Winchesters" and "Gotham Knights," have been canceled after only a single season.
The latter series focuses on Batman's supporting cast and how they react to the news that the Dark Knight has died. As criminals seek to capitalize on Gotham City's newfound vulnerability, a team of allies comes together to protect the city. Either way, considering how much both fans and critics rejected "Gotham Knights," it's probably not all that surprising that the series is The CW's worst-rated DC show on Rotten Tomatoes.
With an unimpressive score of 46% from your average viewers and an absolutely brutal consensus of 21% from critics, "Gotham Knights" inspired derision from all sides. Unfortunately, even The CW mainstays couldn't help this one either, as "Supernatural" star Misha Collins' turn as legacy Batman villain Harvey Dent/Two-Face wasn't enough to keep the series afloat.
What went wrong with Gotham Knights on The CW?
While the official critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads simply, "Never send amateurs to do a Batman's job," individual critics had a lot more to say about what they didn't like about the CW superhero series. "There's too much other quality content based on comic book universes populating the broadcast and streaming landscape to make this feel like anything other than an embarrassing afterthought," wrote Zaki Hasan of The Wrap.
Meanwhile, Ty'Kira Smalls of Common Sense Media was a little more positive, even if they also noted that "Gotham Knights" was ultimately a somewhat lackluster effort. "'Gotham Knights' has an interesting premise, but overall, this Gotham City falls a little flat," they wrote. "It has great storytelling potential — bringing in the children of Batman's enemies — but fans of DC might turn elsewhere to get their TV Dark Knight-adjacent fix."
For fans of the canceled "Gotham Knights," a video game inspired by the story was released in 2022 and followed more traditional Batman mainstays, like Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake. Similarly, this take on the tale also failed to win over the public, meaning that this DC brand likely won't be getting another adaptation anytime soon.