Often with Marvel and DC films, a lot of the solid is comprised of characters who originate from the unique supply materials. However now and again, there’s room to incorporate brand-new creations, and in Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham’s case, that character is Kai Li Cain, considered one of Bruce Wayne’s wards. Should you’re questioning why this unique character was included within the newest of the direct-to-video animated DC films, author Jase Ricci and director Sam Liu opened up about her origins whereas talking with CinemaBlend.
Primarily based off the same-named “Elseworlds” miniseries from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Richard Tempo,Troy Nixey and Dennis Janke, Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham takes place within the Twenties and follows David Giuntoli’s Bruce Wayne returning to Gotham Metropolis to research and fight supernatural forces threatening his house. Uncharted and You actress Tati Gabrielle voices Kai Li Cain, who fills the position that Tim Drake occupied within the unique comedian, although she has extra to do on this adaptation due to being the secondary protagonist. Inquisitive about how Kai Li got here to be, I first requested Jase Ricci how he went about creating her, and he answered:
Clearly the identify is a portmanteau of Kelley from Darkish Knight Returns and Cassandra Cain, however I feel what it actually got here from is… I give all credit score to Sam Liu and Jim Krieg, as a result of after we had been growing this story, we introduced up factors like, ‘Properly right here’s a Bruce Wayne that left Gotham Metropolis very early to journey the world to turn out to be Batman. Alongside the best way, he accrued, if you’ll, these orphans who’re stand-in Robins. But it surely didn’t appear very worldwide. It wasn’t a directive that, ‘We have to unfold out our solid.’ It was pondering of it as natural to the story. Kai Li really wound up being considered one of my favourite characters… The arduous factor of writing Batman is he’s not extraordinarily loquacious, so it’s arduous to know to get into his head. Particularly after we get to Gotham, she’s our avatar into the story. She’s the newcomer to the pack of Robins, and so they’re like, ‘Properly, that is how Bruce is, that is how it’s.’ We see her fall in love with Gotham. So I feel that was a essential change, and I like the truth that they’re extra of a illustration of world journey fairly than Tim and Jason. Not that there’s something improper with that, [but] I feel it match our story higher.
For many who don’t know lots about Batman, Carrie Kelley was the younger lady who turned the brand new Robin within the alternate continuity miniseries Batman: The Darkish Knight Returns, and later reappeared within the sequels Batman: The Darkish Knight Strikes Once more and The Darkish Knight III: The Grasp Race. Cassandra Cain has been been a part of the principle DC Comics continuity since 1999 and, together with succeeding Barbara Gordon as Batgirl in 2001, has additionally passed by the identities Kasumi, Black Bat and Orphan. So for the film model of Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham, it was determined to mash these younger girls collectively into Kai Li Cain not simply to assist diversify the lineup of “Robins,” but in addition to offer that newcomer perspective to each how Bruce Wayne is and coming to Gotham for the primary time.
Kai Li Cain is considered one of three youths that Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham’s Bruce Wayne takes beneath his wing, the opposite two being Dick Grayson (similar to the unique comedian) and Sanjay “Jay” Tawde, a revamped model of Jason Todd. Now realizing that Sam Liu performed a key position in arising with Kai Li, I later inquired with the director about his connection to the character. Right here’s what he needed to say:
Jim Krieg, who’s kind of the top author, I keep in mind after we first sat down and we had been trying on the script and like, ‘Okay, what are we going to do? How are we going to make this work?’… [Jim Krieg] was like, ‘This solid is all white male, for essentially the most half.’ You’ve got two semi-controversial, racist sort of depictions of Ra’s and Talia, however all people else is white males principally. So how will we combine this up a bit bit?… I don’t thoughts it if it is smart, so I wrestled with that lots. So to me, it’s like, if Bruce Wayne, after his mother and father died, was taken overseas by Alfred, and he learns principally every thing that he is aware of. Components of mysticism, his Houdini components, his detectiving, all that got here overseas in several international locations with completely different specialists. It made sense to me that we may most likely change the “Robins.” As a result of once more, he’s not in America or in Gotham. He’s all over the world, and he most likely would have picked up his household throughout his travels all over the world.
So now we all know the story behind how Kai Li Cain was created, and though she’s an amalgamation of Carrie Kelley and Cassandra Cain, I’ll be curious to see if this particular character is later included in different DC initiatives. As for what awaits Kai Li in Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham, you’ll simply want to observe the film for your self to study that, though there may be an amusing second the place she’s clearly not amused by the drunken antics of Oliver Queen, voiced by Christopher Gorham. The film’s voice solid additionally consists of David Giuntoli as Bruce Wayne/Batman (he beforehand voiced the character in Batman: Soul of the Dragon), John DiMaggio as James Gordon, Patrick Fabian (of Higher Name Saul and “The One Piece is actual!” fame) as Harvey Dent, Brian George as Alfred Pennyworth and David Dastmalchian as Grendon, amongst many others.
Following its world premiere this previous Friday at WonderCon and Anaheim, Batman: The Doom That Got here to Gotham shall be launch by Warner Bros. Dwelling Leisure on Digital, 4K Combo Pack and Blu-ray Tuesday, March 28. Stream loads of different animated DC choices with an HBO Max subscription, and maintain your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for information on upcoming DC films.
