Update:
Longtime Batman
comics writer Scott Snyder tweeted out Sunday afternoon a notably less cryptic message than his counterparts at WB Montreal.
“Wait for it: #bewarethecourtofowls,” Snyder’s tweet read, quote-tweeting WB Montreal’s original video tweet. Snyder’s tweet has since been deleted.
Snyder is the author of such modern Batman arcs as the Court of Owls, City of Owls, Death in the Family, and many others. His Court of Owls arc is where Batman readers were first introduced to the shadowy group that seemingly runs all of Gotham City. His tweet seems to indicate that whatever project is coming from WB Montreal, it may involve the Court of Owls, though there has been no such confirmation from Snyder or WB Montreal at this time.
While you’re here, check out Amazon’s deals on box sets of Snyder’s Batman graphic novels.
Original story as follows:
Batman: Arkham Origins developer WB Montreal posted a video celebrating Batman Day early Sunday morning, which contained a series of cryptic images that could be teasing a new Batman game.
In what appeared to be nothing more than a 30-second clip of a city building being illuminated by the Bat signal (a somewhat common occurrence on Batman Day), four different images flash by every few seconds. Here’s each image as they appear while paused, courtesy of Twitter user @NYCWallSpider.
WB Montreal Game Director Geoff Ellenor also shared the original video, saying “Hmmm, something going on.”
From our observations, each image appears to bear at least some resemblance to the symbols of figures or organizations in Batman lore.
The most obvious one would be the final symbol that appears, which seems to depict a sort of demonic face. Our best guess is that this may be related to Ra’s al Ghul, the longtime enemy of Batman and nearly immortal terrorist. Conveniently enough, Ra’s al Ghul translates to “head of the demon” in Arabic.
Another symbol bears a resemblance to the Talons, the enforcement arm of the mysterious illuminati group, the Court of Owls, which works in the shadows to orchestrate many of Gotham City’s biggest developments. See the resemblance in the tweet below:
Of course, all of this would be guesswork at best if it weren’t for another mysterious post from WB Montreal last December. On Twitter, WB Montreal associate producer Valerie Vezina posted a photo of herself wearing a shirt bearing a logo that again looked like an owl.
We haven’t heard anything since then (WB Montreal didn’t show up to that year’s Game Awards), but another PlayStation State of Play event is happening on Tuesday September 24th. Check out what to expect from State of Play, plus our biggest hopeful wishes. Think we’ll see some sort of Batman game there? Sound off in the comments below.
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/caped crusader for IGN.
