LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight immediately caught the attention of fans when it was announced. A game that celebrated every iteration of Batman while offering a completely new LEGO experience made it clear this could be a massive win for everyone. The Direct was invited to preview and play two hours of the game, which releases on May 22, and needless to say, we were big fans.

While at the event, on top of hands-on time with the game, we also spoke with Cinematics Animation Director Bob Scott for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. During our interview, the game developer shed some light on how they balanced which adaptations to pull from for the game and the audience they were making this experience for—and it's not just for little kids this time around.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's Comic Influences & Respect of Its Audience

The Direct was invited to a special gameplay preview event for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, where we played for two hours, previewing several sections and elements of the game. To play LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, TT Games set up an incredible setting that felt like a real-life Batcave. With a live feed of the LEGO Batcave playing on massive screens behind me, I sat down at a computer ready to jump into the LEGO Batman's world. 

Legacy of the Dark Knight is a new LEGO game that honors countless different iterations of Batman throughout the decades, all in one single narrative, filled with epic callbacks and hilarious, quirky fun. The game even reinvents the gameplay specifically for everyone's favorite bat-themed vigilante (Arkham fans will be absolutely thrilled).

Here's What We Thought About Playing LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight officially unveiled the best look yet at the upcoming video game's main characters from Gotham, headlined by the Dark Knight and his perennial rival, Joker. The open-world action-adventure video game from Traveler's Tales serves as the fourth main installment in the LEGO Batman series. 

Aside from the game's new open-world Gotham City, Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to captivate players with a new combat system and co-op elements, featuring compelling characters with unique skills and contributions to the mysterious narrative. 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Unleashes Its Core Characters 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has finally revealed a proper look at its final playable character. The new LEGO title from TT Games is a homage to all things Batman, but rather than giving players access to every DC character in the Dark Knight's world, the creative team has limited it to seven options, each with their own unique skills and roles in the story. 

The confirmed playable characters in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight include: Batman, Jim Gordon, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batgirl, and Talia al Ghul. However, until recently, Talia al Ghul has been shrouded in mystery, with no unmasked image of her ever released. The marketing for the character mirrors her shadowy disposition, but now a proper reveal of Talia al Ghul in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is out in the open.

The latest LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight image from the official Instagram shows Catwoman, Batgirl, and Talia al Ghul preparing to fight in front of a Gotham Knights mural. The caption reads "These women rule the night." The trio comprises the three playable female characters in the game. 

TT Games revealed the Riddler's new design for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Gamers are in for a celebration of the Caped Crusader's long history when Legacy of the Dark Knight arrives in May, with its seven playable characters expected to face at least 14 familiar DC villains in an epic saga spanning years. One of those villains will be Edward Nygma, aka The Riddler, who famously poses Batman with tough, puzzling questions, challenging his status as the world's greatest detective.

Official new artwork for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight was shared on X by LEGO Games News, revealing the first look at Riddler's redesign. The Gotham City Police Department poster-inspired artwork noted that Edward Nygma is wanted for multiple crimes, including "puzzling behavior, illegal scavenger hunts, [and] trophy dumping," hinting at the Arkham-esque Riddler trophies to be collected.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is one of 2026's most anticipated superhero games, and it offers players more than just one playable character to choose from. The new LEGO title from TT Games is a love letter to everything Batman, and that includes more than just the Caped Crusader himself. As with past LEGO titles, Legacy of the Dark Knight offers co-op or single-player options, meaning Batman will always have a companion along for the ride. 

The new LEGO Batman title will feature many notable DC characters in an original story that combines the best moments from across Batman lore. Not every character will be playable, with Legacy of the Dark Knight keeping the ensemble strictly to a small group of Batman's allies (with more to come post-launch). Of the ones revealed so far, several look like they'll be exciting to play with.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will be released on May 29 on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Nintendo Switch 2 edition planned for later.

The Joker will look a little different when audiences see the character next in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and that's by design. Rather than an adaptation of any one Batman story, the new TT Games title is a tribute to all of the Caped Crusader's adventures across his vast media legacy. By necessity, that also means that LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has to evolve some of its villains as well, and with the Joker appearing in Batman's history almost as often as the hero himself, there's been much speculation over how the character will appear in the new game.

Marketing for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has now revealed two distinct Joker portrayals that will be featured in the game: Jack Nicholson's from Batman and Heath Ledger's from The Dark Knight. Jonathan Smith, the head of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's development team, revealed to IGN that these transitions are all an intentional part of the story, with the Joker going on a journey just as much as Batman does. 

Smith explained that "the story takes place over many years," and that the Joker "has an origin story" which fans will "get a glimpse of:" 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has revealed a new design for the Joker that will be featured in the 2026 video game. The new title from TT Games is an expansive take on the Batman mythology, covering the caped crusader across film, TV, and gaming. This naturally includes Batman's greatest nemesis, the Joker, who has been brought to life in various forms over the DC hero's lifetime. 

While a glimpse at the Joker in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has already been revealed in the game's trailers, the supervillain will seemingly have multiple designs throughout the game. The latest of these was revealed in a now-deleted Instagram story from the LEGO: Batman account (shared by Blitzwinger on YouTube), which shows Batman flying in behind the Joker.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is going all in on its new open world, with the size confirmed to rival that of other Batman games, even Rocksteady's Arkham series. The new TT Games LEGO title, the fourth in the LEGO Batman series, is a homage to everything related to DC's Caped Crusader. This time, rather than the typical straightforward LEGO narrative, TT Games is introducing a new open-world map for players to explore, and it won't disappoint.

Demos for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (including one that The Direct played) have steadily confirmed the size and scale of this new open-world Gotham City. Similar to Rocksteady's Arkham Knight, Gotham is split across several islands in LEGO: Batman 4. 

Insomniac Games is going to break its Spider-Man tradition in 2026 with its next PS5 release, Marvel's Wolverine. The new PlayStation game is the third Marvel release from Insomniac, following its successful Spider-Man games: Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The studio is switching things up with its next Marvel game, moving away from the iconic web-slinger and entering mutant territory.

A new lead character isn't the only thing that has changed in Marvel's Wolverine, as trailers for the game have confirmed that it will break one long-standing gameplay element Insomniac has established in its Spider-Man games. The new PS5 game is eyeing a Fall 2026 release, and is one of several Marvel video games on the slate right now.

Marvel's Wolverine Is Swinging Away From Spider-Man

2026 brings the arrival of TT Games' next LEGO title, this time focusing on the world of DC with LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. The new LEGO superhero game is switching things up with an open-world style adventure that is a love letter to all things Batman. The game's story is a compilation of the Dark Knight's best tales, from movies to TV series and comics, featuring many familiar faces from the DC mythos.

Several of the playable characters in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight have already been revealed, with players given a choice of a number of heroes alongside Batman. Along with that, the new TT Games title is using several of Batman's iconic villains, drawing from the Rogues Gallery. Fans will be able to get their hands on LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight on May 29, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

Every Villain Confirmed for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Incomniac Games executives confirmed that the upcoming Wolverine video gameplay will have a notably different vibe than the Spider-Man games while also revealing exactly why. Insomniac's Spider-Man games have been extremely successful in the gaming world and have helped revive the superhero genre, which was once dominated by titles like Batman: Arkham City. During the PlayStation Showcase in September 2021, Insomniac officially announced that a Wolverine game set in the same universe as Spider-Man was in development. Since then, the title has had some hiccups, but it is still being worked on.

In a recent behind-the-scenes look at Wolverine that was shared by PlayStation, creative director Marcus Smith, project director Jess Reiner-Reed, and executive producer Eric Monacelli talked about the upcoming game and let fans know a bit of what they can expect once it is released. Notably, the pair mentioned how different Wolverine will be from the Spider-Man games, particularly when it comes to tone and how the titular characters act during gameplay.

For instance, where Spider-Man and Miles Morales knew their goals and what decisions they had made in the past, because of "gaps in his memory," Wolverine will be "an unreliable narrator:"

Even though PlayStation's Spider-Man 3 is still seemingly years away, that has not stopped the video game web-slinger from bursting back onto the scene in 2026. Insomniac Games' take on the Marvel character has cemented itself as a cornerstone of the Spider-Man canon. Fans have already seen the video game version of the hero appear in the Spider-Verse films, but he is back in the spotlight with Marvel's latest comic release. 

The newest issue of the ongoing The End 2099 Marvel Comics story included an epic cameo from one of the Spider-Man characters from PlayStation's Spider-Man games. Miles Morales pops up in the new comic book release, as he clashes with the otherworldly Miguel O'Hara (aka Spider-Man 2099). 

The latest wall-crawling story sees a group of heroes from the 2099 corner of the Marvel Multiverse trying to save their futuristic reality after crossing paths with a Knull-corrupted Galactus known as Abyssus. 

Players anticipating TT Games' new LEGO Batman game were surprised to learn of the game's purported PC specs. The new LEGO Batman instalment is noticeably different from other LEGO games in the franchise, with an open-world style and an original story spanning decades of DC lore. While this meant higher hardware expectations for the new LEGO game, the reported specs for Legacy of the Dark Knight on Steam have prompted TT Games to respond.

Fans recently noticed that the published PC specs list for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight on Steam were significantly higher than those of TT Games' previous title, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. An X post comparing the two specs lists pointed out a 24GB increase in RAM, a recommended SSD, and a graphics card suggestion of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 RT (compared to the predecessor's GTX 780 or Radeon R9 290). 

While LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was released four years ago, many fans raised complaints that LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's system requirements seemed unusually high for a game of its style. 

A longtime Kingdom Hearts star spoiled one major character recast coming into Kingdom Hearts 4. The fourth numbered title in the Kingdom Hearts franchise (no, we are not counting games like 358/2 Days) was confirmed over three years ago, yet fans still know relatively little about the next entry into the beloved RPG franchise. 

Rumors swirled about Square Enix's next Disney-tinged RPG since its initial reveal, including why main character Sora seemed to be in the real world in its reveal trailer and how worlds like Star Wars and Marvel could potentially make their way into the fan-favorite series. Star of the series Alyson Stoner offered a bit more info on the upcoming sequel, revealing that one fan-favorite character has been recast for a second time. Speaking to Legacy of the Nerd, Stoner let slip that, on top of her longtime franchise roles of Kairi and Xion, she will also be playing Namine in Kingdom Hearts 4. 

The latest video game set among the world of Marvel heroes is Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which features a roster of 15 playable characters to choose from. The new beat 'em up game from Tribute Games harkens back to classic arcade-style side-scroller fighting titles - this time with a range of comic book heroes and settings from the Marvel universe. 

Marvel Cosmic Invasion's characters each have unique moves and abilities, plus a selection of alternate costumes. The objective of the game is to defeat hordes of enemies that have been sent to invade Earth by the villain, Annihilus. To do that, players will have a choice of two interchangeable heroes in each round, but picking the correct characters is vital. Marvel Cosmic Invasion was released on December 1 and is playable on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. 

Marvel Cosmic Invasion's Playable Heroes List

Marvel's Spider-Man 3 is still far on the horizon, but Marvel Games has plenty of other superhero titles on the docket first. Insomniac's Spider-Man games have sparked a revolution in the Marvel gaming space, with the web-slinging superhero franchise becoming a defining title on the PlayStation 4 and 5. Several other developers have entered the Marvel gaming space, and many of their titles are expected to be released before Insomniac's Spider-Man 3.

Spider-Man 3 hasn't officially been announced, but several stars have hinted at a third game in development at Insomniac. Nevertheless, the game is still likely years away (likely 2028 if the Insomniac leaks are to be believed), and that opens up the field for other gaming studios to try their hand at the Marvel catalogue. 

All the Marvel Games Coming Out Before Insomniac's Spider-Man 3

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is officially TT Games' next superhero offering, and it has already confirmed 21 characters it will draw from DC lore. The much-anticipated game has been touted as a love letter to the Batman mythos that will journey through many years of his superhero career. Naturally, such a story will require many DC icons, from sidekicks to rogues to everything in between.

Currently, TT Games hasn't announced a release date for its next LEGO Batman game, but The Direct recently played a demo of Legacy of the Dark Knight and uncovered a very different, Arkham-esque experience. Fans will dive into the new blocky Gotham on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

Every Character Confirmed to Appear in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige just made his debut in Fortnite in a surprising way. Fortnite has long collaborated with Marvel to add its comic book heroes to the roster, introducing characters such as Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Doctor Doom as playable options over the years. Fortnite's latest map update has gone one step further and added Feige's own Marvel character to the game in a subtle Easter egg.

The newest Fortnite season, Chapter 6: Mini Season 2, began on November 1 and includes a new Simpsons-inspired map based on Springfield's Town Square. Within the Aztec Theater of the town square is a poster for Vindicators: Crystal War, which fans may recognize as a shout-out to Feige's The Simpsons character.

The stars of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us game franchise have shared their hopes for the futures of main characters Ellie and Abby. Five years ago, The Last of Us Part 2 continued the story of Ashley Johnson's Ellie as a nineteen-year-old embarking on a violent revenge quest against Laura Bailey's new character, Abby. The second game was a harrowing journey for both characters and provided an uncertain resolution that may or may not be continued into The Last of Us Part 3.

Despite director Neil Druckmann maintaining that fans shouldn't bet on The Last of Us Part 3 happening, rumors have circulated for some time that a third game is secretly in development. Whether it will continue the stories of Abby and Ellie is another question. Nevertheless, during an exclusive interview with The Direct for their upcoming Prime Video series, The Mighty Nein, co-stars Johnson and Bailey shared their hopes for the futures of their The Last of Us characters, revealing that they both have a similar wish for Abby and Ellie: "happiness."

Johnson said that happiness was an emotion that she "hasn't really explored" during her time playing Ellie. Despite finding a family in Joel at the end of The Last of Us Part 1, Ellie was continually haunted by the implications of Joel's lie to her about the Salt Lake City hospital, which only complicated their relationship ahead of his tragic death. The Last of Us Part 2 then took Ellie down a dark and destructive path as she sought revenge on Joel's killer, Abby, leaving little room for the character to experience joy. Regardless of what Ellie's potential storyline might involve, Johnson said she would "be so happy to jump back into that world if we ever get to do it again:"