Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is a 2018 American adult animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, featuring an alternate version of the DC Comics character Batman. It is the 31st film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It is directed and produced by Sam Liu and written by James Krieg, loosely based on the standalone graphic novel of the same name by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola.
The film was released for a world premiere screening at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. during the "DC in D.C." event on January 12, 2018 and then for digital download on January 23, 2018 before coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on February 6. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight was the last film to be released in Benjamin Melniker's lifetime, a longtime DC film producer who died a month later at the age of 104.
Plot
In Victorian-era Gotham City, Batman saves a wealthy couple from being robbed by three orphans (Dickie, Jason and Timmy) and defeats their abusive handler, Big Bill Dust. At the same time, Ivy, an orphan turned exotic dancer and prostitute, becomes the newest victim of the serial killer called Jack the Ripper, who preys on Gotham's poor and destitute women. Citizens of Gotham believe the Batman and Jack to be the same man. Stage actress Selina Kyle berates Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon and Chief of Police Harvey "Bulldog" Bullock for their failure to stop the Ripper murders.
At the Monarch Theatre with his friend Harvey Dent, Bruce meets Selina and the two bond at the exclusive Dionysus Club. Bruce realizes that not only were the two of them taken in by Sister Leslie, but that some of the murdered girls were orphans formerly under Leslie's care. Bruce realizes that the Ripper will target Leslie and rushes to save her, but is too late. At the crime scene, Bruce finds a bloody Dionysus Club pin, meaning the Ripper has to be one of Gotham's wealthy. At Sister Leslie's funeral, Bruce is met by Hugo Strange, claiming he knows the killer and wants to meet with Batman. Bruce also is met by Marlene, a drunken old woman who claims she saw him sneaking around when Sister Leslie was killed.
At Arkham Asylum, the Ripper attacks Strange and throws him to his own patients, who tear him apart. While in pursuit of the Ripper, Batman is himself chased by police, only to be saved by Selina. After seeing Batman is Bruce, she takes him to her home, where they spend the night.
After the death of Marlene is discovered, Bruce is arrested, and Dent, jealous of Selina's affection, prosecutes him as the Ripper. Sentenced to Blackgate Penitentiary following the trial, Bruce is met by Selina, who urges him to reveal he is Batman to clear his name and help save the girls from Jack. When he refuses, she decides to tell Gordon herself. Bribing a guard to deliver a coded message to his manor, Bruce escapes after staging a prison fight.
Selina meets with Gordon at the Gotham City World's Fair and learns to her horror that he is the Ripper. While seeking Selina at Gordon's home, Batman learns this as well. Gordon injects Selina with a sleeping aid, but she manages to use her blood and the Fair's searchlight to give Batman a signal. Batman arrives and fights Gordon into a Ferris wheel where Gordon, driven mentally insane by his time in the Civil War, reveals his "holy work" is to rid Gotham from what he sees as human filth. The Ferris wheel lights on fire in the struggle and begins to collapse: Batman defeats Gordon, and Gordon walks into the flames to escape justice. Batman and Selina are saved by Alfred and the orphans, who are now Bruce Wayne's wards.