LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Character Unlock Guide
TT Games completely changed the classic block-building formula by ditching the massive character grid in favor of a tight, highly specialized roster.
Previous entries in this franchise let you run around Gotham as a random low-level thug or a background villain within the first hour. This time around, you are restricted to a core group of seven highly detailed heroes. Each character functions like a walking Swiss Army knife, packed with distinct mechanical quirks, puzzle-solving tools, and customized combat styles.
Before you spend twenty hours trying to find a hidden character selector wheel in the open world, you need to understand that roster progression is tied entirely to the main campaign. You cannot skip ahead to grab your favorite hero early. If you want to buy the alternate suits these heroes unlock, you will also need a mountain of cash, so check out my guide on farming unlimited studs to break the economy before you start spending.
The Complete Roster Overview
The core game features seven distinct characters, though the developers are expanding the team later. The Joker and Harley Quinn will land in Gotham as playable options in September 2026 via the Mayhem Collection DLC.
For now, you are stuck with the main heroes. I put together a quick cheat sheet tracking exactly when each ally drops into your active lineup and the baseline tools they carry.
The Heavy Hitters
You will spend the vast majority of your playtime controlling these two guys. They handle all the heavy lifting for the game's core puzzles.
Batman
You technically start the game as young Bruce Wayne during the opening flashbacks, but you do not put the cowl on until you finish the Prologue. As the main protagonist, Batman is permanently locked into the Player 1 slot.
He features incredibly heavy Arkham style combat and brings the most versatile tools to the table. His standard Batarang is your main ranged attack, and once you dump enough WayneTech points into it, you can unleash a swarm of bats on your enemies. You also have a Batclaw that pulls thugs in for a massive shockwave slam, multiple vision modes, and Explosive Gel to blow open cracked walls. If an obstacle requires brute force, Batman is your guy.
Jim Gordon
The commissioner unlocks right at the start of Chapter 1 during the New Beginnings mission, acting as your Player 2 companion for that entire chapter.
The man brought a glorified can of expanding foam to a gunfight, but it works surprisingly well. His Foam Sprayer plugs up leaking pipes, jams factory gears, and completely immobilizes enemies in sticky goo so you can pummel them in peace. He also carries a Rebound Launcher that fires bouncing projectiles to clear out tight rooms with zero effort.
The Rogues Gallery
Sometimes you need a criminal to do a hero's job. When the puzzles require a delicate touch or a bit of breaking and entering, you need to swap to these two.
Catwoman
Selina Kyle joins up during Chapter 2 once you clear the Mimes mission. She immediately proves her worth by stealing Gordon's personal batclaw right out of his pocket.
Catwoman is your dedicated infiltrator. She can climb up specific textured walls, use a specialized tool to crack safes, and carve perfect circles through glass windows. Her Whip unscrews environmental objects and turns thugs into spinning bowling balls during combat. Her absolute weirdest tool is the Call Kitty gadget. It uses a laser pointer to control a small LEGO cat, letting you scurry through tiny air vents where Bruce would absolutely get stuck.
Talia al Ghul
You get a very brief taste of Talia during the early League of Shadows training in the Prologue, but you have to wait a very long time to actually use her. She unlocks permanently at the start of Chapter 5 after the Tumbler Chase.
Talia throws out the high-tech gadgets and relies entirely on assassin training. Her Ninja Dash lets her vanish and teleport forward short distances, letting you bypass physical gaps instantly. She also packs Blowdarts that put target enemies into a complete daze. She is the perfect choice if you want to farm stealth takedowns for my complete achievement guide.
The Sidekicks
Batman has a terrible habit of dragging teenagers into active warzones, but they happen to be incredibly useful for late-game hacking and puzzle connections.
Robin
Dick Grayson joins up in Chapter 3 when you hit Haly's Circus during the Two-Face mission. You have to sit through a mandatory training montage before he actually puts on the green and red tights.
Robin plays similarly to Batman but leans heavily into acrobatics. His customized Birdarang can lock onto three separate targets at once, making him mandatory for complex switch puzzles. He uses a Cable Launcher to shoot tightropes across gaps, and he can whip out a staff to break physical locks.
Batgirl
Barbara Gordon sneaks onto the roster at the start of Chapter 4 after you clear the Firefly mission. She is doing all of this behind her dad's back, so you are basically an accomplice to a very grounded teenager.
Batgirl is the tech expert. Her Hackarang initiates a specific minigame to hijack electronic targets from a distance. She can also summon a Drone to scan hidden codes or fly up to create custom grapple points. If you upgrade it enough, that drone turns into an automated turret to help you clear out massive brawls.
Nightwing
Dick eventually realizes the Robin suit is a terrible fashion choice and upgrades to Nightwing at the end of Chapter 4 following the Mr. Freeze encounter. Do not panic about losing your sidekick, you can still swap back to the Robin variant whenever you want.
Nightwing takes Robin's basic movement and applies a massive electrical upgrade. He uses an Electrorang and an Electric Cable Launcher to shock enemies into submission. You absolutely need him for the final chapters, as he is the only character who can jumpstart dead power generators or connect live electrical currents across broken cables.
