Assassin League (episode)

Assassin League is the sixth episode of the fourth season of NBC's The Batman. It first aired on January 23, 2012. It is the forty-fifth episode overall.

Synopsis
Bruce has finally recovered and been released from physical therapy. Alfred, Barbara, Gordon, and Oliver are still missing. Superman has been searching for them for the past month and a half. Clark struggles to work as Superman and a reporter when Nathan orders him to him to do a story on the disappearance of Oliver. The Joker kidnaps Harley and the Riddler realizes if he loves Two-Face he must save his love rival.

Plot
Bruce is in a session with Dr. Emil Hamilton. Bruce talks to him about his kidnapping and after a few minutes, Hamilton releases him from his therapy permanently. Bruce leaves the building where he is picked up by an employee. Bruce rides back to the mansion in silence. At the mansion, Clark watches the news. Cat reports about Oliver Queen's disappearance. Bruce arrives and tells Clark he has been released from his therapy. Clark says that it is great but Bruce goes to his room.

Superman flies over Gotham also using his x-ray vision. He cannot find Alfred, Barbara, Gordon, or Oliver. Superman flies off. At the Daily Planet, Clark arrives. Nathan is also there and tells Clark that he is now on the Oliver Queen story. Clark tells him that three others are missing as well who all went missing on the same day. Nathan tells him nobody cares about three random citizens but they do care about what happens to billionaire Oliver Queen. Clark is angry and tells him that these three aren't just three random citizens and explains they are Bruce Wayne's butler, a cop, and his daughter. Nathan then tells him that nobody sees them in the news.

Harley eats breakfast in her apartment. The Riddler exits a room and Harley sighs and asks him how long he and the Joker are going to be there. The Riddler takes his breakfast and tells her hopefully a while. Harley tells him that Two-Face loves her. The window is broken open and a tranquilizer dart hits Harley. The Riddler gets out of the way and hides but sees Joker kidnap Harley. The Riddler smiles.

Maggie has her gun while searching downtown. She hears a garbage bin lid close and runs into the alley but only finds James Jr. She tells him he has to go home. He asks her if he even has a home anymore as he left over nine months ago. Maggie asks him if he has seen Clayface. He asks her if she has seen Allen. Maggie tells him he is out visiting family and he tells her that Clayface is now impersonating a clerk at Walmart. Maggie thanks him for the information, though she doesn't know where he got it from. He reminds her of him killing Sarah but when she turns around to arrest him he is gone.

Bane finds Killer Croc. Bane tells him how he is missing eight months and after he went to prison he woke up eight months later in Maroni's mansion with Jervis there, too. Killer Croc tells him that after four months in prison Maroni toke over his sentence and made a deal with the police that he would serve as Maroni's bodyguard instead of Arkham. Bane realizes that the police are searching for him now.

The Riddler is in Two-Face and Harley's apartment. He waits for Two-Face to get home but realizes he is working nights, too, now. The Riddler thinks about what Two-Face would do if he learned Harley went missing. The Riddler decides he will save Harley but then blackmail her into leaving Two-Face. In Downtown Gotham, Maggie walks into the Walmart. Maggie tells the staff that she is looking for a man who began to work there in the past month or two. The manager shows Maggie a new clerk, Patrick Pratt, that got the job a month-and-a-half ago. Maggie takes him to the GCPD where she realizes that there is no way that Patrick could've been Clayface.

Thomas is at an apartment. Thomas is looking through pictures. Many of them show him and Bruce playing together as children. Thomas begins to cry a little bit until he hears a knock on the door. Thomas grabs a gun and slowly opens it. He sees Jervis and lowers his gun. Jervis reveals to him that he can bring back Peyton if he reveals who Batman is. Thomas thinks back to his escape and how he realized Batman was Bruce. Thomas tells Jervis he didn't catch the face. Jervis tells him he knows that he saw the Batman and he is the only villain in Gotham that knows. Thomas tries to shut him out but Jervis mind-controls him and he reveals that Bruce is Batman. Jervis smiles and leaves Thomas on the ground.

Cameron and Crane are in their base and Cameron gasps. Crane asks Cameron what he found. Cameron sees a news report by Cat Grant, announcing that James Gordon Jr., who was originally found dead is alive and the dead body was the former captain of the GCPD, aka Clayface. Cameron rejoices and realizes he was trying to kill the Gordons for nothing. Crane tells him that they can still kill them anyway but Cameron tells him he only wanted to kill the Gordons and be done but now the police are after him again and he won't get off on a warning this time. Crane leaves.

Crane walks into a warehouse and shouts Clayface's name. Clayface appears and wants to know what he wants. Crane asks him why he wants the Gordons dead as now Cameron won't help him. Clayface realizes this is a setback and decides to kill the Gordons himself, although the police are on constant watchout for him. In Metropolis, Riddler thinks about where the Joker would be and remembers when the Joker was hiding out in Metropolis when the crime war was happening and goes to that base. The Riddler sees Harley sitting in a chair and helps her out. However, the two are caught by the Joker and Harley stabs him with a fork. The two escape and Riddler tells Harley to leave him and Two-Face alone but he cannot think of anything that Harley is hiding. Harley smiles and leaves Riddler standing there in the rain.

Bruce is lying on the couch. Clark runs in and tells Bruce he thinks he might've found where Ra's is hiding their four friends. The two get into costume and Clark flies him to a chemical factory. The two find nothing in the outer layers but Clark uses his x-ray vision and sees many soldiers and Ra's behind a cement wall. Clark looks for a door but then punches his way into the base. The two heroes fight off the assassins training there and find Alfred, Oliver, Barbara, and Gordon. The heroes save the four and then try to escape. However, Ra's shows up and he fights Bruce. Bruce is easily outmatched but he tells his five friends to hurry and leave. The five of them run out of the base as Bruce is almost killed. Ra's decides he is worth more alive then dead and captures him in his friends' place.

Clark goes to the hospital and finds his mother doing much better. Clark learns that she will be out of the hospital in two days. Clark is happy. Alfred is lonely at the mansion but Barbara and Gordon decide to temporarily move in to keep his company. Clark goes to work where Nathan has published his piece on Oliver Queen's disappearance and reappearance. Nathan wonders how Clark knows many things about the battle in detail but Clark tells him he has his sources. Maggie, Gordon, and other cops rush into the chemical factory and find the open wall but see that Ra's has cleared everything out.

Starring

 * Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Sarah Hyland as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
 * Zen Gesner as James Gordon
 * Nathan Gamble as James Gordon Jr.
 * Jared Leto as the Joker
 * Keri Lynn Pratt as Cat Grant
 * Brian McManamon as Basil Karlo/Clayface
 * Tom Hardy as Victor Payne/Bane
 * Maggie Geha as Pamela Isely/Poison Ivy
 * Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent/Superman
 * Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/Riddler
 * Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer
 * Nolan North as Thomas Elliot
 * Andrew Stewart-Jones as Chris Allen
 * Benedict Samuel as Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter
 * Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
 * Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc
 * Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul
 * Nicholas D'Agosto as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
 * David Zayas as Sal Maroni
 * Thomas Haden Church as Cameron van Cleer/Killer Moth
 * Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
 * Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen

Guest Starring

 * Ryan Gosling as Nathan Garfield (Special Guest Star)
 * Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Diane Lane as Martha Kent
 * Alessandro Juliani as Dr. Emil Hamilton

Trivia

 * This episode achieved 13.68 million U.S. live viewers.
 * Maggie Geha, Andrew Stewart-Jones, Nicholas D'Agosto, and David Zayas do not appear in this episode as Poison Ivy, Chris Allen, Two-Face, and Sal Maroni.
 * This episode received mixed reviews. It scored a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 57 out of 100 on Metacritic, and 7/10 on IGN.
 * Guest stars in this episode include Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, and Alessandro Juliani as Alfred Pennyworth, Martha Kent, and Emil Hamilton, respectively. Ryan Gosling is again listed as a special guest star as he is throughout the season as Nathan Garfield.
 * This episode is rated TV-14 for V.