Complete listed story — includes the ending
Batman: Arkham Asylum
=== Characters ===
Arkham Asylum is set in the fictional Arkham Asylum, a facility on Arkham Island off the coast of Gotham City that houses criminally insane supervillains. The game features a large ensemble of characters from the history of Batman comics. Three voice actors who worked on the DC Animated Universe series of film and television reprised their roles for the game. Kevin Conroy voices Batman—a superhero trained to the peak of human physical perfection and an expert in martial arts, Mark Hamill voices Batman's psychopathic nemesis the Joker, and the Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn is voiced by Arleen Sorkin. Batman is aided by his allies Oracle (Kimberly Brooks)—who remotely provides him with intelligence, and police commissioner James Gordon (Tom Kane).
In the asylum, Batman is faced with several supervillains; he must defend himself from an enraged Bane (Fred Tatasciore), subdue indiscriminate serial killer Victor Zsasz (Danny Jacobs), confront the monstrous Killer Croc (Steve Blum), defeat the plant-controlling Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza), and battle his way through hallucinogen-induced nightmares created by the Scarecrow (Dino Andrade). The Riddler (Wally Wingert) does not physically appear in the game, but communicates with Batman and challenges him to solve riddles placed around the island. Other characters appearing in the game include the asylum's warden Quincy Sharp (also voiced by Kane), Batman's parents Thomas and Martha Wayne (voiced by Conroy and Valenza respectively), and asylum guard Aaron Cash (Duane R Shepard, Sr). The shape-shifting Clayface appears in cameo, taking on the guise of other characters as he tries to trick the player into releasing him. The Mad Hatter was almost included in the game, but the developers removed him. The body of Ra's al Ghul is in the asylum's morgue and the Ventriloquist's dummy, Scarface, appears several times throughout the story. Several other characters—including the Penguin, Jack Ryder, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Catwoman, and the asylum's founder Amadeus Arkham—are referenced in the game, but do not appear in it.
Plot
After the Joker assaults Gotham City Hall, he is caught by Batman and taken to Arkham Asylum, which temporarily houses many members of the Joker's gang, who were transferred after a fire at Blackgate Prison. Believing Joker allowed himself to be captured, Batman accompanies him into the asylum. The Joker's plan is revealed as Harley Quinn takes over the security and Joker escapes into the facility, aided by Frank Boles, a corrupt guard who kidnaps Commissioner Gordon. Joker threatens to detonate bombs hidden around Gotham City if anyone tries to enter Arkham, forcing Batman to work alone. Tracking Quinn to the medical facility to rescue Gordon, Batman is exposed to the Scarecrow's fear toxin. After fighting off Scarecrow's hallucinations, Batman finds and subdues Quinn before rescuing Gordon. Joker then directs Batman to the captured Bane, who has been experimented on by asylum doctor Penelope Young. Joker frees Bane to fight Batman, who defeats him by ramming him into the ocean with the Batmobile, during which Quinn escapes. Afterward, he goes to a secret Batcave installation he had hidden on the island, where he restocks his gadgets.
There, Batman learns that Joker returned to the asylum to gain access to Young, who has been developing Titan—a more powerful version of the Venom drug that gives Bane his strength—intending to use it to help patients survive more strenuous therapies. Young learned that Joker had been secretly funding her research to create an army of indestructible and savage superhuman monsters; her refusal to hand over the formula precipitated Joker's return to the asylum. While searching for Young, Batman destroys her Titan formula before rescuing her from Victor Zsasz. A bomb kills Young, and Joker steals the completed batches of Titan.
At the penitentiary, Quinn releases Poison Ivy from her cell before being imprisoned by Batman. Quinn accidentally reveals that Joker has a Titan production facility in the Arkham Botanical Gardens. Batman travels there and learns that Titan is created by genetically modified plants. He learns from Ivy that the spores required to create an antidote are found exclusively in Killer Croc's lair in a sewer. Afterward, Joker injects Ivy with Titan, enhancing her powers, and she begins to ravage Arkham Island with giant mutant plants. En route to Croc, Batman reencounters Scarecrow and pursues him into the sewers. Scarecrow is attacked by Croc and dragged underwater. Batman recovers the necessary spores and subdues Croc before returning to the Batcave. However, he can only synthesize one dose of the antidote before Ivy's plants breach the cave and destroy his equipment.
Batman returns to the botanical gardens and defeats Ivy, halting the rampaging plants. Joker announces that the preparations for his party are finally complete, and Batman travels to the asylum's visitor center to confront him. The Joker reveals he has recaptured Gordon and tries to shoot him with a Titan-filled dart; Batman leaps to Gordon's defense and is shot instead. Batman attempts to resist the change, and an upset Joker takes an overdose of Titan, mutating into a monster. In a makeshift arena on the building's roof, Joker challenges Batman to a fight against Titan-induced monsters in front of news helicopters. Batman refuses to transform, uses the antidote on himself, and defeats the Titan-affected Joker and his henchmen. In the aftermath, those affected by Titan begin to revert to normal, including Joker—who is taken into custody as police officers retake control of the asylum. Batman overhears a call about a crime led by Two-Face in progress and flies back to Gotham City in the Batwing. In a post-credits scene, a crate of Titan formula is shown floating in the ocean near the asylum when a hand surfaces and grabs it.
Batman: Arkham City
=== Characters ===
Arkham City features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. Returning characters from Arkham Asylum include Batman (Kevin Conroy), the Joker (Mark Hamill)—in what Hamill stated would be his final time voicing the character; (he subsequently reprised the role in Arkham City's successor Batman: Arkham Knight)—Warden-turned-Mayor Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), police Commissioner James Gordon (David Kaye), and reporter Jack Ryder (James Horan). Returning villains include the Riddler (Wally Wingert), Victor Zsasz (Danny Jacobs), Bane (Fred Tatasciore), and Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza). Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn also returns, voiced by Tara Strong, who replaces Arleen Sorkin. Batman's supporting cast introduces Catwoman (Grey DeLisle), Robin (Troy Baker), and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis), who provides radio support alongside the returning Oracle (Kimberly Brooks). Nightwing appears as a playable character outside of the main story via challenge maps.
Other characters marking their debut in the series include the manipulative warden of Arkham City, Hugo Strange (Corey Burton), Two-Face (also voiced by Baker), and the Penguin (Nolan North). Stana Katic lends her voice as Talia al Ghul, and Maurice LaMarche voices both Mr. Freeze and Calendar Man. Other characters include the zombie Solomon Grundy (also voiced by Tatasciore), the shapeshifter Clayface (Rick D. Wasserman), the League of Assassins's leader, Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol), and the assassin Deadshot (Chris Cox), who has infiltrated Arkham City to kill several high-profile character targets. The villain Hush (also voiced by Conroy), the mysterious Azrael (Khary Payton), and reporter Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) also appear. Black Mask (also voiced by North), Killer Croc (Steve Blum), and Freeze's wife, Nora Fries, make cameo appearances in the game.
Setting
The events of Arkham City are set 18 months after Batman: Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, the asylum's erstwhile director, has taken credit for halting the Joker's armed siege, using this distinction to become mayor of Gotham City. Declaring both the asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary no longer suitable to contain the city's detainees, Sharp's administration orders both facilities closed, and he purchases Gotham's most notorious slums and turns them into an immense prison enclosure known as Arkham City. This facility is subsequently placed in the care of psychiatrist Hugo Strange—who is secretly manipulating Sharp—and monitored by a rogue private military firm, TYGER Security. Strange permits the inmates to do as they please, so long as they do not attempt to escape. A wary Batman maintains his own vigil over the new project, afraid that the chaotic situation there will get out of hand. Meanwhile, the Joker is dying from a disease caused by his previous overdose of the Titan formula, an unstable steroid mutagen that turns men into powerful and savage monsters.
Plot
At a press conference held by Bruce Wayne to declare his opposition to Arkham City, TYGER mercenaries arrest and imprison him in the City itself. Hugo Strange discloses his knowledge of Wayne's dual identity as Batman before releasing him into the prison's criminal populace. While Strange prepares to commence "Protocol 10", Wayne obtains his equipment via airdrop from Alfred Pennyworth, allowing him to become Batman. He first saves Catwoman from being executed by Two-Face, who hopes to gain respect by murdering her. After the Joker attempts to assassinate Catwoman, Batman tracks him to his hideout in the Sionis Steelmill, believing Joker may know the truth behind Protocol 10.
There, Batman learns that the unstable properties of the Titan formula are mutating in Joker's blood, gradually killing him. Joker captures Batman and performs a blood transfusion on him, infecting him with the same fatal disease. Joker also reveals that Gotham hospitals have been poisoned with his infected blood. Desperate to save himself and innocent citizens, Batman seeks out Mr. Freeze, who has been developing a cure but has since been kidnapped by the Penguin. Tracking Penguin to his fortified museum, Batman defeats his forces, his imprisoned monster Solomon Grundy, and ultimately the Penguin himself, before liberating Mr. Freeze.
Freeze tells Batman that he has created a cure, but it is rendered useless via instability. Batman deduces that the therapeutic properties of Ra's al Ghul's blood can complete the cure and tracks one of his assassins to his underground lair, leading Batman into a confrontation with Ra's and his daughter Talia, Batman's former lover. With Ra's al Ghul's blood, Freeze is able to develop an antidote, but Harley Quinn steals it before Batman can use it.
When Batman returns to the Joker, he finds the latter's health has been restored. During a fight between the two, Strange activates Protocol 10, which is revealed to be a scheme to wipe out the entire population of Arkham City and destroy the criminal element of Gotham. TYGER troops begin executing inmates as Strange launches missile strikes on Arkham's denizens from his base in Wonder Tower. A missile hits the steel mill, burying Batman under rubble. Before Joker can take advantage of the situation, Talia arrives and offers him immortality in exchange for sparing Batman's life. After escaping with the help of Catwoman, Batman is convinced by Alfred to end Protocol 10 before pursuing Talia and Joker.
Batman infiltrates Wonder Tower and disables Protocol 10. Ra's al Ghul is revealed to be the true mastermind behind Arkham City and mortally wounds Strange for failing to defeat Batman. With his dying breath, Strange activates "Protocol 11", the self-destruction of Wonder Tower. After Ra's commits suicide to avoid capture, Joker contacts Batman, threatening to kill Talia unless Batman meets him at the Monarch Theater. When Batman arrives, Joker demands the cure from Batman but is impaled and seemingly killed by Talia while distracted. Talia admits to stealing the antidote from Quinn, before a second Joker kills her, still stricken with the disease.
The healthy Joker that Talia impaled then reanimates into the shapeshifting Clayface, who is revealed to have been masquerading as a healthy Joker all along at the ailing villain's request. During Batman's battle with Clayface, Joker blows up the theater floor, revealing that it is above the Lazarus Pit. After defeating Clayface, Batman drinks a portion of the antidote and destroys Ra's' rejuvenating Lazarus Pit before Joker can use it. As Batman debates curing his foe, Joker attacks him, inadvertently causing the antidote vial to smash. Batman admits that he would have saved him despite everything Joker had done. Joker finally succumbs to his illness and dies. Batman carries and places Joker's body on the hood of Commissioner Gordon's car before leaving Arkham City in silence.
Batman: Arkham Origins
=== Characters ===
Arkham Origins features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. The main character is Batman (Roger Craig Smith), a superhero trained to the peak of human physical perfection and an expert in martial arts who is aided by his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis). Arkham Origins brings Batman into conflict with sadistic, brutal crime lord Black Mask (Brian Bloom). The most powerful man in the city and ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Black Mask has vast wealth and resources, has eliminated his opposition and is consolidating his power. His ebony mask conceals his identity, allowing him to operate publicly as Roman Sionis (head of Janus Cosmetics). Black Mask has a bounty on Batman, which attracts eight accomplished assassins: the physically imposing Bane (JB Blanc); expert marksman Deadshot; veteran mercenary Deathstroke (Mark Rolston); poisonous contortionist Copperhead (Rosa Salazar); the pyromaniac Firefly (Crispin Freeman); the highly charged Electrocutioner (Steve Blum); deformed criminal Killer Croc (Khary Payton), and master martial artist Shiva (Kelly Hu).
Batman is considered an outlaw by the Gotham City police, and is pursued by Captain James Gordon (Michael Gough), Detective Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo) and corrupt GCPD officials Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and SWAT team leader Howard Branden. Other characters include the psychopathic Joker (Troy Baker); black-market weapons dealer Penguin (Nolan North); the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol); anti-government, anti-corporate anarchist Anarky (Matthew Mercer); rogue hacker Enigma (Wally Wingert); Alberto Falcone; Gordon's teenage daughter Barbara, and Blackgate warden Martin Joseph (Khary Payton). The story takes place before Batman's partnership with Robin (Josh Keaton)—although Robin is a playable character outside the main story—and before Barbara becomes Batman's ally, Oracle. Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Tara Strong), Gotham News Network (GNN) reporter Vicki Vale, Amanda Waller (CCH Pounder), Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), and Calendar Man make cameo appearances in the game. Mr. Freeze (Maurice LaMarche) appears in the downloadable content, Cold, Cold Heart.
Setting
The events in Arkham Origins take place about eight years before Batman: Arkham Asylum, in midwinter Gotham City. Batman, an experienced crime-fighter in the second year of his career, is not yet the veteran superhero of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. He is a mysterious force; even the police do not know whether he is a vigilante, a myth or a supernatural being. Batman has fought ordinary criminals and gangsters and is accustomed to being stronger and faster than his opponents. However, on a snowy Christmas Eve he is confronted with more dangerous foes: eight professional assassins hoping to collect a $50-million bounty placed on Batman's head by Black Mask. Villains (including the Joker) take advantage of the assassins' arrival to launch their schemes, and Black Mask's henchmen instigate a rise in crime and gang activity in the city.
The Gotham City Police Department is aware of "the Batman", and does not condone his approach to crime-fighting. Led by Commissioner Loeb, the GCPD is thoroughly corrupt; Branden and his SWAT team are hunting for Batman to claim the bounty for themselves. The incorruptible Captain James Gordon is one of the most unpopular members of the force. Batman's relationship with Alfred is strained; the butler, an overbearing parental figure, reminds him of his parents' deaths and Alfred sees Batman as a spoiled child squandering his inheritance on a vigilante crusade.
Old Gotham, the section of Gotham City which will become the Arkham City prison, is not yet walled off and has slums, low buildings, a shopping mall, and docks (where Penguin's ship the Final Offer is moored). On the Final Offer, Penguin has added a casino, a fighting pit, and a sales floor with weapons and ammunition. Across the bridge from Old Gotham is New Gotham, a modern metropolitan area filled with towering skyscrapers.
Plot
On Christmas Eve, Batman intervenes in a jailbreak at Blackgate Penitentiary led by Black Mask, who executes Police Commissioner Loeb before escaping. Left to battle the assassin Killer Croc, Batman prevails but learns Croc is only the first of eight killers drawn to Gotham by a $50 million bounty Black Mask has placed on him. Seeking Black Mask's whereabouts, Batman tracks the Penguin to his ship, where he defeats Deathstroke and Electrocutioner. Penguin reveals that Black Mask has allegedly been murdered at an apartment complex. Investigating, Batman discovers the victim was an impostor and that the crime involved a criminal known as the Joker.
To learn more, Batman infiltrates the GCPD to access its criminal database. While escaping, he encounters Captain James Gordon—who is distrustful of Batman—and a corrupt SWAT team eager to collect the bounty. With advice from Gordon's daughter Barbara, Batman accesses the sewers beneath the precinct to establish permanent database access, where he finds Black Mask's men planting explosives. Using the database, he deduces that Black Mask has been kidnapped by Joker, who is targeting the Gotham Merchants Bank. At the bank, Black Mask unmasks himself as the Joker, revealing he had assumed Sionis's identity days earlier to seize his empire and impose the bounty. Batman pursues him to the Sionis Steel Mill, where he frees the real Black Mask and defeats Copperhead.
Tracking the Joker to the Gotham Royal Hotel, Batman finds the building rigged with explosives, its staff murdered, and guests taken hostage. Joker mocks the assassins for failing to kill Batman, throwing Electrocutioner to his death. Batman claims his electric gloves and continues through the hotel. While most assassins depart, Bane remains, anticipating Batman will come to the Joker. On the rooftop, Batman battles Bane; worried for his safety, Alfred alerts the police so they will intervene. Bane flees by helicopter, firing a rocket that sends Joker plummeting from the roof. Batman rescues him, confounding Joker as to why Batman would save someone like him. Joker is arrested and placed in Blackgate under the care of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. There, Joker tells her that he and Batman were destined to meet.
In the Batcave, Alfred urges Bruce to abandon his crusade, fearing it will kill him, but Batman refuses. He also learns Bane has uncovered his identity as Bruce Wayne. Firefly's attack on Pioneers Bridge forces Batman and Gordon to work together to stop him. Meanwhile, Bane infiltrates the Batcave and nearly kills Alfred. Batman revives him with Electrocutioner's gloves, and Alfred admits Gotham needs Batman to face such threats. Elsewhere, Joker incites a riot and seizes control of Blackgate.
Realizing he needs allies, Batman joins Gordon and the police to retake the prison. Joker, strapped to an electric chair, presents Batman with a choice: kill Bane, or let Bane's heartbeat charge a device that will activate the chair and execute Joker. Batman stops Bane's heart with the electric gloves, satisfying Joker, who departs to detonate bombs across Gotham. Batman resuscitates Bane, who injects himself with TN-1, a steroid that transforms him into a hulking beast. After a brutal fight, Batman defeats him; the serum's side effects cause Bane to have amnesia, protecting Batman's identity. With Gordon's support, Batman locates Joker in the prison chapel. Joker, dismayed that Bane lives, tries to provoke Batman into killing him but is subdued instead. Batman leaves, and Gordon chooses not to pursue him, believing he is the hero Gotham needs.
In a radio interview during the credits, Quincy Sharp announces plans to lobby for Arkham Asylum's reopening.
In the post-credits scene, Amanda Waller recruits Deathstroke into the Suicide Squad.
Cold, Cold Heart
On New Year's Eve at Wayne Manor, Ferris Boyle, owner of GothCorp, accepts a humanitarian award from the Wayne Foundation. The ceremony is interrupted by criminals working for the Penguin, led by a man in a mechanized suit armed with freezing weapons, who kidnaps Boyle. Wayne retreats to the Batcave, dons the Batsuit, and saves the guests, learning that the attacker is known as "Mr. Freeze" and is meeting weapons dealers in South Gotham. Investigating further, Batman discovers that the Penguin's men were receiving weapons manufactured by GothCorp.
At GothCorp, Batman finds Freeze and the Penguin in a standoff, with the latter holding Boyle hostage. Freeze encases the Penguin in ice and escapes with Boyle, leaving Batman unable to pursue because of an ice wall blocking his path. Interrogating the Penguin, Batman learns that Boyle possesses the access codes to a superweapon and that the only way through the ice wall is with a Cryodrill, which Penguin's men have stolen.
Equipping his XE suit, which allows him to survive extreme cold, Batman retrieves the Cryodrill and returns to GothCorp. There, he uncovers evidence of a past crime and learns Freeze's true identity: Victor Fries, a former GothCorp scientist who sought to cure his terminally ill wife Nora by placing her in cryogenic stasis. Boyle had financed Victor's research in exchange for weapons development but later reneged, stealing Nora's frozen body and causing the accident that forced Victor to live in sub-zero conditions inside a mechanized suit.
Armed with this knowledge, Batman confronts and subdues Freeze, but is then frozen by Boyle, who attempts to cover up his crimes by killing both Victor and Nora. Batman breaks free, defeats Boyle, and reactivates Nora's cryogenic chamber, preserving her life.
During the credits, the Gotham News Network reports on the resignation of Mayor Hamilton Hill and speculates on Gordon's potential promotion to commissioner. Vicki Vale reports on the arrests of Boyle and the Penguin while Mr. Freeze is being held in a special wing at the Gotham City Hospital. Sharp cites Freeze as further justification for reopening Arkham Asylum.
Batman: Arkham Knight
=== Characters ===
Arkham Knight features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. The main character is Batman (Kevin Conroy)—a superhero trained to the peak of human physical and mental perfection and an expert in martial arts. He is supported by his allies, Robin (Matthew Mercer), Nightwing (Scott Porter), Catwoman (Grey DeLisle), Barbara Gordon (Ashley Greene)—who assists Batman covertly as the hacker Oracle—and her father, police commissioner James Gordon (Jonathan Banks). Batman's loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis) and Wayne Enterprises colleague Lucius Fox (Dave Fennoy) provide Batman with tactical support, and the holy warrior Azrael (Khary Payton) aims to replace Batman as Gotham's protector.
Throughout the city, Batman is faced with several supervillains: he must overcome Scarecrow's (John Noble) plot to threaten Gotham City, dismantle the Penguin's (Nolan North) weapon dealing operation, put an end to Two-Face's (Troy Baker) bank heists, conquer the Riddler's (Wally Wingert) challenges, capture the plant-controlling Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza), and subdue Harley Quinn (Tara Strong), who wants revenge against Batman for the death of the Joker (Mark Hamill), Batman's psychopathic nemesis who appears in the game as a hallucination.
The game introduces the Arkham Knight (also voiced by Baker), a new villain created by Rocksteady, DC Comics CCO and comic-book writer Geoff Johns, and DC co-publisher and comic artist Jim Lee. The Arkham Knight is a militarized version of Batman, with the "A" logo of the Arkham Asylum facility worn as an emblem on his chest. Other villains include the pyromaniac Firefly (Crispin Freeman), the beastly Man-Bat (Loren Lester), the veteran assassin Deathstroke (Mark Rolston), the serial killer Professor Pyg (Dwight Schultz), the religious fanatic Deacon Blackfire (Mark Worden), and Hush (also voiced by Conroy), who is impersonating Batman's alter-ego as Bruce Wayne.
Arkham Knight also features appearances and voice cameos by various characters drawn from the history of Batman comics and the previous Arkham games, including pharmaceutical businessman Simon Stagg (Philip Proctor), reporters Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) and Jack Ryder (James Horan), police officer Aaron Cash (Duane Shepard), corporate businessman Lex Luthor (Keith Silverstein), crimefighter Kate Kane, serial killer Calendar Man, and mutated gangster Killer Croc (Steve Blum), while the game's downloadable content features appearances by Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol), Black Mask (Brian Bloom), Mr. Freeze (Maurice LaMarche), Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), Nyssa Raatko (Jennifer Hale), and Nora Fries (Cissy Jones). The game also makes references to many characters from the history of Batman and DC Comics.
Setting
Nine months after the death of the Joker during the events of Arkham City, Batman is struggling to cope with the absence of his archenemy and the uncomfortable feeling that the pair shared a bond deeper than either could admit. Without the Joker's presence, Gotham's citizens have never felt safer, and crime in the city has declined significantly. However, this gives Batman's enemies, including Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn, a chance to unite with the singular goal of defeating Batman. Having anticipated a new threat, Batman has continued to develop crime-fighting technology and maintain a vigil over the city.
On Halloween night, Scarecrow, who Batman had defeated in Arkham Asylum, threatens the city with his newly created strain of fear toxin and bombs planted throughout Gotham, forcing the evacuation of the city's six million civilians. Only criminals remain in the city, leaving Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department outnumbered.
Arkham Knight's Gotham City is approximately five times the scale of the open-air Arkham City prison in Arkham City. The game takes place in the center of the city, which is split into three islands: Bleake, Founders, and Miagani, with various districts such as the neon-tinged Chinatown, and the industrial shipping yard. Bleake Island features shorter buildings, disheveled areas, and abandoned docks, while Founders Island is a modern development of skyscrapers built on the ruins of Gotham slums, and Miagani Island is an older metropolis with Wayne Tower at its center. Oracle has set up her communications headquarters in the Gotham clock tower, which also houses a makeshift Batcave.
Plot
On Halloween, Scarecrow forces an evacuation of Gotham City after threatening to unleash his new fear toxin. Batman tracks Scarecrow to a hideout where he rescues the imprisoned Poison Ivy, who had refused to join Batman's other rogues in Scarecrow's plot. Oracle identifies Ace Chemicals as the source of Scarecrow's toxin. Batman investigates the facility and discovers a large militia being dispatched to occupy Gotham, led by the mysterious "Arkham Knight". Batman locates Scarecrow, who has transformed the building into a toxic bomb meant to engulf the entire Eastern Seaboard. Scarecrow reveals that he has kidnapped Oracle before escaping. Exposing himself to the toxin, Batman inhibits the bomb's blast radius before the Joker confronts him.
A flashback reveals that before the Joker's death, his infected blood was used in blood transfusions, infecting five people, including Batman. Concealing his infection, Batman imprisoned the four other patients, who were physically and mentally transforming into the Joker. Joker, existing as a mental projection produced by the infected blood and fear toxin, frequently appears to taunt Batman and twist his perception of reality. After Batman escapes Ace Chemicals, he alerts Gordon to his daughter's kidnapping, revealing that she aids his vigilantism. Gordon, feeling betrayed, abandons him and leaves to find Scarecrow on his own.
Batman learns that Scarecrow recruited business mogul Simon Stagg to build the "Cloudburst", a mass dispersal device for the fear toxin. Aboard Stagg's airship, Batman finds Scarecrow, but a dose of his fear toxin allows the Joker's persona to temporarily assume control of Batman while the Arkham Knight extracts the Cloudburst. Recovering, Batman locates Oracle in Scarecrow's hideout, where he watches her shoot herself after being exposed to fear toxin. Harley Quinn seizes Batman's makeshift base inside the Panessa film studio to rescue the "Joker-ized" patients. Batman and Robin capture Harley and the infected, but one of the patients kills the others and himself, believing that Batman will become the perfect "Joker". Realizing that Batman is infected, Robin attempts to imprison him, but is instead locked in a cell by Batman for his own safety.
The Arkham Knight activates the Cloudburst, flooding the city with fear toxin. Batman destroys the tank carrying the Cloudburst and convinces Ivy to empower an ancient tree that can neutralize the toxin. She succeeds and saves Gotham, but dies from the exertion, while Batman's exposure to the toxin strengthens the Joker's control over him. Batman pursues the Arkham Knight to a construction site to rescue Gordon. The Knight reveals himself to be Jason Todd, the previous second Robin, who was tortured and seemingly murdered by Joker. Todd blames Batman for abandoning him and escapes after refusing Batman's offer to help him. Batman and Gordon confront Scarecrow, where Oracle is revealed to be alive, with her suicide having been a hallucination. Batman rescues Oracle and returns her to the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), but Scarecrow escapes with Gordon as a hostage. Using the remaining militia, Scarecrow assaults the GCPD to eliminate Batman's allies. Batman and Oracle neutralize the militia, but Scarecrow uses the distraction to kidnap Robin.
To save Robin and Gordon, Batman surrenders to Scarecrow and is taken to the ruins of Arkham Asylum. Scarecrow unmasks Batman as Bruce Wayne to the world on television, before repeatedly injecting Batman with his fear toxin to break him before the public. Batman and Joker battle for control inside Batman's mind; Joker attempts to weaken Batman by showing the effects of succumbing to the infection, but Batman triumphs and locks the Joker away deep within his mind, forever to be forgotten—the Joker's only fear. Todd saves Batman, who subdues Scarecrow with his own fear toxin. After Batman ensures that Gotham is safe, Gordon dispatches the police to reclaim the streets, and Batman activates the "Knightfall Protocol" to protect his loved ones. Surrounded by reporters, Batman returns home to Wayne Manor, where Alfred greets him; as the pair enter the manor, it explodes.
Sometime later, Gordon, now the Mayor of Gotham, prepares to attend Oracle and Robin's wedding. Elsewhere, two muggers attack a family in an alley but are confronted by a nightmarish figure resembling Batman.
=== Characters ===
Arkham Asylum is set in the fictional Arkham Asylum, a facility on Arkham Island off the coast of Gotham City that houses criminally insane supervillains. The game features a large ensemble of characters from the history of Batman comics. Three voice actors who worked on the DC Animated Universe series of film and television reprised their roles for the game. Kevin Conroy voices Batman—a superhero trained to the peak of human physical perfection and an expert in martial arts, Mark Hamill voices Batman's psychopathic nemesis the Joker, and the Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn is voiced by Arleen Sorkin. Batman is aided by his allies Oracle (Kimberly Brooks)—who remotely provides him with intelligence, and police commissioner James Gordon (Tom Kane).
In the asylum, Batman is faced with several supervillains; he must defend himself from an enraged Bane (Fred Tatasciore), subdue indiscriminate serial killer Victor Zsasz (Danny Jacobs), confront the monstrous Killer Croc (Steve Blum), defeat the plant-controlling Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza), and battle his way through hallucinogen-induced nightmares created by the Scarecrow (Dino Andrade). The Riddler (Wally Wingert) does not physically appear in the game, but communicates with Batman and challenges him to solve riddles placed around the island. Other characters appearing in the game include the asylum's warden Quincy Sharp (also voiced by Kane), Batman's parents Thomas and Martha Wayne (voiced by Conroy and Valenza respectively), and asylum guard Aaron Cash (Duane R Shepard, Sr). The shape-shifting Clayface appears in cameo, taking on the guise of other characters as he tries to trick the player into releasing him. The Mad Hatter was almost included in the game, but the developers removed him. The body of Ra's al Ghul is in the asylum's morgue and the Ventriloquist's dummy, Scarface, appears several times throughout the story. Several other characters—including the Penguin, Jack Ryder, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Catwoman, and the asylum's founder Amadeus Arkham—are referenced in the game, but do not appear in it.
Plot
After the Joker assaults Gotham City Hall, he is caught by Batman and taken to Arkham Asylum, which temporarily houses many members of the Joker's gang, who were transferred after a fire at Blackgate Prison. Believing Joker allowed himself to be captured, Batman accompanies him into the asylum. The Joker's plan is revealed as Harley Quinn takes over the security and Joker escapes into the facility, aided by Frank Boles, a corrupt guard who kidnaps Commissioner Gordon. Joker threatens to detonate bombs hidden around Gotham City if anyone tries to enter Arkham, forcing Batman to work alone. Tracking Quinn to the medical facility to rescue Gordon, Batman is exposed to the Scarecrow's fear toxin. After fighting off Scarecrow's hallucinations, Batman finds and subdues Quinn before rescuing Gordon. Joker then directs Batman to the captured Bane, who has been experimented on by asylum doctor Penelope Young. Joker frees Bane to fight Batman, who defeats him by ramming him into the ocean with the Batmobile, during which Quinn escapes. Afterward, he goes to a secret Batcave installation he had hidden on the island, where he restocks his gadgets.
There, Batman learns that Joker returned to the asylum to gain access to Young, who has been developing Titan—a more powerful version of the Venom drug that gives Bane his strength—intending to use it to help patients survive more strenuous therapies. Young learned that Joker had been secretly funding her research to create an army of indestructible and savage superhuman monsters; her refusal to hand over the formula precipitated Joker's return to the asylum. While searching for Young, Batman destroys her Titan formula before rescuing her from Victor Zsasz. A bomb kills Young, and Joker steals the completed batches of Titan.
At the penitentiary, Quinn releases Poison Ivy from her cell before being imprisoned by Batman. Quinn accidentally reveals that Joker has a Titan production facility in the Arkham Botanical Gardens. Batman travels there and learns that Titan is created by genetically modified plants. He learns from Ivy that the spores required to create an antidote are found exclusively in Killer Croc's lair in a sewer. Afterward, Joker injects Ivy with Titan, enhancing her powers, and she begins to ravage Arkham Island with giant mutant plants. En route to Croc, Batman reencounters Scarecrow and pursues him into the sewers. Scarecrow is attacked by Croc and dragged underwater. Batman recovers the necessary spores and subdues Croc before returning to the Batcave. However, he can only synthesize one dose of the antidote before Ivy's plants breach the cave and destroy his equipment.
Batman returns to the botanical gardens and defeats Ivy, halting the rampaging plants. Joker announces that the preparations for his party are finally complete, and Batman travels to the asylum's visitor center to confront him. The Joker reveals he has recaptured Gordon and tries to shoot him with a Titan-filled dart; Batman leaps to Gordon's defense and is shot instead. Batman attempts to resist the change, and an upset Joker takes an overdose of Titan, mutating into a monster. In a makeshift arena on the building's roof, Joker challenges Batman to a fight against Titan-induced monsters in front of news helicopters. Batman refuses to transform, uses the antidote on himself, and defeats the Titan-affected Joker and his henchmen. In the aftermath, those affected by Titan begin to revert to normal, including Joker—who is taken into custody as police officers retake control of the asylum. Batman overhears a call about a crime led by Two-Face in progress and flies back to Gotham City in the Batwing. In a post-credits scene, a crate of Titan formula is shown floating in the ocean near the asylum when a hand surfaces and grabs it.
Batman: Arkham City
=== Characters ===
Arkham City features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. Returning characters from Arkham Asylum include Batman (Kevin Conroy), the Joker (Mark Hamill)—in what Hamill stated would be his final time voicing the character; (he subsequently reprised the role in Arkham City's successor Batman: Arkham Knight)—Warden-turned-Mayor Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), police Commissioner James Gordon (David Kaye), and reporter Jack Ryder (James Horan). Returning villains include the Riddler (Wally Wingert), Victor Zsasz (Danny Jacobs), Bane (Fred Tatasciore), and Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza). Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn also returns, voiced by Tara Strong, who replaces Arleen Sorkin. Batman's supporting cast introduces Catwoman (Grey DeLisle), Robin (Troy Baker), and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis), who provides radio support alongside the returning Oracle (Kimberly Brooks). Nightwing appears as a playable character outside of the main story via challenge maps.
Other characters marking their debut in the series include the manipulative warden of Arkham City, Hugo Strange (Corey Burton), Two-Face (also voiced by Baker), and the Penguin (Nolan North). Stana Katic lends her voice as Talia al Ghul, and Maurice LaMarche voices both Mr. Freeze and Calendar Man. Other characters include the zombie Solomon Grundy (also voiced by Tatasciore), the shapeshifter Clayface (Rick D. Wasserman), the League of Assassins's leader, Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol), and the assassin Deadshot (Chris Cox), who has infiltrated Arkham City to kill several high-profile character targets. The villain Hush (also voiced by Conroy), the mysterious Azrael (Khary Payton), and reporter Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) also appear. Black Mask (also voiced by North), Killer Croc (Steve Blum), and Freeze's wife, Nora Fries, make cameo appearances in the game.
Setting
The events of Arkham City are set 18 months after Batman: Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, the asylum's erstwhile director, has taken credit for halting the Joker's armed siege, using this distinction to become mayor of Gotham City. Declaring both the asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary no longer suitable to contain the city's detainees, Sharp's administration orders both facilities closed, and he purchases Gotham's most notorious slums and turns them into an immense prison enclosure known as Arkham City. This facility is subsequently placed in the care of psychiatrist Hugo Strange—who is secretly manipulating Sharp—and monitored by a rogue private military firm, TYGER Security. Strange permits the inmates to do as they please, so long as they do not attempt to escape. A wary Batman maintains his own vigil over the new project, afraid that the chaotic situation there will get out of hand. Meanwhile, the Joker is dying from a disease caused by his previous overdose of the Titan formula, an unstable steroid mutagen that turns men into powerful and savage monsters.
Plot
At a press conference held by Bruce Wayne to declare his opposition to Arkham City, TYGER mercenaries arrest and imprison him in the City itself. Hugo Strange discloses his knowledge of Wayne's dual identity as Batman before releasing him into the prison's criminal populace. While Strange prepares to commence "Protocol 10", Wayne obtains his equipment via airdrop from Alfred Pennyworth, allowing him to become Batman. He first saves Catwoman from being executed by Two-Face, who hopes to gain respect by murdering her. After the Joker attempts to assassinate Catwoman, Batman tracks him to his hideout in the Sionis Steelmill, believing Joker may know the truth behind Protocol 10.
There, Batman learns that the unstable properties of the Titan formula are mutating in Joker's blood, gradually killing him. Joker captures Batman and performs a blood transfusion on him, infecting him with the same fatal disease. Joker also reveals that Gotham hospitals have been poisoned with his infected blood. Desperate to save himself and innocent citizens, Batman seeks out Mr. Freeze, who has been developing a cure but has since been kidnapped by the Penguin. Tracking Penguin to his fortified museum, Batman defeats his forces, his imprisoned monster Solomon Grundy, and ultimately the Penguin himself, before liberating Mr. Freeze.
Freeze tells Batman that he has created a cure, but it is rendered useless via instability. Batman deduces that the therapeutic properties of Ra's al Ghul's blood can complete the cure and tracks one of his assassins to his underground lair, leading Batman into a confrontation with Ra's and his daughter Talia, Batman's former lover. With Ra's al Ghul's blood, Freeze is able to develop an antidote, but Harley Quinn steals it before Batman can use it.
When Batman returns to the Joker, he finds the latter's health has been restored. During a fight between the two, Strange activates Protocol 10, which is revealed to be a scheme to wipe out the entire population of Arkham City and destroy the criminal element of Gotham. TYGER troops begin executing inmates as Strange launches missile strikes on Arkham's denizens from his base in Wonder Tower. A missile hits the steel mill, burying Batman under rubble. Before Joker can take advantage of the situation, Talia arrives and offers him immortality in exchange for sparing Batman's life. After escaping with the help of Catwoman, Batman is convinced by Alfred to end Protocol 10 before pursuing Talia and Joker.
Batman infiltrates Wonder Tower and disables Protocol 10. Ra's al Ghul is revealed to be the true mastermind behind Arkham City and mortally wounds Strange for failing to defeat Batman. With his dying breath, Strange activates "Protocol 11", the self-destruction of Wonder Tower. After Ra's commits suicide to avoid capture, Joker contacts Batman, threatening to kill Talia unless Batman meets him at the Monarch Theater. When Batman arrives, Joker demands the cure from Batman but is impaled and seemingly killed by Talia while distracted. Talia admits to stealing the antidote from Quinn, before a second Joker kills her, still stricken with the disease.
The healthy Joker that Talia impaled then reanimates into the shapeshifting Clayface, who is revealed to have been masquerading as a healthy Joker all along at the ailing villain's request. During Batman's battle with Clayface, Joker blows up the theater floor, revealing that it is above the Lazarus Pit. After defeating Clayface, Batman drinks a portion of the antidote and destroys Ra's' rejuvenating Lazarus Pit before Joker can use it. As Batman debates curing his foe, Joker attacks him, inadvertently causing the antidote vial to smash. Batman admits that he would have saved him despite everything Joker had done. Joker finally succumbs to his illness and dies. Batman carries and places Joker's body on the hood of Commissioner Gordon's car before leaving Arkham City in silence.
Batman: Arkham Origins
=== Characters ===
Arkham Origins features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. The main character is Batman (Roger Craig Smith), a superhero trained to the peak of human physical perfection and an expert in martial arts who is aided by his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis). Arkham Origins brings Batman into conflict with sadistic, brutal crime lord Black Mask (Brian Bloom). The most powerful man in the city and ruler of Gotham's criminal underworld, Black Mask has vast wealth and resources, has eliminated his opposition and is consolidating his power. His ebony mask conceals his identity, allowing him to operate publicly as Roman Sionis (head of Janus Cosmetics). Black Mask has a bounty on Batman, which attracts eight accomplished assassins: the physically imposing Bane (JB Blanc); expert marksman Deadshot; veteran mercenary Deathstroke (Mark Rolston); poisonous contortionist Copperhead (Rosa Salazar); the pyromaniac Firefly (Crispin Freeman); the highly charged Electrocutioner (Steve Blum); deformed criminal Killer Croc (Khary Payton), and master martial artist Shiva (Kelly Hu).
Batman is considered an outlaw by the Gotham City police, and is pursued by Captain James Gordon (Michael Gough), Detective Harvey Bullock (Robert Costanzo) and corrupt GCPD officials Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and SWAT team leader Howard Branden. Other characters include the psychopathic Joker (Troy Baker); black-market weapons dealer Penguin (Nolan North); the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol); anti-government, anti-corporate anarchist Anarky (Matthew Mercer); rogue hacker Enigma (Wally Wingert); Alberto Falcone; Gordon's teenage daughter Barbara, and Blackgate warden Martin Joseph (Khary Payton). The story takes place before Batman's partnership with Robin (Josh Keaton)—although Robin is a playable character outside the main story—and before Barbara becomes Batman's ally, Oracle. Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Tara Strong), Gotham News Network (GNN) reporter Vicki Vale, Amanda Waller (CCH Pounder), Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), and Calendar Man make cameo appearances in the game. Mr. Freeze (Maurice LaMarche) appears in the downloadable content, Cold, Cold Heart.
Setting
The events in Arkham Origins take place about eight years before Batman: Arkham Asylum, in midwinter Gotham City. Batman, an experienced crime-fighter in the second year of his career, is not yet the veteran superhero of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. He is a mysterious force; even the police do not know whether he is a vigilante, a myth or a supernatural being. Batman has fought ordinary criminals and gangsters and is accustomed to being stronger and faster than his opponents. However, on a snowy Christmas Eve he is confronted with more dangerous foes: eight professional assassins hoping to collect a $50-million bounty placed on Batman's head by Black Mask. Villains (including the Joker) take advantage of the assassins' arrival to launch their schemes, and Black Mask's henchmen instigate a rise in crime and gang activity in the city.
The Gotham City Police Department is aware of "the Batman", and does not condone his approach to crime-fighting. Led by Commissioner Loeb, the GCPD is thoroughly corrupt; Branden and his SWAT team are hunting for Batman to claim the bounty for themselves. The incorruptible Captain James Gordon is one of the most unpopular members of the force. Batman's relationship with Alfred is strained; the butler, an overbearing parental figure, reminds him of his parents' deaths and Alfred sees Batman as a spoiled child squandering his inheritance on a vigilante crusade.
Old Gotham, the section of Gotham City which will become the Arkham City prison, is not yet walled off and has slums, low buildings, a shopping mall, and docks (where Penguin's ship the Final Offer is moored). On the Final Offer, Penguin has added a casino, a fighting pit, and a sales floor with weapons and ammunition. Across the bridge from Old Gotham is New Gotham, a modern metropolitan area filled with towering skyscrapers.
Plot
On Christmas Eve, Batman intervenes in a jailbreak at Blackgate Penitentiary led by Black Mask, who executes Police Commissioner Loeb before escaping. Left to battle the assassin Killer Croc, Batman prevails but learns Croc is only the first of eight killers drawn to Gotham by a $50 million bounty Black Mask has placed on him. Seeking Black Mask's whereabouts, Batman tracks the Penguin to his ship, where he defeats Deathstroke and Electrocutioner. Penguin reveals that Black Mask has allegedly been murdered at an apartment complex. Investigating, Batman discovers the victim was an impostor and that the crime involved a criminal known as the Joker.
To learn more, Batman infiltrates the GCPD to access its criminal database. While escaping, he encounters Captain James Gordon—who is distrustful of Batman—and a corrupt SWAT team eager to collect the bounty. With advice from Gordon's daughter Barbara, Batman accesses the sewers beneath the precinct to establish permanent database access, where he finds Black Mask's men planting explosives. Using the database, he deduces that Black Mask has been kidnapped by Joker, who is targeting the Gotham Merchants Bank. At the bank, Black Mask unmasks himself as the Joker, revealing he had assumed Sionis's identity days earlier to seize his empire and impose the bounty. Batman pursues him to the Sionis Steel Mill, where he frees the real Black Mask and defeats Copperhead.
Tracking the Joker to the Gotham Royal Hotel, Batman finds the building rigged with explosives, its staff murdered, and guests taken hostage. Joker mocks the assassins for failing to kill Batman, throwing Electrocutioner to his death. Batman claims his electric gloves and continues through the hotel. While most assassins depart, Bane remains, anticipating Batman will come to the Joker. On the rooftop, Batman battles Bane; worried for his safety, Alfred alerts the police so they will intervene. Bane flees by helicopter, firing a rocket that sends Joker plummeting from the roof. Batman rescues him, confounding Joker as to why Batman would save someone like him. Joker is arrested and placed in Blackgate under the care of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. There, Joker tells her that he and Batman were destined to meet.
In the Batcave, Alfred urges Bruce to abandon his crusade, fearing it will kill him, but Batman refuses. He also learns Bane has uncovered his identity as Bruce Wayne. Firefly's attack on Pioneers Bridge forces Batman and Gordon to work together to stop him. Meanwhile, Bane infiltrates the Batcave and nearly kills Alfred. Batman revives him with Electrocutioner's gloves, and Alfred admits Gotham needs Batman to face such threats. Elsewhere, Joker incites a riot and seizes control of Blackgate.
Realizing he needs allies, Batman joins Gordon and the police to retake the prison. Joker, strapped to an electric chair, presents Batman with a choice: kill Bane, or let Bane's heartbeat charge a device that will activate the chair and execute Joker. Batman stops Bane's heart with the electric gloves, satisfying Joker, who departs to detonate bombs across Gotham. Batman resuscitates Bane, who injects himself with TN-1, a steroid that transforms him into a hulking beast. After a brutal fight, Batman defeats him; the serum's side effects cause Bane to have amnesia, protecting Batman's identity. With Gordon's support, Batman locates Joker in the prison chapel. Joker, dismayed that Bane lives, tries to provoke Batman into killing him but is subdued instead. Batman leaves, and Gordon chooses not to pursue him, believing he is the hero Gotham needs.
In a radio interview during the credits, Quincy Sharp announces plans to lobby for Arkham Asylum's reopening.
In the post-credits scene, Amanda Waller recruits Deathstroke into the Suicide Squad.
Cold, Cold Heart
On New Year's Eve at Wayne Manor, Ferris Boyle, owner of GothCorp, accepts a humanitarian award from the Wayne Foundation. The ceremony is interrupted by criminals working for the Penguin, led by a man in a mechanized suit armed with freezing weapons, who kidnaps Boyle. Wayne retreats to the Batcave, dons the Batsuit, and saves the guests, learning that the attacker is known as "Mr. Freeze" and is meeting weapons dealers in South Gotham. Investigating further, Batman discovers that the Penguin's men were receiving weapons manufactured by GothCorp.
At GothCorp, Batman finds Freeze and the Penguin in a standoff, with the latter holding Boyle hostage. Freeze encases the Penguin in ice and escapes with Boyle, leaving Batman unable to pursue because of an ice wall blocking his path. Interrogating the Penguin, Batman learns that Boyle possesses the access codes to a superweapon and that the only way through the ice wall is with a Cryodrill, which Penguin's men have stolen.
Equipping his XE suit, which allows him to survive extreme cold, Batman retrieves the Cryodrill and returns to GothCorp. There, he uncovers evidence of a past crime and learns Freeze's true identity: Victor Fries, a former GothCorp scientist who sought to cure his terminally ill wife Nora by placing her in cryogenic stasis. Boyle had financed Victor's research in exchange for weapons development but later reneged, stealing Nora's frozen body and causing the accident that forced Victor to live in sub-zero conditions inside a mechanized suit.
Armed with this knowledge, Batman confronts and subdues Freeze, but is then frozen by Boyle, who attempts to cover up his crimes by killing both Victor and Nora. Batman breaks free, defeats Boyle, and reactivates Nora's cryogenic chamber, preserving her life.
During the credits, the Gotham News Network reports on the resignation of Mayor Hamilton Hill and speculates on Gordon's potential promotion to commissioner. Vicki Vale reports on the arrests of Boyle and the Penguin while Mr. Freeze is being held in a special wing at the Gotham City Hospital. Sharp cites Freeze as further justification for reopening Arkham Asylum.
Batman: Arkham Knight
=== Characters ===
Arkham Knight features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of Batman comics. The main character is Batman (Kevin Conroy)—a superhero trained to the peak of human physical and mental perfection and an expert in martial arts. He is supported by his allies, Robin (Matthew Mercer), Nightwing (Scott Porter), Catwoman (Grey DeLisle), Barbara Gordon (Ashley Greene)—who assists Batman covertly as the hacker Oracle—and her father, police commissioner James Gordon (Jonathan Banks). Batman's loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis) and Wayne Enterprises colleague Lucius Fox (Dave Fennoy) provide Batman with tactical support, and the holy warrior Azrael (Khary Payton) aims to replace Batman as Gotham's protector.
Throughout the city, Batman is faced with several supervillains: he must overcome Scarecrow's (John Noble) plot to threaten Gotham City, dismantle the Penguin's (Nolan North) weapon dealing operation, put an end to Two-Face's (Troy Baker) bank heists, conquer the Riddler's (Wally Wingert) challenges, capture the plant-controlling Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza), and subdue Harley Quinn (Tara Strong), who wants revenge against Batman for the death of the Joker (Mark Hamill), Batman's psychopathic nemesis who appears in the game as a hallucination.
The game introduces the Arkham Knight (also voiced by Baker), a new villain created by Rocksteady, DC Comics CCO and comic-book writer Geoff Johns, and DC co-publisher and comic artist Jim Lee. The Arkham Knight is a militarized version of Batman, with the "A" logo of the Arkham Asylum facility worn as an emblem on his chest. Other villains include the pyromaniac Firefly (Crispin Freeman), the beastly Man-Bat (Loren Lester), the veteran assassin Deathstroke (Mark Rolston), the serial killer Professor Pyg (Dwight Schultz), the religious fanatic Deacon Blackfire (Mark Worden), and Hush (also voiced by Conroy), who is impersonating Batman's alter-ego as Bruce Wayne.
Arkham Knight also features appearances and voice cameos by various characters drawn from the history of Batman comics and the previous Arkham games, including pharmaceutical businessman Simon Stagg (Philip Proctor), reporters Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) and Jack Ryder (James Horan), police officer Aaron Cash (Duane Shepard), corporate businessman Lex Luthor (Keith Silverstein), crimefighter Kate Kane, serial killer Calendar Man, and mutated gangster Killer Croc (Steve Blum), while the game's downloadable content features appearances by Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol), Black Mask (Brian Bloom), Mr. Freeze (Maurice LaMarche), Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), Nyssa Raatko (Jennifer Hale), and Nora Fries (Cissy Jones). The game also makes references to many characters from the history of Batman and DC Comics.
Setting
Nine months after the death of the Joker during the events of Arkham City, Batman is struggling to cope with the absence of his archenemy and the uncomfortable feeling that the pair shared a bond deeper than either could admit. Without the Joker's presence, Gotham's citizens have never felt safer, and crime in the city has declined significantly. However, this gives Batman's enemies, including Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn, a chance to unite with the singular goal of defeating Batman. Having anticipated a new threat, Batman has continued to develop crime-fighting technology and maintain a vigil over the city.
On Halloween night, Scarecrow, who Batman had defeated in Arkham Asylum, threatens the city with his newly created strain of fear toxin and bombs planted throughout Gotham, forcing the evacuation of the city's six million civilians. Only criminals remain in the city, leaving Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department outnumbered.
Arkham Knight's Gotham City is approximately five times the scale of the open-air Arkham City prison in Arkham City. The game takes place in the center of the city, which is split into three islands: Bleake, Founders, and Miagani, with various districts such as the neon-tinged Chinatown, and the industrial shipping yard. Bleake Island features shorter buildings, disheveled areas, and abandoned docks, while Founders Island is a modern development of skyscrapers built on the ruins of Gotham slums, and Miagani Island is an older metropolis with Wayne Tower at its center. Oracle has set up her communications headquarters in the Gotham clock tower, which also houses a makeshift Batcave.
Plot
On Halloween, Scarecrow forces an evacuation of Gotham City after threatening to unleash his new fear toxin. Batman tracks Scarecrow to a hideout where he rescues the imprisoned Poison Ivy, who had refused to join Batman's other rogues in Scarecrow's plot. Oracle identifies Ace Chemicals as the source of Scarecrow's toxin. Batman investigates the facility and discovers a large militia being dispatched to occupy Gotham, led by the mysterious "Arkham Knight". Batman locates Scarecrow, who has transformed the building into a toxic bomb meant to engulf the entire Eastern Seaboard. Scarecrow reveals that he has kidnapped Oracle before escaping. Exposing himself to the toxin, Batman inhibits the bomb's blast radius before the Joker confronts him.
A flashback reveals that before the Joker's death, his infected blood was used in blood transfusions, infecting five people, including Batman. Concealing his infection, Batman imprisoned the four other patients, who were physically and mentally transforming into the Joker. Joker, existing as a mental projection produced by the infected blood and fear toxin, frequently appears to taunt Batman and twist his perception of reality. After Batman escapes Ace Chemicals, he alerts Gordon to his daughter's kidnapping, revealing that she aids his vigilantism. Gordon, feeling betrayed, abandons him and leaves to find Scarecrow on his own.
Batman learns that Scarecrow recruited business mogul Simon Stagg to build the "Cloudburst", a mass dispersal device for the fear toxin. Aboard Stagg's airship, Batman finds Scarecrow, but a dose of his fear toxin allows the Joker's persona to temporarily assume control of Batman while the Arkham Knight extracts the Cloudburst. Recovering, Batman locates Oracle in Scarecrow's hideout, where he watches her shoot herself after being exposed to fear toxin. Harley Quinn seizes Batman's makeshift base inside the Panessa film studio to rescue the "Joker-ized" patients. Batman and Robin capture Harley and the infected, but one of the patients kills the others and himself, believing that Batman will become the perfect "Joker". Realizing that Batman is infected, Robin attempts to imprison him, but is instead locked in a cell by Batman for his own safety.
The Arkham Knight activates the Cloudburst, flooding the city with fear toxin. Batman destroys the tank carrying the Cloudburst and convinces Ivy to empower an ancient tree that can neutralize the toxin. She succeeds and saves Gotham, but dies from the exertion, while Batman's exposure to the toxin strengthens the Joker's control over him. Batman pursues the Arkham Knight to a construction site to rescue Gordon. The Knight reveals himself to be Jason Todd, the previous second Robin, who was tortured and seemingly murdered by Joker. Todd blames Batman for abandoning him and escapes after refusing Batman's offer to help him. Batman and Gordon confront Scarecrow, where Oracle is revealed to be alive, with her suicide having been a hallucination. Batman rescues Oracle and returns her to the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), but Scarecrow escapes with Gordon as a hostage. Using the remaining militia, Scarecrow assaults the GCPD to eliminate Batman's allies. Batman and Oracle neutralize the militia, but Scarecrow uses the distraction to kidnap Robin.
To save Robin and Gordon, Batman surrenders to Scarecrow and is taken to the ruins of Arkham Asylum. Scarecrow unmasks Batman as Bruce Wayne to the world on television, before repeatedly injecting Batman with his fear toxin to break him before the public. Batman and Joker battle for control inside Batman's mind; Joker attempts to weaken Batman by showing the effects of succumbing to the infection, but Batman triumphs and locks the Joker away deep within his mind, forever to be forgotten—the Joker's only fear. Todd saves Batman, who subdues Scarecrow with his own fear toxin. After Batman ensures that Gotham is safe, Gordon dispatches the police to reclaim the streets, and Batman activates the "Knightfall Protocol" to protect his loved ones. Surrounded by reporters, Batman returns home to Wayne Manor, where Alfred greets him; as the pair enter the manor, it explodes.
Sometime later, Gordon, now the Mayor of Gotham, prepares to attend Oracle and Robin's wedding. Elsewhere, two muggers attack a family in an alley but are confronted by a nightmarish figure resembling Batman.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Section headings and formatting adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Batman: Arkham City. Section headings and formatting adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Batman: Arkham Origins. Section headings and formatting adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Batman: Arkham Knight. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license