Martial Artist

The Martial Artist is an enemy type introduced in Batman: Arkham Origins, and are capable of countering Batman's punches.

Initiation Incident
Martial Artists can be seen with the ninjas that Bruce Wayne fought to be initiated.

Before Arkham Origins Incident
It is possible that the Martial Artists came to Gotham City just as Bruce did.

Arkham Origins Incident
When Batman was under the GCPD, he saw Black Mask's men underground and some Martial Artists who  joined them. Before battling Shiva and her ninjas at Wonder Tower, the Martial Artists were also part of the League of Assassins as they could teleport like Shiva and her ninjas. A Martial Artist named Qing Lu worked for the Penguin, but he killed Alex Cane, an arms dealer who also worked for Cobblepot until Lu made his escape that caused the fire started by Cane in Coventry. At Dixon Docks, Batman located Qing Lu at the Final Offer and interrogated him for questioning. Batman knocked him out and apprehended him. Some martial artists were seen at the riot at Blackgate.

Cold Cold Heart Incident
All of the martial artists were presumably arrested and taken to Blackgate.

Role in the Game
Martial artists appeared exclusively in Arkham Origins. They are superior to regular thugs and a more challenging type of enemy, as they can stand on prolonged fights against exceptional combat experts such as Batman or Deathstroke. Known for their unpredictable interaction when encountered in combat, they are capable of countering and implementing several different types of attacks at the player; some of which require double tapping of the Counter move, and others that have the possibility of engaging the player in a series of precise counters; with the first ones not affecting the Martial artist, but in the end they land one last move which leaves them vulnerable for the player to attack (and in the case that the last move ends on a kick and the player counters it, it has a strong possibility of taking out the martial artist instantly). They can also be unpredictable if the player tries to attack them directly as they can be hit like regular thugs but at any time can also unexpectedly evade the player's attack and counter in return if the player is not fast enough to react.

They're immune to Batarangs/Shurikens and also to Combat Takedowns as if the player tries to apply it on them, they're going to evade and subsequently push the player away, this, however, doesn't cause any damage nor affects the combo. Martial artists from Blackgate Prison differ from the rest as they will occasionally pick up weapons in combat, if they do this they're countered the same way as regular thugs with weapons.

Sometimes, regular thugs have the possibility of displaying some of the martial artists moves against the player, but since they're not as proficient as the actual martial artists, they will hurt themselves in the process.

Known Martial Artists

 * Kirigi's Assassins
 * Shiva's Elite
 * Bane's Henchmen
 * Penguin's Henchmen
 * Qing Lu
 * Black Mask's Henchmen
 * Joker's Henchmen
 * Blackgate Prisoners
 * Gotham Criminals

Trivia

 * It was revealed in the Concept Art that some Martial Artist planned to work for the GCPD.
 * In the E3 Demo, it was shown that some Martial Artists planned to work for Anarky.
 * When playing as Bruce Wayne, the Counter prompt for the Martial Artist appeared earlier for him than more Batman and Deathstroke.
 * Before the release of Arkham Knight, a developer mentioned the Martial artists in an interview, but they never appeared in game. It was possible that they were cut, or that the developer actually meant Combat Specialists, aka Ninjas.
 * Rarely in main game and Challenges Martial Artists wield a pipe (particularly the Blackgate Martial Artists), they work like a normal thug till they lose the pipe.