- "Nobody polices the Goliath!"
- —King to Gordon at the movie studios.
Albert King, aka the Gotham Goliath, was a legendary prizefighter with consecutive knockouts since records began. Days before his testimonial fight, King checked into Gotham General for a routine procedure, only to become infected with Joker's mutated blood. After he hospitalized his entire family in a fit of rage, King took on the more violent and sadistic aspects of Joker's personality.
Incident Report[]
Before Arkham Knight Incident[]
Albert King was a professional heavyweight boxer in Gotham City and acquired the nickname of the Goliath. However, he ended up losing to a Russian boxer due to age, and ended up retiring. Albert eventually ended up having to go to the hospital for a routine treatment at Gotham General.
When Joker sent samples of his mutated blood to the hospitals all over the state, Albert and four other people were infected with his blood, but because his blood and the other transfusions went unrecorded for some reason, Albert didn't receive the cure in time, which caused the blood to gestate too long and made the infected people to look and act like Joker; except for one of the victims, Henry Adams, who appeared to be immune to Joker's blood. Batman (who was also infected) brought all four of the infected people to a containment facility and had Robin run tests to investigate why Henry wasn't like the others. The first sign of Albert being infected was when he forcibly challenged three members of his immediate family to an arm-wrestling match, proceeded to viciously rip their arms out upon beating them, and presumably used their blood to make a Joker-esque smile on his face. He was the second person to become infected.
Arkham Knight Incident[]
On the night of October 30th, the Gotham News reported that a late replacement for Albert King had been found, emphasizing that the promotion was back on track. Later that night, Harley Quinn raided Panessa Studios, where Albert, Johnny Charisma, and Christina Bell were being kept. Quinn released Bell, King, and Charisma from their cells, and left them free to roam the studios. After Batman recaptured Bell, Charisma and King both spoke to Batman on the TV, and challenged him to come and face them. Batman would either decide to pursue King before Charisma or Charisma before King. Batman found that King had entered a room with a wild western theme with a squad of Harley's Henchmen. King challenged Batman to a fight and eventually lost with some help from Robin, despite the assistance of Harley's goons. He was taken back where he was later killed by Henry, who was not immune to Joker's tainted blood after all.
Personality[]
Albert King was very confident in his abilities, and was very eager to take Batman on in a fight. However, because Robin had accompanied Batman to King's stage, King, like the other two infected, was displeased by the Boy Wonder's presence. The blood transferred from Joker might have altered King's personality, and his interactions with Batman may have suggested that Albert represented Joker's desire to keep fighting the Dark Knight. King also demonstrated extreme viciousness when infected, as evidenced by how he not only forced three of his own family members to participate in an arm-wrestling match against him, but proceeded to rip their arms from their bodies after they lost.
Appearance[]
Albert King was a very tall and muscular man with dark skin, but there were sections that were turning pale white, like his shoulders, chest and more prominently, his face. King had black sideburns and a beard which framed his face. King wore a blue and red jersey that had the letters "R" and "D" on the front. He also wore red boxing shorts and black boxing boots, and had tape around his hands. King also had a black bandanna wrapped around his head.
Attributes[]
- Strength: King had considerable strength, as evidenced by the fact that Batman and Robin couldn't counter his punches, which suggested that he was too strong to be countered. He could also pick up fallen goons and throw them at Batman and Robin. In addition, although not demonstrated during their fight, King also possessed enough strength to rip a human's arm off, as evidenced by his patient log. However, like his endurance, King's strength wasn't superhuman.
- Endurance: King had a high level of endurance, as evidenced by Batman and Robin's standard attacks doing no damage to him, and he easily brushed off most of the gadgets at the Dynamic Duo's disposal that would otherwise prove effective on normal people. However, his endurance wasn't superhuman, since he was a normal man.
- Boxing: King was a very powerful boxer, as proven by his many victories in his career, and often took advantage of his size and strength to beat his foes unconscious. There are clues, however, that suggest he used steroids during his career.
Quotes[]
- "What do you want, pig? Comin' in here, eyeballin' me. You think you can police me?! Nobody polices the Goliath!" (Commissioner Gordon)
- "You got lucky, Bat-freak! This time... the Goliath is ready!" (Batman)
- "You want to end this?! You come see me! Ignore this freak. Just you and me, baby!" (Batman)
- "I'll show him fun. Two fists of fun! And then I'm coming to see you, Charisma. I'm gonna smack you so hard you're gonna be singing out the back of your head!" (Johnny Charisma)
- "Who do you think you're talking to, boy? You better watch your mouth!" (Johnny Charisma)
- "Well look who shot their mouth off too soon. I guess it's just you and me now, Bats. Mano a mano. A real fight! Something to tell the kids about. Of course, you could just turn and run like a little chicken. You've faced the rest, now fight the best!"
- "This is it! The fight of the century! You ready to get schooled, Bats? Where do you wanna start? How about getting your asses kicked 101?" (Batman and Robin)
- "Nothing to say? Strong and silent type, huh? Well, let's see if I can change that. I'm gonna make you both beg for mercy and cry out in pain!" (Batman and Robin)
- "Nobody ever beat the Goliath one on one!"
- "I can take like that all night long!"
- "The Goliath's gonna make you pay!"
- "The Goliath doesn't lose!"
- "You fight like a real killer, Bats!"
- "Ha! I almost felt that one! Almost!"
- "You think you can hurt me, Robin?!"
- "You can't test me, boy!" (Robin)
- "Hit so I can feel it!" (Robin)
- "Get back in the fight!" (Harley's Henchman)
- "Come on, get up!" (Harley's Henchman)
- "On your feet!" (Harley's Henchman)
- "You think the two of you can take me?! Think again!" (Batman and Robin)
- "You teaming up now? I'll break both your skulls!" (Batman and Robin)
- "Not even two of you can take me down!" (Batman and Robin)
- "You're gonna regret making me mad!" (Batman and Robin)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Albert shared his name with the blues musician, Albert King.
- Albert was the only one of the three Jokers to be a boss and actually be fought.
- He was also one of the few physical boss fights in Arkham Knight. Other battles were either fought with the Batmobile (four), and others required simply a Takedown or other context-sensitive based actions (such as gliding into Man-Bat, or a Dual Takedown).
- Depending on whether the player chose to fight Albert King or Johnny Charisma first, Albert King would either be shot in the head in front of Batman, Robin, and Harley Quinn by Henry Adams, or he would be killed off-screen by Henry Adams.
- His opening line to Batman and Robin before fighting them, "How about getting your asses kicked 101?", was similar to something Clayface-Joker stated to Batman just before fighting him in Arkham City: "Let's start with 'Getting your ass kicked 101'." Coincidentally, both fights also involved having to fight both Joker-lookalikes and their minions.
- The aspect of Joker's personality that King took on the most was Joker's violent nature.
- Albert frequently addressed himself as the Goliath, a giant and very violent monster in the Bible. It was unknown if Albert gave himself the name or if it was his boxing nickname, but it was greatly implied that it was his boxing name due to his strength and height.
- When the player talked to King as Commissioner Gordon, he was wearing tracksuit pants, rather than his usual red shorts. (It's possible that the shorts were King's boxers)
- Albert King seemed to hold a huge rivalry with Johnny Charisma, at least in instances where Batman was involved, as they were seen arguing over who got to fight Batman next.
- In the Arkham Knight novelization, Albert King did not appear. Instead, he's been reimagined as a bank robber named Albert Christopher Rogers (or "Big Al," for short) who was shot in an attempted robbery and was given a routine blood transfusion with Joker's blood.
- He is the one who looked least like the Joker with his appearance being nowhere near the original.
- This is easily explainable: King's skin-tone was darker than Henry, Johnny and Bell's, so it would take longer for the infection to make him pale as Joker, with only the majority of his face, chest and his shoulders having gone pale.
- Oddly enough, he was the only Joker infected who's hair hadn't turned green, as his beard remained black after the Joker infection had fully turned him.
- It is strongly implied that King used steroids and/or was enhanced by Joker's blood, since there's no way an ordinary and washed up boxer, whether seasoned or at their prime, would be comparable in terms of brute force and stamina to other bosses like Bane, Killer Croc or the Titan Goons nor he could kill a goon by throwing him into the air with a single punch and with minimum force.