- "I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!"
- —Batman to Joker
When his parents were gunned down in front of him, young Bruce Wayne resolved to rid Gotham City of the criminal element that took their lives. He trained extensively to achieve mental and physical perfection, in addition to mastering martial arts, detective techniques, and criminal psychology. When he returned, Bruce was inspired by a bat in his ancestral home of Wayne Manor. He then became Batman who fought crime with the aid of specialized gadgets and vehicles and operated out of a secret Batcave underneath Wayne Manor. Batman led a successful twelve-year, crime-fighting career until he was publicly unmasked by Scarecrow during the Arkham Knight Incident. Following the incident, with his identity fully exposed, Batman initiated The Knightfall Protocol and disappeared from the public eye. Despite that, his legacy lived on with the citizens of Gotham. Five years later, Bruce revealed himself to still be alive to the public, after accepting Superman's offer to join the Justice League, and returned to being Batman once again, now based in the city of Metropolis with his new allies.
Incident Reports
Before Arkham Origins Incident
When he was 8 years old, Bruce watched helplessly as his parents were gunned down in front of him. The first person to talk to him after the tragedy was a kind police officer named James Gordon. He offered the boy what little comfort he could. The family's faithful butler, Alfred, became Bruce's legal guardian and tried to help. Bruce forever had his childhood stolen from him. Bruce became obsessed with avenging his parents' murder and created a plan for the rest of his life.
For the next several years from his childhood to young adult life, Bruce trained extremely extensively to the height of mental and physical perfection. He studied various detective techniques, criminal psychology, invention, computers, disguise, escape arts, tracking, acrobatics, weapons, and marksmanship to name a few.
Bruce went on a journey to learn and master the many highly refined forms of Asian martial arts and eventually travelled to North Korea. There, Bruce discovered a secret Korean monastery where he met martial arts master, Kirigi of the League of Assassins. At first, nothing more than just a servant and a foreigner, Bruce was eventually allowed to train with his students in Tokagure-Ryu and other Shinobi arts similar to the Japanese Ninjutsu. Mastering all of them, and even managing to defeat Kirigi's best student Shiva, Bruce earned the sensei's respect and was allowed access to the knowledge that he had been seeking as well as more advanced training.
Returning to Gotham after several years abroad, ostensibly to reclaim his inheritance and become the CEO of his family's company, Bruce realized that he needed to become a symbol to fully utilize everything he'd learned on his journey. He chose the image of a bat, an old childhood fear, and began crafting an identity to prey on both of the superstitions and the cowardice of criminals. He confided this plan to Alfred, who did not initially approve but faithfully stood by his charge and helped him renovate the caves beneath Wayne Manor into a base of operations: the Batcave. Bruce befriended Lucius Fox, though he didn't share his plans with him at first, and used his position to develop or "borrow" custom-made items that could be useful in his crusade. He assembled his first armored Batsuit and Utility Belt out of various materials from the Batcave and Wayne Enterprises, and re-purposed a prototype stealth jet to act as the "Batwing", a means of transport and an aerial delivery system, with plans to develop the future Batmobile. He also undertook an investigation into a brutal serial killing incident around the time of Halloween of his first year, which Alfred later referred to as "a long one".
For over two years, Batman waged a covert war on Gotham crime, and focused on everything from typical muggings and robberies to powerful figures such as Carmine Falcone, his rival Sal Maroni, and up-and-coming crime lords, Black Mask and the Penguin. He also solved several cases beyond the police's capability to handle, such as the holiday themed killer named Calendar Man and a crime wave perpetuated by the mysterious Red Hood, which Batman suspected of being a cover identity assumed by more than one person. His first and only confrontation with the Red Hood ended in disaster during a break-in at the Ace Chemicals Plant. The villain fell into a vat of chemicals, either by accident or on purpose to escape justice, which marked the first failure in the young vigilante's career. The Red Hood's body was never found.
Batman continued his war, gained more confidence with each victory and continued to develop his arsenal. Most criminals believed him to either be an urban legend or some kind of supernatural entity, both of which gave him a psychological edge to exploit as they began to realize that someone or something out there was an active threat to their stranglehold on Gotham. Batman avoided media attention for as long as possible, and added to the power of his chosen symbol. As a new year drew closer, Batman believed himself to be the only thing that stood between the innocent and the predatory, and that he could handle any opponent.
This would be challenged soon.
Arkham Origins Incident
Batman investigated at Dixon Docks where thugs hid there and ambushed them. He investigated a box that belonged to Queen Industries and discovered that the box had a bomb in it. After barely escaping the blast, Batman was confronted by Deathstroke, who was hoping to collect the bounty on Batman's head. During their fight, Deadshot interrupted Deathstroke's chance to kill Batman when he destroyed Deathstroke's Sword with two well placed shots. Deadshot then shot the chain that held a shipping crate, and allowed Batman to escape. Batman discovered the bullet fired from Deadshot, and noticed that the bottom said AmerTek, the name of the company who manufactured the bullet.
- "Whoever kills you tonight is going be famous AND rich!"
- —Batman learns Killer Croc won't be his only problem.
Christmas Eve in Gotham began with a bang when Black Mask led a sudden and seemingly random all out attack on Blackgate Prison, and took Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, hostage. Batman responded immediately. His first act upon entering the facility was to rescue Warden Martin Joseph from being beaten by one of Black Mask's Henchmen. After following a trail of destruction and subduing several of Black Mask's thugs and the escaping inmates, Batman noticed that a drone was tracking Black Mask through the prison. He finally caught up to Black Mask in the Death Row Execution Chamber, but was too late to prevent the mobster from releasing Calendar Man and executing Loeb in his place. Batman stopped pursuing Black Mask and his escort to retrieve the damaged drone's memory card before he headed to the roof. Black Mask escaped via helicopter while Batman confronted the first of eight hired assassins: Killer Croc. After defeating Croc, Batman interrogated him for information about Black Mask's whereabouts to no avail, and left him for the GCPD.
Batman returned to the Batcave, scanned the damaged drone's memory card on the Batcomputer, and learned that some of the world's deadliest assassins had come to Gotham to claim a $50 million bounty that Black Mask had placed on his head.[70] He headed into the city to track down the drone's operator, Oswald Cobblepot: the Penguin. As the Batwing neared the city, Batman noticed a jamming signal interfering with the plane's systems and entered the Coventry GCR Tower to investigate further. Finding it under siege by armed thugs, Batman rescued the hostages and investigated the murder of a Gotham Optics employee named David Shannon, who had been killed by an explosive placed in an access panel. Further scanning indicated that it had been placed there by a criminal named John F. Baker who had mysteriously turned up dead later in the Diamond District.
Batman shut down the jamming signal and was contacted by Enigma, a mysterious hacker who had jammed the Batwing's signal in all the GCR towers in Gotham. Batman tracked the signal to Enigma's hideout, but was met with a television conversation with Enigma instead; Batman learned of relays protecting Enigma's main server and of datapacks held by his hired help that would be used to blackmail powerful people in Gotham.
- "The Penguin. Not one dime in Gotham gets exchanged without him involved somehow. If anyone knows where Black Mask and his assassins are, it'll be him."
- —Batman investigates Penguin
Batman then made his way to Jezebel Plaza to interrogate Penguin's arms dealer, Ricky "Loose Lips" Leblanc and observed him and the Penguin's Henchmen selling weapons until he interrupted their deal. The vigilante attempted to interrogate the terrified Leblanc, only to unintentionally choke him into unconsciousness. Not long after, Batman started to interrogate him on the roof of the Gotham Merchant's Bank before Cobblepot texted Loose Lips to check the progress of the deal. Batman took the phone's memory card to hack into Penguin's communications, and dropped the now unnecessary Loose Lips off the roof and straight into the plaza's Christmas Tree.
However, he soon found that he needed to triangulate the signal by using the relay stations Penguin used for his private radio. Once this was done, he overheard Penguin talk about the Boiler Deck Fights, which were being held on his ship, The Final Offer. Batman believed that Cobblepot would give up a lead on Black Mask's location. There, Batman faced the would-be assassin, the Electrocutioner, and knocked the loud mouth out with a kick to the face. After Batman went after Penguin's assistant, Tracey Buxton, he received a message about Electrocutioner, who left the arena and claimed that he would be back for him. Batman found Tracey in the casino and locked her in a cell before he unlocked the security locks barring his progress.
Batman interrupted the Penguin's torturing of his rival's son, Alberto Falcone. He learned from Penguin that Black Mask had "problems of his own" that was related to a murder that was committed at his Lacey Towers safe house before he was interrupted by another assassin, the far more capable Deathstroke. Batman managed to defeat Deathstroke and purloined his Remote Claw. Batman contacted Alfred to arrange an anonymous tip about Deathstroke's whereabouts to the GCPD before his manservant informed him of police band chatter that indicated the Lacey Towers murder victim may have been Black Mask himself.
- "I've planted three bombs where Gotham's corruption is at its strongest. But unlike those I fight to overthrow, I believe in choice. So I offer you one: Let them detonate or stop them. Your actions will determine what I do with you."
- —Anarky's challenge to Batman
After he left the Final Offer, Batman discovered a transmission from Anarky, who threatened to bomb "corrupt" institutions all over Gotham and challenged the vigilante to deactivate them. Batman found bombs at the bank, casino, and GCPD; he disabled them and received a call from Anarky. The radical was not angry, but instead intrigued by the idea of Batman's crusade; he told him where to find him - the Solomon Wayne Courthouse. Anarky proposed a team-up to eliminate the corruption in Gotham, but Batman refused. Anarky and his followers attempted to defeat him, but Batman won. He unmasked Anarky, and to his shock, learned that the radical was actually a teenager named Lonnie Machin. Anarky was left bereft at his failure and began muttering to himself about how he could have done better; he considered becoming an ally/apprentice to Batman, but decided against the idea. Batman left him to be picked up by the police
Arriving at Lacey Towers, Batman learned that the police believed that Penguin had killed Black Mask and investigated the murder scene where Black Mask and his girlfriend had been murdered several days ago. Piecing together the evidence, Batman concluded that the victim was not Black Mask and Penguin had visited the scene after the murder was committed. An unknown intruder had attacked the real murderer, and that murderer may have been a new criminal known as "The Joker".
Needing more information to solve the case, mostly a DNA analysis to confirm who the murder's assailant had been, Batman infiltrated the GCPD Building in order to access the National Criminal Database. He came across a wall of pipes, which had Captain Gordon's office on the other side. Gordon was arguing with his daughter over Batman's efforts to try bringing justice to Gotham City, but Gordon was adamant that only the police were the ones who could be responsible for that. Batman continued through the walls and next saw Gordon ordering the GCPD to be on the look out for the seven other assassins, who could possibly cause more destruction and mayhem that night in their attempts to draw out and kill the Batman.
Making his way through the building, he learned that the corrupt SWAT leader Howard Branden was determined to claim the bounty and, with Loeb dead, the other corrupt officers were concerned that James Gordon would be considered for Commissioner, and they were already discussing ways to damage his reputation. Finding his way to the Server Room barred by a set of electronic locks and a jamming device, Batman sneaked into the Interrogation Room to confront Loose Lips again about a Disruptor. He learned that it could jam weapons and override security protocols.
- "Wait. Why do you do what you do?
Because I made a promise." - —Batman shares some of his story
Before he could retrieve the Disruptor from the Evidence Room, Batman stumbled upon SWAT's attempt to undermine Gordon: instigating a riot in the Holding Cells by covertly releasing several inmates, including a Venom Henchmen. Batman dealt with the riot, passed the Server Room's locks with the use of his new Disruptor, and attempted to collect the information that he needed. During this he met Gordon's daughter Barbara, who gave him advice on how to establish a permanent connection. Before leaving, she asks Batman what motivates him to be a vigilante; Batman responded that it was due to a promise. At that moment, a tear gas grenade was tossed into the room; Barbara left to distract the officers that attacked, claiming to have been on the phone with a friend. Batman left via the vents, heading back to the roof. In the midst of his escape, Batman encountered Captain Gordon, who still thought the vigilante was as much of a menace as not only the criminals, but also the SWAT team that hoped to eradicate Gordon and collect Black Mask's bounty on Batman for themselves. Gordon was unfortunately knocked unconscious during the course of the fight.
With advice from Barbara, Batman entered the sewers beneath the GCPD to secure permanent access to the database. There, he found Black Mask's Gang planting explosives under several buildings, including the GCPD. This was strange since most of the force was in the crime lord's pocket. After he subdued Black Mask's thugs, Batman finally reached the terminal that would allow him to access the database and complete his investigation. The database allowed him to deduce that Black Mask was the third person on the scene, and had sent in a body double as a decoy before he attacked the murderer, only to be subdued and kidnapped by the mysterious Joker, who intended to use Sionis's bio-metric data to access the Gotham Merchant's Bank.
Batman confronted three thugs who wore rabbit masks and was contacted by Jervis Tetch, who wished to employ him to help Alice; however, this was all a lie Tetch believed as this woman was a hostage. Batman infiltrated the hat shop that served as Tech's home; he found Tetch dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and a group of thugs Tetch was trying to brainwash with mind-control masks. Batman took out the thugs and pinned Tetch, demanding to know where "Alice' was. However, Tetch instead hypnotized Batman into seeing Wonderland, and explained that "the Queen's forces" were trying to separate him and Alice; he decided to hire Batman as a bodyguard to ensure her safety. Batman broke free of the hypnosis and knocked out Tetch, who was holding "Alice" hostage. He then placed a call to GCPD for a trauma unit for the poor girl and squad car for Tetch's arrest.
- "It's been you all along. You hired the assassins."
- —Batman learns the Joker was posing as Black Mask
As midnight struck, Batman and Alfred exchanged Christmas well wishes before the Dark Knight came face-to-face with the greatest challenge of his career. Batman found the bank already broken into and full of the dead bodies of Black Mask's men. Batman caught Black Mask in the middle of escaping with the bank's money. In a stand off, the leader of the operation revealed himself to be the Joker in disguise: the Joker had replaced Black Mask days earlier, seized his criminal empire, and placed the bounty on Batman. Before Batman could stop him, the Joker escaped with a captured Black Mask and an ambulance full of cash, which left Batman to catch the strangely hysterical, Bank Manager and escape the exploding vault after the Joker blew up the vault while he departed. Batman survived, stunned by the blast, and found the Bank Manager dead with an enormous grin on her face, the first of the many victims of Joker Toxin. Batman dispatched a team of thugs sent in by Joker to find his body and interrogated the last remaining thug to learn that the Joker had killed members of Black Mask's Gang who wouldn't join him and had taken Black Mask to the Steel Mill.
Batman pursued the Joker to the Steel Mill, and intended to capture either the Joker or Sionis. Infiltrating the building, he hacked into Black Mask's computer and found that Sionis had a pacemaker installed and was having the Joker followed. In the elevator, Batman found and scanned the corpse of one of Joker's men, and discovered that he had been poisoned by a neurotoxin that caused powerful hallucinations before eventual death. Continuing toward Black Mask's Office, Batman freed then interrogated the crime boss for the Joker's whereabouts, until the venomous assassin, Copperhead, attacked and poisoned him.
Delusional and fading fast, Batman scanned traces of the poison and sent them to Alfred to hastily manufacture a cure. Batman then forced himself to stagger through a gauntlet of hallucinations that consisted of a disappointed Alfred, the Bank Manager, and Commissioner Loeb. Finally making it to the upper floor drop-off point, Batman was forced to fight, from his fevered point of view, multiple illusions of Copperhead, and kept her at bay through sheer willpower. After the container arrived, Batman cured himself, easily defeated Copperhead, and locked her in one of the shipping crates.
- "I've faced murders and psychopaths, but this... this is something else."
- —Batman sees an evil deeper than the typical Gotham scum
Tracking the Joker through the specific electromagnetic signal that was generated by the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves, led Batman to the Royal Hotel. Batman found that the lunatic and his men had taken control of the building, filled it with explosives, murdered the staff, and had taken the guests hostage. To make things even more complicated, SWAT had arrived on the scene and were making sure that Gordon and the rest of the GCPD didn't know about the takeover. Joker was using the building to hold a meeting with the remaining assassins about their failure to kill Batman, and ended it by kicking the Electrocutioner out of a window to his death. The assassins all departed, except for Bane who believed that Batman would soon be coming for the Joker.
Batman recovered the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves and used them to charge deactivated electrical equipment throughout the hotel and deliver powerful shocks to the army of Joker thugs in his way. Batman worked his way through the building, helping save what was left of the staff and was horrified by the corpses that the Joker had left defaced with numerous Christmas decorations. A concerned Alfred called him, due to the spike in Batman's biometrics. Batman told him that he was fine, but the Joker was something beyond all the crime that he's fought in Gotham.
Reaching the top floor, Batman confronted Joker, and fought Bane. Concerned that his charge was outmatched, Alfred alerted the GCPD for help, who interrupted the fight. Batman placed a tracker on Bane as he escaped by helicopter, pausing only to fire a rocket at the Joker. The concussive force sent the Joker falling from the hotel balcony. Batman dived after him and saved the Joker before he left him with the GCPD.
- "When the mugger or the thief stop to think twice, that is fear. That is what I am. That is why they hired assassins - I am the reason that the criminals breathe easier when the sun rises."
- —Batman to Alfred in the Batcave[src]
Returning to the Batcave, a weary Batman learned that Bane was gunned down by the GCPD and left to investigate the body at the GCPD Morgue. Alfred implored Batman to abandon his crusade, and feared that he would die, but Batman refused to listen. After he entered the GCPD Morgue, Batman discovered the body of a Venom user instead of Bane, and scanned the body to find that it was dosed with chemicals that may have caused both heart and brain damage. Batman heard over the GCPD radio that criminals were fighting over chemical weapons that were orchestrated by Bird, Bane's lieutenant. This lead Batman to the docks, where he found a matchbook from My Alibi, and headed to the night club, where Bird had taken over. Batman subdued bird and left him for the GCPD to imprison.
Batman then entered Bane's Field Headquarters, finding a recording left by the brute; Bane was aware that his addiction to Venom could kill him, so he was working on a compound that could give him a permanent increase in strength. Unfortunately, the new formula damaged the brain and left the host with severe memory loss and decreased intelligence. He then discovered computers that were full of evidence: Bane knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne. Enraged, Batman destroyed the computers and warned Alfred that Bane was most likely on his way to Wayne Manor and that he would be safer in the Batcave.
Before Batman could return home, Firefly launched an assault on the Gotham Pioneers Bridge, which forced both Batman and Captain Gordon to work together to overcome the assassin and his bombs. In the middle of defusing them, Batman saved Branden from Firefly's thugs. Branden then repaid the vigilante by attempting to attack him, only to be thwarted and left unconscious, naturally. Batman defused all but one of the bombs, but then had to battle the pyromaniac himself. Gordon ignored the vigilante's advice to let him handle the entire operation solo and prevented Firefly from detonating the last bomb. Batman defeated Firefly by damaging his jet pack and left him hanging for the police to arrest. He and Gordon then had a secret met in the aftermath, in which they both admitted they wouldn't have been able to salvage the affair without the other.
Meanwhile, Bane broke into the Batcave and beat Alfred nearly to death; Batman was contacted by Bane, who told him that Alfred could say a few last words if the Dark Knight hurried. Batman returned to find the Batcave in ruins and Alfred dying in the rubble. Alfred passed away in Batman's arms, and uttered his final request that Bruce not "add [him] to the weight that he had carried." A desperate Batman managed to resuscitate Alfred by using the Shock Gloves. As they returned to the medical bay, Batman began to express doubts about his ability to protect Gotham. Alfred assured him that Gotham needed Batman, but that he would not be able to protect the city alone. A call came in over the police band: the Joker had taken over Blackgate.
- "They need you.
No. They need US." - —Batman assures Alfred that he won't work alone anymore.
Finally accepting that he needed allies, Batman worked with Gordon and the GCPD to retake the prison. He helped free Dr. Harleen Quinzel and some guards from the men loyal to Joker, who now ordered him to be brought in alive. Listening to the Joker over the intercom, Batman learned that the clown enjoyed their last fight and wanted to continue fighting with him as long as possible. Batman found Deathstroke still in his cell after defeating several escapees, but the mercenary had no more interest in the vigilante unless another price were to be put on his head. This was at least one less thing to worry about that night.
Finally catching up to the Joker in the Panopticon, Batman was forced to fight Bane to the death as Joker strapped himself, with a hostage Captain Gordon, to an electric chair that would automatically kill him unless a heart beat monitor attached to the chair registered Bane's death. Batman used the Shock Gloves to shock Bane into cardiac arrest. Satisfied, Joker left to detonate his bombs all around the city.
Asking Gordon and Warden Joseph for help, Batman revealed that he tricked Joker; seeing that Batman didn't want to kill, Gordon agreed to help. Batman used the Shock Gloves to resuscitate Bane, which was his plan all along, but Bane was enraged because he'd been denied peace. Bane attempted to turn his Venom back on, but found Batman had tore off the control pad. Seeing that the had no other choice, Bane regretfully injected himself with the latest version of his attempt at a super-Venom: TN-1. Bane turned into a hulking beast, which Batman tried to knock out by blowing up the floor underneath them. However, both of them ended up in the cells below.
Learning from Alfred, who had been given Bane's research notes, that TN-1 would reach full effect in 10 minutes, Batman managed to force Bane into the electric barriers and knock him out. However, Bane recovered and tossed Batman into another room. Batman set a trap, handing Bane up by his foot and giving him a painful zap. As a bonus, Batman heard Bane mumble that he needed to find the Batman. Wishing him a sarcastic "good luck", Batman left to find the Joker.
Upon hearing Gordon call for a paramedic to treat Warden Joseph, Batman rushed over to find them. Finding Joseph on the ground, Batman was grabbed by the head from behind by Killer Croc; at the same time a sniper was aiming at him. Luckily, Gordon hit the sniper as soon as he took a shot; the shot instead grazed Croc's arm. The beast left Batman alone, rushing off into the chaos; he had enough of getting hurt by helping the Joker. Gordon arrived next them, helping Batman fend off inmates seeking to harm the warden. Batman was surprised to see how well Gordon could handle the inmates; the captain explained that he had a rough childhood, so he had to learn how to defend himself against thugs.
- "This is why you do it, isn't it? You need it. You like the way it feels."
- —In shocking turn of events, Joker may have just told Batman the very reason for his crusade against crime
With the warden under Gordon's watch, Batman fought his way to the Joker in the Prison Chapel. The clown was laughing at the chaos he causes, saying that night is best he's had. When it looked like Batman would kill him, the Joker laughed that he was ready so soon after Bane; however, Batman told him that Bane was still alive. Dismayed to learn that Batman had saved Bane, the Joker tried to goad Batman into killing him, but Batman subdued him with a ferocious beatdown and let the clown live, once again. Gordon decided to let Batman go and believed that the vigilante could help the city.
Before the end of the night, Gordon contacted Batman to apprehend the 20 escaped Blackgate Prisoners that were all over Gotham. After Batman apprehended the 20 inmates, Gordon thanked Batman for his help. Batman then asked a favor: tell the GCPD to back off and let him do his job. Gordon offered to think about it and Batman told him to not take too long: he had a feeling that they would be doing this again soon.
Alfred later discovered the identity of Enigma, a Cyber Division officer of the GCPD named Edward Nashton. Nashton had also informed the Dark Knight that he would reveal the greatest secret of all soon.
Cold, Cold Heart Incident
One week later, on New Year's Eve, a week into the city's recovery, Bruce Wayne hosted the Humanitarian of the Year Awards Ceremony at Wayne Manor and fully supported the winner, GothCorp CEO, Ferris Boyle. The party was interrupted by a startling temperature drop and then a gigantic ice explosion in the Ballroom. Wayne Manor was soon under siege by Penguin's thugs, who wielded strange cryogenic weaponry and took the guests hostage. Their leader, a man in a mechanized suit that they called "Mister Freeze", marched in and demanded that Boyle be brought to him. Amid the panic, Bruce slipped away and attempted to contact Alfred with no success. He walked into an ambush set by several thugs, subdued them easily, and rescued Alfred. Bruce left Alfred to take care of the guests in the Manor's Study and entered the Wine Cellar to access another entrance to the Batcave, after he subdued several more of Penguin's thugs along the way. Donning the Batsuit, Batman returned to locate Boyle and found the Manor in flames. Returning to the Library, Batman rescued Alfred, Vicki Vale, and several other guests who had been taken hostage. After he left them in the Study, Batman had a terse conversation with Vale, who had advised him to "manage that image before someone else managed it for him." Batman rescued Boyle from more of Penguin's thugs, but was blind-sided and immobilized by Freeze. The latest of Gotham's new class of criminal expressed no interest in finishing off the vigilante and dragged Boyle away. Batman managed to break free of the ice that had trapped him, disappointed some opportunistic thugs who had thought a half-frozen vigilante would be easy pickings, and confronted the last of the invading force in the Ballroom, which included two thugs in thick padding and another who wielded a scaled-down version of Freeze's own weapon. He interrogated the last remaining thug and learned that one of Penguin's South Gotham dealers might know where Freeze was taking Boyle. Sickened that anyone would attack such a humanitarian, Batman rode the Batwing into the city and vowed to take Freeze down.
Batman found South Gotham mostly deserted but chaotic. For starters, the entrance to the Gotham Pioneers Bridge was blocked off by a wall of ice that was erected by ambitious freeze gun thugs, and Anarky's Henchmen were continuing the riots all over the city. While he tried to find Penguin's dealer, Batman found a frozen cop and learned that Penguin's thugs had used cryogenic weapons to freeze people in ice. If he was going to break them all free, Batman needed his Thermal Gloves. After he followed the trail, Batman interrogated Penguin's dealer about Freeze's location and learned that Freeze was located at GothCorp. Batman entered GothCorp to search for Freeze and learn where he was taking Boyle. Batman found Freeze, who had been betrayed by Penguin, and Boyle, who was still Freeze's hostage. Batman distracted Penguin by taking out some snipers as Freeze created a wall of ice behind him as he departed, and trapped Penguin within it. Batman learned from Penguin that the only way to break the ice, was with a cryodrill that his men had stolen and hidden at My Alibi.
After he arrived at My Alibi, the Extreme Environment Batsuit arrived from Alfred, and Batman donned the suit. Batman then entered the nightclub to search for the cryogenic drill. He found Loose Lips in the private back room and interrogated him for the drill, but learned that the drill was in pieces. After he retrieved the cryodrill pieces, Batman needed a supercoolant that was used in a lab that was run by a Victor Fries. Batman returned to GothCorp, found Fries's abandoned lab, and learned the truth behind Fries's transformation into Mr. Freeze while he retrieved the supercoolant to use for the cryodrill. Batman returned to the Propellant Lab to break the ice with the cryodrill and left Penguin there, frozen. Batman entered the Cryogenic Testing Facility and found Freeze, Boyle, and Freeze's wife, Nora. Batman disabled the three generators that powered the cryogenic pods. After the generators were disabled,
- "I can't condone your actions. But I can give you justice."
- —Batman sees Mr. Freeze is the victim in this story
Batman fought Freeze. When Nora was in danger, however, Freeze went to save her, and gave Batman an opening. Batman grabbed Freeze from below and took him down. Boyle was released and activated some coolant pipes. Batman pushed Freeze out of the way and got frozen. Boyle attacked Freeze with one of the pipes, but Batman thawed out just in time to rescue him. Batman brought Boyle to justice by knocking him out and saved Freeze. Batman then saved Nora by restoring her pod and told Freeze that he couldn't give him peace, but justice. Batman then placed the supercoolant into Freeze's suit to restore it to subzero temperature.
Arkham Origins Blackgate Incident
- "I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman.
I was being gentle." - —Batman defends how roughly he had to treat Catwoman in her capture
Three months later, while patrolling, Batman encountered a thief stealing something from a high-tech building. The thief, who called herself Catwoman, escaped and left Batman to deal with Department of Extra-Normal Operations Guards who were stationed in the building and on the surrounding rooftops. After a long chase, Batman took down Catwoman and left her for the police to arrest.
Two weeks later, Batman received an urgent message from Captain Gordon. Another riot had broken out at Blackgate and it was under the prisoners' control. Batman approached the prison by the river and made his way inside. After he saved Catwoman from several thugs, Batman learned that Joker, Penguin, and Black Mask had taken over three separate areas of Blackgate: the Administration Offices, the Cell Blocks, and the Industrial Area. Catwoman offered to team up and helped him navigate the prison. She also mentioned that several hostages were being held in the Arkham Wing, that Joker had cut the air supply to the area, and left them with only a few hours of oxygen.
Batman began with the Cell Blocks. He discovered that Penguin was hosting a fighting arena, which he attempted to break up. He was forced to fight Penguin's reigning champion, Bronze Tiger. Batman quickly defeated Tiger, but refused to kill him. As Penguin's thugs closed in, Tiger held them off, which gave Batman a chance to go after Penguin.
Penguin managed to escape to the Lighthouse and cut off the path. Batman returned to the Administration Offices to acquire the recently completed Line Launcher in order to proceed. He then encountered Joker, who had captured Warden Joseph and had him rigged to several bombs.
After he acquired the Line Launcher from the offices, Batman went back to the Lighthouse and continued to pursue Penguin. He was finally able to catch up to him and defeat him. Then he learned that Black Mask was attempting to overload Blackgate's power generators and cause a chain reaction that would destroy everyone and everything in the building, which included Batman and Joker, whom he blamed for his downfall three and half months earlier. While making his way to the Industrial Area, Batman encountered a large undead being in the sewers that called itself Solomon Grundy. Batman defeated the creature, confronted Black Mask, and foiled his plan.
With Black Mask taken care of, Batman returned to the Administration Building to stop the Joker and rescue the Warden. He was intercepted by Deadshot, who had made a deal with all three bosses, tripled his commission, and was eager to kill Batman for the great prize. After he defeated the assassin, Batman rescued Joseph, then proceeded to his office, and confronted the Joker. After taking down the Clown Prince of Crime, Batman acquired the set of codes that he needed to shut down the gas that was about to be released on the hostages, but noticed that the Arkham Wing's air supply hadn't been cut off at all, contrary to what Catwoman had told him.
- "There were never any hostages. You were after Bane."
- —Batman sees that Catwoman was just using him
Having finally defeated all three of the villains, Batman proceeded to the Arkham Wing, where he discovered that there were no hostages at all. Instead he found a weak, and skinny Bane. Catwoman revealed that she had been using Batman to get to Bane, who was the target that she was hired to recover to pay off a debt. Batman pursued Catwoman to the docks and fought her again. Before he could learn her employer's identity, a special forces team that was led by Captain Richard Flag intervened and arrested Catwoman. Though questioning the team's actions, Batman said nothing about it and flew off into the night. The Blackgate Riot was contained, though Black Mask, Penguin, and Joker had managed to escape custody in the aftermath.
Throughout the night, the riot had been secretly monitored by Amanda Waller. The breakout might have been staged by her department in an attempt to acquire Bane, who was one of several potential candidates for the Suicide Squad. While Catwoman had failed in her mission, since Captain Flag had to leave Bane behind to waylay suspicion, Waller did manage to retrieve Deadshot and Bronze Tiger. As Waller and Flag's helicopter flew off, they were unaware that one of Batman's tracers had been placed on its underbelly.
Arkham Underworld Incident
Between Arkham Origins Blackgate and A Matter of Family
Batman eventually became the target of District Attorney Harvey Dent, the White Knight of Gotham, for working outside of the law. However, with Gordon's help, he managed to convince Dent that if they worked together, crime in the city would be eradicated within a year. This worked well, with Batman apprehending criminals that the GCPD couldn't and collecting more obscure evidence for cases, Gordon as police commissioner to help fix the corrupted police department, and Dent prosecuting the thugs and unwilling to be bribed or threatened. Unfortunately, their alliance broke when Carmine Falcone was put on trial; he threw acid at Dent, terribly disfiguring the left side of his body. As a result, Dent's mind fractured and released a new second personality obsessed with duality - Two-Face. Two-Face became convinced that Batman was used him as a scapegoat for criminals to lash out at since the Dark Knight could never be found. Little did the former D.A. know, Batman regretted not being able to protect him, and felt worse when the original Harvey surfaced to speak to him.
After Arkham Asylum was reopened, Batman kept a close watch on the facility just in case another riot like the one at Blackgate every occurred again. While patrolling Arkham, Batman visited Deadman's Point - a cliff suicidal patients favored jumping off of; after saving a patient from jumping, Batman found a secret cave system that ran under the the island. Discovering that it connected to the sewers under Intensive Treatment, Batman decided to make a "home away from home"; over the years, he secretly shipped equipment to the island, building walkways and a main platform. A new bat-computer was built, allowing Batman to transfer data to the original one back at Wayne Manor. Additional equipment was left alone, ready for use if Batman needed it. To ensure the Batcave MK2 would remain secret, Batman kept its existence to himself.
Batman also maintained an ally in Barbara Gordon. GCPD attempted to prove that Batman was human and not a mythological being by creating a prototype copy of the Batsuit and gadgets; they reasoned only someone with money to spare would be able to take on the identity of the Batman. However, Gordon taken hostage by the new super-criminal Killer Moth. To Batman's surprise, Barbara stole the prototype suit and became Batgirl to save her father. Impressed, as Bruce Wayne, Batman invited the Gordons to a ball at Wayne Manor, where he allowed Barbara to hack into his private internet and thus break into the Batcave and learn about his secret identity. Batman chose to have her as his crime-fighting partner, training her extensively; they kept this hidden from Gordon, as he would not be too pleased to hear his daughter was fighting crime with a vigilante.
Attending Haley's Circus one night, Batman watched the Flying Grayson's acrobat act. Unfortunately, all but Richard "Dick" Grayson fell victim to sabotage by criminals trying to extort money from them. Feeling a kinship with Dick, Bruce adopted him and trained him as his second crime-fighting partner, Robin. They fought crime together for years, until Dick decided to go by the new moniker Nightwing as a fresh start as a new hero in Bludhaven. As fate would have it, Batman caught Jason Todd, a petty kid thief, attempting to steal the Batmobile's tires. Batman trained him as the next Robin, but found it harder to keep Jason under control as the boy's sense of justice was so strong, that he had an urge to wipe out criminals instead of reforming them.
Eventually, Jason sought to kill the Joker for all his murders and ending being captured. Batman later received a video of Joker torturing and seemingly killing Jason before he could tell who Batman was under the mask. Batman mourned for months, but was later surprised by the arrival of Tim Drake, a teenager who had figured out his true identity and that of Nightwing, as he had been in the circus crowd the night the Flying Graysons were killed. Impressed, Batman was convinced to train Tim as the third Robin, unaware that Jason was very much alive and burning with a monomaniac hatred of him for seemingly abandoning him.
As the years passed, Batman fought off an increasing amount of new super criminals. Among them were nihilist serial killer Zsasz, eco-terrorist Poison Ivy, deranged cult leader Maxie Zeus, cop-murdering Prometheus, fear-obsessed Scarecrow, split personality Ventriliquist, confused Humpty Dumpty, insane broker Great White Shark, and rat-loving Ratcatcher. Serial killers like Calendar Man and Killer Croc were among returning foes, such as the pyromaniac Firefly and the thief Catwoman. Black Mask and the Penguin also re-established their criminal empires; however, Penguin did better as he was able to pose a reformed villain that ran a legit nightclub, the Iceberg Lounge. Sionis, on the other hand, had his mask burnt into his face, rendering him unable to live a dual life; Batman was unable to send Sionis to prison, due to his army of lawyers.
Batman eventually came into confrontation with Basil Karlo, an actor who went murderously insane after learning his best film The Terror was being remade without him in the lead role. Despite arresting Karlo, Batman would face him again, along with a group called the Mud Pack that used the name of the film's villain "Clayface". Karlo stole the essence of all three of these Clayfaces, becoming the ultimate version with all their powers. The Mud Pack was arrested, never to be heard from again, but Karlo would still plague Gotham with the desire to kill Batman and take his place as it was "the role of a lifetime."
The Joker even managed to convince his therapist Dr. Harleen Quinzel that he was the victim in his battles with Batman, rather than the people he murdered for sick entertainment; to her, the Joker only wanted to bring the gift of laughter to the sad masses of Gotham. The Joker even managed to convince Harleen that they were in love, tricking her into becoming his much abused sidekick Harley Quinn. Batman felt sorry for her, often giving Quinn a chance to surrender during their fights; he usually ended up only arresting her most of the the time, as the Joker used her as a human shield or scapegoat to avoid being sent back to Arkham.
Mad Hatter continued his delusional quest to find "Alice". He was even able to form his own Wonderland gang, which consisted of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Carpenter, and the Walrus. Batman would often defeat Hatter and send him to Arkham with the Tweedles, as they were clearly insane. The Carpenter was a legit carpenter, often employed by the rogues to build or renovate their secret lairs.
Batman fought and imprisoned these criminals many times over the years at both Blackgate and Arkham, only for them to escape repeatedly to reek havoc upon Gotham. Using his civilian identity Bruce Wayne, Batman began shipping better equipment to Arkham to ensure the inmates couldn't escape; however, many like Joker took delight in trying to continue escaping from Arkham, which he considered a second home. Between the Mad Hatter and the Scarecrow, Batman only considered the latter a real threat, as the Hatter was too delusional to pose any more of a threat than being an annoyance; Scarecrow attempted many times to break Batman's mind with his Fear Gas, but the Dark Knight's iron will protected him from the extreme effects.
At some point, he met Amanda Waller, who he was not very pleased with; he had connected her to several other crimes with criminals under her control, which resulted in large messes he often had to clean up. Waller didn't care what was legal or morally sound, preferring to "break a lot of eggs to make an omelet."
Likely due to his past training with Kirigi, Batman was sought out by the leader of the League of Assassins - Ra's al Ghul. This mysterious man claimed to be over 600 years old, which Batman immediately believed as Ra's seemed like a man who wouldn't lie; however, how he was able to do so remained a mystery to Batman. Batman found some mutual respect for him, as they both sought to put an end to criminal activity, but was disgusted to find out Ra's wanted to eliminate crooks rather than rehabilitate them. Ra's sought to have Batman join the League as his successor and groom to his daughter Talia; though there was a mutual attraction between them, which resulting in a one-night stand in Metropolis, Batman held no desire to join the League. Batman knew Ra's died a few times over the years, but was brought back.
A Matter of Family
Commissioner Gordon was kidnapped by the Joker, and held hostage at the Seagate Amusement Park. As Joker threatened to kill Gordon if Batman appeared, the task was left to Robin and Batgirl; what Batman didn't know is this was Joker's plan all along, as he hated his sidekicks for coming between them and their endless struggle. The mission was successful, with Gordon's rescue along with the arrest of Harley Quinn and lots of Joker's goons. However, the Joker himself had managed to escape capture, abandoning his allies per usual.
Between A Matter of Family and Assault on Arkham
The Joker soon after surprised Barbara Gordon at home, shooting her through the spine and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down; he did this to emotionally torture commissioner Gordon. Little did the Joker know, is that this also affected Batman, who blamed himself just like Gordon did. However, Barbara chose not to let her new disability keep her from helping fight crime. Taking on the new identity of Oracle, she now served as Batman's primary source of information gathering thanks to her hacking skills, remaining in radio contact with him while he's in the field, effectively leaving Alfred free to attend other matters for Batman.
Still feeling some guilt, Batman set up Barbara in an apartment in the Bleake Island clock tower, which doubled as her base of operations. There were numerous servers installed to help process data faster for crime scene analysis, linked to the Batcave's own computer. There was also a secret hatch installed on the roof, which could be remotely opened to allow Batman and/or Robin to enter without drawing attention.
Eventually, the Joker managed to take possession of a dirty bomb, which was big enough to take out half of Gotham City. Though Batman was able to capture the Clown Prince of Crime, the bomb wasn't with him; he sent Joker back to Arkham, and began figuratively and literally tearing apart Gotham to find the bomb. He followed any lead, clue or possibility that may lead him to the whereabouts of the bomb. However, the joke was on the Dark Knight, as the bomb was in the one place he would never look - Arkham. Joker hid it in Harley's mallet, which was in the basement of the Intensive Treatment building, with other confiscated property.
Assault on Arkham Incident
- "Joker stole a dirty bomb and hid it somewhere. Batman has been tearing the city apart looking for it. At one point, he thought the Riddler might know where it is."
- —Amanda Waller explains what Batman's been up to
After tracking down the Riddler in order to learn the location of a dirty bomb that the Joker was planning to use, Batman saved him from Amanda Waller's guards and returned him to Arkham Asylum. A few days later, he discovered Harley Quinn vandalizing a department store. Harley claimed to simply be coveting a new line of dolls, her manic heartbeat making it difficult for Batman's Detective Mode to discern whether or not she was telling him the truth. Suspicious, Batman nevertheless left Harley for the police to return her to Arkham and unknowingly helped the Suicide Squad begin their infiltration of the facility.
Later he rescued a woman from Victor Zsasz. Returning to the Batmobile, he was contacted by Alfred about a "code yellow" at Arkham Asylum, though security footage showed everything to be normal until the presence of a guard who wasn't working that night told Batman it was being looped. Racing to the island, Batman found it on full alert and found the Suicide Squad breaking into the asylum's evidence room. A fight broke out, with Batman taking on the Squad's various skills and stolen weapons. He was facing off with Black Spider in the rafters when a huge explosion interrupted them. King Shark, Killer Frost, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Harley Quinn fled the scene. "Black Spider" emerged from the wreckage, carrying Batman's Utility Belt as a trophy, and was apparently set to go down in history as the man who killed the Bat.
The Squad made it to the Medical Center as part of a plan to disarm the bombs implanted their necks with the Riddler's help. "Black Spider" stood guard while Riddler attempted to use voltage from the electroshock chairs to overload and disable the rest of the Squad's implants. Waller tried to contact Deadshot mid-process, realizing that she was being double-crossed, and attempted to blow the bombs. Tragically, only King Shark's went off, his super tough hide proving too thick for the shocks to work. This didn't explain why "Black Spider" was still standing, however. Batman, having switched costumes with Spider during the explosion, dropped the disguise just as the Joker burst into the room, opened fire, and spirited both Harley and her hammer away. Batman gave chase, but was temporarily taken out of action when one of Joker's bullets grazed his temple.
Recovered, he cornered Boomerang, Frost and Deadshot, who helped him realize the Joker had the bomb with him all along. Joker broadcasted to the asylum, announcing the bomb would be detonated and that all the inmates would be released for his "party". Batman helped subdue Bane and Poison Ivy, allowing the GCPD to force the other inmates back. Using Detective Mode, Batman noticed three heartbeats and the bomb in a passing GCPD helicopter, and proceeded to chase after them in the Batwing. The helicopter crashed into a skyscraper under construction, while Batman landed on the roof. Knowing the bomb was in Harley's mallet, Batman knocked her out and disabled it. He turned to find the helicopter falling, with the Joker pinned inside of it. The plane crashed, with the Joker somehow able to escape.
- "Well, let's say I crack a lot of eggs to make an omelet.
And Because you're such a sloppy cook, the Riddler got away.
I'll get him next time.
There WON'T be a next time." - —Batman warns Amanda Waller
A day later, with Arkham back under control, but both Joker and Deadshot missing, Batman confronted Waller in her office and warned her to stop her games or there wouldn't be a next time.It's unknown if Batman knew Deadshot was ready to shoot Waller, who proceed to follow up on the warning; if true, it's possible he let allowed Lawton fire warnings shots to scare Waller into thinking about her actions.
Between Assault on Arkham and Road to Arkham
Knowing that the Joker wasn't dead, Batman searched for the Clown Prince of Crime, eventually succeeding in finding him and sending him back to Arkham Asylum. There, Dr. Young was tasked with treating him; however, the Joker managed to escape with Harley Quinn around Christmas a year later.
When Bane disappeared from Blackgate, Batman was under the assumption that the big brute has simply broken out and was laying low until he had a plan to go after him again. Unknown to Batman, Bane had been secretly released through Joker's connections and was shipped to Arkham for Dr. Young's research.
A year later, Batman prevented Gotham's citizens from being killed by deadly spores released by Poison Ivy's plants. Batman returned Ivy to Arkham, unaware that the Warden secretly wished to burn her alive.
- "He fooled you Crane. You failed. Again. How does that make you feel? Humiliated? Scared?"
- —Batman taunts Crane for failing
Batman was later contacted by Dr. Stephen Kellerman, who had been assigned to treat ex-Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA the Scarecrow. Kellerman had suspicions that Crane had somehow been sneaking his Fear Toxin in during their sessions, due to how increasingly paranoid he was getting; other than that, Crane was irritating because he believed that he was running their sessions, not the other way around. Batman, trusting the doctor's judgement conducted a blood test and found traces of the Fear Toxin, which Crane had in his cologne, devising an antidote. When Crane executed his plan to escape, Batman broke in and had the antidote sent into the vents. He couldn't help but mock Crane by asking if his failure had left him feeling scared.
At an unknown point in time, Batman would find Ra's al Ghul's corpse, which he sent to Arkham, where he hoped an examination of the body could explain how Ra's able to survive all these centuries.
Road to Arkham Asylum Incident
Batman was notified about an anonymous tip that was left in Dr. Sarah Cassidy's Office at Arkham that revealed that she had been kidnapped by Zsasz and taken to the Old County Hospital. Batman took Zsasz out by surprise and rescued Cassidy from his clutches. In the same month, a second tip came in the form of a note attached to a test tube. Unsurprisingly to Batman the tube contained an extremely potent, colorless, and odorless Fear Gas. It was similar to Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, but was much stronger.
While experimenting with it in the Batcave, a few molecules escaped from the vacuum seals and caused Batman to fight his way out of a series of fears and hallucinations. Batman was able to create an antidote from the formula and ambushed Scarecrow, attacked the psychologist, took him back to his cell, and cured his victims. The GCPD received the third and final tip in the form of a 911 call that arrived moments before the Joker raided Gotham City Hall and took the Mayor hostage.
The Joker strapped the Mayor to the side of a large pillar on the roof of the building and attached a bomb to his waist. Batman destroyed the Joker's detonator and removed the bomb before it exploded. The Joker attempted to escape with a parachute, but Batman easily thwarted the villain. While escorting the Joker back to Arkham, he spoke with Oracle through radio and vocalized his suspicions on the three tips and whether they came from the same source, as well as the easy nature of the Joker's capture. Despite these suspicions, Batman drove the Joker back to Arkham and hoped that they would disappear once he was back behind bars.
Arkham Asylum Incident
Batman arrived at Arkham in the Batmobile and took the Joker to the Intensive Treatment Center. Activating the Batmobile's defense systems, Batman took the Joker inside to be processed. However, the Joker remained in high spirits and was pleased that he was back in Arkham. Feeling that something was wrong, Batman told Warden Sharp that he will be following Joker to his cell. Officer North also informed him that commissioner Gordon is waiting for him on the lower levels, which is where the Joker's cell was held.
Joker was strapped to a prisoner movement trolley and wheeled through the Intensive Treatment lobby by a variety of security guards, including Frank Boles, with Batman following close by. The Joker commented on all the brand new security at Arkham, which would make it harder for him to break out; he then pointed out the coincidence of a fire at Blackgate Prison, resulting in hundreds of his goons over to Arkham along with other thugs. Batman took the hint, immediately realizing the Joker was planning something and was just waiting for his chance to escape. He questioned Joker as to why he let himself be caught so easily, asking what he's after; all he got in return was a taunt - "Oh, nothing much. Just hundreds dying agony and suffering. All thanks to you and a book of matches. Is that the answer you wanted?" During the escort, Joker made snide remarks to many of the Arkham Staff: Warden Quincy Sharp, Officer Aaron Cash, and Dr. Penelope Young before being taken down the elevator.
- "He surrendered almost without a fight. I don't like it."
- —Batman tells Gordon his observation of Joker
During the elevator journey, a temporary blackout happened. Guards panicked as the Joker laughed hysterically before the restored lights revealed that Batman had restrained him by the neck. As the Joker was moved into the lobby area, he was unstrapped and escorted by a guard and an orderly while Batman and Commissioner Gordon looked on. Batman could not be allowed past that point, as there were many patients who could be upset by his presence. That was when the Joker made his move.
Batman could only watch as the Joker broke free and killed the unsuspecting doctor and guard as the Dark Knight pounded his way through a re-enforced security window. The Joker escaped. Harley Quinn had taken control of Arkham's security system the entire time he'd arrived. For his first trick, the Clown Prince of Crime had released several nearby thugs from the their cells. After Batman had easily defeated them all, the Joker made his way to the Patient Transfer Unit, and goaded Batman to follow him.
Batman followed the Joker through the depths of the Intensive Treatment Center and found a trail of destruction that was littered with deceased Arkham security guards. Batman halted briefly to defuse a hostage situation in the Patient Pacification Chamber, where an escaped Zsasz had taken a security guard, Mike, hostage and had strapped him to an electroshock chair. After taking down Zsasz, Batman was greeted by Harley via the hijacked asylum monitors, taunting him and showing off Sharp, her new hostage. Batman left the Patient Pacification Chamber through the ventilation system, followed Joker's trail of spray painted smiles and arrows, and confronted the villain in the Secure Treatment Transfer area.
The Joker opened up a large patient transfer cell and released a large experimental monster (bearing a resemblance to Amygdala). The monster attacked Batman before dying of an apparently simultaneous heart attack and brain aneurysm, much to the Joker's annoyance. As a result, the Joker offered one free shot, goading Batman to knock him off his perch and into a lethal fall, ending the madness. Batman drew a Batarang but hesitated, still unwilling to kill his enemy. The Joker laughed and dubbed him as "too predictable". As the Joker escaped via the Patient Transfer System, he announced that he was organizing a "party" with the villains all over Arkham. While Batman tried to get the transfer unit working again, the Joker appeared on a monitor and showed Batman an image of a treacherous Frank Boles knocking out Gordon and taking him hostage, ready to kill him should Batman follow him.
- "This is no simple escape attempt. Joker's been planning this."
- —Batman's observation of the chaos in Arkham
Batman attempted to track down and rescue Gordon, by using his cowl's Detective Mode to detect alcohol traces from Boles's bourbon flask that was left in the air. Along the way, Joker left traps with Joker Venom as well as many gag chattering teeth. Navigating the elevator shaft and returning to the Intensive Treatment Lobby, Batman finally caught up to Boles, only to find his corpse strapped to a gurney, and having outlived his usefulness, and no sign of Gordon. Batman was contacted by the Riddler who had hacked into his communication system to challenge the Dark Knight to solve his riddles and challenges and to collect the Riddler Trophies that were placed all over Arkham Island.
The Joker took control of Arkham's intercom system, and told his goons to destroy the Batmobile as he took over the West side of Arkham Island. Batman contacted Oracle, and told her to disable the car's defenses in case her father was with them. The wrecking crew didn't have Gordon, but Batman found the Commissioner's pipe, which was a birthday gift from Barbara, and a trail of Wild Country Tobacco. Batman was able to isolate the tobacco trail with his Detective Mode: a sign that Gordon had left to show he was still alive. After he had retrieved a supply of Explosive Gel from the Batmobile's trunk, the Dark Knight resumed his search.
The forensic trail suggested that Gordon had been dragged to the Medical Facility, which was under siege by the Joker, and he ordered his goons to round up all the doctors in the area, specifically Dr. Young. Batman defeated the goons and proceeded to rescue the captive doctors and Officer Cash. Dr. Young insisted on returning to the Arkham Mansion to retrieve her notes. Cash offered to escort her, despite Batman's misgivings. Batman then took out another raiding party of thugs before taking the elevator to the lower levels to follow Gordon's trail. He found the place under the control of Scarecrow, and the murdered body of Commissioner Gordon. His mind reeling from one his greatest fears, Batman was confronted by the animated corpses of his parents and a twisted obstacle course overseen by a giant, omnipotent Scarecrow. Realizing that he was experiencing a Fear Toxin Hallucination, Batman overcame the delusion, finally tracked down Gordon, and rescued him from Harley in the Experimental Chamber.
Batman admitted he wasn't sure that he could stop the out of control Joker this time, but Gordon had reassured him he would, and suggested that they examined something mysterious that Joker was keeping in the holding cell below them. They found Bane, though not as they had known him. The giant was emaciated and hung from the ceiling by his Venom tubes, and was drained of Venom for days, by Dr. Young, rather than the Joker. The Joker was more than happy to take advantage of the situation, however, pumping Bane full of a new formula that restored him to his TN-1 induced size, and had seemingly made him even more powerful. The two then fought in the Boiler Room. Batman had managed to dismantle Bane's delivery tubes before escaping as the ceiling came down on them. Batman was afforded only a temporary respite as a still fully powered Bane smashed his way to the surface and vowed to first break Batman, and then Dr. Young. Batman told Bane that he would be broken this time, remotely crashing the Batmobile into Bane and sending both into the ocean.
- "Bane called Dr. Young "bruja". What does it mean?
It's Spanish... for "witch""
- —Batman answers Gordon's question, but is pondering his own
Sending Gordon back to Gotham and relative safety by boat, Batman headed to the secret Batcave that he had built at Arkham's infamous Dead Man's Point years ago. There, Oracle sent him files that she had hacked from Dr. Young's computer, and shed light on the Joker's latest scheme: Young had been working on "Project Titan", an experimental chemical treatment to repair possible brain damage. Derived from Bane's Venom, the process instead had the potential to create super strong monsters that were twice as powerful as Bane. Young had learned who her benefactor was, and attempted to shut down the process, so Joker had staged an entire crime wave and his own capture to take over Arkham in order to take control of the Titan himself. Batman's objective was now clear: find and destroy Dr. Young's missing Titan Formula before the Joker could create an army of a thousand Banes.
Heading through the catacombs beneath Arkham, Batman headed for the Arkham Mansion in search of Dr. Young, and found it overrun with Joker's men. After he freed a captured Cash, Zach Franklin, and several other hostages in the Records Room and the Library, Batman resumed his search, and accessed Dr. Young's Office to search for the formula. Security footage from her computer was promising; she had already hidden the formula somewhere else. Setting up Detective Mode to isolate her recent fingerprints, Batman traced the evidence back to the Library, found the written formula hidden in a book, and destroyed it. The Joker wasn't outdone yet, however, and sent Zsasz after Dr. Young. Batman raced off to find her, but was gassed by Scarecrow again, and trapped in a hallucination of the night that his parents were murdered. He managed to free himself a second time, but was too late to prevent Zsasz from taking Young hostage in Warden Sharp's Office.
Batman incapacitated Zsasz and rescued the doctor. A distraught Young lashed out at Zsasz, the night's event taking their toll. Batman managed to calm her down enough to get her to explain about a chemical production facility that was hidden in the Asylum's Botanical Gardens, which Joker would be sure to use to produce Titan when she was forced to surrender the formula. She explained that Batman would need Warden Sharp's security codes to access it, and was about to retrieve them from his safe, only to come face to face with the spray painted face of a Joker booby trap. Batman was powerless to save her, and was knocked out in the blast that had killed Young.
- "Don't worry. I'll stop her, and her boyfriend."
- —Batman's promise to Louie Green
Coming to, Batman was taunted by Harley who beat a still captive Sharp with his own cane before leaving the Dark Knight with a few thugs to "prepare" him for the party. Batman made short work of them, and scanned a sample of Sharp's DNA from the blood smears on the broken cane head in order to track Quinn down. The trail led to the Penitentiary, where Batman was accosted by a still imprisoned, but hysterical Poison Ivy in her cell. Ivy begged Batman to help her plants, and claimed that they were in pain, an insanity plea that he had naturally ignored, and told Ivy to remain in her cell. He tracked Sharp's DNA trail to the Penitentiary's Security Control Room where Sharp was tied up in the control booth. Batman was also taunted by an imprisoned Clayface who was impersonating Cash, then Sharp, and finally, Gordon, but wasn't fooled into releasing the shape changer. Batman freed Sharp just as the Joker cut in with the video footage of Harley freeing Ivy and his release of all the truly insane inmates from the cell block to wreak havoc and, to add insult to injury, locked Batman and Sharp in together. Batman demanded Sharp's code sequencer, despite Sharp's protest that it was useless without the destroyed terminal in his office. Batman improvised by simply plugging it into his Cryptographic Sequencer, which allowed him to overload all of the security terminals throughout the asylum and disabled the numerous barriers that Joker had placed in his way. He told Sharp to stay where it was safe as he went after Harley, and the warden was all too happy to oblige.
Batman confronted Harley in the cell block, defeated the thugs that she had thrown his way, and disabled all the electrified floor panels that she had used to slow him down. He chased her into the Guard Room, and found Louie Green and another guard suspended over electrified water with a bomb of Joker Gas that was rigged to detonate. Batman was able to get both Green and the other guard out safely before the bomb exploded. He followed Quinn to Extreme Incarceration, and once again dealt with her goons and electrified floor. Harley's failure prompted Joker to remove her from the 'Party List'. Batman defeated Harley, took her party list, locked her up, and used her DNA traces from around the island to track Joker to the Botanical Gardens.
Chasing Joker, Batman ended up in the sewers underneath the Botanical Gardens, where he heard the Clown Prince of Crime experimenting with the chemicals for the Titan formula. Overhearing the Joker welcome and inject a henchman with his latest batch, Batman learned that Joker hadn't perfected it yet. The corpse of the failed Titan Henchman was tossed down into the sewers, where Batman examined it ; only the thug's arm had been enlarged by the formula, which was still coursing through the body. As the route to the Glass House was gone, Batman was left with the route to the Aviary, which is where the Joker had to be. Joker forced him to play a deadly game in the Aviary, by stringing a pair of orderlies, Luke Curtis and Robert Stirling, in birdcages over a deadly chasm and challenged Batman to rescue them as his men patrolled the area.
- "What makes you think Poison Ivy will help?
If her plants are in danger, she'll listen."
- —Batman is forced to seek unconventional help
Batman was successful in the hostage situation, re-discovered Harley's trail, and hacked into the Titan Production Facility's secure entrance which had slowed him down just enough for Joker to perfect his Titan Formula. Batman watched as the Joker demonstrated by injecting two of his thugs and left them to attack Batman, with an elevator full of Titan. Batman defeated both of the monsters and pursued Joker, and passed by the dead bodies of Stirling and Curtis on his way back through the gardens; Joker had murdered them along the way, making their rescue pointless. Batman realized that in order to stop Joker, he would need an antidote. The only person on Arkham who had intimate knowledge of plants now was Poison Ivy, whom Batman knew he would be able to force into cooperating if he threatened the plants.
Having the Batwing deliver the Line Launcher, Batman headed to the Glass House, where Ivy was nursing the plants. After destroying a plant (which hurt Ivy, do to be disconnected from nature too long), Batman was able to get Ivy to tell him where he could find the antidote; plant spores capable of counter the Titan were in the sewers, which now served as Killer Croc's Lair. Leaving the Botanical Gardens, Batman overheard Joker on the intercom; the clown gave Ivy two injections of Titan, causing her to become far more powerful and take control of the island surface with her evolved plants. Batman located Cash in the Arkham Mansion and was told by him that there was another door to Croc's Lair at the Intensive Treatment Center.
Oracle called him about the seismic activity on Arkham, which he explained was due to Ivy forcing her plants throughout the island; as of now, she controlled Arkham East, and was working on taking over the rest of the island. Batman was warned that if Ivy's plants get off Arkham, the damage they could due to Gotham was incalculable; he vowed to not let happen. He formed himself in the Intensive Treatment lobby, which had been booby-trapped to prevent him from using the gargoyles; taking out all (or enough of) the thugs, Batman was able to hack into the door controls and release the barriers leading to the elevators. To Batman's confusion, he heard the intercom ask if anyone saw last night's game before his vision became blurry and heard the Joker's distorted laughter coming from around him.
Batman then saw a surreal deja vu of earlier that night, but with himself in Joker's place and the staff under the mercy of the Blackgate thugs. After being shot by Joker, Batman realized that he was under the effects of the Fear Gas again, fighting off the effects, and grabbing Crane by his hood. However, Crane jabbed him with his syringes, causing Batman to fall into another hallucination. However, Batman's will proved stronger than the Fear Gas, surprising Scarecrow, who proceeded to flee into the sewers. Batman followed after him, as Crane threatened to drop a pouch of Fear Toxin into the water supply, poisoning Gotham with its effects for 100 years. However, Croc emerged from the sewage and attempt to eat Crane. Batman tossed a Batarang at Croc's shock collar; this saved Crane, who was dragged into the sewage by Croc.
- "Oracle, we've got a problem.
(Annoyed) What now? Riddler? Two-Face? Some kind of giant Joker robot?
Unfortunately, nothing that simple. Joker's pumping the waste product of the Titan production into the sewers. But why?" - —Batman sees Joker's backup plan
Batman proceeded into the maze-like tunnels Croc lived in, taking samples of the anti-venom spores. As Croc had mentally devolved into a dimwit at this point, Batman was able to trick him into a trap, which dropped Croc into a lower level of the sewers, allowing Batman to head back to the Batcave. After a batch of the antidote was made, Batman programmed his computer to make more; unfortunately, Ivy's plants grew through the walls of the cave, destroying the computer. Batman returned to the sewers, finding that Joker wanted to pollute Gotham with the Titan by-product as a backup plan in case his army couldn't get to the mainland. Batman took out the three pumps before heading back up to the surface, which was now glowing red from Ivy's spores.
Ivy's voice could be heard coming from all over, as she yelled at Batman for harming her plants. Annoyed at her for constantly babying vegetation, Joker asked over the intercom if she ever shut up about plants. Ivy returned his annoyance with the threat to go after him once Batman was dead. Joker assured her that he would be prepared for her with an army of Titan monsters, and said the she could "bring the wine" and he would "make the salad". Batman had managed to defeat Ivy in the gardens by using his Explosive Gel to blow Ivy's protective shell that caused her plant to go out of control.
With all of the enemies on Joker's 'party list' defeated, Joker had his men set off fire works and directed Batman, the 'guest of honor', to the 'party' at the Visitor Center by the Cell Blocks. Rather than fight Batman, upon his arrival and confirmation of being on the 'guest list', the goons acted friendly, cheered him on, and even allowed him safe passage. Batman found a bomb planted by Joker in the Visitor Center and upon its explosion, discovered the Joker's Lair: a throne room atop various plastic toys from which he had been broadcasting to the island.
Joker was holding Scarface, the puppet, and took out his frustration on him by having a fictional argument with him before throwing him away. He then sent two more Titan powered thugs at Batman, who defeated them. Joker then revealed that he had recaptured Gordon. Firing a Titan strain at Gordon, Joker was overjoyed when Batman took the shot himself. However, he was angered when Batman had resisted and had fought off Joker's attempts to make him give in. Joker then claimed that he had nothing to live for, as Batman would not allow him victory, and shot himself in the neck with his Titan injection gun, and comically acted as if he was committing suicide.
- "I'll never let you win. Never!"
- —Batman to joker
Joker quickly awoke and mutated into the most horrific Titan monster, while still retaining his regular intelligence due to him already being insane. Joker then directed the circling Gotham News helicopters and Jack Ryder to the rooftops of Arkham so that they could watch his final fight with Batman. Strapping Gordon to an electric chair above a makeshift fighting arena (making him the "referee"), the mutated Joker goaded Batman to give into his injection, as it was the only way they could be on even fighting terms. Batman refused and used the only antidote injection on himself, which the Joker found hilarious. The two, with assistance from Joker's henchmen, then fought a brutal battle, with Batman knocking Joker into the electrical generator that was used to torture Gordon.
The Joker got up from the attack and said he could take anything that Batman threw at him, and asked if the Dark Knight was ready for the next round. Spraying Explosive Gel onto his glove, Batman declared that he would never let Joker win and would always be prepared for his tactics. Enraged, Joker prepared to kill his relentless nemesis as Batman charged him. The gel on Batman's fist fiercely knocked Joker down as he was punched in the face. The GCPD then retook control of Arkham Island, imprisoned all of the inmates back in their cells, and watched over the Titan injected thugs as they returned to normal. Joker's transformation back to humanity was quite painful compared to the others, culminating with the severe injuries he received. Joker was then securely locked back up, his plans having ultimately failed.
Outside the Visitor's Center, Gordon told Batman that the effects of Titan were starting to wear off the Joker and his men, and that they were all being taken back to their cells. Batman was informed that Two-Face was raiding the Second National Bank of Gotham, and flew away into the night in the Batwing to the scene of the crime.
Before Arkham City Incident
Batman remained adamant in his search for Crane or his corpse, not believing that he was dead until a body was found. However, all his searching proved fruitless, as Crane was too good at hiding himself.
Six months following the Joker's rampage at Arkham Asylum, Commissioner Gordon informed Batman that Joker's Titan Formula had found its way into Gotham City and had turned up in the form of the brother-sister team: T&T. Wasting no time, Batman correctly suspected Two-Face to be T&T's previous employer, based on the fact that a pair of mirror images like T&T working together would be prime candidates for recruitment into Two-Face's Gang.
Tracking him down to one of his old hideouts, Batman discovered Two-Face had been beaten, battered, and broken. Two-Face revealed information about T&T in exchange for a 30 minute head start. He explained that shortly after the Joker's rampage, crates full of Titan had washed up in the docks where Two-Face had bought them. Two-Face made the mistake of having T&T bring the crates into storage in his cellar.
Over the past six months, T&T had experimented with the drug in small doses, thereby gaining control over themselves in their Titan forms. Two-Face also stated that T&T had slaughtered his gang and that the rest of Gotham was next. At Sharp's new town hall dedication ceremony, T&T attacked, and Batman arrived to stop them. Perhaps getting the idea from his last fight with the Joker Batman had installed gel sprayers on his costume which gave his strikes extra power.
During the fight, Batman overheard T&T being given orders over their radio. Before Batman had the chance to apprehend and interrogate the duo, they had committed suicide via surgically implanted explosives, killed hundreds in attendance of the press conference, and destroyed the rebuilt Gotham City Hall. Batman began to believe that T&T were working for someone who was in cahoots with Sharp, and thus infiltrated his mansion, which had doubled as a temporary city hall.
There, Batman used Sharp's personal files to check in on his past, and revealed that Sharp was essentially a schizophrenic blank slate, who was extremely vulnerable to suggestion to the point that he had to be told to hang up a phone in order to do so. At this point, Batman was assaulted by non lethal weaponry, which lead him to conclude that this was a trap that was meant to study him.
Choosing to deny his opponent his triumph, Batman fled the mansion. Meanwhile, Harley successfully broke out the dying Joker from Arkham Asylum, and despite Batman's best efforts, they had successfully escaped to Arkham City.
Later on, Batman disguised himself as a small time street thug who was named Lester Kurtz and with the added help of Oracle, who had planted a criminal record into the GCPD database, infiltrated Arkham City where he had learned of a rising gang turf war between the Joker and the Penguin who were willing to slit the others throat to be the top dog in Arkham City.
As a test of the Lester Kurtz identity, Batman infiltrated and temporarily joined both gangs and assured that the Lester Kurtz identity was safe, because neither Joker nor Penguin, two of his old enemies who knew him best, had figured out the Lester Kurtz identity. In the process, he had destroyed an arms shipment that was meant for TYGER that they were both after.
Unfortunately, it seemed that in a matter of hours, the Lester Kurtz Identity was compromised when Batman walked into a trap set by Sharp's accomplice who used the TYGER Guards. Batman discovered that the TYGER Guards had been extensively working out specifically to match Batman in a fight and had been given impact absorbing armor in order to lessen his super-charged punches.
Batman was only saved by the timely arrival of Catwoman who was revealed to have already hijacked the weapons shipment and freed Poison Ivy from TYGER custody. Batman left Catwoman to her business and went to get some answers. He captured and interrogated a TYGER Captain into revealing the true identity of the one of was pulling the strings in Arkham: Hugo Strange.
Mere hours after this discovery, Batman instructed Robin and Alfred to dig up all that there was to know on Hugo Strange so that he, as Bruce Wayne, could publicly reveal it. Strange was a step ahead of the Dark Knight, however, as he had Sharp announce his involvement in the Arkham City Project so that he could paint a positive image of it and also give him an alibi for his actions. Arkham City opened on schedule and went unopposed.
Eighteen months after the Joker's takeover of Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp was elected the Mayor of Gotham City, and claimed to be the one who was responsible for ending the Joker's control of the island.
Shortly after assuming the role, Sharp declared that both Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Priison were uninhabitable, and ordered the construction of Arkham City on the southern banks of Gotham against the better judgement of both Batman and James Gordon. Batman believed the project to be a ticking time bomb and kept a watchful eye on Arkham City for months, and looked for any excuse to break into the well-guarded prison city.
Arkham City Incident
- "I saw your incarceration on the evening news. Was getting yourself arrested part of your plan all along?
Not exactly, but it did get me some on-on-one time with Hugo Strange.
And how did that go?
Not good. He knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. He's says something called Protocol 10 will make him famous. I can't leave Arkham City until I know what it is." - —Batman warns Alfred about Strange
Come mid-winter, Batman convinced Commissioner Gordon to have someone with the finances and influence needed to lead a protest against Arkham City; he suggested Bruce Wayne, to which Gordon agreed to. Calling a press conference in front of the gates of Arkham City, Batman arrived fashionably late as Bruce Wayne. With both Vicki Vale and Jack Ryder covering the event, Bruce proceeded to explain that gang leaders were leading a violent and bloody war behind the walls of the prison; if nothing was done soon, the war could erupt into the rest of Gotham. However, TYGER guards then swarmed the scene, scaring off the audience and knocking Bruce out.
Bruce was awakened by a Stun Baton, finding his hands and feet shackled. He was now face-to-face with Hugo Strange. Trying to talk sense into him, Bruce learned to his horror that Strange knew he was Batman. Strange claimed Protocol 10 would make him famous, vowing to reveal Batman's identity if Bruce tried to stop. Bruce attempted to escape, knocking down a TYGER guard and discreetly taking a communications chip from his radio. However, back up arrived and violently retaliated, forcing Bruce to comply with their orders. Brought to the exit for insertion into Arkham, Strange told Bruce his cuffs will remain on as he didn't want things to be too easy for him; he bid Bruce farewell, doubting they would meet again.
Locked between doors, Bruce found Jack Ryder was also with him; telling Ryder to stay calm and near him, Bruce was ignored the moment the door opened. Despite his handicapped state, Bruce fought off attackers, pulling Ryder up to walk into Arkham City.The gates opened to reveal Penguin waiting for him. Bruce was knocked out from behind by one of his henchmen, using a bat.
Awakening, Bruce acknowledged Cobblepot, who proceeded to beat him with brass knuckles as revenge for the collapse of hist family's empire. However, Bruce broke his hand instead. Breaking out his restraints, Bruce knocked out the Penguin's men and headed to higher ground to contact Alfred via a radio in his watch. Bruce informed his old friend that Strange knows his secret identity. He then order that his Batsuit and equipment be dropped off on the Ace Chemicals rooftop via Batwing.
Once suited up, Batman added the TYGER chip to his Cryptographic Sequencer, allowing him to hack into their communications. He learned over the radio that Catwoman was trapped in the Solomon Wayne Courthouse, which served as the lair of Two-Face; Dent was planning on killing her. Strange found the situation amusing, ordering TYGER to do nothing to assist. Infiltrating the building, Batman watched as the two personalities of Two-Face fought over whether to give a proper trial to Selina; Harvey won the coin toss, starting a kangaroo court. Two-Face was looking to use the execution of Catwoman to rally more inmates to his gang, in the hopes of gaining enough forces to slaughter Penguin and Joker's gangs.
Batman took out a sniper watching from the third floor, leaving only Two-Face armed. After Two-Face gave the case to his court, Batman surprised the thugs, scaring off the recruits, while a small batch of thugs remained to fight him. Once the goons were taken care of, Batman suffered a gunshot to the chest from Two-Face; the impact against the armor knocked him down. Two-face then attempted to kill Selina, who easily escaped and damaged to good side of his face, knocking his gun away.
However, once Two-Face pulled his second gun out, Batman recovered and used his Grapnel Gun to tie him up and leave Dent hanging over the tank of acid in a sense of irony. An enraged Two-Face demanded to be let go and fought fairly as this was a coward's move; he also voiced his belief that fate was all that stood between him and killing Batman.
- "Rumor has it he's been working with Joker, planning something special just for you. Maybe that's Protocol 10."
- —Catwoman's intel isn't exactly helpful
With Dent tied up, Batman questioned Selina about Protocol 10, learning that she has no idea what it is. However, she then told him about how the Joker had secretly been plotting with Strange, on something every special just for Batman; it was her guess that this was Protocol 10. Batman then noticed a sniper laser pointing at Catwoman's head and grabbed her out of the way of being shot. Realizing that only Joker would do this, since they were talking about him, Batman warned Selina to stay out of trouble. Catwoman ignored his warning, as she liked the danger that was abundant in Arkham City. Tracing the trajectory of the bullet, Batman was able to deduce that the shot had originated from the bell tower from the Gotham City Cathedral, which had been transformed into the Arkham City Medical Center. He left the courthouse via the back entrance as Two-Face's thugs were holding the fronts doors shut. The basement held Calendar Man in cell, mumbling about holidays.
Batman found prisoners in uniforms similar to Jack Ryder's, deciding to question them. They weren't criminals, but instead Political Prisoners sent in Arkham by Strange; they had worked on Wonder Tower or on the security wall, posing a threat to Strange as they knew Arkham City's secrets. Batman found more by Live Nudes; he learned they hid until daylight to search for food, as the gangs would kill them otherwise. He also saved Jack Ryder, learning Ryder discovered a patient who claimed Strange caused his breakdown and made him forget his own name. Batman remained on the look out for more Political Prisoners being attack by the inmates, usually asking unreasonable things as they weren't hardened criminals like the rest.
Near the courthouse, Batman found a mysterious stranger waiting for him on a roof; the stranger claimed to have been watching him for a long time. He vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a symbol behind for him to scan; Batman remained on the lookout for the stranger throughout the night. Batman headed to the cathedral, but overheard some prisoners talking about a payphone killer as they debated over answering a ringing phone. Scaring them off, Batman answered the phone and learned Victor Zsasz was the mysterious killer; he vowed to kill three captives if Batman couldn't find and answer the payphones he was calling in time. Zsasz bounced his signal around the relays of Arkham, but Batman had the WayneTech satellites triangulate the signal every time he called.
Later, Batman confronted Harley and her thugs who took the staff hostage. Harley left, taking one of the medical team, Dr. Stacey Baker, to help the Joker After he had rescued the members of the staff, Batman went to the bell tower to investigate the scene and to determine the Joker's location and get answers that regarded Protocol 10. Batman discovered that the gun was controlled by Joker and escaped from the bell tower explosion that was set off by bombs by the Clown Prince of Crime.
Tracing the signal Joker used to remote control his puppets, the Dark Knight traveled to the Industrial District, which had since become the Joker's territory in Arkham City. At the same time, the WayneTech satellites had pinpointed Zsasz's hideout to this area, so Batman broke in and incapacitated Zsasz. However, he found out Zsasz had broken his promise and killed the third hostage in the meantime.
- "What's wrong with him?
There's something in his blood, some kind of toxin. It's killing him. He blames something called Titan.
TITAN?" - —Batman learns that Joker is finding out the hard way that his mayhem on Arkham came back to haunt him
Back outside, Batman headed for the Sionis Steel Mill. Seeing there was no other way in, Batman grappled into the chimney and managed to land safely on the guard-rail. Using the ventilation systems as cover, Batman observed as Harley ordered the thugs to take Dr. Baker to the Smelting Chamber for further torture for failing to cure Joker. Batman surprised Harley by revealing her trap failed; she locked herself and Joker into the Manger's Office, which served as their room.
Batman headed to the Smelting Chamber, taking out the men guarding and torturing her. Untying the doctor, Batman is informed by Dr. Baker that Joker is far worse than the goons think he is; the fact Harley is giving orders means Joker is either in a wheelchair, or he is unwilling to appear weak in front of his goons. Batman wonders what caused this, only to learn the TITAN that Joker injected himself with back during the Arkham takeover is the source of his illness. Dr. Baker goes on to explain the toxin levels in Joker's blood are off the charts; he should be dead already, but is somehow clinging onto life. She also adds that Joker's deteriorating health has had a serious negative impact on Harley's mind; if Joker dies, what's left of Harley's sanity will go with him.
After returning to the Loading Bay, Batman confronted Mr. Hammer and Joker's thugs; he promptly defeats them. Hearing Harley wailing in despair, Batman heads to the Manager's Office, where he hears an ECG machine flat-line. Batman sees Harley weeping at the Joker's side. Using Detective Mode, Batman confirms that the Joker's heart has stopped beating; he tosses Quinn aside, hoping to examine the body better. However, he is grabbed from behind by a healthy-looking Joker, who gasses him. Woozy, Batman is clobbered with a baseball bat by Harley and he falls down, unconscious.
- "I've spent weeks shipping samples of my blood to emergency rooms all over the city.
So that's Protocol 10. Poison Gotham. I expected more.
Protocol 10? (gasp) Never heard of it." - —Seems like the World's Greatest Detective is getting rusty
Batman awakens to find Harley about to take off his mask, but Joker tells her not to as it would ruin the fun between the two of them; Batman is also tied to wheelchair, preventing escape. Annoyed by the trick, Batman states that Joker's illness was all lie; however, Joker comes out of the shadows, showing a disfigured face, reminding Batman that there's A LOT wrong with him. Joker explains that his blood is killing him, and that he's given some to Batman; unfazed, the Dark Knight is fine with dying with the Joker. However, the Clown Prince of Crime explains that he has been shipping out crates of his infected blood for weeks, effectively ensuring that several Gotham citizens die with them.
Batman now believes that this is Protocol 10, even thought it doesn't appear to work in Strange's favor; poisoning Gotham would be counter-productive to someone wanting to be famous as the Dark Knight. However, the Joker tells him that he's never heard of it. Joker then explains that they're running out of time, and that a cure was so very close to being in his hands, only to be stolen from him. Batman assures Joker that he'll get the cure, before being pushed out a window onto the dock below the Steel Mill, unconscious.
Hearing a circus theme, Batman awoke to find a cell phone strapped to his chest; answering, he demands that Joker tell him where to find the cure. Joker explains that he commissioned Mr. Freeze to create the cure, but has not made contact with him for some time. Telling Joker that he'll get the cure, Batman smashes the phone and takes the chip with the memory functions from it, inserting it into his gauntlet to allow hands-free communication between the two of them. To Batman's annoyance, Joker proceeds to use this to leave him messages throughout the night, including a mysterious taunt about his detective skills.
- "Alfred. Joker's poisoned me. He may have poisoned Gotham as well. Mr. Freeze has the only cure.
Then what are you waiting for? He's in Arkham City.
If only it were that simple. Freeze has to be kept at subzero temperatures.
Were it only not the middle of winter. " - —Batman informs Alfred that things have gotten worse
Batman radioed Alfred, who sent Robin to investigate the case; 30 people were already reported as infected. While tracking the coldest point in Arkham City, Batman found the stranger waiting for him on top of the Ferris wheel in Joker's territory; he left another symbol behind. discovers an SOS on the Gotham Event rooftop. Batman confronted the Political Prisoner and the prisoner was killed by a single bullet that was fired by Deadshot; Batman proceeded to stay alert for rifle shots. Seeing a flare at Krank co. Toys, Batman entered and found Bane. Bane explained that Joker managed to send twelve containers of the Titan formula off of Arkham Island before being stopped; Batman agreed to take out six of the twelve, so long as Bane did the same, warning him that betraying his trust is a bad move.
Back outside, Batman found Joker's men outside the old GCPD Building; they were celebrating their killing of Penguin's men and laughing about the ones holed up inside. Getting past them, Batman heard Penguin over a dead thug's radio; taking the chip, Batman added it to the Sequencer, allowing him to hack into Penguin's private radio channel. Taking out the remaining men inside, Batman interrogated the surrendering thug and learned that Penguin had Freeze imprisoned in his museum. Penguin decided to cut off the Joker's forces by blowing up the bridge connecting the Amusement Mile to Park Row and the Industrial District; this angered his men now trapped in enemy territory
Batman went to the Museum to face the Penguin, but first had to disable the security systems that Penguin had established that had interfered with Batman's equipment and uploaded to Alfred at the Batcave and Oracle at the Clock Tower. Following the signals, Batman found and disabled two rooftop jammers; however, he found that his signal was still being blocked. Listening to Penguin's private radio signal Puffin Zero, Batman learned that a third jammer had been activated underground. Heading into the train station, Batman disabled the final jammer, as Penguin barked threats to murder any of those who were left to guard the devices if they weren't already in terrible agony.
Returning to the surface, Batman heard over the TYGER broadcast about a recently dead body near by. Investigating, Batman learned the M.O. matched the unidentified Identity Thief. Batman tracked the trail of blood from the victim to a Political Prisoner, who said a badly scarred Bruce Wayne dumped the body. This confused Batman, as he WAS Bruce Wayne and he knew that it was impossible.
Batman entered the museum, finding that the dinosaur exhibit had been re-purposed as a trophy room of sorts. There were displays for Two-Face and Joker's gangs (which including propaganda from their territories with the corpses of their goons), a copy of Scarface, TYGER guards (a corpse and equipment), Zsasz (which was broken from the inside), Batman and Bruce Wayne. He found some of the thugs ganging up on one of their own; he saved the thug, learning that he was actually Elvis Jones, one of the ten cops that Gordon had sent into Arkham City at the beginning. Penguin found out who they were and proceeded to torture them all.
Leaving Jones with a gun, Batman proceed to a gladiator-like pit, where the Penguin watched cages of inmates fight to the death to earn the right to be in his crew. After seeing one of the cops killed, Batman vowed to bring down Cobblepot, who sent his potential recruits and a TITAN monster to kill him. Penguin retreated to the Iceberg Lounge, to let Batman face his traps. At this point, Oracle radioed him and Batman informed her about the TITAN that managed to get off Arkham island.
- "Enjoy the copscile. When your done in here, feel free to come to the Iceberg Lounge, so I can kick your arse again."
- —Penguin is invincible with the freeze gun
Batman headed into the next exhibit, which was a now flooded underwater-themed atrium; Penguin used Mr. Freeze's gun to freeze some of the water and encase three cops in ice. Using a density scanner, Batman saved the first cop and proceeded to use rafts in the water to save the other two. During this trek, Batman fought off Tiny, Penguin's pet shark. Batman proceeded into the right hall, which lead to the armory; he took out the goons and saved three more cops, leaving them to prevent the goons from rearming. Mr. Freeze's suit was here, meaning Freeze was in danger of dying if he was left outside of it for too long; Batman proceeded to look for Freeze next.
As there was only one other exit in the room aside from the Iceberg Lounge, Batman found this next hall filled with display cases of skeletons; the recordings explained that the skeletons belonged to thugs who either attempted to steal from Penguin, or make fun of him. Penguin had brutally punished these crimes by either burning them in an oven for hours or feeding them to Tiny. There was also a case for Buddy and Lou, the beloved pet hyenas of Joker; Penguin shot and stuffed them to take away something Joker loved.
Batman found Freeze in the Museum War Room, but was ambushed by Sickle, Mr. Hammer's twin brother, and Penguin's left-hand man (literally). After defeating them, Batman freed Victor from the exhibit; it also doubled as an oven, and was slowly killing the scientist. Batman demanded to know where the cure was; however, Freeze said to him that he didn't care as Cobblepot must pay what he's done to him. Batman demanded to know how to get past the cryo gun; however, Freeze wasn't willing to let his secrets be known by the Dark Knight.
Not in a pleasant mood, Batman removed the coolant that kept Freeze alive, forcing Freeze to reveal that he had an override chip in his suit that would disable the cryo gun. Hearing this, Batman laughed "and how did that work out for you?" before giving the coolant back to Freeze. Batman briefly returned to the armory, where he took the override chip and instructed a cop to give Freeze a backup coolant container, allowing him to return for his suit.
Batman headed to the Iceberg Lounge, where used the override, allowing him to punch to cockney geezer of his perch. Penguin proceeded to blow up the iceberg prop, dropping Batman into the cellar, which served as the cage for the un-dead Solomon Grundy. Penguin kept him charged with energy from generators in the ground; however, Batman blew them up and tore out Grundy's heart, leaving the zombie immobile. Penguin arrived with a grenade launcher, but was easily knocked out by Batman.
- "What if I told you I know a man who's been exposed to that enzyme for centuries?
What do you mean?
His name is Ra's al Ghul. He claims to be over 600 years old, and I believe him.
Bring him to me. All I need is a sample of his blood.
Ra's al Ghul is dead.
Then you and the Clown are doomed.
Not really. I just need someone to show me where the body is, then I can "wake him up"." - —Batman assures Freeze that creating a cure is possible
Batman returned to the trophy room, where he present Penguin to the now-armored Mr. Freeze; he had promised some payback for Freeze to enact. After letting Freeze step on Penguin's broken hand briefly, Batman allowed him to lock Cobblepot in a display case as both punishment and a sense of irony. With this business done, Batman demanded the cure. Freeze revealed there was no cure, as it broke down quickly after creation; it needs a restorative enzyme bonded to human DNA. After showing a specific DNA strand to Batman that the cure lacked, the Dark Knight quickly realized the DNA matched Ra's al Ghul's blood. Freeze explains a sample is all he needs to synthesize a cure; however, Batman points out the Ra's is dead. Though Freeze believed this meant they were doomed, Batman explained he just needs to resurrect Ra's again.
One of the League of Assassins escaped from a display case, and left a trail of blood from a wounded shoulder. With this new info, Batman also proceeded to ask for the Line Launcher; he briefly joked with Alfred that he once considered a bigger utility belt, but had decided against it as it slowed him down. Leaving the museum, Batman proceeded to follow the blood trail; at the same time, Two-Face's thugs were threatening to takeover Penguin's territory.
Seeing the assassin's trail end with a cloth used to wipe off the blood, Batman decided to track new evidence, only to be attacked by the assassin, who he recognized as part of Talia al Ghul's personal guard. Batman managed to use close combat to place a tracer on one of the assassin. Willing to let her leave now, Batman's plan had a hiccup in the form of Robin's arrival. Batman was forced to call Robin off, allowing the assassin to flee. Giving a sample of his own blood to Robin, Batman instructed him to find any hospital that carried the same infected blood, and help out however he can.
- "You're insane.
NO! That would imply derangement or mental illness. I suffer from neither." - —Batman tells Riddler the truth
Batman found another victim of the Identity Thief nearby, finding a scalpel left at the crime scene. He asked Oracle to find a match from the prints on it; to his shock, the prints matched his. Oracle told him that he might be the Identity Thief, due to Strange, Crane or another psycho's manipulation. However, Batman was adamant that he wasn't the killer; Oracle agreed, but told him to keep a look out. Hearing a TYGER guard telling Strange over the radio that the Medical Center is devoid of life, Batman went to investigate. He found the Riddler's questions marks all over the church and went inside; he met with a projection of the Riddler, who challenged him to solve his riddles to save the hostages.
Learning the first hostage was in the courthouse, Batman took out the thug undercover in Two-Face's gang and the loyal members tricked into watching the hostage. The hostage gave Batman a radio code, which Riddler gave a riddle on; solving these lead Batman to more hostages. After clearing five rooms, Batman learned Riddler didn't think he would survive the fifth one and still had more hostages. Oracle told Batman that all the rooms Batman visited were bought from Mr. Fine and that the only other property sold by him was under the arch by the Iceberg Lounge. Inside, Batman found the remaining hostages being forced to walk with explosives on their heads. Batman took down Riddler and left a dummy explosive helmet on him with Cash to intimidate Riddler into walking as payback.
Batman returned outside, and began tracing the signal. Reaching the end of Park Row, Batman found another victim of Deadshot, tracing the shot back to the top of the Gotham casino, where a tripod had been left behind by accident; Deadshot was getting sloppy. Batman scanned it and learned it had traces of a rare metal used in paints a decade ago. He also told Oracle to use what he knows about the victims to find out why Deashot was targeting them; so far the only thing he knows if that they worked to build Arkham City.
- "Joker's men are hunting down what's left of Penguin's crew, and killing the men who won't turn."
- —Batman's observation
Following the signal again, Batman learned from the chatter between Joker's men that the assassin had gone down the hole to the sewers in the Industrial District. Once underground, Batman learned that Joker's men were chasing after the men still loyal to Penguin; either they would switch teams and work for Joker, or they would be killed. Taking out the men, Batman found the signal leading him back into the train station; numerous men were already dead, likely at the hands of Killer Croc, who lived in the sewers.
Batman followed the signal into a disused area of the original Gotham. He found some of Joker's men talking about the old Gotham that was built over, creating the current "Old Gotham"; he took them out and found more at the base of Wonder Tower. They were holding an intern doctor hostage, and taking TYGER weapons from storage. Batman saved her, learning that Strange is kidnapping ANY doctor he can get his hands on, in an attempt to heal the Joker. However, a phone call from Joker revealed that Strange actually GAVE the weapons to Joker; possibly to control the gang war.
Finding the closed off area of Wonder City, Batman followed the path; to his horror, he found not only were there bodies strung up like pinatas, but his health was starting to go down hill. All the while, a familiar prerecorded voice talked about Wonder City. Using his Detective Mode, Batman found the Mechanical guardians possessed a relatively old video system, something too advanced for a device created in the 1800s; using it, Batman found how the assassins where getting further into the city when the main door had remained shut for centuries. There was a secret path, which could be opened by a blade akin to a keyhole. Batman knocked out an assassin and used her blade to open the path.
Having more attacks from the poisoned blood, Batman saw a vision of his parents welcoming him to the next life. However, Oracle snapped him out of it and get Ra's blood for the cure; she told him that he had mere minutes left, since all the fighting pumped the poisoned blood through his body faster. Confronted by the assassins again, Batman was saved by Talia. Talia slapped him, and he greeted her.
- "You didn't need to get yourself arrested to see me, Bruce. After that night in Metropolis, you could have just called."
- —Talia
When Talia asks how he found the League's hideout, Batman explained that he recognized her guard, and that it was only a matter of putting a tracer on her to find them. Talia dismissed the assassin Batman tracked, telling him that he didn't need to get captured; he could have just called her. She proceeded to unmask and kiss him, but was shocked by his face appearing so terrible.
After explaining he needed to see Ra's, Batman was told that only a true successor to the Head of the Demon can be in his presence. Annoyed, Batman used his terminal condition as an excuse to take the Demon Trials needed to be a true successor. Batman drank the blood of the Demon, gaining back a few more hours of life, and joined Ra's astral projection in a spirit world modeled after Arkham City. Batman flew through the spirit world, fighting apparitions of assassins and was deemed worthy enough by Ra's to take his place; it was now time for them to meet in the real world, for the final test to become the next Head of the Demon.
Reunited with a surprised Talia, Batman was lead into a chamber housing the Lazarus Pit; next to it was a barely alive, zombie-like Ra's al Ghul. The Head of the Demon declared the final test was to kill him and take his place. Batman revealed that his willingness to join was a ruse to get a blood sample from Ra's; unfazed, Ra's offered to be impaled by his own sword to let Batman take his blood. When Batman refused, Ra's fell into the pit as electricity boosted its strength; Ra's emerged fully restored. They proceeded to fight, with Ra's inducing an illusionary landscape to confuse Batman and force him to take his life in desperation; however, Batman prevailed without killing Ra's.
Defeated, Ra's was tended to by Talia; however, he soon held a knife to her throat, threatening Batman into killing him and taking his place. If Batman refused to comply, he would kill the only person Batman ever loved. Using a Reverse Batarang, Batman knocked Ra's out; he proceeded to take a blood sample from Ra's. Talia was furious with both of them, deeming her father insane for threatening his own flesh and blood; she was also angry with Batman, as she believed that she love between them had finally brought him into the League.
As Talia left, Batman noticed that Ra's was looking older than usual. Ra's admitted that he had used the Lazarus Pit too many times for it to have a lasting effect on him anymore; his body and mind had been pushed to their limits. Batman advised Ra's to stop his crusade and use of the pit; if it fell into the wrong hands, centuries of destruction would ensue. Batman radioed Oracle, explaining that the Lazarus chemical and how it may had some good use in future research. However, if does have some nasty side-effects.
- "Strange came to me back at the Ayslum. He said he had friends, powerful friends; the kind of people who can make things happen. All I had to do was turn a blind eye to his experiments and focus on my campaign.
Who are they!?
I don't know! I never met them. They paid for everything. Money was never a problem. All I had to do was set up Arkham City and put Strange in charge. It made sense! The scum of this city desire to be punished. It was to be my legacy. " - —Quincy Sharp reveals Strange serves a higher power
Returning to the subway, he also found Joker's men had slaughtered faithful members of Penguin's crew, while recruiting those willing to follow the Clown Prince of Crime; on the surface, Two-Face's gang had done the same. To his surprise, Batman heard Strange announce that the failed warden of old Arkham and mayor of Gotham, Quincy Sharp was being sent into Arkham City. Wondering "how the hell did Strange manage to get the mayor arrested", Batman saved Sharp and interrogated him, learning that Strange was the one who orchestrated the entire Arkham City system, and was working with someone. Despite his desire to investigate, Batman was advised to return to GCPD by Oracle.
Finding the stranger on the next rooftop, Batman was left another symbol to scan. Batman headed back to the GCPD, but found a third victim of the Identity Thief in the alley next to Ace Chemicals. Finding bleach was used to clean up the mess, Batman traced it to a criminal washing his hands nearby. The criminal told him that "Bruce Wayne" told him to dump the body and had a hideout near the courthouse. Batman took this lead, finding a twisted room filled with operating equipment and diagrams of his own face. Turning on a tape, Batman learned that Dr. Thomas Elliot was behind the murders; at that point, the man in question arrived and showed off his face, which was a copy of Bruce Wayne's patched together from all his victims. Thomas told Batman that he wanted revenge, and that he was letting him go because he felt merciful. Once the deranged doctor left, Batman contacted Oracle and updated her on the events of the Identity Theft case.
Batman received a call from Joker, who had grown impatient and paranoid about his progress; Joker had convinced himself that Batman planned on double-crossing him, and put up snipers in the Amusement Mile to keep Batman out of the GCPD. Luckily, Batman managed to get past them and the goons trying to get in by using the REC to open the gates. Inside, Batman gave Freeze the vial of blood, which the scientist put in a machine with the cure; it mixed them both, leaving two vials. Freeze locked one in the safe, while holding onto one; he noticed Batman was becoming increasingly unwell.
- "Now is not the time for negotiation.
I think it is. You will bring me Nora, or you will die." - —Freeze goes back on his deal with Batman
Batman asked for his dose, only to learn that Freeze plans on leveraging it to make the Dark Knight look for Mrs. Fries, who was taken hostage by the Joker. Batman refused and Freeze broke the vial. A fight ensued between the two, with Batman rendering Freeze senseless. Both then discovered that Harley Quinn stole the cure during the fight. Batman left, not only to find the cure, but to save Nora. Unfortunately, Joker derailed his plans by shooting down Vicky Vale's helicopter into Arkham. Taking out snipers, Batman saved Vicky, and got a call from Joker, who laughed at him. Batman denied an interview before taking off after Joker.
Once more finding the stranger near by, Batman was told that the moment for answers was soon. The stranger left a symbol again. Batman discovered that they made a master sigil over Arkham City and that a fifth symbol would appear at the church. Once Batman found the fifth symbol, the stranger appeared and introduced himself as Azrael, a loyal servant to the Order of St. Dumas. He told Batman a prophecy; though Batman will save the day, this will spark events that will burn Gotham and himself. Telling Azrael that he doesn't believe in fairy tales, Batman was told that the message had been delivered and that the two of them would meet again.
Batman was contacted by Alfred who informed him that Lucius had manufactured and delivered a cure on a rooftop; he injected himself with it, falling unconscious. Batman awoke to find that the Mad Hatter was the one who contacted him, having placed the idea in his head back when he rescued Vicky. With a specially-made mask placed on his own, Batman fought of the Mad Hatter's control; he broke free, knocking out Tetch and his mind-controlled goons.
Back outside, Batman found a third victim of Deadshot, tracing the shot back to where it was fired. Scanning Deadshot's last location, Batman found more traces of the unique paint, deciding that substations were the best bet for finding him. This lead him back to the Amusement Mile (as all Deashot's sniping locations came from near the area), near Poison Ivy's lair; the substation held a PDA with Deashot's hit list. This lead Batman to Jack Ryder, Deadshot's next target. After saving him, Batman snuck up on Deashot and knocked him out, taking his weapons. After locking him in a compartment, Batman told Oracle to let Gordon know where he was.
- "You do know you'll actually die if you don't get this cure soon."
- —Alfred reminds Batman that the clock is ticking
At that point, Batman was contacted by the undercover cops in the Iceberg Lounge. Officer Jones gave Batman an upgrade for his Disruptor, allowing him to remotely detonate bombs blocking his path. With this new upgrade, Batman proceeded to the Steel Mill, finding Joker's thugs keeping Warehouse 5B locked up. Breaking in, Batman knocked out the thugs trying to defrost Nora to rape her. Once Nora was safe, Batman returned to the GCPD, where he let Victor know where Nora was.
Despite Joker increasing his security, which included snipers and guards that used ultraviolet goggles to detect him, Batman was able to break into the Steel Mill. Oracle radioed him, telling Batman that Strange had gotten the permission of the city council to activate Emergency Protocol 10; he had provided weapons to the Arkham City inmates to force Gotham to allow him to mass murder the criminal element of the city, therefore cleansing it of crime for good.
As he made his way through the Steel Mill, Batman saw a healthy Joker announce that he planned to break out of Arkham City in a kamikaze attack. Fearing for Gotham, Batman proceeded further, finding a Two-Face goon being tortured for information; Batman knocked out his torturers and then the victim to keep him quiet. Heading further into the mill, Batman as attacked by Dr. Baker by accident. She told him about Proximity Bombs in the next room before going back into hiding with a steel pipe as protection.
Batman came face to face with Harley, who had been tied up; she revealed that Joker had stolen some of Freeze's equipment and locked it down in the Boiler Room. Down in the basement, goons were firing at ceramic Penguins; Batman beat them up and found a box containing a Freeze Blast upgrade.
Batman headed to Joker's room, which lead him to a fun house; Batman saw Joker was still looking terrible in the mirror. However, when Joker turned around, he was revealed to have been cured; they fought, with Joker calling in Mr. Hammer and a TITAN to odd the evens.
After his fight with Joker, the ceiling gave way due to missile attacks from Protocol 10; Batman was pinned, unable to defend himself. Joker was about to kill him, when Talia appeared and offered him immortality in exchange for Batman's life. When Batman advised her not to do this, Joker knew it had to be the truth and took the deal and let Batman live, and left with Talia who had reactivated the tracking chip that Batman had previously placed on one of her ninjas earlier.
- "Batman needs to save Gotham"
- —Alfred's words of wisdom to Batman
Batman awoke to find Catwoman getting debris off him; they exchanged banter, with Catwoman going off to hide. Leaving through the hole in the fun house, Batman radioed Alfred, explaining Protocol 10 was the killing the inmates by missile strikes via the helicopters. Attempting to find Tailia, he ordered Oracle to reroute the WayneTech satellites. However, both Oracle and Alfred told him that he cannot allow Strange to win and kill all these people, guilty and innocent alike. Convinced that he needed to save Gotham before saving Talia, Batman ordered Oracle not to lose the tracer's signal as Talia didn't know what Joker was capable of; Ms. al Ghul was out of her depth on this one.
Batman went to find the chopper holding the Master Control Program for Wonder Tower; once done,Batman downloaded it and broke into Wonder Tower. Finding Political Prisoner being held hostage, Batman knocked out the TYGER guards present. Strange contacted him via the monitors, threatening to kill another Political Prisoner to get Batman to listen to him. The professor was convinced that Batman was the cause of all the insanity in Gotham, calling him the catalyst that allowed the virus that was Gotham's crime to evolve and produce the super criminals that have fought Batman over the years. Batman fought his way through the TYGER Guards, traversing Wonder Tower, until reaching the observation deck that Strange worked out of.
Overhearing Strange's gloats, Batman learned that the professor planned to wipe out the criminals in Metropolis and Keystone using the Arkham City program. Batman took out the guards, and broke into Strange's room. Strange declared himself to be the rightful successor to Batman, but Batman knocked him out with a head-smash to the glass. Plugging a remote device into Strange's computer, Batman ordered Oracle to shut down Protocol 10. Angered, Strange tells Batman that he ruined everything; Batman shoved Strange to the window, showing the mad professor the smoldering remains of Arkham City.
- "This is a good day, Detective.
Good!? People are dying!
They will not be missed." - —Batman learns Ra's was behind Protocol 10
Undeterred by this, Strange gloated that soon he would command forces beyond Batman's comprehension and that the world forever thank him. However, at that moment, a sword was plunged into Strange; it was Ra's al Ghul, who declared that Strange's part in the plan was over. Batman tended to Strange, who begged Ra's for more time; Ra's revealed that Strange had been working for him, after coming to him with Batman's true identity. Ra's gave Strange unlimited resources for his plan to create Arkham, but Batman has proven to be the more worthy successor to the Head of the Demon.
With his dying breath, Strange activates Protocol 11, detonating the observation deck. Batman tackles Ra's out of the window before the resulting explosion, trying to save him from becoming a sidewalk pancake; however, Ra's ran his sword through his own chest as a last-ditch attempt to kill Batman. Forced to let go, Batman landed in the Bowery, while Ra's body landed on the gate of Arkham City.
To Batman's surprise, Joker appeared on the television in front of the gate, telling him that he and Talia were at the Monarch Theatre. After taking down the patrols guarding the entry, specifically snipers armed with weapons capable of penetrating the Batsuit, Batman infiltrated the theater. After a brief stand down, Batman learned that Talia had intercepted the cure from Harley, and had also seemingly killed Joker in the process by stabbing him with her sword. However, Batman then deduced from the various things that he had heard that the Joker he had seen was actually a double and attempted to warn Talia, but she ended up shot by the real Joker.
The stabbed "Joker" was revealed to be Clayface, who quickly attacked Batman. Batman managed to throw Freeze Blasts at Clayface, grabbed Talia's sword from his melted body, and sliced him into pieces. Joker triggered bombs on the floors as Batman to fell down into the Lazarus Pit Chamber along with Clayface and fought him and his mini versions of him. With Clayface defeated, Batman took half of the cure. Seeing Joker about to jump in the Lazarus Pit to heal himself, Batman used the sword to knock some machinery down and knock Clayface in instead. Because Clayface wasn't human, the resulting mixture of chemicals caused an explosion that destroyed the pit.
- "Do you want to know something funny? Even after everything that you've done, I would have saved you.
That actually is... pretty funny..." - —Batman and Joker's final words to each other
Joker begged for the cure, going on to say that Batman will give it to him; he poisoned Gotham and killed Talia before breakfast, but knows Batman will still save him. Batman struggled with the decision to give the Joker the cure, as Joker always broke out and killed no matter what he tried to do; Joker told him to think of it as a running gag, stabbing him in the arm. Batman dropped the vial, which broke and released the cure on the floor. Joker tried frantically to ingest the cure, but failed. Seeing that death was coming, the Joker asked if Batman was happy now that Gotham would be free of the fear his mayhem caused.
Instead, Batman looked somberly down on the dying clown and told him something surprising: the Joker was right! Even after all the chaos and deaths that the Clown Prince of Crime caused, Batman would have given him the cure if he had just asked for it over trying to steal it. The Joker found the fact he actually managed to win a battle with Batman hilarious, dying with a smile.
Batman carried the Joker's corpse out of the theater, much to the surprise of the thugs, who thought Joker would have succeeded in becoming immortal. Harley saw this, becoming heartbroken. Batman continued onward, right out of Arkham, where Gordon and the cops were waiting. Laying Joker on Gordon's car, Batman left without so much as a word.
After Arkham City Incident
After Batman left Arkham City, he contacted Alfred to tell him that his work there was done and that Arkham City was shut down, but was struck by bolts of electricity and confronted by the second Electrocutioner, who wanted payback on Batman for stealing the Shock Gloves from Lester Buchinsky's (his old boss) corpse on the rooftop. Batman had managed to freeze his face with the Freeze Grenade and knocked him out while he was frozen. When Batman left him for the GCPD, the Electrocutioner was confronted by the Arkham Knight, who then executed him with a shotgun. The day after, Batman discussed with Alfred the risk of endangering his lives, which was becoming more common, as well as his duties as Bruce Wayne.
Harley Quinn's Revenge Incident
- "He hasn't been the same. He won't talk about Talia or Joker"
- —Oracle's observation of Batman
Twelve days after Joker's death, a grieving Harley Quinn took back control of the Industrial District with her old gang, and kidnapped three GCPD officers. The area was now filled with banners honoring the Joker's memory. Batman was called in by Gordon, who noted Harley blamed him for Joker's death; this entire situation was part of some revenge scheme. GCPD was unable to do anything more than keep the criminals in the area with helicopter patrols; Batman was the only one who could get inside without detection.
Batman headed to the Loading Bay Office inside the Steel Mill and saw a police officer that was held captive by a group of Harley's Thugs, who were planning on beating the officer like a pinata to let off some stress. Batman quickly defeated the gang and rescued the officer who then revealed that the other remaining officers were being held hostage deep within the other sections of the Steel Mill. Batman continued his search for the remaining officers by using a blood trail that he had found at the gate entrance of Steel Mill which lead him to a secret TYGER entrance guarded by thugs. After interrogating one, Batman went after the three henchmen Harley trusted with the key cards; he managed to open the entrance to find a threat directed towards him, left by Harley, who knew he would manage to get into her hideout.
After he entered the Shipyard, Batman found the second cop and took out the thugs that were guarding him. Harley arrived and tried shooting the cop, but Batman took the bullet to the chest; though his armor protected him, Batman was knocked out by the force of the shot. The thugs removed his utility belt, which immediately activated the anti-theft shock; this kept in on the floor, where the thugs left it alone. Harley then had Batman sealed inside an airtight, glass ball that was in a gigantic Joker Robot. Upon waking, Batman noticed his belt was missing and decided to enter a meditative state to lessen the amount of air his body required.
- "What. Have. You. Done?
Now you know how it feels." - —Harley taunts Batman, who thinks Robin died in the explosion
Two days later, Robin arrived and stole Harley's key codes to the ball and freed Batman. Harley revealed that there were three bombs that were stolen from the GCPD Lockup that were placed around the Shipyard for the Dark Knight to detonate, before she unveiled her final plot of revenge by activating the Wonder City Mechanical Guardians and pitted them against him. After he had destroyed them all, Batman took Quinn out, but not before she had revealed that she had intended on blowing up the entire Shipyard with Robin, Batman, and herself still inside. However, Batman escaped with Harley, who attempted to stab him from behind, but was knocked out cold by Robin. Batman then quickly left Arkham City.
After Harley Quinn's Revenge Incident
With Harley arrested, Batman continued to carry out his crime fighting routines, while also making plans to reinvent Gotham's image, by using Wayne Industries' resources. On one night, a posthumous message by Joker was broadcast all across Gotham, and revealed his plan to blow up the walls of Arkham City, and would release its prisoners onto the streets of Gotham. Joker pointed Batman toward Arkham Asylum, where he could find the solution to defuse the bombs. Joker warranted a search for his dead body to be returned to Harley Quinn, with the prize money of one hundred million dollars, or several bombs that were rigged around Arkham City's wall would go off, and would release its remaining inmates onto the streets of Gotham. Joker had also left behind a message for Batman to go to Arkham Asylum, to retrieve the code that could be used to deactivate the bombs. This, however, turned out to be a trap, as the bombs were actually placed within Joker's cell in the asylum by Clayface, in order to lure Batman in. The trap caused a large explosion, and destroyed a large portion of the asylum.
Batman, however, managed to survive, and later contacted Gordon to meet up. The Joker was later cremated with both Gordon and Batman present. Gordon handed Batman the flash drive that was found in Joker's body, which he would later analyze in the Batcave. Inside was a video recording that was entitled: "The Last Will and Testament of the Joker", where he had explained his reasoning for inducing chaos in Gotham.
- "(Recovering from the toxin) My face...
Yeah. It's killing us, too.
Well I'll be damned. You almost made half a joke." - —Batman decides to make a joke about fighting Croc to save Gordon
Only moments after watching Joker's recording, Batman received a call from Gordon, who was affected by Joker's Toxin, and began to lose his sanity. Batman requested the help of Officer Cash in handling Gordon, while he went to the new Blackgate Prison to retrieve Harley, in order to locate the antidote for the Joker Toxin. Initially, Harley guided him to the antidote storage, but it was revealed to be a trap, as Killer Croc was waiting there for him. The two of them fought, and while Croc seemed to have the upper hand, Cash's intervention gave Batman the time to retrieve his last Freeze Grenade and immobilize Croc. Gordon was cured in the nick of time. Harley, on the other hand, escaped and joined forces with Penguin, who was searching for Scarecrow.
Days later, Batman, as Bruce Wayne, held a conference at the entrance of Arkham City, where he had announced his plans for the reformation of Gotham, which was known as "Gotham Reborn". The conference, however, was attacked by Harley's thugs. Bruce and Lucius had managed to hold them back, but Harley arrived, attacked Fox, and took his tablet as well as one of his fingers for security clearance. The tablet, however, had a self-correcting protocol, which required Fox's login every 15 minutes, and thus rendered it useless in the hands of Harley and Penguin. After having Fox hospitalized, Batman discussed with Oracle about getting her father to run for the position of Mayor. He later joined Robin in a training session, while discussing plans to repair the Batmobile.
Some time later, Bruce and Fox traveled to Germany for the Central European Future Tech Expo, while also setting up to meet their contact, Zimmer, who could provide Batman with a new Batmobile. However, not long after their arrival, both Fox and Zimmer were kidnapped by several thugs, and forced Bruce to don his suit and get into action. After a lengthy car chase throughout the streets of Germany, Batman stopped the thugs, and rescued Fox and Zimmer, and then took them back to Zimmer's office, where they discussed the plans for the Batmobile, as well as the delivery time. A few days after returning from Germany, Batman encountered Kid Shark, who was the son of King Shark, who had wanted to exact revenge on Batman and the Suicide Squad for his father's death. With Gordon's help, Batman easily defeated the kid of knocking him in the head with a fire hydrant, and brought him in. The two of them then discussed Gordon's plan for retirement, which was suggested by Barbara.
- ""Hey, are they alive?"
"What?
"Why didnt' you kill them like that Electrocutioner? Thought you were finally getting serious on these creeps."
"Isn't that the message now? Behave or the Batman will kill you"?" - —Batman learns that the GCPD thinks he's broken his code
Penguin's attempts at cracking Fox's tablet, while mostly unsuccessful, were not in vain, as he had managed to find a date and a location, which, unbeknownst to him, was the shipping date and the location for the delivery of the Batmobile. He then recruited the Tweedle brothers, and provided them with heavy weaponry, as well as an enhanced brute, whom he named Tweedledie. The Tweedle Trio then piloted a helicopter to intercept a shipping truck, which contained the Batmobile, but then encountered Batman. He then battled Tweedledie on top of the shipping container, while the two brothers Tweedledum and Tweedledee handled the helicopter controls. Eventually, Batman sprayed Explosive Gel on the container, which stunned Die, and allowed him to get inside his new vehicle, and drove it out of the container. After Batman had secured the new Batmobile, he came back inside the helicopter, and subdued the Tweedles. He brought the three of them back to the GCPD, but then was surprised to hear rumors about him killing the second Electrocutioner from two GCPD Officers. That night, the Arkham Knight sneaked inside the GCPD holding cells, and murdered the Tweedle Trio.
One morning, while he jogged with Gordon and Barbara, Bruce had revealed his plan of making Gordon run for Mayor. While Gordon had initially refused, both Bruce and Barbara had managed to convince him to take a shot at it. Bruce and Gordon then went back to his office to discuss it further.
Arkham VR Incident
Batman made a routine visit to the Batcave. Upon suiting up, Batman learned Nightwing and Robin were not responding to Alfred's attempts to contact them. Though Robin's tracer could not be found, Batman soon located Nightwing's in Gotham; however, he was stationary. Batman arrived at Nightwing's location to find his former protege dead; he scanned the scene and learned that someone was skilled enough to sneak up on Nightwing and beat him badly before snapping his neck. Batman was left confused as the evidence showed that Nightwing trying to get away from his killer, rather than fight. Further scanning revealed someone had seen the murder and run off. Batman ran the prints and learned it was someone from Penguin's gang.
Batman went to the Iceberg Lounge, where he interrogated Penguin and learned the suspect was killed by a bomb along with two other thugs. Heading to the morgue, Batman found shrapnel in the bodies, concluding that the bomb come from sewer construction; using this as a lead, Batman locked onto Robin's signal in the sewer, where Joker's voice taunted them; Robin was locked behind a gate, which needed different parts for the gear boxes to open. Robin was convinced it was a Joker copycat due to crazy writing around his prison, though the Joker's voice said he wasn't a copycat. Unfortunately, Killer Croc attacked and killed Robin.
Batman next finding himself descending an elevator in Arkham, where he began hearing something beeping. He investigated a room he saw Joker in and found himself trapped; left with nothing else to do, Batman began thinking about the murders. To his shock, Batman come to the conclusion that only he could have done these horrible things to Nightwing and Robin, as common criminals couldn't have done it; his reflection turned into the Joker, who sang a mocking song about how he would soon take control of Batman.
To Batman's relief, it was just a nightmare. However, Batman now thought the Joker may have had an ace up his sleeve that he hadn't counted on. Though he did indeed cure himself of the titan disease, he still had the Joker's blood in his body, and it could have unexpected side-effects since the Joker was already an altered human being. Batman now dreaded the idea of becoming the avatar of the Joker's madness and violence.
Before Arkham Knight Incident
Worrying that others might suffer the same fate, Batman used his civilian identity as Bruce Wayne to buy Panessa Studios under the pretense of refurbishing it for new films; he quickly built quarintine cells in the main lobby, with a Batcomputer to link with the others. Batman checked on the people unfortunate enough to have received a transfusion of the Joker's blood, to see if they were having the same kind of nightmares as him or having changes in their behavior. However, the victims appeared healthy with no signs of the Joker influencing their actions; Lucius's cure appeared to be working.
- ""Before it killed him, Joker shipped his infected blood to hospitals around Gotham."
"Yeah. We found it all, didn't we?"
"We missed some."
"How!?"
"Hospital errors, mostly. Joker's blood acts like a version of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Although this case is more heavily mutated than anything on medical record. It's turning them into... him."" - —Batman reveals the Joker's last laugh to Gordon
However, Batman soon discovered there were hospitals record errors, resulting in four people not receiving the cure for the Titan Disease. Singer Johnny Charisma violently beat one of his groupies nearly to death; Batman captured him, giving the cover story that Charisma was in rehab. Business woman Christina Bell violently murdered the board of directors at Queen Industries, after they replaced her following her miscarriage; Batman likely had Green Arrow's help in covering up Bell's disappearance. Boxer Albert "The Goliath'' King beat his family in arm-wrestling matches, and ripped their arms off when they lost.
To Batman's surprise, he found little to no resistance in the fourth victim, Henry Adams, who was reported to have become jollier after his transfusion. Henry came willingly, under the condition that his detainment would not last longer than a few days. Batman and Robin then tested Henry daily to find out why the Joker's blood seemed to have no effect on him. However, Henry soon became angry that their "deal" was broken, as the tests were taking longer than what Batman had promised him.
Batman later invited Commissioner Gordon to Panessa Studios, where he explained that the Joker had left a little "going away present" in his blood. When a confused Gordon asked him about the fifth victim infected with the Joker's blood, Batman indirectly explained that the fifth unused cell was meant for him if he started going insane. Gordon agreed to keep the existence of these new Jokers a secret.
Arkham Knight Incident
City of Fear
- "Do you think Scarecrow is crazy enough to detonate a chemical weapon in Gotham?
I won't let that happen, Jim." - —Batman reveals to Gordon he won't let that happen.
On Halloween night, Scarecrow unleashed his newest strain of Fear Toxin in a diner, and threatened to release it throughout Gotham. Six million civilians evacuated, but the city's criminals and super-villains stayed behind, and left Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD outnumbered. Batman met Gordon on the rooftop of the GCPD with a lead on Scarecrow. After leaving Gordon behind, Batman rescued an officer from criminals and from getting hit by a military vehicle. Batman drove the Batmobile to chase after the driver and fired missiles at the vehicle and crashed it. After interrogating the driver, Batman investigated Scarecrow's presence, and rescued Poison Ivy from a rooftop safehouse, where she was being held captive by Scarecrow's henchman. When Batman was bringing Ivy to the GCPD Lockup, he was confronted by three Militia Soldiers who were sent by their unknown commander. He controlled the Batmobile and fired at the three of them and fired at the Militia tanks. Arriving at the GCPD Lockup, Batman locked Ivy in a containment cell.
In a makeshift Batcave, at the Clock Tower, Barbara was collecting information on Scarecrow's new toxin, and Batman tried to activate the radio towers. Batman activated the first tower at Panessa Studios, then saw that the Militia Soldiers had taken a hostage at the Falcone Shipping Yard. After taking out two of them, Lucius sent a high tech Batsuit, which allowed Batman to take down two or more foes in quick succession. Batman took the three Militia Soldiers down, rescued the hostage, activated the second tower, and traced its production to Ace Chemicals. Batman went to investigate, but was confronted by the mysterious "Arkham Knight" in a military chopper while crossing the bridge. Fighting through the Knight's Militia, and saving two workers after a showdown between him and the Arkham Knight controlling his attack chopper, Batman confronted Scarecrow, who rigged the Ace Chemicals building to explode. While Batman interrogated Crane, Crane revealed to Batman that he knew that Barbara Gordon was Oracle. Batman contacted Oracle to warn her, but the communication got cut off. When Scarecrow fled, Batman was exposed to the Fear Toxin, which reacted with his own mutated blood to cause hallucinations of the Joker after he tried to trigger the canisters to blow up the Ace Chemicals building.
Escaping from Ace Chemicals, Batman discovers that Barbara was abducted by the Arkham Knight. Batman arrived to the GCPD and told Gordon that Barbara was taken, which worried Gordon. At the Clock Tower, Batman was forced to tell Gordon about his daughter's involvement in his crime-fighting, and the outraged Gordon swore that he would find her without Batman's help. While scanning the tire tracks, Batman went to Grand Avenue Station to activate the bridge that blocked his path. While trying to activate the bridge, Batman was interrupted by the Riddler who held Catwoman hostage at the orphanage. Arriving at the orphanage, Batman freed Catwoman and fought Riddler's Robots. After defeating the robots, Batman left Catwoman behind and swore that he would be back for her when her neck was attached to an explosive collar. Batman continued to follow the tracks and found the vehicle that was crashed. Batman scanned the crime scene, learned that Oracle caused the crash, and left a clue while she tried to crawl away.
- "Star with anyone released from Arkham City following the death of Hugo Strange"
- —Batman has Alfred look into who could be the Arkham Knight
Batman traced the Arkham Knight to an underground tunnel network with his Militia, but he was ambushed by the Knight after jumping out of the grate. After taking down his Militia, Batman chases the Knight in a vehicle and crashed it by firing his immobilizer. Batman learned that the driver was a decoy, and interrogated the driver who refused to speak. Batman then started intimidating him by remotely controlling the Batmobile near his head and learned that the Knight went to see the Penguin who gave guns to him at his hideout at North Refrigeration. Batman and Nightwing met in a rooftop overlooking the Ranelagh Ferry Terminal, and Nightwing explained to Batman that Penguin had been using the North Refrigeration trucks to smuggle weapons out of Bludhaven, and that he believed that Penguin was stockpiling weapons in Gotham. Before he left, Nightwing gave Batman a new prototype Disruptor that could jam firearms and track vehicles. Batman used the gadget to track the North Refrigeration van and followed it back to Penguin's hideout. Batman eventually found and interrogated Penguin, who told him that the Knight and Scarecrow were meeting with a businessman named Simon Stagg, who ran a pharmaceutical company. After defeating Penguin's Henchmen, Batman destroyed one of Penguin's weapon caches and ordered Nightwing to search for more of them.
Batman traveled to Stagg's Airships to apprehend Scarecrow. After infiltrating the airship, Batman rescued Stagg from the Militia, but suddenly started to experience more hallucinations of the Joker. After Batman awakened from the hallucinations, he discovered that Stagg was taken by the Militia to the second airship. Batman infiltrates the research lab and scanned Stagg's fingerprints to access the security locks by using his fingerprints. In the second airship, Batman discovered that Scarecrow had paid Stagg to create a device known as the "Cloudburst", but Stagg tried to double-cross them. Batman found Stagg locked up and told him what he wanted to know, but Stagg was doused with Fear Toxin as punishment. Batman knocked Stagg out and left him to go after Scarecrow. Batman confronted Crane, but was exposed to the Fear Toxin once again, which triggered a very powerful hallucinogenic response. After Batman was freed from the toxin, Scarecrow escaped when the front of the airship was torn out by the Militia helicopter with the Arkham Knight inside. Batman received a message from Scarecrow which revealed that Barbara was at the same safehouse where Ivy was held, but before Batman could save her, Barbara was doused with Fear Toxin and shot herself in the head. Batman informed Alfred that Barbara was dead, and was filled guilt and depression over her death. Alfred informed Batman that the Cloudburst was a dispersal device that was designed to flood all of Gotham with the Fear Toxin. To counteract this effect, Batman enlisted the help of Ivy, who was immune to the Fear Toxin.
- "I get it. Why break him now, when we can crush him later? It's classic Joker. Oh, Bats, something beautiful is happening here."
- —Batman hears hallucination Joker's opinion about keeping Barbara's "death" from Tim.
Arriving at the GCPD Lockup, Batman took Ivy to the Gotham Botanical Gardens. The shutter door at the GCPD didn't open, and Batman decided to investigate when he discovered and analyzed a tank known as a Cobra Drone, which could take out the Batmobile in just a few shots. However, he found a weakness. The rear exhaust pipe lead straight to the tank's power core and one well placed shot with the Batmobile's 60mm cannon would take it out. After destroying the Cobra Tank, Batman entered a garage to equip more gadgets for the Batmobile. Batman and Ivy made it to the gardens and she took control of a large tree which developed giant flowers that were capable of neutralizing the toxin. Batman returned to Wayne Tower, but he was ambushed by more of the Arkham Knight's Militia tanks. Batman used the Batmobile Sonar to release Ivy's plant, but the Knight's forces started to attack it. Batman protected it from the Militia and took them all out. Traveling to his quarantine base at Panessa Studios, Batman spoke with Robin about his progress in finding a cure for the Joker mutations, but knowing that Robin's civilian identity, Tim Drake. was dating Barbara, he did not tell him about her death. Batman traveled to Founders' Island to shut down the radar towers that blocked the signal to locate the Cloudburst, then after the towers were shut down, he went to Queen Industries to destroy the Knight's missile launcher. When Batman lowered the three bridges to bring in the Batmobile, the Arkham Knight and his men ambushed him in the control room. Batman interrogated the Knight to try and find out who he was, but the Knight disappeared by using a Smoke Bomb. Batman quickly took down the Knight's men. Batman controlled the Batmobile, fired at the missile launcher, and destroyed it.
Batman headed to the Clock Tower and used Oracle's computer to search for the Cloudburst, but he received an emergency call from Henry Adams at the Movie Studios that Harley Quinn had taken over the studios, planned to gather the mutated citizens, and keep the Joker's legacy alive through them. Arriving at the studios, Batman and Robin searched for the hostages. While searching for the patients, Batman had a hallucinating flashback about Jason Todd, the previous Robin, being tortured by the Joker. When all of the patients were taken back to their cells, Harley arrived and confronted Robin. Batman then jumped out of a floor grate and defeated Harley and her men. Batman took Harley to one of the cells, but arrived to find all of the patients dead, and discovered that they were killed by Henry, a mutated patient who fully succumbed to the mutations and desired only the best of the infected to be the new Joker. When he confronted Batman, Henry shot himself, after he realized that Batman too was infected, and had the potential to be the best Joker. Robin realized that Batman himself was also infected with the Joker's blood, but Batman refused to be apprehended until Scarecrow was stopped, and locked Robin in a holding cell. Batman told Robin about Barbara's death. Robin insisted that Batman needed his help, but Batman refused, and left Robin outraged.
Batman learned from Alfred that there was siesmic activity on Miagani Island. It turned out to have been from plant roots bursting out of the ground to smash the Arkham Knight's tanks. Using the Batmobile to help, Batman fought off the tanks with Ivy's help. Deeming it too dangerous for Ivy to stay in the Botanical Gardens, Batman wished to take her to GCPD. However, Ivy stated that the plants couldn't save Gotham on their own; they needed her help. At that moment, Alfred contacted Batman, telling him that the Batman had found the Cloudburst on Perdition bridge; it was attached to the Arkham Knight's tank. At that moment, it released a shot of Fear Gas; it exploded, swallowing Miagani Island, Bleake Island and Founders Island in a cloud of poison. Forcing Ivy to duck, Batman shielded her and himself with his cape.
To both of their horror, the Cloudburst was sustatining a fog of Fear Toxin and leeching the life from the plants. Ivy attached herself to one, using her life energy to keep it alive. Batman grappled to a higher point, hearing from Alfred that exposure to the toxin will cause long-term psychological damage. Scarecrow broadcasted to the city again, declaring Gotham to now be the City of Fear. As the Cloudburst had fried the Batmobile's power cell, Batman needed Stagg's help to power the Batmobile. Returning to the airship, Batman took out the Miltia trying to find and kill Stagg and found the man himself; Stagg told him a Nimbus Cell powered the Cloudburst and that only another one could work in the EMP field it generated.
Taking a cell, Batman dove down the fear cloud to power up the Batmobile; however, the exposure strengthened the Joker hallucinations, making Batman see the rioters as copies of the Joker. Learning that two plants weren't enough, Batman was told to find a third on Founder's Island. Heading underground, Batman continued taking out the tanks. Joker tried dissuading him from continuing to help Gotham. However, Batman managed to find the roots of the third plants, awakening it. Ivy had the plant take the Batmobile back to the surface, where it grew around the church on Founder's Island. Keeping the tree safe from the Knight's army, Batman left it once Ivy hardened the bark.
When the army was taken out, Batman went after the Arkham Knight at Bleake Island. Batman locked down the bridge to trap the Knight on Bleake Island as he came to a battle against the Knight. Despite Scarecrow advising the Knight to flee, he was ignored; this angered Scarecrow as the Cloudburst was not meant to be bait to lure in Batman. Batman damaged the tank with his missiles, grabbing the Knight from the damaged tank before it exploded. The Knight attempted to choke Batman, but was pummeled into submission. Unfortuantely, Batman hallucinated Joker in place of the Knight, allowing the mystery man to escape.
Batman radioed Ivy, telling her to clear away the toxin. However, she did not respond. Batman raced back to the Botanical Gardens, where Ivy emerged from her tree. She fell down, with Batman catching her. Weakly, she declared "Nature always wins", before dying. She dissolved and blew away into the night. As the trees' pollen cleared the city of toxin. Alfred radioed Batman, congratulating him on saving the city with Ivy's help. Batman sadly informed Alfred of her passing, to which he says it was a noble end.
Batman entered the GCPD to investigate an encrypted message with the help of one of the GCPD staff and learned that it's Gordon's, who was after Scarecrow and got captured. Batman located Gordon in the abandoned mall that was the Arkham Knight's HQ. Batman went underground, and then the Arkham Knight used a personal drill to kill him and Batman fought his way to escape. While in a dead end, Batman ejected to the surface before the Knight destroyed the Batmobile with his drill. Batman found Gordon being tortured by the Militia Soldiers, but then Batman took them all out.
The Knight revealed himself to be Jason Todd, the second Robin, whom Batman believed was murdered by the Joker. Jason blamed Batman for abandoning him with the Joker torturing him and he fought Batman. Batman tried to help Jason, but Jason refused to listen to a word that he said. Batman defeated Jason, tried to help him, and that he and Jason could work things out. When Batman called Alfred about Jason, Jason vanished from his hideout.
Batman and Gordon proceeded to meet Scarecrow on the building's roof. Gordon apologized for his anger and said that he had never forgotten how he met Bruce Wayne on the night of his parents' death, and confirmed that he knew Batman's true identity. As they confronted Scarecrow, Gordon pointed a gun at Batman to let Barbara, who was revealed to still be alive free, and that her suicide was a Fear Toxin-induced hallucination. Gordon shot Batman in his bulletproof armor, and seemingly killed him in exchange for his daughter's life, but Scarecrow instead pushed Barbara off the roof. Surviving the gunshot, Batman rescued Barbara from falling. Batman protected Barbara when the Militia, which was then lead by the assassin, Deathstroke, arrived and Lucius sent a spare Batmobile to target the Militia. After the Militia were all down, Batman returned Oracle to the GCPD Lockup. Batman learned that the soldiers were destroying the servers at the Clock Tower, so he headed there to take them out. Batman brought the servers back on to search for Gordon. After returning to the GCPD Lockup, the Militia forces started an assault at the GCPD and Batman started finish them off with Oracle's help of hacking the Militia network to take them out. Batman headed to the rooftop to stop the Militia from trying to disable the GCPD security system and fought them.
Batman raced back to the movie studios, only to find that Robin was kidnapped by Scarecrow, who threatened to kill him unless Batman surrendered. Scarecrow met Batman in a storage hideout in Kingston and surrendered his utility belt. Batman complied, and was driven to the long-abandoned ruins of Arkham Asylum. Batman had a hallucination as he walked to the dead bodies of his parents at Crime Alley where it started when he paid his respects and fought multiple hallucinating Jokers, and Joker finally forced Batman over the edge by forcing him to snap a Joker's neck. When he was out of the hallucination, Batman arrived at the Arkham Mansion for his surrender. Scarecrow ordered Gordon to remove Batman's cowl in front of a live video feed, and reveal his true identity to the world. Gordon hesitantly did so, and Batman was exposed as Bruce Wayne. Scarecrow repeatedly injected Bruce with Fear Toxin to break him down further.
Inside his mind, Batman grappled with more hallucinations of the Joker as he took over Batman's mind, who was almost in complete control of Batman. Joker was seen captured with Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler and Killer Croc, who were ready to kill him. Joker called out his own "Jokerized" Batmobile that hit Croc, escaped, and killed the gangs that included Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face. At the same time as this was happening to Joker, Batman raced through the burning Gotham City using the Batmobile in his mind in order to defeat a giant Scarecrow to break some of the influence over him (shown in Scarecrow Nightmare missions). Joker found Gotham in ruins, but eventually Batman overcame his influence as another dose of toxin was injected. Batman haunted the Joker in his head as he began to see what his nemesis truly feared, with a portrait of Batman carrying Joker's corpse, his corpse being cremated, a vandalized and pathetic-looking memorial statue Joker at his grave, his memorial with no one in attendance but Harley (who did not respond to him), the news broadcasts of Gotham forgetting Joker's death, and a continuously increasing number of Batman statues, with Batman himself emerging from a statue and attacking Joker. Joker tried to escape into the light, but soon found he was in Extreme Isolation in Arkham Asylum. Batman emerged from a cell, realizing that Joker feared that he and his legacy would be forgotten by Gotham and everybody, and Batman locked the Joker away in his mind, and said a final goodbye to his nemesis as Joker was locked away in Extreme Isolation forever.
When Batman's mind was safe, Scarecrow injected more into him. However, the toxin was purged from the Dark Knight's system just as soon as it enters and he defiantly told Scarecrow that he was not afraid. Perplexed that Batman was actually resisting, Scarecrow put a gun to his head, and declared that without fear, life was meaningless. Suddenly, Jason, in his new Red Hood persona, arrived and freed Bruce, who then injected Scarecrow with the toxin, and rendered him harmless. Despite his identity now being known to GCPD, Batman took Scarecrow and Gordon back there, where Cash said he was still on his side; he even mentioned a "convenient" fax error had occurred, preventing an arrest warrant for Bruce Wayne for coming in.
The Line of Duty
Batman receives reports that the Station 17 fire crew had gone missing. He tracks down the members of the station, learning that they were attacked by a giant ball of fire when they rode back into Gotham on the Chief's orders. Batman goes on to learn more about the Chief, who is compassionate about his fellow firefighters and anyone who suffered from fires, including burn victims.
Upon rescuing Chief Underhill, Batman reveals that he's figured out that Firefly was an accomplice who let unoccupied buildings on fire in a partnership with Underhill to keep the firefighters in business. However, Firefly attacked them when they returned to Gotham, as this went against their deal.
The Perfect Crime
Later, Batman found a dead body chained to a nearby wall and analyzed it. The victim died due to removal of unique conditions. Batman noticed the victim was not from Gotham. Batman found five other victims with the same cause of death. Alfred shows the suspect of the crime: Lazlo Valentin AKA Professor Pyg of the Circus of Strange. Pyg wanted to make his victims to become perfect. He lives at Pretty Dolls Parlor where he tortures his victims and transforms them into Dollotrons. Batman encounters the porcine professor and sends him to jail.
Riddler's Revenge
Batman is still trying to help Catwoman get out of Riddler's clutches. Batman has to find nine keys to free Catwoman from an explosive collar. As the Riddler appears, he tells Batman to find and solve all 243 of his riddles and battle him at the orphanage. Back at the orphanage, the Riddler summons his robots and Catwoman helps Batman defeat the astute adversary. Batman sends Nigma to jail for his intellectual torture.
Own The Roads
To be added.
Occupy Gotham
To be added.
Wonderland
At GCPD, Batman interrogates the Hatter who currently speaks in rhyme. The Hatter tells Batman to find three stolen officers. As Batman tried to find the third officer, he received a book called Batman's Adventures In Wonderland. Back at GCPD, Batman got inside the book and found the third hostage. Batman locked up the Hatter who keeps thinking Batman is Alice.
Campaign for Disarmament
The Arkham Knight organizes fourteen mines to be placed around Gotham City. He threatens to detonate them in the case that anybody other than Batman enters the city, explaining why the government or military doesn't intervene.
Once Deathstroke takes over the militia, he challenges Batman to a duel at Grand Avenue (which is initiated once the Occupy Gotham and Own the Roads missions are completed). Batman goes face-to-face with Deathstroke as well as the five Cobra Tanks guarding him. Batman manages to take them all down and knocks Deathstroke out, then sending the assassin into GCPD custody. Deathstroke warns the Dark Knight that he will be free and will even kill him for free.
Creature of the Night
Soon, Batman saw a bat creature roar at him. As the creature flew away, Batman got a sample of the bat's blood. Alfred tells Batman that the DNA is from a scientist named Dr. Kirk Langstrom. Batman goes to Langstrom's lab and realized the doctor mixed his DNA with a vampire bat to end deafness; unfortunately, the animal DNA aggressively became dominate. Batman gave Man-Bat a serum to put the creature back to normal. Langstrom was sent to a special cell and mourned the loss of his wife, Francine.
However, Batman would later encounter Man-Bat again. He returned to GCPD, where the officers explained Kirk had transformed back and escaped. Batman noted that he feared this would happen; the vampire bat DNA in the Man-Bat serum was aggressive, so the antidote would only last for so long. He returned to the Langstrom's lab to see if Kirk had returned there; however, he instead found Francine's body was now missing and message "Forever my love" written in blood. It was theorized Francine had been infected with the serum through her wounds and was revived as a She-Bat after Batman's last visit.
Shadow War
Alfred informs Batman that there is a sighting of the League of Assassins on a rooftop in Miagani Island. Batman sees two dead female ninjas with a blood trail. The blood trail leads him to Elliot Memorial Hospital which has the League attempting to resurrect a zombie-like Ra's al Ghul. Batman uses his Batmobile to track another Lazarus pit which leads him to Nyssa Raatko, the leader of the rebel assassins and Ra's second daughter, who urges him to destroy Ra's for good. As Batman grabbed the Lazarus sample, he was left to the choice of either to destroy Ra's life support or revive him with Lazarus.
Heir to the Cowl
Azrael returns to Gotham City and revealed to Batman that his prediction is true. Batman gives Azrael four tests to see if he is a worthy successor. After picking up Azrael's movement signals, Alfred tells Batman that he was Michael Lane, a former GCPD officer. At the Clock Tower, Batman analyzes Azrael's tampered memories for the leader of the Order. As Azrael arrives, he had to either try to kill Batman or leave the tower.
Gotham on Fire
Batman soon finds the fire stations on the three islands are catching on fire. After reactivating the sprinkler systems with the Batmobile, Batman discovers that Firefly was behind the attacks. Chasing him all over Gotham, Batman manages to overpower Firefly and force him to fly to GCPD, where he disables the jetpack to ensure the pyromaniac doesn't get any ideas about escaping.
Armored and Dangerous
To be added.
Beneath the Surface
Nightwing gave Batman a report that Iron Heights Penitentiary crashed in the ocean of Gotham. Batman arrived there and helped free Warden Ranken from an even more beastly Killer Croc. In order to battle Croc, Batman needs two cards from two guards of Iron Heights. As he got the cards, Batman realizes that the warden abused Killer Croc and the inmates in agonizing experiments to weaponize Croc's healing factor. Batman sends both the warden and Croc to GCPD in separate jail cells.
Gunrunner
Penguin is still out protecting his four remaining weapons caches. It is revealed that Two-Face give Penguin money and Penguin gives Two-Face firearms. Nightwing helps Batman locate the first two caches but was taken by Penguin. At Founder's Island, Batman rescues Nightwing and sends Penguin to jail.
Two-Faced Bandit
Batman also had to deal with enemies from his past. Two-Face and his crew are robbing the banks at Gotham. Batman used his stealth techniques to stop the thugs robbing all three banks. Batman sent Two-Face and his crew to jail.
In From The Cold
Alfred tells Batman that a ship vessel called the Nora was ransacked by the Arkham Knight's militia. Batman took down the militia and went inside the boat. Batman confronted Mr. Freeze who told him to free Nora from the militia. Batman found the chamber that contains Nora. Nora was freed from her chamber and got seated in the Batmobile. Batman raced to the Nora and attacked the drones attacking Mr. Freeze, but their forces were too overwhelming. Batman found an alternative: if Freeze detonated his cryo-generator on the ship, the tanks would all be destroyed, but this also meant Victor would lose his research to save Nora. Freeze was hesitant, but told Nora he loved her, and helped Batman. In the end, Victor loses his work, and could not cure Nora, but the couple decide to make up for lost time. Batman left the two while Victor and Nora shared their final moments together and departed from Gotham City.
Friend In Need
Lucius Fox is out of contact and Wayne Tower is closed. Batman decides to investigate the tower. Batman finds out that Hush took Fox hostage and wants Bruce Wayne. Hush ordered Batman to bring him Wayne or Hush will destroy the tower. Batman unmasks himself to Hush's surprise. He attacks Hush and frees Fox. Batman informs Fox that since Scarecrow unmasked him, everybody knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne. As a result, Batman locks Hush up inside Wayne Tower and the security of the tower will be increased.
Lamb to the Slaughter
Reporter Jack Ryder went missing from the Cult of Blackfire and its highly religious leader, Deacon Blackfire. Batman followed the religious fanatic to the Lady of Gotham. Batman defeated all of Blackfire's disciples with his attacks. Blackfire took Ryder so he can bathe in blood and seek immortality. Batman took the powerful priest to GCPD and freed Jack Ryder from harm.
Knightfall Protocol
After ensuring that every remaining super-villain threat was neutralized, Batman returned to GCPD and left his cowl next to the Bat-Signal, saying his final goodbye to Gordon before he left to begin The "Knightfall Protocol", while Gordon dispatched the police force to deal with the rioting criminals. Returning to Wayne Manor, the manor suddenly exploded, and to the world, seemingly killed Bruce along with Alfred.
However, in reality both Bruce and Alfred survived, the true purpose of the Knightfall Protocol being to fake Bruce's death and allow him to continue protecting Gotham without the need for a public identity. Having realized that Gotham would need something worse than his previous moniker to protect it, Bruce would bide his time, and create a new persona from the ashes of the Batman.
After Knightfall Protocol
A year later, Gordon has become the new Mayor of Gotham and was preparing to go to Barbara and Tim's Wedding. As he left, an unknown figure resembling Batman stopped a gang of criminals from mugging a young boy and his parents in an alley. The criminals claimed that they were not afraid, believing Batman to be dead, unaware of the fact that the figure stopping them was the former Batman himself, but their confidence turned to screams as they were exposed to Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, and hallucinated the figure turning into a large, flaming bat monster. The bat monster spread its wings as he went in for an attack, and launched down at the muggers with terror. Batman would continue to fight crime, while his methods became more brutal in nature, and he had taken to exposing criminals to fear toxin, causing them to see Batman as a demonic being shaped like a batsuit, with a fiery bat emblem on his chest, and a hideous, monstrous face. Jack Ryder, along with many others, would refer to this phenomenon as “The Demon Bat”. Not too long after these sightings Superman seeks out Batman and is able to find him as well talks him into starting the Justice League which gets Batman back into the public spotlight. It is implied that Batman had then ceased using the fear toxin by then.
Before Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
During the 5 years before the Metropolis Invasion, the Justice League grows by adding the heroes Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to the line-up. At some point, the Justice League fights and defeats the Sinestro Corps, and after recovering a Yellow Lantern after the fight, Batman begins to create a contingency plan if a situation arises where either himself or any of the Justice League goes rogue, and only lets Wonder Woman know of this plan.
Three Months before the Invasion, while Amanda Waller is taking James Gordon, who is now mayor of Gotham City, on a tour of Arkham Asylum, which is now under A.R.G.U.S. control, Batman arrives in the Batwing and drops an incapacitated Killer Croc on the ground, much to Waller’s annoyance. Batman uses his grapnel to descend to the ground, requesting that a cell be prepared for Killer Croc; one that would hold him this time. Automatically assuming that Batman was not up-to-date on the current state of affairs at Arkham, she suddenly speaks up and tells Batman that escape would be impossible now, as Arkham Asylum has now been “upgraded” and “retrofitted”, and is now under A.R.G.U.S jurisdiction, and by extension, federal jurisdiction. She also makes it clear that she would not tolerate the unsophisticated/uneducated of Gotham City, or any vigilantes. Batman greets Gordon, addressing him as mayor, before turning his attention to Waller, noting her actions; getting Arkham Asylum under federal purview, and using government funding—and a donation from Wayne Enterprises—to refurbish the asylum. He then gently rebukes Waller for her treatment of prisoners. At this, Waller confirms that everything that Batman said about her was true and explains her giving Gordon a tour of the new Arkham facilities and offers for Batman to accompany them, to which Batman declares that any exploration and investigation would be on his terms alone, rather than allowing Waller to obfuscate what she did not want him to see. At this, Waller flippantly reminds Batman of the improved security. As she does so, however, Batman vanishes. Gordon then subtly explains Batman’s habit of vanishing in the middle of the diatribes/monologues/tirades of others.
During Gordon’s tour of the asylum, Batman stealthily eavesdrops on Waller’s explanation of how Arkham works now, and her threat to come after Batman if he continues to operate outside the law.
Later, a confused Killer Croc wakes up and confronts Gordon, who was speaking with Captain Boomerang. Before a fight could take place, however, Batman suddenly makes his presence known, leaping down from the ceiling and catches Killer Croc off guard. However, the latter quickly recovers and a fight takes place between them. During the fight, however, several prison guards step in, prepared to kill Killer Croc. Refusing to allow such an act, Batman disarms the guards using his batarangs, although one of the guards managed to fire an acid-laced shell, which did not do much to Killer Croc, though it did cause gas to fill the room, as Batman finally managed to knock out the latter. Amanda Waller suddenly enters and demands an explanation of both the situation and how Batman managed to evade her security. Ignoring her, Batman mused that if Killer Croc had been at full strength, it would have been an actual fight. When Waller demanded an answer to her question, Batman insultingly remarks that Arkham is not as secure as Waller believes, dismissing it as a powder keg, making things worse rather than actually defusing situations, and calling her actions dangerous. At this, Waller threatens to have Batman locked in a cell for trespassing and interfering with security matters, deciding that the situation with Killer Croc was not his fight to have. At this, Batman reminds Waller that this is simply what he does, to which Waller angrily reminds Batman that he will not always be around to fight crime, and when the day comes when he cannot fight crime anymore, humanity would need to be ready to fight its own battles. At this, Batman remarks that he will always fight crime, to stop criminals, put an end to evil and keep people safe, and that the Justice League would do the same, and reveals that this was why he joined them. He then declares that wherever the Justice League may be needed—Gotham City, Metropolis or otherwise—the Justice League would always be ready.
Sometime after the aforementioned three-month gap had passed, Wonder Woman suggests the idea of Justice Day to present the Justice League to the public but Batman is hesitant against this as heard during his recordings for his Hologram at Hall of Justice.
Brainiac's Invasion Of Metropolis
Batman ended up being brainwashed by Brainiac, alongside Green Lantern and Superman, with them helping Brainiac invade Metropolis, with Bruce serving as second-in-command of Brainiac's operations. this lasted three weeks, until they had to face the Suicide Squad.
Death
Later, after being defeated by the Suicide Squad, Harley then shot him in the head.
Personality
Witnessing the death of his parents traumatized Bruce and shook him so greatly that he swore that he would devote every breath for the rest of his life to eliminate crime and criminals from Gotham City. That, in turn, transformed Bruce Wayne into a dark and brooding figure with a personal grudge against injustice. His traumatized childhood had made it difficult for him to trust people other than Alfred Pennyworth and his various protégés, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Time Drake and Barbara Gordon . Despite his cold demeanor, Bruce genuinely cared for Alfred, whom he saw as a father figure, and for Dick, Jason, Tim and Barbara whom he dearly loved as his own children, though those relationships had been strained at some points,he still showed immense attachment and concern for them as shown when he repeatedly risked getting himself killed by a stubbornly vengeful Jason Todd to persuade the latter to redeem himself without using violence like Batman usually did to stop his enemies and surrender himself to Scarecrow when Tim and Jim were abducted and allow himself to be unmasked and exposed his identity to the world when Scarecrow threatened to kill Tim. Batman also felt remorse for his enemies who were once great allies, such as Harvey Dent, Thomas Elliot or Jason Todd, who became supervillains by adopting the aliases of Two-Face, Hush and Arkham Knight.
His dedication to fighting crime had gradually turned into a sort of obsession, something with which Batman himself had come to terms with. He vowed to end the evil that took away his parents permanently, and was willing to do everything he could to accomplish this goal. This obsession was balanced with his strong ideals of justice and moral values, which were instilled to him by his humanitarian parents. His dedication was backed up by his indomitable will and his strong resolve. He could also be cruel and cold toward his enemies and other criminals, as he willfully used intimidation and physical assaults against them without hesitation, especially when he interrogated them for information. However, he only used such methods if he felt that those he interrogated would not cooperate with him. In addition, he would sometimes strive to help his foes who had mental illness or instability, as well as risking his own life repeatedly to rescue them from danger, as he was known to have saved the Joker from falling to his death, despite his anger toward him for causing him to consider letting him die or killing him. Batman also blamed himself for the Joker's death, as he became frustrated that he did not deliver the cure to his nemesis when it could have saved him from his death by Titan Disease, as it was considered a violation of his code of not killing, that was even one of the many psychological tortures of the Fear Toxin in Arkham Knight's time.
To the public, Bruce took on the facade of a irresponsible, fun-seeking, playboy in order to avoid suspicion of his alter-ego. However, even as Bruce Wayne, he had attempted to do good, through charitable campaigns, and renovation projects. As Batman, he revealed his dark, intimidating personality in the form of a bat to frighten the criminals he stood against, and believed theatricality to help him be seen as more than a man. He was not above torturing criminals while he interrogated them, though he limited himself by only beating them, as well as dangling them by their ankles over an edge, and threatened to severely harm them. He left many criminals severely injured with, bruises, broken bones, and bloody gashes, though his precise attacks allowed him to not cause fatal injury. Bruce's ultimate goal was to bring order and justice to Gotham City.
Batman also had a deep love for humanity, which also backed his no-killing rule, and he truly believed that deep down, people could be good. This caused him to want to help his more prominent foes by getting them treated for mental illness or instability by bringing them to Arkham Asylum. He also had an extreme distaste for firearms, and always tried to refrain from using them, because he considered them to be the weapon of cowards, the same weapon that had killed his parents.
As the Arkham Series goes on, however, Batman became darker and more ruthless, which was evident by his increased stubbornness and recklessness. He held himself responsible for every tragedy that went wrong, such as Barbara's paralysis and Jason's presumed death. This led him to nearly ignore Protocol 10 to try to save Talia and lock Tim in a cell in a desperate attempt to keep him safe. In Arkham Knight, as Joker's blood and Scarecrow's Fear Toxin changed him, Batman became significantly more ruthless, even going as far as to threaten to crush a man's head with the Batmobile (see picture on right) if he didn't talk, and also outright lying to Robin about Oracle being safe when the Arkham Knight had taken her. In the end, Batman eventually overcame Joker and with help from his former protege and former nemesis, Jason Todd, managed to defeat Scarecrow. Despite this, Batman realized that although all the major threats in Gotham had been dealt with, his enemies were aware of who he was, and that they would try to kill him in person or put his allies in danger, and therefore resorted to activating The Knightfall Protocol, and intended to commit suicide, or at the very least, fake his death, to end the crime wars his presence had brought and to protect the ones he loved. This showed that Batman was even willing to sacrifice himself even after being exposed to ensure Gotham was safe.
Appearance
In Arkham Origins, Batman's suit was much more armored in appearance. The whole suit appeared to be more mechanical, and cosmetic changes were made when he got gadgets like the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves. The suits overall appearance consisted of a pair of military like pants with kevlar plating in the thigh area. The body consisted of a heavy amount of kevlar padding centered around the chest area. Batman's boots appeared identical to the later suits boot except the knee guards were made up of a strong reinforced carbon fiber / plastic material. The cowl included short ears and a smaller head shape unlike later suits.
A week after Arkham Origins, Batman donned a special suit to defeat Mr. Freeze in the Cold, Cold Heart DLC. The suit appeared bulkier with more padding and kevlar, the suit also included heating systems and other special equipment. The cowl was modified with a special respirator system which would help Batman to sustain the sub zero temperature cryo gas.
During the events of Arkham Asylum, Batman used a simple lightweight suit which included major improvements from the previous batsuits. The suit consisted of a rubber like material with Kevlar plating centered around the bat symbol area. The cowl consisted of a rubber like material with special reinforced plating near the facial area, also the ears were extended to resemble a more bat-like creature. This suit also included black trunks, a different bat symbol unlike the Arkham City, Origins, and Knight suit. This suit was most likely a prototype which would later be improved on in Arkham City, hence why the symbol looked different. This is also further backed up by the suit not having features it had in Origins and often referred to as a Basic Batsuit and was easily damaged.
During Arkham City, Batman's suit has been improved slightly. The changes that were made from the previous suit were the original bat symbol, new gloves and an improved detective vision. Also the cowl was improved with less facial detail unlike Arkham Asylum. The armor of the suit was improved as well as the suit was more resilient to damage.
In the final installment of the series, Batman upgraded to a brand new Bat suit to combat the new dangers that he needed to face. The Batsuit V8.03 (and V8.04) had lots of new gadgets and features. The tri-weave bodysuit consisted of a basic skintight tear proof bodysuit which can apply pressure to injuries to stop bleeding. The major protection consists of separate movable layers of armor plating which are kept in place with steel wiring. the armor plating's inner layers are made up of a titanium-dipped tri-weave fiber mesh to provide protection from gunfire and sharp objects / knives. In between the titanium fiber, lies the Wayne-Tech MR fluids which harden in response to impact. Over the titanium fiber mesh lies a reinforced carbon fiber material which is divided into separate pieces that mold into Batman's movement allowing Batman more fluid movement when fighting thugs. Once again the bat symbol returns and is separated with the carbon fiber armor plating. Batman's cowl has also had a major overhaul, the new cowl consists of an inner layer of titanium tri-weave fiber and a outer layer of a strong carbon fiber like material which can now separate into multiple segments to easily remove the cowl. The cowl is removed via a switch located on the back of the cowl under the plating. This version of the Batsuit has been compared heavily to the Batsuit introduced in Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight.
Gameplay
Combat
Batman's Combat style consisted of a mix of raw strength, martial arts, and his advanced gadgetry. Having the most gadgets than other characters allows variety of options to tackle a situation. Batman could perform a Dive Bomb Attack and Grapnel Boost Takedowns. His standard moves ranged from punches and kicks to blocking moves, counters and throws. Special attacks included Batswarm, Ground Takedown and Disarm and Destroy.
In Arkham Asylum, Batman was very slow due to the slow combat tempo, which made it hard to consistently hit an enemy with an incoming attack or to dodge an incoming projectile; players, therefore, must make good use of the counter and evasion moves.
In Arkham City onward, the combat tempo got much quicker. Batman had a lower rate of failing when fighting thugs. However, he still easily failed if the player tried to hit a ninja with an incoming counterable attack (without the Freeflow Focus Mode) and got Batman hit, which is proof that Batman was the slowest playable character as other characters could get away with that. Story-wise, this could be explained by his age. Gameplay-wise, this was to limit his abilities to some degrees because he had the best gadgets and the most powerful moves, especially the Special Combo Disarm and Destroy.
Gadgets
- Batarang - Thrown at thugs to stun or knock them over. Also used to hit buttons. it can also be used to explode fire extinguishers to surprise enemies, or provide cover to take one down silently. They can also be used to distract enemies by throwing them near-by.
- Batclaw - Used to disarm thugs or pull foes closer. Could be used to pull down vents or weak walls.
- Explosive Gel - Can be sprayed onto weak surfaces to remove them with a controlled explosion. Can also be sprayed nearly anywhere else to knock or disorient nearby enemies.
- Smoke Pellet - Used to escape from armed henchmen when under fire or to easily get the jump on those caught inside.
- Grapple Hook/Gun - Used to grapple to vantage points and ledges. By Arkham Knight, the force is enough to launch Batman a dozen or two meters in the air.
- Sonic Batarang - Used to attract the attention of nearby foes and can incapacitate them when detonated. However, they have the downside of never working twice in the same area if detonated to knock out an enemy.
- Remote Control Batarang - Batarangs which could be remote controlled to move in any direction, with adjustable speeds. Can be used to trick enemies into thinking Batman is in the wrong direction, or to take enemies by surprised by using the reverse batarang feature.
- Remote Claw - Used to aim at enemies to attach and pull them together to knock the unconscious temporarily. It can use to attach objects to enemies and or hang them from vantage points (the gadget was used by Deathstroke before Batman took it).
- Concussion Detonator - Used to throw at enemies and as it detonates it flashes at them and causes dizziness.
- Glue Grenade - Thrown at enemies to stick them in glue and can block steam vents. But the glue grenade was unstable and has degraded into dust since the events of Arkham Origins.
- Remote Electrical Charge Gun - Used to shock foes or activate items such as doors. Can be used to disable Jammers and Optical Camouflage armor.
- Freeze Blast - Caused the target to be frozen in ice and unable to move. Can be used to block steam vents and allow passage.
- Line Launcher - Launched a horizontal wire which allowed travel over gaps.
- Cryptographic Sequencer - Used to hack security consoles.
- Disruptor - Used to override guns, medic packs, gun crates, detonate mines and sabotage other various pieces of .
- Voice Synthesizer - Used to mimic any voice to manipulate thugs and identified to voice access codes with the synthesizer. It can only be use so many times before the enemy figures out the trick, and either ceases orders or changes radio channels.
- Remote Hacking Device - Used to access radio frequencies, hack security consoles, sabotage parts of an environment (such as exploding a generator) and download security codes on drones controlled by the militia that can turn the drones against them. Can be used to control the airship's system.
- Gel Launcher - Launches sticky explosives. Functions like the Explosive Gel, but at a range. (Used only in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate).
- Double Batarang - Two batarangs can be thrown simultaneously.
- Triple Batarang - Three batarans can be thrown simultaneously.
- Thermal Batarang - Heated batarang that can be used to melt things such as ice stalactites. (Used only in the Cold, Cold Heart DLC for Batman: Arkham Origins.)
- Shock Gloves - Gloves that build up an electric charge. When fully charged, Batman can activate them to be able to attack any enemy directly regardless of their armor and/or weaponry. (Used only in Batman: Arkham Origins).
- Thermal Gloves - Heated gloves that can melt ice. (Used only in the Cold, Cold Heart DLC for Batman: Arkham Origins.)
- Ultra Batclaw - Used to pull down walls that Explosive Gel cannot reach. Also allows vent covers to be pulled down faster than the regular Batclaw. (Used only in Batman: Arkham Asylum).
- Shock Batarang - Batarang that carries an electric charge and can be used to activate junction boxes, shock enemies and disable drones. (Used only in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate).
- Freeze Blast - Blocks the movement of the enemies standing next to him
- Rebreather - Allows Batman to breathe underwater while swimming (only seen in a cutscene in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate)
GCPD Bulletin Profile
FROM GCPD FILES: Suspect is to be responsible for multiple assaults against both criminal and law enforcement identity of suspect currently unknown. Conflicting reports of a suspect range from highly trained individual or individuals. To allegations of a "Large Winged Creature" sporadic sightings first reported two years ago, frequent sightings up the last six months. Limited photographic and evidence suggests a single individual a white male adult utilizing a dark militarized armor with unexplained high mobility.
Various statements indicate the suspect armed with weaponry, tools, and some of unsubstantiated unlicensed low flying aircraft. Considered Armed and Extremely Dangerous. Multiple cases of have proven suspect is an expert in Hand to Hand Combat and Evasion Specialist. If SIGHTED Do Not Engage await deployment and further instructions from SWAT Personnel.
Psychological Profile (by Dr. Young)
Batman
Real Name: Unknown
Psychological Profile: Despite the Batman's relationship with GCPD and his public perception of him as a hero, I have gathered numerous reports of his activities from the inmates of the asylum, and have personally begun to wonder if they are his true peer group. Purely theoretically, I would posit the man who calls himself "Batman" as an antisocial, possibly borderline individual with paranoid tendencies. His "crime-fighting" activities seem motivated by a belief that criminal behavior is some kind of personal affront, his use of an alias indicates identity disturbance, and he has a flagrant disregard for society's norms and laws.
Dr. Penelope Young: Additional Notes:
I'd presume a childhood free from trauma; his mix of disorders seems much more likely to be caused by genetic predisposition, and possible substance abuse.
His ideation around bats is peculiar and unique. My hope is to gather enough material from Arkham's inmates to publish a psychological profile of the Batman, in which I would name a new category for his specific affliction. Chiroptera complex?
Dr. Hugo Strange
Bruce Wayne A.K.A: Batman
They say hindsight is 20/20. When reviewing all of the facts, Batman's personality gives ample clues to his identity. He lives by a strict code -- protect the innocent and apprehend the guilty, but never kill for any reason. His radical sense of justice makes him almost predictable. Batman's victory over the Joker last year highlights this. By allowing the Joker to survive, has Batman sealed his own fate?
Dr. Hugo Strange: Side Note
I know your secret, Batman
~ Hugo Strange
Attributes and Skills
- Immense Human Physical & Mental Attributes: Batman's bodily functions are enhanced to the very pinnacle of human conditioning and perfection through a lifetime of extremely intense training regimen and a strict-nutritional diet. His strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, agility, durability, senses, intelligence, and healing time were greatly heightened as much as possible for a normal human being and is at the brink of reaching superhuman physical and mental capabilities.
- Immense Human Strength: Batman’s strength was at the very highest peak of human potential and is easily one of the strongest humans alive. Having intensively and regularly trained his body to its utmost limit he is said to have the strength of 10 men. While biologically human, Batman can apply practically superhuman force in his attacks by using highly effective strength and muscle control. He can effortlessly snap steel handcuffs and chains, slam through walls, pry open large heavy steel doors, and punch an armored SWAT officer through a brick wall. Batman has also demonstrated enough strength to instantly tear nailed fastened metal bars/structures and dismantled machines barehanded, rag doll Thomas Elliot hard enough to destroy a large table, lift a full-grown man over his head with one arm and even throw them several meters in combat. His highest feats of his strength were overpowering Killer Croc and breaking out of the grips of the monstrously strong Solomon Grundy, with the Batclaw he could pull down a Titan enhanced Joker without tiring. He was also able to engage King Shark in hand-to-hand combat as well as punch through his superhumanly dense hide.
- Immense Human Speed: Batman can move at exceptional speeds, comparable to Olympic-level athletes. Batman was extremely fast with incredibly sharp reflexes, able to avoid destructively dangerous attacks such as Bane's Titan enhanced physical attacks, explosive firearms as well as simultaneous assaults from several enemies at once. Trained to be extremely agile, he could even match the superhumanly enhanced master assassin, Deathstroke's speed in combat.
- Immense Human Durability: Batman is extremely durable due to his training. His muscles and bones are much harder/denser than a normal person. Enhanced by superior body armor of the Batsuit, Batman can survive being hit by attacks of dangerously powerful impact such as Killer Croc's violent assault and Bane's Titan enhanced punches. He seems resistant enough to withstand several gunshot & puncture wounds as well as beatings and still stand on his feet.
- Immense Human Stamina: Batman’s highly trained and developed body eliminates the excessive build-up of fatigue-producing chemicals in his muscles, granting him near-superhuman levels of stamina and lung capacity. He could exert himself at peak capacity for hours without rest before showing any sign of fatigue. This allowed him to run for dozens of miles and fight for extremely long periods. Additionally, he can hold his breath underwater for several minutes and will not lose breath or get exhausted.
- Immense Human Agility: Trained to be extremely agile he can coordinate his body with near-perfect balance, flexibility, and dexterity allowing him to walk on a small tightrope effortlessly, do a handstand on the edge of a building or cliff and not worry, and even walk across a dangerous bridge with ease. His amazing gymnastic and acrobatic prowess, performing feats that would be extremely difficult for a normal human. Batman also has top-notch leaping and climbing agility able to use freerunning and parkour to outmaneuver several enemies at once. The most prominent feat of his enhanced agility is his ability to perform inverted takedowns.
- Immense Human Reflexes: Batman's reflexes were at the highest peak of human potential and perfection; this means that his reactions were far superior to normal humans and were borderline-superhuman. He could catch a fired arrow in midair, dodge offensive attacks, and perform amazing physically defensive feats. He could even evade strikes from beings with super speed, and dodge multiple gunfire at point-blank range with ease. His immense reflexes can also be used to attack and counter instead of just defensive purposes, allowing him to respond to fast-paced combat with devastating counters when fighting extraordinary quick opponents.
- Immense Human Senses: Batman's natural five senses were trained and pushed at the highest limits of human perfection; making his sense of sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste extremely precise and accurate by human standard. He can concentrate his senses to see accurately from moderately far distances, acutely touching ink on a page, hear and distinguish small sounds, have a smell capability similar to a primate and tasting more accurately than normal members of the human race. From his honed senses, Batman has great awareness of his surroundings and is highly alert to danger.
- Immense Human Intelligence: Batman’s mental performance is at the peak of human potential, thus considerably superior to normal humans, able to use his brain more efficiently thanks to both being naturally gifted and mentally trained himself for the needed shortcuts. His mind is greatly enhanced through years of mental training; granting him perfect recall, accelerated learning aptitude, extreme multi-tasking, and photographic memory. Becoming one of the most brilliant geniuses’ humanity has ever known. He could perform feats of mind comparable to computers: storing limitless amounts of information flawlessly, performing complex calculations or other similar tasks. He can master a variety of knowledge and combat skills in a few weeks, which would take a normal person many years to achieve mastery over. Batman could also use 100% of his concentration, allowing him to push his physical and mental capabilities to their maximum potential; obstacles become minor problems while objectives grow significantly easier to accomplish.
- Immense Human Healing: Batman's natural healing capabilities and speed were at the very highest level of human potential. He has a greatly enhanced metabolism, immune system, and vitality allowing him to heal much faster than an average human. Due to extremely intense training regimen and specialized nutritional diet his body was efficient enough to fight off any microbe, foreign body and others from his body keeping him immensely healthy and almost immune to most infections, impurities, drugs, illnesses, sicknesses, he was genetically perfect. His immense healing ability allow him to heal broken bones, torn muscles, several gunshot & knife wounds and other severe injuries all within several days to weeks, and most lesser injuries like cuts, scrapes, and burns all within a matter of hours to days, and develop a high resistance to Scarecrow's new fear toxin after being injected twice.
- Immense Human Longevity: Batman aged slower than normal humans due to having extremely healthy cells, without any superhuman degree. In addition, this power would activate when Batman was in his young-adult years and he'd look twenty-years old. Finally, Batman could easily live well over 100 years old since this quality was at peak-human level.
- Master Tactician and Strategist: A strategic mastermind, Batman is an extremely clever and insightful man, skillfully employed deception and tactics to defeat his enemies in the most effective ways possible. He has shown being able to outsmart Joker, Riddler, Bane, Scarecrow, Deathstroke, Penguin, all who are notorious for cunning and intelligence. Batman can plan out strategies that would work a situation in his favor, in conjunction with [Detective Mode]. If a room has objects or devices he could use to knock out enemies, he will use them first before attempting hand-to-hand combat. He is the one of the greatest tacticians on the planet.
- Trained in an Arsenal of Gadgets, Vehicles, and Advanced Technology
- Master Scientist: Batman was a master scientist, who was highly well versed in every known field in physics, chemistry, biology, and mechanics, but particularly applied science.
- Master Inventor: Batman's tremendous scientific knowledge grants him the capability to invent numerous useful gadgets to assists himself as a crime fighter. He personally assemble the first Batsuit as well as devised the creation of the Batmobile. Using keen intellect and his profound understanding of science and technology, Batman can make highly improved versions of different devices and machines such as the Batwing from a prototype stealth jet, different types of Batarangs - high tech improvisation of the Australian hunting tool Boomerang - and the extremely advanced custom made Batcomputer that could perform technological functions beyond that of ordinary computers.
- Master Detective: Hailed as the World's greatest detective, Batman has no equal when it comes to forensic investigations and solving crime mysteries, able to use even the smallest clues and slightest details to solve extremely difficult cases and accurately deduce the identity of unknown criminal masterminds. Batman can figure out what his enemies will do based on their habits and past actions, often getting the jump on them. Batman was also an expert of criminology, for example, if there is a bird-related crime, he knows Penguin was behind it; if the number 2 was involved, Two-Face was behind the crime. The one criminal this usually fails with is Zsasz, as he had no patterns.
- Master Martial Artist: Bruce had rigorously trained himself in martial arts since childhood and in his young adulthood went on a journey for many years to China, Japan, Thailand, and Korea to learn and intensively trained in many highly refined forms of Asian martial arts. As a master in almost every and all known forms of Martial-Arts, he fully mastered dozens of disciplines and tactics, but his main combat style is a uniquely fused brand of Jujutsu, Taekwondo, Judo, Savate, Aikido, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Boxing, Karate and Ninjutsu. Bruce was an extremely skilled and proficient master combatant. Practically a one-man army, in his years as a crime fighter Batman defeated countless enemies. Batman could perform punches and kicks to blocking moves, counters and throws. He could defeat extremely dangerous master fighters, such as Shiva, Deathstroke, Ra´s Al Ghul, Bane etc. Bruce can even hold his own against numerous Arkham City prisoners and Penguin's henchmen even though he's handcuffed. Bruce's immense martial arts abilities allow him to survive even the most dangerous battles.
- Mastery of the Physical Sciences: Batman understands the workings of the human body, which comes in handy in fights; he is able to injure someone without much permanent damage to them. This is also useful for when he or an ally is injured in a fight; Batman would be able to administer first-aid on the spot.
- Computer Expert: Batman is able to hack into almost any computer and learn what he needs from its database. Batman is at times, often helped by Oracle or Alfred with computer-related matters; however, this usually frees up his time to focus on other problems.
- Master of Stealth, Escape Arts, Infiltration, Sabotage, and Espionage: His advanced Ninjutsu training has made him a master in espionage, stealth, escape arts, infiltration, and sabotage. He is capable of breaching very high-level security facilities without being detected and escaping the most impossible traps. He could flawlessly infiltrate the maximum security Blackgate Prison and the high alert GCPD Jail Station with numerous armed guards with relative ease. Batman is also able to skillfully utilize his gadgets, immense physical prowess and extremely quick thinking to escape from the most dangerous environment and deadliest booby traps, he can cleverly avoid ingeniously well planned traps due to Ninjutsu and Togakure-ryu mastery. Batman is able to anticipate enemies movements and accurately predict attacks, combine with Detective Vision Batman can locate hidden enemies and identify potential route for advance and escape.
- Indomitable Will: Batman had practiced intense meditation for many years, training his mind to attain immense willpower and unbreakable determination, which drives him to be able to face the most horrendous terrors and brutality ever brought upon by the most dangerous Gotham Criminals with complete calmness and composure, he has a absolute refusal to give up; he will see his goals to the end. His powerful will enable him psychologically resist being exposed to an overdose of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, effects of Titan formula, the mind controlling technology of the Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy's pheromone seduction. He was able to not only resist the transformative effects of Titan formula, but was able to resist being fully debilitated by the Titan Disease Joker infected him with when transfusing his blood to Batman.
- Interrogation: Batman is a master interrogator, able to scare criminals into giving up information. Some techniques he uses are primarily dangling someone from a great height, threatening to leave them with a broken jaw, lies, badly beating them, and so on. If someone is already scared of Batman, he will take out any imposing figures in the immediate area to insure the snitch will talk.
- Tracking: In conjunction with Detective Mode, Batman can track objects or people of interest.
- Master Acrobat: Batman is a superior master of Parkour and Freerunning styles of Acrobatics, combined with his immensely trained physical strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, dexterity and reflexes, Batman is able to jump wide distances and tall heights, flit through rooftops, run on high walls, climb the tallest structures and vault through various types of obstacles,with the aid of the Grapnel Gun and parachute like cape of the Batsuit, Batman can scale the most complex terrains and freefall from immense heights safely completely unharmed.
- Master Marksmanship: Batman is extremely skilled in marksmanship able to wield the batarangs with supreme accuracy and quick precision. Batman has advanced precision and can achieve smaller and distant targets depending on the location. It's said by peers that Batman's accuracy was near-impossible to miss single/multiple targets.
- Swordsmanship: Though he prefers not to use them, Batman is skilled with a blade as shown during his battle with Clayface.
- Multilingualism
Codex
Harley Quinn
Lemme tell ya a little somethin’ about ol’ Batsy. Somewhere deep underneath all that black and brooding and unresolved trauma, there’s a guy who’s just NICE. Now, I know how that sounds with the beating people up and “I AM THE NIGHT” and the occasional forays into psychological torture, but think about it: how many times did JOKER end up back behind bars instead of rightfully six feet under? Dent? Bane? Frickin’ Ivy? I mean I’M still here!
He’s a softie through and through. A softie with vast disposable income and a deep need for other outlets for his aggression but still.
From the Files of Lex Luthor
Would you trust a man so broken by untreated trauma and unfathomable privilege that he dedicates his multi-billion dollar fortune to making himself a weapon against the disenfranchised, rather than fighting the systemic ails of a city he all but owns?
What about a man who ho sees firsthand the violence and horror of a crumbling city, knows how easily innocence can be lost to it, and still recruits a collection of wayward orphans and indoctrinated children to fight at his side?
And what if, in the face of accountability, this same man fakes his own death and becomes an engine of unbridled terror, adding black market chemicals to his extrajudicial brutality toolkit?
Well, you needn’t wonder. The world has decided for you.
Not only do you trust this man, but you elevate him to your “Justice League”, ignoring that none of his tools or abilities are innate, and that any time the same technology that makes a bulletproof shield out of a fabric cape could be mass-produced to save millions.
You call him “Batman”. I call him the plague of Gotham, and wonder how it is that Lex Luthor was the target of so much ire; and Bruce Wayne adulation.
money may not buy happiness, but how easily it deceives, and turns a madman into a hero.
Behind the Scenes
Arkham Asylum
- Batman's design was based on the art of Jim Lee; he drew Batman as a strong, muscular character who could plausibly handle himself in a fight. The costume composed of black and dark gray was based on the character's modern outfit.
Arkham City
- In the first Catwoman Mission, a portrait could be found with the inscription: "Cain & Abel - The Duality of Man". This was a reference to Two-Face and the end of the game where Cain and Abel's pose was similar to how Batman was carrying the dead Joker, their pose was also a reference to the story "A Death in the Family", where Joker killed Jason Todd, the second Robin, and Batman carried his corpse away with the same pose.
Arkham Origins
- The name "Batman" was used sparingly to emphasize how in that point in his career, Batman was largely considered an urban myth. Whenever he was referred to as such, it was usually in a vague matter (i.e. "the Bat-Man").
- It was suggested that Batman had made mistakes because of his inexperience (such as tripping or missing with Batarangs), but this idea was discarded as inconsistent with the character. His inexperience was instead personality-based: learning how to be the city's protector and overcoming his obsession with vengeance.
Arkham Knight
- After Batman was unmasked, all Criminals in the Most Wanted Cell, had unique dialogues with Batman. Other inmates hurled insults and threats at him.
- All the Thugs in Gotham City also talked about Batman/Bruce Wayne in various ways:
- Shock/Disbelief: Goons were heard stating that it's unbelievable that Bruce Wayne was Batman.
- Disappointment: Some said that the revelation of who Batman really was, was like finding out there's no Santa Clause, or that there was no longer any mystique behind him.
- Indifference: Some said that they didn't care, and that they would still continue to think of Batman as the one who made their lives hell, and were intent on making him pay.
- Jest: Some made jokes about Bruce being unable to get over his parents murder.
- Puzzled: Some asked who the rest of the members of the Bat-Family were.
- Gleeful: Some discussed plans to rob Wayne Manor since Batman was not at home. Or even express that beating up Batman would be more satisfying, and knowing who he was.
Game Over Lines
Batman: Arkham Asylum
- You'll never beat me, Joker. I won't let you win.
- You'll never win, Joker. I'll always be here to stop you.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
- You've outlived your infamy long enough.
- I'm finding that all criminals die the same.
- I'm not interested in your last words.
- I killed Joker. Now you join him, Quinzel.
- It's your curtain call, Quinzel.
- We don't need another two-bit villain.
- No-one will remember you, Harkness.
- That's enough from you, Shark.
- In the end, Shark, you fell like a human.
- A.R.G.U.S thought they'd made something of you.
- Kill or be killed. You knew the rules.
- No second chances, Lawton.
Quotes
- Main article: Batman/Quotes
Gallery
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Knight
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Trivia
- Batman was voiced primarily by Kevin Conroy. Conroy had previously voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series and other DCAU related shows, as well as in previous games and animated movies. He was voiced, however, by Roger Craig Smith in Arkham Origins in a similar style to Conroy. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League marks Conroy's final appearance as the voice of Batman following his death in November 2022.
- Bruce presumably suffered from a form of PTSD, as he frequently saw hallucinations of his parents being killed when under heavy stress, and whenever the situation was similar, as seen in a crime scene investigation in Origins. In addition, in Knight, he started seeing hallucinations of Jason Todd simply because the event of Robin going after Joker Infected reminded him of Jason's demise in the hands of Joker.
- In the Arkham Origins GCPD Files, the GCPD knew little about THE BATMAN, but he was wanted for questioning. Criminal elements were beginning to realize he was a real threat to them, though there was still widespread skepticism that regarded his existence. Conflicting reports suggested that he was one man, many men, or a creature. Limited forensics, photos or videos suggested that he was not real, just reports from eye witnesses.
- Before the events of Arkham Origins, Batman was working in the shadows by shutting down the Carmine Falcone illegal drug operations.
- Batman had been poisoned in all four games. In Asylum, he was repeatedly gassed by Scarecrow. In City, the Joker injected him with his toxic blood, and in Origins, Copperhead poisoned him with her claws, and he was poisoned by Scarecrow again in Knight.
- Out of the four encounters, Scarecrow was the only one to do it twice first in Asylum and then again in Knight.
- He left Wayne Enterprises to Lucius Fox.
- To illustrate his youth and inexperience, Batman's suit in Origins had heavier armor, that was designed to appear assembled rather than manufactured. He later switched to the more flexible and lightweight suit that was seen in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City that still provided bullet protection. His final Batsuit was even lighter and not only allowed Batman to move at his full speed with full range of motion finally while providing great protection from bullets and impacts with liquid armor it also provided many other functions, such as allowing him to survive extreme G Forces, lessen and absorb the blows of impacts and able to redirect that absorbed power back to his opponents, and also compressed around wounds if his suit was actually punctured. As Batman got more experienced his suits became lighter and offered less and less protection; favoring speed, mobility and while relying on his own experience and skill while offering great protection to impacts and moderate protection from bullets although is vital organs were still heavily armored. His later suits and gadgets showed a rapid shift to high technology to assist him in the field by enabling him to do things he normally couldn't do as well as monitoring his vital signs among many other things. His earlier suits and gadgets while were low to non existent tech offered amazing protection to impacts and bullets to his entire body but slowed him down considerably.
- Despite officially standing at 6'2, Batman appeared taller, standing around roughly the same height as Deathstroke in Arkham Origins, despite the latter standing at 6'5. He was even described in 6'4 by the GCPD reports. This may be a case of his armor adding additional height, a rough estimate by the GCPD or simply a scale error.
- In Arkham Knight, Batman started with his Arkham City suit and then changed to the new one, which made him more agile, flexible, bullet-proof, and faster at gliding and combat.
- The picture of Batman on the wanted poster in Arkham Origins was taken from Arkham City.
- Batman's reputation grew as the series progressed. In Origins, he was largely regarded as a myth. Some criminals didn't believe that he had existed, and was a story that the GCPD had made up to intimidate them. In Asylum, he was considered a hero and beloved by most of Gotham, though some people still thought that he was a myth. In City, he was known to everyone as a hero and protector. In Knight, he is known as a savior and champion, albeit with controversy regarding Joker's death.
- Batman's most common title aside from his name in the Arkham series was The Bat or Bats. Another title, "Dark Knight", was the most commonly used, usually by the Riddler and Hugo Strange, and once by Joker at the end of Arkham Asylum.
- Six villains and one anti-heroine overall knew Batman's identity. In Origins, Bane had managed to figure out who he was, though he couldn't remember it after his TN-1 overdose. In Asylum, a hallucination of Scarecrow was aware of who Batman was and the real one implied who he was in Arkham Knight. In City, Talia and Professor Hugo Strange both know his identity, although it was implied that Bruce had revealed his identity to Talia rather than her deducing who it was, who may have revealed it to her father, Ra's al Ghul. The Arkham Knight was aware of the Dark Knight's identity. Catwoman mentioned his name after they defeated the Riddler, which indicated that Batman had revealed his identity to her some time between Arkham City and Arkham Knight. At the end of Arkham Knight, Batman willingly revealed his identity to the world to stop Scarecrow and saved Gotham. Even though everyone knew his identity, most criminals and the GCPD still called and considered him Batman, and did not actually care who was under the cowl like Deathstroke. A few people were in disbelief of who he was and did not actually believe that he was Bruce Wayne (namely The Riddler, Hush, and a few GCPD Officers). Some criminals, however, were no longer scared of him now that they knew Batman was just a man under the suit, and many actually threatened to sue him for the legal damages that he had caused over the years and many had vowed to attack Wayne Manor after they were released. Because of that, Batman activated The Knightfall Protocol, and appeared to die in the explosion at Wayne Manor, although many believed that this was just Batman who faked his death and Alfred's as well.
- Batman had attracted the attention of two secret societies: The League of Assassins and the Order of St. Dumas.
- Fans believed that the title "Arkham Knight" was referring to Batman before learning that it was the title of the game's second main antagonist.
- Batman was referred to as predictable several times. Joker noted it in Asylum, Strange stated his identity and moral code made him predictable, and the Arkham Knight mocks him by stating that criminals now know his move before he does by putting innocents in danger, or as the Arkham Knight calls them "the weak and the helpless". The Knight states it's what he likes about Batman as his code is the reason criminality will win in their final battle with him. Despite being predictable in action Batman has always prevailed and defeats common criminals, Super-Villains, World class Assassins and an entire army.
- Bruce Wayne's birthday was on February 19, coincidentally the same day with David Mazouz, the actor who portrays a young Bruce Wayne in Gotham TV Series.
- In Arkham Knight, when Batman had to destroy the Cloudburst Tank, upon hitting the tank and then fleeing, it was possible if one listened carefully, one could hear Batman slightly chuckling.
- Jason Todd was the only member of the Bat Family that Batman did not say "goodbye" to in Arkham Knight. However given the circumstances, he never had the opportunity to do so.
- It was heavily implied that Batman became the bat monster at the end of Arkham Knight. If the Penguin was captured after Batman's identity was revealed, Penguin stated that Batman just needed to don a new identity, and mocked him by asking if it would be that of a squirrel. Batman responded with: "You'll see".
- Batman was being stalked by two different people during the events of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. One stalker was Azrael, who had been studying Batman for years as stated in Knight, and the other one was Jason Todd. Azrael had followed him during both the Asylum and City incidents, and Jason was still imprisoned during Asylum and followed Batman during City.
- Batman's immune system is likely greater than an average person's by the time of Arkham Knight, having two toxins in his body which he managed to partially cure to prevent death - Copperhead's poison and the Joker's TITAN-tainted blood. He has also been repeatedly exposed to Fear Toxin, building resistance to stronger batches. Batman also likely has some lingering Lazarus in his immune system.
- In Arkham Knight, upon closer inspection on Batman's ionic black and grey skin utility belt, the League of Assassins logo could be seen, and referenced Bruce and Talia's relationship from Arkham City. This is somewhat odd, as the costume is based on Dick Grayson's batsuit from the comics, not Bruce Wayne's.
- By the time of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, Batman had been active for 17 years.
- It's unknown how Batman managed to fight the TITAN injection in Arkham Asylum.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League |
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Characters |
Heroes |
Batman/Bruce Wayne - Flash - Green Lantern - Superman - Wonder Woman |
Villains |
Brainiac - Captain Boomerang - Deadshot - Gizmo - Harley Quinn - Ivy - Joker (Elseworlds) - King Shark - Lex Luthor - Penguin - Riddler - Toyman - Zalika |
Other Characters |
Aaron Cash - Amanda Waller - Jack Ryder - Lois Lane - Rick Flag |
Locations |
Arkham Asylum - Batcave (Metropolis) - Gotham City - Hall of Justice - LexCorp - Metropolis - The Batman Experience - Wayne Manor |
Terms |
Batarang - Batsuit - Riddler Trophy |