Batman: Arkham Knight – The Official Novelization

SECURITY BREACH

This page includes spoiler details from the latest game in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight. Please proceed at your own risk.

Batman: Arkham Knight - The Official Novelization written by Marv Wolfman is the official novelization of the hit video game Batman: Arkham Knight.

Plot[]

The Arkham Knight novelization follows the same, but somewhat altered version of the game's plot. Some scenes and scenarios have been changed to better fit a written format as well as the inclusion of additional dialogue, scenes and information.

Changes & Added Information[]

Officer Owens (whose first name is revealed as Scott) is shown eating food at Pauli's Diner and then promptly receiving a wrapped up order before he is called to investigate the 'smoking stranger', whereas in the game Owens only gets to make one food order, an order which doesn't get to arrive before the gas attack. Owens also successfully makes it out of the restaurant without killing anyone, whereas in the game he gets subdued by one of the other diners (and whether or not he kills anyone else is up to the player).
Unlike in the game, where the evacuation went off without a hitch, here it's a disaster; police abandon their posts en masse, rioters come out of the woodwork early on, and the power gets cut during an attack on the train station. As a result, only abut 75% of the city is evacuated, meaning there are much more civilians caught in the crossfire of the book's events, and it's even mentioned that some of them try to organize their own uprising that Scarecrow has to put down.
The fear gas itself is weaker than in the game; while it's a recurring point in the game that gas masks are useless against it, both Batman and Gordon are able to go into the fear gas cloud with a gas mask and come out uncontaminated. The only reason Batman is infected with the gas is because of a crack in his suit.
Hugo Strange is mentioned by Oracle to have been captured during that same night, working with Victor Zsasz on a bombing attempt on Gotham Central Station, seemingly ignoring his death during the events of the Arkham City game. Zsasz's capture also contradicts the Gotham City Story that reveals he's killing during the night instead of sitting in the GCPD.
After Commissioner Gordon and Batman cremated the Joker's body, Gordon took Joker's ashes and flushed them down various toilets into the waters beneath Gotham City.
The novel states that Commissioner Gordon had a son named James Jr., who at some point turned into a homicidal killer. He also had a wife who left him and Gotham entirely at some point.
Gordon and Batman's argument in the Clock Tower has Gordon learn that his daughter Barbara used to be Batgirl as well as Oracle.
The Arkham Knight reveals that he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman during their first confrontation rather than just before their last.
Batman acknowledges Joker's presence a lot more in the novel than in the game, to the point where Batman is shouting at him and telling him he's not real. Alfred is also aware from the beginning that Batman is turning into Joker.
The Penguin is captured by Nightwing after the first weapon cache, only to use legal technicalities to get back on the street.
Albert King, one of the Joker infected, is not in the novel. Instead he's been reimagined as a bank robber named Albert Christopher Rogers, who goes by the alias "Big Al,". Rogers was shot in an attempted robbery and was given a routine blood transfusion with Joker's blood.
The flashback to Gordon's visit to Panessa Studios is revealed to have taken place seven days before the main events of the game.
Rather than having Lucius Fox create a device to track Poison Ivy's plant and using the Batmobile to unearth it, Batman has a WayneTech construction crew physically dig it up.
After Batman finds Simon Stagg, who has been exposed to Fear Toxin while being held captive by the Arkham Knight's Militia, he tricks Stagg into believing that Batman is a monster that wants to help Simon get revenge on Scarecrow. Batman does this to get information out of Stagg.
The novel mentions The Flash by name, and references their connection to Central City, revealing that Scarecrow's plans included expanding fear gas attacks on both Central City and Metropolis, potentially falling to the mercy of their respective protectors The Flash and Superman.
When Batman confronts Scarecrow on Stagg's Airship, he has a hallucination where Joker forces Batman to brutality beat Scarecrow down to a broken and bloody mess on the floor. Afterwards, Joker seemingly takes control of Batman's body for a brief period of time.
Jason Todd's "death" is mentioned as having occurred three years before. Jason also reveals that the torture lasted for three years rather than just over one, and it's mentioned that Joker had all of Gotham vote on whether or not he would spare or kill him (as a reference to how DC Comics put his potential death to a vote in the lead up to Death In The Family); as another nod to Jason's comic death, Joker also beat him to death with a crowbar rather than just shooting him.
While the game reveals that Batman replaced Jason as Robin while he was still looking for him, here he was so distraught by Jason's death that it took him a year before he replaced him with Tim Drake.
The Batmobile is destroyed outright when the Cloudburst goes off, leading to Batman making use of Lucius's spare.
When Batman catches up to Scarecrow on the roof of the Arkham Knight's hideout, Batman has another Joker hallucination and Scarecrow tells Batman that he is aware about the Joker's presences. Scarecrow then reveals to the Dark Knight that he and Joker were working together. Joker contacted Scarecrow after he injected Batman with his blood and Scarecrow modified his Fear Toxin to bring out the Joker in Batman.
Arkham Knight references the Winchester murder, a plot point from the comic Batman: Gothic.
None of the side missions are included in the novel, meaning Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Killer Croc. Man-Bat, Mad Hatter, Hush, Azrael, the League of Assassins, Deathstroke, Firefly, Professor Pyg and Deacon Blackfire are completely absent.