Batman: Assault on Arkham is an animated movie that was released August 2014 and is an adaptation of Rocksteady's Arkham Series. It features the voice talents of Kevin Conroy as Batman and Troy Baker as the Joker. The story takes place between Arkham Origins Blackgate and Arkham Asylum.
Synopsis
Based on the hit video game series, Batman must find a bomb planted by the Joker while dealing with a mysterious team of villains, called The Suicide Squad.
Plot
The Riddler is rescued from a black ops assassination and returned to Arkham Asylum after being captured by Batman. Amanda Waller then pressgangs criminals Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Frost, KGBeast, and King Shark to break into the hospital and finish the job. The Suicide Squad members are forced to comply by means of bombs surgically implanted at the base of their spines. KGBeast, who believes the bombs are a bluff, walks out on Waller and is killed as an example to the others.
The six are deployed to Gotham City, where Penguin has been hired by Waller to give them arms and equipment. Tensions immediately arise among the squad members, particularly between Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, who resents Deadshot's assumption of the leadership role on the team. Meanwhile, Batman ransacks the city in search of a dirty bomb that Joker had possessed prior to his own incarceration in the asylum.
Harley Quinn commits noisy petty crimes in Gotham until she is arrested and returned to Arkham, at which point she stages a distraction by arguing with and apparently attempting to murder her ex-lover Joker. This distraction allows the Suicide Squad to successfully infiltrate Arkham in a variety of disguises, and proceed smoothly with their mission until Batman arrives. Batman and Black Spider duel, and Batman defeats Black Spider and switches costumes with him, joining the Suicide Squad without their knowledge. Killer Frost locates Riddler, but decides against killing him when she learns the reason she was sent to snuff him out: Riddler knows how to disable the bombs implanted in members of the Suicide Squad. Joker escapes his cell, which was weakened by Harley Quinn's earlier assault, and frees all the Arkham inmates.
The Suicide Squad agree to spare Riddler in exchange for his help, and most are able to deactivate their bombs with the use of a device intended for electroshock therapy. Black Spider and King Shark, however, are messily executed by Amanda Waller when she learns what the Suicide Squad has done, which reveals Batman's impersonation of Black Spider. Chaos spreads across the Arkham island as police sortie with super-criminals, and teamwork in the Suicide Squad collapses as Harley Quinn reunites with Joker. Joker reveals that his dirty bomb was hidden within Harley Quinn's trademark mallet, which was stored at Arkham, and that he will detonate it in the city.
The remaining Suicide Squad members frantically and separately try to escape the island, but only Deadshot is successful, while Captain Boomerang is recaptured and Killer Frost is apparently killed by Bane. Deadshot travels to Gotham City by stolen helicopter, but discovers Joker and Harley Quinn were stowing away with him. Batman arrives on the scene and Deadshot battles the Joker as Batman subdues Harley Quinn. Batman defeats Harley Quinn and defuses the bomb hidden in her mallet, thus saving the city. A heavily-wounded Deadshot is likewise able to defeat the Joker, though the villain escapes through a fall. The epilogue shows Deadshot, a free man and reunited with his daughter, about to snipe Amanda Waller in retribution for forcing him into the Suicide Squad. The scene ends before he pulls the trigger.
Cast of Characters
Kevin Conroy voices Batman
- Bruce Wayne/Batman
- Alfred Pennyworth
- James Gordon
- Gotham City Police
- Suicide Squad:
- The Riddler
- The Joker
- Penguin
- Scarecrow
- Bane
- Two Face
- Victor Zsasz
- Poison Ivy
Media
Gallery
Trivia
- Throughout the film, Harley and the Joker share the catchphrase "Yahtzee!"; this is usually said as a sign of approval for something they like or have done.
- The reason Harley is angry at the Joker is implied to be due to him kicking her out of a speeding car; he remarks about her still being "sore" and a twist on the saying about living with women.
- No reason is given about why Bane would be in Arkham (The information in Arkham Asylum implies he would still have been in Blackgate Prison).
- Scarecrow is shown escaping his cell in full costume, even with his Fear Toxin needles on his hand; these items would have been in the property storage.
- The exit off of Arkham is in a different place; in-game it's in Arkham North, not Arkham West (which is were the Medical Facility and Penatintary reside.)
- This marks the first time that the road to Arkham is ever shown in the Arkhamverse.
- When going through the possessions in the storage room, Killer Frost steals Mr. Freeze's ice gun.
- In the same scene, King Shark stumbles upon the possessions of Killer Moth, Firefly, and Maxie Zeus, and says that no one has ever heard of them. This is a reference to their popularity.
- Still in this same scene, Captain Boomerang stumbles upon the Ventriloquist's Scarface doll, which scares him a bit. He then complains about how creepy he finds the place.
- The deaths of Black Spider and King Shark differ despite sharing the cause being a nano-bomb in their necks; Shark's head swells before exploding, while Spider's neck swells and seems to glow.
- When Joker finds Black Spider's head, he remarks "Denzel, what have they done to you?!" a reference to actor Denzel Washington.
- When Harley searches for her mallet, she first finds Joker's mask from The Dark Knight (which in itself is a reference to his first appearance in the 1966 series) and a fish from the Batman: The Animated Series episode The Laughing Fish.
- When she first appears, Harley is watching The Looney Tunes Show.
- If examined carefully, the wounds Deadshot receives in his fight with Joker resemble a smiley face.
- Waller explains Joker survived since there was no body; however how he managed to escape the crashing helicopter alive is never explained. Being a midquel between Origins and Asylum, the Joker's survival isn't very shocking.
- The title of the movie, "Batman:Assault on Arkham", and the plot, is similar to the 2006 movie, "Teen Titans:Trouble in Tokyo" as both the titles and plot hint to the fact that they are talking about an attack in a city.
- When Captain Boomerang is attempting his initial escape in the cafeteria, he hits someone who looks suspiciously like Walter White from Breaking Bad.