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Batman: Assault on Arkham is an animated film that was released in August 2014 and is an entry in Rocksteady Studio's acclaimed Arkhamverse mythos. It features the voice talents of Kevin Conroy as Batman and Troy Baker as the Joker. Chronology-wise, this story is followed by the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Synopsis[]
Based on the Arkhamverse mythos, 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 (the Suicide Squad) to break into the hospital and finish the job. They 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 Suicide Squad are deployed to Gotham City, where the Penguin has been hired by Waller to give them arms and equipment. Penguin agrees to sneak the Suicide Squad into Arkham Asylum in exchange for room and board and tells them not to ask for his help again or bring Harley Quinn with them when they enter the club. Weeks before this mission after the acid burning incident the Joker and Harley Quinn hijacked one of Penguin's North Refrigeration trucks which was loaded with Cobblepot's smokes and his guns and drove it into the Gotham River for a laugh. 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 the Joker had possessed prior to his own incarceration in Arkham Asylum.
Harley Quinn commits noisy petty crimes in Gotham until she is arrested and returned to Arkham Asylum, at which point she stages a distraction by arguing with and apparently attempting to murder her ex-lover the Joker. This distraction allows the Suicide Squad to successfully infiltrate Arkham Asylum 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 the Riddler, but decides against killing him when she learns the reason she was sent to snuff him out: the Riddler knows how to disable the bombs implanted in members of the Suicide Squad. The Joker escapes his cell, which was weakened by Harley Quinn's earlier assault, and frees all the Arkham Asylum inmates.
The Suicide Squad agree to spare the 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 the Joker. The Joker reveals that his dirty bomb was hidden within Harley Quinn's trademark mallet, which was stored at Arkham Asylum, 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 (possibly) killed by Bane. Deadshot travels to Gotham City by stolen helicopter, but discovers the 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 (voiced by Kevin Conroy)
- Alfred Pennyworth (voiced by Martin Jarvis)
- James Gordon (voiced by Chris Cox)
- The Suicide Squad:
- Amanda Waller (voiced by CCH Pounder)
- Harley Quinn (voiced by Hynden Walch)
- Deadshot (voiced by Neal McDonough)
- Killer Frost (voiced by Jennifer Hale)
- King Shark (voiced by John DiMaggio)
- Captain Boomerang (voiced by Greg Ellis)
- Black Spider (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito)
- KGBeast (voiced by Nolan North)
- The Joker (voiced by Troy Baker)
- The Riddler (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler)
- The Penguin (voiced by Nolan North)
- Bane (voiced by TBA)
- Poison Ivy (voiced by TBA)
- Scarecrow (voiced by Christian Lanz)
- Two Face (voiced by TBA)
- Victor Zsasz (voiced by Christian Lanz)
Media[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Throughout the film, Harley Quinn 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 Quinn 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 Asylum (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 Asylum 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 the Joker finds Black Spider's head, he remarks "Denzel, what have they done to you?!" a reference to actor Denzel Washington.
- When Harley Quinn searches for her mallet, she first finds the 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 Quinn is watching The Looney Tunes Show.
- If examined carefully, the wounds Deadshot receives in his fight with the Joker resemble a smiley face.
- When Captain Boomerang is attempting his initial escape in the cafeteria, he hits someone who looks suspiciously like Walter White from Breaking Bad.
- Originally this movie was in canon with the rest of the Arkham series, however, thanks to King Shark and Captain Boomerang's appearance in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League set long after King Shark's death in this film and Boomerang's in the Arkham Knight comic, along with no one acknowledging the return of said characters, King Shark's drastically different appearance and personality and the lack of familiarity between Harley and King Shark in the opening of the game, the film is no longer considered canon to the Arkhamverse, instead being a part of the Arkhamverse Expanded Media.