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Crime Alley in Batman: Arkham Asylum
Crime Alley was a small alley that was located behind the Monarch Theatre in Gotham City’s Park Row District.
Crime Alley was originally part of a fashionable theatre and cafe district. However, over the years, the district became infested with crime and corruption, and resulted in the Gothamites nicknaming the area, "Crime Alley".
The alley became infamous for being the location where Thomas and Martha Wayne lost their lives in a mugging-gone-wrong, and left their only son, Bruce Wayne, an orphan and the sole heir to the vast Wayne Family Fortune. On the anniversary of their deaths, Batman visits the site and leaves flowers as a memorial in tribute to them.
When Arkham City was constructed, the mega-prison encompassed the alley.
Incident Reports[]
Before Arkham Origins Incident[]
Years before the events of Arkham Origins, Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered in the alley by an unknown mugger. This event caused Bruce Wayne to start his initiate training, and he eventually became the feared crime-fighter, Batman.
Arkham Origins Incident[]
Looking at the Map, Batman could visit Crime Alley in the game, along with a portion of Gotham City. Also, this was the last of the crime scenes where Batman had to solve a double murder, which also personally affected Batman in more ways than one.
Arkham Asylum Incident[]
While he was under the influence of the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin while in the corridors of the Arkham Mansion, Batman experienced flashbacks of his parent's murder and hallucinated into being back in Crime Alley as a child, listening to the events leading to the murders and the police officers talking around him as he knelt over his parent's bodies. Crime Alley was also a downloadable Combat Challenge Map.
Arkham City Incident[]
As Arkham City was built, the entire Park Row was encapsulated within its walls. Behind the Monarch Theatre, within Crime Alley, were chalk outlines of where Thomas and Martha fell, with a bouquet of flowers and an Interview Tape that had a taunting message for Batman from Hugo Strange. It was presumed that Strange had re-sketched the chalk outlines to disturb Bruce. The player had the option of paying their respects by having Batman kneel by the outlines. Doing this for one minute earned you the "Pay Your Respects" Achievement Trophy.
Before Arkham Knight Incident[]
At some point Batman established a holding facility in the area known as the 'Crime Alley Storage'.
Arkham Knight Incident[]
When he surrendered to Scarecrow, Batman was taken in a truck to the villain's secret base, the closed down Arkham Asylum. During the travel, Batman, who was severely exposed to Scarecrow's Fear Toxin earlier in the night, experienced a hallucination in which the truck crashed in Crime Alley. Batman found his parents lying dead on the ground and, as he was about to pay his respects, the Joker appeared and attacked him, shortly followed by a huge amount of Jokers. After a strenuous battle, Batman contained Joker with a headlock and, giving in to his enemy's teasing and incitation, ultimately snapped his neck. That broke the hallucination and caused Batman to wake up.
Months after the supposed death of Bruce Wayne and the destruction of Wayne Manor, James Gordon was elected mayor. One of his known initiatives was to rename Crime Alley as Wayne Way, in honor of the sacrifices made by the Wayne family.
Gallery[]
Behind the Scenes[]
- Crime Alley first appeared in Detective Comics #457. Crime Alley was among the various slums in Gotham City that made up Arkham City. Its inclusion as part of Arkham City's landscape that played into Hugo Strange's plan to destroy Batman.
- Crime Alley was located behind the Monarch Theatre (It had been fenced in likely to prevent the inmates from disturbing it, but was easily accessible to Batman). On the alley's right entrance, there was a sign marking it (Scanning the sign was one of the Riddler's riddles for Batman to solve in Park Row).
- In the alley itself, chalk outlines of Martha Wayne & Thomas Wayne bodies marked the spot where they lost their lives. Beside the outlines were a rose, a bouquet of flowers with a note (for Batman), and a Hugo Strange Interview Tape where he questioned Batman on the effect of the murder of his parents (Eerie sounds could also be heard including gunshots, which added to its somber atmosphere).
- The note reads "It will end where it began - Hugo Strange". The player could choose to pay their respects (The player could obtain the "Pay Your Respects" trophy/achievement by doing this). In the "Close Arkham City" Arkham City Story (Which was obtained for scanning the Crime Alley sign), it was revealed that Bruce Wayne's campaign to shut down Arkham City, was the result of his determination to ensure that the site of his parent's deaths would not become a monument to Gotham's failure.
- This was also the birthplace of the Batman identity.
Trivia[]
- Crime Alley was available as a Combat Challenge Map that was available via DLC for Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham Knight.
- In Batman: Arkham City, Crime Alley, Ace Chemicals, the Monarch Theatre, the Solomon Wayne Courthouse, Catwoman's Apartment, and the Church and Medical Center (where Aaron Cash and the Medical Team worked in Arkham City) were all located in the Park Row area.
- During one of Batman's tribute visits to the alley, he met Jason Todd who was in the process of stealing the tires from the Batmobile.
- The movie that the Waynes' went to see has fluctuated between the The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks and The Mark of Zorro (1940) starring Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone.
- Martha and Thomas Wayne died June 26th at 10:47pm. The newspapers referred to this event as the "Park Row Tragedy".
- The Player could win a Trophy/Achievement when Batman payed his respects at the site of his parent's deaths, and was called: "Pay Your Respects".
- It was strange how the chalk outlines would still be there after all these years. Most likely, someone re-drew it. It was most likely that Hugo Strange did it in the hopes of getting to Bruce Wayne or to disturb him. In Batman: Arkham Origins, the lines were likely just fanservice.
- It was the only place that the player could visit in all of the games.
- In Arkham City, Crime Alley was totally redesigned from how it appeared in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
- While investigating the scene of the dual murders of Park Row in Arkham Origins, Thomas and Martha Wayne appeared deceased and laid in the chalk outlines for a split second during the reconstruction of the crime scene.
- Hugo Strange's line: "It will end where it began", could also allude to Crime Alley, as Batman was "Born" in the alley, and although in a hallucination, it was also where Batman broke his one rule.
- In Miagani Island near Grand Avenue there's an Alley that Looks similar to Crime Alley, this alley has a big level of lighting with 2 roses left on the ground near a dried pool of blood.