| Titan Henchman | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical information | |
| Full Name | Unidentified |
| Occupation | Henchman or Thug |
| Base of Operations | Gotham City |
| Physical description | |
| Hair | Bald |
| Eyes | Unknown (Normal)
Green (Titan) |
| Height | unknown |
| Weight | unknown |
| Game Information | |
| Voice Actor | Unknown |
| First Appearance | Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) |
The Titan Henchman first appeared in Batman: Arkham Asylum. He was a convict who was transferred temporarily to Arkham Asylum from Blackgate Prison.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
The Titan Henchman was the first Boss opponent in Arkham Asylum. Since Batman could not match the creature's strength, he must rely on his wit rather than his fists to take on the Titan Henchman. He must stun him before this mutated experiment will be vulnerable to his attacks. The Dark Knight could throw multiple Batarangs at the beast and allow him to charge and crash into the wall, which temporarily stuns him. He can then beat the dazed Titan Henchman with his fists before the disoriented monster can react.
Upon losing Dr. Young's support on the Titan Project, the Joker allowed himself to be captured and sent back to Arkham Asylum so that he could start a riot, locate Dr. Young's notes, and complete the Titan Formula himself. After he was captured by Batman at Gotham City Hall, the Joker was driven back to Arkham, where a team of guards escorted him through the Intensive Treatment Center Lobby. While he was taken through the Holding Cells by an unidentified guard and doctor, the Joker broke free and released all the prisoners in the Holding Cells. Batman attempted to pursue him and was attacked by the inmates. As Batman fought them off, the Joker ran amok through the Processing Corridor, and killed the security guards in his way while his accomplice-in-crime, Harley Quinn, released all the inmates in the Intensive Treatment Center. Once the cell doors were unlocked, the inmates killed many of the asylum guards and followed the Clown Prince of Crime as he carried out his plans. Joker pumped his Joker Toxin into the Decontamination Chamber, which killed security personnel and inmates alike. Being Dr. Young's benefactor as "Jack White", the Joker was aware of the Titan Henchman's location in the Intensive Treatment Center. With an army of his thugs, the Joker invaded the Transfer Loop, and easily overwhelmed the three guards who tried to stop them. The mob proceeded to Secure Treatment Transfer. In the ensuing confrontation, most of the security guards were caught by surprise and overpowered. The brief confrontation left all the guards dead with the exception of one who managed to drag an injured colleague to safety inside a nearby guard booth and lock himself inside. The Joker dismissed his men and awaited Batman's arrival on top of the suspended transfer box which housed the Titan Henchman. Batman found the dead bodies and vandalized asylum property in the Joker's wake and followed the green arrows that Joker had spray-painted on the floor of the Transfer Loop, which pointed toward the seemingly locked door that led to Secure Treatment Transfer. As Batman approached the door, it opened, and revealed the Joker inside standing on the prisoner transfer box. Batman threw a Batarang at the villain, which missed. Batman vowed to find the Joker, who calmly replied: "Oh, I'm counting on it. Just not yet!" With that, the evil clown pulled a lever which unlocked the door to the prisoner transfer box, and released the enraged Titan Henchman. Furious at his long hour of captivity and with his sanity was truly lost to the incomplete Titan Formula, the Titan Henchman leaped onto the floor of Secure Treatment Transfer, and was ready to tear apart the only living thing in his view: Batman. The hulking monster blinked in the new-found light, but then quickly recovered and lunged for Batman. The Joker had arranged for Batman to follow him to Secure Treatment Transfer so that he could test his newest recruit on him. Fortunately for Batman, he was able to outwit the beast. The Titan Henchman constantly charged the Caped Crusader in an attempt to bowl him over. Batman dodged these charges, which allowed the Titan Henchman to crash into the wall and disorient himself. Even more angry, the Titan Henchman stormed toward Batman after clearing his head, resorted to picking up the deceased security guards' corpses and threw them at the Dark Knight, who escaped most of its attacks. In his fury, the Titan Henchman punched the floor with his massive fist when Batman attempted to draw closer. As the fight climaxed, the Titan Henchman sudenly grasped its chest. Staggering between the guard stations, the monster fell backwards and crashed to the floor, dead. After he used his Detective Mode, Batman realized that the Titan Henchman had, in fact, died from a fatal heart attack, that most likely brought on by the incomplete prototype Titan Formula. An interrupted passage of blood to his heart had doomed him during his battle with Batman.
The Joker was mildly annoyed by this failure, and remarking: "Note to self, need stronger test subjects." He then activated the transport cell which had previously housed the Titan Henchman to take him into Extreme Isolation. After the Joker's escape, Batman tried to follow him to Extreme Isolation, only to have the computerized transport systems be jammed by the Joker. After he found out that the Joker had used a corrupt security guard named Frank Boles to kidnap Commissioner Gordon (who was on the island to supervise the Joker's return to his cell), Batman left Secure Treatment Transfer to rescue him. The Joker went on to perfect the Titan Formula and create an army of his own super-powered henchmen to battle Batman.
Batman facing the Titan Henchman in Secure Treatment Transfer.
Incident Reports
Arkham Asylum Incident
Once at Arkham, this convict was experimented on by Arkham Asylum doctor, Penelope Young for her top-secret Titan Project. The Titan Project was supposed to increase a patient's strength against some of the more strenuous treatments, but Young was secretly studying clandestine research on Bane. Young had Bane shipped to Arkham from Blackgate, where she strapped him down inside the Experimental Chamber of the Medical Facility. After she drained Bane of his steroid drug, Venom, Young began studying how to produce Titan, a much stronger version of Venom that was capable of causing similar results with a much smaller dose requirement. It turned people into hulking, raging monsters. As a side effect, it also temporarily reduced the user's reasoning abilities to Hulk-like proportions, and effectively drove them insane. When Young heard that the medicine dosage for the Blackgate Prisoners was permitted, she took one of the prisoners to test her a more Venom-like version of her formula on. This prisoner mutated into a hulking, ravaging, berserk monster with enhanced strength and surprising speed. Dr. Young confined the Goliath to a high-security treatment cell in the Extreme Isolation area of the Intensive Treatment Center while she developed a stronger version of the Titan Formula for her mysterious benefactor, Jack White.
Batman standing as the victor over the dead Titan Henchman.
Arkham City Incident
The Titan Henchman did not appear, but Penguin, Joker, and Harley Quinn (later) were revealed to possess some of the Titan Formula in addition to actual Titan-enhanced thugs.
Gameplay
Titans are one of the toughest enemies to deal with in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and usually appears in harder combat challenge maps, especially extreme maps. Their main attacks include swiping arms around, charging, and using a shockwave, and they deal a lot of damage.
Arkham Asylum
Batman cannot Freeflow toward Titans. The most effective way to attack them is to throw a quick-fire Batarang at their faces while they're charging (they will growl loudly when they're doing that), dodge the charge attack, and then pound them continuously after they hit a wall and get disoriented, in which case they will be stunned for a brief period and vulnerable to attacks. However, don't forget to stay alert because they will regain their mobility after that brief period, and may use their shockwave attacks. Titans can also be disoriented through other means, such as getting hit by a thrown henchman, or by another Titan as he charges at Batman or brandishes his arms around. You can take advantage of these facts to stand where you can dodge when a Titan will hit another one either by throwing a henchman or charge at. However, those won't always be the case, as a charging Titan hit by a Batarang will immediately recover if he hits a stunned Titan who loses a health bar and who is on his way.
Each Titan has a three-bar health gauge, and each time their health is reduced by one bar, they will be stunned and immobile for longer, open to more strikes. Attacking them while they're in that state ensures that they won't return to that bar again. In the main story, if Batman fails to attack them when that happens, they will regain their mobility and a little more health; Bane, to whom the same principle applies, will lose some of his Titan tubes as a result of such attacks and his health will be guaranteed to stay lower than that bar. In combat challenge maps, they don't regain health or use their shock wave attack, and if if they're the last standing enemies, it's possible to finish them after they lose two health bars as they will stay stunned for very long.
When Titans lose one health bar and are stunned, if Batman strikes them or uses other attacks on them (excluding Special Combo moves), he will then ride them. Once he does, he can direct them toward other enemies as the Titan brandishes his arms around and deals damage to them.
It's not impossible to strike Titans while they're still fully on their feet, but it's significantly harder, as Batman has to stay close (again, he cannot Freeflow toward them), and cannot strike continuously because they will strike back, unlike when they're disoriented as described above. It's recommended to throw Batarangs at them to give yourself more time to get close to them, and to strike only at their back, not at their front, because they're slower to strike back at their back, and to deal only one blow each time, then evade to their other side and repeat until they lose a health bar. That way, you can actively maintain your combo, rather than just wait for them to charge at you.
Arkham City
All characters can now Freeflow towards Titans. However, you can no longer strike them when they're fully on their feet; doing so will immediately break the combo. You can only strike them if they're disoriented, which can be achieved through various means: lure them toward the railway and let them get hit by a ride (in the story); blow Explosive Gel near them; blow an explosive projectile near them (especially fire extinguishers); shooting REC at a Lieutenant to make him to cause Collateral Damage on nearby Titans. As with Arkham Asylum, a Titan will also get disoriented if hit by another disoriented Titans or a thrown henchman, but unlike Asylum, they won't get disoriented by a charging Titan, although they'll still get damage as a result. The main method, however, is to Super Stun them to make them stunned for longer and vulnerable to strike. Unlike in Arkham Asylum, throwing Batarang at them will have no effect. You can also shoot REC at them, but its effect is limited.
The Super Stun is a slow attack, so you should be aware of your surroundings before you execute them on Titans. Unlike on normal henchmen (in which case you're always vulnerable), if performed quickly enough on Titans, a successful Super Stun will cause henchmen to cancel their attacks midway. Once a Titan is Super Stunned and open to a Beatdown, you will still have to watch out for henchmen's attacks and counter them accordingly. If you perform enough Beatdown strikes (about 7 or 8), the character will ride the Titan like Batman can in Arkham Asylum (except for Catwoman who can't ride Titans, but her Beatdowns still leave them disoriented after each Finisher), but this time, they can also make the Titan use a shockwave attack (Cape Stun button; an effective shockwave attack is called a Rodeo Shock Wave and it rewards 10 points for each hit target) or a directed charge attack (movement control + run button; a strike while riding a Titan, including those by a charge attack, is called a Rodeo Strike and it rewards 10 points for each hit target). It's a good idea to utilize these attacks to clear out other enemies, or to charge to a less crowded area, so that when the Titan drops you, you will have a larger window to do the Super Stun and attack him again.
Titans are the toughest enemies in Arkham City. A Titan is defeated after being attacked with three Beatdowns, but he can be sooner if he's the last standing enemy, or as a result of Batman's Special Combo Bat Swarm, Catwoman's Special Combo Whiplash, or Robin's and Nightwing's Special Combo Group Attacks. Once you deal enough damage to them using Beatdowns, you will execute a Titan Takedown, which adds 1 multiplier to the combo meter and rewards 100 points for each multiplier (the highest amount of points you can get for an attack, as with the Blade Dodge Takedown, and the Environment Takedown in Arkham Knight).
Trivia
- The Titan Henchman bore a striking resemblance to both Amygdala and Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow from Batman Beyond.
- It's likely Titan Henchman are inspired by the batman villain Aaron Helzinger AKA Amygdala as they look and act very similar.
- Only Joker has been known to make Titans with proportionate limbs (except for his first one, likely due to him improving the formula throughout the game.) Every other villain who used titan created Titans with disproportionate limbs (Penguin and Harley Quinn.)
