Titan Henchmen first appeared in Batman: Arkham Asylum and later on in Batman: Arkham City. They were convicts temporarily transferred to Arkham Asylum from Blackgate Prison and infected with the TITAN formula.
Incident Reports[]
Arkham Asylum Incident[]
Now at Arkham, this convict was experimented on by Arkham Asylum doctor, Penelope Young for her top-secret Titan Project. The project was intended to increase a patient's strength against some of the more strenuous treatments, but Young was also studying clandestine research on Bane. Young had Bane shipped to Arkham from Blackgate, where she had him strapped down inside the Experimental Chamber of the Medical Facility. After she drained Bane of his steroid drug, Venom, Young began studying the chemical and after some time, invented Titan, a much stronger version of Venom that was capable of causing similar results with a much smaller dose requirement and without a constant supply. As a side effect, it temporarily reduced the subject's intelligence and drove them insane. When Young heard that the medicine dosage for the Blackgate Prisoners was permitted, she took one of the prisoners to test a prototype version of her Titan formula on. This prisoner mutated into a hulking, ravaging, berserk monster with enhanced strength. Afterwards, Dr. Young confined the prisoner 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.
Later on, Young eventually realized that her benefactor, "Jack White", was in fact the Joker, and was trying to use her to create an army of mutated monsters to unleash on Gotham City. After a change of heart, Dr. Young tried to back out and attempted to give Joker his money back. Meanwhile, the forgotten Titan Henchman, who was still affected and transformed by Dr. Young's prototype version of the Titan formula, remained locked up in a metal transfer box in Extreme Isolation. Six armed and armored security guards remained on duty to guard the area from Secure Treatment Transfer at all times.
Upon losing Dr. Young's support on the Titan Project, 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 formula for Titan himself. Upon arrival, he then escaped, following his plan and releasing convicts from their cells.
Batman facing the Titan Henchman in Secure Treatment Transfer.
During an encounter with Batman, Joker released the Titan Henchman from his box. Furious at his captivity and with his sanity lost to the prototype Titan Formula, the Henchman leaped onto the floor of Secure Treatment Transfer, and was ready to tear apart Batman. The hulking monster blinked in the new-found light, but then quickly recovered and lunged for Batman. 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 brute. During the fight between himself and Batman, the Titan Henchman suddenly grasped his chest.
Batman standing as the victor over the dead Titan Henchman.
Staggering between the guard stations, the monster fell backwards and crashed to the floor, dead. After some investigation, Batman realized that the Henchman had died from a fatal heart attack, most likely brought on by the incomplete prototype Titan Formula.
Joker, after making an irritated remark, then activated the transport cell which had previously housed the Titan Henchman to take him into Extreme Isolation.
Arkham City Incident[]
The Titan Henchman did not appear as he was defeated, but Penguin, Joker, and later Harley Quinn were revealed to possess some of the Titan Formula in addition to multiple Titan-enhanced thugs.
Appearance[]
Titan Henchmen stand around 8 feet tall in height. Their muscles are large and bulging, and types of warts and boils appear on their skin due to the formula's mutations. Their nails sharpen into short claws, allowing extra damage to be dealt to their opponents. Two rows of stubby bones adorn their bald heads, and longer bones jut out of their forearms and shoulders. Their spine vertebrae are also visible, and poke out of their backs. Titan Henchmen's mouths are stuck in a permanent, angry expression, showing their teeth and gums. Most of the Titan Henchmen have red and white clown makeup on their faces. The only clothes these creatures wear are distressed, damaged grey shorts with brown belts. The veins in their bodies, along with their eyeballs periodically glow a bright green.
Personality[]
Due to being injected with the Titan Formula, these creatures lack the intelligence they previously had. Now, these Titan Henchmen have a mindset like that of a predator. They don't communicate through words, but only through growling, snarling, and snorting. They usually use their strength as their only weapon. They often charge their enemies, slam the ground, and hit and swing at the air. Due to their aforementioned intelligence deficiency, if multiple Titan Henchmen are in a space together, they sometimes accidentally hit each other and disorient themselves. They are incapable of speaking like regular Henchmen, due to their vocal cords being under extreme strain and mutation. Because of this, the only sounds they can produce are animalistic growls, roars, and snorts.
Gameplay[]
Titans Henchmen are one of the toughest enemies to deal with in both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, appearing in both the story and in some harder difficulty combat challenge maps. Their attacks in both games include swinging their arms around, a charge attack, and using an AoE shockwave.
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).
Known Titan Thugs[]
- Blackgate Prisoners
- Joker's Henchmen
- The Penguin's Henchmen
- Harley's Thugs
- Arkham Guard (unwillingly)
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.)
- Harley Quinn's Titan henchmen that appears in Arkham City's DLC uses a recolored version of the same model employed for the Penguin Titan thug.