(Based on the positive pregnancy test Easter egg in Batman: Arkham City and what it would be like if it hadn’t been a false positive)
Little Merry started to cry in her crib and Harley walked over to tend to her infant daughter. It was just about feeding time, which Harley had anticipated by preparing a bottle. She offered it to Merry, who gratefully started sucking on it. She smiled and touched the dimple on his cheek gently. Merry grabbed her finger with his whole hand. The moment struck Harley to the core as she once again realized that this little thing had come from her.
“Drink up, little girl,” Harley said. “God, I wish Mr. J had been able to meet you. He woulda loved you.”
There was no reaction from Merry, who was very much concentrated on feeding time. Harley thought for a few moments and shrugged.
“Actually, I don’t know if he woulda even liked you,” she said. “I mean, I swore that he loved me back then, but he sure left me flat a lot. He let the Bat have me. I almost died because of him plenty of times.”
Merry’s eyes turned toward her face, attracted by the playful and lilting tone of his mother’s voice. Whatever she did, she could never lose that accent. She had it growing up and had suppressed it during medical school and the start of her residency. Somehow, the Joker had brought it back out of her.
“You know, you and me have a lot in common, kiddo,” she said. “I mean, beyond being blood-related and all. My daddy was a criminal and so was yours. Except Mr. J was way crazier.”
Harley put Merry over her shoulder and patted gently, leading to Merry burping heartily. Harley could not help but giggle at that.
“Good one,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, Mr. J wasn’t all bad. Not for me at least, He was funny. He had a way of talking to me that made me feel like the only woman in the world. Like I could burn bright. Be somebody.”
She began to rock Merry a little in her arms. It would be time for both of them to get some more sleep soon.
“I mean, becomin’ a psychiatrist was nothing to sneeze at,” Harley said. “It just paled in comparison to what I could be with him. And maybe I ended up hurting people instead of helpin’ ‘em but I was blinded by love.”
She blinked for a moment, realizing these were thoughts she had never allowed herself to have. Something about a late-night feeding with a baby who could not really understand English yet had been like a shot of truth serum.
“I never believed that your daddy, Mr. J, would die,” she said. “Even with his blood sickness at the end, I believed he’d somehow beat it. I mean, I’m not exactly out of bounds there. The Bat got the cure. Mr. J just never got it.”
She looked down into Merry’s eyes which were green like his dad’s.
“And I hate Batman for that,” Harley said. “I really do but that pain and anger was blurred because I was already pregnant with you. If I didn’t have you to think about, I think I would have gone even crazier. I would have put the Bat and his family through Hell. But I was so in love with you that I had to just leave Gotham. I had to walk away from it all. Aunt Pammy helped. She’s visiting again soon, by the way.”
Merry’s little eyes were slowly closing.
“I don’t know what our future holds, kiddo,” Harley said. “It’s not like I have infinite wealth and we can’t hide forever. Someday, the Bat, the cops, or one of my other old playmates will find me. And I kind of miss the action. Your momma’s a badass. I want to feel blood on these knuckles again. Wrong or right, that’s what I feel like.”
She carefully laid Merry back in her crib.
“So sleep well, puddin’,” Harley said. “Because I will never ever leave you, but you’re not gonna have a normal childhood. I can feel it.”
Let us take a look at the gadgets that Batman uses throughout the games.
The following gadgets are only available in a single game. These make a lot of sense. In Origins, Batman is operating with early forms of his technology which he will either improve or replace in the future. In Arkham Knight, Batman has developed new technology that would not have been available earlier in the timeline. Finally, Catwoman’s gear is proprietary since her style does not really match the rest of the Batfamily.
Arkham Origins
Concussion Detonator – Only Arkham Origins
During the events of Arkham Origins, Batman needs to infiltrate the Gotham City Police Department to access their databases. Since this is the first time he is facing the police in his career as a crimefighter, Batman recognizes that he needs more nonlethal weaponry to incapacitate police officers. He and Alfred had worked on designing a grenade that is thrown at a target. On impact, the detonator sticks to the target before exploding after a moment. This explosive force incapacitates the target, leaving them dazed and staggering on their feet. The combat form of the Remote Electrical Charge has the same effect as this gadget without the delay.
Glue Grenade – Only Arkham Origins
Batman needed a device that could quickly create a raft so that Batman could traverse in the water in tight quarters. This is largely used in the flooded lower decks of Penguin’s ship The Final Offer. The device is also able to be used to quickly stop up steam pipes that are spraying dangerous hot steam or poison gas. In combat, the grenade can be thrown directly to completely incapacitate a target or it can be used in mine form to trap the feet of several enemies at once. This gadget was eventually replaced by the Freeze Grenade during the events of Arkham City This was probably more environmentally friendly.
Remote Claw – Only Arkham Origins
When Batman fought Deathstroke on The Final Offer, Deathstroke used a device on him to launch barrels toward Batman. Batman is able to retrieve this device after the battle. The device is a gun that launches a wire with two hooks on it. Each hook attaches to a point and then it pulls the line taut. The primary use for this is to create a tightrope to allow Batman to climb across gaps that he otherwise could not get past. In combat, it can be fired at a person. The Remote Claw can then be attached to an object or another person. As the cable pulls taut, the object or the person collides with the target. The Remote Claw can also be used to rapidly attach a victim to a vantage point, incapacitating them by turning them upside down in the air. Some of this technology goes into the Line Launcher.
Shock Gloves – Only Arkham Origins
This device is originally used by The Electricutioner as part of his modus operandi in combat as an assassin. Of course, The Joker murders The Electricutioner about midway through the events of Arkham Origns by dropping him out of a Gotham Royal Hotel window. Batman is able to retrieve the gloves from the body and adapt them into his gear. Batman’s primary use for the gloves is to activate generators and electrical switches by grasping them and charging them with electricity. The combat use for the gloves is that given enough combos, Batman can charge the gloves and add an electrical shock to each of his attacks. This allows Batman to easily penetrate armor. This is a pretty necessary gadget to fight Bane the first time.
Prototype Disruptor – Only Arkham Origins
When Batman infiltrates the GCPD, he is confronted for the first time in his career by technology that interrupts his connection to the Batcomputer, disabling his Cryptographic Sequencer and Detective Mode (somewhat). Luckily, he discovers that a device to get around these signal jammers was recently confiscated as related by criminal Loose Lips. Batman is able to infiltrate the Evidence Locker to retrieve the device. Its primary use is to disable the signal blockers attached to various walls (and guarded from physical threats by steel plating). The secondary use is similar to Arkham City’s Disruptor which allows Batman to shut down firearms.
Arkham Knight
Voice Synthesizer – Only Arkham Knight
While infiltrating Simon Stagg’s airships. Batman finds locked doors that can only be opened by the voice of Simon Stagg himself. Batman is able to use this device to record samples of Stagg’s voice and use them to create a real-time augmentation of his own voice to match Stagg’s. This is also later used to simulate Harley Quinn’s voice. Here it can be used to manipulate her henchmen to order them around during stealth combat where they can be isolated for attack or incapacitated by making a mistake.
Updated Disruptor – Only Arkham Knight
This is obviously a combination of the technology taken from GCPD lockup in Arkham Origins and Mr. Freeze in Arkham City. It is the most advanced version of this device. Once again, it is able to disable firearms. However, it can do so much more. If used twice on a firearm, it will cause the firearm to explode when the henchman tries to use it. It can also be used to disable consoles or firearm caches so that they deliver an electric shock when touched. It can even be used to deactivate the weapons on tanks, drones, and turrets around the city. The secondary use is that it can attach a tracking device to a vehicle. This is used during a side mission tracking Penguin’s weapons caches. By attaching the tracking device before scaring the thugs into driving off, Batman can trail the vehicle at a distance making the bad guys think they have ditched Batman. They then confidently lead Batman straight toward their hideout.
Catwoman
In the Arkham City Catwoman DLC, Catwoman is given her own gadgets to use in combat. Unlike the rest of the Batfamily, Selina Kyle’s gadgets are all very low-tech. Without the help of Waynetech, she lacks the means to create the high-tech gadgets that Batman wields. Also, she ends up not having the opportunity to steal technology from other villains. Frankly, if Catwoman operates more in stealth than Batman does. She is a burglar and a thief, not a warrior or defender. She only needs a few gadgets as a last resort to even the odds when she is up against thugs with firearms.
Whip
Every adaptation of Catwoman that I have ever seen has had the whip in some form of another but it really caught my attention in the film Batman Returns (1992). This whip is similar to that one. It is used to trip up combatants by lashing out and briefly wrapping their legs to trip them up. It is not used to travel from building to building as Catwoman instead does this by jumping up surfaces with her claws.
Bolas
These are similar to the traditional bolas used by Pre-Columbian civilizations down in South America and also later by gauchos. They were invented to capture runaway cattle. Catwoman’s version is made of three steel balls connected by three lengths of wire. By twirling them around and throwing them, they wrap around a target’s legs and cause them to fall down and become briefly stunned.
Caltrops
Dating all the way back to Ancient Rome and also Feudal Japan, the caltrop is an area denial weapon. The idea is for a caltrop to be a nasty, sharp bundle of nails that debilitates those who step on it. Catwoman’s version has six equally spaced sharp spikes. She carries them in a ball that she can throw at the ground. When the ball impacts the ground, it breaks open and spills the caltrops over a surface. The caltrops then cause a victim to fall down when they are stepped on.
Let us take a look at the gadgets that Batman uses throughout the games.
Batclaw – All Games and DLCs
A natural update to the Grapnel Gun is the famous Batclaw. While using this device, Batman attaches a claw to the line instead of the usual hook. This claw grips whatever Batman launches it at which allows him to both pull open hatches and collect items from afar. The Batclaw can also be used in combat, pulling a combatant towards Batman which usually leads to a clothesline takedown. An upgraded version of the Batclaw allows for three claw projectiles which allows Batman to pull at multiple points at once.
Cryptographic Sequencer – All Games and DLCs
This is the device that Batman primarily uses for hacking his way through doors and barriers. In Arkham Asylum, Batman hastily assembles a version of the device based on the asylum technology being provided by Wayne Enterprises. He is able to combine the Wayne technology with Warden Sharpe’s biometric signature to jury rig a device to overload locked devices. Batman searches for the right frequencies to overload the device. In the other games, the device is more sophisticated. It is a modular device that allows Batman to obtain encryption chips to allow access to new areas. The hacking process is visually represented by aligning the correct halves of the puzzle to create a word. That word is usually relevant to the location or the storyline at the time. This system is used to hack devices programmed by The Penguin, TYGER, Enigma, The Riddler, Gotham Municipal Systems, and the Arkham Knight’s militia.
Line Launcher – Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Knight
When I think of this gadget, I think of this famous scene from Batman (1989). Batman uses a device similar to the Grapnel Gun except that it fires in two directions. This creates a zipline that Batman can use to travel from place to place. Batman can also detach from the zipline and climb on top, using the line as a tightrope instead. Despite its usefulness, this device is not part of Batman’s standard equipment until Arkham Knight. In Arkham Asylum, the device is delivered remotely by the Batwing. In Arkham City, Robin personally delivers the device to Batman prior to Batman’s descent into the sewer system. In Arkham Knight, Batman has learned his lesson and starts the game with the device.
Explosive Gel – All Games and DLCs
This is always a standard part of Batman’s equipment whenever he leaves the Batcave, apparently. This is a device that sprays a gelled explosive which is somewhat of a fictionalized version of gelignite (guncotton dissolved in nitroglycerin). Batman generally sprays a surface with the device, drawing the symbol of a bat. He is then able to take a step back and remotely detonate the gel. This is generally used to break through weakened parts of structures to allow Batman to pass through. It can also be used in combat by spraying it at the ground and allowing combatants to walk over it before detonating the gel.
Smoke Pellet – Arkham City, Arkham Origins, Arkham Knight
Two of Batman’s greatest tools in his war on crime are stealth and theatrics and so the smoke pellet is a staple of most adaptations. The first time you are prompted to use a smoke pellet is in the video above which indicates its primary use. When Batman comes face to face with a gunman or gunmen, he can throw down the smoke pellet to create a smoke cloud to obfuscate his enemies’ vision. He can then either slip away on foot or use the grapnel gun to go to high ground. Starting with Arkham Origins, Batman can also aim the smoke pellet to create a cloud of smoke where he wishes. This creates an opening for Batman to attack from the shadows.
Disruptor – Arkham City
While Batman is infiltrating the Museum, he finds out that Penguin has stolen Mr. Freeze’s technology, including his freeze gun. With Mr. Freeze’s help, Batman is able to obtain a device from Freeze’s suit that will disrupt the freeze gun. While the technology originally was designed as a failsafe for Mr. Freeze’s tech, Batman is able to update it over the course of the night to work on the firearms and turrets throughout Arkham City. It jams the working parts of machine guns so that they cannot fire.
Mine Detonator – Arkham City
Later in the night, Batman is summoned back to the Iceberg Lounge which is now being used as a hideout by the formerly undercover cops. Officer Elvis Jones informs you that they found a device that can be integrated with the disruptor. Luckily, one of the officers used to work with the bomb squad and thinks that the device has to do with mines. Indeed, it is an addon to the disruptor that can be used to safely detonate explosive mines from a distance. This is primarily used to access hidden areas for Riddler trophies. However, later in the game, enemies gain the ability to lay down mines and this update is key to keeping those mines from hampering Batman’s ability to sneak around safely.
Remote Electrical Charge – Arkham City, Arkham Knight
While infiltrating the Steel Mill earlier during the events of Arkham City, Batman is sealed in the smelting room by Harley Quinn and Joker’s henchmen. He is able to repurpose an electrical device, attaching it to the grapnel gun as a control mechanism. The gun is able to launch a huge surge of electricity at whatever target it is pointed at. This is primarily used to activate machinery (mostly mechanical doors) so that Batman can progress. There are a lot of them in the Steel Mill. This device can also be used during combat to launch electricity at any thug trying to attack Batman, momentarily stunning them and causing them to swing wildly. Notably, the electrical charge is nonlethal in keeping with Batman’s No Kill Rule. In Arkham Knight, the device is obtained from the evidence lockup in GCPD headquarters along with a lot of other Arkham City items.
Freeze Blast – Arkham City, Arkham Knight
After Batman defeats a desperate Mr. Freeze in combat, Mr. Freeze grants him an additional piece of his technology after Batman promises to locate and rescue Nora Freeze. This new technology is a grenade that Batman can throw which instantly freezes the area around the point of impact. This is primarily used to create a raft of ice when thrown at the water’s surface. This is the only way to navigate the Steel Mill the second time. It is also the only way to find and rescue Nora Freeze. The Freeze Blast can also be used in combat, instantly trapping a combatant in a coat of ice and immobilizing them. Later in the game, the device can be upgraded to the Freeze Cluster by locating more of Mr. Freeze’s stolen technology in the Steel Mill. The Freeze Cluster launches five grenades at once, allowing Batman to freeze more people at the same time. In Arkham Knight, the device is sitting on a table in Batman’s laboratory underneath Panessa Studios, available very early in the game.
Let us take a look at the gadgets that Batman uses throughout the games.
Detective Mode – All Games and DLCs
This is probably the most important and innovative gadget in Batman’s arsenal during the events of the games. Detective mode is an audio/visual scanning system contained within Batman’s cowl. When it is activated, a pair of lenses slides over Batman’s eyes. The lenses create an augmented reality display to feed information for Batman’s use. The primary use for it throughout the games is to identify humanoid creatures in Batman’s vicinity. The data Batman takes in is filtered, and it makes humans light up. It is also able to display whether the humanoid is armed with a gun or not.
In Arkham Asylum, detective mode is able to analyze nearby chemicals and detect traces of those chemicals in the environment. This is used to track Gordon’s particular brand of tobacco and Boles’ bourbon, both as trails to rescue James Gordon.
Also in Arkham Asylum, Detective Mode is shown to be able to zone in on almost invisible details and highlight them. When Batman notes that Harley Quinn travels everywhere through handsprings and parkour, he is able to highlight her fingerprints to follow her trail.
In Arkham City, we see Batman use Detective Mode to track the trajectory of firearms. Once when Joker uses an automated sniper rifle and several times when Deadshot has murdered political prisoners. This allows Batman to discover additional clues.
Detective Mode is used to analyze crime scenes, highlighting blood spatter and other details that might be out of place. They help with biological, chemical, and other scans that would otherwise take lab equipment to complete.
In Arkham Origins, Detective Mode is able to use the augmented reality to recreate the conditions and events of crime scenes after they have gone cold. Unfortunately, despite this game taking place in the past, this ability did not carry over even though it was neat. It might be considered non-canon because that particular game was made by a different studio. Either that or Batman chose to rely on his own deductive reasoning skills in the future.
By the time of the events of Arkham City, new methods had been invented that were able to scramble Detective Mode. This was caused by signal jammers that were able to block Batman’s connection with the batcomputer back at the batcave and thus killing the analytical computations the system needs.
Batarangs – All Games and DLCs
The batarang is the most iconic gadgets in Batman’s arsenal across not only the Arkham games but across the comic books and all adaptations. The variation used in the Arkham games is more like a blunt boomerang than the shuruken variation sometimes depicted in other adaptations. The batarang is primarily used to solve puzzles. The batarang can be used to hit switches that are otherwise difficult or inconvenient for Batman to press.
However, the batarang can also be used in combat. A quick-thrown batarang can be used to give combatants pause as they approach Batman. This helps make sure that Batman is not overwhelmed by combat. Batarangs can also knock out combatants who have already received enough damage.
Remote Batarang
The remote Batarang is a variant similar to what is shown in the film Batman Returns. Batman throws the batarang and then is able to control its trajectory via remote control sort of like a simple drone. This is primarily used to hit switches that are outside of Batman’s field of view. However, flying the Remote Batarang through sparking electricity can allow the batarang to carry that charge to the target. This is used to activate or overload electrical circuits.
Sonic Batarang
The Sonic Batarang is a variation that has a device embedded inside of it that makes noise. Throwing this batarang at the environment causes it to remain stationary and emit a pulsing noise. This is used to lure enemies to the location of the batarang, usually so Batman can ambush them on his terms. They can also be detonated with concussive force when enemies get close to them.
Reverse Batarang
The Reverse Batarang is primarily designed for hostage situations. It is tutorialized in the games with scenes where a villain is using somebody as a human shield. Batman throws this batarang past his target and its trajectory curves back toward Batman, hitting his target in the back of the head. Because the Reverse Batarang requires a little time to aim, it is not usually used in combat.
Cape Glider – All Games and DLCS
An iconic image is Batman gliding through the night air using his cape. This provides both a tactical use and theatrical imagery used to frighten low-level villains. In Arkham Asylum, it used to primarily in platforming puzzles. However, in subsequent games it is a primary form of travel around the maps since it is far faster than running around. Using aeronautical tricks, one can become very accurate and fast with gliding.
Gliding can also be used to take out combatants as Batman dives toward them and uses his full weight to knock them unconscious as he lands.
Cape Stun – All Games and DLCs
The cape is not just for flying. Batman is also able to use cape flourishes to momentarily stun opponents in close quarters combat. Using three successive cape stuns can also stun much larger opponents, giving Batman the edge he needs to take them out.
Grapnel Gun – All Games and DLCs
Of course, Batman was always going to have this gadget as it is a mainstay of the comic books and all adaptations. Batman spends a lot of his time on patrol, both swinging and gliding around. The gun launches a line that attaches to a surface before retracting the line. This launches Batman to new heights very quickly. The main combat use of this gadget is its use in swinging from vantage point to vantage point during more stealthy combat situations (Predator Mode).
Grapnel Boost – Arkham City, Arkham Knight, Arkham Origins
This is an augmentation to the normal grapnel gun which adds more oomph to Batman’s velocity when he is launched. This is primarily used in open maps to vault over the edge of a building or other object to glide more fluidly. Even though it appears in Arkham Origins, it was canonically developed shortly before the events of Arkham City.
As a rule, The Riddler tends to interject himself into Batman’s business, arrogantly believing that everything is about him even when the main plot is not about him. Spoiler: the main plot is never about him.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
The Riddler’s Introduction in the Arkham franchise comes in Arkham Asylum in the Intensive Treatment Center after Officer Boles kidnaps James Gordon. The Riddler is able to stop Batman’s progress in his pursuit of The Joker and Gordon by tapping into the communication channel Batman uses to communicate with Oracle. Naturally, the Riddler will only allow Batman to proceed if he solves a simple riddle. After solving the easy riddle and scanning a picture of Warden Sharpe, Batman is finally allowed to continue when a guard unlocks the door for him. After the initial interruption, the Riddler is relegated to an optional side mission. Batman will only hear from him through his running commentary as riddles are solved and collectibles are collected.
Batman continues to work on The Riddler’s various challenges and eventually comes close to 100% completion. The Riddler is at first impressed that Batman is solving so many of his riddles but as it keeps happening, The Riddler instead accuses Batman of cheating. The Riddler is so arrogant and self-deluded that anybody beating him must not be playing fair. When the last riddle is solved, we find out what Batman has been up to during the hunt for all of these Riddler challenges. He has been using The Riddler’s broadcast to pinpoint Nygma’s location. As The Riddler is astonished and outraged that Batman has beaten all of his challenges, the police burst in to arrest The Riddler as Batman listens.
ARKHAM CITY
The Riddler has also been exiled to Arkham City and takes advantage of Batman’s appearance in the area to try and enact his revenge. Sometime after Batman freed Aaron Cash’s medical team in the church, Batman is alerted when overhearing a TYGER transmission stating that the church is now empty. When Batman arrives at the church, he finds that the medical intervention team has been abducted. The Riddler’s smug face is projected onto a screen allowing him to taunt Batman. He gives Batman an easy riddle which leads the Dark Knight to scan the church’s old organ.
This prompts the Riddler to reveal that the first of his captives is in the Solomon Wayne Courthouse. When Batman rescues the police officer there, he is given an “enigma machine”, a device with various tumblers. He is also given a radio frequency that he can used to contact The Riddler. Contacting the frequency activates the machine and presents Batman with a pre-programmed simple riddle answered with a single word. Solving the riddle reveals the location of the next Riddler captive. This is the rhythm of Riddler’s storyline. Each rescue gives a chance at the coordinates for the next rescue. However, you have to solve a certain threshold of riddles to activate the Enigma Machine.
Each rescue begins with Batman arriving at the coordinates and breaking down a false wall that leads to a door into a warehouse structure. Inside each of these lairs, there is a death trap gauntlet that Batman must travel through using timing and the gadgets he has at his disposal. These elaborate obstacle courses teach a finer degree of skill with the controls and thinking on your feet. One of these rescues is actually a giant shell game that is comically easy to complete.
After Batman is able to rescue all five captives throughout the night, The Riddler angrily declares that the game is not over. He will capture more people and create an even deadlier deathtrap to finally kill Batman. The Riddler boasts that Batman will not find where he is hiding the rest of the captives which will give him plenty of time to think of his next move. When Batman is able to solve all of The Riddler’s challenges, Oracle contacts him. She was able to cross-reference the property sale information for where the death traps have been. He finds that they were all purchased through The Broker, a real estate agent who locates lairs and safehouses for villains. There is a fifth yet undiscovered property within the bounds of Arkham City and that must be where The Riddler is hiding.
After getting the address from Barbara, Batman goes to rescue the rest of the guards and medical personnel. He finds them in a warehouse where The Riddler has them hooked up to a machine that makes them continuously walk in a loop without stopping. The exhausted captives are also strapped with explosives. In case Batman shows up, the captives also have helmets on with headlamps and motion sensors that will set off the bombs. Batman has to sneak past the captives without getting into their or The Riddler’s sightlines. Batman attacks The Riddler through some weak floorboards and deactivates the machine and the bombs. For fun, police officer Aaron Cash rigs The Riddler up to the machine to make him walk for a while all while threatening him with the explosives. The explosives are not actually active but The Riddler does not know it. After that, Aaron Cash takes The Riddler as his prisoner back to the church as they wait for rescue.
This is a full post-game DLC story that takes place quite sometime after the main plot of Arkham City. It helps to bridge the gap between Arkham City and Arkham Knight. It also allows for the exploration of Harley Quinn, a very popular yet underutilized character. During this adventure, you play as both Robin (Tim Drake) and Batman (Bruce Wayne).
You start the game playing as Robin who arrives outside of Harley Quinn’s hideout. Robin and Oracle (Barbara Gordon) speak briefly over comms and Barbara confirms that she still has not heard from Batman. She is worried because Batman is not in a normal head space after… but she trails off. The conversation turns to Harley and how she is amassing a crew and preparing for a siege. She is up to something big. Batman’s signal is coming from inside. Robin infiltrates the hideout as Barbara asks him to be careful.
Robin fights and sneaks his way through Harley’s hideout, eliminating her goons as he goes. Along the way, he finds that Harley has several Gotham City police officers held hostage. She has them out in a big open space. There is still no sign of Batman. However, Harley clearly has a plan for the cops which cannot be a good thing. However, Robin resolves to keep looking for Batman as the cops seem safe for the time being if Harley needs them.
Barbara worries about Batman too as he is off his game and refuses to even talk about Talia or Joker. Robin promises he will find Batman and that they will help him deal with everything. After fighting a few more goons, Robin finds Batman’s discarded utility belt. Barbara begs Tim to answer as he is momentarily speechless.
We flash back to two days earlier. Commissioner Jim Gordon has set up a perimeter around Harley’s hideout. Batman arrives and Gordon tells him that Harley’s goons ambushed several of his cops and dragged them inside. Batman says that he will deal with it but Gordon asks if he is sure since Harley blames Batman for Joker’s death. It could be a trap. Batman tells Gordon to have his men fall back and let Batman deal with it.
Batman stealthily takes out the goons outside of the steel mill hideout and then makes his way inside. One of the cop hostages is dangling on a crane inside. Batman fights off the horde of henchmen taunting the cop and lowers the crane to free the officer. Batman travels through the hideout, tracking the hostages to a previously unused high-security portion of the steel mill. Batman saves another cop but Harley herself reveals herself. She is dressed in mourning with her makeup showing signs of crying as it drips down her face. She aims at the cop and fires but Batman takes the bullet for the police officer. The heavy ammunition knocks Batman unconscious and Harley tells her goons to grab Batman. As her henchmen drag Batman away, they fiddle with his utility belt which sets off a defense mechanism so they leave it. The utility belt activates a homing signal.
Robin picks up and stows Batman’s utility belt. He tells Barbara that he thinks that he is close to finding Batman when she worriedly questions him. In the next room, Robin finds Batman locked in a bulletproof glass globe in a giant statue of the Joker. Robin sets about investigating the robotic statue’s mechanism to see how to release the unconscious Batman.
Robin is missing a key and he decides that Harley must have it. It is time to confront Harley directly. He faces off against Harley and several of her henchmen, wary of Harley’s high-caliber gun (the one that took Batman out). Through stealth, he is able to corner Harley and grab the key off of her before leaving her tied up and dangling off of a ledge. Robin returns to Batman but must fight through even more henchmen (including a Titan-infused goon).
Robin finally releases Batman who regains consciousness and accepts his utility belt. Always selfless, Batman asks Robin about the cops who Robin has not rescued yet. Harley interrupts over the public address system and tells them not to worry about the cops. They will be dead soon as will the dynamic duo. She then reveals a giant bomb. Batman will handle the bomb while Robin saves the cops. Batman deactivates several bombs until he runs into Harley back in front of the Joker statue. She activates several robots (obviously salvaged from Wonder City) that are painted to resemble the Joker. The robots attack Batman as Harley launches rockets at Batman.
As Batman defeats the robots, Harley reveals that the final bomb is inside the heart of the Joker statue. Batman takes her by surprise and takes the detonator from her. However, it is too late. Outside of the building, we see Jim Gordon start to rush the building when it explodes, sending him to the ground singed but alive. Batman appears with Harley and both of them are fine. Harley tells Batman that he should have left her to die. At least then she would be reunited with the Joker. She breaks down into sobbing hysterics and Batman asks Gordon where Robin is. Gordon thought Robin was with Batman. They look back at the building which is a deadly inferno.
Harley asks Batman if it hurts and Batman turns on her furious and asks what she did. Now Batman knows how she feels. As Batman turns to watch the building burn, Harley draws a dagger and attacks Batman from behind. Gordon goes in for the save but he is too far away. A projectile hits Harley and then returns to its owner. It is a birdarang. Robin appears with the cops in tow. Robin is fine and the cops are a little injured but fine. Batman declares that he is done there and swings off into the night. Gordon asks Robin if Batman is doing alright. Robin covers for Batman but does so while turning away, not quite believing it himself.
Batman: Arkham City had two purchasable DLCs that were included in subsequent versions of the game. The DLC allows the player to play as Catwoman within the same Arkham City setting as the main game. With the DLC purchased and installed correctly, the Catwoman portions are played seamlessly in line with the Batman portions so that you are basically taking Catwoman breaks from the Batman portions. If you recall my rundown of the main plot of Arkham City, Catwoman interacts with Batman twice during the story. Batman saves her from Two-Face early in the game and then Catwoman saves Batman from the rubble of the steel mill late in the game. This DLC expands Catwoman’s story so that the player can see some of what she was up to the rest of the night. The feel of her story and gameplay feels different from Batman’s while still fitting well into the world.
Part 1
Catwoman’s story begins with a bunch of Two-Face’s henchmen hanging out in his former campaign office. One of these thugs pulls at a painting on the wall and is amused that it swings open and reveals a safe. One of his buddies tells him to leave it alone as Two-Face would kill him for touching it. The topic of conversation then turns to the rumors that Batman has entered Arkham City. The main crook dismisses the idea as it makes no sense that Batman would come to Arkham City. His reasoning is probably that since they are all already incarcerated, there is nowhere else for the crooks to be sent.
When a window breaks, the already-spooked criminals call out that it must be Batman. However, the crooks realize their mistake as Catwoman strolls into the room and announces her presence. She engages in hand-to-hand combat with six henchmen going up against one Catwoman. Catwoman easily mops the floor with the thugs, of course. With all of her obstacles unconscious, Catwoman approaches the safe and cracks it with ease. She gets what she came for which is a chip loaded with building plans for Arkham City. As she loads the program on her phone, Two-Face presses a gun against her temple and takes her prisoner. He takes her to the courthouse and ties her above a vat of acid which is where Batman first encounters her in the game.
Part 2
With Batman off chasing after The Joker, Catwoman goes about her own mission which is retrieving the loot confiscated from her when she was captured and brought to Arkham City. She uses the map to locate the confiscated goods storage and cases outside of it. The metal door is impressive so Catwoman tries to decide how to bypass it. She contemplates getting Killer Croc to rip the door apart or asking Penguin for explosives but decides that she needs a woman’s touch. She decides to try and recruit Poison Ivy to her mission.
First, Catwoman needs to stop by her apartment to grab her gear. There is no way she is going to survive Arkham City without all of her tricks. When she makes her way over to her apartment, she discovers that Two-Face has sent henchmen to watch the place in case she returned. Catwoman easily takes out the thugs barring her way and sneaks into her apartment to replenish her gear including caltrops and bolas. With that done, Selina heads toward Ivy’s lair. She is able to get past some men mind-controlled into acting as guards.
Once inside, Catwoman is confronted by Poison Ivy who is still angry that Catwoman killed some flowers. Selina offers to replace the flowers but that is obviously not the point and Ivy attacks. She unleashes mind-controlled henchmen from the other gangs to fight Catwoman. Selina must also contend with Ivy’s plants and the lair filling up with poisonous spores that threaten to turn Catwoman into a plant. Catwoman is eventually able to get through to Ivy and it is revealed that Catwoman failed to water Ivy’s rare flowers. There is only one left. It is sealed in the confiscated goods vault. That works out perfectly as that’s where Catwoman wants to break into.
Part 3
Catwoman travels back across Arkham City and makes her way to a manhole and into the sewers. Ivy’s plants have tunneled into Strange’s vault allowing Catwoman to get to a security office inside of the building. She analyses the security through the computer and finds that the vault requires three security keys to open. She goes around the confiscated goods warehouse to pickpocket TYGER guards for their key cards. Once she unlocks the vault, that alerts the guards that something is up. There was no scheduled opening for the vault and it takes three of them to open it so clearly things are not going correctly. Catwoman takes out the guards stealthily and then makes her way into the vault.
Once inside, Catwoman finds her loot in two briefcases. She also finds Ivy’s special flower and smashes it for tying her up in vines and trying to kill her. Of course, this breaks the deal she made with Ivy. When she opens one of the briefcases, Professor Strange announces her presence over the PA system. Catwoman realizes that this has been a trap. Selina has to fight more TYGER guards in order to escape the vault. As she leaves the vault with her briefcases, an announcement declares that Batman is down. Selina looks and sees Batman’s prone body on camera pinned under rubble. She has to decide whether to abandon her loot and save Batman or just escape. You can choose to just leave but that results in an instant game over. Instead, Catwoman decides to save Batman and that leads to their second main story interaction.
Part 4
After the main plot is over, Catwoman decides to grab whatever loot is left in her apartment and escape the crumbling Arkham City. She arrives at her apartment but as she tries to enter the window, a bomb goes off inside her apartment which sends her flying. She wakes up to another fistfight with Two-Face’s goons and learns that Two-Face robbed her as revenge. Catwoman learns that he has taken over the Gotham Museum following Penguin’s defeat. She heads into the museum to get her property back.
She makes her way carefully through the museum which has now fully melted following the recovery of Mr. Freeze’s technology. This makes it more time-consuming but still easy to traverse the flooded museum. Catwoman finds Two-Face who has his goons and a rocket launcher. Taking out Two-Face reveals that his obsession led to him only taking half of her loot and giving the rest away to his men. Annoyed, Catwoman takes her loot back from him and then escapes the museum. She then has to spend time tracking down and beating up Two-Face henchmen to get the rest of her gems back. With all of her loot returned, Catwoman then presumably escapes Arkham City. (In-game you are allowed to wander around as Catwoman at this point)
The side missions in the Arkham games are called Gotham’s Most Wanted. There are no side missions in Arkham Asylum (except for The Riddler) so we will be jumping straight to Arkham City.
Acts of Violence (Political Prisoners)
Arkham City started as a place to put Gotham’s criminals as a convenient place for the League of Shadows to execute them all. This is part of the League of Shadows ongoing mission to cleanse Gotham City of sin. The secondary purpose of Arkham City was a place to throw political prisoners who somehow got in the way of the first purpose. The idea was that either the criminals would kill these people almost immediately or they would be in a convenient place to kill them later. Other than the backstory, there is not much story to this mission. Scattered across Arkham City you can find political prisoners being bullied and threatened by criminals. If you keep an ear out, you can find these interactions in alleyways. You can listen to a bit of the dialogue between the two characters which fills in some of the dynamics between the two groups. In all of these encounters, Batman easily takes out the criminal which allows the political prisoner to cower in safety.
AR Training
Early in the game, Alfred tasks you with completing training using augmented reality images. The training is a tutorial that teaches you how to better glide and maneuver while gliding. The first set of missions’ completion rewards you with a grapnel boost gadget. The grapnel boost allows Batman to catapult himself into the air in order to traverse the large map more easily Alfred drops the tech off using the Batwing (which he also uses to drop off the Batsuit in the main story). The second set of challenges just nets you some more XP but it also teaches you more advanced techniques of movement in the air.
Fragile Alliance (Bane)
One of the first major side missions that you can access. On the way to Joker’s hideout in the steel mill for the first time, Batman is momentarily distracted by a distress signal coming from nearby. There is a commotion outside of the half-flooded Krank Toys Factory. A group of inmates seems to be trying to break in. Curious, Batman heads over and takes out the goons in front of the factory. Inside the factory. Batman encounters Bane who he last saw when he fought him and then hit him with the Batmobile. (See Arkham Asylum’s main story). Bane claims to have come down from his exposure to Titan and now wants to destroy the stuff. He tells Batman that there are twelve canisters that were smuggled to various areas of Arkham City. They will split the list in half and he tasks Batman with destroying six canisters.
Batman slowly locates the canisters as he unlocks new areas of Arkham City. He destroys the canisters using his remote explosive gel. Once he is done, Batman returns to Krank Toys to meet up with Bane. Bane congratulates Batman on holding up his end of the bargain. Bane then reveals that instead of destroying his canisters, he hoarded them and Batman has ensured that Bane now has the only supply left. Before Batman can react, the place is invaded by gang members and he is forced to team with Bane to prevent them from getting the Titan. Afterward, Batman declares that Bane will not get the Titan either. He tricks Bane into charging and traps him in a broken elevator. Batman makes Bane watch as he blows up the remaining canisters one by one.
Cold Call Killer (Victor Zsasz)
If you poke around the industrial district enough, you will eventually discover a dead body leaning against a pay phone. A bit later, Batman starts hearing various pay phones ringing. If he picks up the phone, he hears the voice of serial killer Victor Zsasz who had a small cameo in Asylum. Victor has been murdering people who answer the phone. When Batman answers the phone, Zsasz will taunt him and challenge him to reach another ringing phone before time runs out. If Batman does not arrive in time, somebody else might answer the phone and get killed by Zsasz. When Batman reaches the phone in time, Zsasz starts rambling which allows Batman time to try to track his location.
After a few cycles of this, Batman is able to locate Zsasz’s lair. On arrival, it is clear that Victor has hostages and also that he has thought ahead and locked himself inside a panic room of sorts. In fact, he has been keeping his hostages in cages meant for medium-sized dogs. Batman must take a more circuitous route through the flooded warehouse in order to get to a weak point in the panic room. Batman frees the hostages and leaves Zsasz in one of his own dog cages.
Identity Theft (Hush)
Batman stumbles upon a dead body in an alleyway of Arkham City. In the chaos of the gang wars, murders are unfortunately not unknown but this one was different because the entire face of the victim had been removed. This looks like the modus operandi of the killer that the newspapers had dubbed The Identity Thief. Batman finds evidence at three similar crime scenes. He interrogates a political prisoner saying that the murderer looked like Bruce Wayne. He finds Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints on a scalpel. Finally, he discovers a thug hired to clean up one of the crime scenes who tells him that Bruce Wayne was the murderer. As the evidence against Wayne mounts, Batman and Oracle grow concerned. Batman thinks that he is innocent of the murders but can’t be certain since Joker’s infection has caused an altered state. Batman vows to get to the bottom of it.
When Batman tracks down the lair of the Identify Thief, he is trapped behind bars. He is confronted by Bruce Wayne. Well, somebody who looks exactly like Bruce Wayne after surgery. The man introduces himself as Thomas Elliott, an old friend of Bruce Wayne’s. Elliott explains that he wants revenge on Wayne for what his father Thomas Wayne did. Thomas Wayne saved Tommy’s parents after a car crash, preventing Tommy from inheriting their money. Tommy sat by and watched as his pal Bruce’s parents died and Bruce inherited so much money. Tommy believed that should have been hs life too. He wants revenge.
As a professional surgeon, Tommy signed up for a medical mission to Arkham City. He had identified victims whose facial features he could fit together like a puzzle to recreate Wayne’s face. He also replicated Wayne’s fingerprints. In fact, early in the game, Batman encountered him without knowing it. In the church, there was a patient with heavy bandages on his head. When Elliott had cut off his own face, it had overwhelmed him and he needed assistance for some time. Eventually, he was able to finish the procedure and give himself Wayne’s face. He introduces himself as Hush. He walks away and by the time Batman gets free of the trap, Hush is long gone. Batman makes a note with Oracle to keep the file open.
Heart of Ice (Nora Fries)
After Batman defeats Mr. Freeze, he learns that the body of Nora Fries is in possession of The Joker as a way to force his cooperation. Victor Fries implores Batman to find his wife and gives Batman a vague area to look into based on his own deductions. Freeze couldn’t make a move to locate her for fear that Joker would pull the plug on Nora. Batman is able to sneak into the warehouse where Nora’s cryostasis pod is being kept and fights off the thugs keeping her hostage. He informs Freeze of the whereabouts of his wife. Freeze creates a path in the water to reunite with Nora. When Batman finds Freeze brooding near his wife’s tank later, Batman encourages the villain to turn away from crime and focus on his wife.
Hot and Cold (Furnace)
When Batman infiltrates the Steel Mill for the last time, he discovers Harley Quinn who has been taped to a pole and gagged. This had been done by Talia al Ghul in an effort to try and assist Batman. When Batman ungags her, she tells him that she definitely won’t talk and especially about Mr. Freeze’s stolen tech that she hid in the boiler room. (You can re-gag Harley at this point). Batman heads down to the boiler room where a bunch of Joker henchmen is hanging out. When they are defeated, it reveals an upgrade to Freeze’s ice grenade gadget which helps Batman with crowd control.
The Tea Party (Mad Hatter)
After Batman saves Vicki Vale after her helicopter crash in the main story, Batman does not notice Jervis Tetch aka the Mad Hatter watching him from close by. Alfred contacts Batman and tells him that they have been able to develop a cure. He directs Batman to a nearby roof where he will be airdropping the cure from the Batwing. Batman arrives at the coordinates and injects the cure into his bloodstream. He promptly passes out. When he wakes up, he has been captured and restrained by The Mad Hatter. Hatter explains that he implanted Batman with a remote hypnotic suggestion that would lead him to inject himself with a hypnotic drug. Thankfully, Hatter has no idea what Batman saw and heard that convinced him. Tetch gives Batman his very own special hat (a strange mask) that will put him further in Hatter’s control. Batman begins to fight against the mind control and brawls with Hatter’s henchmen and Hatter while he does. He eventually breaks free and crushes Hatter’s hat which stops any and all mind control. He leaves Hatter and his henchmen unconscious at their little tea party.
Remote Hideaway (Remote Mine Detonator)
Sometime after Batman clears the Museum of Penguin’s thugs, the undercover cops have made the Iceberg Lounge their base of operations. They seal off the club in order to protect themselves as they wait for more orders. When Batman visits them, they give him an upgrade for his disruptor gadget allowing him to remotely detonate mines. This removes them as an obstacle to certain areas.
Watcher in the Wings (Azrael)
Throughout the game, Batman can find a strange cloaked man watching him from a high vantage point. When Batman draws close, this man cryptically states that “we” have been watching Batman and also talks about whether Batman is ready or not. Four times Batman finds him and each time, the man leaves a strange symbol carved by a gauntlet-mounted energy blade. Batman is able to scan all four symbols, combine them, and then use them as a key to the map of Gotham to find a fifth location. In the church cemetery, Batman finds a fifth symbol that summons the watcher. The watcher introduces himself as Azrael, lone servant of the Order of Dumas. He brings a message of a prophecy that a fire will rise from Arkham and Gotham and Batman will burn. Batman dismisses this as a fairytale and Azrael says they will meet again.
Shot in the Dark (Deadshot)
After Batman exits the Steel Mill for the first time, he spots a distress flare on top of the partially flooded buildings and hears somebody shouting for help over the radio. He arrives to find a frantic political prisoner who tells Batman that he is being hunted. Before Batman can get him to elaborate, a sniper shot kills the prisoner. Batman uses his cowl to determine the trajectory of the bullet. He follows the bullet back to the logical firing position and concludes that due to the distance of the shot, the only one who could have made it is Deadshot. This is confirmed when Batman finds a custom shell casing with Deadshot’s name engraved on it. This makes sense as Bruce Wayne encountered Floyd Lawton in inmate clothing at the very beginning of the game.
Over the course of the game, Batman finds two more political prisoner victims of Deadshot. Forensic examination of the firing positions reveals Deadshot had come in contact with a specific lead paint and a specific brand of plastic. This information allows Batman and Oracle to narrow down where Deadshot might be going in between kills. Prying off the cover of a utility access point reveals a little cubby where Deadshot is stashing extra gear. Luckily, he left behind a PDA that Batman is able to hack. Batman finds that Deadshot has been hired to murder political prisoners. There are only three names left on the list: reporter Jack Ryder, billionaire Bruce Wayne, and Batman. Batman rushes to save Jack Ryder’s life and then fights Deadshot and imprisons him in a broken-down cable car.
Last time in Arham Games: The League of Shadows engineered a plan to wall off the Gotham slums in order to murder the criminals of Gotham. Batman pulled triple duty by facing off with the criminals of Gotham, a government-contracted militia, and a fatal blood poisoning gifted to him from The Joker. It ended with the death of Hugo Strange, Ra’s Al Ghul, and The Joker himself. We left Batman emerging from the iconic Monarch Theater, cradling Joker’s dead body as authorities (and Harley Quinn) look on.
Eight years prior to the events of Arkham Asylum, the city of Gotham is rife with crime. The days of the mafioso are waning and the first supervillains are emerging. The police force and government, in general, are horribly corrupt.
The game begins on Christmas Eve and a riot has broken out in Blackgate Prison. Somebody has broken into the prison on the night that Julian Day aka “The Calendar Man” is set to be executed. Batman has arrived uninvited to help with the crisis even though he is a target of police investigation himself. He infiltrates the prison which is spiraling into chaos as several inmates are already free. Batman rescues Warden Joseph only to have to fend off the Warden’s attack as well. He moves on after declaring that he is there to help.
Batman hurries further into the prison, close on the heels of the intruding force. It becomes clear that Black Mask has arrived with Killer Croc who is the muscle allowing him to bypass security. Batman struggles to keep up with the villains as he is forced to stop to fight escaped inmates in order to rescue guards and reporter Vicki Vale. Along the way, he also spots a drone following the path of destruction. Another mystery. Croc eventually destroys the drone much to Black Mask’s annoyance as he wanted the drone to be studied. Batman is able to recover the drone’s data storage before moving on. He arrives at the gas chamber just in time to watch Black Mask force Police Commissioner Loeb to take Calendar Man’s place in the execution. Batman is too late to save Loeb’s life.
Batman chases Black Mask and Killer Croc to the roof where a helicopter is waiting to whisk Black Mask and his men away. Killer Croc smells Batman’s scent and decides to remain behind to fight the Dark Knight. Batman fights Croc in close quarters on the roof as the helicopter keeps depositing Black Mask’s men to aid Croc. Of course, the murderous giant has no regard for Black Mask’s men and is just as likely to hurt them as he is to hurt Batman. As Batman defeats Killer Croc, the helicopter retreats as the GCPD approaches. Batman interrogates Croc who is smugly confident that Batman is screwed since “they” are coming for him. The police rush the roof and Batman comes face to face with Detective Jim Gordon for the first time. Batman avoids arrest by jumping off the roof so the Batwing can swoop in and allow his escape.
Batman quickly returns to the Batcave and he and Alfred access the chip he retrieved from the downed drone from Blackgate. He searches the footage and finds tape of a meeting held by Black Mask as he puts out a bounty for eight of the world’s deadliest assassins. The first is Killer Croc who Batman has already beaten into submission and remanded to police custody. There are still seven assassins out there, hunting for Batman for a $50 million bounty. Those assassins are Deathstroke, Bane, Lady Shiva, Deadshot, Electrocutioner, and Firefly. Alfred implores Batman to just spend Christmas Eve at Wayne Manor with Alfred. No Batman means no bounty. Batman points out that the assassins will simply harm innocents to draw Batman out and he cannot live with that. He sets out to figure out where Black Mask is to put an end to it.
Batman has a lead on an illegal arms sale that is linked to the brand of drone that infiltrated the prison. He flies off toward The Bowery to stake out the sale but the Batwing’s navigation systems are scrambled. It seems that somebody has hijacked the proprietary technology that Batman has attached to radio towers throughout the city. Batman is forced to land at one of the towers and make his way to the top to investigate the interference. Several thugs are protecting the tower. Batman easily defeats these criminals, saving repairmen who have been taken as hostages. As he flushes the hacker’s presence from the tower’s systems, he comes face to screen with a mysterious man who has plans to release the secret information of officials throughout Gotham on Christmas Day to cause a societal collapse. He warns Batman against interfering.
Batman travels to make it to the arms sale and stakes it out. He interrupts the sale and beats up and interrogates the seller, Ricky “Loose Lips” LeBlanc who unwittingly sells out The Penguin as his boss. He tries to figure out the location of Penguin’s hideout but is forced to hack into three of Penguin’s listening posts to help triangulate his position. He figures out that Penguin is set up on an old cruise ship that Penguin had renamed The Final Offer where his normally illegal deals are legal due to a maritime law loophole. Batman makes his way down into the ship and finds that Penguin has built a black market and is hosting a fight club. Batman interrupts the fights only to come face to face with the second assassin, Lester Buchinsky aka “The Electrocutioner”.
And then the Electrocutioner gets dropped.
The Penguin retreats and Batman must chase Penguin and his assistants Candy and Tracey through the labyrinthine ship. Batman fights through the derelict ship, taking out any criminals he can find. The Penguin has been selling arms to some of the assassins. Along the way, Batman finds out that Penguin is feuding with the Falcone family, the oldest mobster family in Gotham. Penguin has taken advantage of the conflict between the Falcones and Black Mask, using the opportunity to oust Falcone from power. He has captured mob boss Carmine Falcone’s son Alberto who he is torturing in his office. Batman interrupts this torture and starts trying to interrogate Penguin who lets slip a comment about a murder at Lacey Towers.
Batman’s questioning of Penguin is interrupted by the arrival of Deathstroke who challenges Batman to a fight he cannot refuse. The battle with Deathstroke is fast and furious as Deathstroke is a master at combat. He comes at Batman with a bo staff, a katana, his rifle, and a special remote claw device that he uses to launch propane tanks at Batman. The two fight hard but Batman finally knocks Deathstroke unconscious with his own sword. Penguin had been watching the fight but immediately locks himself away when the fight concludes. Batman is forced to leave The Final Offer, begrudgingly satisfied that he beat two more assassins and saved Alberto Falcone from possible murder. He also has the lead of a crime scene to investigate at the Lacey Towers apartment building.
Batman arrives at the apartment crime scene and finds two dead bodies. The first is a woman known to be a mistress of Roman Sionis aka The Black Mask. The other dead body is wearing the outfit of The Black Mask. This seems to be where the police were satisfied and stopped investigating. Batman looks further and finds evidence that helps him reconstruct the events of the struggle. The mistress arrived at the safehouse, rattled by a criminal known only as The Joker. She was murdered and hung from the chandelier as a psychological message. Black Mask suspected that his mistress’ call may have been a trap and sent in a decoy who was promptly murdered. Black Mask then attacked the intruder but lost the fight.
Batman has never heard of this mysterious Joker before and, after discussing his options with Alfred, decides to infiltrate GCPD headquarters to access their national criminal database. Batman makes his way inside, knowing that he has to be stealthy as alerting the whole cop shop would end badly for him. The headquarters are in disarray after the murder of Commissioner Loeb with SWAT lieutenant Branden representing the bloodthirsty and corrupt faction within the police.
Batman listens in to a conversation between James Gordon and his visiting daughter Barbara Gordon. In the server room, Barbara surprises Batman and reveals that she is a fan of his and helps him hack the server. She also reveals that he will need to access the data line in the sewers beneath to gain permanent access. Batman is discovered in the building and Branden rushes with his men to kill Batman for Black Mask’s bounty. Gordon intervenes, wanting to arrest Batman instead. In the heat of the standoff, Batman saves Gordon from being killed by Branden and his men and flees.
Batman makes his way down to the sewers where he finds that Black Mask has a personal vault at Gotham Merchant Bank only accessible with Black Mask’s biometrics. Batman deduces that this is where Joker took the criminal kingpin. Batman rushes to the bank and the heist is in progress. The bank is full of the dead bodies of its employees. Batman encounters Black Mask who has the bank manager captive. The bank manager has a horrible, uncomfortable grin on her face. Black Mask postures and then is disappointed that people are not playing along. He brings out the captive Roman Sionis (the real Black Mask). The fake Black Mask unmasks to reveal The Joker, a murderous clown. He confirms Batman’s suspicions that he posed as Black Mask days earlier to place the bounty on Batman. He and his men grab Sionis and escape in an ambulance before setting off a bomb that destroys the vault. Batman examines the deceased bank manager who died from some sort of toxin.
Last time on Arkham games: Batman pursued the Joker through Arkham Asylum to stop a plan to spread a new enhanced version of Bane’s Venom to destroy Gotham. Batman fought through Bane, Scarecrow, Zsaz, and Harley Quinn while trying to get to the bottom of the bureaucratic corruption that allowed this all to happen. Batman faced a roided-out Joker and was able to take him out.
After the events of Arkham Asylum, the asylum is closed but former warden Quincy Sharpe was able to capitalize on the publicity of Batman’s victory to get voted in as mayor of Gotham City. He was able to push through a plan to wall off the Gotham slums and create something called Arkham City where all inmates would now be sent. Free of jail cells, criminals are free to engage in gang violence and crews from the outside are formed yet again. The Bowery is held by Penguin’s crew who is focused on accumulating useful technology and wealth. Park Row is controlled by Two-Face who is interested only in his own form of justice. The Joker’s gang holds the Industrial Park. He has used parts from nearby abandoned Amusement Mile to turn the factories into a twisted theme park. The whole thing is under the control of warden Hugo Strange and his private mercenary force, the Tyger guards.
Bruce Wayne publicly protests against the continued existence of Arkham City and in response he is arrested as a political prisoner. Wayne is pulled aside during intake to be interrogated by Hugo Strange. Strange reveals that he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman and that he will reveal that fact to the public should Batman try to interfere with his plans. He mentions that Protocol 10 will soon be in motion and that he does not have time to deal with Wayne. In fact, he claims that he will succeed where Batman has failed again and again. He releases Bruce into general population with the assumption that he will be killed by inmates. Bruce is immediately confronted by Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin, reawakening an old feud between their families. Bruce is able to get the better of Penguin’s thugs and escape. On a nearby roof, Alfred has the Batwing drop off the Batsuit and Bruce suits up.
Batman had been able to palm an encryption chip from a Tyger guard and taps into their communications. He finds that Two-Face has Catwoman captive at Solomon Wayne Courthouse and Batman rushes off to rescue her. If anybody knows what the lay of the land inside Arkham City is, it’s Catwoman. In the courthouse, Two-Face is putting Catwoman on trial and is about to execute her when Batman intervenes. Batman’s discussion with Catwoman is interrupted by sniper fire from outside with the bullet barely missing Catwoman. Batman tracks the trajectory of the bullet and finds that it originated in the nearby church bell tower.
When Batman enters the church, he is confronted by Harley Quinn who informs him that Joker is not up to seeing him and to stay away. She says something about having to go fetch a doctor for Mr. J before excusing herself. Batman makes easy work of Harley’s thugs and climbs the bell tower. There he finds that the sniper rifle was automated and Joker appears on several monitors to taunt Batman and detonate a bomb in the bell tower. Batman escapes easily and sets his cowl to track the signal Joker used to detonate the bomb. He tracks the signal down to the old Sionis Steel Mill which he infiltrates through the smokestack. As Batman makes his way through the building, it becomes evident that Joker has been kidnapping doctors but killing them when they cannot help him.
Batman confronts Joker and Harley who reveals that the wheelchair-bound Joker is dead. And then Joker is suddenly behind Batman and able to knock him out with gas. Batman wakes to find that Joker has given Batman a transfusion of the Joker’s own blood. That blood has become incredibly toxic thanks to Joker’s dalliance with Titan during the events of Arkham Asylum. Now both Joker and Batman are on a ticking clock and both will die if a cure is not found very soon. For additional motivation, Joker has shipped his blood to hospitals around Gotham to create a crisis that will also require a cure to solve. Batman guesses that this is Protocol 10 but Joker has never heard of it. Batman reluctantly agrees to track down Mr. Freeze who had been working on the cure for Joker. He locates Freeze’s lab at the abandoned Police Department but Freeze has already been kidnapped by Penguin’s goons. Penguin had his goons blow up the bridges that led to his territory to keep Joker’s forces out. He is holed up in the Museum and using military technology to keep even Batman out. After Batman disables that equipment, he enters the Museum.
Inside the museum, Batman discovers that Commissioner Gordon sent undercover cops into Arkham City to infiltrate the Penguin’s gang. These cops have been found out are being tortured and killed by Penguin and his gang. Moreover, Batman finds that Penguin has separated Freeze from his suit and is holding on to Freeze’s gun. Penguin is ruling over the inside of the Museum with an iron fist and taunts Batman constantly. Batman locates and frees Mr. Freeze who gives him a device to disable the freeze gun. Batman rescues what undercover cops he can and traverses the flooded and frozen museum. He quickly incapacitates Penguin who retaliates by unleashing a captive Solomon Grundy to crush Batman. The battle is brutal and ends with Grundy dying yet again.
Freeze informs Batman that the cure is not yet stable and the Batcomputer’s analysis revealed that the missing component could be formed from the blood of Ra’s Al Ghul. Luckily, Penguin had captured one of Talia Al Ghul’s elite guards. Batman releases the ninja and chases her across Gotham City and is able to place a tracking device on her. Batman descends into the sewers. There, he finds that Joker’s gang has been getting assault weapons from Hugo Strange as part of Protocol 10. The mystery of what Protocol 10 could be persists.
Batman tracks the signal to an abandoned, underground city from the 1800s called Wonder City. This small city had been ruled over by Ra’s back when he discovered the Lazarus Pit. Batman locates the inner sanctum of the League of Shadows where he is confronted by Talia, a woman who alternates between being his lover and enemy. Batman is offered the chance to take the trials of Ra’s Al Ghul. He drinks some of the liquid from the Lazarus Pit which rejuvenates him somewhat but also makes him enter a hallucination guided by Ra’s.
Ra’s constantly lectures Batman as he tests his abilities to glide and fight through a landscape that is part desert and part post-apocalyptic Gotham. When Batman is successful in passing a trial that nobody else has, Ra’s offers to make Batman his heir and offers him leadership of the League of Shadows. He also offers to allow Batman into the Lazarus Pit as a condition of that deal which will cure him of Joker’s poisonous blood. However, Batman knows that the pit will also drive him mad as it has done for everyone before him. Batman refuses the offer and must fight and incapacitate Ra’s to get his blood. Batman leaves a furious Talia to return her father to the Lazarus Pit to recover from his injuries.
After reaching the surface, Batman is sidetracked by a report that Mayor Quincy Sharp is in trouble and arrives to find Mayor Sharp getting his butt handed to him by some of Two-Face’s goons. After saving the mayor, Batman interrogates him about what is going on with Hugo Strange. Under duress, Sharp spills the beans and says that Arkham City was all Strange’s idea. Strange came to him with claims of powerful friends who could make Sharp mayor in return for creating Arkham City. Batman has already connected the dots and realizes that political prisoners in Arkham City are those who could have revealed parts of Strange’s plan. He is tying up loose ends. Batman briefly muses about who Strange’s powerful friends are.
Batman returns to the GCPD where Freeze is able to manufacture the cure. Freeze then locks a vial of the cure in his safe and destroys the second vial. He informs Batman that Joker had stolen Freeze’s wife Nora. Batman is forced to fight an attacking Mr. Freeze and barely beats him into submission. During the fight, Harley Quinn was able to retrieve the cure from the safe. Freeze apologizes for his rage and the fact that he does not have the material to produce any more of the cure anytime soon. Freeze begs Batman to find Nora. Batman sets out toward the Steel Mill again to retrieve the cure before Joker can use it. Before he gets very far, a helicopter carrying reporter Vicki Vale is shot down by The Joker. Batman must make a pitstop to rescue her before continuing on.
Batman fights through the Steel Mill yet again and arrives to find that Joker is back to future health and ready to fight Batman. At least, he’s ready for the fight since he has Batman vastly outnumbered. Batman must fight a prolonged fist fight against Joker and at least forty henchmen including a leftover Titan-infused henchman. Joker happily taunts Batman during the fight as Batman struggles to keep upright. Just as things look hopeless for Batman, Talia Al Ghul appears. She reveals that she stole the cure back from Harley and offers Joker immortality through the Lazarus Pit if he will leave Batman alive. Joker accepts and the two leave.
Unfortunately, that pesky Protocol 10 that Hugo Strange mentioned ten hours ago (in-game time) is enacted. Protocol 10 requires the Tyger guards to murder all of the inmates with missiles. That starts with a missile hitting the steel mill and knocking Batman and, presumably, Joker unconscious. Catwoman arrives and returns the favor from much earlier in the game and rescues Batman from under the debris.
Batman wants to save Talia from the Joker but Alfred and Barbara Gordon plead with him to resolve Protocol 10 and deal with the murderous Hugo Strange. If nothing is done, all of the inmates of Arkham City will die and Batman is obligated to save them. It is his code. Batman reluctantly infiltrates Strange’s headquarters and fights through a ton of Tyger guards. Strange taunts Batman and blames him for the creation of The Joker and other villains. Batman fights his way to the top of Wonder Tower far above the city where Strange is presiding over Protocol 10.
Batman is able to disable Strange’s defenses and confront the mad doctor. He tries to shame Strange with the sight of Arkham City on fire. Strange says that it is glorious and believes that the eradication of all of Gotham’s criminals is a righteous act. He plans to bring the plan to Keystone City and Metropolis and beyond. Batman easily physically overpowers Strange and allows Barbara Gordon to remotely disable Protocol 10. Strange rails against Batman and warns him that he has friends in high places, something Batman had guessed earlier. That friend suddenly reveals himself by stabbing Strange through the abdomen from behind. It is Ra’s Al Ghul who reveals that he set Strange against Batman to see which of them might be his heir. Strange did not succeed so he is inferior to Batman and is no longer useful. Batman pleads with Ra’s to get Strange medical help but Ra’s refuses. Strange activates Wonder Tower’s self-destruct device out of spite and Batman tackles Ra’s out of the window. Rather than accept Batman’s help, Ra’s allows himself to be impaled as he falls, leaving Batman to glide back down to Gotham’s rooftops.
Batman does not have much time to rest and reflect on the events of Wonder Tower and the deaths of two of his greatest enemies. Joker hacks into the monitors around Arkham City and taunts Batman, telling him that he has Talia at the Monarch Theater. Coincidentally, this is the theater young Bruce left with his family before his parents were murdered in front of him. Batman must make his way through an intricate setup of snipers to make it into the theater.
At this point, you may be wondering how Joker appeared healthy in the steel mill fight if Talia intercepted the cure. Stay tuned. Batman enters the theater and finds Joker with Talia at gunpoint. Batman keeps Joker talking but is surprised when Talia is able to stab Joker from behind, leaving him facedown on the floor. Batman is arguing with Talia about his code and the whole “no killing” thing when Talia is shot from behind and the cure rolls from her hand onto the floor. The shooter reveals himself and it is The Joker, looking like hell again. Batman looks over to see Joker still impaled on the floor. Talia is dead. Joker reveals that he used a double to keep up appearances both with his gang and to mess with Batman. The Joker double grabs the vial of cure and reveals himself to be Basil Karlo aka Clayface. Clayface turns into his clay form and Batman fights him using Talia’s sword to try to get the cure back.
After a long battle, Batman beats Clayface by freezing him with Mr. Freeze’s technology and knocks him into a Lazarus Pit, preventing Joke from using it. Batman retrieves the cure and drinks half of it. Joker berates Batman and states confidently that no matter what Joker did (killed many people, tortured and poisoned Batman, killed Batman’s lover, etc.) Batman will still save him. Batman tells the Joker how much he loathes him and how horrible the Joker is. The Joker attacks Batman and causes Batman to drop the cure which is quickly absorbed into the wooden floor. Batman insists that he had intended to save the Joker after all and Joker dies laughing that he has basically killed himself. Batman carries the Joker’s dead body out of the theater to the shock of onlookers.
Wolf of Words 