Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse has always been endearing as a spin-off/successor to Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s Batman: The Animated Series. Adopting many of its actors for their characters’ portrayals as well as the show’s excellent atmosphere, Batman: Arkham Asylum was also written by Dini. Dini would be one of the writers on Batman: Arkham City, too, but even though he didn’t help write Batman: Arkham Knight there are plain inspirations left and right throughout the trilogy that pay homage to storylines from the Caped Crusader’s most iconic animated series.
Batman: Arkham Knight’s narrative is highly divisive—almost as much as its Batmobile—and rightfully so. No future Arkham game was presumably intended to follow it until Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched nearly a decade later; Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight was easy to predict despite the character having never been referred to or seen in the franchise earlier; and Joker’s blood slowly turning infected individuals into the Clown Prince of Crime was a bold plotline. However, with the latter story beat now exhausted, it will be interesting to see what Rocksteady might achieve with a rumored Batman Beyond adaptation.
Batman: Arkham Knight is a Mild Retelling of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Bruce Wayne being infected by Joker’s blood in Batman: Arkham Knight—infected individuals slowly becoming Joker in general—is already a mild spin on Tim Drake unknowingly possessing Joker’s DNA in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which gives Joker control of him. Having played that hand to a degree, a take on Batman Beyond in the Arkhamverse would now need to get creative if it’s going to feature the Jokerz gang and, of course, a Joker.
The Joker being dead and now locked away in a Titan locker in the deepest recesses of Bruce’s subconscious should undeniably ensure that there is no way he could come back. Regardless of how thrilling and mysterious Return of the Joker is, it would be a gross retcon to somehow have him implanted into somebody or have his blood infecting someone else without Batman knowing it and needlessly double down on what Knight accomplished.
Attempting to exhume Joker will hopefully be avoided entirely due to the Arkhamverse’s overindulgence in the character, anyhow, and doing so should allow a possible Batman Beyond storyline to reinvent itself with as much originality as Rocksteady can muster.
The Arkhamverse is Ready for a New Batman in a New Era
Batman is such a ubiquitous and timeless character that it’s not surprising to see how successful and popular the Arkhamverse is. It would be outstanding if other DC characters were given a fraction of the attention Batman receives in video game adaptations, even if they too were a part of the Arkhamverse, but more Arkham games may be a silver lining no matter what. Playing as anyone besides Batman in the DC mythology now seems entirely unlikely given that Monolith’s Wonder Woman game is now canceled, but the rumor of a Batman Beyond game from Rocksteady would effectively be the next best solution.
Bruce Wayne finally cherishes his companions wholeheartedly and healthily in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, meaning that the idea of taking a new Batman under his wing probably won’t be far-fetched.
That said, the murder of Tim Drake would hopefully tarnish that brand-new side of Bruce and once again weigh on him in terms of recruiting yet another child into the Bat-family. A layup is lying in wait for Rocksteady if it takes the Batman Beyond storyline and merely adapts it to its established Arkhamverse lore, but how a Beyond game may tackle the same beats could be exciting with Joker no longer in the picture.
Batman: Arkham Knight
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 86 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- June 23, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Rocksteady Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Franchise
- Batman
