The Batman: Arkham series has lots and lots of characters. With a pool as deep and diverse as the Batman Family and his infamous rogues gallery, it's not surprising that developers wanted to include as many fan favorites as possible. Drawing inspiration from the comics, movies, and TV shows, Rocksteady's independent continuity is populated by dozens of unique takes on classic characters. Still, there are several heroes and villains that didn't quite make it past an in-game nod, at best. Here are 7 Batman characters that could have made amazing additions to the Arkhamverse.
Contains some mild spoilers for Arkham Knight.
1. Killer Moth
Alignment: Villain
Proposed Appearance: Arkham Asylum
Killer Moth kind of gets a bad rap for being goofy. And dressing in gaudy colors. And being obsessed with moths. But I see his potential! Although Killer Moth is a hard sell among Arkham's highly capable roster of villains, Drury Walker's alter-ego gets a brief nod in Asylum, where Batman can unlock his profile after scanning a "cocooned" corpse. Yikes.
Assuming Arkham's Killer Moth is less of a bumbling moron than his past iterations, developers could have upped the ante by using him as a secret boss in the Botanical Gardens. A Titan prototype using moth DNA could transform the hapless mercenary into his super-mutated form Charaxes, setting up an interesting fight between himself and the Dark Knight.
2. The Huntress
Alignment: Hero
Proposed Game: Arkham City
While we love Barbara Gordon (both as Batgirl and Oracle), she probably gets a little lonely being one of the only prominent female heroes in the Arkhamverse. That's where the Huntress comes in. Helena Bertinelli has been a long-time member of the Batman Family, but doesn't get nearly as much love as she deserves. While she earned a brief mention in Arkham City confirming her vigilante status in Gotham, we want to see the Huntress in action.
With her moral ambiguity and Mafia heritage, it wouldn't be a stretch for Quincy Sharp to have her arrested and sent to Arkham City. Once inside, she could pop in and out of the storyline, offering Batman some well-needed assistance and maybe even teaming up to crack some bad guy skulls.
3. The Great White Shark
Alignment: Villain
Proposed Game: Arkham City
Warren White was just your typical embezzling scumbag until he tried to get some legal leniency with an insanity plea, only to wind up in Arkham Asylum. After being attacked and driven to legitimate insanity by the other inmates, White became horrifically frostbitten and disfigured while locked in Mr. Freeze's cell.
While his missing nose, fingers, lips, and teeth are found preserved in Arkham Asylum, the dreaded Great White Shark never makes a true appearance in the games. As a master manipulator, White prefers to pull the strings of his criminal empire from within his cell. It would have been interesting to see how he'd deal with Arkham City erasing the distinction between the outside and inside worlds.
4. Batwoman
Alignment: Hero
Proposed Game: Arkham Knight
Wealthy? Trained in combat? Tragic backstory? No, I'm not talking about Batman. I'm talking about Kate Kane. Unlike Bruce, Kate built her foundation in combat while attending a military academy. After her commanding officer discovers she is a lesbian in a relationship with another student, she is forced to leave the school and returns to Gotham, where she eventually takes up the mantle of Batwoman.
Kane is heard on Bruce's answering machine in Arkham Knight, talking about her engagement to Maggie Sawyer and alluding to her secret identity. It would have been extremely cool if she appeared in-game as one of Batman's allies and a playable characters in the game's "Dual Play" feature, allowing you to switch between characters seamlessly during combat.
5. Spoiler
Alignment: Hero
Proposed Games: Arkham Origins, Arkham City, Arkham Knight
Within the comics, Stephanie Brown has assumed several identities. Before she had a shot at being Robin and then Batgirl, she was Spoiler. Angered by her father, the Cluemaster, returning to his life of crime, Stephanie took it upon herself to stop him by "spoiling" his plot through a series of elaborate clues. Though she's been in and out of the Batman Family, Stephanie was recently reintroduced in the New 52 back in her original role as the mysterious, but helpful Spoiler.
Though Cluemaster never appears in the Arkhamverse, he could have been incorporated as one of the assassins in Arkham Origins, serving as the inspiration for the pre-Riddler "Enigma" and giving a younger Stephanie the opportunity to counter her father's actions by leaving clues for Batman. She could make her first actual appearance as an ally in Arkham City, and then again in Arkham Knight. Between being mentored by Oracle and pursuing a relationship with Tim Drake, Arkhamverse's Spoiler could easily establish an actual place for herself within Batman Incorporated.
6. The Question
Alignment: Hero
Proposed Games: Arkham Origins (as Renee Montoya), Arkham City, and Arkham Knight (as the Question)
The Arkham series, while drawing from all kinds of Batman sources, is especially fond of the DC Animated Universe, even featuring many of the same voice actors. Detective Harvey Bullock has already appeared as a semi-corrupt cop (with some room for redemption), but Commissioner Gordon's other favorite officer from Batman: the Animated Series, Renee Montoya, never graces the Arkhamverse.
Origins could certainly use a straight (as in not crooked, not as in heterosexual; we all know Renee prefers the ladies) cop besides Gordon, but let's be real, we're all way more interested in Renee the vigilante. After taking some time off chronologically in Asylum, she could return as the new Question for City, in which she breaks into the super-prison to help Batman from behind the scenes. And then of course, we'd be dying to see her interact with ex-girlfriend Kate Kane in Knight.
7. Ellen Yin
Alignment: Hero
Proposed Games: All of them
The Batman, set in a different continuity from Batman: the Animated Series, was admittedly very strange. While it ended up being the bad kind of strange, the show's first two seasons were very much so the good kind of strange, partly because of the original character Detective Ellen Yin. Ambitious, brave, clever, and armed with an unyielding sense of justice, Detective Yin started out working with the police department against the vigilante Batman, but the two soon form a partnership based on mutual respect.
In Origins, Yin would just be an officer, indoctrinated with the police department's policy against vigilantes. By the time Asylum rolls around, Yin would already be a detective, bent on containing the situation in Arkham. Throughout the series, just as it played out in the Batman, Detective Yin and Batman would slowly find common ground, becoming close allies. With Gordon as mayor in Knight's epilogue, Yin naturally would be made commissioner and all would be as it should and we could all finally get over the fact that Yin was written out of the Batman without explanation in Season 3.
What other Batman characters do you wish had cropped up in the Arkhamverse? Weigh in by commenting below!
Published: Jun 29, 2015 05:51 pm