Every Villain In Batman: Arkham Shadow

Key Takeaways

• Batman: Arkham Shadow
  features villains from all eras of the Arkhamverse timeline.
• The Rat King is an original villain that Batman is trying to uncover throughout the
  Arkham Shadow
  story.
• With fan-favorite characters like Harley Quinn and Scarecrow,
  Arkham Shadow
  takes time to develop characters before their days as full-blown supervillains.

Exclusive to the Meta Quest 3, Batman: Arkham Shadow is the newest entry in the ever-expanding DC Arkhamverse. Set between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum, the VR game features a young Batman fighting for Gotham in one of the darkest chapters of his vigilante career.

Like most Arkhamverse titles, Arkham Shadow does not hold back when it comes to having a roster of villains for gamers to meet or even fight, from famous foes to obscure threats. However, Arkham Shadow features several villains that might surprise even the most hardcore DC fans.

Updated on November 14th, 2024, by Melody MacReady: The release of Batman: Arkham Shadow has allowed gamers to experience a Batman adventure from a unique perspective, in more ways than one. Not only is it a virtual reality game, but a large portion of the game is spent with Batman undercover as the criminal Matches Malone inside Blackgate Prison. This not only provides a unique way of telling a story, but Batman also interacts with several villains as both a vigilante and a criminal. As a result, there are some surprising reveals as well as cameos of villains from past and future events within the Arkhamverse timeline.

Spoilers Ahead for Batman: Arkham Shadow

19 Bird

Bane’s Lieutenant Is Back And Just As Punchable

From one of the more forgettable side missions in Batman: Arkham Origins, Bird was Bane’s most loyal follower and tried to keep Bane’s gang of mercenaries in Gotham to take on Batman. Not many would have expected the character to return, but alas, he plays a small part in the Batman: Arkham Shadow story.

Undercover as Matches Malone, Batman is tasked with delivering a package to Bird, only to get into a fight with him. Bird is also one of the patients that Jonathan Crane experiments on for his Project Umbra, establishing the roots of Scarecrow and allowing an underutilized character to shine a little more.

18 Howard Branden

From S.W.A.T. Captain To Doorman Of Blackgate Prison

Another Arkham Origins alumni, Howard Branden, is now one of the top T.Y.G.E.R. guards running Blackgate Prison in Batman: Arkham Shadow. Before, Branden was one of the most corrupt members of the G.C.P.D., leading the S.W.A.T. task force going after Batman so that he could get paid $50,000,000 by Black Mask.

Chris Fries even reprises the role, despite Branden having very few opportunities in the entire game to shine. It is shown through details in his office that he is going through a divorce, following up on the details from Arkham Origins that he was cheating on his wife, displaying how much Camouflaj cared about making a sequel to Arkham Origins.

17 Ferris Boyle

The Businessman With A Cold, Cold Heart

In Batman: Arkham Shadow, there are several characters that Batman helped put away, including Ferris Boyle in a quick cameo. While he doesn’t have a fancy suit or powers, Ferris Boyle is a despicable human being to his core, as he is the one who attempted to kill a terminally ill woman for profit, thus transforming Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze in an expansion to Batman: Arkham Origins.

In Arkham Shadow, Ferris Boyle is seen being harassed by members of the Rat cult, since he is the kind of rich and corrupt person they sought to destroy for the Rat King. It is not shown what happens to him, but fans of Mr. Freeze and Batman: The Animated Series will likely enjoy seeing this villain again and imagining the comeuppance he receives for his evil deeds.

16 Frank Boles

The Officer That Eventually Joins The Joker

The Joker and Harley Quinn would never have achieved their takeover of Arkham Island in Batman: Arkham Asylum without the help of Officer Boles. Frank Boles betrayed his fellow security officers and Jim Gordon to help Joker conquer the island, only to be betrayed himself and killed.

Boles made his first return to the Arkhamverse timeline in Arkham Shadow, showing his days as a T.Y.G.E.R. guard working for Lyle Bolton. It’s easy not to notice him, but he’s the guard who guides Batman as Matches Malone through Blackgate and into his cell, with his opaque eye being the main indicator behind his mask.

15 Ricky “Loose-Lips” LeBlanc

Batman Perfected His Interrogation Skills On Him

Continuing the trend of Arkham Origins characters, Ricky “Loose-Lips” LeBlanc was famously the criminal that Batman questioned and dropped into a giant Christmas tree. He also reappeared and became Batman’s victim again when the Caped Crusader needed an upgrade for his arsenal of gadgets.

Ricky LeBlanc returns in Arkham Shadow as one of many prisoners in Blackgate Prison. He plays no real part in the story, but instead, he’s more of a reference for longtime Arkhamverse fans to get a smile at as he interacts with other prisoners. There is also a flashback to the night he met Batman if players look hard enough to find and collect it.

14 Bronze Tiger

Return Of A Forgotten Arkhamverse Villain

While the name Bronze Tiger is never uttered, Ben Turner is one of the first Blackgate prisoners Batman meets in Batman: Arkham Shadow. However, this is not the first time Bronze Tiger appeared, as he was a minor villain working for The Penguin in Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate, an oft-forgotten Arkhamverse entry.

The player can interact with him for a few interesting conversations, but his most significant role is in audio recordings. Bronze Tiger is interviewed by both Jonathan Crane and Leslie Thompkins, further expanding on Turner’s personality and his motives as an assassin.

13 Shrike

Starts Batman On His Journey To Blackgate

In the comics, Shrike is known for being a Nightwing villain, but in Arkham Shadow, the developers adapted the Carver Boone incarnation of the character as a Batman rogue. He has a short but significant role in the game, believing his life to be nothing, so he joins the Rats in their conquest to destroy Gotham City alongside his protégé Dick Grayson.

Shrike was so certain that his life was meaningless that his final act was to take his own life and frame Batman for murder. Shrike’s death is what sets Batman on a journey to try fighting crime undercover, but also ignites his struggle between vengeance and justice.

12 Dick Grayson

How Batman Met The Future Boy Wonder

The Arkhamverse is known for putting a unique spin on the Batman mythology, and Batman: Arkham Shadow reveals a drastically different meeting between Batman and Dick Grayson. After his parents’ death, Dick Grayson is revealed to have been taken in by Shrike and indoctrinated into a life of crime as a Rat before Batman convinces him to give up Shrike.

In this version of the story, not only is Dick a criminal who fights Batman at first, he is much older than usually depicted. In the comics, Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was near the same age as Bruce was when he lost his parents, showing how similar they are, but in Arkham Shadow, he is already a teenager, which further shows the truncated timeline of Robins in the Arkhamverse.

11 The Ventriloquist

A Mad Man Of Many Voices

While the Scarface puppet has been featured in nearly every Batman: Arkham game, fans have never seen the actual Ventriloquist villain until Batman: Arkham Shadow. He is one of the unfortunate people who are abducted by Jonathan Crane throughout the story, much to the dismay of Harleen Quinzel.

The Ventriloquist’s role is small, but does feature a side story that is fun to see, where he becomes more and more possessive of his cellmate’s puppet, named Woody. It is the origin of what would eventually become the Scarface puppet, potentially setting up the villain for other games set before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

10 Harley Quinn

The Future Queen Of Crime

Voiced again by Tara Strong, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a more crucial character in Batman: Arkham Shadow than she was in Arkham Origins. She is a recurring character trying to help the more troubled inmates at Blackgate with the Arkham Ward, but she is struggling with getting her colleagues—Jonathan Kent, and Lyle Bolton—to treat her with respect.

With Arkham Shadow taking place post-Arkham Origins, Harleen’s inclusion is meant to progress her transformation into the villainous Harley Quinn. The more the story progresses, and she succumbs to her rage, the more Harleen sounds like Harley Quinn, even when she’s helping Batman to try to stop the Rats.

9 The Joker

The Imposing Presence Of The Clown Prince Of Crime

It seems like it’s almost impossible for the Joker to not make an appearance, because with Arkham Shadow, a variation of the character appears in every single Arkhamverse title in the timeline. Troy Baker plays the Joker once again after winning hearts as the character in Arkham Origins, but he is never seen, only heard.

When Batman makes a name for himself as Matches Malone, he is locked up in solitary confinement, and the cell right beside his happens to be the Joker’s. Oddly enough, the Joker is the only one in the entire prison who sees through the Matches Malone disguise and knows it is Batman, showing just how deeply the two are connected as rivals.

8 Ratcatcher

Devoted Worshiper Of The Rat King

Though it may seem like he would be the main villain, the Ratcatcher and the Rat King are not the same character. In fact, the Ratcatcher in Arkham Shadow is a zealous follower of the Rat King, believing him to be some kind of messiah who will lead the chosen ones to a promised land on The Day of Wrath.

There is a tragedy to the character, as he has a point about how the rich in Gotham hoard their money and power while the middle and lower classes struggle, but his blind faith in the Rat King results in the endangerment of innocents. It’s similar to the Riddler in The Batman, where it’s scary how one mysterious leader’s words can lead to so much destruction and mayhem.

7 Carmine Falcone

The Arkhamverse Debut Of Gotham’s Biggest Crime Family

The Falcone family was mentioned and referenced numerous times throughout the Batman: Arkham games, but finally, in Batman: Arkham Shadow, Carmine Falcone, otherwise known as the Roman, makes his on-screen debut. Within Blackgate Prison, he is the most powerful inmate, with influence over the guards and many other prisoners working for him.

Matches Malone becomes Carmine’s greatest asset, allowing Batman to become one of the most infamous criminals in Gotham City. On top of that, Carmine shows that Batman is not invincible, as even an elderly mob boss can be a problem for the vigilante, despite having fought metahumans like Bane and Copperhead.

6 Scarecrow

A Dark Doctor With A Darker Agenda

Another character fans have only seen in their villainous persona, Scarecrow makes his third appearance in the Arkham games as a cruel doctor in the Arkham Ward of Blackgate Prison. Jonathan Crane shows nothing but disdain for all inmates, even when they show regret and a chance at reforming their ways. He regularly abducts Harleen Quinzel’s patients for his secret experiments.

Likely to nobody’s surprise, even before he was the Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane was one of the most evil Batman villains, with Elijah Wood giving a sinister performance in Arkham Shadow. Batman even theorizes that Crane is the Rat King, but he is nothing more than a twisted scientist obsessed with people’s fears and learning to exploit them.

5 Lock-Up

A Forgotten Animated Series Villain

Similar to Harley Quinn, Lock-Up is a character who was created specifically for a more overlooked episode of Batman: The Animated Series, but was brought into the DC canon in the Robin solo comics. Lyle Bolton is a strict security officer upon his introduction, but when he is fired, he becomes akin to Marvel’s Punisher by becoming judge, jury, and executioner.

In Arkham Shadow, Lock-Up is the uncompromising warden of Blackgate Prison and the leader of the T.Y.G.E.R. guards. He is obsessed with Batman to a creepy degree, idolizing him to the point that when Batman denounces him, he seeks to use his methods against him and the prisoners in pursuit of punishment, believing that all criminals deserve to die.

4 The Shadow

Batman Almost Became Gotham’s Scariest Villain

From the moment Batman witnesses Shrike’s death, something begins to brew within him: A sense of vengeance that makes him so desperate to stop the Rat King that he is tempted to become an evil version of Batman. This causes a new personality to form in Bruce’s mind known as the Shadow, an entity that taunts him secretly at the beginning of the game, but progressively becomes more intense.

In the second half of Arkham Shadow, Batman has to fight this persona to keep it from taking over as it sneers at him, akin to Batman: Ego, trying to convince him that all criminals deserve to die. The Shadow becomes important for the story’s moral, that punishment is not justice. Defeating the Shadow helps show why Batman is so much calmer and more collected in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

3 Joe Chill

There Would Be No Batman Without Him

There is a villain hidden in plain sight throughout Batman: Arkham Shadow. It is the villain that created Batman that fateful night in Crime Alley, and his name is Joe Chill. On the first day Batman infiltrates Blackgate Prison, he meets an older man named Joe and the writers cleverly make this character into one of the most likable characters to hide who he truly is.

However, there are multiple hints at his true identity throughout the story, from his name being Joe to nearly breaking into tears at hearing Malone describe that his parents were murdered to even the tattoo on Joe’s eyebrow matching the one from Batman: Arkham VR. Joe plays a major part in Batman’s learning to choose between justice and punishment, especially in the climax.

2 The Rat King

Batman’s Newest Nemesis And Oldest Friend

The Rat King is the story’s main antagonist as a major new addition to the Arkhamverse lore, and almost the entire game is spent trying to learn his identity. He leads a cult of rat-themed domestic terrorists and anarchists who are plunging Gotham City into a state of chaos and destruction, building up to an apocalypse called The Day of Wrath.

It is revealed to be Harvey Dent, a result of Dissociative Identity Disorder from his childhood drama before the creation of Two-Face, and is meant to mirror what Bruce goes through with the Shadow. It is a side of Harvey that is obsessed with vengeance against the corruption of Gotham City and wants to find Joe Chill, to give Bruce what he wanted as a child.

1 Two-Face

The Tragic Fall Of Gotham City’s Greatest District Attorney

After Arkham City and Arkham Knight sidelined him completely, Batman: Arkham Shadow is more or less the Two-Face origin story. Harvey is a pivotal part of the narrative, with his light side helping Batman fight the Rat King while his dark side fights Batman. He is Bruce Wayne’s best friend and surrogate brother, with flashbacks showing that they grew up together.

Two-Face is, ironically, the other side of the same coin as Batman. They are both seeking the same thing and have dark halves, but Harvey’s dark half embraces punishment over justice, especially after his face is scarred. When Batman defeats the Rat King and Harvey realizes his mental illness, it causes his two personas to fuse together, and the game ends with Two-Face coming to life for the first time.