The Arkhamverse’s Batman Has Been Ready to Move on for a Decade

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 1, 2025 7 Views 5 Min Read
The Arkhamverse’s Batman Has Been Ready to Move on for a Decade
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In no stretch of the imagination is the Arkhamverse’s Batman a character who has always been able to make the right decision when it comes to his own well-being, but that goes double for decisions he makes involving his companions. It can be aggravating witnessing Bruce Wayne constantly undermine Tim Drake’s Robin, for instance, and yet Batman being so remarkably fallible is endearing as it grants insight into his biggest fears in an implicit and nuanced way. However, Bruce demonstrates in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that he has turned a new leaf and become a much different man.

Whereas Batman was stoic and outright dismissive in the Arkham games, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League introduces an emotionally matured Batman who is openly loving of his Bat-family members. It’s interesting that Bruce came back to the public as Batman at all, too, though the reason as to why can probably be chalked up to him needing to be exhumed for an antagonist role in Suicide Squad. Bruce wasn’t dead by the end of Batman: Arkham Knight, to be fair, but Rocksteady worked valiantly to definitively retire his cape and cowl. Unfortunately, if Warner Bros. has its way, it seems as if there will always be a Bat-Signal illuminating Gotham City’s sky.

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This ending would seem woefully abrupt if not for how many unmistakable context clues and nods it gives to putting Batman to bed—heartfelt farewells to Dick Grayson’s Nightwing and Selina Kyle’s Catwoman, for example, or the fact that he was strongly considering passing the mantle onto Michael Lane’s Azrael, someone he knew shockingly little about. Still, while Bruce would’ve presumably kept in contact with companions Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, and Tim Drake, he doesn’t give them the same grace of a somber goodbye.

This quadruples down on how horribly Bruce treats Tim throughout the Arkhamverse as a gunshot-wounded Tim is walked away from in Arkham Asylum without so much as a word of concern or sympathy. Regardless, while a Justice League composed of Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and anyone else ranging from Aquaman to Green Arrow would have sufficed, Bruce was seemingly only brought back as Batman so the Arkhamverse’s nostalgia could be milked, especially since its story campaign was recently revealed to be an attempt at shock value via his clone’s death at the hands of Harley Quinn while the real Batman was alive and well.

Why Batman Prequels May Be the Arkhamverse’s Best Course of Action

Keeping Batman alive ensures that future stories can incorporate him and take advantage of his popularity. Funny enough, Camouflaj recently proved that it was more than capable of putting forth a bold and authentic Arkham story with gameplay perfectly adapted to the Meta Quest 3. It’s impossible to mistake how paramount WB Games Montreal’s Batman: Arkham Origins is as a prequel entry because it now leaves a door open to additional games set within that period, and the Arkhamverse community would be lucky to receive more Origins– or Shadow-like titles while Rocksteady hopefully manages to come up with a fantastic story in the franchise’s present-day storyline.

More prequels would allow for a natural excuse to portray Batman in his peak years as an active crime-fighter. Meanwhile, a future Arkhamverse game—currently rumored to be a Batman Beyond adaptation—should be able to decide whether or not its Batman has earned a rest after over a decade and a half of superb Arkham entries.

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