The COMPLETE Batman Arkham Timeline Explained

The Complete Batman Arkham Timeline Explained

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the ENTIRE timeline of Rocksteady’s “Arkhamverse”.

You could argue that the “Arkhamverse” truly began way back in 1992, when “Batman: The Animated Series” hit the small screen for the first time. Helmed by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, this version of the Batman and his rogues’ gallery was revolutionary. True to his comic book origins, Kevin Conroy’s Bat was a detective first, and saw that each of his villains – no matter how twisted – was a person desperately in need of help. “The Animated Series” gave us Harley Quinn and completely rewrote Mr Freeze’s origin among other things and has taken its place as one of the greatest TV shows – animated OR live-action – ever made.

We’re not going to chronicle the complete timeline of the cartoon, but it’s crucial to understand its influence because, when Rocksteady set about making the definitive “Batman” game, Paul Dini was brought on as a writer. The entire series draws inspiration not only from the comics but from the cartoon. However, while 2009’s “Arkham Asylum” is the first game in the series, it’s not the first entry in the story when you look at things chronologically.

To go back to the beginning of the “Arkhamverse” itself, we have to look at the tie-in, prequel comic series, “Batman: Arkham Origins”, released in 2013 and 2014 to coincide with the game of the same name. It’s really just setting up “Origins’” major players, introducing us to characters like Black Mask and Commissioner Loeb, as well as showing us what state Gotham City is in when we join the Caped Crusader in the game itself. Batman makes an enemy of Black Mask, AKA Roman Sionis, giving the most diligent fans Black Mask’s true motivation for putting a bounty on the Dark Knight’s head.

By Christmas Eve, the situation has reached boiling point. This is where “Arkham Origins” itself begins, the spin-off developed by WB Montreal while Rocksteady was hard at work on “Arkham Knight”. Black Mask sends eight assassins to kill the Batman, some more dangerous than others, so that he can take over Gotham’s criminal underworld unimpeded. These mark the first appearances in the series of often-seen villains like Bane, Deadshot, Deathstroke, and ultimately, the Joker. Yes, after Batman finally catches up with Black Mask, we discover that he’s actually been the Joker in disguise the entire time. This plot twist didn’t go down great considering a lot of people wanted an “Arkham” game about a villain OTHER than the Joker, but it’s always fascinating to see the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime go toe to toe early in their careers. Along with all those villains, Batman also makes allies with James Gordon and encounters Barbara for the first time. In the game’s first DLC, “Cold, Cold Heart”, we see the origins of Mr Freeze as he tries desperately to save his cryogenically frozen wife, Nora, losing himself in the process.

After “Arkham Origins”, there was “Arkham Origins Blackgate”, a minor sequel that released on the Nintendo DS and PS Vita back in 2013. This was a taste of “Arkham” for people without home consoles – or who wanted their Batman fix on-the-go. The game takes place three months after “Arkham Origins” as Batman tries to contain a mass breakout at Blackgate Penitentiary. Gordon returns yet again and we have the first chronological appearance of Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. Crucially, comic book characters Rick Flag and Amanda Waller also appear, though we’re not going to see either of those two again for a while. Batman manages to get his villains back to their cells and the threat is contained.

After “Blackgate” we enter stranger territory. “Batman: Arkham Underworld” may have been released in 2016, but it’s set between “Arkham Origins” and “Arkham Asylum”, following the villains at they grow in power. It’s one of the few games in which you’re not playing as a member of the Bat Family but as one of a handful of iconic villains. But as a mobile game, very few people played “Arkham Underworld”, and it has minimal bearing on the plot.

Moving on to something that DOES impact the plot, we have two more tie-in comic books: “Batman: Arkham Knight – Genesis” and “Batman: Arkham Knight – Batgirl Begins”. “Genesis” concerns the identity of the “Arkham Knight” years before this was revealed, while he’s being tortured by the Joker in the bowels of Arkham Asylum. “Batgirl Begins” looks at Barbara Gordon’s early time as the first Batgirl – and, indeed, the ONLY Batgirl we see in the entire “Arkhamverse”.

This leads into the “Arkham Knight” flashback DLC “A Matter of Family”. Finally, we got the chance to go back in time any play as Batgirl, when she and Tim Drake’s Robin go after the Joker and Harley Quinn at the derelict, Seagate Amusement Park built on an old oil rig. Joker has also captured Commissioner Gordon, in an attempt to lure Batgirl and the Boy Wonder out so that he could kill them once and for all. Batgirl triumphs, of course, and Commissioner Gordon is saved – but this doesn’t last long. As we see in Batman’s fear gas-induced nightmare in “Arkham Knight”, the events of “The Killing Joke” happened in the game’s continuity just as they did in the 1988 graphic novel. By the time we reconvene with the Bat Family, Barbara Gordon has been shot through the spine and paralyzed by the Joker.

But we’re still not at “Arkham Asylum”, because in 2014, an animated movie was released that serves as yet another prequel. This is “Batman: Assault on Arkham”, and it sees the return of Amanda Waller and the first real appearance in the “Arkhamverse” of the Suicide Squad. The lineup is made of Harley Quinn, of course, as well as other mainstays Deadshot, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang – but they’re also joined by Killer Frost, Black Spider, and KGBeast this time. Joker and Harley have split up, presumably after he turned on her yet again at the end of “A Matter of Family”, and she’s with the Squad – until Joker sweet-talks her into reconciling with him. The movie culminates with various members of the Squad presumed dead and Deadshot a free man about to assassinate Waller. But, of course, he never went through with it, as we’ll see later on.

Now, it’s time to venture into the asylum – almost. Long-time fans of the games will know that “Arkham Asylum” came with a tie-in comic book in its limited-edition boxes, “The Road to Arkham”, in which Batman, en route to Arkham having recaptured Joker, talks to Oracle. He confesses his misgivings about what the Joker is really planning. This leads directly into the game, which opens with Batman and the Joker in the Batmobile as the Dark Knight delivers him to Arkham. In the years between “Origins” and “Asylum”, Batman’s career has come a long way. His rogues’ gallery is now intact, with many faces from the iconic roster appearing in this fledgling game. Right away, we see Killer Croc and Harley Quinn, and will later be introduced to Poison Ivy, Bane, and Scarecrow.

Upon arrival at Arkham, Batman meets Quincy Sharp, the warden of the asylum, and is led through the Intensive Treatment wing at Joker’s side. But just as Batman confides in Commissioner Gordon that Joker was caught too easily, the clown stages his breakout, fleeing deeper into the asylum before Batman can follow thanks to Harley working on the inside. Batman gives chase and is soon contacted by the Riddler, who has a few hundred puzzles for him to solve, and he stops to rescue a group of hostages from the serial killer Victor Zsasz. But the simple story gets miles more complex when Batman catches up with the Joker, only to have a giant, mutated henchman unleashed on him. The mystery deepens, and Batman emerges onto Arkham Island, where he finds out that as well as Warden Sharp, Commissioner Gordon has been captured, too.

He follows Harley and Gordon to the medical facility, where he encounters Scarecrow for the first time. This is the first taste of Rocksteady’s version of the fear toxin, in which Batman sees Gordon, dead, and then finds the bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne in the hospital morgue. Descending deeper into the building after overcoming Scarecrow’s toxin, Batman finds another test subject, Bane. He finds out that Joker has been developing something called “Titan” under one of his most common aliases, Jack White, liaising with Dr Penelope Young at Arkham. Batman saves Young, along with the other doctors, and then fights Bane, knocking him into the sea with the Batmobile after saving Gordon. Titan is a serum that Joker believes can be used to make super-soldiers, essentially, and makes Bane even deadlier.

Batman’s next stop is the Arkham Mansion, the ancestral home of the Arkham Family. He’s been finding strange slabs with messages recorded on them from the “Spirit of Arkham” this entire time, detailing the early life of the founder, Amadeus Arkham – more on that later. In the Mansion, he encounters Scarecrow yet again, reliving his parents’ murder in Crime Alley, and he fails to save Dr Young. While he rescues her from Zsasz and destroys the formula for Titan so that Joker can’t make more of it, she’s killed by a bomb that Joker plants in the mansion’s safe. Batman then wants to go straight for Joker, but to do that, he has to get to Harley first, and she’s now holed up in the island’s penitentiary. During her retreat, she releases Poison Ivy from her specialized cell in the Green Mile. Batman pursues and easily subdues Quinn, encountering a few interesting Easter eggs courtesy of the Riddler – the cells of Two-Face and Calendar Man, and none other than Clayface, still locked up and shapeshifting between Gordon and Sharp to trick Batman. Just before he reaches Harley, Batman finally saves Sharp.

Batman learns from Harley that Joker is in the botanical gardens working on Titan, but in order to make an antidote, he needs Poison Ivy to direct him towards a special plant which, coincidentally, only grows in the sewers Killer Croc is now occupying. Batman goes back through the sewers to get the spore – dealing with Scarecrow for the third and final time along the way – and then faces off against Ivy in a Titan-induced boss battle, taking her back to her cell, too. Finally, it’s time to take down Joker in a climactic boss battle on top of the asylum’s visitor center. It’s basically a rehash of all the Titan mini-bosses we’ve already fought, ending in Batman punching Joker in the face while detonating explosive gel on his knuckles. But some of the Titan survives and makes its way to Gotham. If you did all the side quests, you’ll also have learnt that Quincy Sharp believes he’s being manipulated by the ghost of Amadeus Arkham, continuing his work of “purifying” Gotham from its violent offenders. And, if you solved all the riddles, the Riddler will be taken into GCPD custody. Finally, you can also find a secret room in Sharp’s office in the mansion, containing his plans for the Arkham City project.

We’re almost ready to jump straight into “Arkham City”, too, but DC predictably released another prequel miniseries to lead into it. Simply called “Batman: Arkham City”, this one followed Quincy Sharp’s campaign to be elected Mayor of Gotham and the beginnings of the Arkham City project, backed up by the private military Tyger Security. The comics also revealed Hugo Strange as a key player, one of Batman’s most notorious villains because he’s one of the only ones who knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne. A mobile fighting game called “Batman: Arkham City Lockdown” also released in December of that year, taking place shortly before the main game, but has minimal impact on the plot other than giving us new ways to fight some more classic rogues.

In 2011, two years on from the release of “Arkham Asylum”, “Arkham City” dropped. For the first time in the mainline games, we get to spend time with Bruce Wayne, as he’s captured and brought into Arkham City while trying to speak against it. The project cordoned off a huge, deprived area of Gotham, known as “Old Gotham” in “Arkham Origins”, and turned it into an open-air prison, leaving the city’s most notorious super-criminals to fight with each other with minimal oversight or intervention. After being captured, Batman calls in the Batwing to drop off his suit and equipment and begins investigating Arkham City from the inside. Early on, he gets waylaid by Two-Face, who’s holding Catwoman prisoner; he defeats Harvey Dent and rescues Selina. She’s nearly killed by Joker in the process, but then leaves the Dark Knight behind to further her own, private goals. The trajectory of the bullet leads Batman to the church, where he finds Harley Quinn trying to kidnap any and all medical professionals she can find. After this, he pursues her to Sionis Steel Mill in the Amusement Mile. The Steel Mill has been renovated with Joker livery and after exploring via the boiling-hot chimney, Batman is captured by the Joker. Joker reveals that the Titan has made him gravely ill - hence Harley’s search for a doctor. He transfuses his own blood into Batman and reveals that he’s also sent batches of infected blood into Gotham, motivating Batman to find the cure for him.

The mystery around Hugo Strange and Arkham City is all but abandoned by the Caped Crusader as he desperately tries to find the cure he needs, since without it, he won’t last the night. His first stop is the old museum, now controlled by the Penguin, who’s holding Mr Freeze hostage. Freeze is the only person in Gotham City who might be able to develop a cure, so Batman goes through the long process of defeating Penguin and, to everybody’s surprise, Solomon Grundy, a comic book deep-cut most notable for appearing in “The Long Halloween”. Grundy is our first real clue that there’s something else going on underneath Arkham City – something Batman will go on to investigate next, when he determines that the key to the cure lies with Ra’s al Ghul. Ra’s al Ghul is the near-immortal leader of the League of Assassins, who constantly resurrects himself using Lazarus Pits, one of which is found underneath Gotham. The League is holed up in an abandoned, underground area of Gotham called Wonder City populated with automatons. Batman discovers that Wonder City was built centuries ago by Ra’s as part of his plans to master the Lazarus Pit – triggered by his discovery of Solomon Grundy and his ability to come back to life. Batman battles Ra’s and briefly fools him into thinking he’s going to accept his place as the new leader of the League of Assassins. It’s all a ploy to get a blood sample, and Batman succeeds, returning to Mr Freeze.

Along the way, Batman will also re-encounter Deadshot - who’s assassinating political prisoners - he’ll save the lives of Jack Ryder and Vicki Vale; he’ll investigate a serial killer who’s stealing people’s faces; he’ll contend with the Mad Hatter; take down Zsasz again; and finally, he’ll reunite with Bane. Bane is hiding in the old Krank toy factory and wants Batman to help destroy three of the six barrels of Titan that survived the events of the previous game, only to betray Batman and reveal he wants all the Titan for himself. There’s also a minor subplot around Azrael, who leaves fiery bat symbols for Batman to find, and offers himself up as a worthy replacement should the worst ever happen.

Back at the GCPD, Freeze develops the cure but won’t give it to Batman because Joker is threatening Nora. The iconic Mr Freeze boss battle takes place here, with Freeze learning all of Batman’s predator techniques so that he can’t use the same takedown strategy more than once. But during the scuffle, Harley steals the cure by blowing up the wall on the other side of the safe, taking it back to the Joker before Batman can use it on himself. Batman follows, but throughout the game, we’ve been hearing Hugo Strange count down the hours as he builds up to activating something called Protocol 10. As Batman and the Joker reunite, with Joker seemingly cured, Protocol 10 is activated. Batman now abandons Joker to finally deal with Strange, who’s been manipulating Quincy Sharp the entire time – even going back to “Arkham Asylum”. Protocol 10 is actually a plan to completely raze Arkham City and eradicate the criminal element within, finally purging Gotham of crime – as Ra’s al Ghul intended when he began building Wonder City. This is how we find out that it’s been Ra’s plot all along. Ra’s kills Strange, but in the process, Strange orders the detonation of Wonder Tower, the imposing building he’s been hiding in for the whole night. Ra’s seemingly dies in the destruction, but with no body, nothing is conclusive.

While all this is ongoing, Catwoman is having her own side story. She had four “episodes” released as DLC but which were later smoothly integrated into the base game with the Game of the Year edition. In her storyline, Catwoman’s also been locked up in Arkham City and is trying to get her loot back from Hugo Strange. This leads her to Two-Face, where Batman first encounters her, and then to Poison Ivy, who’s also in Arkham City. Ivy’s not happy with Selina because Selina forgot to water her plants. After a fight, they come to a deal, and Ivy helps Selina break into Hugo Strange’s vault. She finally gets her things back, but this coincides with the activation of Protocol 10. Catwoman now has a choice: escape with the loot, or go save Batman – except, it’s not actually a choice, because if you pick the first one, you’ll get a game over and respawn. Of course, Selina goes and saves him.

After all this and with the Bat now back in action, the two main plot threads converge in the Monarch Theater - the same theater the Waynes visited the night they were murdered. Joker, cured of his ailment, has captured Talia al Ghul, Ra’s daughter and Batman’s longtime love interest. Talia has stolen the antidote so that Batman can use it, and this is when the game’s famous plot twist happens: a second Joker, still sick, kills Talia, and the healthy Joker transforms into Clayface, who’s been working for Joker all along. The true final boss is Clayface, and he and Batman battle in the ruins. But it’s too late. Clayface is defeated and Batman regains the antidote, only for Joker to attack, one last time, and knock it to the floor, where it shatters. Batman was able to take half of it and was going to give the rest to Joker. Hearing this, the Joker dies with a smile on his face, and Batman will never be the same.

After this, we have a few more tie-in comics. There’s “Arkham Unhinged”, which digs into the “Arkhamverse” backstories of Batman and his villains, and “Arkham City – End Game”, a six-issue miniseries following the fallout of Joker’s death. We see Batman and Gordon watching over Joker’s body in the morgue, expecting the Clown Prince of Crime to have one final trick up his sleeve. Gang warfare breaks out in what remains of Arkham City, which is exactly what the Joker wanted in the event of his death, while Batman revisits Arkham Asylum and considers Joker’s legacy.

There was only one DLC for “Arkham City”, “Harley Quinn’s Revenge”, in which players control Robin as he rescues Batman from Harley, who’s trying to avenge Joker’s death. Tim nearly dies in the process and Batman almost lets Harley kill him, but luckily, the Boy Wonder is unharmed. “Harley Quinn’s Revenge” takes place after “Arkham City – End Game” but before we start gearing up for “Arkham Knight”.

With massive hype building around the final entry in Rocksteady’s core trilogy – supplemented by “Arkham Origins” in between – it was no surprise that DC released even more comic books, with a prequel comic book series simply named “Batman: Arkham Knight”, which ran from 2015 to 2016. Some of Batman’s more unpopular villains reappeared here, including an Electrocutioner wannabe. We spend a lot of time with Batman as he grapples with his identity and wonders whether he does more harm than good.

The same year the “Arkham Knight” comic book was concluding, we also got an additional, surprise entry into the “Arkhamverse”: “Batman: Arkham VR”. This VR game is so short it’s hard to even consider it a game, as opposed to a tech demo, but it WAS made by Rocksteady and it did release across VR platforms. You have to get dressed as Batman, talk to the Penguin, solve puzzles from the Riddler, and wrestle with Batman’s intrusive hallucinations about the Joker. Though it came out after “Arkham Knight”, it was set just before it, but doesn’t add too much to the story.

Ultimately though, we reconvened with Batman proper in 2015, on a fateful Halloween. The first thing you see when you start a new game in “Arkham Knight” is the Joker’s body, as we’re prompted with a context-sensitive button to ignite the incinerator that destroys him. This is Rocksteady’s way of assuring us that, yes, the Clown is gone – but, says Commissioner Gordon, so is Batman. It’s now time for somebody new to threaten Gotham, and that somebody new is Scarecrow, back after being almost killed by Killer Croc during “Arkham Asylum”. Scarecrow unleashes his new and improved fear toxin on the patrons of Paulie’s Diner, and then announces that he’s going to fill the city with his gas. Gotham is promptly evacuated, giving Batman free rein to destroy any and all buildings with the Batmobile – which is finally here as a driveable vehicle, for better or for worse.

First on the agenda is Poison Ivy, who may be able to manufacture an antidote or countermeasure to Scarecrow’s toxin. As such, Scarecrow has tried to recruit her by sending Harley Quinn to break her out of custody at Bludhaven PD in one of the “Arkham Episodes” DLC packs. Though Nightwing tries to stop them, Harley and Ivy are more than a match for the former Boy Wonder, and they escape – but Ivy doesn’t want to play nice with Scarecrow after all, who ends up taking her hostage.

Batman saves Ivy and meets Scarecrow’s new militia for the first time, then pursues the villain to the new ACE Chemical factory. After solving a handful of car-based puzzles, Batman is briefly cornered by the Arkham Knight, who knows all of his weaknesses but remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Oracle has been captured. Batman now has a choice: he can escape the factory but leave the toxin to be unleashed, or he can try to neutralize Scarecrow’s bomb. He chooses the latter, and in the process, ingests enough fear toxin to start seeing visions of the Joker. He’s mostly successful at stopping this stage of Scarecrow’s plan, though Oracle is still captive, but the game takes a break from the action to explain how “Arkham Knight” is connected to the Titan plotline of the previous two games.

Through a flashback, we discover that Batman is keeping four people captive in his latest base, the old, Panessa Movie Studios. These four people were all infected with Joker’s contaminated blood, just like Batman himself was, but one of them, Henry Adams, appears to be completely immune. The other three, meanwhile, are slowly mutating into the Joker, complete with pale skin and green hair. It’s the influence of the infected blood and Batman’s anxieties over not being able to stop himself from turning into the Joker, too, that causes the hallucinations he’s plagued with throughout the game.

Back in the present, and Batman’s new priority is rescuing Barbara, now in the custody of the Arkham Knight. But other rogues are taking the opportunity to exploit Gotham. Two-Face is robbing banks, Penguin is smuggling weapons, Firefly is back and burning down fire stations, and Catwoman is being held captive in the old orphanage by the Riddler. Batman also needs to wipe out the Arkham Knight’s hundreds of tanks and defuse bombs with the Batmobile before the night is through. Batman also has to face off – literally – with Hush, who spent the events of “Arkham City” murdering prisoners and cutting off their faces so that he can transplant them onto himself. He makes himself look like Bruce Wayne, and we don’t catch up with him until he infiltrates Wayne Tower. Batman also tests Azrael extensively when he returns to Gotham but finds out that Azrael has been brainwashed by the ominous Order of St Dumas, which wants him to assassinate and replace Batman. And, finally, “Arkham Knight’s” serial killer storyline revolved around Professor Pyg, a relatively new and deeply sinister villain in Batman’s oeuvre.

As well as all of these side missions, there were additional ones added in the “Season of Infamy” DLC, which also take place during the events of “Arkham Knight”. In these, Batman has to tie up some more loose ends concerning the League of Assassins, Killer Croc, and Mr Freeze. The League is caught in a power struggle between Ra’s, now a shadow of his former self, and his other daughter Nyssa. Croc has lost nearly all of his humanity after being subject to gruesome experimentation aboard Iron Heights Penitentiary – a brutal prison inside an airship. Finally, Mr Freeze goes after the Arkham Knight’s militia when they capture Nora. This ends with Nora refusing to return to cryostasis and Victor having to say goodbye to her, letting her go once and for all. You can do these during the game or even save them until the end, but they all take place that night.

Back to the base game, while tracking Oracle, Batman has to reveal to Gordon that Barbara has been working for him for years, and that it’s his fault that she’s now in danger. But he can’t rescue Barbara just yet, as he’s diverted to the Stagg Enterprises airship. Stagg has something called a Cloudburst, intended to distribute medicine, but which Scarecrow wants to use to spread the fear gas far and wide. Unfortunately, Batman can’t stop him, and Scarecrow escapes with the Cloudburst – after Batman finds out that it was ACTUALLY being built for use as a chemical weapon, to be sold for profit. After this he catches up with Oracle and the Knight, but tragedy strikes: during a fear gas hallucination, Barbara Gordon takes her own life, wracking Batman with grief. He doesn’t have time to come to terms with this, though, because Robin calls him in for assistance.

Robin has been watching the Joker blood victims at the movie studio this whole time, but now, Harley has heard about what Batman is doing, and wants to make one of the victims her new Joker. She’s already proven herself to be a better crime boss than Mr J ever was, and is significantly more formidable after his death. She manages to free the Joker victims and Batman and Robin work together to take them down one by one, with Harley eventually resolving that nobody will live up to the Joker – nobody except Batman, who’s undergoing the process himself. Robin tries to lock Batman up so that the city will be safe if he does turn into the Joker, but Batman turns the tables and locks Tim away, instead, refusing to tell him about what’s happened to Barbara.

However, this diversion gives Scarecrow enough time to get the Cloudburst working, devastating Gotham. The Bat’s last resort is to beg Poison Ivy for help. Miraculously, she’s able to commune with Gotham’s ancient tree network and release enough chemicals to neutralize the fear gas, though she dies in the process. Commissioner Gordon himself has now been captured by the Arkham Knight, and Batman finally comes face to face with his new rival. This twist was predicted by people familiar with the comics – thanks in no small part to the various flashbacks and references we get to the second Robin – but it’s still a classic moment to see the Knight take off his mask and reveal his identity as Jason Todd. Todd was believed to be dead, but was instead captured and tortured by the Joker in Arkham Asylum, fooled into thinking Batman had completely abandoned him and easily replaced him with Tim. The two argue and we find out that even the Arkham Knight couldn’t let Barbara Gordon die – Oracle has thankfully survived; her death was another hallucination.

But ANOTHER Bat Family ally has now been captured, as Scarecrow has taken Robin from Panessa all the way to Arkham Island. With Jason torn between his identities as Robin and the Arkham Knight, Batman pursues Scarecrow, who successfully unmasks him as Bruce Wayne for the world to see. He then injects Batman with enough fear toxin to make him publicly lose his mind. But if Batman has any superpower, it’s his willpower. He’s too strong and has been through too much to succumb to the toxin, fighting against the Joker in his mind as Scarecrow threatens to unleash the Clown. Batman emerges victorious thanks to Jason Todd, who returns to help him under a new identity, the Red Hood, and Batman injects Scarecrow with his toxin, reducing him to madness.

With his identity now known, Batman finishes dealing with his villains and activates the Knightfall Protocol. Swarmed with press, Bruce Wayne returns home, only for Wayne Manor to catastrophically explode. As Gordon mentioned in the intro, we’ve now seen Batman die – except, not quite, because we get a teaser that something else is happening, as a criminal encounters a bat-like creature in the streets. Is Batman back, and using fear toxin as a weapon? We wouldn’t have an answer to that question until nearly nine years later, when we reached the final piece of the “Arkhamverse” puzzle: “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League”.

But “Arkham Knight” isn’t done yet, because some of those “Arkham Episodes” are set after the game. In the “Red Hood” DLC we catch up with Jason Todd, who’s now fully assumed his new, vigilante alias, taking down Gotham’s criminals with his new superpower: gun. He goes after Black Mask in an underwhelming mission. We also reconvene with Nightwing, who’s finally ending Penguin’s criminal career after he tries to escape from the GCPD. Catwoman’s here too and she wants revenge on Riddler for holding her hostage for the entire game. Last of all, Robin. Tim has finally tied the knot with Barbara, but he gets waylaid while they’re trying to honeymoon because Two-Face is, predictably, up to no good. The episodes are hit-and-miss, but at least all our favorite characters got epilogues.

At the end of the “Arkham” series, the state of play is that the world knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and Batman is dead and gone – unless the rumors circulating among Gotham’s criminals are to be believed. The Bat Family comes into their own as his sidekicks, at least for a while, and Harley seems to finally put her fanaticism about the Joker behind her. But beyond the games, DC’s ragtag team of anti-heroes was gaining more attention. Both 2016 and 2021 saw “Suicide Squad” movie releases – one of which was critically panned as one of the worst superhero movies ever made, and the other of which is one of the best. Warner Bros. decided that the Suicide Squad needed a video game, and that was what finally came out in 2024.

Not seen since the 2014 tie-in animated movie and “Arkham Origins Blackgate” the year before, Amanda Waller and Rick Flag are back, and they’re recruiting four familiar faces to Task Force X: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang. Brainiac has invaded Earth, starting with Metropolis, and has put every member of the Justice League under his control – with the exceptions of Wonder Woman and the Flash. There was another prequel comic book to lead up to this release, explaining more about how our four heroes came to be under Waller’s thumb; this one was called “Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum”.

When it comes to the actual game, “Suicide Squad” is one baffling choice after another. First was Warner Bros. mandating that Rocksteady had to make a live service game, something not one person in the world wanted. But then, they went and brought Batman back. We do learn that he’s been using Scarecrow’s fear toxin, but other than that, he’s pretty much the same Batman as in the previous games, but with his character development erased. He’s also under the control of Brainiac and is murdering people with his batarangs as he hunts the Squad, though he begins by going after the Flash, bringing him under Brainiac’s influence, too.

When the Squad goes for the Dark Knight himself, we get to find out what it’s like to be a villain in one of the “Arkhamverse’s” stealth arenas, with Batman stalking you from the shadows. This was interesting for all of ten seconds, but eventually devolved into a fear gas-induced boss fight where you fight a gigantic Caped Crusader. We also learn that the Bat Family seem to have been murdered off-screen if Robin’s bloodied mask is anything to go by. Hopefully, they survived, but given Brainiac Batman’s brutality, we’d be surprised. Batman’s story ends when he’s publicly executed by Harley Quinn as a ploy to lure out Superman. It’s surprising to think that 2022’s “Gotham Knights” dealt with the death of Batman in a better way than Rocksteady was able to, but that’s the world we’re living in.

The rest of the Justice League also perish, either to the Squad or, in Wonder Woman’s case, to Superman. There are SOME fun callbacks, as Poison Ivy returns having been reincarnated, and we also get to meet Lex Luthor for the first time, but ultimately… Well, you’d struggle to find anybody who thought that “Suicide Squad” was a worthy entry in the “Arkhamverse”. In the time since release, player count has plunged, with only a few hundred logging on to play the Joker update for season 1 on Steam. Updates have also come weeks later than Rocksteady promised, and Warner Bros. has made it clear that the game has been a financial flop. The Suicide Squad is now apparently doomed to trek through DC’s multiverse killing Brainiac after Brainiac after Brainiac, with nobody ever dying for good – thus removing any of the emotional impact that the game’s bold story decision to kill the Justice League may have had.

Unfortunately, this version of Batman’s story doesn’t appear to have a happy ending. Few would disagree that it would have been better had Batman’s fate at the end of “Arkham Knight” remained an enigma, as opposed to having him come back for one of the worst encores in history. It was also deeply disappointing to have Robin, Oracle, Nightwing, and Alfred all disappear, too. But the “Arkham” name brings cachet, and this game desperately needed it to persuade ANYBODY to give it a chance. We’re certainly better off imagining that “Arkham Knight” was the end of the series, and hoping that Warner Bros. stops mandating what Rocksteady does for future releases.

Which “Arkham” game is your favorite, which villain do you like the most, and what do you hope Rocksteady does next? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

And THAT was the complete “Batman: Arkham” timeline explained!