Batman has faced almost every challenge imaginable in the Batman: Arkham series and has always endured, making his version of the Caped Crusader one of the most iconic and memorable versions of the character. Though the series focuses on Batman, there are plenty of moments where other members of the Bat-family take the spotlight for a while. Dick Grayson in Batman: Arkham takes over the role of Batman after the events of the previous film, allowing each version to be more diverse and expansive than its predecessor. With Rocksteady spearheading a new Arkhamverse game next year in the form of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, now would be a good time to look back on the series and reflect on the history Batman has been through.

The Batman: Arkham games have spanned four major releases, with a side-scrolling spinoff following Batman: Arkham Origins and a spinoff in the form of a short virtual reality game following the release of Batman: Arkham Knight. Rocksteady released the first game in the series, “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” in 2009, following the cancellation of pandemic-related game “The Dark Knight.” Arkham Asylum redefined the superhero genre in video games by taking characters that few games had been able to portray in a serious way up until that point and delivering one of the most compelling action-adventure titles ever. Arkham Asylum spawned numerous imitators after its release, few of which came close to Rocksteady’s level of detail and polish.

The Batman: Arkham series began with Arkham Asylum, but over the years the series has been released out of chronological order, filling in many gaps in Batman’s story. Batman: Arkham Asylum jumped directly into the Arkhamverse, serving as a sort of Die Hard-style Batman story in the DC Universe. As the series progressed, gaps between each game were filled and other characters were given the spotlight, enriching the Batman mythos. Looking back at the Batman: Arkham series chronologically, the first appearances in the timeline come several years into Batman’s career, when many of his villains first appeared.

Batman: Arkham Origins & The Rise Of The Caped Crusader

The chronologically first game in the series begins Batman’s second year fighting crime on the streets of Gotham. Various villains plan a city-wide plot to kill the Bat on Christmas Eve. A DLC pack was released after the game, detailing Bruce’s early years studying martial arts in Asia and his encounter with Shiva, one of the eight assassins he faces in the base game. The world of Arkham: Origins was so filled with villains that at one point the world of Batman: Arkham Origins contained almost all the playable villains. The leader of this adventure is a mafia boss named Black Mask, who appears to have hired eight assassins to hunt down Batman for a large reward. Batman fights various assassins on Christmas night and begins to hatch a secret plan before eventually coming into contact with Black Mask, who turns out to actually be the Joker in disguise. The two meet for the first time here, and the dynamics of the story change radically.

Batman: Arkham Origins has other key story moments, such as Bane destroying the Batcave and learning Batman’s true identity, but the crux of the story revolves around Batman and the Joker fighting for control of the city. Batman: Arkham Origins is the perfect Joker story, highlighting a defining moment in their relationship. At the end of the game, the Joker tells Batman that they are both sociopaths and misfits, and that they exist because the system failed them, calling Batman’s ethics into question. Batman ignores this statement and captures the Joker, stopping the riot at Blackgate Prison and saving the city. In Batman: Arkham Origins, for the first time in the Batman: Arkham timeline, the Caped Crusader is seriously challenged and forced to take on a plethora of villains overnight, transforming him from a vigilante to a superhero recognized by Arkham Asylum.

Batman: Arkham Origins sets the stage for Batman’s early years as well as most of Batman’s rogues gallery, introducing the beginnings of Harley Quinn, the Joker, Bane, the Riddler, and Mr. Freeze in post-release DLC, all of whom have their origins. The game made such good use of villains that Batman: Arkham Origins was able to rehabilitate Bane from previous interpretations of the series. In a post-credits scene, Amanda Waller is seen recruiting Deathstroke in his cell, hinting at the future of Task Force X and the Suicide Squad. The game introduced a younger, more combative Batman who was still learning how to control his anger and tactics. Batman: Arkham Origins marks the beginning of the series’ timeline, setting the precedent and tone for the path Batman would take.

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate & Catwoman’s Secret Plot

After the release of Batman: Arkham Origins, Armature Studios developed a side-spinning mobile spin-off game that details the months following the events of the base game. The game introduced many characters into the Arkhamverse that hadn’t appeared much later in the series, such as Catwoman and Solomon Grundy, and also introduced some new faces, such as Bronze Tiger and Rick Flag, an Easter egg from Suicide Squad. It was prepared by KTJL. It introduces members of Amanda Waller’s crew. The plot of this spin-off follows the riot at Blackgate Prison, with Batman working his way through the facility and taking down the Joker, Penguin, and Black Mask, who have seized control of certain areas of the prison.

As this is the first entry to introduce Catwoman chronologically, Catwoman and Batman’s relationship is still in its infancy, with her giving Batman hints on how to stop the bad guys at Blackgate Prison. At the end of the story, Catwoman reveals that she was only using Batman as a pawn to get closer to another prisoner deeper within Blackgate, Bane, who was captured at the end of Arkham Origins. After the end credits, it is revealed that Amanda Waller was watching all along, and it was he who hired Catwoman to capture Bane. This shows how dangerous she is, and how important the Suicide Squad will become in the Arkhamverse itself. Although she eventually has to take Bane to the police, where he ends up being mistreated by the staff of Arkham Asylum, Waller manages to capture Deadshot and Bronze Tiger during the riot, marking the beginning of Task Force X.

Batgirl: A Matter Of Family Shows Barbara Against Joker & Harley

As part of the Batman: Arkham Knight Season Pass, a DLC expansion called A Matter Of Family was released. It takes place from Batgirl’s perspective before she was paralyzed by the Joker. Set between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum, the expansion sees Batgirl and Robin teaming up to rescue Commissioner Gordon from the Joker and his minions who have set up shop on an oil rig in an abandoned theme park. Since Tim Drake is Robin in this story, it appears that Jason Todd has already been murdered by the Joker before this DLC. The Batman: Arkham Knights version of Batgirl shows the potential of the Gotham Knights and what they could do with that version of the character. While this DLC is fairly short, lasting only about two hours, it gives us our first and only look at Batgirl in her prime and shows what she accomplished as a hero before she became Oracle.

Family Matters marks Harley Quinn’s chronological first appearance in the series, as she only appeared as a psychiatrist in Arkham Origins, before becoming a villain. The expansion also highlights Barbara and Tim’s early relationship, who eventually marry in the epilogue of Batman: Arkham Knight. The DLC ends with Batgirl and Robin rescuing the Commissioner, but the Joker flees the scene and continues his antics around the city, to be dealt with at a later date.

Batman: Arkham Asylum & Joker’s Hostile Takeover

Batman: Arkham Asylum was the beginning of the series, setting the stage for future DC projects, including the Batman: Arkham-inspired Wonder Woman and Superman games, and introducing all that is central to the Batman: Arkham series. The game wastes no time, starting with Batman quickly taking the Joker to Arkham Asylum, where he will be imprisoned in the near future. Shortly after, the Joker escapes his shackles and begins taking over parts of the Asylum, freeing most of Batman’s most notorious villains, including Bane, Killer Croc, and Poison Ivy. In this scenario, where Batman runs through a mental hospital, he has a great deal of difficulty, as he must navigate an entire island full of previously imprisoned villains.

After fighting his way through the Asylum and defeating numerous villains, Batman finally comes face to face with the Joker. While the Dark Knight faces off against the Scarecrow and some creepy nightmare sequences in Batman: Arkham, the story revolves around the relationship between the Joker and Batman as he takes over the psychiatric hospital. As the story progresses, according to a deal made with Dr. Joker, Penelope Young experimented on Bane and used his blood laced with poison to develop a similar formula to distribute in the hopes of creating super soldiers. The serum is codenamed Titan, and Batman encounters many criminals in the psychiatric hospital who have been mutated by the serum and transformed into monsters with enormous muscles. In the finale of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Joker injects himself with Titan, turning him into a gigantic monster that Batman can only defeat with the help of an explosive gel.

Titan After defeating the Joker, Batman gives way to the police to invade the island and regain control. Batman: Arkham Asylum is superior to Arkham City in many ways, establishing the formula for the franchise and paving the way for all future Batman: Arkham installments. Many of the villains featured in Batman: Arkham Asylum have reappeared at some point in the series, including in the following games, with Arkham Asylum director Quincy Sharpe believing them to be reincarnations of Amadeus Arkham.

Batman: Arkham City & The Downfall Of The Villain Underworld

After the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum and a comic series detailing the aftermath of that story and the exploits of Quincy Sharpe and Hugo Strange’s security force Tiger, Rocksteady has delivered an even bigger game with Batman: Arkham City. Arkham City has the best opening of any Batman: Arkham game. It starts with the kidnapping of Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight tries to unravel the mystery of Gotham’s new super prison. From there, things get more complicated as Batman traverses all of Arkham City and the Underground, fighting ancient creatures and coming face to face with foes once thought dead.

In his quest to uncover the true intentions of Arkham City and track down mastermind Hugo Strange, Batman encounters many villains never before seen in the series, including Ra’s al Ghul, Clayface, Two-Face and Hush, the latter of whom is even spotted early on after rescuing medical staff from the Park Row church. Hush’s storyline in Batman: Arkham City was particularly interesting as Hush now poses a threat to Bruce Wayne rather than Batman, as his face has been altered to look like Wayne’s. After being poisoned by the Joker and wandering Arkham City in search of a cure, Batman enlists the help of Mr. Freeze to create a serum, but is unable to save the Joker. The ending of Batman: Arkham City ends with the death of Batman’s most infamous villain.

Batman: Arkham VR & Batman’s Premonition

Batman: Arkham VR served as a story that filled in some of the events between Arkham City and Arkham Knight, as the latter contains many huge revelations that would have benefited from a longer backstory. In this short virtual reality experience, players put themselves in Batman’s shoes in first-person perspective and follow in the footsteps of Nightwing and Robin after they disappear. After searching the city and interrogating the Penguin, it is discovered that both Nightwing and Robin are dead, but they both have important roles to play in the next game, which could also help create a sequel to Batman: Arkham Knight as Batman Beyond. After watching her death, Batman is locked in a cell and when he looks in the mirror he sees the Joker staring back at him. This suggests that Batman is suffering from the side effects of Arkham City after being poisoned with Joker’s blood, which directly ties into one of the biggest storylines in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batman: Arkham VR is a more exclusive release, only playable on virtual reality headsets, but it does provide insight into what Batman went through prior to the events of Batman: Arkham Knight. The poisoning from the Joker’s blood causes severe psychological trauma in Batman, which also manifests physically when he is exposed to the fear toxin in the upcoming game, causing Batman to commit crimes in Batman: Arkham Knight. Learning more about the effects of the Joker’s blood and how it causes Batman to hallucinate the deaths of his relatives makes it a great prequel to Arkham Knight, helping us understand further why he alienated his allies.

Batman: Arkham Knight & The Rebirth Of Batman

The conclusion of the Arkhamverse is depicted in the form of Batman: Arkham Knight, in which Scarecrow takes over the city with the help of a mysterious new villain known only as the Arkham Knight. The Arkham Knight is depicted in a portion of the comic released at the same time as the game. Throughout the story, the Arkham Knight has Batman at his mercy, training his soldiers to attack specific weak spots in his armor, making it seem as though Batman and the Arkham Knight have a shared past. Midway through the game, Batman receives a vision of one of his former Robins, Jason Todd, who was captured and seemingly killed by the Joker years ago. In the climax of Batman: Arkham Knight, it is revealed that Jason never died and took over the role of Arkham Knight to get revenge on Batman for leaving the Joker behind.

In addition to the revelation that Batman’s former ally will become his greatest enemy, many other important storylines come together in Batman: Arkham Knight, including the Joker poisoning Batman and his crew with blood poisoning, the Scarecrow poisoning the city with fear toxin, and revealing Bruce Wayne’s true identity. After defeating his inner demons and trapping the Joker in his heart, Bruce is able to stop the Scarecrow and save Gotham, leaving the door open for a sequel like WB’s cancelled Batman: Arkham Knight. Bruce knows that Batman can no longer exist if his true identity is revealed, so he fakes his own death and destroys Wayne Manor with all the evidence that he is Batman. Just a few months later, after the Bat-Family deals with the consequences in a DLC story, Batman reappears in Gotham, but this time with fear toxin at his side, he rises the legend of the Dark Knight from the ashes and terrorizes his enemies like never before.

The Batman: Arkham series is one of the greatest Batman sagas of all time, and has stood the test of time and inspired other superhero video games. Other DC games are currently in development. This includes a Suicide Squad game set in the Arkhamverse, a Wonder Woman game, and a Batman game called Gotham Knights, which is set in an alternate universe and focuses on members of the Bat-family. Whatever plans Rocksteady and DC have for the future, the Batman: Arkham game will remain a shining example of what can be achieved when utilizing the license to its full potential.