Batman: Arkham 2017 - 10 Perfect Ways To Continue The Franchise

Rocksteady's time is up, but Arkham still has years of life left.

by Ewan Paterson
Five years, five games, three comic book series and an animated film later, the Arkham series has managed to become one of the most successful interpretations of the Bat-mythos yet. With Rocksteady having departed the saga this year however, what's next for the franchise - apart from the inevitable next video game entry of course - is anybody's guess. For a game series to spawn so many spin-offs is unusual in and of itself, but it goes to show just how diverse and innovative the Arkham brand truly is. This diversity may not have always translated to flawless literary works, or indeed, gaming sequels, but its been more than paramount to Arkham's success since its inception in 2009. The future of Arkham could be incredibly diverse, but of course we all want to see another game on the horizon, (well, those who were a fan of Warner Bros. Montréal's work on Arkham Origins, at least). Everything from fleshing out Bats' origins more, to the twilight of his years could be explored - it's just a matter of choosing how and where to go first.

10. Expand To The Justice League

Like it or not, DC is pretty much everywhere right now, and no ensemble cast of characters are more famous than the Justice League of America. Despite being one of the comic book company's foremost series, the League has found relatively little success outside of its original medium. Sure, we may have the universally acclaimed Justice League animated series to commend for its genre-defining tenure on Cartoon Network, but gaming spin-offs, films and other TV shows have fallen far below the standards once consistent with DC's name. Justice League: Heroes did in fact take a good stab at the license, but it paled in comparison to its superior Raven Software counterpart, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - even if it does remain as one of DC's best videogames to date. A truly great adaptation of the Justice League is long overdue, but given DC's latest attempts to bring all their mediums closer towards synergy, the arrival of the Justice League film may offer strong indication of where the Arkham brand will venture next. It'd be an almost ridiculous task to model all of the League's characters as well as they've done with Batman, but if all the components are handled with enough care and dedication, the prospect of a game doesn't just excite - it seems natural. After all, Rocksteady's countless allusions to a world outside of Batman couldn't have been for nothing, right?
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.