It has been said that the next game in the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City series could include the Justice League in its super-powered line-up. All of this is only speculation of course at this point (perhaps even purposefully leaked to gauge the fanboy reaction), but it raises some interesting points to talk abut.
The Justice League is the DC universe’s answer to The Avengers, a group of their most powerful heroes. Some of its most popular members include Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and sometimes Batman. Despite an on-again off-again relationship with The League, The Dark Knight is one of its greatest members, and has gained their respect and is sometimes depicted as a leader. There are many instances where he fights alongside them, and sometimes even against them. Which both open up great stories for a new game, but also make me question my ability to enjoy that game.
There are many pros to having The League in the next Arkham game, but there are also many cons. Listed below are, what I think, to be the downsides.
1. Power
Batman has always been one of the best heroes in the DC universe and has been respected and feared by all opponents he has faced. He is probably the best fist-fighter in the entire DC universe, but lacks any super-human abilities (although he really doesn’t need them).
Introducing The Justice League would mean that all three members of The Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), would make an appearance, which would be interesting, but also degrading to Batman. It would make him seem weaker than he really is. In the first two Arkham games Batman can take on anything that you through at him. Whether it is super-strong henchmen on Titan or the undead Soloman Grundy, he always beats them. Now, Imagine a game where there are super-heros flying above Gotham and blasting criminals with their X-Ray vision. It would be a cool experience at first, but would leave players asking “Why can’t I do that?”.
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10 Comments
Great article! I completely agree on all counts! I have two other massive issues with a JL introduction.
First one being that; personally I have felt that the series has really explored and elaborated on the feeling that batman is fighting an inner turmoil and the ‘protection of Gotham’ has been a side affect that has developed in the second game. I personally believe that the introduction of mutants and aliens fight evil for fighting evils sake may distract from the psychological aspects that were introduced via scarecrow in AA and crime alleys inclusion in AC.
Secondly; this one is a little more continuity based. If rumours of the next game being a silver age prequel then why during the cut scene on AC where Robin appears and begins trying to develop a cure for the virus Joker has developed and distributing it through Gotham, why were the JL not mentioned in terms of assisting Robin with this mission? Surely in the interest of Gotham while Batman is stuck in AC, the more hands the better.
The fanboy inside me is torn. As a Batman fan more than anything I’d rather look into the origin of the Joker and the more detailed aspects of the Bat family and their relastionship (we can assume Barbra has been disabled by the joker already as she is referred to as oracle in AC. This, in my opinion could be a phenomenal plot exploration). However, equally – how cool could it be to see Superman nailing goons in Gotham? Very…
I think they should leave the Arkham series alone and maybe do a completely separate game set out side of Gotham. Also, they could revisit the arkham series in a few more years, the last thing we want to happen is for the series to become repetitive and boring, so a change to JL might be worthwhile.
Glad to see I’m not the only one thinking about the next Batman Game. I would like to see a grittier tone to the next Batman game and I agree it would be too busy having all those characters in one game. Maybe like the Avengers they could roll out the JL characters in their own games first then bring them together after.
I love it when batgeeks get mad that the batgod doesn’t breathe fire.
“OMG, what if Wonder Woman saves Batman!!?? My world will end…”
Grow up, Batman is just YOUR favorite lol.
@Costandinos Karalis
As the author of this article and anyone who appears in the /gaming/ section of this website should have an understanding of what is going on in this industry.
The next Batman game will not be a direct continuation of the events started in Arkham Asylum and continued into Arkham City. This was revealed by a little known outfit called “IGN”. :)
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/11/arkham-city-sequel-will-be-a-silver-age-prequel
A good amount of your arguments are a moot point.
My take on it? Sure RockSteady could not rock the boat and totally Call Of Duty the Batman franchise they have here. The next game could basically just be open world Gotham. I appreciate that they are willing to take some risks here and try to do something with bigger scale. Even more kudos for doing this before their formula became stale.
They should have an Arkham Game where Superman is one of the villains. Like in Hush, he could be under Ivy’s spell/influence (whatever)that would be cool!!!
It may be cool to start a prequel but I just think there are way too many questions that need to be answered after you beat Arkham City. Like Hush was never captured so they can go off on that. Or about Clayface falling in the Lazarus Pit which can also be part of the next one. Or even the ending of Arkham Asylum with Scarecrow,Bane,and Killer Crocs hand grabbing Titan. In Arkham City 2 if you find the boat where Scarecrow is holding stuff, You can read his shipment list in the boat and from the looks of it he might be mixing Titan with his fear toxin so you can make a story from that. It just would annoy me if these were not answered but whatever way they go Ill still love the game because Batman’s a beast I just hope they answer these questions
Συμφωνω ΑΠΟΛΥΤΑ
when i first heard the rumors i thought it would be awesome to have the justice league in the next arkham game, i still do, but it would only be awesome for a week, id then get bored of flying around shooting lasers as superman.
Arkham city is batmans story, and i didnt realize how intense the narrative is, if you look past the good combat youre left with an indepth, moving story which follows batman protecting his home, as soon as some overpowered superheroes come in it will take away every aspect that people enjoyed: the gritty, realistic, batman oriented game.
Id love to see a justice league game made to the standard of arkham city, so if rocksteady wanted to work on that separately that would be awesome, but let arkham city be about batman with the occasional robin or catwoman thrown in
You know I really agree because if the justice league were in next game it will totally take the fun out of the game.besides batman does never call for help.and the graphics will look poor because of JL I mean the game would suck and I like arkham asylum /city . Hip have a batarang controller, game of the year edition on both games, 3d glasses and hope you read this bye.