BATMAN ARKHAM CITY Sequel: What’s The Next Step?

What can we expect from Paul Dini & Rocksteady in Batman: Arkham 3?

WARNING: This article discusses MAJOR spoilers from the game, so if you haven€™t finished it or have yet to start, you might want to reconsider watching this! With Arkham City having been available for over a month now, it€™s safe to assume that many eager gamers have already stormed through the main story and side quests, collecting trophies and solving riddles as they go in their quest for 100% completion. At the time of writing, I have the majority of riddles to solve and then my journey through the twisted, crumbling section of Gotham City that plays host to her most infamous residents shall be finished. So it€™s also safe to assume that many of us have seen the dark and poetic demise of The Joker, finally succumbing to the ravages of the Titan formula he injected himself with at the end of Arkham Asylum. It felt like the logical conclusion to both The Joker and the game series, bringing things fully circle and tying up all the loose ends from both games. Except for the fact that this isn€™t the end. Despite the game€™s main story suggesting the end of the journey, certain side stories hit at and set the stage for another foray into this game series€™ universe. And with Arkham City being just as critically and financially successful as its predecessor, it is inevitable that Warner Brothers Interactive will push for a trilogy, just as their movie studio counterparts did with the Christopher Nolan additions to the Batman franchise. But, after a game as big and absorbing as City, where and what is there left for Roocksteady Studios and Arkham series writer and co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series (which the games are a continuation of) Paul Dini to go? Will they take a cue from Nintendo€™s Mario franchise and go to Arkham World, or even Arkham Universe? Could the climax be Batman taking on Darkseid in the vacuum of space to decide the fate of the earth? While that might be an interesting spectacle to behold at some point, it is highly unlikely that Dini and co will have such flights of fancy in mind for Arkham 3. Nevertheless there are a few juicy teasers for things to come hidden in the alleyways and run down buildings of Arkham, and while they are not quite as subtle as the well hidden blueprints in Arkham Asylum, they are far more cryptic. Which this in mind, here are some possible storylines and plot points in Arkham 3, at least in the mind of this writer. Click "next" below to read part 2...
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Contributor

Alex McKay is a Hertfordshire based theatre actor with a passion for music, movies and comic books. A one time radio presenter, he co-hosts WhatCulture's Comic Box podcast with fellow WhatCulture scribe Jamie Slough. He can always be found spouting opinions and observations on Twitter at @aemckay.