With the blu-ray of DC Comic's Green Lantern coming to UK buyers this coming Monday, and then Batman: Arkham City arriving just four days later for gamers, it's a busy week for the comic book giant. And to celebrate, they have combined the two release events to give Arkham City players the opportunity to don an extra special (though slightly confusing) alternate costume. Within the packaging of the Green Lantern blu-ray is an exclusive code to unlock a Sinestro Corps Batman outfit, which you can see below, in a move that looks ingenious when you consider how poor the reception of the film was when it hit cinemas. This should at least guarantee a few extra sales from those DC fans who hadn't necessarily planned on it. This Sinestro costume is the latest addition to a wardrobe for Bats that would put Liberace to shame, and it does look nice (and will presumably appeal to broader-interest DC die-hards) but fans of the game could be forgiven for suggesting that it might have been a more appropriate decision to go for Hal Jordan's much more famous green corps outfit (since he is the focus of the film). But then, this isn't the first time Batman has come into contact with one of Sinestro's yellow power rings, as one tried to recruit him (very briefly) during the Sinestro Corps Wars, but failed because he had already worn a Green Corps power ring during the Black Knight story arc. That interaction even sparked its own action figure from DC...
Advertisement
Bruce Wayne has also officially been part of the Green Lantern Corps in the past: in 1994's Elseworlds one-shot Batman: In Darkest Knight by Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham, Wayne becomes the Green Lantern in place of Hal Jordan in a story that also sees Gordon die at the hands of Sinestro. So it's not a link without precedent, and those accusations that this is nothing more than a sales gimmick aren't 100% accurate. Batman: Arkham City is released on October 21st for XBox 360, PS3 and PC.