10 Things You Didn't Know About Batman: Arkham City

2. Batman Carrying The Joker's Dead Body Was The Story Starting Point

Arkham City
WB Games

With a lot of stories, writers actually begin with an ending and then work backwards to fill out how the characters got there, and that's pretty much how Rocksteady came up with the narrative for City.

As mentioned in the same AMA, Sefton Hill explained that the image of Batman carrying the Joker's lifeless corpse (just like he carried Jason Todd in the comics) came right at the beginning, acting as a bolt of inspiration to build the rest of the story around.

Considering it was one of the first plot points thought up, it's no surprise that the moment is perfectly executed in the final game. All these years on, it's still such a ballsy move, and Hill explained why he thought that image was so important to the story:

"We wanted to show that even though Batman hates Joker, there's a part of him, which he wouldn't care to acknowledge, that is defined by Joker. Without Joker, Batman is not Batman. That image is Batman coming to terms with that loss."
Advertisement
Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked full time as a content producer at WhatCulture for nine years. In that time he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple channels, specialising in subjects such as gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 most listened to gaming podcast in the UK that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, covered breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.