8 Ingenious Villain Foreshadowings In Video Games

Batman: Arkham Asylum, despite being fantastic in almost every way, is mainly remembered for its sections involving Scarecrow, whose horror and psychological elements created an experience more memorable than anything else in the game.

The villain is first glimpsed as a shadow on the wall during a sequence showing multiple Arkham inmates infected with his signature fear toxin. Though neither Batman nor the player is aware of it, Batman is also slipped a dose of toxin following this section, which only becomes apparent when things begin to take some really inexplicable turns.

For starters, Batman comes across the corpse of Jim Gordon, then soon after, in the asylum's morgue, has a brief conversation with his dead parents who spring up from inside body bags.

The giveaway to eagle-eyed players here is that Batman's eyes are glowing an unnatural red colour, but if you missed that, the sequence isn't given a clear explanation until Dr. Crane himself pops out of a third body bag and sends you into a full-blown nightmare realm within Bruce's mind.

It's astonishing to see even one such as Batman fall victim to Scarecrow's toxin here, and the subtlety with which it plays out sets the perfect stage for the classic villain's in-person debut.