It's always been something of a wish of mine to see the Ventriloquist in the Arkham series. He was one of the more sympathetic villains in Batman: The Animated Series, but he didn't make the cut for the games, only being referenced by name in Arkham City and Arkham Knight, by which point he had been replaced by Peyton Riley.
However, while Arnold Wesker himself wasn't able to nab a physical appearance in the Arkham series, his other half, the mastermind, gangster puppet known as Scarface, certainly did. He can be seen in Warden Sharp's office in the game, before being nabbed by Joker for the climax. He's also a key figure in one of the many Scarecrow nightmare segments, where he's the new warden of the Asylum, and is being voiced by Mark Hamill.
Still though, Joker grabbing Scarface before he juices himself up with Titan is more than just a throwaway reference - the games actually explain that the Harlequin of Hate is somewhat obsessed with the puppet, with his thugs even going out of their way to procure multiple versions of the doll in Arkham City.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
