Batman: Arkham City - 10 Coolest Easter Eggs, Secrets And References Explained

2. Writers, Films, And Other Related Batman Media

Batman Arkham City Joker Box
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

On top of the wider references to the DC Universe and the subtle foreshadowing of potential plot-threads, Arkham City also included a troff of nods to wider Batman media, encompassing film, television and (obviously) comics too.

Like a lot of the game's easter eggs, some of these are woven directly into the environment. Dini Towers, named after Batman scribe Paul Dini - who also wrote the story for Arkham Asylum and City - is one such location, while two nods to Tim Burton's Batman Returns can also be found in the Steel Mill and Park Row. Upon completing the Hot and Cold side-mission, players can see a giant duck resembling the one Penguin used in the 1992 feature, while the same Cheshire cat that adorned the roof of Max Shreck's department store can be seen a billboard opposite the Solomon Wayne courthouse.

More location-based references to related Bat-media include the Stacked Deck, a bar frequented by mobsters in Batman: The Animated Series; Salvatore Maroni's Italian restaurant can also be found with a note saying it was closed February 14th, the same day the Holiday killer struck in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's seminal Batman: The Long Halloween comic book.

All these are great, but there is one riddle that may just take the cake. Venture deep into the Steel Mill, and you'll be able to find Joker's box of toys, including his fake "bang" gun, the goggles he used in Arkham Asylum's challenge maps, and even a laughing fish from the the story arc of the same name.

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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.