Batman: Arkham Knight - 10 Big Story Moments Fans Will Debate For Years
7. Joker's Presence Had No Subtlety
Okay, as far as premises go this one was a masterstroke, but couldn't it have been executed in a better way? Mark Hamill's Joker is perfect as always, but there is a point where it just becomes too much. Immediately after his first appearance the maniacal Clown Prince perches on Bruce's shoulder for the remainder of the game - offering his own unique brand of commentary on the story's events. The problem isn't that these scenes are handled poorly, it's that their high frequency negatively impacts the experience. There is no sense of momentum with Batman's slow decline into madness, and that's a big issue with a game that's pretty much wall to wall action straight from the get go. Slowly amping up Joker's presence throughout the main events would've avoided the more emotional elements being ruined, and oversaturation wouldn't have been something to worry about either. There will always be those who were desperate for more Joker even after his demise, but this was definitely too on the nose for those wishing for other villains to get a spotlight in the Arkham Trilogy's finale.
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.
