Batman: Arkham Knight - 10 Big Story Moments Fans Will Debate For Years
6. Superfluous Romance Harmed The Story
This was perhaps the oddest of modifications to Batman's lore in recent memory, but the strangest thing about it is that it served no purpose whatsoever. Many fans didn't seem to have a problem with this element as it didn't go out of its way to encroach on the overall story, but for hardcore Bat-fans the times that it did proved to be irritable beyond words. Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon have had no romantic connection - be that in the comics or in the Arkham saga prior to Knight. It's highly likely that the only reason these two were together for the duration of the story was to force melodrama between Bruce and Tim, as Batman shields Barbara's kidnap and 'demise' from the third Robin. It's silly because it changes nothing whilst at the same time deviating from the established comics canon. If Rocksteady were going to pair Barbara up with anyone, the least they could have done would be to make Dick a love interest.
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.
