Batman: Arkham Knight - 10 Essential Villains Season Of Infamy Must Include
10. The Ventriloquist & Scarface
Even though Arnold Wesker's wooden puppet has already made an appearance in the Arkham saga, the two have yet to unite on screen to take part in some classic criminal capers. There's much more to this pairing than just the 1920s aesthetic however - their relationship is without a doubt one of the most fascinating in all of the comic book medium. Embodying the battle of mind over matter, Arnold Wesker's Ventriloquist character is one of the most tortured and tragic souls to ever make an appearance in the Batman mythos, and with characters like Mr. Freeze and Kirk Langstrom, that's a pretty difficult list to top. In order to really inject the Season Of Infamy with some much needed emotional weight, the Ventriloquist/Scarface dynamic would work wonders to really elevate the level of story-telling quality that we've come to expect in the Arkhamverse so far. Wesker isn't so much a villain as he is a hostage, victim to a dehabilitating mental disorder that projects the Scarface persona wherever he may be - this too would be an interesting dynamic to explore. Indeed, Arnold may be the real 'dummy' in the relationship, but he's most certainly a sympathetic one too. Having Batman finally free the Ventriloquist from the shackles of his wooden companion would be a truly positive note to end the series on, and would pay great homage to one of the finest animated Batman stories ever told in the process.
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.
