Of all the features of the story, this might be the most bizarre. In a move that quite literally no one asked for, Rocksteady's writers thought it would be a fantastic idea to introduce a romance between Batman's third Robin, Tim Drake, and Oracle, also known as Barbara Gordon. This is in spite of the fact that not only has their been no indication of their romance in either Asylum or City, the two have never held anything more than a platonic friendship in all of Batman's related media. Even more strange is the fact that even though Rocksteady chose to include Dick Grayson in their finale, they still chose to go with Tim and Barbara as an item, even though there's far more cause for Dick and Barbara as a pairing. After all, the two have one of the most iconic relationships in DC Comics, and one that could've very easily transferred to the Arkhamverse as well. It seems as though Rocksteady thought that introducing a relationship like this would've elevated dramatic tension when Barbara is kidnapped and later thought to be dead, but it's completely needless. To say it was forced would be an understatement, but this was very much a case of Arkham's developers trying to differentiate the series from the main comics canon in a needlessly bizarre way.
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.
