Batman: Arkham Knight - 9 Reasons Why Season Of Infamy Is Already A Disappointment
3. Mr Freeze's Return Contradicts His Past Story Arc
Remember when Mr Freeze was given a positive resolution to his tragic tale in Arkham City? It provided the perfect closure for a character propelled into villainy in the name of saving his wife, and the reluctant ally dynamic provided in City's plot was one of the game's strongest elements. With Nora safe and well one can only speculate on what's caused Victor's apparent relapse into crime, but even the best description possible wouldn't be able to alleviate the sense of "Been there, done that" syndrome that would come with the character's return. Freeze is one of those Batman villains whose origin just exudes tragedy at every turn, so the prospect of having his happy ending robbed from him in the name of an unnecessary expansion doesn't really bode well for the character, nor his development over the course of the series, either. Salvaging Knight's already tattered narrative credibility would be no easy task even had Freeze been omitted entirely, but doing away with a strong resolution in the threequel's predecessor is really going to hurt this story in a non-salvageable 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.
