Batman: Arkham Legacy - 10 Villains We Want To See

The Batman Arkham series has been a critical and commercial smash hit for more than a decade, with the superb debut title Arkham Asylum defining the action adventure genre (at least for comic book games), and each subsequent entry iterating and improving on the last.

Never before had fans been so connected to Batman and his world. Never before had anyone experienced what it would be like to truly BE the Dark Knight.

So, with the next instalment in this beloved franchise all but confirmed at this point, fans are eagerly awaiting the official reveal. Bat-fans everywhere are practically salivating at the prospect of gliding down onto the blood-soaked streets of Gotham once more, to do epic battle with, assumedly, the Court of Owls.

With the rumor mill working overtime and rumours rife as to which members of the Dark Knight's formidable and legendary rogues gallery will feature in this new adventure though, no one knows for sure who will and won't appear.

Previous entries in the series have cast the likes of Joker, Two Face, and the Riddler in starring roles, but now is the time for a new cabal of colourful characters to try their hand at taking down the Bat.

A two-for-one entry.

When Barry Allen - The Flash – travelled back in time in an attempt to prevent his mother’s death, things went horribly wrong for the Scarlet Speedster. Rather than save his mother and bring about the idyllic world he wanted, he instead created a nightmare. In this “Flashpoint” universe, it was not Thomas and Martha Wayne brutally gunned down in Crime Alley, but young Bruce.

Wracked with grief and consumed by rage, Thomas adopts the mantle of the Batman without Bruce’s (sometimes questionable) moral compass. Here is a Dark Knight who does kill, who does use firearms, and who will torture and maim to alleviate his own pain.

Of Martha, the callous killing of her only son resulted in a full psychotic break, destroying a loving wife and mother. Rebuilding her shattered psyche, Thomas' wife is reborn as the Joker of this twisted timeline.

In one of the most memorable panels of the entire Flashpoint story, we see Martha, cradling Bruce’s body, raise her head, giggling hysterically, her son’s blood smeared across her mouth like a macabre, red smile…

At this point in the Arkham saga, most would agree that, given his inclusion in every entry to date, the Joker should probably sit this one out. Using the Martha Wayne version, however, is an excellent way Arkham fans can have their cake and eat it, by including a version of the Joker separate from Mark Hamill's classic villain.

Imagine the emotion, the intensity, the heartbreak you as the player would feel should Bruce – whether via a dream sequence, a toxin, or via the machinations of the Multiverse – have to face off against the father he idolised and the mother he could not save.