Batman: Arkham Origins 2 - 10 Big Things It Can Fix From Knight
9. The Storyline
As a character driven tale Arkham Origins easily exceeds its Rocksteady counterparts. It was emotive, lacked the more convoluted and contrived elements of the other titles, and gifted us with some truly magnificent performances in the form of Troy Baker and Roger Craig Smith to name just a few. The developer's decision to set their gaze towards the Caped Crusader's formative years as Gotham's protector allowed the team to really develop not just Bruce's character, but that of his villains and allies as well. The game ended with a visit to Slade Wilson's cell on Blackgate by none other than Amanda Waller, and set up a sequel that will no doubt feature the Suicide Squad as DC looks to push the team further in all sorts of mediums. The problem with Knight's plot was that it lacked focus and direction. Whilst offering a fantastic reassessment of Jason Todd's character, the story failed to deliver impactful moments and was hindered by a poor script that delivered dull lines on an almost recurring basis - even managing to miss the point of Batman's character completely in its closing moments. These are easy things for WBGM to rectify, as Origins managed to convey the anger of Bruce's early years as the Bat really well. An Origins sequel could posses all the trappings of a wonderful Batman tale. Everything from Dick Grayson to Harvey Dent and more are open to the writers to explore - it's just lucky they have such a great universe to do it all in.
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.
