BeforeSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,Rocksteadycould do no wrong. It managed to craft a brilliant action-adventure-style Batman foundation with Metroidvania andZeldaelements and a fluid, rewarding combat system that would go on to inspire innumerable games. Plus, the cherry on top is that theArkhamgames all respected the Batman mythology and DC lore that it inherited and fleshed out in an original continuity drawing explicit influence fromBatman: The Animated Series. Now, if rumors are correct,Rocksteadyis hoping to take the whole line back to formula.
It would be great to see Rocksteady return toBatmanand theArkhamgames in particular because that was its bread and butter, but that was a decade ago. Rocksteady had a great recipe where Batman was always the lead and companions eventually became playable as either the stars of their own DLCs or complementary companions who would come and go during scripted encounters.Seeing Bat Family members receive their ownArkhamgameswould be lovely, though if a formulaic return to tradition is what will satiate the masses it is unlikely that players will be getting rid of Batman anytime soon.
The Arkhamverse Can’t Dodge Key Bat Family Characters Forever
An overview of the Arkhamverse timeline would illustrate how there are only so few years left forArkhamgames to cover where Batman plays a solitary role.Batman: Arkham OriginsandBatman: Arkham Asylumare the only entries so far that actually allow Batman to be a lone figure casually speaking to his companions via cowl comms and attempting to convince himself that he works better alone, for instance, while inBatman: Arkham CityandBatman: Arkham Knighthe’s shooing away Catwoman or a Robin left and right.
Ironically, theArkhamgames have actively evaded origin stories for the Bat Family while stressing origin stories for Batman’s rogues gallery, thoughKnightsort of muddies the water as it debuts an origin story for Jason Todd as both Arkham Knight and Red Hood.Shadowis now expected to provide origin tales for at least a few iconic Batman villains, andBat Family recruits such as Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drakeappearing for the first time in the canon is on the table.
There’s already a legitimately high likelihood that Barbara Gordon is invited to the Batcave and given a cape and cowlduring the events ofBatman: Arkham Shadow—especially if her father is one of the public office officials kidnapped—as she’s still in contact with Batman and has likely been itching to work with him again since helping locate Penguin’s weapons caches inOrigins.
Batman’s Popularity in the Arkhamverse May Guarantee He’s Not Going Anywhere
That said, it’s likely best for Bat Family affiliates to simply be given their own standalone DLCs where they can be lead protagonists, such as Robin inCity’s Harley Quinn’s Revenge orBatgirl inBatman: Arkham Knight’s A Matter of Family(which includes Robin as Batgirl’s Dual Play companion). Indeed,Knight’s Dual Play feature broadened the roles of Bat-Family characters while sustaining Batman as the key protagonist and has since been collecting a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.
Dual Play is an ideal means of having Bat Family companions appear in gameplay, actually lends itself to having Batman and another character behave like a dynamic duo, and will hopefully be reprised in a possible futureArkhamgame developed by Rocksteady.Gotham Knights’ blundermay not have necessarily been enough to dissuade studios from pursuing a Bat Family-centric game altogether, but because the Arkhamverse has such a long and popular lineage with Batman being insurmountable in his popularity it is unlikely that the Bat Family will ever reach the same pedestal.
