2011’s Batman: Arkham Metropolis is extensively thought to be one of many biggest comedian book-based video video games of all time. The sport’s story acquired excessive reward for increasing the unique narrative that started in Batman: Arkham Asylum in new and thrilling methods. Though the sheer scope of Batman: Arkham Metropolis‘s story meant that many occasions essential to the plot weren’t given display screen time, the tie-in four-issue comedian collection Batman: Arkham Unhinged explored the tales that unfolded off-screen in the primary sport.
That includes a number of tales set earlier than, throughout, and even after the occasions of Batman: Arkham Metropolis‘s fundamental storyline, Batman: Arkham Unhinged expands on lots of the plot factors that have been both alluded to or left unresolved by the tip of the sport. By constructing on the lore of its supply materials, Batman: Arkham Unhinged cements itself as a must-read for followers of the critically acclaimed online game.
Batman: Arkham Metropolis Tore Gotham Aside
The in-universe yr that handed between the ending of Batman: Arkham Asylum and the start of Batman: Arkham Metropolis is stuffed with occasions integral to the latter’s plot, however a lot of them solely obtain passing mentions inside the sport itself. To compensate, the five-part storyline “Welcome to the Slough of Despond” (by Karen Traviss, Riccardo Burchielli, Alejandro Sanchez, and Travis Lanham) explores the weeks earlier than the grand opening of Arkham Metropolis in vivid element.
All through its 5 points, “Welcome to the Slough of Despond” exhibits how Arkham Asylum’s warden Quincy Sharp used the local weather of concern generated by the Joker’s failed breakout to win Gotham Metropolis’s mayoral election and enact a collection of draconian insurance policies. This step by step remodeled town right into a police state. Amid the rising rigidity between Sharp’s administration and the common residents of Gotham, Batman finds himself sizzling on the path of “The Bookbinder,” a mysterious and violent vigilante who has set their sights on town’s rich elite.
Whereas “Welcome to the Slough of Despond” ends on an unsatisfying cliffhanger, the story does a wonderful job highlighting how the formation of Arkham Metropolis impacted Gotham as a complete. Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD are rising to hate Sharp’s more and more authoritarian insurance policies. Residents of Gotham are divided over their help or opposition to Arkham Metropolis. “Welcome to the Slough of Despond” exhibits that the controversial penal colony was much more of a menace to town than the inmates it was constructed to include.
“Separation Nervousness” Revealed the Historical past of Arkham Metropolis‘s Unique Villains
Whereas Batman: Arkham Metropolis did not introduce any new characters or ideas that may change into mainstays in mainstream Batman comics, the sport did function two memorable unique villains within the type of Mr. Hammer and Sickle. Serving because the second-in-commands of Joker and Penguin’s gangs, Mr. Hammer and Sickle are mid-bosses throughout Batman’s assault on the Metal Mill and Iceberg Lounge, wielding their titular weapons in opposition to the Caped Crusader with ruthless effectivity.
Though Mr. Hammer and Sickle’s backstories are solely vaguely alluded to within the two’s character bios, “Separation Nervousness” (by Derek Fridolfs, Juan Ryp, Andrew Elder, and Travis Lanham) expanded the Abramovici twins’ backstory. Deserted by their father quickly after they have been born, the 2 spent their childhood as members of a touring circus earlier than they have been pressured into a lifetime of crime by the Joker, who ordered a captive Dr. Thomas Elliot to separate them and discarded Sickle as a result of he solely wished “a right-hand man.”
“Separation Nervousness” does a wonderful job of fleshing out the previous and persona of Batman: Arkham Metropolis‘s few unique characters, highlighting the Abramovici twins’ frustrations with each other whereas showcasing the sturdy underlying love that ultimately results in their reconciliation after the sport. On high of that, “Separation Nervousness” additionally foreshadows Thomas Elliot’s secret id because the villain Hush and his position as the primary antagonist of Batman: Arkham Metropolis‘s “Stolen Id” side-quest.
“Finish Sport” Reveals How Gotham Reacted to the Demise of the Joker
The ending of Batman: Arkham Metropolis, which sees the Joker succumb to the blood poisoning he’d spent the sport making an attempt to treatment, despatched shock waves by way of each the gaming and comics communities. Whereas many gamers have been fast to type theories that the Clown Prince of Crime’s demise was merely one other one in every of his notorious fake-outs, “Finish Sport” (by Derek Fridolfs, Jason Shawn Alexander, Lee Loughridge, and Travis Lanham) confirmed past the shadow of the doubt that the dying of the Joker wasn’t a joke.
Selecting up instantly after Batman: Arkham Metropolis‘s ending, “Finish Sport” sees Batman and the GCPD struggling to include the fallout of the Joker’s demise. Regardless of their greatest makes an attempt to maintain his dying underneath wraps, he posthumously proclaims his passing by way of a pre-recorded message and divulges that he is lined the partitions of Arkham Metropolis with explosives, forcing Batman to race in opposition to the clock to thwart his nemesis’ last scheme. At its core, “Finish Sport” is an exploration of how Gotham reacts to the dying of one in every of its most notorious residents. Whereas a lot of Gotham’s residents are fast to have fun or mourn the Joker’s demise, Batman finds himself grappling with a lingering sense of vacancy, mirroring the shock that many avid gamers felt on the finish of Batman: Arkham Metropolis.
