Superman: Emperor Joker features Superman being committed to Arkham Asylum under the care of "Warden" Solomon Grundy and chief guard Calendar Man, who have replaced Jeremiah Arkham and Aaron Cash, respectively. Unlike all other Titan victims, Joker has kept his mind and is still taunting Batman to give in to the change. Despite not being on Joker's party list, Harley cuts Ivy a break and lets her out. Following Elizabeth's apparent suicide in 1920, Amadeus, now an aspiring psychiatrist, inherited the house which he dedicated to accommodating those suffering from serious mental illnesses, as had Elizabeth. Huntoon made a number of changes to his security policies, including the installation of an anti-riot system that flooded the cell block corridors with gas in the event of a mass disturbance, and permitting guards to carry handguns, to little avail. Poison Ivy helps him escape by kissing his guards, killing them, and Bane helped by bringing Freeze's suit so he could live outside of the cold wing. Sick! Legitimately crazy. This depiction of Arkham portrays the facility as a sprawling, multi-faceted campus with both new and old structures, including a medical building for low-risk patients, surgical procedures, and pharmaceutical purposes, a penitentiary cell block for the general inmate population, a large factory re-purposed into an intensive care unit for high-risk patients, a series of indoor botanical gardens, and a vast subterranean network. Freeze. Paul Dini's story is a style reminiscent of the depth and twists of the BioShock series, using many gadgets such as the batarang, batclaw, explosive gel, and line launcher. He found one guard that had survived named Eddie Burlow, who points him to the Lower Corridor. Game Informer published the first full reveal of the game and its title, Arkham City, in August 2010. Batman's explosive gel can detonate targets with one blast, blowing apart structurally weak walls and knocking down enemies with debris takedowns. By the end of the film, it is implied that the Narrows has been rendered uninhabitable. Arkham is the primary focus of the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, which takes place during a riot orchestrated by the Joker. A randomized appearance of either Bane, Scarecrow or Killer Croc grabs the crate, as the three villains are still at large. However, knowing Joker well, Batman suspects that the bombs are nothing but empty threats to keep the city busy. This causes a large vine to block the door and force Batman to use the vents to navigate his way out. Batman Wiki is a FANDOM Comics Community. Other DC Multiverse publications that feature Arkham Asylum and its patients include Alan Moore's Swamp Thing (wherein Jason Woodrue—Seeder—is detained) and The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, wherein John Dee (Doctor Destiny) escapes to wreak havoc on the city. Arkham escapees and legitimate releases alike nearly always go on to commit subsequent crimes that land them back in the asylum to safely plot their next caper rather than the city jails or Blackgate Penitentiary. The story is written by Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Detective Comics) while Wildstorm has crafted the appearances of the characters. Ivy sighs in relief of being out of her cell and blows Harley a kiss as she leaves. There was an alternate opening sequence involving Two-Face escaping from Arkham at the beginning of the film, but it was cut due to its ominous implication of violence. For the comic book, see LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Comic Book. The asylum is located on a remote island in the Gotham Bay, a strategic necessity given its reputation for housing violent, incurable psychotics. Gameplay places just as much focus on Batman's role as a detective as his combat prowess. For several years thereafter it existed as little more than a storytelling device used by writers as a temporary confinement for Batman's deranged Rogues Gallery, making only brief cameo appearances when supervillains were incarcerated or re-incarcerated there. Additionally, a pre-order challenge map from GameStop was announced called Scarecrow Nightmare. When viewed from the right perspective, they line up to form a whole question mark, which can be scanned to solve the riddle. Batman then awakens in a shattered nightmare world again created by Scarecrow and defeats him again by sheer will. Double Batarang - Can target two enemies at once. There are several distinct types of challenges: Patient Interview tapes may sometimes require an observant mind to pick out from background scenery, but provide interesting psychological insight about the various Arkham inmates. Jeremiah once forced a "difficult case" to undergo ECT after he was observed smuggling contraband to the Joker, without providing a medical pretext or taking the patient's specific diagnosis into consideration. After heading through a locked-up cave outside, Batman glides down to a secret Arkham-based sector of the Batcave, which he installed beneath the island's surface years ago. The Joker also warns that if Batman is caught following him, then Gordon will die. Detective Mode, when focused on a character, diagrams any firearms on their person, monitors their vital signs, and displays their current condition. On the monitor, Harley passes Ivy's cell, where she again begs to be released. These new features, combined with an optional multi-player cooperative mode, ensure there is plenty to keep newcomers and experienced gamers entertained. Detective Mode is the centerpiece in Batman's arsenal. His cowl can highlight certain points of interest and much like the Metroid Prime games will scan items into your database. (Batman: The Dark Knight #15, February 2013) Arkham seems to favor prolonged solitary confinement as the preferred discipline for problem inmates; in Black Orchid Poison Ivy reports being held in solitary for three weeks on end, while Scarecrow is sentenced to three months in solitary at the conclusion of Arkham Asylum: Living Hell. Its appearances include: Arkham was seen at the end of the film, and designed as a tall, spiraling castle-like structure, with narrow hallways lined with brightly-lit glass bricks. Sonic Batarang - Attracts a nearby enemy. As Batman enters the smaller area, he discovers a wrecked ambulance and a security guard taking cover behind it. Napier himself inadvertently develops an immunity to his drugs and suffers from a split personality between Napier and Joker until finally Joker takes over completely and he is sent back to Arkham although with a much nicer cell for his good deeds as Jack Napier. However, she is later found and returned to her cell after Joker is stopped. Patients transferred from outside Gotham have included the Polka-Dot Man, Doctor Double X, Seeder, Doc Willard, the Dummy, Dancer, the Crumbler, and Mister Thornton. While Ivy laughs maniacally, rumbling comes all around Batman and once outside, he sees that Titan is having a different effect on her. After battling past Ivy's plants while heading back into Arkham Mansion, Batman learns from Aaron Cash that the only way to access Croc's lair is through a pathway in Intensive Treatment. In Batman: Crimson Mist, the third part of the trilogy that began with Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, a vampiric Batman, corrupted by his thirst for blood, murders all of Arkham's prisoners including Amygdala, Victor Zsasz, and the Mad Hatter drinking their blood and decapitating them to prevent their resurrection as vampires. Another sequel, Batman: Arkham Knight was released on June 23, 2015. It runs on Epic Games Unreal Engine 3. Back at the Sanatorium, Dr. Young insists on securing her research notes and is escorted back to the Arkham Mansion by Cash, while Batman follows Gordon's abductors down to the Morgue level in an elevator. Bane says the "Bruja" drained his Venom. Triple Batarang - Can target three enemies at once. Batman takes Commissioner Gordon to the docks in Arkham West, where an emergency launch is waiting to take the police commissioner back to the mainland. He contacts Oracle, instructing her to investigate the bombs while he tries to subdue Joker and the other inmates. one building or one of the island sections) has a number of associated Riddler Challenges, which can be solved to earn XP and unlock bonuses, such as character profiles, character trophies, and challenge mini-games. Arkham staff must obtain prior approval from the State Board of Medical Examiners before performing a lobotomy.[9]. Throughout the game, Batman must work to free hostages from the villainous inmates of Arkham Asylum. Batman chases Harley to the cells, finding nothing but true lunatics inside it. (Batman Eternal #29, December 2014) Simultaneously, Wayne Enterprises loses most of its assets due to a conspiracy by Hush and Bruce Wayne is forced to file for bankruptcy. After defeating three of the Joker's men in the Entrance Hall, he fights his way through the Main Hall and enters the West Wing Corridor, where he rescues Arkham staff member Kevin Liew and an asylum guard. Batman™ and Robin™ return in LEGO® Batman: DC Super Heroes for mobile. Inside the Batcave, he uses the spores to create an antidote, and sets out to stop Ivy from taking over Arkham. It depicts an "Arkham Home for the Emotionally Troubled", presumably a renaming of the asylum which occurs as a result of changing attitudes towards mental health. She causes mutated plants to grow rapidly and to gigantic proportions, slowly covering the island and entangling its buildings while large, bulbous flowers appear everywhere that exude deadly spores. Action-adventureBeat 'em upStealth Like the Arkham Sanitarium of Lovecratian fiction, it was based on Danvers State Hospital and several other nineteenth century lunatic asylums which adopted a similar architectural style. Most of the game is played through an over-the-shoulder, third person perspective, similar to that of Resident Evil 4. Upon discovering his "special" patients (unharmed from the destruction thanks to their secluded cells), Arkham resolves to rebuild the facility according to his ancestor's vision, but to serve as a literal asylum for mentally ill patients in order to shelter them from the outside world. More or less cryptic clues describing specific locations or objects. As Batman continues to solve his riddles and collect the items, Riddler initially taunts him with the "slowness" of his progress, but becomes increasingly agitated, as the amount of solved riddles rises. He proceeds back to the Sanatorium, pausing only briefly to halt a violent inmate armed with knives. CCTV cameras were now installed in every room and at periodic intervals in every corridor. Mercey Island is later uprooted and transferred to the cockpit of a gargantuan space capsule known as the S.S. Arkham, where skeptics, intellectuals, academics and others perceived as overly rational are imprisoned to lose their minds. After emerging from the gas unharmed once more, he finds Zsasz holding Young hostage in Warden Sharp's office with a knife. At least one guard was hired despite a history of violent felonies, for which he served a sentence at Blackgate. Furious, Joker sends a Titan henchman to kill Batman, which fails. Platforms: It also appears at the end of the movie when both Mr Freeze and Poison Ivy were shown as cellmates, despite being different genders. Sensing something is wrong because Joker seemed to give up easier than usual, Batman accompanies the security personnel and the Joker to the Holding Cells, where the Arkham staff refuse to let Batman go any further. He first appeared in Detective Comics #523 in February of 1983. The iconic Victorian mansion normally associated with Arkham in Batman comic books also makes an appearance as the main administration block. Batman reaches the Patient Pacification Chamber, where two security guards inform him that escaped inmate Victor Zsasz has taken another guard, Mike hostage and will kill him if he sees anyone get close to him. Once enough riddles have been solved, Batman manages to deduce Riddler's current location and transmits it to the Gotham Police. He flees to the elevator, planning to drop his fear toxin into the Gotham water supply. Sinner's regime proves far more corrupt than Jeremiah's; she is revealed to have actively worked with both Black Mask's organization and the sinister Church of Crime. During the demolition process, he had the old files, including his uncle's diary, disposed of in a symbolic bonfire. Batman pursues him directly into Croc's lair. All over the asylum there are scribbled messages on decorative stones, in the same spiraling style that Amadeus Arkham once used. He foils this plan by disabling three pumping stations guarded by Joker's henchmen. Like most other incarnations, Amadeus Arkham is the founder of Arkham Asylum in the DC Extended Universe. It was an extremely tall, multi-storey structure, sweeping upwards to emphasize its loftiness and grandeur. Milo then struck a deal with two patients, "Madman" Markham and "Kid Gloves" McConnell: he would secretly release them to commit robberies, then provide them with an alibi in exchange for half their loot. Chief administrator Quincy Sharp is slowly going insane, believing himself to be possessed by the spirit of Arkham's original founder, Amadeus Arkham. In Batman of Arkham, an Elseworlds storyline by Alan Grant, Bruce Wayne is re-imagined as a prominent Gotham psychiatrist who assumes ownership of Arkham Asylum in the early twentieth century and sets out to improve its dismal reputation. (Arkham Manor: Endgame #1, June 2015) Harvey Bullock once described Arkham guards as "rent-a-cops" who were "amateurs and blind to boot". Batman answers that it's Spanish for "Witch". Riddles. By the night's end, all the villains, save Bane, Croc and Crane, are recaptured and placed back in their cells and what remains of the staff try putting the Asylum back in order. This time, I break you!" At this point it was simply described as "Arkham Hospital" and implied to be somewhere upstate, in a rural setting. Props from the film depicting Arkham Asylum's official seal are also marked "City of Gotham Public Health Services". A member of the team carries a video camera to document the incident from the guards' perspective and guarantee no excessive force is exerted off the record. Inside the Center, Batman is greeted by a mannequin of the Joker with a TV in place of its head. Arkham Asylum appears as the first level in the game after Two-Face's escape. Batman also mentions in later episodes that other villains such as Black Mask and Hellgrammite are also prisoners there. The explosive gel can be used to set traps that are detonated either by remote control or automatically. The disorienting and mazelike atmosphere to Arkham's interior is intentional, engineered to confuse the inmates so even if they escaped their cells, they would find it difficult maintaining a sense of direction and leaving the building. The game begins with the Joker being escorted by Batman in the Batmobile to the asylum after being captured during an armed siege at Gotham City Hall. LEGO DC Super-Villains. Ron Fish and Nick Arundel, composers for Batman: Arkham Asylum, also returned to write music for Arkham City. Despite its status as a private hospital in the mainstream DC Universe, Arkham is also granted certain legislative privileges by Gotham City. Auto-detonating Explosive Gel - Explodes when an enemy gets near. It is revealed that these peculiar circumstances were the result of the Joker being granted Mr. Mxyzptlk's powers and reshaping reality to his liking. Arkham Asylum sometimes contains modern or futuristic technology, but every version includes some level of decay and entropy, resulting in a place constantly on the edge of disaster.Arkham being described in the critically acclaimed Icons of the American Comic Book, Volume One.[6]. If additional force is called for, each room is also fitted with a "panic button" that summons a crash team of armed security officers held on perpetual standby. Batman leaves Intensive Treatment, finding his way to Arkham East, where he discovers that the Batmobile is being attacked by Harley Quinn's henchmen. A somewhat apocryphal account is given for Arkham Asylum's founding in Batman Confidential #9, which claims that the facility was known as Arkham House and designed by a relatively unknown psychiatrist, Jonathan Crane, for housing what he describes to Batman as "a new breed of villain". However, he is soon exposed by Batman as the new Black Mask and institutionalized on the orders of the new director, Alyce Sinner. It has featured prominently in the various continuities of the DC Multiverse. He accuses Batman of cheating, possibly by looking up the riddles on the internet, a brief moment of a broken fourth wall since you can indeed look the answers up on the internet. (Identity Crisis #7, February 2005), A number of other states and cities have transferred dangerously insane supervillains to Arkham Asylum despite its rather discouraging reputation, either because they lack facilities of their own to hold them, or find it easier to dump their criminal problem on Gotham City. When she fails, the Joker refuses to get her out of there and crosses her off his 'party list' for some kind of celebration he is holding later that night. He notices 'Suicide Collars' worn by some of the Joker's henchmen, electronic devices that sound an alarm when it detects sudden heartbeat changes in the inmates. Hawkins was tracked down by the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), and when Arkham Asylum opened its doors in November 1921 he was committed as its first inmate. Two of Batman's gadgets can also be used in combat, namely the batarang and the batclaw (once it has been collected). Batman: Arkham Asylum Young eventually found out who was paying her, and put a block on her account. Victor Zsasz is an inmate here and in the Dark Knight it is stated that Carmine Falcone is an inmate. It has featured prominently in the various continuities of the DC Multiverse. At first, Ivy refuses to help Batman (declaring that she'd rather watch him squirm), until he warns her that every plant on Arkham will suffer unless she cooperates. Taking inspiration from Mercey Island of the 90's, it is located on an island off the coast of the city. Batman, who is locked out of the area, breaks into the holding cells through a glass window. Selective detonation of Explosive Gel - Zoom in on a specific Gel patch to detonate only that specific one. Simultaneously, the Riddler intercepts Batman's transmission system which he uses to contact Oracle, and begins tasking him with riddles which he can solve across the island. Originally, Arkham Asylum was used only to house genuinely insane characters - the Joker and Two-Face were patients from its very first appearance - but over the course of the 1980s a trend was established of having the majority of Batman's supervillain opponents end up at Arkham, whether or not they were actually insane. Batman then rescues Aaron Cash and another Arkham guard being held captive by a group of armed Blackgate convicts in the Records Room. Elizabeth was plagued by dementia and perpetually bedridden; at some point Amadeus told others that Elizabeth had slashed her own throat, but in reality he'd done so when she became too much for him to handle on his own, then repressed memories of the murder. Napier's campaign is successful and eventually he becomes a Councilman who has the then unstable Batman arrested and sent to Arkham himself for unregulated violence until a new super-villain called Neo-Joker rises and Batman is needed to take her down. Arkham Asylum appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Scarecrow dangles his toxins over the river in the pipeline, threatening to drop them in if Batman comes closer, which would affect the entire city of Gotham. Power enhancement for the Cryptographic Sequencer - Increases the ease with which the Sequencer disables security boxes. Now in possession of the knowledge that Joker plans to build an army of Titan-fueled mutants (effectively an enormous group of Banes), Batman heads over to the Gardens, but is temporarily stopped by an electrified pond in his path, forcing him to cut the power to the building. After the credits roll, a crate marked 'Titan' is seen floating through the sea outside Arkham. Vale noted the prevalence of outdated techniques such as prolonged confinement to straitjackets and confirmed Destiny was not an isolated case; she accused Arkham of intentionally leaving its inmates unclothed, switching off the heating to their wards, and housing them in decrepit, waterlogged cells.[5]. Fearing Gordon might be hurt, Batman instructs Oracle to deactivate the automatic defenses and decides to head for the northern part of the island, where it is parked. Out of anger, Harley attacks Batman, but he successfully apprehends her and locks her in a cell. Mere months later, this incarnation of Arkham Asylum was destroyed by Bane, who unleashed the inmates to weaken Batman. Nearly every member of Batman's Rogues Gallery has been incarcerated at Arkham under various circumstances. Batman subsequently subdues Zsasz after swooping down from a gargoyle behind the psychotic killer, All of a sudden, Batman receives a message from Harley Quinn, who has taken Quincy Sharp, the warden, hostage. This is likely because of some of the facility's high-tech features that make it more efficient to hold a villain such as Clayface there than in a prison. Batman ventures into the sewers and, while frequently being attacked and pursued by Croc, whom he fends off by constantly activating his shock collar with batarangs, gathers all of the required spores. Using a scanner in his cowl, Batman follows an alcoholic vapor trail left by Boles' bourbon through the Transfer Loop. In the episode "Joker the Vile and the Villainess" Joker is seen being transported to Arkham. The asylum is run by a lobotomized version of The Joker and is protected by robotic copies of Superman. Milo suffered the fate of the previous director when he was driven insane by his own drugs and committed to the asylum. He awakens and enters through the broken glass to find Joker sitting on a throne of mannequins with Scarface sitting on his knee. She was disgusted by what she perceived as a desperate place where the patients dwelt in terror, condemning the asylum as "tottering" and "obscene". He tells Batman the party will start with a bang, as the television begins counting down. With Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, Tom Kane. The Joker is one of the main antagonists of DC Comics, most often pitted against his archenemy Batman, Superman, and occasionally the Justice League as a whole as a part of the Legion of Doom. Here, Batman finds that the Joker's men had gotten their hands on sniper rifles stolen from the guard armory. He does so and then comments Ivy doesn't get her name for nothing; he wanted her to turn into a "40 foot plant monster", but was unsuccessful. Jeremiah Arkham has stated that he does not consider lobotomy a "progressive" treatment, dismissing it as a poor substitute for medication and therapy. The game world was expanded from a single Metroid-style island to a full open-world to explore. Certain opponents wield knives or stun batons and cannot be attacked directly or blocked. Catwoman wins the resulting conflict shortly before Batman breaks into the asylum, but the Joker's gauntlets allow him to capture Batman, forcing him to watch as the Joker brutally tears Batgirl and Robin apart in front of him. In the Batman: Arkham Reborn mini-series, Arkham Asylum is rebuilt and financed by Dr. Arkham, according to his uncle's specifications. Unreal Engine 3 Arkham will be a persistent location that the player will be able to freely roam, including an area that serves as Batman's secret on-site Batcave.