Who Is The Arkham Knight?

06/20/2015 09:00 am EDT

A hero is only as good, or interesting, as his villains. That's a saying that gets used often when trying to figure out why some superheroes are so much more popular than others. Batman is one of the heroes most often spoke of in this regard, considering his wealth of interesting enemies.

Rocksteady Studos will attempt to add something new to Batman's rogues' gallery when they introduce the titular villain of Batman: Arkham Knight. Rocksteady insists that the Arkham Knight is an entirely new character, created by working with DC Entertainment and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, but fans are skeptical.

We don't know much about the Arkham Knight, but we learned a bit from the Batman: Arkham Knight comic book prequel, and simply from the characters design and Rocksteady's description. First, he seems to have a connection to Batman, judging by how his costume resembles Batman's own, particularly the pointed ears on the helmet. His name and the Arkham logo on his chest certainly suggest a connection to the criminal psychiatric hospital as well.

The Arkham Knight comic showed us that the Arkham Knight definitely wants Batman to die, but he wants to be the one to do the job, going so far as to attempt to rescue Batman when he walked into one of the Joker's posthumous traps. He also isn't afraid to dish out some fatal justice, having murdered the new Electrocutioner and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum after Batman had subdued them, without Batman's knowledge.

It also seems that the Arkham Knight has been stalking Batman for a while, having been on his tail during the events of Arkham City.

When the mysterious villain was first announced, fans immediately jumped on the theory that it was the Joker back from the dead. It was to be expected, considering how much Rocksteady's previous two games, and even the prequel spinoff Batman: Arkham Origins, focused on the relationship between Batman and the Joker. The Joker also has a connection to Arkham Asylum, it practically being his home away from home, and the theme of being Batman's mirror image is one that's been used with the character before.

Besides it being almost too obvious, the Arkham Knight prequel comic seems to show that this theory is definitively untrue. The comic shows the Arkham Knight following Batman immediately after he leaves the theater where the Joker died. That means that the Arkham Knight was active while the Joker was still lying on the hood of a police car. His internal monologue has also referred to the Joker as a different person. Sure, anything is possible with the Joker, but Rocksteady would have the stretch pretty far to make that twist work.

On the other hand, Dr. Thomas Elliott, a.k.a. Hush, is a plot thread left dangling from Arkham City. Playing through the "Identity Theft" side quest eventually leads Batman to a brief encounter with Hush, who then escapes, seemingly intent on leaving the city and resuming his plans for taking revenge on Bruce Wayne. As Bruce Wayne's own mirror image, it's possible that he created the Arkham Knight persona to mirror Bruce's other self. Previous games have also established that Elliott worked at Arkham Asylum for a time, up until the events of Arkham City, giving him a loose connection to the place.

However, while Tommy Elliott knew Bruce Wayne's secret in the comics, the video game version of Hush has shown no signs of that knowledge. While he wants revenge on Bruce Wayne, Hush seems to have no animosity towards Batman, so the creation of the Arkham Knight persona doesn't entirely make sense. Hush was also active on the night of the Arkham City incident, while the Arkham Knight was apparently tailing Batman, making them likely two different characters.

The Arkham Knight's modus operandi, that of brutally punishing villains on his path to Batman, is pretty similar to that of the Red Hood, a.k.a. Jason Todd, the former Robin whom Batman believed dead. It's interesting then that the Red Hood has downloadable story missions in Arkham Knight, marking his first appearance in the Batman Arkham series. It could just be coincidence, but other characters with downloadable story missions – Batgirl and Harley Quinn – have roles in the game's main story, so perhaps the Red Hood story missions are actually prologue for the introduction of the Arkham Knight.

The problem with this theory is figuring out why Todd would create the Arkham Knight persona after already adopting the Red Hood persona, one that already echoes Batman's failures as much as the Arkham Knight's does.

Rocksteady seems to be focusing quite a bit on the return of Azrael in Arkham Knight, after delivering an ominous prophecy to Batman in Arkham City. The prophecy seems to be coming true in Batman's war with the Scarecrow for Gotham. Could Azrael be connected to the Arkham Knight? His colors are the same as those used by the Knight's private army, but Azrael himself was active during the Arkham City incident.

The Azrael we met in Arkham City is based on the Michael Lane version of the character, and a member of the Order of St. Dumas. Perhaps Lane isn't the Arkham Knight himself, but has a connection to him. Maybe the Arkham Knight is an ex-member of the Order, possibly even Jean-Paul Valley, the Azrael who replaced Batman during the Knightfall storline That would explain why the costume looks like Batman's, but not why it's marked with Arkham's logo and colors.

Fans have posited some other theories that are pretty out there, but these seem to be the most plausible. Even so, no theory has been without its flaws. Perhaps that's because Rocksteady isn't kidding when they say the Arkham Knight is a completely new character. Maybe he's a descendent of Amadeus Arkham, the Asylum's founder, with a grudge against Batman for sullying his family's legacy, or maybe he's connected in a way that we couldn't possibly know until Rocksteady chooses to tell us.

We'll start finding out when Batman: Arkham Knight releases on June 23.

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