Who is the Arkham Knight?

Last Updated: March 28, 2014

Arkham Knight

It feels like more information is released about Batman: Arkham Knight every day, but the one question that keeps coming up without any definitive answers is, quite simply, “Who is the Arkham Knight?”

According to Rocksteady, he’s a new character created just for the game, but they haven’t been so specific that fans are willing to let go of the theories that he’s a known character in disguise. Some people still suspect he’s Hush, while others have suggested different characters, including Jason Todd. A few people think he’s Thomas Wayne, although we aren’t exactly sure how that would work. And of course, every now and then someone cites comic book logic and mentions the Joker.

Even without taking this mysterious antagonist into account, we have a lot of villains to look forward to in Arkham Knight. Scarecrow has been confirmed as the main villain, which has a lot of players excited. Scarecrow’s nightmare sections in Arkham Asylum were very popular, and according to Rocksteady, one of the most common fan requests they received for the next game was “it’s got to be Scarecrow, got to be Scarecrow.” Well, it’s Scarecrow all right, and he’s united a team of villains against Batman, to create a series of intersecting plots. Confirmed villains include the Riddler, Two-Face, Penguin, and Harley Quinn.

Rocksteady has also said that each of the villains has a specific relation to Batman. They’re all warped reflections of him, if you will.

From an intellectual perspective, it’s Riddler, that’s who he engages with intellectually. When you talk about fate and destiny and that aspect of his personality, the tragedy of his childhood, Two-Face is a mirror to him in that respect.

So, each of the supervillains connects with Batman in a very specific way and he is a collection of all of those things, but we never really had a villain who can engage with Batman of a physical, powerful, combat level.

Combat is such a significant part of the game for us, so we wanted a villain that could really challenge him very physically, so the Arkham Knight was conceived with that gameplay idea in mind.

Be sure to check out the rest of the interview for more details, such as how the Batmobile is almost like a character itself. In the meantime, we’re back to the mystery of the Arkham Knight.

Arkham Knight 2

Right now, Jason Todd might be the favored theory among fans, but what do you think? Is the Arkham Knight someone we’ve seen before, or is he completely new? While you’re thinking about that, check out the new Xbox One screenshots of the game.