Batman’s Arkhamverse is enduring and iconic for numerous reasons, including the fact that it has told a fairly tight-knit story—one thatSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueuprooted and left discombobulated after brazenly introducing multiversal Elseworlds, needlessly retconning and disfiguring Deadshot and Harley Quinn, and cheaply faking every Justice League member’s death besides Wonder Woman (whose death was now in vain). The Arkhamverse returned to the same formula asRocksteady’sArkhamtrilogyand WB Games Montreal’sBatman: Arkham Originsvia Camouflaj’s Meta Quest 3/3S-exclusiveBatman: Arkham Shadow, however, and it’s possible that future games in the series could follow it.
IfBatman: Arkham Shadowreceives a sequel, or if another studio begins work on its own prequel entry in the franchise, there are thankfully dozens of loose threads it could pursue as long as it keeps itself at arm’s length fromBatman: Arkham Asylumso that it has room to breathe and tell an authentic story. In particular, with so much lore and backstory ascribed to Batman’s history with the League of Assassins and Ra’s al Ghul, it’s disheartening that he never amounted to much in eitherBatman: Arkham CityorBatman: Arkham Knight, and a prequel game should rectify that.
Ra’s al Ghul’s Lore in Batman’s Arkham Games is a Blank Canvas
When precisely Bruce Wayne first met Ra’s al Ghul or Ra’s’ daughter, Talia, is unclear, but there are only two gaping chasms in the Arkhamverse now where those interactions would’ve occurred, assuming Rocksteady or another developer would care enough to follow what excruciatingly few details have been haphazardly doled out: either in the two years between when Bruce trained at Master Kirigi’s monastery inBatman: Arkham Origins’ Initiation DLCand whenBatman: Arkham Origins’ story takes place, or at any point in time betweenBatman: Arkham ShadowandBatman: Arkham Asylum.
Batman: Arkham Asylum’s comprehensive character biographies notwithstanding, a half-Easter egg half-Riddler riddle plants a corpse’s toe tag with Ra’s al Ghul’s name on it in the morgue.
That said, similar to howBatman: Arkham Shadowrewrote the book on the knowledge of the events that chemically fried half of District Attorney Harvey Dent, it may be a breath of fresh air if a futureArkhamgame decided to cherry-pick what conversations and established lore it adheres to concerning Ra’s and not worry too much about ensuring that every reference to the character made in previous games is accounted for literally. Nonetheless, one game could be all the al Ghuls need for the League of Assassins’ throughline to stretch consistently between it,Batman: Arkham Origins’ Initiation DLC with Shiva, andBatman: Arkham Knight’s Season of Infamy “Shadow War” Most Wanted DLC.
Batman: Arkham City Arguably Does Ra’s al Ghul a Disservice
Batman explicitly states that he has met Ra’s al Ghul “many times” and that Ra’s claims to be over 600 years old. But, Batman’s dialogue when speaking with Mister Freeze about ascertaining an enzyme needed to formulate a cure and when speaking to Oracle about Lazarus after defeating Ra’s below Wonder City confirms that he didn’t know about the Lazarus Pits or Ra’s’ abuse of them yet until theevents ofBatman: Arkham City.
A prequel game featuring Ra’s would need Batman to be just as ignorant. Camouflaj has proven it can tackle loosely defined lore in fantastic and immersive ways with many otherArkhamcharacters, and aBatman: Arkham Shadowsequel could be sinew for Ra’s, too. Likewise, it’s declared that Bruce Wayne and Talia had a deep romantic connection.
Bruce’s passionate relationship with Talia and his encounters with Ra’s—hostile or otherwise—couldn’t have been rushed, fleeting story beats, especially if Talia is depicted as Batman’s greatest love interest in the Arkhamverse, and a game that’s dedicated to highlighting the al Ghuls and the League of Assassins would do well to flesh that lore out more concretely in the Arkhamverse canon. This could portray Bruce at his most vulnerable and demonstrate why he nearly went to rescue Talia from Joker rather than thwart Protocol 10 in Arkham City, as well as why he mourns her so solemnly when players examine Talia’s sword in theGotham City Police Department’s evidence lockup.
If for no other reason, Ra’s al Ghul deserves another attempt at being anArkhamgame’s main villain asBatman: Arkham City’s treatment of him is lackluster at best and nonsensical at worst. There are layers to who the ‘real’ main antagonist ofBatman: Arkham Cityis:
Ra’s being behind Protocol 10 comes as a bit of a surprise, not because it’s unpredictable or alarming but because Ra’s is already given a role in the story and seems completely detached from Protocol 10 despite having the League’s lair and Lazarus Pit conspicuously placed beneath Gotham City’s wild Arkham City super-prison.Ra’s al Ghul’s Demon Trials boss fightis epic and one of the best boss fights in theArkhamgames, but it occurs halfway through the story while he and his blood are a mere plot device.
Batman: Arkham Knight Makes Ra’s al Ghul’s Death Canon, But for How Long?
A prequel game dedicated to the League of Assassins could also flesh out Talia’s sister, Nyssa Raatko, who is revealed inBatman: Arkham Knight’s “Shadow War” DLC. It’s learned here that Nyssa vows to remove the League from Gotham City after Batman agrees to allow Ra’s to die, destroying a Lazarus Pit in the city and preventing League loyalists from resurrecting Ra’s.
That said, like with the ending ofAzrael’s “Air to the Cowl” Most Wanted side quest, this story beat is rare in that players have a choice between destroying the Lazarus device Ra’s is attached to or not.
The option to destroy the device, though, is the ‘good’ choice and is a perfectly definitive bookend to the League and the Ghuls’ storyline in the Arkhamverse, as well as a phenomenal philosophical decision Batman must make. Therefore, unless narrative throughlines are unraveled further in the Arkhamverse or if a new Lazarus Pit is conveniently unearthed (the latter being wholly possible and probably excusable under the right circumstances), any narrative devoted to the League of Assassins should belong strictly to prequels.
