Highlights
- The Arkhamverse lives on with Batman: Arkham Shadow, potentially placing it between Origins and Asylum in the timeline.
- Easter eggs like the Bat Signal and a Harvey Dent pin hint at Shadow's placement in the Arkhamverse timeline.
It’s an exciting time for the Arkham games as the Arkhamverse now lives on via Batman: Arkham Shadow. It’s a Meta Quest 3 game, to be clear, but knowing that the Batman: Arkham franchise is continuing despite Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League debatably trampling over it and jeopardizing the Arkhamverse’s future. There’s always been a wealth of potential for stories in the Arkhamverse that haven’t been told yet, such as when Batman recruited each Bat Family companion or how he initially encountered certain antagonists. Arkham Origins was markedly intriguing as it laid a foundation for many formative moments, and Arkham Shadow’s place in the timeline doesn’t seem too far from it.
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Clues for Where Batman: Arkham Shadow Falls in the Arkhamverse Timeline
- Gotham City’s Bat Signal.
- Harleen Quinzel’s psychiatrist ID badge.
- “Vote Dent” pin and graffiti paint.
- Batman’s Origins-esque Batsuit as seen in Shadow’s key art.
It was already likely that Roger Craig Smith’s public acknowledgment of the teaser on social media inferred this entry takes place between Origins and Asylum since it potentially confirms his involvement and reprisal of the Caped Crusader.
The most solid piece of evidence so far that the teaser brazenly reveals is the Bat Signal in the opening shot. The Bat Signal wasn’t installed until the end of the Arkhamverse’s 2.5 Metroidvania, Blackgate, and wouldn’t be a tool the GCPD employs if Shadow took place before Origins because they hadn’t trusted him yet and perceived him as another threat in Gotham City.
Therefore, the distress signal alone plants Shadow between Origins and Asylum. Billboards and advertisem*nts in the same opening shot are more ambiguous in terms of their place in the timeline since they’re seen throughout the franchise, including the water tower’s Gotham City Radio logo.
Then, the most salient evidence of Shadow not taking place much later than Blackgate is the “Vote Dent” pin and graffiti paint Batman glides past in the teaser, which confirms Harvey has yet to become the duplicitous, coin-flipping Two-Face—this origin story could also potentially be examined in Shadow with a logical place in the timeline and this overt Easter egg for the character. Likewise, Harleen Quinzel’s ID badge being found awkwardly on a rat-sized ledge in a seemingly random alleyway is evidence that she hasn’t yet left her position as a psychiatrist or is about to, and an out-of-place Easter egg like this is sure to be purposeful in determining when Shadow takes place.
Batman: Arkham Shadow Has a Responsibility to the Arkhamverse Canon
Sticking with Ratcatcher may be Shadow’s best bet as a VR exclusive that probably won’t be too expansive, though if its duration ends up anywhere in the ballpark of Camouflaj’s Iron Man VR it could be several hours long and justify multiple concise villains. The teaser, as short as it is, really only centers on Batman’s pursuit of rats (and Ratcatcher) in rain-soaked alleyways, and that being all the VR title amounts to could still be thrilling if executed well.
Shadow doesn’t have any obligation to flesh out a bunch of villains, but it will have an obligation to ignite interest in the Arkhamverse once more. Even as a Meta Quest 3 exclusive it will probably elicit some sort of nostalgia to the rest of the series since it finally returns to Batman as a playable character, and knowing the Arkhamverse is alive and well is enough to generate hope for more games as well. Either way, Shadow’s place in the Arkhamverse timeline is clear thanks to unmistakable Easter eggs and it’s going to be neat to see how Camouflaj aims to explore the Arkham games’ canon when Batman: Arkham Shadow is revealed fully at Summer Game Fest 2024 next month.
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman Arkham Origins is a spin-off from Rocksteady's main Arkham series and was developed by Splash Damage. This release follows a younger Bruce Wayne as he finds himself being framed by a mysterious villain named Black Mask.
- Franchise
- Batman
- Platform(s)
- PS3 , Xbox 360 , PC , Wii U
- Released
- October 25, 2013
- Developer(s)
- WB Games Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Action , Adventure
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
See at Amazon
- Games
- Explainer
- Batman
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