Console to Screen: Arkham Asylum/City

Arkham City won many awards
and the hearts of gamers in 2011.

Stop me if you've heard this before: an iconic comic book franchise is rebooted for a new series to tap into new stories and reach new audiences. If you don't believe me, look no further than this summer when audiences shelled out millions of dollars to see Mark Webb's reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man and the record-breaking conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight saga. BOTH films were reboots of record breaking franchises, but now that Marvel pulled off The Avengers, DC will want to duplicate Marvel's business plan to make a Justice League movie. Now DC already has a reboot of Superman (the second try), Green Lantern's fate being mulled, a Flash script sold and a Wonder Woman movie in the works, only one question remains: What to do with Batman? Nolan and Christian Bale will not be involved so do they reboot this blockbuster franchise? 

If so, DC doesn't need to look further than the one platform they have a clear edge over Marvel- video games. Arkham Asylum/City has captivated gamers for the last four years and was a runaway success last year. Based off their popular comics and using voice acting from the 90's TV series, developer RockSteady came up two Games of the Year. If this was to translate to the big screen, how could they do it?

Story:

Every Batman villain is in Arkham City,
including Mr. Freeze.

The initial story of Arkham Asylum was the longest night in Batman's life. He brings the Joker back to Arkham, but the Joker surrendered too easily. At an opportune moment, the Joker springs himself loose and takes control of the Asylum where he sets free all of the Batman villains (Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Bane and Poison Ivy). As a result, Batman tries to quell the revolt while finding out that one of the doctors was in alliance with the Joker in an experiment called Titan. Titan was honing the Venom from Bane and would create more like him without the tubes regulating the Venom. The key point of the story happens at the end when the Joker injects himself with Titan and becomes a monster, but after Batman defeats him, complications arise that extend to Arkham City. In a secret room in the Warden's office, you see that the Warden has plans from Arkham City- an section of Gotham used to house the criminals.

Absent from Arkham Asylum, The
Penguin makes a huge imprint in
Arkham City.

In Arkham City, there's another villain to deal with: Hugo Strange. Strange creates Arkham City where Bruce Wayne is captured and Strange reveals that he knows Wayne is Batman. Wayne escapes from Strange's grasp and gets his Batman outfit sent to him. As he travels through Arkham City, Batman encounters all of his villains- and I mean all- as they fight for control of their territory in Arkham City. After hearing about Protocol 10 from Strange, Batman investigates, but is sidetracked by a dying Joker who injects Batman with some of his corrosive blood. Now Batman must solve the mystery of Protocol 10 as well as finding a cure for himself and the Joker. Batman encounters all the great villains this time around: Penguin (the grittiest version to date), Two-Face, Clayface, Ra's & Talia Al Guhl and Mr. Freeze. Batman ends up defeating Strange and learning of a conspiracy with another inmate and grabs the cure, but drops what's left of it when he is stabbed by the Joker. Without the remaining cure, the Joker surcomes to the disease and dies. There were also numerous other storylines in this game, but these were the key that drove the game.

Casting:

Who could play Batman now?

Well, who would you have play Batman now? Christian Bale was very good (not great with that stupid voice) and he was exactly what Batman should have been. Clooney and Kilmer had the look, but not the scripts and Keaton's performance cannot be overlooked. In the Arkham games, Kevin Conroy reprised the voice of Bruce Wayne from the 90's Batman: The Animated Series and finding a live version of the character painted here is essential. What current actor could play Batman/Bruce Wayne?

Hugo Strange is a villain that Batman
has not faced on the big screen.

Then there's another matter: with all of the villains in this game, you'd have to consolidate them. Is the public Joker-ed out? You had Heath Ledger win an Oscar, Jack Nicholson be iconic and Mark Hamill draw rave reviews winning character of the year at the Video Game awards. Hamill would be the one person I'd love to see play the Joker for real. It would make you wonder if there are any other Batman villains. If Arkham City is adapted, you could make a full movie solely about Hugo Strange's plans. It would be a welcomed addition to the Batman villains that have been unused in the series. However, find a Strange would be much harder. Think of a cleaner Peter Stormare of Lockout and The Big Lebowski.

What's Already in Place:

Other than a character everyone knows, great villains, a ton of action and several different stories that kept gamers playing for hours... well, there's also a completely different take on Batman that movie goers saw since 2005. This Batman is great as Bruce AND Batman. Wayne is also more involved with other helpers like Oracle (Barbara Gordon in a wheel chair) and Alfred as an even more vocal guiding force that Nolan presented. In fact, Bruce Wayne would never have fired Alfred. Sorry, that's a fact. It also shows Batman having more gadgets than the Nolan series, which featured a ton of them. Aside from the Bat-darts used in Dark Knight Rises, Nolan's gadgets were practical. The Arkham series used the gadgets for purposes and not just to use for a moment. The Remote Electrical Charge and the Distruptor were fantastic weapons that made fans by itself, but the Line Launcher and Explosive Gel were neat.
The music and atmosphere is handled very well. Arkham Asylum/City immersed the gamer in Batman's world by including every nick-nack like stories about the Ratcatcher and Maxi Zeus. Every villain carved out their territory including Killer Croc and every villain was trying to expand their territory with Hugo Strange planning something more devious. The game amazed everyone (including this Marvel-over-DC-fan), but can it be flushed out.

Who Could Pull This Off:
In 2002, did anyone this that Christopher Nolan was the right choice coming off Insomnia and Memento? I did, but who knew of him outside film buffs? There were some that weren't sure about Nolan after Batman Begins, but now the mere mention of his name on IMDb is to among the greatest movies ever made. (Overrated in my opinion, but I'm still a fan of his.) How do you reboot that franchise? Make it something different. Now I'm not saying go the Schumacher route, but find a presentation closer to Arkham City or the 90's animated series. Perhaps a capable action movie director like the Bourne Identity's Doug Lyman or Taken's Luc Besson would work.

Bottom Line:

Aren't we "Joker-ed Out", but how do you tell this story without him?

The major problem with BOTH these games is the prominent villains are the Joker and Ra's Al Guhl, who were thoroughly covered by the Nolan Batmans. It's incredibly difficult to adapt these games without them both, even with strong side stories featuring TwoFace, the Penguin, Victor Zsaz, the Madhatter and even Hush. You can't cut out the Joker's or Guhl's story and get it to work. It is possible to minimize them, but will that hurt the story? Hard to say, but if Warner Bros wants to release a Justice League, they'll have to reboot Batman some how. This could be a good base if handled correctly.