Batfamily: Batman
Rogues Gallery: Arkham Asylum (The Joker • The Scarecrow • The Riddler) | Arkham City | Arkham Origins | Arkham Knight | Miscellaneous Foes
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Characters who were employed at Arkham Asylum in the Batman: Arkham video game series.
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General
- Canon Foreigner: Apart from Hugo Strange, who's one of Batman's oldest enemies, the vast majority of the Arkham-side cast of the games were invented for the series. Dr Whistler is based on Anne Carver from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, however.
Arkham Doctors
Professor Hugo Strange
Dr. Young
Dr. Penelope Young
Voiced By (En): Cree Summer
Voiced By (It): Loredana Nicosia
Penelope Young is a young and ambitious chief psychiatrist obsessed with curing some of the most high profile patients at the Asylum through unusual methods. This includes the use of Venom to create a new superdrug called Titan, which she was manipulated into making by the Joker as part of his scheme.
Provides examples of:
- Accidental Hero: Albeit posthumously: her creating the Titan serum for Joker eventually results in his death via Titan poisoning by the end of Arkham City.
- Ambiguously Gay: Her notes on Poison Ivy uniquely features a smudge of lipstick below the photo of her, implying a possible attraction.
- Anti-Villain: She does a lot horrible experiments on the patients, but only because she thinks it will help cure them of their mental-illness.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Her notes on the Ratcatcher show that she doesn't believe that Otis Flannegan can control rats — even given her study of patients like Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, and Clayface. Hilariously, she sticks to this belief even while Flannegan's cell is swarming with rats in spite of all her efforts to get rid of them.
- Asshole Victim: If she
really did use the carnival owner's daughter as an experiment and nothing else, her death at the hands of Joker could be considered almost karmic. She also drained the Venom from Bane and left him for dead, and experimented on several Arkham patients, which likely killed several patients. She had it coming one way or another. - The Atoner: For having helped Joker create his monster army. This sadly leads to Redemption Equals Death.
- Break the Haughty: Her experience with Arkham in general has done this, but especially her interactions with The Joker. Their interview tapes together start with her smugly claiming to his face that she can cut through his lies and cure him, and end with her close to a mental breakdown herself as she reflects on the extent to which he's manipulated her, sounding very close to tears.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In Origins, she has an apartment in Lacey Towers close to Roman Sionis'.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Her notes on Scarecrow reveal her as this. She thought that if he were "presented with a stock of his fear-inducing gas, he would feel no compulsion to use it."note
- Human Shield: Zsasz attempts to use her as one when Batman ends up coming for them, threatening to cut her throat if he sees Batman coming in close. A well placed Batarang to Zsasz's cranium puts a stop to that.
- Jerkass: She is extremely cold and intolerant.
- Not Quite Saved Enough: She's held hostage twice, first by some of Joker's thugs, then by Zsasz, but Batman saves the day both times. Unfortunately, no sooner do you handle the latter case, she gets blown up by a rigged safe.
- Oblivious to His Own Description:
- In her notes, she remarks with annoyance on the battery of psychological tests she had to undergo as a result of Harley Quinn's descent into madness, and finds the very notion that she could ever become inappropriately involved with the Joker ridiculous. Except, as the game itself reveals, Young has been unwittingly collaborating with the Joker in the creation of TITAN.
- Also in her notes, Clayface is in the habit of transforming into Young during their therapy sessions, apparently for the sake of annoying her; Young finds his mimicry of her deeply unflattering, and claims that she is "not the bitter, calculating academic he attempts to portray me as."
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Not only is she a psychiatrist, apparently she's also a highly qualified biochemist capable of reverse engineering Bane's Venom and then refining it to create TITAN.
- Redemption Equals Death: Right when she's apologizing for all the damage her project has done, she opens up a safe that Joker has rigged to explode.
- The Shrink:
- Dr. Young wavers on the line between Type 1 and Type 2; though her experiments might classify her as a harmful shrink, she's predominantly well-intentioned in other instances.
- For that matter, she thought Batman's "multiple disorders" were driven by, as detailed from bonus material in the collector's edition of the first game, genetic predisposition and substance abuse. It doesn't help she's getting her info from the inmates themselves. Although, she's wondering if the inmates are his real peer group, something Joker, Riddler, and Scarecrow believe as well.
- Small Name, Big Ego: She thinks very highly of herself as a psychiatrist and thinks only she is capable of curing most of the big name patients at Arkham. For good measure, her notes reveal that she's more than happy to ignore Batman's reports. Big mistake, as a majority of the villains manipulate her easily.
- Unwitting Pawn: Joker tricked her into starting work on the Titan formula for him. As soon as she finds out, she stops the project immediately, resulting in Joker taking over the Asylum and finishing the formula himself.
- Would Hurt a Child: As revealed in Batman: Arkham Knight's DLC A Matter of Family, Dr. Young used her experimental TITAN on the carnival owner's sick daughter. The child later died a horrible TITAN-induced death, driving her father to suicide. It's unclear whether she thought it might actually cure the daughter or if she just callously used her as a test subject.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As soon as Joker has the Titan formula, and the means to manufacture it, he orders to have her killed. The first attempt, has Joker letting Zsasz have her. It fails (due to Batman showing up in time and Zsasz resorting to using her as a shield). The second attempt occurs moments after, by having a bomb hidden in the Warden's safe (seemingly as a back-up in case Zsasz didn't do the job). Unfortunately for her, this one works.
- Your Makeup Is Running: After Batman saves her from Zsasz, her crying results in this.
Dr. Whistler
Dr. Gretchen Whistler
Voiced By (En): Adrienne Barbeau
Voiced By (It): ???
Gretchen Whistler is the Arkham psychiatrist assigned to treat Killer Croc, Riddler, and Victor Zsasz.
Provides examples of:
- Accent Adaptation: Speaks with a russian accent in the german dub.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: While treating Killer Croc, she doesn't believe his insinuations that he actually eats people until he bites Cash's hand off right in front of her. Croc is ten feet tall, kept in Arkham's sewers for lack of a better place to keep him, and has scales.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Compared to her colleagues who are either conducting unethical experiments (Young), well-intentioned but hopelessly out of depth when it comes to dealing with the Asylum's supervillain population (Kellerman, Cassidy), or conducting unethical experiments AND being pure evil (Strange), Whistler stands out as the only prominent Arkham therapist who seems to be both well adjusted and capable enough for the job, apparently having often patients from other doctors transferred to her (Zsasz, Riddler).
- Frau Doktor: Her accent heavily implies this.
Dr. Cassidy
Voiced By (En): Kimberly Brooks
Voiced By (It): ???
Sarah Cassidy is the Arkham psychiatrist assigned to Warren "the Great White Shark" White and Victor Zsasz, who develops an obsession with adding her to his list of victims.
Provides examples of:
- Damsel in Distress:
- She is targeted by Victor Zsasz, who reveals that somehow he had intimate knowledge of her life and routines while she was trying to treat him. He attacks her, although she is saved by Batman.
- Later, in the game proper, she is attacked by Joker's thugs.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Zsasz' interview tapes reveals that she has a pet cat and often sits on her favorite chair with the cat on her lap.
Dr. Baker
Dr. Stacy Baker
Voiced By (En): Grey DeLisle
Voiced By (It): ???
Stacy Baker is a doctor who volunteered to join the Arkham City medical crew. She is kidnapped by Harley to treat the Joker, but is saved by Batman.
Provides examples of:
- Damsel in Distress: In the beginning, anyway—she's a kidnapped doctor that Batman has to save from The Joker.
- The Medic: Enough that Harley kidnaps her to help heal Joker.
- Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed. In her first appearance, she's a damsel in distress who needs rescuing from Batman. When he returns to the Steel Mill, she's taken up a weapon and, if you fail the counterattack quicktime button, even gets a shot at him before realizing he's not a thug.
Adam Hamasaki
Adam Hamasaki
Voiced By (En): Eric Bauza
Voiced By (It): Felice Invernici
Adam Hamasaki is a member of the Arkham City medical team under the command of Aaron Cash.
Provides examples of:
- Distressed Dude: First when held hostage by Joker's men, then when he is kidnapped by the Riddler.
- The Medic: Works as one in Arkham City's medical staff
- Signature Headgear: Justified Trope. He wears a stocking cap throughout the games to ward off the cold.
Dr. Kellerman
Dr. Stephen Kellerman
Voiced By (En): Keith Ferguson
Voiced By (It): ???
Dr. Stephen Kellerman is the Arkham psychiatrist assigned to Scarecrow and Poison Ivy.
Provides examples of:
- Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Ends up a victim of this by Scarecrow who turns the tables and starts analyzing Kellerman's psyche instead.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He may have not only once but twice fallen victim to being kidnapped by supervillains, in no small part due to being a little bit too gullible. However, when Scarecrow continues his plan to secretly gas the whole asylum after having seemingly incapacitated him, it turns out that Kellerman was able to resist Crane's fear toxin (a feat no character other than Batman and Poison Ivy has achieved in the Arkhamverse), at least long enough to notify Batman who puts an end to Crane's attempts to "treat" his therapists, even taking time to indirectly compliment Kellerman by taunting Scarecrow over being unable to actually break the man.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: He gets seduced by Ivy despite having a wife and children. He's depicted as the victim in the situation, since Ivy's pheromones blur the lines of consent and she uses him as a pawn in some kind of scheme that could've killed him.
Arkham Security Guards
Cash
Aaron Cash
Voiced By (En): Duane R. Shepard Sr.
Voiced By (It): Giovanni Battezzato
Aaron Cash is a former GCPD police officer and one of the senior and most respected guards at Arkham Asylum. He has a long standing grudge with Killer Croc, who bit off his left hand. He helps protect the Arkham staff during the events of the first game, during which he witnessed the writing of the last Spirit of Arkham message. With this knowledge, he became suspicious of the plan for Arkham City and decided to lead the security team that protects the medical team inside Arkham City. Following the closure of Arkham City, he rejoined the GCPD.
Provides examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: Of the Type-3 variety. His left hand was bitten off and eaten by Killer Croc.
- Ascended Extra: While fairly prominent in Arkham Asylum: Living Hell - one might even call him the Deuteragonist - Cash rarely got more than bit-parts in comicsnote after that story. In the Arkham games, he's the most frequent recurring supporting character after Gordon. In Arkham Knight, he even becomes his Number Two, taking an equivalent role to Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya.
- Badass in Distress:
- He gets captured by Joker's men twice during the first game. Both times, however, he openly threatens his captors with what will happen once he gets free, and resists any torment he is put through.
- Happens again in the second game: First time by the Joker's gang under Harley's command, and the second time by the Riddler (where he is forced to walk around the main hideout). The latter incident has him threatening the Riddler about what will happen if he gets out.
- Cowardly Lion: In spite of all his Defiant to the End attitude whenever he's captured, scanning him in Detective Vision reveals that he's either nervous or terrified.
- Determinator: Even getting his hand bitten off isn't enough to stop him from doing his job.
- Game-Over Man: He shares this position with Batman if you lose while playing as the Joker in Arkham Asylum.
- Genre Savvy: Acknowledges, when Barbara Gordon returns to the GCPD in Knight, that they all work for Batman unofficially.
- Batman: Barbara's going to be helping out here.
Cash: Whatever you say. She work for you now? (chuckles) Hell, what am I saying? We all do, right?
- Handicapped Badass: He didn't let getting his hand bitten off stop him.
- Hook Hand: Which he used to replace the one that Croc bit off.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Cash and Shepard have quite the resemblance.
- Number Two: To Gordon at the GCPD in Arkham Knight. He later somewhat assumes the role of The Commissioner Gordon for Batman after Gordon himself goes AWOL looking for Barbara.
- The Leader: Of the Arkham City medical team.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In Arkham Knight after Batman's identity has been revealed, Cash destroys an arrest warrant for Batman, as he believes that arresting someone who saved the city multiple times over the decade is completely unacceptable.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: He doesn't take kindly to intimidation.
- Token Good Teammate: Of the prominent Arkham Staff in the games, Cash is one of the only ones that isn't corrupt in one way or the other.
Boles
Frank Boles
Voiced By (En): Danny Jacobs
Voiced By (It): Davide Albano
Frank Boles is an unpopular guard at Arkham who thinks he's the best guard there and doesn't get the respect he deserves.
Provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: His tendency to drink on the job has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. It even gets him killed by Joker, because Batman could track the alcohol vapor in his breath.
- Asshole Victim: The first named character to die in the series and one of the most deserving.
- Dies Wide Open
- Drinking on Duty: He was suspended twice for doing this.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has an extremely noticeable facial scar. He turns out to be less than trustworthy.
- Hate Sink: He was a total piece of shit that mistreated everyone around him and happily killed his own colleagues on Joker's behalf.
- Kill It with Fire: It is heavily implied in viral marketing for Arkham Asylum as well as Boles and Joker's exchange relating to the Blackgate fire that Boles was the one directly responsible for the fire.Joker: The night is still young, Bats. I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. I mean, don't you think it's a little bit funny how a fire at Blackgate caused hundreds of my crew to be moved here?
Frank Boles: I thought I told you to stay quiet!
Joker: Oh, Frankie! You really should learn to keep that fat mouth of yours shut. It'll get you into trouble. - The Mole: He's the Joker's inside man at Arkham.
- Noodle Incident:
- Whatever happened to his eye that blinded him is never revealed. Even if it was simply an Arkham inmate, there are many candidates and none are suggested.
- Joker says he got Frank to be his mole by getting him out of a spot of bother years before. That "bother" is not elaborated on.
- Quick Nip: He's seen taking a nip from a flask as Joker is taken to his cell. This turns out to be important later.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: It's also You Have Outlived Your Usefulness but there is an undercurrent of this. Though the Joker would certainly have killed him no matter what he did.
- Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard: Frank Boles is a security guard employed at Arkham Asylum. His character biography mentions that he's twice been suspended without pay for drinking on the job and that his temper has resulted in him injuring some of the inmates. When the events of the game take place, Frank assists the Joker in taking over the Island by providing him with the Asylum's security codes.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He arrogantly believes that he's the best guard in the asylum and doesn't even realize that most of the other guards hate and distrust him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He covered for the Joker during the times when the Clown Prince of Crime tortured Jason Todd in an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum. Because of this, Boles is partially responsible for Jason eventually becoming the Arkham Knight and, later, the Red Hood.
- Stepford Snarker: His bio says he uses sarcasm to hide his insecurities and failures.
- Too Dumb to Live: What made him think he could mouth off at the Joker without consequences? Even if he did happen to be the "inside man" at Arkham.
- The Unfought: He's never directly confronted by Batman, as he has already been killed by the time Batman tracks him down.
- Unfortunate Names: He's called "Officer Boles", which sounds very close to "Officer Balls".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's killed shortly after helping Harley kidnap Gordon. Upon finding his corpse, Batman mentions that he must've outlived his usefulness.
Burlow
Voiced By (En): Chris Cox
Voiced By (It): ???
Eddie Burlow was a guard at Arkham when Joker broke out and took over the island. Following the opening of Arkham City, Eddie joined Cash's crew of guards to protect the medical team inside Gotham Cathedral.
Provides examples of:
- Brainwashed and Crazy: By Poison Ivy after she escapes in the first game. Once Batman defeats her, Eddie returns to normal.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for not stopping the Riddler from taking himself and the rest of the guards hostage, and feels especially ashamed when he's the first to be rescued, as opposed to one of the others still being held captive.
- Nice Guy: Unlike few other guards, he genuinly seems to respect Batman and speaks to him gently.
North
William North
Voiced By (En): Roger Rose
Voiced By (It): ???
"After the asylum, I volunteered to work in Cash's crew. Figured we could make a difference."
William North was a guard at Arkham when Joker broke out and took over the island. Following the opening of Arkham City, William joined Cash's crew of guards to protect the medical team inside Gotham Cathedral.
Provides examples of:
- Brainwashed and Crazy: By Poison Ivy after she escapes in the first game. Once Batman defeats her, William returns to normal.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: When Batman tells him that Boles is dead, North (who was Forced to Watch as Boles killed several of his fellow guards) understandably spits, "Good. He was scum."
Bishop
Anne Bishop
Voiced By (En): Kimberly Brooks
Voiced By (It): ???
Anne Bishop is a member of Cash's crew that protects the medical team inside Arkham City.
Provides examples of:
- Boyish Short Hair: She keeps her hair short. Going from her personality, she probably does it to keep thugs from grabbing it.
- Revenge Before Reason: After Harley's attack on the Gotham Cathedral, Anne wants to hit back and has to be told by Batman to stay and look after the wounded doctors. After being rescued from the Riddler's deathtrap, she has to be convinced again to let Batman handle it.
- The Squadette: Of Cash's crew.
