Characters / Batman: Arkham Series – Batman

Batman: Arkham Series character index
Batfamily: Batman
Rogues Gallery: Arkham Asylum (The Joker • The Scarecrow • The Riddler) | Arkham City | Arkham Origins | Arkham Knight | Miscellaneous Foes
Arkham Staff | Gotham Citizens | Metropolis Citizens | ARGUS and Task Force X | Justice League

Batman (Bruce Wayne)

"You're afraid of being ashes. You're afraid of being forgotten, and you will be forgotten Joker. Because of me!"

^{Batman in Arkham Origins}

^{Batman in Arkham City}

^{Batman in Kill the Justice League}

Voiced by: Kevin Conroy (Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Knight, Assault on Arkham, Arkham Underworld, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League), Kimberly Brooks (young Bruce Wayne, Arkham Asylum), Roger Craig Smith (Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins Blackgate) ^{Other voice actors}Adrien Antoine (Fr), Marie Zidi (Fr; young Bruce Wayne in Asylum), Marco Balzarotti (It), Shinshu Fuji (Jp; Knight), Claudio Serrano (Eur. Sp), Ettore Zuim (Br. Pt; Origins, Knight)

"When the mugger or the thief stops to think twice — that is fear. That is what I am! That is why they hired assassins — because I am the reason the criminals breathe easier when the sun rises."

Born to Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce had an idyllic childhood, although he was given a strong sense of justice by his moralistic and philanthropic parents. After their violent murder at the hands of a mugger, Bruce dedicated his life to battling the criminal element that took their lives. He left Gotham for many years to train to physical and mental perfection across the globe, with the aid of his butler Alfred Pennyworth by bringing Gotham's criminals to justice as the heroic champion known as Batman.

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A-F

• The Ace: His character bio even makes sure you know that he's in peak human physical and mental condition.
• Adaptational Badass: The Arkhamverse Batman is one of the Dark Knight's strongest incarnations of all time. He fights his way through challenges that could bring down Batman in the comics and is a Super-Soldier in all but name, with impossible levels of strength, stamina, and willpower.
  • In the comics, each of Batman's individual enemies could give him a serious challenge in hand-to-hand combat, the scope of their schemes, or both. The most famous instance of him having to face multiple members of the Rogues Gallery at once had him take three months to capture them all, and then he was crippled by Bane. In this series, Batman faces at least half a dozen A-list foes in each game and defeats and captures them all within a single night, not to mention dozens if not hundreds of street criminals and thugs. City and Knight make this even more impressive by having him do it all while also suffering from conditions that severely hamper his mental and physical state.
  • In modern comics, Batman is typically out-matched in hand-to-hand combat by the likes of Lady Shiva (widely considered to be the greatest martial artist in the world, including by Batman himself), Deathstroke (a super-soldier and elite mercenary who is canonically stronger than him), Bane (the man who Broke the Bat), and other superhumans, and when he beats them it's variably because he has help or pulls a trick they didn't see coming that gives him an edge. In this series he beats them all one-on-one in a straight-up fight without any trickery or help. The comics also show him as vulnerable to hallucinogens like Scarecrow's fear toxin as anyone, and the fear toxin could potentially effect Superman, a Kryptonian; the Arkham Batman gets dosed with fear toxin several times in Asylum and Knight, within hours of each other, and manages to carry on.
  • In the tie-in comics, during an encounter with The Calendar Man, Batman had to fight clones of Solomon Grundy for an entire week without rest. After that, Calendar Man reveals he poisoned 365 people across Gotham, forcing Batman to save every last one of them. Even after that, Batman was still ready and willing to fight Calendar Man, and even managed to save a baby the villain threw off a ledge.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • One of the more abrasive incarnations of the Dark Knight, as befitting the Arkhamverse being often somewhat Darker and Edgier than even the comics, albeit not to the degree of something like Frank Miller's Batman from All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder. While Batman is known for being distant and uncompromising even to his closest allies in other media, this version takes that up several levels, with him being characteristically cold, finding it difficult to emote even in tender moments, and almost singularly obsessed with dealing with problems alone to the point of marginalizing or even turning on (albeit in non-dangerous ways) his allies if they insist on interfering - reaching its zenith when he locks up Robin in Knight for attempting to take charge once it becomes clear that Batman is dangerously mentally ill, in an intentional What the Hell, Hero? moment. Likewise, unlike most versions of Batman, he doesn't become more of a team player over time, and if anything he becomes even more of a loner as time goes by.
  • Likewise, he tends to be more brutal than most versions of Batman. While most are obviously willing to use violence to get the job done, he's typically shown using a balance of that with general mystique and fear tactics to strike fear in his enemies' hearts, whereas this Batman focuses largely on the violence to get his point across and is far more willing to cross lines to (literally) break his opponents. At times, both in action and in personality, he comes off as a (significantly more heroic) take on the same "grim but badass" escapist character type that birthed Kratos.
    • A good indicator as to his jerkass brutality is how he treats those he interrogates, a vast majority of the time, while Batman uses intimidation tactics, he'll simply leave them for the cops to pick up without any further damage. In Knight, he'll break the bones of the Riddler mooks he makes talk.
• Adaptational Wimp: Kill the Justice League has Batman being defeated and killed by Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Cap. Boomerang and King Shark. a far cry from the One-Man Army he usually is portrayed. Contrast it to his battle in Assault on Arkham where he defeats all of them plus Killer Frost and Black Spider very easily.
• Aesop Amnesia: By the end of Origins, he's learned that he shouldn't try to do everything by himself and that there's nothing wrong with accepting help when you need it. He seems to have forgotten this by the time of City, where he insists on going alone when it's not really necessary, though the fact that he was dying may have had something to do with that.
  • This becomes a case of Ignored Epiphany by the time of Knight where Batman knows that he can't go it alone and should rely on his allies but his need for control and fears of getting them killed means that he can't really bring himself to rely on them. This eventually becomes his Tragic Flaw.
• Agent Mulder: He's rather open-minded when it comes to supernatural phenomena; for example, in City, while he didn't know exactly how^note At this point in the Arkhamverse, Batman was seemingly unaware of the Lazarus Pits until he found the one stationed under Arkham City, he believed Ra's al Ghul's claims that he was over 600 years old.
• Ambiguously Human: His reputation speaks for itself.
  Scarecrow: You've ingested enough toxins to drive ten men insane! What are you?!
• Ambiguous Situation: The ending of Knight. It's left up in the air whether or not Bruce blew himself up in Wayne Manor as part of the Knightfall Protocol or is simply Faking the Dead and in hiding. It's eventually revealed in one of the trailers for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that he survived.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Arkham City has a number of Downloadable costumes, including 70s Neal Adams, TDKR, Year One, Animated, Batman Beyond^note It's still Bruce in the suit, not Terry McGinnis, Batman Incorporated, Earth One, and Sinestro Corps.
  • Arkham Origins sees costumes based on Blackest Night, Brightest Day, the original Earth 2, Gotham by Gaslight, The Long Halloween, New 52, DC One Million, New Earth-2, Thrillkiller, Noel, Dark Knight of the Round Table, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Jean-Paul Valley's first Batsuit the Adam West Batman (1966), and a metallic version of the suit used for the game.
  • Blackgate has—in addition to the Blackest Night, DC One Million, and New 52 costumes—costumes based on Zero Year, Superman: Red Son, and Beware the Batman
  • Among the new alternate costumes from Knight are an unblemished version of the suit he wears from most of the game, Justice League 3000, the Michael Keaton Batsuit, the Ben Affleck Batsuit, the Christian Bale Batsuit (based off the second movie by fan voting), his costume from the Gotham Knight short "Field Test", Zun-en-arrh, Dick Grayson's second Batsuit^note Dick's Batsuit during his first tenure was the same costume Bruce was wearing at the time, Flashpoint, and a modified version of the Beyond suit. Returning costumes include his costumes from Asylum and Origins, TDKR, Year One, Batman Incorporated, Noel, his first appearance costume, the Neal Adams suit, and the Adam West suit. Completing everything, including the "Season of Infamy" DLC in both the original game and New Game Plus gets you a version of the Knight Batsuit with the torso armor black and a yellow batsymbol.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Of the "Animal Alias" variety.
• Anti-Hero: He is Batman, after all. While his morals and dedication to what's right are as strong as it ever was in Asylum, later games showcase much more of his personal flaws, such as escalating brutality and his difficulty in being honest with those he works with - primarily due to gradually becoming Darker and Edgier thanks to a Trauma Conga Line.
• Armor-Piercing Attack:
  • In Arkham City, mooks start wearing protective armor and donning SWAT riot shields to combat Batman. To counter, Batman has two attacks that get through this - the Beat Down attack, which has Batman rapid-fire punches before delivering a knock out blow, and an attack that has Bats climb their shield, then pounce on them. Arkham Knight adds one more where he simply grabs their shield and delivers a punch strong enough to break the shield's glass window and knock the guy behind it away.
  • Most of Batman's gadgets bypass all forms of protection, capable of affecting enemies that would counter his normal punches. While none of them can knock out enemies, the player is encouraged to use them liberally to stun enemies with defensive options.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The young Bruce Wayne in Batman: Arkham Origins is quite full of himself in his belief about his abilities to shut down crime in Gotham, dismissing Alfred's cautionary advice with the game's story providing him with a lesson in humility and respect for his colleagues. In the first two games, with older Batman, he is more respectful but has very little false modesty as to his abilities and skills.
• Art Evolution: As well as the slight aesthetic changes to his costume, Batman's facial features are made overall smoother from Asylum to City and are capable of more varied facial expressions, especially in the eyes. Part of this is due to him actually being seen without his mask at certain moments in the story, unlike the first game. Knight takes things even further in this regard, as with the shift to an almost photorealistic art style to a level not seen in the other games, Bruce gets even more detail added to his character model. His proportions, whilst still retaining the Heroic Build, look more like the kind you'd find on a real person, whilst his unmasked face is given the kind of detail that suggests tiredness and fatigue, matching his characterisation in the final game. Origins gives the younger Bruce more hardened, chiselled features with Perma-Stubble appropriate for the story's take on the more raw less-experienced Batman.
• Aura Vision: He has built-in lenses in his cowl that when activated give him an X-Ray view of any nearby characters or surroundings. Enemies carrying guns are marked as red. Anyone else, whether they be enemy or not; are marked as light blue. Objects that can be affected by one of Batman's tools are similarly highlighted.
• Badass Boast:
  • In Asylum:
    Bane: I will break you, Batman! Then the bruja!
    Batman: No, Bane. This time, I break you! [cue the Batmobile ramming Bane into the water]
  • In Origins:
    Batman: I am the reason criminals breathe easier when the sun rises!
  • In Knight:
    Batman: I am vengeance. I am the night! I AM BATMAN!
• Badass Cape: That allows him to glide. He also uses it to stun enemies in combat by swinging it at their faces.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: As Bruce Wayne at the beginning of Arkham City. Played quite realistically, as the suit coat gets torn along the shoulder seams, demonstrating how restrictive and, well, unsuited to combat a suit can be. Cold, Cold Heart also has him in action against Penguin's men when they raid Wayne Manor, though his suit remains in much better condition in this instance.
• Badass in Distress: Temporarily when captured by the Joker at the beginning of Arkham City, sort of the entirety of the game on a smaller scale, and definitely during his capture by Harley in "Harley Quinn's Revenge".
• Badass Normal: He has no powers, unlike several of his enemies (Poison Ivy. Killer Croc), relying on intense training and a keen mind (and shitloads of money) to see him through his war on Gotham's criminal elements.
• Barrier-Busting Blow: Gains this in Arkham City, letting him punch through a weak wall to take down a henchman on the other side.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: While he doesn't use a gun in City, Batman does resort to what would otherwise be lethal force against two separate opponents. In both cases, it's completely justified. The first is Solomon Grundy, who cannot be stopped by anything less and will come back to life, the other is Clayface, who is effectively immune to all of Batman's conventional tactics again being quite near to immortal due to his body composition. Depending on the player's choice, he might also cut off Ra's al Ghul's "life support" in Knight but that is a very grey area.
• Beneath the Mask: Late in Origins, the Dark Knight suffers a Heroic BSoD and then talks about whether he should give up his superhero crusade. During this scene, the subtitles identify him as "Bruce Wayne" rather than "Batman", as he is on the point of giving up Batman's status.
• Big Good: He’s the leader of the Batfamily and Gotham City’s protector.
• Big "NO!": Does this in Arkham Asylum when he takes the Titan dart for Commissioner Gordon. And in Arkham Origins when he thinks he has lost Alfred as the only member of the Bat-family... right before slamming his Shock Gloves into the ground and discovering his "Eureka!" Moment: to shock Alfred back to life.
• Blood Knight: It was heavily implied that during the year between City and Knight, he was getting frustrated with the fact that all he could really do was tinker with his gadgets and vehicles.
• Blue Is Heroic: His cape and cowl are a very dark blue in City. They're back to black in the other three games.
• Broken Ace: Especially noticeable in Arkham City, when Batman wants to save Talia from the Joker, rather than stop Strange's plan to kill, at the very least, thousands. He also takes his failure to save the Joker pretty badly.
  • By the end of Knight, even if he's retained his sanity, Batman has lost his Secret Identity and is forced to go underground and cut off all ties with his former friends and associations.
• Building Swing: With his Grappling-Hook Gun.
• Byronic Hero: Arkham!Bats is as classical an example as any version of Batman. He is distant and secretive from his friends and allies, he's independent and self-reliant to the point of being self-destructive, and is tragically incapable of changing and adapting his problems even if he is aware of them.
• Cape Swish: Weaponized with the Cape Stun.
• Cape Wings: How he glides.
• Catchphrase: In Origins, he had a bit of a tendency to say various inflexions of "to run out of time" (eg. "You just ran out of time."). This turns out to be a factor that helps Bane deduce Batman's identity.
• Character Development: In Asylum Batman considers Killer Croc to be nothing but an animal. In Knight's DLC "Below the Surface", he considers Warden Ranken, who tortured his prisoners, to be the only monster of the two.
  • Origins does a good job of establishing how new to the game Bruce is compared to the chronologically later titles, as whilst he is as skilled as those games, he is much more arrogant and overconfident about his abilities and is harder and overall more aggressive in his interactions with criminals (to the point he accidentally renders Ricky "Loose Lips" Leblanc unconscious during an interrogation). He also doesn't respect the GCPD to any capacity, refusing to ally with them even with Gordon present, on account of the city's Corrupt Cop problem. The course of the game's story has Bruce receiving a much-needed dose of humility on account of Bane almost killing Alfred, learning to receive help from others and he starts working with Gordon to improve the state of the city.
  • In Knight, he undergoes a unique version of this where he regresses as a character thanks to the Scarecrow toxin driving him insane. As it turns out, Bruce's deepest fears are his allies dying as a result of his actions and the Joker slowly taking over his mind and going on a rampage. As a result, he takes radical and dangerous steps to stop these both from happening, first by imprisoning Robin following a hallucination and secondly by trying to ignore the Joker hallucination as it gains more and more power in his mind. By the end of the game, we've seen both fears (seemingly) come to pass, with Oracle dying and the Joker successfully taking over his body. Both turn out to be hallucinations, but in working through these hallucinations Bruce also works out his fears. His allies can take care of themselves for the most part, and in working together they can keep each other safe (seen with Oracle surviving, and Red Hood coming to the rescue). He eventually overpowers the Joker by getting Scarecrow to inject him with an extra-potent dose of fear toxin when Joker is on the cusp of taking over his body, causing the Joker hallucination to hallucinate it's own greatest fear- the fear of being forgotten. Where Batman is okay with his legacy eventually fading to nothing, the Joker most certainly is not, and Batman takes advantage of this doubt and fear to reassert control over his mind and save the day. While he ends the game confident that his allies will be fine, the toxin has done so much damage to him that he feels like he can no longer be a superhero, and Scarecrow finishes the job by unmasking him, yet he comes back as the Dark Knight five years later.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He worked to become as strong as he is.
• Chest Insignia: The massive bat logo, as usual. It's in fact the strongest part of his Batsuit's armor, something the Arkham Knight himself makes sure to let his men know.
• Chick Magnet: It's Batman so this was inevitable but he gets heavy Ship Tease with Talia, Selina, and Ivy. Oracle may have feelings for him as she was seemingly jealous about his interactions with Talia. He seems to have the admiration of others such as Nyssa and Shiva, and this is not including his love interests as Bruce Wayne, such as Vicki Vale.
• Choke Holds: This is how he performs a Silent Takedown. He uses a blood choke to knock them out with a meaty paw over their airways to keep them from making noise.
• Clark Kenting: As Bruce Wayne, playboy billionaire. He even uses a slightly higher voice in that guise. This works for and against him during the events of City, since everyone assumes Wayne is a dumbass rich guy who'll probably be eaten (possibly literally) by the inmates of Arkham City... meaning nobody bothers looking too hard for him when he disappears. However, it also meant Bruce couldn't do much to stop Hugo Strange's initial campaign, since this would result in people looking a little harder at Wayne, and wondering how he's able to get all that information on the professor.
• Clothing Combat: One of his moves is to whirl his cape at his enemies, using weights in the corners to stun the target.
• Clothes Make the Superman: The Arkham version(s) of the Batsuit is one the most technologically advanced Batsuits yet.
  • The suit provides Batman near-full range of motion while also providing protection from blunt force trauma, explosions, gunfire, and knives.^note Fabric armor such as what is worn in Asylum and City is capable of protecting against both bullets and blades, but not without compromising mobility.
  • His cape allows him to glide at extremely high speeds.
  • The cowl is connected to the Batcomputer and provides Batman with "Detective Mode," which allows him to see objects of interest, observe X-rays of anyone through walls as well as distinguish between who is and isn’t armed with a gun, trace vapor trails and the trajectory of bullets, and accurately reconstruct entire crime scenes from a single piece of evidence. Basically, the cowl is why he is the World's Greatest Detective.
    • The ears also house antennae that allow him to eavesdrop on conversations from hundreds of meters away.
  • The gauntlets have hologram projectors that provide Batman’s in-game map, can allow him to control his vehicles remotely, can trace radio waves, and can later provide the ability to video chat his allies. He can even insert SIM cards straight into the left gauntlet to make phone calls directly through his earpiece.
  • The suits worn in Asylum and City are also molded to exaggerate his Heroic Build, visually enhancing Batman's already intimidating physique.
• Clothing Damage: Throughout all four games, both his suit and cape get progressively torn up and scuffed.
• Cold Ham: This version of Batman rarely shows any emotion and is generally very quiet. Yet when he speaks, his voice is as intense and threatening as ever.
• Combat Pragmatist: He only has one rule. Everything else is fair game.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
  • He resembles Ben Affleck in Knight.
  • Roger Craig Smith's voice in Origins would sometimes sound similar to Christan Bale's growl.
• Comically Missing the Point: Early on in Origins, there's this exchange between himself and Alfred:
  Alfred: I hope you'll try to keep a low profile tonight, sir.
  Batman: Trust me, I'll take out those assassins before they even know I'm there.
  Alfred: It's not just that... if some curious child looks out to see who's pattering across their rooftop, they'll expect Santa Claus, not a black-clad bat creature.
  Batman: I don't patter.
• The Comically Serious: He has his moments. Such as this exchange between himself and Catwoman in Knight:
  Catwoman: [sigh] Another one? What's Eddie's problem?
  Batman: Fanatic narcissism, egocentricism, and megalomania crossed with severe obsessive compulsion.
  Catwoman: ...Thanks.
  Batman: Don't mention it.
• Composite Character:
  • He's based on the comics version, has the voice of his DC Animated Universe counterpart in everything outside of Origins and Blackgate, and his costume — albeit modeled on the costume from the classic comics — is body armor with a cape ala Batman Begins. His Origins costume is more based on the armored costume from The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, albeit modeled on the New 52 costume and Roger Craig Smith's voice would sometimes sound similar to Christian Bale's Batman voice. His Arkham Knight design is modeled on Ben Affleck and wears armor similar to his Injustice: Gods Among Us incarnation.
  • Arkham Origins's PS3-exclusive Knightfall DLC kind of combines him with Jean-Paul Valley, the first Azrael. The DLC lets him wear Valley's batsuit (which covers his whole face) and one of the five challenge maps from the DLC is called "Azrael does not protect". Despite the nods to Azrael and the original storyline, there's no in-game indication it's a different Batman and you can still play the campaign in a suit that shows Wayne's chin. (It's also hard to say if the whole thing is even canon, since it's hard to fit anywhere on the timeline).
• Cool Shades: Bruce Wayne's profile picture in Asylum has a pair.
• Costume Evolution: Chronologically, Batman has had many different Batsuits over the decade plus that the series takes place. All of his primary suits get badly damaged during the course of each game and Batman is stated to constantly be working on improving his tech and equipment, so each one tends to have some form of alteration, however minor.
  • Arkham Origins taking place roughly a decade prior to all the other games, features the earliest known Batsuit in this continuity, it looks distinctly more patched together than any of the other Batsuits, with a hard armoured look and asymmetrical belt giving the impression of a Batman still experimenting with perfecting a design as well as a rougher and less refined Batman than the "later" games. He later adapts the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves to this suit, altering his gauntlets to accommodate them. He also has the Extreme Environment (or XE) Suit for the Cold, Cold Heart DLC, which is designed specifically for use in environments of extreme cold with gauntlets capable of producing thermal heat, thus far being the only Batsuit to have a fully sealed mask and also white eye lenses as the default setting and looking bulkier than the standard suit.
  • Arkham Asylum starts him off with a suit that looks like a more armoured version of his traditional comics design, albeit with a unique bat symbol (a pair of additional wing struts, somewhat like what the 1989 film did). He also has an optional "Armoured" version of the Batsuit, which looks distinctly more high-tech and metallic, for use in the challenge maps.
  • Arkham City features him using a new Batsuit that, whilst largely similar to the Asylum design has a new belt, new gauntlets, new boots, a slightly smoother-looking cowl and a different bat symbol that has a more traditional design to it. For the "Armoured Edition" version of the game on the Wii U he has the Battle Armoured Tech (or B.A.T. Suit), which resembles the Armoured design of the previous game and is capable of absorbing kinetic energy and then releasing it upon impact allowing Batman to put more force into his attacks.
  • Arkham Knight starts him off in a more advanced version of his City suit, with segmented armour pieces and more rigidly designed gauntlets known as the "Batsuit Version 7.43". Upon request, he switches to using the "Batsuit Version 8.03" which is a more lightweight and thus faster model, unlocking Batman being able to use Fear Takedowns when he equips it, whilst still providing high levels of protection. As well as that, the overall design involves panels of mechanised armour plating over a tri-weave bodysuit, giving it a much more high-tech look than any of the previous Batsuits to date, resembling the "armoured" versions of the previous Batsuits to a certain extent. It's also designed to interact better with the Batmobile's various systems.
• The Cowl: There's a very good reason why he provided the page image for so long!
• Crazy-Prepared: He secretly built a Batcave underneath Arkham Asylum just in case something were to happen there. Oracle is particularly surprised, resulting in the situation being Lampshaded:
  Oracle: How did you keep this a secret?
  Batman: It's me, remember?
  • He's the main sponsor of Arkham Asylum, which means he likely has influence how the place was built, which is the main reason he managed to stop Joker.
  • In Arkham City, Alfred comments on Batman's constant equipment drop requests, asking if he considered a larger utility belt. Batman says that he did, but that it was too large and slowed him down.
  • One of the most impressive feats of Crazy Preparedness in Arkham City comes in "Harley Quinn's Revenge", where, as in the comics, Batman's utility belt, when not on him, releases a 50000-volt electric shock to most people who try to touch it. Robin and Batman himself are the only ones known to be exempt.
  • This comes up in Arkham Knight where it turns out that Batman just happens to be working on experimental upgrades that he finally found the occasion to take to the field. The experimental triple-layered Titanium Batsuit that allows for Fear Takedowns is one. Likewise, the bigger and badder Batmobile is another. The Arkham Knight's militia was prepared for his tactics and gadgets... but not the new ones. The new Batsuit and especially the Batmobile leaves them shocked. This is classic tradecraft, never fight the old wars and assume that your enemies won't learn from your victories, the next war will always be different. Alongside this, it was mentioned pre-release that Batman had little better to do than upgrade his equipment during the Time Skip between City and Knight.
    • How far does his crazy preparedness go? Well, after The Batmobile is destroyed..
      Oracle: Where's The Batmobile?
      Batman; Destroyed.
      Oracle: What?!
      Batman: Don't worry, I had Lucius make a spare.
• Create Your Own Villain: Strange states in City that Batman's mere presence in Gotham has done this to most of his Rogues Gallery, and in regards to the Joker, it's implied that may very well be the case. The one consistent thing in Joker's Multiple Choice Pasts is that Batman was responsible for his descent into villainy, and this is shown in full in Origins; before their feud, he was just some maniac doing wanton acts of destruction for kicks, not even caring if he lives or dies. Once he meets Batman and sees that he won't kill him no matter what he does, he considers Bats his equal and now has a purpose to keep living for.
  Strange: Look at the Joker. Would he even exist if not for you?
• Dark Is Not Evil: He wears a dark costume, but it's only to scare criminals.
• Dating Catwoman: The first thing that he did as soon as he got his Batman gear back was to rescue Catwoman from Two-Face. He also has some of this with Talia. He ultimately ends up with neither of them, due to Joker killing Talia, and him saying goodbye to Catwoman, though they do get one last kiss.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments. For example, there's his response in Arkham City when Alfred suggests he try the front door to get into Joker's hideout:
  Batman: Why didn't I think of that?
• Death by Adaptation: Arkham Knight seems to end with his death. Maybe.
  • Explicitly subverted in Kill the Justice League as the trailers show Batman alive and corrupted by Brainiac. Double Subverted in that he dies after his boss fight.
• Death Seeker: Implied in Origins in a conversation with Alfred, once again in Harley Quinn's Revenge from Robin's point of view and very much (although still only implied) in Arkham Knight. Anyway, the Mission and protecting Gotham always comes first.
• Deathly Unmasking: After having his secret identity revealed on television by Scarecrow in Arkham Knight, Batman/Bruce Wayne returns to Wayne Manor to enact the Knightfall protocol. Here, after removing his mask one final time, he vanishes into the depths of the house - which is promptly consumed by a massive explosion. Batman's fate is not elaborated upon, though he's presumed dead.
• Despair Event Horizon: Comes close to crossing it in Knight after apparently seeing Oracle be Driven to Suicide by Scarecrow's fear toxin. In fact, Scarecrow's entire Evil Plan centers around driving Batman over the horizon.
• Destructive Savior: He tends to cause quite a bit of property damage as collateral, especially when driving the Batmobile in Arkham Knight.
• Determinator: "I'll never let you win. Never."
  • "Tonight will not be my end... but it will be theirs!"
  • While dying from being injected with Joker's blood, he offers a defiant "I'll make it." when asked by Oracle what she should do if he dies.
• Did Not Get the Girl: In this continuity, Bruce ends up with neither of his most famous love interests. Talia is killed by Joker, dying in his arms and after his identity is exposed, Selina attempts to move things forward between them for one final time, but he ends things between them before going into exile.
• Does Not Know How to Say "Thanks": No matter how often Batman gets into situations beyond his capacity to solve, he never says thank you to anyone.
• Doom Magnet: Downplayed. By the end of the series, he's seen Alfred die a Disney Death, he saw Jason get "killed" and hallucinated that he killed Nightwing, that Killer Croc ate Robin and both Gordons dead (Jim in Asylum, Barbara in Knight) Then there are Talia and Joker. There's a reason he prefers working alone.
  Scarecrow: You bring death to all who follow you.
• The Dreaded: Criminals fear him, and for good reason. In Origins, you see him from a second person POV, courtesy of Joker, near the end. He's in the Worst Nightmare skin, and snarling like an animal. He even mentions his status as this to Alfred in Origins:
  Batman: I am the reason the criminals breathe easy when the sun rises!
  • Is especially evident in Knight when thugs flee on the sight of Batman.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Batman is noticeably shocked and disgusted by what the Iron Heights Warden did to Killer Croc while he was imprisoned, outright calling him an animal.
  • Despite being at his harshest in Origins and having no love for criminals, even he thinks the Joker forcing Sionis to shoot his girlfriend was monstrous.
• Experienced Protagonist: By the time of Asylum, he's been active as Batman for years. Even in Origins, the chronological first game in the timeline, he's been crime-fighting for two years by that time.
• Eye Color Change: In Knight, his eyes change from blue to green as a sign of the Joker infection.
• Facial Horror: In City, after being poisoned by Joker. While not nearly as bad as Joker's own Facial Horror, he develops Tainted Veins on his face, and Talia is horrified at the sight.
• Fallen Hero: As shown in the prequel comic for Arkham Knight, months after Arkham City's closure, public opinion has turned somewhat against Batman; in addition to his worsening mental state, rumours have spread that he was the one who killed the Joker that night, and a series of murders secretly committed by the Arkham Knight against minor criminals has cast aspersions on whether or not he still abides by his "one rule". Even worse, he encounters members of the GCPD who laud his "new" approach to crime, disgusting him.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. It's on full display when he's captured by Harley Quinn; after Robin saves him, Batman doesn't even give so much as a "thanks". This finally costs him dearly in Arkham Knight.
• Fiction 500: Bruce Wayne is a self-confessed billionaire, and all of his technology and weapons are provided by his company. By the time of Knight, Batman is practically an N.G.O. Superpower.
• Flat Joy: As Batman, he speaks in a low monotone at all times. His internal monologue has slightly more emotional inflection, as does Bruce Wayne.

G-L

• Game-Over Man: Shares this position with Cash if you lose while playing as Joker in Arkham Asylum.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a battle-hardened crime fighter who can take down a giant crocodile man and immediately go back to using deductive reasoning to take down criminal conspiracies.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • Batman just doesn't hold back against Arkham City's final boss Clayface — attempting to dismember him, continuing to attack him while he's pretty severely crippled, and not stopping until he's being boiled alive. It's also the only time he uses a lethal weapon. All of this is justified because the final boss really is that dangerous, these measures are barely enough and he is generally regarded as one of Batman's most dangerous foes in a fight. It speaks to how frightening he must be to Batman (relative to other foes, at least) when Batman, who's spent the game refusing to kill even in extreme circumstances, goes for lethal measures without a word when the final boss shows up.
  • When faced with the nigh immortal Solomon Grundy, Batman actually rips the heart out of his chest to prevent him from reviving.
• Good Is Not Nice: As seen when he played hardball with Mr. Freeze when he needed information on the ice gun and Freeze was being uncooperative in Arkham City. Though he didn't kill Freeze, he certainly bluffed pretty hard with that life-support liquid. This is also displayed in Origins, where he goes so far as to break both of Deadshot's arms and one leg after the threat Deadshot posed had already been neutralized, and breaks into the GCPD as part of a case and beats up several cops; when Alfred calls him on it, his response is:
  Batman: They're as corrupt as they come. And they're in my way.
  • It gets even worse in "Harley Quinn's Revenge", when after the deaths of Joker and Talia, he's become something of an Ungrateful Bastard and refuses to give even a curt nod of approval to Robin for saving his life. He also becomes far more ruthless when dealing with criminals of any kind; by the time of Knight, he interrogates a henchman crawling away in pain from a car crash, and rather than get him help or even knock him out, breaks his arm. Then there's the other mook who he interrogates by using the tire of the Batmobile on his skull and then revving it up by remote.
  • In Arkham Origins, he's rude and disrespectful to Alfred during the cutscenes, the man who raised him after his parent's deaths and is worried sick about him, and it takes Bane nearly killing him to make Bruce realize what a jerk he's been.
  • He's not above physically intimidating villains much shorter than himself for information, beating down and throttling Penguin or shoving around the frail, helpless Mad Hatter.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's closer to this in Arkham Asylum, treating his allies with more respect and showing signs of gentleness to the innocent victims, while still not hesitating to lay a brutal beatdown on any villain who gets in his way.
• Great Detective: Like in the comics, Batman is probably the greatest investigator on the planet. With or without his technology, Batman's got a perceptive eye and an analytical mind like no one else.
  • In the Initiation DLC for Arkham Origins, Bruce can visualize his environment without his cowl, showing off his memory and observational skills.
  • When confronted with multiple choices of where Deadshot's hideout could be based on a forensic profile, Batman correctly deduces that Deadshot is hiding his equipment in the abandoned electrical powerboxes throughout Arkham City. Batman's tech is helpful but his deductive thinking is the reason why he's such a good detective.
  • The Identity Thief killer keeps getting away and cleaning up crime scenes with bleach, leaving no evidence in Arkham City. What does Batman do? He decides that no evidence is evidence and tracks down the bleach instead, leading him directly to Hush.
• Hallucinations: Once per Episode, whether it be caused by neurotoxin, fear toxin, or Jokerization
• Handicapped Badass: He suffers from this throughout City. After being poisoned by the Joker, he gets very sick, to the point of coughing up blood and even suffering a near-death experience, but still manages to fight the various super-villains and even thwart Strange's plan.
• Heartbroken Badass: After the end of Arkham City, Batman refuses to talk to any of his allies and refuses to move on from failing to save those that depended on him. He is especially torn up about the death of his beloved, Talia al-Ghul, who died in his arms.
• Hero Antagonist: In Assault on Arkham, Batman works to stop the main protagonists of the film, the criminal group known as the Suicide Squad, from breaking into Arkham.
• The Hero Dies: Implied. In Arkham Knight, the very first line of dialogue is "This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died." This isn't immediately a spoiler for players, since Scarecrow's talk of destroying "the myth of Batman" gives some hope that the opening only referred to some type of change in Batman's identity. Scarecrow gets his way when he reveals that Batman is Bruce Wayne, apparently giving Bruce no choice but to commit suicide by blowing up Wayne Manor, with him and Alfred inside. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League appears to show Batman alive after Knight, but the specifics of how and why Batman is back have not been revealed, though Harley made sure he stayed dead this time around.
• Hero Harasses Helpers: He's constantly telling his allies he doesn't need help when they suggest it, to the point he fails to thank them if they save his life. He learns to appreciate them after Alfred temporarily dies in Origins... But then Jason died. Thanks to this, he dislikes the idea of his allies working on the field.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: In Origins, he suffers from this since the GCPD all consider him to be just a crazed vigilante, though the fact that most of the cops are corrupt also plays into it.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • The Scarecrow battles in Asylum are weaponized versions of this, where Scarecrow forces Batman to see one of his greatest allies dead, relive his parents' murder, and then finally see himself as an insane prisoner at the mercy of a society run by his villains.
  • He's strongly affected by Joker and Talia's deaths, to the point where weeks after the ending of Batman: Arkham City, he's still reeling from it. Indeed, the DLC has Oracle and Robin talking about how he's not talking to anyone and has mostly shut in. At the end of that, even Gordon is concerned and all Robin can offer is an unsure "he'll be fine" when Batman flies somewhere else to brood.
  • Batman: Arkham Origins. He suffers one after finding out Bane is heading to Wayne Manor. Alfred snaps him out of it.
• Heroic Build: Just look at the guy.
• Heroic Resolve: In City, he's poisoned and is stumbling around. At one point, the camera shifts to his POV when he drops to his knees and starts coughing up his own blood and the screen starts to blur. He just clenches his fists and the effects wear off, but he still takes a hit to his max health. The whole game is essentially Batman displaying just how far his will and resolve can carry him. He constantly is getting sicker and sicker, and despite this, he does battle with many of his most dangerous foes, fights off hundreds of thugs out for his blood, and is trying to find a way to take down Hugo Strange, who is protected by his own private army. When his sickness reaches its most extreme point, he is at death's door, and is told by Barbara that unless he finds what he's looking for, he has only minutes left to live. His response? "I'll make it." Batman: Arkham Origins. Copperhead is astonished when Batman continues to fight her even after getting poisoned by her deadly toxin.
• Heroic Willpower: He manages to fight off the effects of Scarecrow's fear toxin, from a dosage that, according to Scarecrow, would have been enough to drive ten men insane. He manages to hold off the effects of the Titan formula, and stop himself from transforming for a prolonged period of time until he injects himself with the antidote. In Arkham City, it's best summed up by a simple sentence he says to Oracle as he, according to Oracle, has only minutes left to live thanks to Joker's poison.
  Oracle: Seriously, Bruce, you need to tell me what to do... What to tell Robin... You know, if you don't...
  Batman: I'll make it.
  • He also fights off the Mad Hatter's mind control. It doesn't matter if it's in his head or his blood, Batman will fight it.
  • Poison Ivy's bio in Asylum mentions that this trope is the reason Batman can resist her powers of seduction.
• High-Altitude Interrogation: He can question Riddler's henchmen in this manner, provided the player is close enough to interact with a nearby ledge. Also his preferred method of questioning Quincy Sharp in a cutscene.
• His Own Worst Enemy: This version of Batman has a visible self-destructive streak. His fight with supervillains goes from professional obligation to personal obsession. His personal attitude is quite bossy and demanding rather than conciliatory which in the case of Mr. Freeze in Batman: Arkham City exacerbates the latter's paranoia leading to a major crisis that nearly gets him killed. Despite having several allies who could lighten his load, he insists on doing everything on his own and keeping them at arm's length. The combination of factors (personal obsession, bossiness, lack of trust) leads him to cage Robin at Panessa Studios, the fatal error that ultimately compromises his secret identity and ends his superhero career.
• Honor Before Reason: In Origins, Alfred says that since no one but Alfred and Batman himself know Batman's Secret Identity, he could stay inside for the night to avoid the assassins. Batman refuses, stating that if he does so, the assassins will endanger innocent people to lure him out.
• Hope Bringer: Lampshaded by Scarecrow himself in "Knight" as this to Gotham and potentially the world.
  Scarecrow: How can the world know fear – true dread – when there is you? A stalwart knight, ever ready to slay monsters. Fear isn’t true biology, Batman. It’s more than instinct. True fear is the absence of hope. And hope is the spread wings of a bat, shining in the clouds.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: He can even keep inventions he jury-rigs himself on the fly (the REC) or gets from others (the Freeze Blasts and Freeze Clusters) on him, even though his utility belt isn't even built for that.
• Informed Flaw: During Origins he is supposedly still "young and inexperienced" in his crusade. His physical and mental abilities are just as good as in all the other games. The tie-in comic on the other hand explicitly shows his rookie mistakes.
• Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery: His mask usually averts this, though they take on this look when he's using Detective Mode.
• I Work Alone: Batman's biggest flaw is his stubborn refusal to work together with the rest of the Batfamily out in the field. It's implied more and more throughout the series that it's out of fear that they'll get hurt as he becomes more convinced that he's a Doom Magnet (what with what happened to Barbara and Jason before the series even began.)
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: He's not afraid of dangling thugs over ledges or lifting them into the air in order to get information. To say nothing of putting a mook's head beneath the wheel of his Batmobile and starting it up (though he only did that last one when he was really pissed off).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be gruff and brooding, but he's firmly on the side of good.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: As the above image shows.
• Last-Name Basis: How he addresses most of his rogue's gallery that isn't named Joker (Dent for Two-Face, Cobblepott for Penguin, Nygma for Riddler, etc.) The only exception is Catwoman, who he addresses as Selina due to being more of a Friendly Enemy towards her.
• Lightning Bruiser: He is stronger than even his build would suggest and yet amazingly quick and agile. One of his dual team takedowns in Knight is a freaking flying powerbomb, complete with a forward flip in mid air (and not the more plausible sunset flip version either). Some of his moves call in question the normal part of his Badass Normal status.

M-R

• Made of Iron: The fact that he's still able to fight effectively after going through some of the things he does in Origins, City, and Knight shows that he either has superhuman durability, or his suit's armor is a lot more effective than it seems. Even Bane doing his signature back breaking move only stuns him.
• Manly Man: Muscular body? Check. Deep voice? Check. Capable of violence? Check. Beat up many mooks and juggernauts without breaking a sweat? Check. Went through many nightmares without flinching? Check.
• Master of All: Among the playable characters. Regardless of the game, Batman always has the most gadgets and moves, and thus feels the most balanced and versatile to play. This is especially notable whenever you're not playing as him; often the challenge comes from figuring out how to deal with situations that Batman could solve with ease, such as firearms in combat situations or crowd control in stealth.
• Master Swordsman: Wields Talia's sword against Clayface.
• McNinja: He's American, but his stealth skills would make even the sneakiest of ninjas jealous. As noted in Initiation, he actually did go to a monastery and learn to be a Stealth Expert from Kirigi, a man who's trained prominent ninjas, such as the League of Assassins and Shiva.
• Mighty Glacier: Only in comparison to the other playable challenge characters (notice that Lightning Bruiser is also on this list). By normal human standards he's freakishly fast, but among Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman, Joker, and Deathstroke he is the slowest character. He also hits the hardest and is the most heavily armored.
• Murder by Inaction:
  • After City, general consensus in universe is that he broke his one rule by not saving a dying man. Granted, Batman was stabbed in the shoulder, causing him to drop the only cure to the Joker's disease, but random chatter in the post-game of City and throughout Knight makes it clear that nobody sees much of a difference.
  • In Knight's "Season of Infamy" DLC, it's possible for Batman to do this. The end of the League of Shadows mission sees Batman given the choice between saving a feeble Ra's al Ghul, or letting him die of old age without the Lazarus Pit. It seems throughout the mission that Batman is considering the latter option for the greater good, but is worried it will break his one rule. Alfred even asks Batman beforehand, "Is preventing some ungodly resurrection really the same as taking a life?"
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Bruce is haunted for years by the Joker's kidnapping, torture, and murder of the second Robin, Jason Todd.
  • What's more, in a way, Joker was right, Batman's allies have a bad habit of finding themselves in dangerous situations and possibly dead, so in a way, his desire to work by himself as much as possible to keep them out of danger can be somewhat well-founded. His failure to save Jason is most likely what lead to, if not reinforced, his overbearing desire to work alone.
• N.G.O. Superpower: Best shown in Knight. In one city alone, Batman has several bases with weapons and state-of-the-art computers, a multi-utility tank with weapons capabilities, a private plane that provides supplies anywhere in the city and is pretty much given carte blanche by the GCPD. At one point, Aaron Cash is bemused at Batman commandeering a police workstation so that Oracle can work for him in the GCPD, considering that Batman's been giving them orders all night, especially after Gordon left.
  Aaron Cash: Guess we all work for you now? What am I saying, of course we do.
  • One of the Arkham Knight's militia notes how overpowered Batman's arsenal and technology really is:
    Militia: If our gear's top-of-the-line then what's the Bat's? Over the line? On-top-of-the-line? Is that even a thing?
• Neck Lift: Does this when interrogating someone.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In Origins, saving Joker as he fell to his death led to him taking over Blackgate at the end of Origins and then the events of the rest of the series.
  • In Knight, he locks up Robin in a prison cell to prevent him from stopping his search for Scarecrow after discovering he carries the Joker virus. However, this enabled Scarecrow to capture the sidekick while he was defenseless and use as leverage against the Dark Knight.
• No Badass to His Valet: He's The Dreaded for the crooks all over Gotham, and seen as a symbol of hope... and yet, Alfred wastes no time snarking at him. It's particularly pronounced in Origins, where Alfred is largely a Sour Supporter and views him as "a young man with a trust fund and too much anger."
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: After completing the main story of Origins, Batman receives a Most Wanted mission from Gordon to track down escaped Blackgate prisoners. When Batman tracks down one such prisoner, he starts singing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells" while laughing his ass off. Batman simply says "No" in a tone somewhere between deadpan and irritated before punching the convict's lights out.
• Non-Powered Costumed Hero: His abilities are actually real martial arts skills and gadgets he uses to enable his capabilities.
• Not So Above It All:
  • His pride is a serious issue; a large section of the problems he faces in City could have been avoided if he had simply gone with the flow. He stubbornly refuses help from anyone even when it would clearly help, like when Robin offers to help him find Ra's al Ghul. He was also so willing to abandon the people of Arkham City to Hugo Strange in order to get Talia that Alfred has to cut off access to his satellites to get him back on track. Origins and Knight have highlighted this: the more experienced Batman from the Rocksteady games shies away from extremely useful equipment such as the Shock Gloves, Remote Claw, the XE suit and (until Knight) the Remote Hacking Device; the Batgirl DLC reveals that Batgirl was using this while Bruce stuck with the outdated Cryptographic Sequencer.
  • In a slightly more lighthearted touch, he draws bat symbols when using his Explosive Gel, seemingly for no one's amusement but his own.
• Not So Stoic: At some points in each of the games, and in the Downloadable Content "Harley Quinn's Revenge".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • If he ever threatens to kill anyone, you know something's gone wrong. Best shown in Knight, where after he captures Penguin, he implicitly threatens to kill him if he doesn't shut up. While Penguin tries to brush it off as an empty threat, Batman warns him that he's "not feeling like himself tonight"; Penguin wisely decides to can it at that.
  • Should he ever resort to lethal tactics in a fight, it's a sign of how dangerous the enemy is, best displayed during two boss fights in City. He rips Solomon Grundy's heart out after subduing him, and attacks Clayface with cryogenic grenades, explosives, and a sword the second he realizes Clayface is about to engage him, and he doesn't stop until Clayface is wholly dead. This isn't a lapse of Batman's standards, or his Sanity Slippage kicking in, it's just that Clayface and Grundy are that dangerous and can't be stopped by anything less.
  • In one particular side-quest of Origins, Bruce's friends have been murdered by a sleazy stalker, and Batman hunts him down. Instead of a quick condemnation, Batman rants about all the things the stalker didn't murder them for, followed by a dehumanizing slurry of insults. It takes Alfred asking about his blood pressure to pull him back.
  • Nightwing and Robin have a "Well Done, Son" Guy attitude towards Batman. Time constantly pushes for at least a "Thank you", whereas Dick is used to it at this point and teases him over it. In Knight, when Bruce tells Dick he's proud of him, Dick is unnerved and asks him if he's feeling alright.
  • Out of leads as to where to find the kidnapped Oracle in Knight, Bruce traps a Militia soldier's head under one of the Batmobile's tires and revs it up, threatening to crush his head while angrily demanding answers. Seriously, this is one of the ONLY times Kevin Conroy's Batman has gotten this angry.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: As Bruce Wayne.
• Offhand Backhand: Can be pulled off. However, the version most fans are familiar with is saved for a cutscene near the end of the first game.
• Oh, Crap!: His reaction in Origins when he finds Bane's hideout and realizes that Bane knows his Secret Identity.
• One-Hit Kill: Can be pulled off in a swift manner if timed right in Freeflow Focus battle, just after a few hits.
• One-Man Army: At its most evident in Knight, where he goes up against legions of thugs, militiamen, Riddlerbots, Dollotrons, tank drones, and air drones - and wins!
• Papa Wolf: Harm any of the younger members of the Batfamily, and the normally-brutal Batman becomes damn near murderous; in Knight, after rescuing Nightwing from Penguin he implicitly threatens to kill the latter if he doesn't shut up, and after Barbara is kidnapped by the Arkham Knight's militia he captures a militia lieutenant, pins him to the pavement, and starts using the Batmobile to slowly crush his skull until he tells Batman everything.
  • When he thinks that Robin is dead in Harley Quinn's Revenge, he gives Harley the mother of all death glares. Keep in mind that Harley is already partial responsible for the death of one Robin in this continuity.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents were murdered by a mugger when he was eight years old.
• Parental Substitute: To Robin. Which Strange analyzes in the Catwoman tapes.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his Adaptational Jerkass treatment, when he learns the Arkham Knight's identity, he can't bring himself to even hit Jason, opting to disarm him and talk him down instead.
• Perpetual Frowner: Not all the time, but by Harley Quinn's Revenge, that is his normal mood setting now.
• Perma-Stubble: Sports this in Origins.
• Play-Along Prisoner: Bruce Wayne lets himself get arrested to get Batman into Arkham City. Though he's also hamstrung by being in his Bruce Wayne identity.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: In Knight's Season of Infamy DLC, Nora is kidnapped by the Arkham Knight's militia, who tell Mr. Freeze that they'll give her back in exchange for Batman. When Batman finds them out, he tells Freeze to go ahead and shoot him if he trusts them; within seconds, Freeze gives in and begs Batman to find Nora.
• Precision F-Strike: He rarely swears throughout the games, but he does get a few in.
  • In City, when the Mechanical Guardian he's scanning shorts out:
    Batman: Damn it! The data is incomplete.
  • Telling Mad Hatter to "Go to Hell".
  • He yells "Damn!" once he realizes that Deadshot is about to kill Jack Ryder.
  • In Origins, he says "damn" after accidentally knocking "Loose Lips" Leblanc unconscious while interrogating him. He also yells "Come on, dammit!" to Alfred while trying to bring him out of cardiac arrest.
  • Finally, there's his response to being threatened at gunpoint by a Jokerized Henry Adams in Knight:
    Batman: Go to Hell.
• Pragmatic Hero: If you deny Ra's cure in The Season of Infamy DLC, he will survive, and Batman will take him in to GCPD and lock him up, but Ra's will still eventually perish.
• Properly Paranoid: Arkham Asylum starts with him bringing Joker back to Arkham after the clown attacked City Hall. He suspects something's up, since Joker gave up almost without a fight, and accompanies his foe into processing. Unfortunately, that's precisely what Joker was counting on, as he wanted Batman to be there to witness his greatest triumph as he escapes and takes over the asylum. Unfortunately for Joker, he vastly underestimated how determined Batman was to stop him.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The Beat Down attack he uses in City onwards.
• Reckless Pacifist: Especially in Knight, where he can perform environmental takedowns such as jamming enemies' heads into live fuse boxes.

S-Y

• Sanity Slippage:
  • It's implied that being injected with Joker's blood is taking a toll on Batman's sanity. For example, when he defeats Mr. Freeze, he hallucinates Joker's laughing head on Freeze's body.
  • Goes into full throttle after the deaths of Arkham City. Throughout the DLC, he is much more gruff, his internal monologue is about the goal at hand, and his threats to the informants lose any playfulness. He even begins to speak with a bit of a growl.
  • This is further shown in Arkham Knight where he wasn't able to fully cure the infection and starts regularly hallucinating the Joker, which promotes him to do more extreme actions as the game goes on such as interrogating a PMC member by revving his head under the Batmobile's wheel and locking Robin up instead of allowing him to try to find a cure and stop Scarecrow himself.
• Save the Villain:
  • Most notably in Origins, when he saves the Joker from a Disney Villain Death. Of course, this leads the GCPD to believe he's the Joker's partner since they can't fathom why else he would have saved the Joker's life.
  • Notes to a dying Joker in City that he would have saved him, despite everything Joker's done.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: He's the former in his relationship with Catwoman. While not quite a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, her more fun-loving style contrasts with his stern and focused demeanor, and yet she sparks more of his Deadpan Snarker tendencies than anyone else. Even in Arkham Knight, where his world is collapsing around him, she manages to get him to snark during the Riddler side quest.
• Scars Are Forever: In Endgame, Alfred observes that his stab wound left by Joker will never fully heal.
• Shipper on Deck: He fully supports Tim and Barbara’s relationship, albeit warning Tim to not let his feelings for her cloud his judgment. In the Arkham Knight prequel comics, he even sets up situations that bring Tim and Barbara closer together.
• Ship Tease: He has a lot of moments throughout the series with Catwoman, Talia, and even Poison Ivy.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog:
  • In Knight, he spends a significant amount of time and resources trying to find a way to cure the Joker infected, even deliberately keeping Robin in the dark about Barbara's kidnapping and eventual death to ensure he'll focus on finding the cure. Then it turns out that Henry Adams, who Batman hoped would be the key to finding said cure, was faking his immunity the whole time, killing the other infected and then himself when he sees Batman himself is infected. The Joker hallucination that haunts Batman throughout the game takes great delight in rubbing in Batman's face about how he forced Robin to work on a nonexistent cure rather than let him be an effective ally in the field.
  • In City, Batman realizes that Ra's is evil and vows to stop him. If Batman chooses to spare Ra's in Knight, Ra's murders Nyssa and escapes, never brought to justice for his crimes.
  • The effort Batman put into sparing his enemies' lives. The series never actually says he's wrong for doing this, but it's made very clear that killing the big threats would've been for the best, since the premise of Knight is that crime dropped to record lows with Joker's death. To rub salt in the wound, the Golden Ending in Knight happens partially because several threats are killed off or at least MIA (Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Moth, Hugo Strange, Rat Catcher, Black Mask, and Quincy Sharp). The list might potentially include Ra's Al Ghul (if captured), Bane (killed by the Arkham Knight in the tie-in comics, gave up and returned to Santa Prisca in the game), Mr. Freeze (implied that he leaves Gotham to be Together in Death with Nora), and Clayface (the game never says what happened to him after City).
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Don't bother trying a Break Them by Talking on him. Just don't. He's kind of sick of it by now. Bones will break. Most notably at the end of Origins, when Joker is going off on a Motive Rant:
  Joker: If you actually let me finish a sentence, you might learn something! You might learn we're not so different. You might even learn something about yourself.
  Batman: You need to learn to shut up.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Batman isn't convinced when Gordon claims that the GCPD in Origins is as clean as he makes it out to be.
  Gordon: We've earned Gotham's respect—
  Batman: If that were true, I wouldn't be here.
• Skewed Priorities: During the climax of City, when Talia is taken hostage by the Joker, he's fully prepared to drop everything to go after them, despite the fact that Strange's Protocol 10 is underway and the TYGER guards are firebombing Arkham City even as he states his intentions. Oracle and Alfred have to cut off his access to the satellites he's using to track Talia's signal to get him back on track.
• Smoke Out: Smoke bombs are a part of his arsenal in City.
• The Stoic: None of the crap Joker, or nearly any villain, does freaks him out. Only Scarecrow is able to get some kind of reaction, but that's more the effects of his gas. It's pretty obvious when you find the Titan-flooded old sewage chamber and Batman says there's a new problem. It sparks this conversation:
  Oracle: [exasperated] What now? Riddler? Two-Face? Some kind of giant Joker robot?
  Batman: Unfortunately, nothing that simple.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He pulls this off on Commissioner Gordon at the beginning of Knight:
  Gordon: Every damn time...
• Stealth Expert: Stealth's a key gameplay mechanic in the Arkham Games, after all.
• Street Samurai: He wages a vigilante crusade against a corrupt society, is bound by a strict personal code of honour and tends to use fighting techniques originating from medieval Japan against foes using modern weapons and tactics. Given this particular incarnation's constant use of advanced computer tech (his mask's detective mode, the disruptor, the remote hacking device) and the notably cyberpunk-influenced plots of the series (City's focus on government control and surveillance, Knight's focus on drone warfare, the prominent role the Bat-family's resident hacker Oracle has throughout the series), this version of Batman is actually one of the purest examples of the trope.
• Super-Strength: Batman often has this as part of his Charles Atlas Superpower, but the Arkham version is probably the most overt about it. Every single fight scene he's in will have him tossing people around like softballs and kicking or punching them clear across the room like a Street Fighter character, and leaping superhuman heights and lengths with the same abandon. Notwithstanding other instances like grappling with Bane, prying open elevator doors, throwing people through walls, punching out TITAN thugs, denting thin metal walls by kicking Solomon Grundy into them, and so on.
• Tainted Veins: Develops some on his face in City as a result of his Titan poisoning. and from the fear toxin in Knight.
• Take a Third Option: Near the end of Arkham Origins, when the Joker gives him the option to kill Bane or let him live so that his heartbeat can send shockwaves through his connected electric wires and allow them to kill both the Joker and Commissioner Gordon, Batman has a third option: he uses the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves to temporarily stop Bane's heart, then disconnects the wiring from his heart before using the gloves as Magical Defibrillators to restart it, reviving Bane and angering both him and the Joker.
• Technical Pacifist: In Asylum. After dispatching enemies, if you turn on the visor and scan them, they're just unconscious. If you ever manage to yank a henchman into a bottomless pit, you'll typically hear a splash so that you don't break Batman's no-kill policy. Lampshaded in City by the mooks who talk about the extensive damage Batman's done to them. One states Bats broke a few ribs, and his legs, and punctured his spleen, while another talks about losing his five front teeth, and so on. However, Batman uses clearly lethal force on Solomon Grundy and Clayface. Justified in that Grundy has Ressurective Immortality, while Clayface is indestructible and can survive being cut to pieces, frozen, and blown up, so they both are too powerful and resilient to be dealt with by any other means.
• Terror Hero: Whenever confronted with well-armed criminals, Batman dispenses with his flashy fisticuffs and sticks to the shadows, selectively taking out the criminals one by one, causing the remaining criminals to become increasingly paranoid about where he is and who he'll strike next. This is only confounded when he uses techniques like Inverted Takedowns to leave his victims hanging several feet in the air, screaming in terror before they pass out. By Arkham Knight, he can pull off a "Fear Takedown," where Batman takes out five enemies in one move by silently taking out one of their allies.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill:
  • However rough he is on criminals, Batman would never intentionally kill one of them, or let the Joker die while it was within his power to save him.
    Batman: [to Ra's al Ghul] I will never kill. Not even you.
  • He does use lethal force exactly twice, both in Arkham City: Against Solomon Grundy, who can come back from the dead and seems to be otherwise unbeatable (Batman tores his ribcage and punches his heart) and Clayface, whose Bizarre Alien Biology forces Batman to get creative when restraining him (He freezes him with the freeze blasts and then cuts him into tiny pieces with Talia's blade).
  • Knight takes a massive swing at this, as it's revealed that Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight's anger towards Batman both tie back to the Joker's actions, and that a significant part of the plot ties back to Joker's plan in City. Letting Joker drop from the Royal Hotel back in Origins would've prevented the entire Rocksteady trilogy. Also. the "Season of Infamy" DLC gives Batman the option to either save Ra's al Ghul's life, or to destroy his life support machine so that he can finally die. The only way to ensure that the League of Assassins never bothers Gotham again is to defeat Ra's.
• Time-Shifted Actor: Kimberly Brooks voices the young Bruce Wayne when Batman flashes back to the death of his parents during the second Scarecrow hallucination in Asylum. It's also the reason that Roger Craig Smith is voicing the young Batman in Origins rather than Kevin Conroy returning.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In Arkham Knight, he suffers from a heavy case of Aesop Amnesia and arrogance that he should have gotten over a long time ago. Most of the horrible events that occur in the game could have been avoided if Batman chose not to rush into things without thinking. Admit it, locking Robin in a prison cell with thousands of insane criminals roaming around the city was not the smartest idea. Somewhat justified in that Scarecrow had spent the entire night playing on his fear that he's a Doom Magnet who causes suffering and death to everyone who allies themselves with him. The game won't even allow you to surrender yourself and let Tim handle everything, with Joker repeatedly insinuating and then flat out telling you that if you do so, Tim will die.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Arkham City. At times, even allies get shouted at or angrily dismissed. It's implied in-game that a large percentage of his increase in jerkiness was the result of being injected with Joker's blood, and apprehension over it being sent to hospitals in Gotham. The stress of his imminent death certainly doesn't help matters.
  • This is Deconstructed heavily in Arkham Knight where even though he seems to be more sympathetic towards his partners, his Pride and obsession with handling the situation by himself continues to alienate him. And several characters such as the Arkham Knight and Scarecrow spend a good portion of the game trying to drive this point home. This comes to a head when his actions not only cause the apparent death of Barbara but also cause him to lock Robin up when he tries to help Batman with his Joker infection. And to twist the knife further, the Joker hallucination informs him that Batman being adamant about Robin finding a cure proved to be pointless and Robin could have kept Barbara safe.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Arkham Knight, he seems to reverse the trend he was going on in City. It's not much, but at least he knows how to thank his allies again.
• Training from Hell: The Initiation shows that he went through this under the tutelage of Master Kirigi, where every test was an object of survival and who actively instructed his other students to kill him.
• Tranquil Fury: This seems to be his default state of mind in Harley Quinn's Revenge and 'oh-so-much in Arkham Knight.
• Trauma Conga Line: Each game seems to put him through a worse night than the last. Asylum sees him get off relatively scott-free, though he deals with traumatic visions of his parents and a dead Jim Gordon in Scarecrow's fear toxin hallucinations. City has him deal with psychological warfare from Hugo Strange, getting afflicted by Titan poisoning that comes inches from killing him, and the deaths of both his love interest and arch-nemesis in quick succession. Origins puts him through a gauntlet of assassins actively out to kill him at Christmas while Alfred gets targeted by an enemy who knows his secret identity. Knight arguably puts him through the worst as his character flaws cause his relationships to crumble around him and his constant fear gas exposure puts him at risk of completely losing his mind.
• Trap Master: One of the mechanics of the games involves Batman setting up traps to better deal with the enemies in predator mode.
• Underwear of Power: Has it in the Rocksteady games, though he loses it once he changes suits in Knight. Doesn't have it in Origins, though the design of the batsuit creates a similar appearance. Except for Asylum, alternate skins can be used to either remove them or put them back.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • Quietly called out on this by Robin after the latter saves him from asphyxiation in "Harley Quinn's Revenge".
    Robin: Ever heard of "thank you"? ...I guess not.
  • Robin saves Batman from Harley again, and Batman still doesn't say "thank you" or otherwise acknowledge his assistance. In fact, his only true response is to calm down extremely slightly due to not assuming Robin died in the explosion in the Industrial District anymore. Really, it can only be explained by his rather severe depressive episode (brought about by the events of the game proper).
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: It doesn't matter who you believe to be Batman's primary love interest in the Arkham games, Catwoman, Talia, Ivy in the end none of these ships are resolved. Talia gets fatally shot by Joker in City, Ivy sacrifices her life to disperse Scarecrows fear gas in Knight and (also in Knight) Batman sinks his own ship with Selina and tells her they can never be together.
• Vampire Refugee: Knight has a rather unique version of this. After having been contaminated with the Joker's infected blood in City, Batman's mind is slowly starting to be taken over by the Joker. He has four other infected patients locked up in a satellite Batcave, one of whom is showing no signs of any Joker-like symptoms, and is being used to develop a cure. Throughout the game, visions of the Joker taunt you at every possible moment, and at several moments (especially when Batman gets exposed to Scarecrow's fear toxin), Batman loses control, and the "Joker" part of Batman's mind actually manages to take over.
  • Taken even further if it's true that Batman's entire psyche was created by chemicals of the Gotham Lazarus Pit leaking into the watertable. Thus truly making him just as mentally ill as the supervillains he fights, but his near-psychotic obsession became locked onto the idea of preventing tragedy rather than reveling in it.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: A rare benevolent example. In particular, the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique entry above.
  • Once Batman has leveled up a bit, you can get him to become downright vicious on the Mooks; you can combo throw them into other Mooks, over a railing into pits, or into the electric doors. Using the weapons, you can have Batman knock them off ledges with his batarangs, yank them over ledges and catwalks with his Batclaw, make landmines with explosive gel, etc. And this barely covers what you can do in the game.
• Vocal Evolution: Kevin Conroy's Batman voice in Arkham Asylum is higher-pitched and more relaxed than later games, sounding more like Conroy's natural speaking voice at certain points. He would go back to using his more familiar Batman voice in Arkham City, but went much deeper for the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, likely to reflect Batman mourning the losses of both Joker and Talia al Ghul. In Arkham Knight, he gets noticeably gruffer and older sounding.
• With My Hands Tied: At the beginning of Arkham City, as Bruce Wayne, not Batman.
• Worf Had the Flu: In Arkham Knight, thanks to a combination of suffering the effects of Scarecrow's fear gas and The Joker hallucination inside him Batman actually has a few chances to capture Scarecrow and Arkham Knight early but fails to do so. The first is during the confrontation in Simon Staggs airship where there are two Scarecrow's in the room. No matter which choice you make the real Scarecrow will always be the one you didn't pick and he will spray you with his toxin while you're distracted. The second is after Batman destroys the Cloudburst and, despite beating on the Arkham Knight, his body transforms into Joker and the Knight manages to slip away.
• Worthy Opponent: To Joker.
• Would Hit a Girl: Justified, given that the girls in question are actively trying to kill him. Though he goes a little easier on female adversaries as his takedown moves against them don't involve breaking limbs. ^note In Origins "Initiation" DLC, because female opponents in combat rounds can lose their swords and pick up a knife weapon, it is possible to snap their limbs.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Batman's moveset is full of wrestling moves. Some of his strikes include clotheslines and double axe handles, his Silent Takesdowns include a move similar to John Cena's STF and Mick Foley's Mandible Claw, and he will occasionally DDT or Scorpion Death Drop his opponents when performing a noisy Takedown, and one of his double counters is a northern lights suplex. He also uses the ankle lock as a Special Combo Takedown. A German Suplex has been added to his arsenal in Knight, as both a Throw Counter and a noisy Takedown and some of his Dual Team Takedowns include piledrivers and powerbombs.
• X Must Not Win: As he himself states in Asylum, he'll never let Joker win.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Pulls this off in an optional conversation with Mr. Freeze in City, when the former thanks him for saving Nora. Batman's response?
  Batman: Fix her and quit this life. You're better than this.
• Your Worst Memory: As with canon, the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne comes back to haunt him in Asylum while dosed with Fear Gas, and again in Arkham VR in a dream sequence. However, in Arkham Knight, this is superseded by the memory of Jason Todd's torture and death at the hands of the Joker.

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Tropes that apply to him in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

• Alas, Poor Villain: Even after all he's been through in the Arkham games, all he's done as a brainwashed enforcer of Brainiac, and his eventual death by Harley Quinn, is played entirely for drama with plenty of tearjerker moments.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: A literal example, as he tries to execute Harley Quinn using a gun after being Reforged into a Minion by Brainiac.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The "actual" boss battle with Batman isn't against him directly but instead a giant fear toxin-induced illusion of a bat monster.
• Big "NO!": Screams one after getting defeated by the Suicide Squad.
• Boom, Headshot!: After being defeated and dragged to Superman's statue, he’s shot in the head by Harley Quinn.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: He gets brainwashed by Brainiac alongside Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern in Kill the Justice League. To show just how serious this is; he makes his first appearance killing two police officers offscreen and presenting their corpses in front of the titular squad as an intimidation tactic and after handing each member their own asses through a twisted, antagonistic version of the game mechanics in the Arkham games, he prepares to execute Harley Quinn with a gun.
• But Now I Must Go: In the time when Bruce was operating as the "Demon Bat" between Knight and Kill the Justice League, he was approached by Superman with the offer to join the Justice League. Bruce accepted and left Gotham in the care of his friends and proteges while operating as Batman in Metropolis.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Like the other members of the Justice League, the method that Brainiac used to brainwash him involves using advanced alien technology to literally lobotomize him. It's also implied he was given other modifications to his body for better performance, but to what extent is unknown.
• Dark Is Evil: By the time of the game, where he ends up as a Brainwashed and Crazy minion of Brainiac.
• Dramatic Irony: Where to begin with Batman.
  • He makes his first physical appearance in Asylum as a playable hero entering the Arkham Asylum with The Joker in tow. Here, he makes his first physical appearance as a non-playable villain after killing innocent civilians at the entrance to his museum exhibit.
  • In the Arkham games, it's often a plot point regarding Batman's struggle to hold onto his sanity, and with the Driving Question of whether he's just as bad as the criminals and lunatics he's fighting against. Here, he's long gone after being Brainwashed and Crazy by Brainiac and is reduced to becoming the very monster he always feared.
  • Throughout the entire series of the main Arkham games, it's usually a Running Gag (though seriously not funny) for Batman to be poisoned by the villains and have to cure himself less he risked death. Here, he's been permanently Brainwashed and Crazy by Brainiac with death being the only option to deal with him and serving as the Plaguemaster in his second boss fight.
  • Batman's usually well-known for his Crazy-Prepared tendencies and would always win due to prep time. He gets brainwashed by Brainiac due to not having a plan^Although...it's downplayed as he wanted to make a plan before meeting Brainiac due to being Properly Paranoid. But after much prompting from Superman and Green Lantern, where the Man of Steel was practically begging, he relents and unsurprisingly, it's a trap.
  • Through each Arkham game, Batman is shown to consistently upgrade his gadgets and tactics to deal with plenty of different scenarios. As a brainwashed minion of Brainiac, he relies on the same tactics to defeat the titular Suicide Squad in his first boss fight and loses in his second one due to them having a stronger bond and Harley Quinn already familiar with his recycled methods.
  • Nearly every version of Batman Does Not Like Guns and has an aversion to lethal force due to how a common crook used a firearm to kill his parents. Not only does he commit mass murder as a brainwashed covert agent and tries to kill Harley Quinn with a gun, but he unceremoniously dies as a war criminal from a former criminal sanctioned by the government as a Black Ops agent shooting him dead on a street.
    • For added irony, he tried to inflict a Boom, Headshot! on Harley near the beginning of the game. After his defeat and just before fighting Superman, Harley shoots him dead in the head.
• The Dreaded: Even after his true identity as Bruce Wayne is revealed, he can still be the most intimidating foe to face, as seen when the Suicide Squad realizes Batman has also been brainwashed by Brainiac. Hell, they’re even more scared of him than when they face Superman.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Batman is shot point-blank to the head by Harley Quinn, while sitting on a bench all injured. To say his death is anti-climatic would be an understatement.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Implied. After becoming Brainwashed and Crazy by Brainiac, Batman's body is hinted to be enhanced given that one of the things that Brainiac remarks of his limits is his "human body outpaced by its mind" beforehand in the ARGUS tapes. However, it's unclear exactly how much he's been enhanced or if his body is permanently stuck at its peak condition, given his physical strength, speed, and endurance as an antagonist isn't all that different from the Arkham games, and he can still die from a bullet to the head by Harley Quinn.
• Evil Is Hammy: Under Brainiac's influence, Batman trades his usual stoicism and deadpan delivery for a more bombastic tone of voice, complete with Evil Laugh.
• Fallen Hero: The most egregious example out of all the members of the Justice League. "Either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain" doesn't even begin to describe Batman's fall from heroism and final fate at the hands of the Suicide Squad.
• Get It Over With: In his final moments, he treats Harley's attempt to lecture him with nothing less than utter contempt.
  Batman: Are we done with the bad stand-up routine?
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Like the rest of the Justice League who's been brainwashed by Brainiac, Batman sports glowing purple eyes.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: When the Suicide Squad encounters Batman for the first time, they're unprepared to deal with his covert tactics and mind games, leading to every one of them getting their asses whooped and nearly dying if it weren't for The Flash's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Knight of Cerebus: While the game starts somewhat lighthearted, aside from Brainiac using the recently brainwashed Superman and Green Lantern to kill or convert many innocent people and The Flash getting badly injured from trying and failing to bring Green Lantern to his senses, the moment Arkhamverse Batman made his first appearance with him being brainwashed as well, along with using lethal force on two police officers, darkens the atmosphere to near hopelessness.
• Knight Templar: No pun intended, really, as Batman's original desire and goal to uphold justice and defeat crime is now twisted to serve Brainiac's goal of terraforming the Earth.
• Kryptonite Factor: Averted. Despite his teammates having clear-cut weaknesses to exploit, Batman has nothing that can be used as an "Anti-Batman device" when the Suicide Squad looks through his contingency plans just before his second boss fight. Instead, the Suicide Squad has to rely on teamwork and intelligence if they hope to defeat the Dark Knight.
• Master of Illusion: He's capable of creating bat-shaped shadows upon appearing out of thin air through advanced holographic technology, and his second boss fight involves using his own variation of Scarecrow's fear toxin to kill the Suicide Squad. Rather than being fought directly, the final fight is instead against a monstrous illusion that's presumably taking place inside of their minds.
• Muggles Do It Better: In a way, Batman's The Team Normal of the Justice League and arguably the only one to have two boss fights as a brainwashed minion of Brainiac. Also, he has no clear-cut weakness in the form of an "Anti-Batman device" for the Suicide Squad to use against him, and he comes in the form of a Puzzle Boss that requires the titular team to rely on teamwork, intelligence, and any prior training and experience they have to take him down.
• Properly Paranoid: Age doesn't dull Batman's usual paranoia one bit and The Reveal of his Secret Identity near the end of Knight only strengthens this, as seen with his secret contingency plans to neutralize the Justice League if any, or all of them, were to be compromised right before his second boss fight begins. The ARGUS tapes revealed that he, along with Wonder Woman and The Flash, was rightly skeptical of Brainiac's initial claims for "peaceful negotiations" and wanted to create a plan before meeting him. It's only through Superman and Green Lantern's prompting that they all go into Brainiac's ship and, unsurprisingly, it was a trap.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: He was once a playable Hero Protagonist who starred in a series of games in the Arkhamverse till his secret identity was outed by Scarecrow in Knight, forcing him to go into hiding and continuing to operate covertly for several years before getting an official invitation to join the newly formed Justice League. Then, after rebuilding his reputation and becoming a respected superhero amongst the Leaguers, Brainiac came along and brainwashed him into becoming the very thing he swore to destroy.
• Puzzle Boss: Unlike the The Flash, Green Lantern, and Superman, Batman's boss fights require the player to use their intelligence to beat him.
  • When he first engages the Suicide Squad, he uses his usual tactics from the Arkham games to take them down one by one in a Hopeless Boss Fight.
  • In his second boss fight, the Suicide Squad has to actively navigate through the fear toxin-induced hallucination of the Batcave to mix the vats up four times and eventually turn on the vents. All while keeping vigilance to where either Batman popping out of the statues, a "fiery hell bat" approaching from the air, and the explosive gel traps littered in the area.
• Rogue Protagonist: Batman went from a playable Hero Protagonist of the Arkhamverse games to a major villain who was Brainwashed and Crazy by Brainiac in Kill the Justice League.
• Sinister Surveillance: Before his second boss fight, Batman can be seen watching the Suicide Squad from afar. Attempting to get close to him, simply staring at him for a while, or just straight shoot at him, will cause Batman to pull a Stealth Hi/Bye.
• Stalker without a Crush: He can be seen in the background from afar stalking the Suicide Squad throughout the game before his second boss fight.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: After being the main protagonist for most of the series, he gets brainwashed into becoming one of Braniac's minions early into the game.
• The Team Normal: He serves as the only member of the Justice League without any superpowers. Not that it makes him less terrifying to fight as a brainwashed minion of Brainiac; with how Crazy-Prepared he usually is and the fact that Batman's now relying on lethal force and using his variation of Scarecrow's fear toxin as seen in the ending of Knight and his eventual boss fight.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: To an extent. From what little can be seen and heard of Bruce in his holographic displays in the Hall of Justice and the ARGUS tapes, he's a bit more lighthearted in speech and somewhat friendly to his teammates and to the citizens of Metropolis.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Similar to the above example, this is also to an extent. While still possessing some of his usual brooding and serious nature, he's much more amiable regarding his interactions with the people of Metropolis and with his teammates in ARGUS tapes.
• Weak, but Skilled: As the only member of the Justice League without superpowers, he relies on fear, gadgets, stealth, subterfuge, intellect, and his lifelong achieved peak physical and mental condition to neutralize his foes. While this might be subverted due to the implied enhancements done to his body by Brainiac, it's unclear since Batman notably still relies on his stealth skills and tactics more than brute force or direct combat.
  • Upon his first appearance, he doesn't directly engage the Suicide Squad. Instead, he presented two recently murdered police officers to them for intimidation, activated an EMP detonator to kill the lights, and slowly picked them off one by one from the shadows while also setting up Explosive Gel traps throughout the area. Afterward, he intends to execute each of them through a bullet to the head if it weren't for The Flash's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • In his second boss fight, he's the only Leaguer that involves the Suicide Squad to fight more strategically as they've been infected by Scarecrow's fear toxin. After managing to circulate the fear toxin out of the Batcave, they fight a gigantic version of the "Demon Bat" due to the lingering effects of the toxin still in their bodies while managing to damage Batman's real body through the "Demon Bat's" weak spot.

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Are we done with your bad standup routine?