Code Batman is a Code Geass and Batman: Arkham Series Fusion Fic AU by mtnetsurfer.
In a nexus between the multiverses of Code Geass and Batman, Lelouch is the one who becomes the Caped Crusader, waging a one-man war on crime after his parents were gunned down in front of him and his sister, Nunally.
The story is essentially a retelling of the Arkham games but with many characters from Code Geass being composite with characters from Batman such as Lelouch as Batman and Jeremiah Gottwald as Alfred being two such examples.
It can be read here
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Code Batman contains examples of:
- Abled in the Adaptation:
- In canon, Nunnally became paraplegic during the assassionation attempt that killed her mother, and her father Geassed her into believing she was blind for years. Here, with her mother and father both murdered by Joe Chill, Nunnally eventually takes on the role of Spoiler to aid Lelouch/Batman in his crimefighting exploits. mtnetsurfer even went on to say in his author's notes that he has no intentions of making Nunnally this story's version of Oracle.
- Batman isn't in danger of turning into a Jokerized victim. This is likely due to taking more of the Titan cure, as Lelouch notes that the cure even went so far as to flush the chemicals that created Joker out of Lelouch's bloodstream.
- Professor Pyg, though still obsessed with perfection, is far more mentally stable, akin to his characterization in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- In canon, Kallen hates going by her Britannian family name of Stadtfeld and prefers going by her mother's maiden name of Kozuki. In this story however, she goes purely by Stadtfeld. mtnetsurfer explained that because this world lacks a government that legally mandates bigotry, Kallen's birth parents married without issue, meaning she grew up not hating her father's family name.
- Several members of the Britannian royal family go by different last names in this story, such as Clovis taking on the last name Lynns or Euphemia taking on the last name Cain.
- The Batfamily in this story is instead called the Black Knights, in response to Batman being called the Dark Knight by the citizens of Gotham.
- Marianne's maiden name in this story is Mica instead of Lamperouge (with Charles having that as a family name instead).
- Adaptation Origin Connection:
- In canon Bismarck keeps one eye sealed shut so his Geass won't trigger and make fights too easy. In this story, where Geass doesn't exist, he wears an eyepatch because he actually lost his eye, due to being this world's version of Deathstroke.
- In Batman's backstory Bruce Wayne is traditionally inspired to take on a bat motif when a bat randomly flies through his window. In this story, Lelouch gets the idea when he sees Jeremiah bringing in a bat that had flown into the estate from the caves below.
- While Nina Einstein is the alternate Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn for this story, the naming pun obviously doesn't work. So instead of remarking on the name, Mao!Joker instead remarks on her striking dark green hair color. Which wouldn't look out of place on a clown...
- It's eventually revealed that Lelouch doesn't have chiroptophobia (fear of bats) the way Bruce does. Instead he has phobiaphobia (fear of fear itself), making Scarecrow a more dangerous foe to him than even the Joker.
- Instead of Thomas Elliot becoming Hush due to blaming Bruce Wayne for his mother surviving his scheme to kill his parents, he actually does succeed (since he did so after Lelouch's parents had died) and becomes Master Lelouch (an alternate version of a lesser-known Batman Rogue called Master Bruce).
- Instead of just straight-up splicing vampire bat DNA into himself to cure his deafness, Kirk Langstrom uses a combination of fruit bat DNA and ooze. While he does need a special serum to reassert his consciousness due to accidentally using too much bat DNA, he is able to maintain sentience. He also cannot return to human form since by the time Batman encounters him it's been twelve hours since the ooze mutated his DNA, meaning the changes are baked in.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Garfield Lynns/Firefly suffers from burns on 90% of his body due to his pyromania. In this story Firefly is Clovis, and he still looks immaculate due to being a professional pyrotechnist, thus able to control his fires despite still being a Pyromaniac.
- Adaptational Badass:
- In canon Lelouch can barely climb a flight of steps without getting winded. In this story, he's freerunning and zipping around Gotham City as the goddamn Batman.
- Zigzagged with Mao. In canon, he was given a telepathic Geass by C.C., but became a Psychopathic Manchild who almost completely relied on his powers and went into a Villainous Breakdown when things didn't go as he thought they would. In this story, he's an ordinary human, but he's this fic's equivalent of the Joker and is not only capable of far greater destruction, but he's also more mature, smarter, and a better planner.
- Condiment King makes use of pressure washers that fire diluted ketchup and mustard instead of weak squirt guns. Naturally, they pack far more of a punch.
- Adaptational Context Change: Batgirl/Euphemia is the one to say the memetic "I don't wear hockey pads" line. Only she says it after defeating Killer Moth and pulling a deformed bullet off of her bulletproof suit.
- Adaptational Explanation: Toyman being in Blackgate is explained as him having gotten a transfer from Stryker's Island (likely after an altercation with Superman, his normal superhero nemesis), implied to be a result of ARGUS's involvement.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Anarky (Rivalz Cordemonde in this story) is simply a genuine freedom of speech protester whose words were taken the wrong way by those inspired by his messages (and it didn't help that the police were gaslighting his followers). After being confronted by Batman, he agrees to change his ways and even becomes this world's version of the Signal.
- Catwoman (Kallen Stadtfeld in this story) is closer to her incarnation from Catwoman (2004) (even having a backstory closer to Patience Phillips from that same movie instead of Selina Kyle), and only really steals from criminals, returning any irreplaceable items to their rightful owners.
- Amanda Waller is more of an Anti-Hero than a Well-Intentioned Extremist. While she still uses covincts for her Task Force X, she is genuinely trying to reform them through what is essentially an extreme form of community service. Any convicts or ex-convicts that prove they're willing to take the work and help people are even sent out without the Explosive Leash implanted in their necks. And if they happen to die in the process...well, occupational hazard.
- Pierre Anou in canon is a racist jerkass who sends his Japanese soldiers on suicide missions just because he's their commanding officer. In this story, as the Ratcatcher and a member of the Rats, he's far more reasonable and willing to listen to others. He even pulls a Heel–Face Turn after Batman saves the Rats from a ship rigged to explode by their beloved Rat King.
- In Code Geass, Charles and Marianne sought to rid the world of lies, which essentially involved merging humanity into one being, and were pretty emotionally abusive and/or neglectful to their children. Here, they were good parents to Nunnally and Lelouch growing up, and they once worked together with Jeremiah to defeat a terrorist organization in England. Charles also used his power and authority as one of Gotham's elites to try cleaning up the city's corruption, but was sadly gunned down alongside his wife while on an outing with his family.
- V.V. likewise was a Manipulative Bastard who was in on Charles' Assimilation Plot, but was jealously possessive of his twin brother and attacked anyone he believed was taking Charles' attention and love away from him. Here, V.V. (named Victor Lamperouge here) is this fic's Solomon Wayne, serving as a judge and one of the founders of Gotham City.
- Several members of the Mighty Mutanimals are characters that are normally enemies of the TMNT, such as Dirtbag, Groundchuck, Bebop, and Rocksteady.
- Man-Bat is normally part of the Rogues Gallery, and a tragic one at that. Here he maintains his mentality as Kirk Langstrom even when transformed, with it being discussed that he could prove to be an exceptional hero in his own right thanks to his new abilities.
- It soon becomes clear that the Order of St. Dumas is far more benevolent than canon (save for one unseen member named Father Ludovic). Azrael even notes that usage of the scared language to manipulate the mind, like what Ludovic does to Ascalon, is considered sacriligeous.
- When Superman finally shows up in the story, it turns out to be Light Yagami. Far from being the Villain Protagonist of his home series, imagine the amnesiac version of Light with all of Superman's powers.
- Adaptational Intelligence:
- Shirley as Oracle is far more intelligent than her ditzy canon self, able to hack almost any computer network.
- Ohgi was hardly an idiot in canon, but as Mister Freeze he becomes a cryoengineering genius.
- Downplayed with Lloyd as Riddler. Obviously Edward Nygma is far from stupid, but at the same time many of his riddles emphasize the puns meant to be clues to the solutions. Lloyd by comparison makes great use of homophones and wordplay to create more clever-sounding riddles.
- Adaptational Karma: Unlike Bruce Wayne, Lelouch is able to successfully capture Shiva after overcoming her test from the League of Assassins.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Lelouch as Batman is much nicer and prone to witty banter compared to Bruce Wayne. This can be attributed to him still having loved ones in his life, such as his sister Nunally.Lelouch: I'm not much for dark and brooding. More gritty yet campy.
- While Red Hood, Gino Weinberg in this story, is still the only member of the team to use guns, he adheres to Batman's Thou Shalt Not Kill rule and only uses non-lethal rounds such as rubber bullets.
- While still a ruthless criminal mastermind, Penguin retains some of his more Affably Evil tendencies from the comics.
- Lloyd Asplund as the Riddler is much more respectful to Batman compared to the canon Arkham Riddler's Insufferable Genius.
- Lelouch as Batman is much nicer and prone to witty banter compared to Bruce Wayne. This can be attributed to him still having loved ones in his life, such as his sister Nunally.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the comics, Signal is a metahuman with photokinetic powers. In this story, he simply uses light-based technology for his gadgets.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- Ohgi is this story's version of Mr. Freeze, though true to the character his main motivation is curing his dying wife (with Villetta filling in for Nora Fries). Though it's zigzagged since his later appearances actually have him be an ally of sorts for the Black Knights, even designing the Freeze Blast specifically for Batman instead of his own use.
- Surprisingly, Mao of all people gets this. He lacks his Freudian Excuse from canon and instead winds up as this world's version of The Joker.
- Josui Kusakabe was a terrorist and a Well-Intentioned Extremist who saw himself as a freedom fighter trying to free his country of Japan from Britannian oppression. In this story, however, he's an alternate Ferris Boyle, responsible for Oghi becoming Mister Freeze and hiding a sadistic streak behind the mask of a humanitarian.
- Tohdoh tragically winds up as this story's Two-Face, his role foreshadowed by him being introduced flipping a coin out of nervousness.
- Professor Pyg being mentally stable means he's far more aware of (and thus actually accountable for) the horrible mutilation of his victims to create the Dollotrons, and the murder of six people who he couldn't "fix".
- Adaptational Wimp: Since this story doesn't have Geass, characters such as Lelouch, Bismarck, Shin, and Mao lack their normal superpowers.
- Shredder doesn't fare nearly as well against Batman as he did in Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While he is still able to fight on the same level as the Dark Knight, he doesn't get to properly unleash the Sato Oshi strike (the first time it backfires when he's interrupted by Bronze Tiger, who recognized the technique, and the second time Batman preempted Shredder by using pressure points to stop the flow of energy through Shredder's arms), and in his second fight his tekko-kage get destroyed. He also doesn't wind up falling into any of the chemical vats at ACE Chemicals, preventing him from getting Jokerized.
- Adapted Out:
- While Suzaku is this story's version of Dick Grayson, he actually skips being Robin and is set to go straight into becoming Nightwing.
- The Mister Freeze fight in Arkham City is skipped and instead Ohgi/Freeze hands Batman/Lelouch one of the antidote vials before asking him to find Villetta. While mtnetsurfer does acknowlege how awesome the boss fight was, he points out it only happened because Victor Fries and Bruce Wayne acted very stupidly.
- The Victim Syndicate doesn't have First Victim or Mudface among its members. Instead, three Original Flavor members are created called Freezerburn, Scourge, and Double Talk. In keeping with how the VS works, they're victims of Mister Freeze, Bane, and Two-Face.
- Age Lift: Several Code Geass characters are older than their canon counterparst. Lelouch is running his family business, so he's at least in his thirties. Nina is definitely in her thirties, having taken eight years of college and a three-year residency to earn her doctorate.
- All Women Are Lustful: Ceras may be part plant thanks to the incident that turned her into Poison Ivy, but she still wants to find the right guy to "pollinate" her.
- An Arm and a Leg: Cornelia, being this story's version of Aaron Cash, had her hand bitten off by Killer Croc off-screen.
- Ascended Extra:
- Joseph Fenette of all characters, by virtue of being this world's version of Commissioner James Gordon.
- The militia's drone operator is given an identity as Wizard, and is the one responsible for abducting Shirley/Oracle.
- Asshole Victim: The executives at GWB, the longtime victims of Paige Monroe, aka Calendar Girl. They forced her out of the industry when she hit thirty despite being gorgeous enough to pass for a woman in her twenties. When she bounced back playing the eye-candy mother in the dom com Love That Baby, even marrying the actor playing her character's husband, the GWB pulled what is described as some very illegal strings to get the show canceled. Paige was naturally outraged, but since the studio was too powerful to fight legally, she took on the identity of Calendar Girl, using Silver Age-style gimmicks and costumes to rob the studio. When she was arrested, the executives tried to have her labeled insane in an effort to get one last victory in, only for the psychiatric evaluation to say otherwise. Yeah, these are not morally just people and it makes Paige come off as a Karmic Thief.
- Battle Couple: Batman and Catwoman show this off during their first mission together. Catwoman even compares it to dancing, and ends the night enjoying her time with the Caped Crusader.Kallen!Catwoman: Best first date ever...
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Lizzie Pomni/Punchline had been this briefly thanks to Joker. Joker notes that it left Lizzie's mind bent like taffy, but not broken. Waller released evidence of the brainwashing so Lizzie would get off, then offered to help her reintegrate into society via Task Force X.
- Cain and Abel: Akito and Shin Hyuga as per canon, though this time Akito is the heroic Azrael while Shin is the villainous and psychotic Mad Hatter. Akito even gets a chance to defeat his brother off-screen, performing the Mad Hatter Most Wanted case from Arkham City instead of leaving it to Batman.
- Call-Forward: During the Arkham Shadow arc, Joker runs through all the different he could cause the plot to be Hijacked by Ganon. Which includes dying and somehow popping up in Lelouch's head. Sure enough, this somehow happens during the Arkham Knight arc.
- The Cameo:
- Task Force X is made of characters from other franchises, such as Momo Yaoyorozu/Creati, Lizzie Pomni/Punchline, Damon Blazkowicz/Doom Slayer, and Misty Cerulean/Cascade. There's also Amanda Waller's assistant Isabelle Crossing.
- Speaking of Task Force X, they briefly tangle with Maxie Zues and Prometheus when trying prevent a mass breakout at Arkham.
- One interquel chapter has the Black Knights teaming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (not the first time for a Batman story), who in this story are the leaders of the Mighty Mutanimals.
- Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko all appear as rebels of the League of Assassins. Aang is also mentioned, having at one point been tricked by Ra's into fighting Batman and later becoming a member of Task Force X.
- Canon Character All Along:
- In place of Azrael in the Arkham Knight arc is Ascalon, who is later revealed to be Michael Lane, the man who held the moniker of Azrael in canon.
- The Arkham Knight in this story is revealed to be Shirley/Oracle, who had been acting as The Mole in Scarecrow's forces as part of Lelouch's Project Knightmare.
- Canon Immigrant:
- Despite being based on the Arkham series, the story includes Spoiler and Signal, two members of the Batfamily unique to the comics.
- Laurel Hedare from Catwoman (2004) makes an appearance as a Post-Final Boss for the Arkham Origins arc, now going under the villain name Marble.
- Cardboard Prison: Subverted with Blackgate Prison, which barring a handful of incidents is actually very good at keeping prisoners inside. Played very much straight with Arkham Asylum, in spite of Sawasaki's attempts to improve security.
- Casting Gag: Lelouch comes face to face with his Shadow, which actually bonds with him in a Shout-Out to the Persona games, in which Lelouch's voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, voiced Yu Narukami from Persona 4.
- Challenge Seeker: Even after losing to Batman, Deadshot still wants to fight him again and again. It's the reason why Waller keeps using an Explosive Leash on him during missions for Task Force X despite his large number of successes.
- The Chosen Many: According to Azrael, the Black Knights have been foretold by twelve statues depicting the Knight (Batman/Lelouch Lamperouge), the Seeker (Spoiler/Nunnally Lamperouge), the Herald (Signal/Rivalz Cordemonde), the Thief (Catwoman/Kallen Stadtfeld), the Squire (Batgirl/Euphemia Cain), the Scholar (Oracle/Shirley Fenette), the General (Ratcatcher/Pierre Anou), the Fighter (Bronze Tiger/Shinichiro Tamaki), the Acrobat (Nightwing/Suzaku Kururugi), the Hunter (Red Hood/Gino Weinberg), the Warrior (Robin/Kaizaren Kururugi), and the Priest (Azrael/Akito Hyuga).
- Composite Character: Several Code Geass characters are mixed with Batman characters. So many a new subpage was made for it here.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Lenny Fiasco, the Eraser, knows multiple ways to clean up evidence effectively. When it becomes clear that two couples in Task Force X are forming, he gives Punchline and Killer Frost contraceptives so they can have safe sex without needing to use condoms, which he says can more easily leave a DNA trace. Neither girl complains.
- Batman, naturally, doubly so since he's Lelouch in this story. He even has a plan in case he dies called Project Beyond, apparently a project to create a new Batman should he fall for whatever reason.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Despite mutating themselves, the Victim Syndicate aren't nearly as dangerous as the Rogues who maimed them in the first place. The Black Knights and Mutanimals easily hand them their rears.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jeremiah, which is justified since he's essentially taking on Alfred's role in the story.
- Death by Adaptation: Unlike the games, Joker (disguised as Black Mask) is unable to get to Blackgate's gas chamber in time to prevent Julian Day/Calendar Man from being executed.
- Decomposite Character:
- Jason Todd has his Red Hood identity taken by Gino, and his mauling at Joker's hands is instead done to Kaizaren (who is actually rescued by Batman and later becomes Robin).
- Thomas Elliot takes on a different villain identity called Master Lelouch, but his canon villain identity as Hush is instead taken by Orpheus Zevon.
- Deducing the Secret Identity: Joker managed to do this off-screen just by a bit of common sense. Batman has to have plenty of money for his gadgets, a motive for ruthlessly hunting down crime, and years of combat training. Lelouch is probably the richest man in Gotham, his parents were killed by a random mugger, and he disappeared for years and came back now knowing martial arts. The only reason Joker didn't do anything with this knowledge is because he wanted to fight Batman, not Lelouch Lamperouge.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Said almost word for word when Batman first meets Catwoman, remarking how he'd love to know what she's like outside the suit, and Jeremiah tells him to watch his phrasing (Batman meant that he'd like to get to know Catwoman in her civilian identity, but his words could be misconstrued as him wanting to see Catwoman naked).
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Charles and Marianne are gunned down by a mugger (later revealed to be Joe Chill as always) instead of erased from existence by the gods of the world.
- Genbu Kururugi is killed by Tony Zucco in this story instead of by his own son Suzaku.
- Mao, as the Joker, dies due to Titan poisoning rather than getting killed by a single gunshot.
- In the games Henry Adams kills himself when he realizes Batman is also a Joker Infected and would make a better Joker than him. But in this story Batman isn't infected, so instead Henry is killed by Harley sticking a knife in his lungs when he tries to take her hostage.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Shirley is the one who gets the wheelchair in this story, due to being Oracle among the Black Knights. Though she is able to use cybernetics to walk normally.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Joker may do a lot of bad jokes, but even he hates the orange version of the knock-knock joke, largely due to it being unoriginal. He also despises rapists just as much as anybody else with common sense.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Milly Ashford (this story's version of Vicki Vale) finds out that Lelouch and Kallen are dating, she promises to keep their love life out of the newsroom, stating that she's a reporter and not a paparazzi.
- Evil Is Easy: Deconstructed. The League of Assassins, as the name suggests, always go for a kill strike when eliminating what they percieve as a threat because it's the fastest way to get the job done. But they're so confident in their killing ability that they never study their target or confirm the kill. This gets Talia killed when she tries killing the Joker, only to discover too late that "Joker" was actually a disguised Clayface.
- Fan-Created Offspring: Unlike Harley Quinn in the Arkhamverse, Nina/Harley really is pregnant with Joker/Mao's son. She's seven months along during the Arkham City arc (having been impregnanted shortly before the Arkham Asylum arc), and gives birth safely in the post-arc chapter.
- Foil:
- As usual, Batman and the Joker are this, but this story takes it a step further. When Mao!Joker gives his "One Bad Day" talk, Lelouch!Batman fires back that he did have that One Bad Day (that being the day his parents were killed), but instead of turning out like Joker, he rose above that tragedy to become a protector for Gotham.
- Lelouch is also this to Bruce Wayne. He may be donning the noble cowl of the Batman, and he's certainly more heroic than his canon self. But he's different from Bruce Wayne in a number of ways. For starters, Lelouch doesn't have a Thou Shalt Not Kill rule because he fears Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, but because he feels killing is the easy way out, and he refuses to kill if it is absolutely avoidable. He also retains his canon philosophy that the only ones who should kill are those that are prepared to be killed.
- Foreshadowing: Once Batman catches wind that Scarecrow is the real mastermind being the Titan project, he contacts Oracle and has her start up something called Project Knightmare, which mtnetsurfer confirms will tie into the Arkham Knight arc.
- The Four Gods: Suzaku and his father Genbu, as usual, but then we add Suzaku's mother being named Seiryu and a brother named Byakko to complete the set. Suzaku mentions that his parents being named that way was likely coincidence, but he and Byakko were deliberately named to keep up the Family Theme Naming.
- Gag Penis: If Francine's appreciative gaze at her husband's new mutated form is any indication, his mutation into Man-Bat actually improved the size of his genitals.
- Gender Flip:
- Rakshata is this world's version of Lucius Fox, being Batman's tech person at LamTech (this world's version of WayneTech).
- Cornelia counts as well, being an alternate version of Aaron Cash.
- Genius Bruiser: Several examples exist, though one that stands out is Monkey Brains, who despite being the support member of the Mutanimals is still a strong and capable fighter due to being a chimpanzee mutant.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Scarecrow is shaping up to be this (fitting since in this story his real identity is that of Schneizel). During the Arkham Asylum arc Batman finds evidence that Scarecrow masterminded Joker's Titan scheme, at the very least helping him break out of Arkham so that he could later hold City Hall ransom to stage his takeover of Arkham Island.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: When Kirk, as Man-Bat, realizes he's subjecting everyone to Full-Frontal Assault, he uses his arms to cover his crotch. Justified in that, like most depictions of Man-Bat, his wings are on his arms like a normal bat, so the membrane easily covers him up.
- Humans Are Special: According to Monkey Brains, the utrom believe this. In their war against the malevolent kraang, they turned to humans due to seeing their potential as great protectors. The only reason they created the ooze is to give humans the physical boost they need to face off against the triceratons, the fighting force of the kraang.
- Hypocrisy Callout: When Joker tries a scheme to kill most of the Black Knights in order to bring his rivarly down to just the two of them, Spoiler points out that Joker has been using hired help long before he decided Batman was his nemesis, and Batman has been partnered with her long before Joker even hit the scene. Joker actually realizes she's got a point and decides to switch gears to simply antagonizing the Black Knights as a whole.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Several Batman characters remain the same in spite of the crossover, such as Penguin, Bane, Killer Croc, Shiva, and Copperhead.
- Despite Thomas Elliot/Master Lelouch being given a serum to erase his memory of Lelouch being Batman, he's still locked up in the Lamperouge Tower vault. The reason being that he still looks identical to Lelouch, and while the police are aware of him being the Indentity Thief, the Rogues Gallery are not and might mistake him for the real Lelouch and kill him before he can face justice.
- Insult Backfire: When Bolton is told the hard way that Batman doesn't kill and that he wasn't actually responsible for Shrike's death, followed up by Batman spelling out for Bolton why trying to emulate his methods from within the system doesn't work, Bolton tells Batman that he's disappointed in him. Undaunted, Batman just returns the sentiment and reminds Bolton of the saying, "Never meet your heroes."
- Insult to Rocks: Lloyd hates comparing the standard Mooks of Gotham's criminal underworld to neanderthals, because they were actually clever beings while the goons tend to be all "hit first, ask questions when the boss shows up".
- Interspecies Relationship: It's pretty clear that Francine doesn't care that her husband Kirk is now a fruit bat mutant. She still loves him all the same.
- Irony: Suzaku is still playing Devil's Advocate for a broken system... except this time the system is Gotham, which unlike Britannia can be changed from within and even wants to be changed from within.
- Kitchen Sink Included: When Mao!Joker gets sent to Blackgate, he gets interviewed by Nina Einstein (this story's version of Harleen Quinzel). During this time he sinks into his memories, and obviously all the ones prior to his chemical bath at Ace Chemicals are kinda wonky. Like the first ones when he's a comedian and the hecklers start throwing everything at him...including a kitchen sink.
- Lighter and Softer: While the first five arcs of the story are retellings of the Batman: Arkham Series, starting after Arkham Knight the story starts delving into the more lighthearted LEGO Batman Trilogy, including a campy new villain and the appearance of the wider Justice League, starting with Superman.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Despite apparently being a hallucination in Batman's head, Joker only knows Batman's secret identity. He doesn't know any of the other Black Knights, or that Joseph is aware. When he finds out the hard way it typically floors him.
- Love Triangle: Subverted. While Talia al Ghul does have an attraction to Lelouch, it's not mutual and he's exclusive to Kallen. Talia is not happy when it finally sinks in for her.
- Mama Bear: Discussed regarding Nina/Harley, with the Black Knight noting that her newfound motherhood might actually make her more dangerous.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Discussed by Bronze Tiger/Tamaki, who states that he heard quite a lot of stories regarding Joker's past while going undercover in Blackgate. He also points out that other than Nina, every doctor that has evaluated Joker has seen through his routine of telling a different story with each visit. Learning this actually starts to make Nina question her relationship with Joker, and since by this point he's dead it seems like there's no way for her to backslide.
- Mythology Gag:
- When beating down Mao!Joker towards the end of the Arkham Origins arc, Lelouch!Batman punctuates each hit with the famous line from the animated series. It's even been positively compared to Kevin Conroy.
Lelouch!Batman: I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!- Joker briefly considers the possibility that he was the one who killed Batman's parents, but Lelouch points out this couldn't be the case. However, in Batman (1989), the Joker (formerly Jack Napier) was in fact the one who killed Bruce's parents instead of Joe Chill.
- Joe Chill tells Joseph Fenette that he has no intention of telling anyone that Lelouch Lamperouge is Batman, because even if they did believe him they'd just kill him for creating Batman in the first place. Which is exactly what happens in his first named appearance in the comics.
- Suzaku in this story had a brother who was killed along with his parents, much like Dick Grayson in Batman Forever.
- Speaking of said movie, Lloyd/Enigma sends Lelouch a series of riddles and a tablet to make a formal introduction to his new persona as The Riddler. And the puzzle needed to unlock the tablet matches the challenge the Jim Carrey version of Edward Nygma used to taunt Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever.
- Batman still uses the Bat Credit Card.
- At one point Mary Dahl, a character from Batman: The Animated Series, is mentioned, having played alongside Paige Monroe on her classic dom com Love That Baby. Though mtnetsurfer has mentioned that Mary's villain identity of Baby Doll won't be included.
- Ceras Isley (C.C. aka this story's Poison Ivy) mentions that she had fallen in love with an Arkham doctor named Steven Carlyle, a character from the BTAS episode "House and Garden".
- While Clayface takes on his traditional monstrous form when fighting Batman, most times he uses a Shapeshifter Default Form reminiscent of his appearance in Suicide Squad ISEKAI.
- Shirley's cybernetic Oracle Armor that she wears when disguised as the Arkham Knight is a LamTech product referred to as a Knightmare Frame.
- Nature Is Not Nice: Batman's argument for why Ra's al Ghul's ideology is fundamentally wrong. He sees modern human society as a blight that is corrupting nature, but Lelouch argues that nature's harshness is what molded human society in the first place in order to survive.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Subverted. When Oracle and Batman are surrounded by militia drones, Oracle realizes it might have been a bad idea to destroy the Batmobile while acting as the Arkham Knight. Batman, however, assures her that was part of the plan and reveals he already had a spare Batmobile created.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: When Lloyd/Riddler gets knocked out during Arkham City, he winds up quoting Alice in Wonderland.Riddler/Lloyd Asplund: When is a raven like a writing desk...? (passes out)
- Offhand Backhand: Naturally Lelouch indulges in this a few times. He is Batman, after all, the hero who practically perfected the artform.
- Official Couple: Lelouch and Kallen hook up after the Arkham Origins arc.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, as both Chill and Fenette share the same first name of Joseph (or Joe in Chill's case, but presumbly his full name is still Joseph Chilton).
- Passing the Torch: Once Ascalon breaks free from Ludovic's mental conditioning on his own, Batman decides he's proven himself and names Michael his successor should anything happen to him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Penguin notes that he hates the Lamperouges the same way his canon self hates the Waynes. But he's a businessman first, and so he never turns Lelouch away from the Iceberg Lounge should he decide to hang out there.
- Prophecy Twist: Aang was prophesized to be the catalyst for Ra's to be ended permanently. Ra's had spent time killing other Avatars before Aang, who escaped by freezing himself in ice. He was later found by League members Katara and Sokka (sound familiar?) who, not wanting Aang to be killed, convinced Ra's to deceive Aang into thinking the real prophecy was to help the League remove its greatest obstacle. Unfortunately, said obstacle was Batman, who defeated Aang and got him locked up in Belle Reve. There, while working with Task Force X, Aang would ultimately be part of a mission that would result in the destruction of the vast majority of Lazarus Pits. Which did indeed ultimately led to Ra's being on his death bed with no further means of revival (granted other circumstances also led to that happening, but without Aang's mission there would have still been enough Lazarus for Ra's to revive).
- “The Reason You Suck” Speech: Lelouch is not afraid to point out to his enemies the Fatal Flaw in their various ideologies. It doesn't necessarily sink in for them or get them to change their ways, but it does showcase why he, as Batman, is justified in opposing them, because he genuinely has the moral high ground.
- Redeeming Replacement: A Downplayed example considering she's still a criminal but Calendar Girl is seen as this for Calendar Man. Whereas Calendar Man was a remorseless serial killer, Calendar Girl is a thief who robs the GWB Network.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: In canon V.V. (Victor zi Britannia) the older fraternal twin brother of Charles zi Britannia, making him Lelouch's paternal uncle. Here, he is Lelouch and Charles' ancestor, being this world's version of Solomon Wayne.
- Required Secondary Powers: A variation. Batman notes to Catwoman that he does have a private investigator license, meaning any evidence he collects can still be used in a court of law.
- The Scapegoat: While it does turn out that the Rat King is Kyoshiro Tohdoh (this story's Harvey Dent/Two-Face) the presence of TYGER guards on the ship being used for the Day of Wrath means the GCPD can shift the blame onto Lyle Bolton, the ruthless warden of Blackgate who has been confirmed to torture inmates and even tried to execute both Andreas Darlton (the alternate Carmine Falcone) and Matches Malone (really a disguised Lelouch) without due process.
- Secret-Keeper: Of all people, Lloyd Asplund aka The Riddler (formerly Enigma, and the story's version of Edward Nygma). His intelligence proves capable of figuring out Lelouch's secret identity of Batman (especially after his only other candidate, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, turned into Two-Face), but he promises not to tell anyone because Batman's identity is the world's greatest riddle, and he feels that riddles are best when you're not told what the solution is.
- Sexy Discretion Shot:
- While the only thing heard is Lizzie yelling out in excitement, several Task Force X members do note that Lizzie and Ashley had sex, as did Lousie Lincoln/Killer Frost and Nanaue/King Shark.
- One of City Stories all but spells it out that Shin/Mad Hatter had sex with Jean Rowe/Alice. However, it's not explicit about it.
- Ship Tease: Batman and Catwoman as per usual, even more so since in this story they're Lelouch and Kallen. It helps that in this story Catwoman is an Anti-Hero instead of an Anti-Villain and her only real crimes are Stealing from Thieves.
- Shout-Out:
- During the Arkham Shadow arc, several are made to Persona, which is a given since both games reference the psychology of Carl Jung.
- C.C. and Rai have the names Ceras and Kaizaren from Code Prime.
- According to Michelangelo, the Ghostbusters are an organization in New York City.
- When Robin asks if Albert King ate a car to get so big, Red Hood states that such a thing is unlikely, then describes Albert's meal being more akin to the feast prepared by Mannenkenpix for Obelix, with Batman quipping that was likely Albert's appetizer.
- Starting in the Justice League Action arc, Original Character villain Rat Queen is based on Virtual YouTuber Aliciaxdeath. Her real name is even Alicia Mortis (mortis being the Latin word for death).
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Unlike Batman: Assault on Arkham, Killer Frost and King Shark don't wind up dying during the mission.
- In the Arkhamverse, Francine Langstrom is (supposedly) tragically killed when Kirk becomes the Man-Bat. Here she survives, only being knocked out when Batman finds the lab.
- Superhero Paradox: Discussed and ultimately averted. While Lelouch/Batman is concerned that his war on crime is only creating supervillains, Joseph believes that the only thing Batman is doing is inspiring them to become gimmicked costumed criminals; they would have terrorized Gotham regardless. He even thinks this of the Joker, one of the few villains Batman has often had a direct hand in creating, stating that all Batman did was paint the maniac like a clown.
- Team Member in the Adaptation:
- While some continuities see Batman fighting alongside Bronze Tiger, Ben Turner has never actually been a part of the Batfamily. Here Bronze Tiger is Shinichiro Tamaki, who joins the Black Knights at the end of the Arkham Shadow arc.
- Ratcatcher as Otis Flannegan is more often than not a member of Batman's Rogues Gallery. Here Ratcatcher, now as Pierre Anou, becomes a leading member of the Black Knights following a Heel–Face Turn.
- That Man Is Dead: Nina only went along with Henry's plan to kill the other Joker Infected because she wanted to bury her past as Harley Quinn, fully intending to finish off Henry herself and live her life raising her infant son. She makes this clear by wiping away her clown makeup and removing her contacts before putting her glasses back on.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Ceras/Ivy explains that she left enough of her essence in the plants of Gotham to regrow following her Heroic Sacrifice, she notes that the only downside is that she'll have to suffer through puberty a second time.
- Trademark Favorite Food: As with most iterations of the character, Penguin loves raw fish. But since he tries to maintain some level of class, he doesn't chow down on whole fish. When he meets with Task Force X he's instead seen dining on tuna carpaccio.
- Token Religious Teammate: Like most iterations of the character, Azrael (Akito Hyuga in this story) is a devout Christian, while the rest of the Black Knights have no stated religious affiliation.
- Villain Respect: Joker is actually impressed that Harley, or rather Nina, would find the strength to finally break free of his influence, shown by her killing Henry Adams.
- What Does She See in Him?: When Ivy mentions that Harley/Nina got pregnant through Joker, Kallen reacts with mild disgust.
- Worthy Opponent: Lloyd Asplund as the Riddler is closer to the comics version of Edward Nygma than the Arkhamverse version, viewing Batman as an opponent worthy of matching wits with him due to being able to shut down his scheme and solve his riddles.
- You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: At one point Nina tries to get an intimidating Batman away from her (largely because she's currently pregnant) by throwing on her glasses and invoking this trope. Batman just smirks, takes the glasses off, and gently slaps Nina in the face with them.Nina/Harley Quinn: You hit a girl... With glasses... Ha! Well played.
