Heartwarming / Batman: Arkham Knight

Heartwarming moments in Batman: Arkham Knight.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• The reveal trailer: Thomas Wayne having nothing but love for Bruce and faith that he'll become a great man.
  Thomas Wayne: In death, I will love you forever.
• After Batman tells Gordon about Scarecrow's plan to cover the Eastern seaboard with fear toxin and tells him to get his men back to the GCPD and lock up, Gordon says he's pulling his men off the streets, but he's staying to help Batman. Bats warns Gordon about how dangerous it is, but Jim just says "You'll stop it. I know you will."
  • Re-watching the announcement trailer, one gets the feeling that a lot of Gordon's cops didn't feel like leaving their boss out in the cold, either.
• Look at the GCPD, trying to uphold the law, worried over their fellow comrade who'd been infected with fear gas, and just generally being the heroes cops should be. Now compare that to Arkham Origins. For all the deconstruction this series levies against the Batman, he's inspired some good.
  • This is even more heartwarming after playing Origins (which takes place approximately 10 years earlier)...at that time the vast majority of the GCPD is corrupt and on the mob payroll. There's been some MASSIVE positive change in the past decade.
• Checking in on Officer Owens after the fear gas finally starts wearing off. He starts out depressed and still fairly horrified, but provided he didn't shoot anyone he appears to be on track to getting back on the job, and thanks Batman for checking in on him. At one point, he's recovered enough to start complaining about all the psych evaluations he's gonna have to go through.
• The first time Batman and Robin tag-team a brute with a mini-gun, Robin quips about how long Batman waited to give him the signal to attack. Batman responds that he was testing Tim's patience, but his tone implies that he was just playing along with his snarkiness.
• Tripling as both a Tear Jerker and a Moment of Awesome, Poison Ivy's Heroic Sacrifice. Merging with a giant tree, Ivy uses the full extent of her power to dispel the fear toxin around Gotham, but the action took everything she had and she dies in Batman's arms. In one final, noble act, one of Batman's most misanthropic enemies showed more humanity than she herself probably never realized she had. Her final badass boast made the moment all the more powerful.
  Poison Ivy: Nature always wins...
• Weirdly enough, one can come from a random thug on the street. He comments on how the city got evacuated after Scarecrow announced his plan, and the thug says how it's so stupid everyone left, since it's so obvious that Batman will stop him like he always does. He says it in a 'Here We Go Again!' sort of tone, but it's actually kind of touching to know that even the goons on the street honestly and truly believe Batman will save the day, even if it means they'll suffer for it, they still expect him to do the right thing and defeat the big villain, whoever they may be this time around.
• Batman's faith that Jason Todd can be redeemed. Throughout their boss fight, he's constantly trying to talk Jason into surrendering peacefully even when the latter tries to kill him and is angrily rebuffing him.
  • And it works. In the finale, right after Batman breaks out of his drug trip and Scarecrow is about to put a bullet in his head, Jason shoots the gun out of Scarecrow's hands and Batman's handcuffs apart.
    • It wasn't only the fact that he saved Batman, but how he did it as well. Jason could just as easily taken Scarecrow down with a shot to the head or torso, but went the extra distance to take him in alive. Jason was not only saving his mentor; he was (on one of those rare occasions, considering he uses lethal force post Heel–Face Turn as the Red Hood, but still) recommitting himself to the honor code he had once lost faith in.
• Though Jason, as Arkham Knight, did team up with Scarecrow to wreak havoc on the city, he shows that he's not all that far gone when he shows genuine concern for Barbara, preventing anyone from hurting her, and promising to kill any who do. And she in turn shows concern for him as soon as he reveals his true identity, begging him to just come back home so they can help him. He refuses, but not before asking about Alfred, with Barbara telling him that he, like all of them, misses Jason. In fact, the one person Jason never targets is Alfred. It's nice to see that Jason might not be too far from going back to his old life with Bruce and the others.
  • You can see some of Jason even before this too. The bomb threats ensure the entire city is evacuated of all the innocent people before the showdown starts; meaning it's only the thugs that are left. Other than the cops, there's no chance of accidentally injuring innocent bystanders, who Jason canonically avoids harming even as Red Hood.
• After the predator room against the Arkham Knight in his Red Hood persona, Batman and Gordon ride the elevator up to the rooftop to confront Scarecrow. During the elevator ride, Gordon recalls one memory that always stuck with him consoling an eight year old boy after his parents' death. Batman thanks him for being kind and Gordon calls him Bruce. Minutes prior, Jason did openly call Batman "Bruce", but the way Gordon says it seems as if, in some way, he's always known.
  Gordon: We're the same, Bruce. We'd do anything for our families.
• Among the messages on the answering machine in Bruce's office is a call from his cousin Kate, asking if he's going to attend her and Maggie's engagement party and expressing concern that he's become too withdrawn lately (including a hint that she has a Secret Identity of her own to maintain).
• Scarecrow, of all people, beautifully surmises exactly who Batman is and what he means to the people he protects. Of course, he only says this in context of it being his entire reason for wanting to utterly break Batman in every way possible, but it's still a surprisingly nice thing to say first.
  Scarecrow: (sincerely) 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.
• When you take control of Joker in Batman's mind there is the scene where Harley is crying at his wake. The heartwarming part is that the controls never allow you to shoot Harley for Joker moves the gun so that it does not point at Harley when you face her, showing that even he does not consider shooting her to be funny.
• Batman frees Catwoman at the initial end of the Riddler side quest, and she flirts with him before running off, like usual. But if the player completes all Riddler challenges and comes back to finish Nigma off once and for all, Batman will find himself up against invincible robots-to him. And then Selina drops back in and saves him, and the two double team Riddler to defeat him. They exit the building, and Selina invokes the Smooch of Victory, which Bruce tries putting off, with the two of them discussing how Bruce feels Batman must become more than he can be, but she succeeds in the end, and when he tries to walk off, she says:
  Selina: Call if you need me.
  Batman: ...I won't.
  Selina: (to herself) I know. I just wanted to say it...
  • Note: thanks to the length of the full Riddler challenge, most players will probably end the game right afterwards, making Selina the last costumed ally to see him before the Knightfall protocol.
• Among the Enemy Chatter, it is revealed that some of the criminals rioting are in fact parents. Instead of the neglectful or abusive type we would expect, it turns out these guys are actually concerned about being away from their families and even try to remind themselves to get their kids something later. Almost makes you want to reconsider beating these guys' faces in with the chance that they are actually caring fathers.
  Thug: Remind me to hit a toy shop before we leave. Told my kid I was gonna buy him a present.
  • During fights, enemies not attacking Batman will help their fallen comrades get back up onto their feet.
  • Even the militia is humanized occasionally; you can hear them expressing concern for one another, trying to improve their friend's moral, having second thought about the morality of their actions, or just acting like normal human beings. One can almost forget that they're hired guns called in to wreck havoc.
    • Some of them have husbands back home. Nice that they can be themselves.
    • After your battle with the Arkham Knight, and Jason fleeing, you still use the Knight's voice when manipulating the Militia. And they follow the orders, despite Scarecrow taking complete control and putting Deathstroke in tactical command, the Militia are still loyal to the Knight and willing to do what he says.
    • At an earlier point in the game, you can hear a conversation between two Militia soldiers. One of them asks who it is they ultimately report to on the chain of command, Scarecrow or the Arkham Knight. The second Militia soldier without a moment's hesitation states that Scarecrow is just a client, their leader is the Knight.
  • At one point, late in the game, you can overhear one thug harshly telling his hay-fever-suffering comrade to show some respect and appreciation for the fact that Poison Ivy gave her life to save Gotham City from Scarecrow's super-toxin.
• Throughout the series, the game over screens have included a villain taunting Batman. This time around, you can get a scene of Alfred or Robin or even Freeze telling Bruce that his death will not be in vain.
• If you tell Tim about Barbara's apparent suicide, he becomes angry at Bruce and demands that he leave. After you save Barbara later on, you can return to the containment cells and tell him about the rescue. He simply falls to his knees in relief.
• Batman and Nightwing's last conversation where Batman tells him "I'm proud of you, Dick." and that he's counting on him when Nightwing is expecting a scolding after Penguin had a gun to his head. Nightwing says he won't let him down and Batman says to himself "I know."
  • Going off on that: On the ride back to GCPD, Penguin starts to brag about how he nearly killed Nightwing, and Batman not-so-subtly warns him that he needs to shut up or else.
  Batman: Your choice, Cobblepot — GCPD, or the morgue.
  • Even though Cobblepot brushes it off as an empty threat, since he knows Batman won't kill him, Batman responds "I'm not feeling myself tonight." Penguin again tries to brush him off by telling him that a good night's sleep would help him feel better, you can hear a subtle hint of fear in Ozzy's voice as he says it.
  • On that note, in the second gunrunner missions, they both reminisce for a bit about how well they worked together and how it felt just like old times.
  Nightwing: I forgot how well we work together.
  Batman: I haven't. I only work with the best.
• Choosing to have Azrael redeem himself instead of trying to kill Batman. Batman will shake his hand and say that he has made the right choice. It's even more sweeter if you choose to have Azrael break the sword, showing that the Order does not have full control of him.
• Of all the people he talks to before starting the Knightfall Protocol, it's Catwoman that Batman explains his plan to. Nothing specific, but she's the one he tells that he's going into hiding to protect Gotham.
  • Potentially even more touching if you interpret the ending as Bruce really blowing himself up in Wayne Manor. If that's how the ending is read, then his parting words to Selina are intended to let her believe he's still out there somewhere, so she won't be forced to grieve him in solitude or to turn bitter over how his selfless defense of Gotham got him killed.
• Season of Infamy's "In from the Cold" mission chain finally closes the book on Victor and Nora Fries. Nora is released from cryo at last, although without proper treatment and containment she'll likely die days or weeks from now. Even though Freeze's cryo-containment tech fails, dooming Nora, she ultimately convinces him to end his pointless quest to cure her of her Huntington's Chorea disease and let the both of them live out their final days together. When Batman gets back on dry land after leaving Freeze's ice-boat thing, Alfred informs him that the two are leaving Gotham on that ship, with Batman letting them go.
  • Another thing: unlike last time, Batman doesn't even try to fight Victor when the latter considers just shooting him, since the militia said they'd return Nora in exchange for the Batman. He simply says "If you trust them, Victor, take your shot" and Victor lowers his weapon.
  • The hidden tape, full stop. "To hell with protocol."
  • This line, which shows that, while Alfred rarely raises his voice... he's not above beating the shit out of someone when the situation calls for it:
  Alfred: Kidnapping a terminally-ill woman to use as a bargaining chip. Make them regret it, sir.
  • Should you die in this mission, the game over scene will be Freeze promising to avenge your death.
• Batman and Nightwing, during the story with Killer Croc being tortured by a Warden in Iron Heights, defeats him. What does Batman do when he sees the Warden? He shows how pissed off he is about him torturing Waylon. Is Killer Croc a bad guy? Yes, but no one deserves that kind of torture, and Batman knows this. And while he locks up Croc anyway, he locks up the Warden as well, in a cell right next to Croc. Karma at its finest.
  • Batman tells Croc this if you talk to him in his cell:
  Batman: What happened to you was wrong. But you killed people, you have to pay for that.
  Croc: When does Warden pay?
  Batman: He'll face justice for his crimes.
  • The mission can be this if you finish the Penguin mission first, since it means Dick came back to help.
  • Even Aaron Cash, the man whose hand Croc bit off and has had a long-standing feud with him ever since, admits to feeling sorry for what Croc was put through.
  • This mission even has a few for Croc himself. During his escape all the other inmates of the prison are freed from their cells, having been operated upon in an attempt to give them Croc's healing abilities by the staff. What does the cannibalistic, misanthropic Croc do to them? Bring them all with him as he attempts to pass judgement upon the Warden. He even helps them to their feet during his battle with Batman and Nightwing. Maybe Croc is not totally beyond redemption.
• After Batman defeats Arkham Knight/Jason, Batman contacts Alfred, and tells "Alfred, it's... I've found Jason." Imagine finding a long-lost loved one after years of them being believed dead.
• Two-Face actually picks up one of these, as well as one of these. During the FPS Joker rampage, the 3 villains have various approaches to dealing with what they now see as a murderous Batman. Penguin cowers, Riddler tries taking a hostage, thinking there are some lines Batman won't cross. Two-Face? Two stands his ground, looks Batman in the eyes and declares he has to stop him for what he's done. Some humanity left in him after all.
  • More than that: one could even argue that, for the first time in who knows how long, Dent's two halves are in complete agreement about what the right thing to do is. Two-Face wants to stop Joker-Batman because he's Batman, and Harvey wants to stop him because he's Joker. In this, his last moments, hallucination-Harvey Dent is at peace within himself.
• While flying around the city it's possible to randomly overhear two thugs on the street (who have been friends for the entire series, we can infer) reminiscing about the events of Arkham City, one mentioning he was a part of Penguin's crew, the other that he was with Two-Face, and the two suddenly realise, hilariously, they got into a fight without knowing it, and have a good chuckle about how viciously they tore into each other without even realising they were attacking their best friend.
• When Batman (and the player) is deciding whether or not to save Ra's al Ghul's life, Alfred calls in to suggest that since Ra's is essentially dead already, preventing his resurrection wouldn't necessarily be killing him. Batman flat-out asks Alfred what he would do, and Alfred responds (without a moment's hesitation): "I don't know sir. But I'll stand by you, whatever you choose".
  • The fact that even as a shambling half-corpse, Ra's still recognizes Batman and refers to him as "Detective", despite being too far gone to fully function. The ending where Batman chooses to allow Ra's to finally die for real rather than have him continue existing in a state of just half-death, with his mind at this point incapable of proper function a la Solomon Grundy has Ra's, in spite of everything, managing to wheeze out that he is proud of Batman for making the right choice in not only allowing him to finally die on his terms, but also leave Nyssa to take over the League and remove its involvement in Gotham City. Villain Respect to the bitter end...
  Ra's Al Ghul: De... tec... tive...? Proud... of... you.
  • Just beforehand, you also have Batman's de-facto eulogy before he does the deed and how he prevents Nyssa from further brutalizing Ra's and finishing him off, instead taking him back to GCPD to live out his final days peacefully and under medical care. Despite everything that transpired and the state Ra's ended up in, it's clear that Bruce returns the sentiment to his long-time Worthy Opponent.
  Batman: (sincerely) You weren't a good man, Ra's. But you had conviction.
• Bruce is an even bigger Jerkass to Tim than he was in Arkham City, refusing to tell him about Barbara’s apparent suicide (at least at first) and locking him in a cell for the latter half of the game, but the reason why is that he's TERRIFIED by the idea of Tim getting hurt or killed, especially after reliving Jason’s supposed death.
• Joker is a complete and total monstrous asshole, no one can deny that. But, credit where it's due, he doesn't want Batman dead. Before Arkham Knight (when he knows Batman's identity due to being in his head!), he's never shown an interest in who Batman is because he doesn't care at all — it'll take the fun out of their little tete-a-tete when the myth is removed. All he wants is someone to fight him as he attempts to completely and utterly screw all of Gotham over...
  • Sometimes, when Batman perishes, you'll see Joker during the Game Over screen, urging you to get back up, usually making jokes about staying away from the light, etc... it's hilarious to watch, but kind of endearing, too.
• Some goon chatter that can be picked up on while gliding has a random thug mention that he hates Commissioner Gordon as much as anyone... but kidnapping his daughter is just plain wrong.
• After Barbara is rescued, and Scarecrow is revealed to have faked her death:
  Batman: Barbara, Scarecrow manipulated me... I watched you die.
  Barbara: He gassed you, Bruce. You don't need to worry about us, or feel responsible. We're fighting with you, not for you, okay?
  • Echoed a moment later when Batman carries Barbara into the GCPD:
    Batman: Barbara's going to be helping out here.
    Cash: Whatever you say. She work for you now? (chuckles) Hell, what am I saying? We all do, right?
  • If the player speaks with Barbara after rescuing Gordon, she reveals that she was prepared to be read the riot act by her father - only for him to say how proud he is of his daughter for using her brains and her skills to continue fighting crime, even after Joker's bullet forced her to stop being Batgirl.
• Some of the reactions to Bruce after his identity is unmasked prove that, rather than take away Batman's status as a Hope Bringer as Crane would thought, the people continue to respect Bruce for everything he's done for Gotham:
  • In particular, the police department is so supportive. "[The mayor] says he's sending over an arrest warrant for Bruce Wayne. Shame, our fax machine had a little accident". One almost expects to find a smoking fax machine with a couple of massive dents in it somewhere in GCPD.
  • Another moment happens right after Batman delivers Scarecrow to the GCPD, said by Aaron Cash. "So, Bruce Wayne, huh? If it's all the same to you, I'll stick to Batman".
  • Sergeant McAllister mentions that things are going to get crazy now that his identity's out, but that the GCPD is willing to help him keep the press off his back.
  • Denheen and Hargrove (the officers who chat with Wicker, Riddler's mole) both apologize for pointing their guns at him and make it clear that, no matter who is behind the mask, Batman is still a badass who they can respect for doing something worthwhile.
  • In a heartwarming moment rife with Dramatic Irony, Cottell commends Batman for laughing in Scarecrow's face, saying that there's no way he'd be able to be that brave. Of course, at the time Batman was being taken over by Joker, but it also implies that people who saw it took it as Batman refusing to cave to Scarecrow.
  • Next to him, Kevern (the first officer you rescue in the story) mentions that he'll never forget Batman saving his life.
  • Talking to the firefighters reveals some nice and funny moments; Hill talks about how awesome it is that he gets to be the amazing Batman and "be Bruce Wayne" in his spare time, while Richardson will mention that while he's always respected Batman, he now respects Bruce Wayne even more, since Bruce is rich enough that he could've gone anywhere but he chose to stay in Gotham and put his money where his mouth is.
• The fact that Batman's crusade and his belief that the villains of Gotham need help not punishment is working: Poison Ivy has enough goodness in her to sacrifice herself for her plants, Freeze trusts Batman to save his wife and then goes clean instead of remaining a villain, he and Catwoman have Casual Danger Dialogue and there's a lot of chemistry between the two, and Bane has left Gotham to get clean of his TITAN addiction (and ends up freeing his home country from a drug cartel). And, sure, while Harley doesn't redeem herself, she does develop enough of a working relationship of Batman to greet him casually as "Bruce" when she first sees him in Suicide Squad.

Tie-In Comic

• After saving Lucius and Zimmer, Batman takes time out of his way to comfort the little girl that was almost hit by the car.
• This is from the prequel comics: Arkham Knight attacks and kills two thugs that had kidnapped a family, and releases said family, too. So there is a morality to him.
  • Even more evident: Even though Jason is an enemy of Batman, he still saves innocents. Robin II isn't as dead as he thinks he is.
• After Bruce is injured during an explosion, he's found huddled up inside a dumpster by Archie, an unemployed, aging former Monarch Theatre usher who takes him in and feeds him, saying he believes Batman can make the city great again. When it's revealed that Archie's apartment building (in the ruins of the largely-abandoned "Arkham City district") is controlled by two musclebound former goons who intimidate everyone into paying them $300 a week or else steal their belongings, Batman fractures their legs and kicks them out, declaring the entire place is now under his protection. The story ends with the two watching the sunset over coffee — Archie reminiscing about Gotham's past and his departed wife, and Batman listening with a small smile.

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