Rocksteady’sBatman: Arkham Asylumreleased during a time when licensed video games were still fairly prominent in the market, more often than not resulting in mediocre cash-grabs tie-ins for upcoming pop-culture and animated films. Not only did theBatman: Arkhamseries prove thatfantastic games can be made using licensed properties, it spawned four mainline games, four portable spin-off games for PS Vita and Mobile,Batman: Arkham VRgame for PSVR, tie-in comic books, and much more.
Ever since the release ofBatman: Arkham Knight, rumors of the next game in the series pop-up every few months from Rocksteady developing a Damian Wayne ledBatman: Arkhamgame to abandoning the character entirely in favor of the Ninja Turtlesor theHarry Potter RPG. WB Games Montreal, developer ofArkham Origins,recently teased its next project on Twitter after four years of silence and is said to be taking over the reins withBatman: Arkham Legacy, a new entry based on the Court of Owls. While it’s impossible to know what’s coming next, here’s a roundup of the biggest rumors forBatman: Arkham.
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Suicide Squad
In 2016, DC’s famous anti-hero group, theSuicide Squadwere all the rage in the lead up to the DC Extended Universe film which released that year. Following WB Games Montreal’s work onBatman: Arkham OriginsandArkham Knight, it was believed that the developer had begun work on a potentialsequel that would focus on theSuicide Squad.BothArkham Originsand its portable companion gameArkham Origins Blackgatefeature post-credit scenes where Amanda Waller can be seen recruiting Batman villains Deathstroke, Rick Flag Jr., Bronze Tiger, and Deadshot.
Development onSuicide Squadwas ultimately killed off by the Warner Bros. Executive team toward the end of the year due to on-going turmoil at the studio. Having been in development for at least two years, WB Games Montreal was unable to impress execs during greenlight meetings and were forced to move on to another game on this list. However, none of this has stopped a new set of rumors earlier this year claiming thatRocksteady is developing its ownSuicide Squadgame.
Justice League
One of next year’s most anticipated games is easilyMarvel’s Avengers, a story-driven action game from Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, that focusses onthe iconic superhero team. The only other super-hero team on the same level as The Avengers is DC’sJustice League, made up of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Cyborg. The Justice League has been rumored at Rocksteady multiple times but received the most traction in late 2018 after a mysterious post on 4chan for a game calledJustice League: Crisisand an AAA job-listing at Rocksteady landed online in close proximity.
However, the rumors were soon shut down by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier on an episode of Kotaku Splitscreen where Schreier called out the validity of the ongoing rumors and disputed the evidence. Earlier in the year, anew rumor sparked upabout Rocksteady’s development of a Justice League game after a new employee on the QA team Tweeted a job announcement with a Justice League GIF. The post was promptly removed and replaced with a new one and little else came of it.
Damian Wayne
When WB Games Montreal canceled itsSuicide Squadproject, the developer was said to have returned to the world of Batman, this time focusing on Bruce Wayne’s son and the fifth Robin, Damian Wayne. Very little has been said about the game since news broke in December 2016 following the Suicide Squad cancellation, that is untilconcept art leaked online in August. The concept art features multiple images of a futuristic Gotham City, villains such as Two-Face and Gorilla Grodd, and an older Bruce Wayne.
According to knownBatman: ArkhamYouTuber Slcmof, these images had been sent to him years prior by reliable sources and are believed to be real concept art for anow-canceled Damian Wayne game. It’s unclear exactly when and why Warner Bros. made the decision to cancel the game; however, Slcmof is well-known for this sort of coverage having recently played a larger role in the latestArkham Legacyrumors.
Batman: Court of Owls
After developingArkham Originsand working on DLC forArkham Knight, WB Games Montreal has been completely quiet on social media for over four years, until recently. Back in September, the developer resurfaced with a series of Tweets that teased an upcoming project, widely thought to be thelong-rumored Batman: Court of Owls game. The phrase “Capture the Knight” was accompanied by a short video displaying a white symbol that transitioned between six different unknown logos.
First introduced in the first crossover for DC’s The New 52 era, the Court of Owls is a secret society in Gotham that has influenced and ruled the city from the shadows for centuries. Made up of some of the wealthiest families in Gotham, the Court of Owls is known to kidnap children and train them as assassins called Talons; used to enforce their agenda. In ‘The Night of Owls’ crossover, Bruce Wayne is a target of the society and is forced to call upon the entire “Bat-Family” to aid him in the fight - a rumored feature of the game.
Batman: Arkham Legacy
The latest round of rumors claims that thenext game will be called Batman: Arkham Legacyand feature multiple playable characters from the “Bat-Family.” Originating on Twitter, a known source for rumors in the industry by the name of Sabi posted a series of tweets confirming the nameArkham Legacy, the inclusion of the Court of Owls, and that the family will be playable. Very little information is known about the game, but it’s widely speculated that WB Games Montreal is the developer.
In 2018, WB Games Montreal senior designer Osama Dorias briefly spoke about what the developer was working on in an episode of the Humans of Gaming podcast. Dorias stated that the team at WB Montreal has multiple projects in development that are all connected to the DC universe. “The project I just recently left, because there are a couple of projects at [WB Games Montreal], the only thing I can say is it’s a major console game, open world, DC Universe — so that’s really awesome.”
RELATED:New Batman Court of Owls Game Won’t Include Iconic Batman Voice Actor
Whether or not the latest rumor ends up being real or just another dead end, it’s clear that Warner Bros. isn’t going to leave theBatman: Arkhamfranchise dormant for much longer. It’s been over three years since the lastBatman: Arkhamrelated game was released, four years since Rocksteady releasedArkham Knight,and six years since WB Games Montreal’sArkham Origins. Right now, all signs point toward a full reveal ofBatman: Arkham LegacyatThe Game Awards next Friday, so time will tell what’s in the future for the franchise.
Batman: Arkham Legacyis rumored to be in development at WB Montreal.
