Ballistic is coming in hot with Apex Legends season 17, equipped with a passive sling that allows him to carry a third weapon, a tactical that lets him overheat others' weapons, and an ultimate that boosts movement and reload speed while providing infinite ammo. While many are no doubt interested to see his influence on Apex Legends' meta, his story is just as detailed. A former Thunderdome Legend, Ballistic leaves his self-imposed exile to "protect" his son from entering the Apex Games. That conflict may come to a head later in the season (or beyond), but what's interesting is just how Respawn landed on this concept. After all, the arrogant, refined Brit was once more akin to Batman.
Game ZXC recently spoke with Apex Legends narrative lead Sam Gill and senior legend designer John Ellenton about Ballistic, learning how the character changed story and gameplay-wise throughout his development. It's not uncommon for a character or story to do a complete 180 at one point in development, if not at multiple points, and that's what happened with Ballistic.
Before Respawn went with the version of Ballistic fans will see in Apex Legends, Gill wanted him to not be British because "it's something of a trope." He was Scandinavian at one point before Respawn decided to take the plunge and make him the refined British man he organically felt like. This results in a "man full of love on the one hand, and on the other, he's a bit of a bastard." However, at another point, he was just Bruce Wayne. As Gill said,
At one point, he was Batman, literally just Batman—orphan, dead parents, lots of money.
In fact, there are vestigial elements of this time currently seen in his character. His self-imposed exile was in his massive mansion that's very similar to Wayne Manor. An important part of his background is that Pathfinder was once his butler, and Batman isn't Batman without Alfred Pennyworth. Of course, Alred is himself a refined man and a valuable ally to Batman, whereas Pathfinder just broke a lot of expensive vases, it would seem.
One element that didn't make the cut, though, is the ward character. Because Respawn wanted Ballistic to be an older gentleman, he once had a ward with this obviously being very similar to Batman and Robin. One difference may be that the ward doubled as his butler who would have taken up the cowl, so to speak, which Ellenton explained when they were asked who was Ballistic's Robin: "At the time, it was his butler. He did have a butler that was going to take up his steed, right? "
In response, Gill added,
There was a ward character, so there was actually a Robin for a while, but it was just too one-for-one.
Ultimately, Ballistic drastically diverges from Batman now and his relationship with Pathfinder isn't exactly like Robin, but it's the closest Batman and Robin-like duo fans have now with his entrance in Apex Legends Season 17. Gill also expressed the idea that legendary skins for Ballistic and Pathfinder as Batman and Robin would be amazing to see, although it sounds quite unlikely, and Ellenton also mused about fan art of Ballistic and Pathfinder as Batman and Robin.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
