Highlights
- The Batman Arkham games offer a huge collection of Batman suits, allowing players to experience controlling the character in a myriad of outfits.
- The sidequests in the Arkham games are a joy to complete, with unique suits like the Mad Hatter Batman adding to the allure and setting the standard for superhero games.
- The Arkham games, especially the Rocksteady trilogy, are considered by many to be the greatest superhero games ever made, with a scintillating story and great vocal performances. Fans can still enjoy the glory days of these games.
Like Marvel's Spider-Man, Batman has a long history in comics, which comes with an enormous closet of alternate suits from several forms of media entertainment spanning decades. The Batman Arkham games started with just 2 suits but quickly exploded into the largest collection of Batman suits in any Batman video game. Some offered bonuses, while others let players experience controlling the suits for the first time.
It's amazing to see the wealth of suits that Batman can wear in the game, with these outfits having a ton of history in their own right. The Caped Crusader is easily one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, and players love the idea of controlling this character in a myriad of suits as they whoop his enemies to kingdom come. Of course, some of these outfits definitely look better than others... but players can always have their preference when it comes to one of the many suits that Bruce Wayne can don while exploring the world of the Arkham games.
Updated on September 20, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: The Arkham games are still revered by many as one of the most important superhero games of all time. Players didn't really have the highest expectations for most superhero games when they came out, which is precisely what made the Arkham games such a blast to enjoy in their own right. The scintillating story, coupled with some great vocal performances, led to Rocksteady's trilogy (and Arkham: Origins) being considered by many to be the greatest superhero game ever made — a statement that most fans still stand strongly by to this day. While Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has disappointed many fans with its previews, fans can still check out this trilogy and don Batman in numerous amazing suits if they want to enjoy the glory days of this company.
16 Mad Hatter Batman
The Mad Hatter's twisted version of Batman isn't really a suit per se. Unlike the other entries on this list, it cannot be obtained and worn by the player and is only featured during one special side-mission. But this zany version of Batman's avatar does a lot to strengthen the side story of the Mad Hatter.
Details like these are why the sidequests in the Arkham games are a joy to complete. It helps that Batman looks absolutely unhinged in this suit, further adding to the allure of the titles and proving why the game sets the standard that superhero games have been trying to achieve for the longest time.
15 Zur-en-Arrh
The lore of Batman is quite interesting, and most fans aren't really aware of Zur-en-Arrh and how this alter ego was a major part of Bruce Wayne's life. The billionaire superhero really covered all his bases, and this can be seen in the fact that he ingrained an entire alter ego within himself to awaken in the event that his mind is attacked by unknown forces.
The costume was originally created for a character named Tlano, the Batman of a planet named Zur-en-Arrh. Later on, Grant Morrison brought this character back for a comic book arc where this violent, unhinged personality of Bruce Wayne is unlocked after he loses his own sense of self. It's a unique idea, and the suit certainly makes for a nice change of pace... even if it may not be the best-looking garb that the Caped Crusader can wear.
14 1970's Batman
During the 70s, comic books became quite widespread and prevalent, with Batman being one of the many popular superheroes who enjoyed his time in the limelight. This led to the creation of one of the most iconic Batsuits of all time, with the blue hue becoming a staple for the Bat as he walloped his foes using a range of powerful gadgets and his incredible close-combat fighting skills.
This suit is present in both Arkham City and Arkham Knight, making for a fresh change of pace when it comes to Batman's looks in the game. It's not the most groundbreaking suit by any stretch of the imagination, but players who want to experience a piece of Batman's history firsthand will be more than pleased by what this mod has to offer.
13 Azrael's Knightfall Batsuit
Azrael is a character that most people are familiar with because of his appearance in Arkham Knight. However, fans of the comics noticed his name in Arkham Origins, where his name was present in one of Batman's Batsuits.
Azrael's Knightfall Batsuit is a pretty unique costume in the game for its novelty alone. That being said, the costume can look rather hideous at times, and players might now appreciate its weird look all the time.
12 Earth-2 Batman
Comic books have experimented around with the concept of alternate Earths all the time. This is the case in the DC Universe as well, which has toyed around with alternate concepts of many superheroes.
It goes without saying that Batman is a part of this creative experiment, with multiple iterations of this character appearing in various universes. Earth-2 is an alternate world where Batman appears wearing this costume, which looks pretty neat indeed.
11 Justice League 3000 Batman
Justice League 3000 toyed around with a great concept where superheroes were constantly cloned and recreated over generations to save the world. Batman received this treatment as well, with his futuristic outfit being extremely appealing to look at.
Flying around the city of Gotham wearing this snazzy suit is pretty exciting, with the suit not really looking out of place... for the most part. Of course, it's only a matter of time before players switch out to one of the many suits available in Batman: Arkham Knight.
10 89' Batman
The yellow belt and bat symbol featured in the 1989 Batman film suit are as memorable as Jack Nicholson's Joker performance. Batman: Arkham Knight packed together the suit and the batmobile from that film in one purchasable piece of downloadable content.
People get into long-winded conversations about which actor was their favorite, Bruce Wayne and/or Batman, and Michael Keaton is often included near the top of most people's lists. If he happens to be one of the player's favorites, then they can roleplay as his Batman with a click of a button.
9 Flashpoint
If players are unfamiliar with Flashpoint, it's a popular Elseworlds DC story that has Flash messing with past events that cause a butterfly effect, resulting in the origins and events of other heroes changing.
The Flashpoint Batman suit is the outfit Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, wears due to his son dying instead of him and his wife as a result of Flash changing the course of time in Flashpoint. The suit itself is a lot more sinister and showcases the rage and loss a parent endures with the death of a child.
8 Extreme Environments
The Extreme Environments suit, otherwise known as the XE suit, may have only been usable in DLC, but it's so different from a Batman suit that it deserves a spot near the top.
It was used in Arkham Origins DLC called Cold Cold Heart, and it functions as a way for Batman to keep his body temperature at optimal levels when enduring extremely cold environments. It also has a side effect of making all of his batarangs glow due to their hot temperature near or inside the XE suit.
7 Brightest Day
Very rarely will players ever see Batman sport anything that isn't pitch black. Part of this is because he's often doing covert ops at night, and he prefers attacking from the shadows. An all-white suit would make this a lot more difficult than what he'd prefer.
That changes, though, when the suit happens to be that of a White Lantern. The suit itself doesn't offer any bonuses and isn't unique outside of simply being all-white, but as previously stated, the chance to not wear an all-black suit makes it worth checking out at least once.
6 The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is considered by most to be not only the best Batman film of all time but arguably the best comic book film of all time as well. An argument can be made that Heath Ledger's Joker is what makes the film and that Christian Bale's Batman/Bruce Wayne is a supporting character.
Either way, Christopher Nolan's second Batman flick featured a unique suit for the film. In Arkham Knight, players can equip the suit from the 2008 film, and Rocksteady Studios was kind enough to make it free DLC at the point of release.
5 Adam West 60's Batsuit
To an entire generation of kids, Adam West was simply a Family Guy character, but to many others, he helped bring the bat into live-action back in the 1960s.
His suit in Arkham Origins was sadly a PlayStation 3 exclusive as it was packed into the Knightfall DLC pack that was only available on Sony's platform. With his recent passing, it's great to see his portrayal live on and showcase how important Adam West is in the legacy of arguably the most popular superhero of all time.
4 The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: Arkham City started the trend of Rocksteady Studios, including numerous alternate suits for Bruce Wayne in their trilogy of games, and boy did they come out swinging.
One of the cooler suits that they featured in the skin pack for the game was that of the Batman from Frank Miller's 1986 The Dark Knight Returns story. If players are unfamiliar, this version of Batman was older, stockier, and a lot more brutal. This skin changed both the appearance and size of Batman in the game.
3 Arkham Batman
The original Arkham Batman suit featured in Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn't scream originality, but there are a few subtle design choices that make it unique in its own way. Though later games introduced plenty of alternate costumes for the Caped Crusader, it was nice to only have one playable suit available during one's initial playthrough.
It easily has an argument to be at the top of this list since it is the most important suit in the series of games, but like most popular characters, there are a couple of suits too good not to be at the top.
2 Batman: The Animated Series
In Arkham City, players get the ability to look like Batman from his beloved animated series. The suit is available in the downloadable content pack that features numerous skins.
Upon wearing the suit, players would also see the likes of Catwoman and Robin sporting their looks from the animated series as well. Wearing the suit in-game can be a little jarring with the opposing art styles, but for fans of the animated series, it's worth it to control that Batman in a major AAA Batman video game.
1 Batman Beyond
Terry McGinnis' suit from Batman Beyond was wearable in Arkham City as well with the purchase of the DLC skin pack. Though it didn't offer the player any bonuses or additional rewards for wearing it, it was still worth rocking during the player's time with the game.
It's hard to see a future where a Batman Beyond game with the same budget and polish as the Arkham series exists, so fans must cherish the opportunity to sport the suit and make up their head-canon for Terry roaming the streets of modern-day Gotham City.