Highlights

  • A potential reboot of Rocksteady's Batman games could draw inspiration from The Dark Knight Returns, bringing back an older Bruce Wayne and exploring his evolution in a more violent and dark narrative.
  • The Batman Beyond storyline, featuring Terry McGinnis as the protagonist, could be introduced in an Arkham-inspired game trilogy, effectively wrapping up a new series of Batman games.
  • The incorporation of The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond could lead to one of Batman's most cohesive trilogies ever, maintaining continuity and offering a fresh take on the character's evolution.

Rocksteady’s series of Batman games has proven to still be influential despite Arkham Knight having released nearly a decade ago, and there is one route for the studio to go that is more appropriate than ever if it returns to the series. Batman games have generally relied on original plots that didn’t draw from a specific piece of source material, but following one comic story could be perfect for a reboot-style game that succeeds Arkham.

Following the events of Arkham Knight and now the upcoming Suicide Squad game potentially being canon, there isn’t much room to continue the story of Bruce Wayne in Rocksteady games. Fans have begun to theorize that a clean slate in the form of a reboot could one day follow, or that another developer could even end up creating its own interpretation. No matter where the next Batman title ends up being made, there is one highly influential story which helped to define the character's dark side in the comics and could be perfect for his return to gaming.

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The Potential for a Dark Knight Returns-Inspired Game

An Unexplored Area of Batman's History in Gaming

One of Batman's darkest stories, The Dark Knight Returns is a 1986 miniseries written by Frank Miller that came after the character had become light-hearted and goofier over time. Most importantly, the story focused on a much older Bruce Wayne returning to fighting crime years past his glory days in a way that could perfectly translate to his evolution in video games.

Previous Batman games have drawn from multiple comic series to form their stories, but The Dark Knight Returns is packed with so much source material, it could easily fill up an entire video game narrative. With the story’s focus on both The Joker and later Superman as a primary antagonist, however, there is even potential for splitting the adaptation up into two different games. The animated movie adaptation of TDKR is split up into two parts, and it has been one of the most well-received Batman animations. The older and darker Bruce Wayne stepping back into the mantle of Batman not only matches the character’s hiatus as the protagonist of his own game for a while, but it could bring a more violent edge to the gameplay that sets it apart from the the Arkham titles.

Batman Beyond Could Introduce Another Saga

The Ending to a Bruce Wayne Trilogy

There was a sequel to TDKR in the form of The Dark Knight Strikes Again, but it has been regarded by many fans as too absurd and controversial, even when compared to the original's level of violence, which would already prove tough to adapt. If there ever is an adaptation spanning multiple games, however, there could also be one alternative direction that makes perfect sense. It started as a short-lived animated series in 1999, but Batman Beyond has had a dedicated cult following ever since its release. After playing as an aged Bruce Wayne in a set of The Dark Knight Returns-inspired titles, bringing Terry McGinnis into the protagonist role for an Arkham-inspired Batman Beyond title could be the perfect way to wrap up a new trilogy of Batman games.

There have been skins for its suit in the Arkham games, but it hasn’t ever really had a proper Batman Beyond adaptation outside a controversial side scrolling beat-em’-up from years ago. After Bruce Wayne fakes his death and goes into hiding, the perfect way to maintain this continuity would be to allow him to step into the mentor role that he takes in Beyond. TDKR originally released well before the series, but the potential ties the two could find in new games could lead to one of Batman's most cohesive trilogies ever.