Batman Top Characters

## Batman (Arkham Series)

   Batman: Arkham is a series of action-adventure video games based on the DC Comics character Batman, developed by Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. Games Montréal, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The first two Rocksteady games were written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini and featured voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and Joker, respectively, from the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Other actors in the series to reprise their roles from the DCAU include Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn (in Batman: Arkham Asylum), as well as C.C.H. Pounder as Amanda Waller and Robert Costanzo as Harvey Bullock (both in Arkham Origins).

The first game, Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), focuses on Batman trying to prevent Joker from destroying Gotham City after he takes control of Arkham Asylum and is forced to contend with numerous other villains he has incarcerated. The second game, Arkham City (2011), is set a year later, after Hugo Strange expands Arkham into a massive super-prison enclosing a dilapidated segment of Gotham City; Batman is incarcerated and must uncover the secret behind Strange's sinister scheme, "Protocol 10", while dying from an illness inflicted by Joker. Arkham Origins (2013) is a prequel set five years before the events of Arkham Asylum in which a younger and less-refined Batman must deal with a bounty that has been placed on him by crime lord Black Maskand has lured eight deadly assassins to Gotham on Christmas Eve, but must also uncover the mystery of the Joker. The fourth installment, Batman: Arkham Knight (2015), is Rocksteady's conclusion to the series. Set one year after the events of Arkham City, Arkham Knight sees Batman facing Scarecrow along with the mysterious Arkham Knight (and his militia), who have seized control of Gotham in a plan to destroy Batman, both physically and mentally, as well as the city.

## **Batman**

   Name: Bruce Wayne

Age: 45

Gender: Male

Nationality: USA

Batman is a superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger and published by DC Comics. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939). Batman is the secret identity of Bruce Wayne. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to physical and intellectual perfection and don a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his sidekick Robin and his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and fights an assortment of villains influenced by the characters' roots in film and pulp magazines. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use (to the best that he can) of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime.

Batman became a popular character soon after his introduction, and eventually gained his own title, Batman. As the decades wore on, differing takes on the character emerged. The late 1960s Batman television series utilized a camp aesthetic associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, culminating in the 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by writer-artist Frank Miller. That and the success of director Tim Burton's 1989 Batman motion picture helped reignite popular interest in the character. A cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world. The Batman goes by numerous nicknames, such as The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, or just the Bat.

## **Catwoman**

Name: Selina Kyle

Age: 32

Gender: Female

Nationality: Germany

Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise and created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Currently portrayed as an orphan who learned to survive on Gotham City's streets, Selina took to thievery to survive... but determined to do it in style, she learned martial arts and trained extensively to perfect her skills in cat burglary. Her criminal activities are often tempered by a reluctant altruism, making her an inconstant villain and occasional ally to Batman. She regularly eludes capture by the Dark Knight and maintains a complicated, adversarial relationship with Batman that frequently turns flirtatious and occasionally, legitimately romantic. She's one of Batman's best known loves.

## **Red Robin**

    Name: Tim Drake

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Nationality: USA

Tim Drake (also known as Tim Wayne) is a fictional comic book superhero from the DC Comics universe. As the third Robin in the Batman comics, he served as Batman's sidekick, and he is a superhero in his own right. He currently uses the superhero identity of Red Robin.

## **The Joker**

Name: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Gender: Male

Nationality: Ireland

The Joker is a supervillain and the archenemy of Batman. He was first introduced in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) and has remained consistently popular. The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people for his own amusement, the Joker later in the 1940s began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late-1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious, calculating, psychopathic killer. The Joker has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon(Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.

Interpretations of the Joker's appearance in other media include Cesar Romero's in the 1960s Batman television series, Jack Nicholson's in Tim Burton's Batman, and Mark Hamill's in Batman: The Animated Series, other DC Animated Universe shows and the Batman: Arkham games. Wizard magazine listed him the #1 villain of all time in 2006. As played by Nicholson, The Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains of all time.Heath Ledger signed to play the Joker in July 2006, for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight and won a posthumous Oscar for his performance. He was also ranked 8th on the Greatest Comic Book Character of All Time list, which was released by Empire (notably being the highest ranked villain character on the list), as well as being the fifth Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard Magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of all Time list, once again being the highest ranked villain on the list.