Arkham Asylum

***Arkham Asylum*** is a 2031 limited series based on the DC Comics mental institution of the same name, as well as focusing on Batman's rogue gallery. It is the fifth mini-series of the DCEU and the first mini-series of Phase 5. It premiered on November 3, 2031 and ended on December 1, 2031.

## Plot Summary

The inner machinations of Arkham Asylum and how it works, as well as portraying Batman's rogue gallery as the victims of his onslaught and picturing them as more than just the criminally insane.

## Cast

* Desmond Harrington as Clayface/Basil Karlo
* Nicholas Hoult as Firefly/Garfield Lynn
* Kevin Grevioux as Killer Croc/Waylon Jones
* Stephen Merchant as Killer Moth/Drury Walker
* Christoph Waltz as Mr. Freeze/Victor Fries
* Ruth Wilson as Poison Ivy/Dr. Pamela Isley
* Matthew Gray Gubler as The Riddler/Edward Nygma
* Andrew Scott as Scarecrow/Dr. Jonathan Crane
* Jackie Early Haley as Calendar Man/Julian Day
* Patrick Fugit as Cluemaster/Arthur Brown
* Denis O'Hare as Copperhead/John Doe
* Jon Bernthal as Electrocutioner/Lester Buchinsky
* Macauley Culkin as Kite Man/Chuck Brown
* John Rhys-Davies as Maxie Zeus
* Bruce Davison as Ratcatcher/Otis Flannegan

## List of Episodes

 2
 3
 4
 5

## Reception

*Arkham Asylum* received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences. "It's very clear that this project received a lot of interference from the studio but what Sam Esmail gets right, he really gets right." Many praised the performances, writing, dialogue, character drama, and themes. However, some said it was too overstuffed and there wasn't enough depth in certain areas.

## Trivia

* Ratcatcher wasn't in the original early drafts of the scripts, but Sam Esmail watched the original *Willard* one night and remembered that a Batman rogue had similar powers and decided to include him. Bruce Davison was the only choice for the role, but Esmail was worried if he would accept the role, since he would essentially being playing the same role. But Davison gladly accepted as he was very fond of his first major film. Esmail stated the original mentor figure for Lester was an older doctor made purely for the series.
* When Ratcatcher states he doesn't want to leave Arkham as "his time has come and gone", he mentions he "doesn't want to end up like Brooks Hatlen". This is a reference to the film/novella *The Shawshank Redemption* where said character commits suicide because he couldn't survive outside of prison.
* Esmail stated that he dealt with a lot of pushback from the studio on the amount of villains and the story. Originally, the mini-series was only meant to showcase 8 villains for 4 episodes. But the executives wanted to keep adding villains from older movies which ended up making it 15 villains, hence adding another episode. Esmail felt it was overstuffed and many of the added characters didn't get a whole lot of depth. "I pretty much kept my main story throughout the five episodes, I just had another 7 villains to deal with so, I kinda let them do fuck all while I did the story I wanted to do. So I did what DC and what I wanted. But that also resulted in some shotty character work for fan favorites, hence the mixed reviews."
* The original villains that were meant to be showcased were: Ratcatcher, Electrocutioner, Maxie Zeus, Firefly, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Calendar Man, and Killer Moth. All the others were added at Esmail's behest.
* There was a famous fan edit of the mini-series called *Sam Esmail's A Serious House on Serious Earth* which cuts out all of the villains Esmail didn't want to include (as much as possible) and was a much more coherent story. Esmail himself approved of this cut and said to fans to watch this version instead of the original cut.