Who I Want to See in the Next Batman Game

Between Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, we've been treated to a smorgasbord of Batman characters but there are still some that slipped through the cracks. While there's been no word if Rocksteady will proceed with a third game, here's who I'd like to see, friend and foe, make an apperance. Be advised that if you haven't played Arkham City (or the first game for that matter) this article could be considered a spoiler if you were holding out for any of these characters to make an appearance. You have been warned.

Dr. Kirk Langstrom. Ideally, I picture an heart-stopping aerial battle that has you clinging to dear life to the deranged beast, weaving in and out of the Gotham skyline as he deperately tries to shake you off. Clinging to dear life, climb up the batrope and onto former doctor, injecting him with the cure to bring him down.

Pyromaniac Garfield Lynns wears a fireproof flight suit and uses and array of fire-based weaponry from flamethrowers to explosives to battle the dark knight. The combination of flight and fire could be quite the spectacle and is reminiscent of the boss fight with The Fury from Metal Gear Solid 3. If so, I'd like to see his incarnation similar to the version from The Batman animated series (pictured above).

After her mother was killed by terrorists and her twin sister missing, former armed forces soldier Kate Kane devoted her life to protecting innocents when the military wouldn't have her. She has a complex, though minimal, relationship with Batman, so she wouldn't likely play a huge role in the game's plot. However, it'd be nice to have her available on challenge maps as Robin and Nightwing before her.

Jason Todd succeeded Dick Grayson as the second Robin until he was brutally murdered by the Joker. He was resurrected in Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pits and took on the new identity of Red Hood, an anti-hero who battles crime but, unlike Batman, with lethal force. Missions could have you form an uneasy alliance against a common threat, or against each other in a clash of crime fighting morality.

One of Batman's more disturbing adversaries, the Scarface puppet has appeared in both games while the Ventriloquist himself hasn't been seen (though he is mentioned in a radio broadcast in Arkham City). It time to reunite these two personalities in a crime spree that hopefully ends with the player subjecting the Scarface puppet to the most grisly (and hilarious) death possible.

The flip side of what makes Bruce Wayne Batman, Prometheus was the son of two murderers who were shot and killed by the police before his eyes. Traumatized by the experience, he makes a vow to eradicate the world of all forces of justice to avenge their deaths. Like Batman, he is trained to physical perfection and wield's an armored suit filled to the brim with high tech gadgetry. His helmet in particular allows him to scan and download the abilities of his opponents directly into his brain.

Mirror made his debut as part of DC's New 52 in the Batgirl reboot and was/is her first major enemy. A former DEA agent, he lost his wife and twin daughters in a horrific vehicle fire that he barely escaped himself. Feeling that it was his duty to die in that fire and hating that he survived, he begins to view miracles as a curse and murders anyone who has defied death in some way and was only recently brought down by Batgirl. He hasn't been around long, but he's already made an impression on me and I'd love to see him tangle with the Dark Knight.

A mystic who can project terrifying and painful illusions. That kind of power could make for battles as surreal as the Scarecrow and Mad Hatter sequences from the previous games. There have been three Spellbinders over the years (and one Batman Beyond version) and I'd like to see elements of each in game interpretation, though leaning more towards the third, female version.

Now here's an interesting character. As his name suggest, Anarky is an anarchist who's one wish is putting to overthrow world governments end to all forms of corruption int the world. That has ranged from anti-militarism, economic explotation, political corruption, environmental issues among other issues. This ideology has seen the character's role shift from villainous to heroic through the years and that ambiguity would make for an extremely interesting narrative. I could easily see Anarky filling the role Hugo Strange occupied in Arkham City as a premier main antagonist.

Just kidding.

What characters would you like to see in the next game?