Arkham

Music

The first two games were composed by Nick Arundel and Ron Fish. Origins was composed by Christopher Drake, with Arkham Knight being composed by Arundel and David Buckley. Several soundtrack albums have been released.

Comics

Batman: Arkham Asylum tie-in

A 16-page, single-issue comic, Batman: Arkham Asylum – The Road to Arkham, was included in limited editions of Batman: Arkham Asylum. It is a prequel to the game and is written by Alan Burnett and illustrated by Carlos D'Anda.

Batman: Arkham City tie-ins

Starting in May 2011, DC Comics released a five-issue miniseries titled Batman: Arkham City. The miniseries was meant to bridge the gap between the story of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City the game. The series is written by Paul Dini, who wrote both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and is drawn by Arkham Asylum and Arkham City concept artist Carlos D'anda. The miniseries picks up one year after Arkham Asylum, where former Arkham Warden Quincy Sharp, now Mayor of Gotham City, has decided to close down Arkham Asylum. He decides to create "Arkham City" as the new "home" for all of Gotham City's thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds, set in the heart of Gotham City. Inmates are under the watchful eye of Dr. Hugo Strange, and can roam free and do whatever they want as long as they do not try to escape.

In addition, 8-page digital-first interludes were released to expand on the story included in the miniseries, and were written once again by Dini as well as Derek Fridolfs and drawn by a variety of artists. The interludes focus on Batman's enemies as they vie for power within Arkham City. The interludes were later included in print in the Batman: Arkham City collected edition.

Batman: Arkham Unhinged is an original digital comic series that released in October 2011 alongside Arkham City the game. Derek Fridolfs is the main series writer and is drawn by many different artists. The stories spin directly out of events in the game itself, or are flashbacks to events prior to either game, allowing expansion on the background of the characters as they may have existed pre-Arkham City. The stories focus on Batman prominently, but some highlight the villains and the supporting characters as well. The stories were later released in print form.

Additionally, Batman: Arkham City – End Game was released in May 2012 as digital-first comics, and later in print, and is set after the events of Arkham City and before its downloadable content, "Harley Quinn's Revenge". The story is written by Derek Fridolfs with art by Jason Shawn Alexander.

Batman: Arkham Origins tie-in

Batman: Arkham Origins is a digital-first comic, based on the game of the same name. Batman: Arkham Origins is the first title to feature the new DC² Multiverse technology, that features dynamic artwork, action sounds and the ability to integrate a soundtrack, and allowing the reader to determine the fate of each storyline and character, with multiple options and end results available in each comic chapter. The comic, set across eight chapters, is a prequel to the game's story, and was created by digital studio, Madefire.

Batman: Arkham Knight tie-ins

Batman: Arkham Knight is a digital-first prequel comic to the game of the same name. Written by Peter J. Tomasi, with art by Viktor Bogdanovic and Art Thibert, and covers by Dan Panosian, the comic picks up after the events of Arkham City. It was released digitally in February 2015, with the first print release featuring a collection of the digital issues in March 2015.

Batman: Arkham Knight – Batgirl Begins is a promotional one-shot comic that was distributed for free at San Diego Comic-Con International. Written by Tim Seeley and illustrated by Matthew Clark and Wade Von Grawbadger, the comic tells the story of Barbara Gordon's first adventure as Batgirl.

Batman: Arkham Knight – Genesis, is a six-issue series written by Peter Tomasi and illustrated by Alisson Borges, that explores the origin of the Arkham Knight.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League tie-in

A forthcoming five-issue series entitled Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum will serve as a prequel to the game.

Collections

• Batman: Arkham City (collects Batman: Arkham City #1–5 and Batman: Arkham City – Digital Chapters #1–5; 168 pages; hardcover, October 2011, ISBN 978-1401232559; paperback, September 2012, ISBN 978-1401234935)
• Batman: Arkham Unhinged
  • Volume One (collects Batman: Arkham Unhinged #1–5 and Batman: Arkham City – Digital Chapters #6–7; 160 pages; hardcover, February 2013, ISBN 978-1401237493; paperback, August 2013, ISBN 978-1401240189)
  • Volume Two (collects Batman: Arkham Unhinged #6–10; 168 pages; hardcover, August 2013, ISBN 978-1401240196; paperback, January 2013, ISBN 978-1401242831)
  • Volume Three (collects Batman: Arkham Unhinged #11–15 and Batman: Arkham City – End Game #1-6; 232 pages; hardcover, January 2014, ISBN 978-1401243050; paperback, August 2014, ISBN 978-1401246808)
  • Volume Four (collects Batman: Arkham Unhinged #16–20; 168 pages; hardcover, August 2014, ISBN 978-1401246815; paperback, February 2015, ISBN 978-1401250423)
• Batman: Arkham Origins (collects Batman: Arkham Origins chapters #1–14; 160 pages; hardcover, December 2014, ISBN 978-1401248864; paperback, July 2015, ISBN 978-1401254650)
• Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Volume One (collects Batman: Arkham Knight #1–4; 144 pages; hardcover, July 2015, ISBN 978-1401258047; paperback, January 2016, ISBN 978-1401266011)
  • Volume Two (collects Batman: Arkham Knight #5–9 and Batman: Arkham Knight – Batgirl Begins #1; 160 pages; hardcover, March 2016, ISBN 978-1401260675; paperback, July 2016, ISBN 978-1401263409)
  • Volume Three (collects Batman: Arkham Knight #10–12, Batman: Arkham Knight Annual #1, Batman: Arkham Knight – Robin Special #1, and Batman: Arkham Knight – Harley Quinn and Batgirl Special #1–2; 176 pages; hardcover, July 2016, ISBN 978-1401263393; paperback, November 2016, ISBN 978-1401265052)
• Batman: Arkham Knight – Genesis (collects Batman: Arkham Knight – Genesis #1–6; 144 pages; hardcover, March 2016, ISBN 978-1401260668; paperback, September 2016, ISBN 978-1401264444)
• Batman: The Arkham Saga Omnibus (collects Batman: Arkham Asylum – The Road to Arkham #1 and all previous collections, 1,648 pages, hardcover, September 2018, ISBN 978-1401284329)
• Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum (collects Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #1–5, 120 pages, hardcover, October 2024, ISBN 978-1779518385)

Film

An animated film set in the Arkhamverse, entitled Batman: Assault on Arkham, was released on August 12, 2014. Many actors involved with the games reprised their roles, including Kevin Conroy as Batman, Troy Baker as the Joker, Martin Jarvis as Alfred, and Nolan North as the Penguin. The film takes place about two years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum, and focuses on the Suicide Squad (consisting of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, the Black Spider and King Shark), who are sent by Amanda Waller to infiltrate Arkham Asylum and recover a classified file stolen by the Riddler. Although he is the title character, Batman is reduced to a supporting role, as he attempts to stop the Joker from destroying Gotham with a hidden bomb and briefly crosses paths with the Squad.

Novels

Batman: Arkham Knight – The Riddler's Gambit (2015)

A 320-page novel, Batman: Arkham Knight – The Riddler's Gambit, by Alexander C. Irvine serves as a prequel to Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batman: Arkham Knight – The Official Novelization (2015)

Marv Wolfman authored a novelization of Batman: Arkham Knight, which was released in July 2015.

Starting in January 2011, DC Direct released two series of statues based on characters in Arkham Asylum. As well, DC Direct, and later DC Collectibles, released four series of statues based on characters in Arkham City, starting in December 2011. On June 5, 2012, TriForce announced that they had acquired the license to create replicas of various weapons, gadgets and iconic objects from Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. DC Collectibles announced statues for release in October 2013 for Arkham Origins, as well as Mattel announcing statues of their own, releasing in late 2013. A board game, titled Batman: Arkham City Escape, was made available by Cryptozoic entertainment in May 2013.

The game Injustice: Gods Among Us featured the Arkham City Skin Pack, containing downloadable costumes for Batman, Catwoman, and the Joker, based on their appearances in Arkham City. An Arkham City skin is also available for Harley Quinn; however, unlike the other Arkham City skins, it must be unlocked through the iOS mobile app version. In addition, the Arkham Asylum arena features appearances by Hugo Strange, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Two-Face, Riddler, and Penguin, all of whom appear as they did in the previous Arkham games. The iOS version of the game features the Arkham Origins skins for Batman, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Joker and Bane, as well the Arkham Knight skins for Batman, Catwoman, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and the exclusive character Arkham Knight. The Arkham Knight costume for Batman also appears in the iOS version of Injustice 2.

The character Arkham Knight eventually made his debut in the mainstream DC Universe. However, this incarnation is not Jason Todd, but rather Astrid Arkham, the daughter of Arkham Asylum director Jeremiah Arkham and Ingrid Karlsson. During her birth, a riot broke out during a prison transfer at the asylum. Despite the chaos, several villains assisted in delivering her safely, but one of the prisoners killed Ingrid with one of Batman's batarangs. Astrid grew up interacting with many of Arkham Asylum's patients and sympathized with their fear of Batman. After she found footage of her mother's death, she assumed Batman murdered her and trained herself for years to take away Batman's control over Gotham. She crafted the Arkham Knight identity to take vengeance on him, believing that the Arkham inmates were also his victims.

The series has received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success, achieving lifetime international sales of 30+ million copies worldwide and high scores from critics and gamers. Arkham Asylum sold more than 9.4 million copies and held the Guinness World Record for Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever based on an average Metacritic score of 91.67, but was replaced by its sequel Arkham City in 2011. The game was praised as reaching to a darker side of Batman not seen in video games before. It was also acclaimed for its polished combat and stealth gameplay, as well as selection of gadgets at Batman's disposal and the extensive comic book lore and easter eggs planted all over the map of Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum also received positive feedback for its choice in voice actors, such as Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy as The Joker and Batman, respectively. The game was included in many lists of the best games of 2009 and won several accolades, including Best Game at the BAFTA Video Games Awards and Game of the Year at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. The Guardian included the game on its list of the 50 best videogames of the 21st century.

Arkham City has received the highest critical acclaim of the series, sold over 12.5 million copies worldwide and won multiple awards, including Best Action-Adventure Game at the Golden Joystick Awards and Adventure Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards. The game was included in many lists of the best games of 2011 and is also considered as the greatest comic book video game of all time. It was heralded as taking the already innovative and intricate gameplay of its predecessor and largely expanding on it, as well as opening gameplay to a larger, greater detailed and intricate map. Hamill's return as a sick and dying Joker was very well taken by fans and critics alike, as well as the addition of other villains and heroes such as Robin, Catwoman, Hugo Strange, Calendar Man, and The Penguin. Arkham City currently holds Guinness World Record for Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever with the average GameRankings score of 95.94%. Metacritic put the game among the best videogames of the decade 2010–2019.

Arkham Origins, while considered the weakest installment of the series, was still generally well received and was a commercial success, selling more than 5 million copies. The major consensus among critics was the game lacked innovation and series advancement, many of them citing the similar gameplay and atmosphere of the game before, but that it still had an interesting and engaging story. The visuals were also slightly degraded from the previous entry. This was largely attributed to the change in developers from Rocksteady to Warner Bros. Montreal. Arkham Origins was also criticized for its many bugs and glitches, especially on PC, as well as its odd and confined multiplayer. However, praise was directed at the voice cast and narrative, the game's depiction of the Joker as well as Batman's relationships with his adversaries. Most notably, critics agreed that Arkham Origins' boss battles were an improvement over its predecessors; they offered dynamic, multiphase conflicts with their own stories. While not considering all equally fun or impressive, reviewers said that their variety and unpredictability provided much excitement.

The console versions of Arkham Knight received critical acclaim but slightly less than Arkham City and Arkham Asylum. However, it was still better received than its predecessor, Arkham Origins and was a notable commercial success, selling more than 7 million copies, by becoming the fastest-selling game in the franchise. The game was included in many lists of the best games of 2015 and won several accolades, including Best British Game at the BAFTA Video Games Awards and Best Game at the Empire Awards. Praise was aimed at the narrative, score, writing, visuals, world designs, and gameplay, while most of the criticism was directed towards the game's overreliance on Batmobile gameplay sections. The Windows version of the game was received with ambivalent responses, being criticized for numerous technical issues at the time of its launch, resulting in Warner Bros. removing the game from sale on Steam, and physical copies being removed from shelves, promising to work on performance issues. After its re-release, the game continued to receive criticism for lingering technical issues. The console versions were released with little to no technical problems. Mashable put the game among the best videogames of the decade 2010–2019.

• Gotham Knights: a video game developed by WB Games Montréal (who developed Arkham: Origins), featuring similar gameplay mechanics, aesthetics, and many of the same characters as the Batman: Arkham games, but with an original storyline not set in the Arkhamverse
• Injustice (franchise): a video game fighting series developed by NetherRealm Studios, featuring characters from the DC Comics universe. The team had previously developed Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for Midway Games, the series features various voice talents reprising their roles from various DC Comics based media.
• Marvel's Spider-Man: An action-adventure video game series developed by Insomniac Games and based on Marvel Comics characters, set in an original interpretation of the Marvel Universe principally focused around Spider-Man. It follows many similar gameplay and narrative conventions to the Batman: Arkham series, which it has been favorably compared to