12 Years Ago, Batman: The Animated Series Inspired The Dark Knight’s Best Video Game Story
Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.
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More so than even the comic book source material, Batman: The Animated Series has proven to be one of the most seminal wells that any modern iteration of Batman’s mythology could draw inspiration from. For instance, the uncontested best Batman games ever are the Batman: Arkham games, which inherited a lot of their genetic essence from Batman: The Animated Series.
Batman: The Animated Series’ storytelling and atmosphere permeate every Batman: Arkham game, with some having a more explicit influence than others. Perhaps the greatest love letter to Batman: The Animated Series in the Batman: Arkham games is the story DLC for Batman: Arkham Origins, as it is nearly a faithful adaptation of one of the TV show’s greatest episodes.
Cold, Cold Heart Is Basically A ‘Heart Of Ice’ Adaptation
For a long while, Batman: Arkham Origins was considered a black sheep of the series because it was the first Batman: Arkham game not developed by Rocksteady, it’s a prequel chapter tackling a much earlier era in the Arkhamverse’s continuity and lore, and it featured new actors portraying Batman and Joker in this franchise—Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker, respectively. Ultimately, it’s become a cult favorite in the Arkhamverse community, with fans all coming around on how spectacular Batman: Arkham Origins’ narrative and performances are.
Batman: Arkham Origins’ Cold, Cold Heart DLC, then, only made it that much better. Cold, Cold Heart is a wonderful example of how Batman: Arkham embraces Batman: The Animated Series. Featuring the origin story of Batman: Arkham’s Mister Freeze, Cold, Cold Heart is quite literally a loose adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 Episode 14, “Heart of Ice.”
This episode features the wholesale reinvention of Batman comics’ Mr. Zero, radically becoming the formidable and tragic Mister Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series and onward. It’s because of Batman: The Animated Series that Mister Freeze is the villain he is today, and Cold, Cold Heart does a terrific job of adapting this episode, down to some of the lines of dialogue even being similar (it’s simply that perfect).
Likewise, Cold, Cold Heart bestowed on the Batman: Arkham franchise one of its best Batsuit skins, the bulky XE (Extreme Environment) suit, armed with thermal batarangs that can cut icicles from ceilings and incapacitate unsuspecting thugs below.
Batman’s Arkhamverse Is Infused With The Soul of TAS
Batman: Arkham game villains are some of the best ever, and Mister Freeze doesn’t disappoint at all in any of the appearances he has. They all bear such authority in their performances, not unlike the performances for classic Batman villains in Batman: The Animated Series, and all seem so established and ingrained in the world around them.
Batman: Arkham Asylum begins by illustrating Batman’s relationships with all these villains, succinctly layering worldbuilding into the tutorial, and patient interview tapes later develop each antagonist further as players explore. This exploration and worldbuilding never ceases for a moment throughout any Batman: Arkham game, and the games understand their tone so well, just like Batman: The Animated Series has such a strong grasp on its melodic, brooding tone.
Ironically, Batman: Arkham Knight is an example of how a cocktail of original Arkhamverse storytelling and Batman: The Animated Series inspirations can leave a sour taste in the mouth, if you can attribute Joker’s tainted blood infecting and subsuming its hosts to how Joker creepily ‘returned’ in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Nonetheless, the Batman: Arkham series is better for having its source material be one of the best Batman continuities of all time.
It helped that the early Batman: Arkham games boasted the talent of Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures’ Paul Dini. Still, for the Batman: Arkham games to be so inspired by these series is arguably a large part of why they were so successful, alongside the fact that their gameplay is phenomenal, and their original stories are outstanding.
- Release Date
- 1992 - 1995-00-00
- Network
- FOX, Fox Kids
- Showrunner
- Bruce Timm
- Directors
- Kevin Altieri, Boyd Kirkland, Frank Paur, Dan Riba, Dick Sebast
- Writers
- Michael Reaves, Brynne Stephens, Randy Rogel, David Wise, Len Wein, Marty Isenberg, Richard Mueller, Sam Graham, Peter Morwood, Dennis O'Neil, Carl Swenson, Beth Bornstein, Steve Hayes, Chris Hubbell, Martin Pasko, Henry Gilroy, Elliot S. Maggin, Eddie Gorodetsky, Diane Duane
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Batman (voice)
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Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
Batman: The Animated Series follows Bruce Wayne as he wages a one-man war on crime in Gotham City, protecting its citizens as the mysterious vigilante Batman. Blending noir-inspired storytelling with definitive interpretations of allies and villains like Robin, Catwoman, the Joker, and Mr. Freeze, the series established a darker, character-driven vision of the Dark Knight that continues to influence Batman adaptations today.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.