Arkham Asylum 2 is "really, really dark"

By Robert Purchese Published 20 April, 2010

Batman voice Kevin Conroy says so.

Kevin Conroy, the man who Batman's voice belongs to, has revealed that Arkham Asylum 2 will be "really, really dark".

He said the game's tone will be reminiscent of moody animated film Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker. "It involves a lot of the villains and goes to that area - it's that dark," said Conroy, speaking at last weekend's Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (attended by Comic Book Resources via IGN).

Conroy was hoodwinked by a member of the audience into revealing Two-Face as a villain in Arkham Asylum 2. He paused briefly upon realising his mistake and added, "There's a very complicated cast; a lot of villains are in it. I'll just leave it at that!"

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 was revealed by Rocksteady in December 2009, and the developer was bought by Warner Bros. in February this year. No dates or even platforms have been revealed for the sequel. So far all we know is that The Joker and Harley Quinn will return.

Another interesting tidbit from the Conroy interview revealed that Mark Hamill wasn't first-pick to play The Joker in television's Batman: The Animated Series. To begin with, Rocky Horror star Tim Curry had been head-hunted for the part. However, Curry's portrayal was so menacing that Warner was worried it would terrifying the audience. Hamill was drafted in soon after. "Mark is psychotic with a smile. Tim was just psychotic to give you nightmares," recalled Conroy.

Conroy has worked with Hamill on the animated television series of Batman for years. Both reprised their roles for Arkham Asylum, but Conroy said the experience was very different. Conroy likened it to "some kind of homeland security torture", due to the amount of recording that needed to be done.

Oh, and Conroy added that Christian Bale's big-screen Batman voice was "ridiculous" and that someone should have told him so. Poor Bale was "steered wrong", Conroy said.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 2 years ago

    Tim Curry would have been ace.

  • JimWest #2 2 years ago

    Please can this hurry up! I really want.

  • nuanimal #3 2 years ago

    Holy baby Jesus. I remember Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown. I can understand why Warner Bros would've been fearful...

  • Tomo #4 2 years ago

    I've only just got round to playing the Challenge modes from the first one on a friend's comp and boy is it addictive stringing together combos. I'm excited about this and I haven't even finished the story in the first one :p

  • Doctor_What #5 2 years ago

    I want to hear Tim Curry's version now!

    Also, Bale's voice in the films really was very silly wasn't it? I suspect that no-one dared tell him that it sounded ridiculous to his face, he is supposed to be quite the grumpy one on set.

  • SAMagic #6 2 years ago

    Great voice actor and anyone who has seen Return of the Joker knows how dark the Batman animated series can get.

    Conroy was hoodwinked by a member of the audience into revealing Two-Face as a villain in Arkham Asylum 2.
    It wasn't anything to do with the ending of AA where we're told Two-Face is robbing a Gotham bank, oh no.

  • el_pollo_diablo #7 2 years ago

    Not into Two-Face. I want the Penguin!

  • geeza2020 #8 2 years ago

    Sky is "really, really blue" says moron

  • schnide #9 2 years ago

    Not that Kevin Conroy resents anyone else playing Batman I'm sure. Bale's voice was spot on for the Nolan films - it has to be menacing, monstrous, otherworldy and most of all unrecognisable as any civilian voice.

    The only time it was over the top was at the beginning of the Dark Knight, where he makes the hockey pants joke, and you can barely understand a word he's saying. Otherwise, Bale nailed it.

  • andywilkie35 #10 2 years ago

    Hamill is excellent, but I'd love to hear Tim Curry's version, sounds ace!

    Can't wait for this game.

  • Gearskin #11 2 years ago

    Batman Beyond, the animated film, was kinda messed up for a western cartoon. It really played up to the Joker being pure evil. The method through which he learns of Batman's true identity is pretty messed up.

  • RexRunti #12 2 years ago

    Hey I'm a big fan of Tim Curry, but Mark Hamil is the Joker for me. The Joker has been portrayed as many things over the years, harmless prankster, psycho murderer but for me only Mark Hamil's Joker combined them all in such a way that you had no idea if he was going to set off a whoopee cushion, a nuke or both.

    On "Return of the Joker", it really is a great film especially if your familiar with both Batman: The Animated Series and Batman of the Future and really explores the complex and rather unhealthy relationships within the bat family and is where my head goes whenever there's a "What's the point of Robin?" argument even though it's not cannon.

  • jonsaan #13 2 years ago

    Just so long as there is a brightness control please.

  • Markitron #14 2 years ago

    Im sick of people saying that their sequels are dark. Seems like a load of 12 year olds watched empire strikes back, grew up, made a good film/game/whatever and decided the only way to make it better was to 'go dark'. All that BS about mass effect 2 being dark, all life in the galaxy was nearly annihalated in the first game, what was so lite about that? (sidenote: empire is my fave film ever, mass effect 2 and Arkham Asylum are two of the best games of the last year)

  • metalangel #15 2 years ago

    Batman: TAS is the definitive Batman for me. Batman Beyond was shit with stupid stories, annoying characters and cheap animation. The Batman was similarly shit, a dumbed down and entirely pointless retread, complete with ridiculous Rastafarian Joker.

  • OrgasmicMutton #16 2 years ago

    Having read Walker's Toonstruck retrospective at the weekend I've now got a mental picture of the Joker sounding like Nefarious from Toonstruck. It doesn't quite work!

  • hiddenranbir #17 2 years ago

    Ooh darkness! So dark! Will it also be gritty and mature?

  • PYF #18 2 years ago

    I like dark.

  • PhoenixMDK #19 2 years ago

    I think part of it is that "darker" now instantly equals "grown up", hence all sequels to successful kids books are marketed as "darker" to justify adults reading them.

    The Blue Man Books are classic example: http://www.theonion.com/video/adults-go-...

  • menage #20 2 years ago

    I like beer

  • Doctor_What #21 2 years ago

    Gritty, mature, AND there will be chugging guitar riffs AND he might say 'bitch' in the opening sequence.

    Oh wait, that's POP: The Warrior Within, and we know how successfully that series went 'dark'.

  • rosshuts #22 2 years ago

    This sounds awesome and also agree with Conway that Bale's batman voice is almost the only annoying thing about the new films. Back to the game though - I will be seriously happy if a Tim Drake/Robin appears or even Dick Grayson as Nightwing! Even better would be the choice to play through as either of the three, but that aint gonna happen I know!

  • TenMinJoe #23 2 years ago

    Kevin Conroy is the One True Batman.

  • Seoh #24 2 years ago

    Ok i don't mind dark but one that that batman sorely needed was an unlockable "adam west mode" with Kapow! and ZAP!! showing up when you hit someone and a 60s batman costume.

  • knightmt #25 2 years ago

    Cannot wait.
    Christian Bale's voice is bizarre in Batman, but it is understandable if he wants to sound different from Bruce Wayne.

    p.s. Hasn't anyone noticed he is dressed like a bat maybe he should be squeaking.

  • UKLL #26 2 years ago

    Hardly a shock to see Two Face confirmed, the teaser trailer released a while back has a few hints on which villains are going to make an appearance.

    Two Face poster, Iceberg (Mr Freeze)
    Edited by UKLL at 20/04/10 @ 11:32

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #27 2 years ago

    Talia Al Ghul and Mr. Freeze also confirmed. http://bit.ly/cxgLPS

  • MikeN #28 2 years ago

    @Schnide You really think Conroy is bitter that he wasn't asked to play Batman in the recent big budget Hollywood films? He's actually pretty gracious towards Bale when he talks about the 'bat voice' and he acknowledges how easy it is for actors to fall into that trap if they're not getting proper feedback.

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3zJxF-0N3Y
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3zJxF-0N3Y
    [/link]

  • schnide #29 2 years ago

    @MikeN

    No, not bitter but perhaps overly critical. I admit that I'm only going on the comment I read in this article, so it's hardly his definitive view. But to say that Bale wasn't getting feedback from Nolan I think is quite a strange thing to say knowing how intensely Bale gets into his roles, how clear Nolan is with his vision for each film and how well the two men work together.

  • CaptainQuint #30 2 years ago

    Conroy's Batman is the definitive Batman.

  • ChthonicEcho #31 2 years ago

    @MikeN

    He sounds unnecessarily patronising. While I don't think Conroy is bitter that he didn't get Batman's role in Nolan films, he's certainly full of shit. Bale's choice for a voice is neither right nor wrong. It's a style. Some will like it, some will dislike it. Arguing about that is like arguing which colour is better.

  • MikeN #32 2 years ago

    @Cthonic & @ Schnide, I guess I can accept Conroy's view since Bale's bat-voice just doesn't work for me. If Bale had dialled it down a few notches it would be more acceptable. As it is it just sounds like a kid trying too hard to act 'tough'. The bat-voice has pretty much become a running joke in spoofing the new films.

  • guernican #33 2 years ago

    "Bale's choice for a voice is neither right nor wrong."

    Well, I'm neither a fan of this animated series of which you all speak, nor am I a member of the cognoscenti when it comes to Kevin Conroy's acting credits, but even I can see that there's something wrong with Christian Bale's voice in the movies. It sounds like a parody of someone auditioning to be the successor of the action movie trailer voiceover guy.

    "It was a time of war. A time for heroes..."

    Perhaps he was just really phlegmy on set?

  • neems #34 2 years ago

    As has been pointed out, I would imagine the whole point of the 'Batman voice' is simply to make sure that nobody thinks "Wow, Batman really sounds like billionaire philanthropist and playboy Bruce Wayne. Speaking of which, I wonder what Wayne does with all that time and money?"

  • ignatiusjreilly #35 2 years ago

    I always assumed his voice was altered somehow in post-production anyway, meaning it was a director/producer decision...

  • stuthegecko #36 2 years ago

    justice! ... with a side order, of spagetti

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXDQrnoqSXo
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXDQrnoqSXo
    [/link]

    seriously can't wait for arkham asylum 2 tho :D

  • SpaceMonkey77 #37 2 years ago

    The darkness in Batman is justified IMO, as it was always a very dark tale, kind of similar to how old european tales are. There was no real light about the series, apart from the Bruce and his family, and the substitute that builds itself after they were killed. There's no light apart from Batman in a pretty dark world, that's a mirror of our own. To do any less than that, is to do Batman and its universe a disservice.

    The camp fun of the 60's show, was what happened when stuff like the Comics Code kicked the comics industry in the nuts. Dark was no longer allowed. I've never found that show to be fun, just absolute corny cheese. Younger fans might think differently though. The same goes for the recent show, Batman The Brave and the Bold, which draws upon those days when Batman was cheese fun kid fodder, with villian of the week in tow. Just watching it makes you occasionally chuckle at its jokes, but Batman was not supposed to be funny or light, and it can't escape that fact.

    I'd agree that Batman TAS was the best series, at mixing mature but evenly palatable tales of Batman, with excellently moody settings, art deco designs of retro futurism etc, and its never been bettered. Why on earth Warner didn't just stick with that design choice and feel is beyond me. Just as bad or if not worse a decision, as that awful Batman and Robin debacle.

    Nerd hat off, I hope that Rock Steady give us some day time play in the game, (kind of in a Persona mould, but with Bruce going about his daily business) because the game needs something to even it up a little.

    Tim Curry as the Joker, a shame it wasn't so. Who else could he be if not the Joker?

  • ParanoidZombie #38 2 years ago

    The good thing about this "dark+gritty+mature" trend is that we get some great soundtrack for the trailers: ME2's launch trailer music was fantastic, splinter cell's featured johnny cash, gears3 has sun kil moon... Maybe AA2's trailers will get some great music, too, something from the 90s, loud and gloomy, like NIN,Tool or maybe even Type O Negative (just kidding).

  • bratmandu #39 2 years ago

    The Nolan films are great, but Bale is a horrible batman. Conroy is spot on voice-wise, Kevin Conroy's voice, dubbed over Nick Stokes from CSI (I know CSI is shit, but the Nick Stokes guy most looks like the 90s cartoon batman).

  • azazel_fallenangel #40 2 years ago

    Afraid to say Bales voice irritated me in TDK, wasn't as bad as in Termionator: Salvation though, That was a truley bad voice.
    I'd love to hear Curries Joker. Though Hamill is brilliant, I can see Curry as also being good for the role.

  • schnide #41 2 years ago

    Agreed - Bale's Savlation voice is bloody awful. But then it was directed by the same man who brought us Charlie's Angels.

  • metallicorphan #42 2 years ago

    it would be interesting to hear Tim Curry's version...he was frightning to me as a kid as Pennywise the clown,but i shat myself more i think when he played the devil/a demon(?)in that Tom Cruise film Legend

  • SlapLaB #43 2 years ago

    you mean... really?

  • FogHeart #44 2 years ago

    To get an idea of how Tim Curry might have sounded, hunt down his voiceover on the videogame Sacrifice as the God Stratos. His voice is deep there, but the mannerisms of the voice sound correct.

  • mashk #45 2 years ago

    Give Batman a torch then?

  • kangarootoo #46 2 years ago

    Tim Curry is cool, but I think Mark Hamill unexpectedly turned out to be one of the most versatile character actors of his generation. I recall his work in Full Throttle all those years ago - genius.


    Talking of Bale's voice, this springs to mind :)

    http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1921846

  • schnide #47 2 years ago

    @roo

    Agreed, that video had me laughing harder than anything else last month. Cheers for bringing it back!

  • EthanWoods #48 2 years ago

    To be honest, Conroy's Batman has a very bland voice. Bale may sound a bit stupid but at least the growl allows him to reveal Wayne's "dark side".

    Hopefully they'll torture the crap out of Batman in this game; I want to see him broken and ready to give up.

  • kangarootoo #49 2 years ago

    "Evidence, I found evidence, somebody left some evidence"

    It kills me :)

  • Monkey_Chops #50 2 years ago

    I liked Bale's voice in Batman Begins; not so much in The Dark Knight. Conroy's version is still the best, though.

  • Galathorn #51 2 years ago

    This time, it's gonna be a day 1 purchase.

  • laharl80 #52 2 years ago

    I hope the game world is more open this time.
    I loved the first one but a sandbox title with the arkham asylum gameplay would be sweet.
    I'd like rocksteady to make a game based on either the punisher max storyline or the punisher-warzone film.
    They could do the punisher licence justice.
    I hate bales retarded batvoice.He wants to lay off the batfags or take some batstrepsils.

  • Deckard1 #53 2 years ago

    Robins in it. And he gets raped off the penguin. I'm calling it.