Every Arkhamverse Game In Chronological Order

Key Takeaways

• Batman: Arkham Shadow is the latest prequel in the Arkhamverse, bridging events between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum.
• The game adapts Arkham gameplay into VR, featuring Batman during a dark period, investigating the rise of the Rat King.
• Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League continues the Arkhamverse five years post-Arkham Knight, with Batman as one of the main antagonists.

What began as an immersive superhero adventure starring Batman has evolved and become a still-expanding DC Universe known as the Arkhamverse. The virtual reality game, Batman: Arkham Shadow, is the latest entry that tells another prequel story to Batman: Arkham Asylum, albeit exclusively on the Meta Quest 3.

The Arkhamverse has sequels, prequels, and a spin-off that is also a sequel, leading to a convoluted timeline that newcomers might be confused by. With the release of Arkham Shadow, certain fans will want to know where it sits in the overall chronology, given the events that the heroes and villains all go through by the end.

1 Batman: Arkham Origins

How Batman Met His Iconic Supervillains

Set two years into Batman’s career as a vigilante, Batman: Arkham Origins remains the earliest event in the Arkhamverse timeline. Batman is accustomed to street punks and crime lords, but on Christmas Eve, he is forced to contend with his first batch of true supervillains, including Bane, Firefly, Deathstroke, his first encounter with The Joker, and defeating Mr. Freeze on New Year’s Day in the DLC.

At first, the prequel was mistreated for having new voice actors for Batman and the Joker, but over a decade later, Arkham Origins has since become a beloved entry. From its visually stunning holiday setting to showing Batman evolving into a superhero for Gotham City, it remains a strong prequel in the series that finally got its sequel in the form of Arkham Shadow.

2 Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate

The Cat And The Bat Together For The First Time

In Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate, the Caped Crusader fights Black Mask, The Joker, and The Penguin in Blackgate Prison, three months after the events of the previous game. Batman meets Catwoman for the first time, a recurring yet fan-favorite female character in the Arkham games. This leads to them working together, with Catwoman having ulterior motives as always.

Other villains include Solomon Grundy, Bronze Tiger, and Deadshot, with other DC characters such as Amanda Waller and Rick Flag making appearances. Arkham Origins – Blackgate is an often forgotten entry in the Arkhamverse, mostly due to it originally being a game for handheld systems like the Nintendo 3DS and the PS Vita before being ported to PC and consoles.

3 Batman: Arkham Shadow

The Saddest And Darkest Period Of Batman’s Career

While fans were hesitant about Batman: Arkham Shadow at first, it has quickly earned praise for effectively adapting the classic entries’ gameplay style and storytelling in VR form. It takes place sometime after Arkham Shadow and before Arkham Asylum, as shown by the appearance of multiple characters before they are famous villains, such as Harvey Dent, Harleen Quinzel, and Jonathan Crane.

The story of Batman: Arkham Shadow follows a young Batman during a dark period with Gotham City being in complete chaos due to the rise of a villain known as the Rat King. It plays out more like a mystery, with Batman fighting and investigating his way through Gotham and Blackgate Prison to uncover the identity of the Rat King before he unleashes an apocalypse on the city.

4 Batman: Arkham Underworld

The Mobile Game That Most People Forgot

The now-defunct mobile strategy game Batman: Arkham Underworld had the player controlling a rising kingpin in Gotham City, encountering everyone from The Riddler to Two-Face. The year in which it takes place is never clear, but it is confirmed to take place before Arkham Asylum, and with Two-Face and Harley Quinn featured, that means it takes place post-Arkham Shadow.

Arkham Underworld featured the debut of Carmine Falcone, a character who had been referenced before but never actually appeared. This character, as well as the game, would go mostly unnoticed as Arkham Underworld was taken down due to a lack of players, although he would return in Batman: Arkham Shadow.

5 A Matter Of Family (DLC Story)

The Arkhamverse Debut Of Barbara As Batgirl

Though it is not a standalone game, A Matter Of Family is the only DLC from Batman: Arkham Knight that takes place in the past, set months before the events of Arkham Asylum. Barbara Gordon is still Batgirl at this time, as she infiltrates Joker’s new base of operations to save her father Jim Gordon from the clown’s clutches.

Unlike the other DLC chapters in Batman: Arkham Knight, A Matter Of Family is extensive with an explorable map akin to Batman: Arkham Asylum. It showed that potential games starring members of the Bat-Family were possible and gave Barbara even more development as a character, finally showing her time as Batgirl which had only been referenced prior.

6 Batman: Arkham Asylum

The Original Game Started With A Veteran Batman

The game that started the Batman: Arkham franchise, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill making their epic return as the voices of Batman and the Joker. Batman: Arkham Asylum is set six years after the events of Arkham Origins, with Batman and Joker having been rivals for a long time and the titular hero already having an ensemble of villains that are locked up in Arkham.

With Paul Dini, the co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series working on the script, Batman: Arkham Asylumquickly became a beloved superhero game and part of that is due to its simple concept. Batman is stuck on Arkham Island with all his greatest foes, and he must stop them all. With dark yet beautiful visuals and fun gameplay, Arkham Asylum was a major success.

7 Batman: Arkham City

The Sequel That Showed That Sometimes Bigger Is Better

Set eighteen months after Arkham Asylum in December, Batman: Arkham City takes inspiration from films such as Escape From New York by having an entire section of Gotham City walled off and turned into a dystopian prison. Batman has been operating for eleven years at this point, and the DLC titled Harley Quinn’s Revenge ends the Arkham City storyline in January.

With a fully explorable version of Gotham City and improvements in nearly every aspect of the first game, Batman: Arkham City is considered a definitive sequel. It gave players more of Batman’s gadgets and villains to fight, all the while featuring a gripping storyline with various side quests.

8 Batman: Arkham VR

Inside The Mind Of A Broken Batman

The first attempt at bringing the Arkhamverse to the world of virtual reality was considered a mixed bag. There was little to no action in Batman: Arkham VR and it was more of a psychological horror from the point of view of Batman, but the game could be beaten in less than an hour, as it came out when modern VR was in its infancy.

It’s a little difficult to decipher when Batman: Arkham VR takes place at first, but as the story unfolds, it is clear by the end that it takes place between Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight. Batman is shown to be affected by Joker’s toxic blood and, by the end, Batman realizes that the Phantom Joker is slowly growing in his mind.

9 Batman: Arkham Knight

Batman Ended His Symphony Of Justice On A Dark Note

Originally intended to be the final game in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight features Batman ending his career in Gotham City on Halloween night, eight months after Arkham City. It is confirmed that the events of A rkham Origins happened ten years prior, confirming that Batman’s career only lasted about twelve years in the Arkhamverse.

Arkham Knight pits the Gotham Guardian against his greatest challenge yet, as Scarecrow and the mysterious Arkham Knight have taken over Gotham City with their high-tech militia. He also has to contend with multiple other villains as well as some of the scariest moments in the franchise. Several DLC chapters take place throughout a few months after that Halloween night.

10 Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

Not The Ending For Batman That Fans Expected

Despite its many controversies as a game and story, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is confirmed to be the next chapter in the Arkhamverse, set five years after Batman: Arkham Knight. After being exposed as Batman, Bruce Wayne leaves Gotham City and ends up meeting and joining the Justice League, who have now become slaves under Brainiac.

The live-service looter shooter also features Harley Quinn, the Penguin, and a new Poison Ivy who all have connections to previous Arkham games, but the main connective thread is Batman. The Dark Knight is one of the main antagonists and his story ends in a way that leaves many disappointed, but there is a chance that the character is alive and may return in future DLC for the game.