Batman: Arkham Origins

Batman: Arkham Origins is a game developed by WB Montreal Studios in 2013. Though it's the third installment in the Batman Arkham series, it is, story-chronologically, a prequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) and Batman: Arkham City (2011).

Bruce Wayne/Batman

• [While beating Black Mask up] By my count, there are still nine more ribs I can break.
• [While confronting Killer Croc] You want teeth?! I want answers.
• [After beating Black Mask up] I can control your pacemaker remotely. Wanna see what two hundred and fifty beats per minute feels like?
• [Scanning the bank manager's dead body in detective mode] The laughter was a side effect of a poison. She wasn't laughing - she was dying. If I had known she was poisoned, I might have been able to save her.

Roman Sionis/Black Mask

• [While looking at Copperhead beating Batman] Kill him and I'll pay whatever you want. Make him suffer and I'll double it.
• [Running while Batman fights Copperhead] Couple a'freaks. You two deserve each other.

The Joker

• [repeatedly bashes Roman with his gun, as Black Mask] CAN'T…YOU JUST…PLAY ALONG!?!
• Do you hear that? Sounds like eight tiny reindeer.
• I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Must be a bad connection. I thought I heard you say that after I SHOT HIM, and BLEW UP a building on him, THE BAT- SOMEHOW SURVIVED?!!?
• I'm the guy with the money… And the gun!
• So, when I hire you to kill the Batman, you SHUT THE HELL UP AND KILL THE BATMAN!
• Mmmm! This fruitcake is fantastic! Anyone want a piece?
• Do they even have manners where he comes from? You see, it's a tradition in my house-to open one present each on Christmas Eve. Hmm…How about…this one? [blows up a building, then laughs evilly and sings a bit of "The 12 Days of Christmas"] And a partridge in a pear treeee!
• NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A PARTY! [fires his machine gun at a helicopter]
• [after Batman saved him from falling to his death as he didn't want to be saved] Now...Why? Why? Why would you do that? Newsflash: I'm the one who's trying to kill you! [shoots and kills two of his minions; points his pistol at Batman] Those were two very, VERY bad men. The things they've done… [clicks tongue] You really don't want to know. They deserved death-just like me.
• You of all people should know, there's nothing so cruel as memory…. the pointy biting little thunderbolts, unwanted party crashers, SCREAMERS through your synapses.. inescapable, unrelenting…. not at all friendly. You can't even escape into MADNESS!
• I feel adrift- floating -like someone's pulled the stopper on my reality and I'm SUCKED down the drain into something new. It's all very exciting really. You wouldn't know what that feels like, I'm sure.
• It's like meeting someone I can actually relate to-…which believe me, dear, I've NEVER felt before. You understand. You're someone who's not afraid to let go-and fall. Free falling. And I didn't pack a chute.
• What our friend Bane holds in his hand is-a heart monitor. Once he clamps it on, every beat of his vacant little heart will charge the battery-…on this electric chair. And when it's fully charged-[mimicks being electrocuted]
• Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim. Have a seat, Jimbo. We'll fry together - like two little potato latkes.
• Well, I'd love to stay and celebrate your victory, but I've got stockings to stuff, mistletoe to hang, and about 15 skyscrapers to blow up before sunrise. Ciao! [runs away, laughing]
• [fighting Batman] You just can't get through your thick skull! WE BOTH EXIST BECAUSE OF THEM!
• Come on, baby! Beat me 'til your knuckles bleed… And why quit there? You know there's only one way to stop me.

Lonnie Machin/Anarky

• [Introduction] Oppressed citizens of Gotham, your cries for help have been heard! I am Anarky - voice of the people - here to save you from the plague of corruption that now infests this once proud city! Those hired and elected to keep us free and safe won't lift a finger. And why would they? They've been bought and paid for, encouraged to turn a blind eye! If they won't act, I will! At dawn's first light, the sources of Gotham's ruin WILL. BE. DESTROYED! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming of propaganda and consumerist garbage.
• [Contacting Batman] Hello, Batman. I was hoping to get a minute of your time. See, I've got a story to tell you. About crime and violence. Greed and vengeance. But it's also a story of redemption. Of second chances. Of change. I've planted three bombs where Gotham's corruption is at it's strongest. But unlike those I fight to overthrow, I believe in choice. So, I offer you one: Let them detonate or stop them. Your actions will determine what I do with you.
• [Monologue after being defeated.] You ever wonder how things got to be so bad here? I do. All the time.

You see- I don't think men like Roman Sionis or Oswald Cobblepot are responsible. They're just a reflection of our apathy. Our greed. Our fear. We look the other way when things turn sour. Bury ourselves in our jobs. Consume propaganda masquerading as entertainment. The message is always the same: Don't think. Don't question. And what becomes of a society that's given up? It rots. Fills up with liars, cheaters, and thugs. Uptown and downtown. The suit in the penthouse is no better than the guy selling drugs on the corner. They're both doing whatever it takes to get ahead - never mind the cost.

Fidelity. Once upon a time that's what defined society. People coming together in pursuit of common cause. To care for each other. To protect and provide. We took shelter from the darkness - and the things that roamed it. Community meant progress. But now... It's all backwards. We worship at the altar of competition. We build fortresses around ourselves. We fight. We betray. We have become the things we feared.

You keep cleaning up after everyone Batman, and no one's going to learn to take care of themselves. The ones that don't hate you - they'll start to rely on you. Depend on you. And if something happens to you? If you get old? Or bored? Or die? Then what? Or do you not consider the world that revolves around you?

You're a hypocrite. Running around 'dispensing justice'. Telling people what they can and can't do. You're ensuring Gotham's freedom - provided it conforms to your twisted view. Whatever pleases the Bat. That it? You're not a hero. You're a despot. You don't enforce justice. You suppress it. There's a way to make this work. To show you that we share the same goals. Maybe I took things too far with the bombs and the threats. I can learn from that. I mean, you could be a mentor to me. And maybe, well, maybe *I* can teach you something too. Because I think you're so busy playing hero you've forgotten what it's like for the rest of us. We're not all as strong as you. We don't have the fancy gadgets. The strength. The skill. But maybe that's the problem. You've gotten so used to the power, you think you're better than everyone. Above reproach. Is that it, then? We're not as good as you?

You know what - I take it back. I don't want to work with you. You don't have anything to offer. I think I've figured it out. You didn't take me down because I broke the law. No. No, you took me down because you don't want the competition? That's what this is is really about isn't it. Let me ask you something - you ever wonder if YOU'RE the reason this city's so messed up? Because I have. A lot of us have... And I'm starting to think we're right.

Dialogue

[After being poisoned]

Batman: What did you do to me?

Copperhead: I killed you. And in a few minutes, your body will realize it. Heh, that's it, use your strength. With every effort you hasten your end.

---

[As Batman prepares to leave the Batcave, Alfred, out of nowhere, intercepts him.]

Alfred: Master Bruce. Stop. Master Bruce. BRUCE!

Bruce Wayne: What are you-

Alfred: I will not in good conscience allow you to go! You are outmatched by these assassins and-

Bruce Wayne: I'm what?

Alfred: You're not some hardened vigilante! You're a young man with a trust fund and too much anger! You are in over your head and I don't want this to be your end.

Bruce Wayne: (beat) Alfred, who do you see when you look at me? The boy whose shoes you used to tie every morning? The teenager you drove to his first date? While you are here every night, I am out there... the only thing between the innocent and the predatory...

Alfred: You may be, but...

Bruce Wayne: No, not "may be". I am! When the mugger or the thief stop to think twice, that is fear. That is what I am. That is why they hired assassins - because I am the reason the criminals breathe easier when the sun rises. So no, Alfred, I am NOT in over my head. Tonight will not be my end. But it will be theirs!

---

[Batman detonates the explosive gel and confronts Black Mask and his minions in the vault; Black Mask's minions points their guns at him]

Black Mask: Think you can just waltz into my bank, huh?

Batman: Roman, I'm here for the Joker.

Black Mask: The Joker? Never heard of him. [to the Bank Manager] How 'bout you, doll? [puts his gun in her face] Know the Joker?

Bank Manager: The who? [begins to laugh maniacally]

[one of the henchmen brings a man with a bag over his head]

Black Mask: And you, sir? Name Joker ring a bell?

[He pulls the bag off to reveal the real Roman Sionis with duct tape on his mouth. Black Mask then rips the tape off]

Roman Sionis: You sunova bitch! You think you can steal from me and get away with it? You're a dead man! Dead!

Black Mask: [hits Sionis repeatedly] CAN'T...YOU JUST...PLAY ALONG!?! [continues to beat him]

Bank Manager: [continues laughing maniacally] You're insane!

[The minions then drag Sionis and throw him into a truck; Black Mask then takes off his mask to reveal himself as The Joker]

Batman: It's been you this whole time-you hired the assassins. You've been running Sionis' operation.

Joker: Well, technically, it's *my* operation now. Isn't that right boys?

[The minions put on clown masks]

Batman: You've got me. Now let her go.

Joker: Oh, life would be so simple if you were all I ever wanted. No-you're just a teeny little distraction-compared to what I've got up my sleeve. [laughs as he shoots his gun at Batman] Here! Have a laugh on me. [shoves the laughing Bank Manager at him] You here that? Sounds like eight tiny reindeer. [drives off with his minions as he activates the detonator which causes bombs to blow up]

[Batman grabs the manager and jumps out of the vault as the bomb explodes]

Batman: [coming to his senses and checks the Bank Manager's pulse] She's dead.

---

[Gotham City Royal Hotel; Batman watches a security camera in a hotel room with villains having a meeting by The Joker]

Joker: [as Black Mask] Friends, assassins. Welcome to our first quarterly performance review. As you can see here: Batman deaths are coming in far below projections. We are really going to have to turn this around. [takes off and throws the mask in Electrocutioner's hands while playing a game on his phone; normal voice] And by we, I mean YOU. Got that, Mr… Cutioner?

Electrocutioner: Just who the hell - are you?

Joker: I'm the guy with the money… [pulls out his pistol] And the gun! [shoots his pistol several times at Electrocutioner, but deliberately doesn't aim at him] So when I hire you to kill the Batman, you SHUT THE HELL UP AND KILL THE BATMAN! So, do you have-anything-else to contribute? I didn't think so. [kicks Electrocutioner through the window, screaming, as he falls to his death; slices off and eats a piece of fruitcake] Mmmm! This fruitcake is fantastic! [stabs a knife in the table] Anyone want a piece? Alright. Meeting's adjourned. Get out there and kill the Bat. [the villains all leave the hotel room except Bane, who is in no hurry] Move it along, big boy!

Bane: No, he's coming for you now. [gets up and walks towards in front of Joker] And when he gets here, I'm going to kill him. So YOU wait. [pushes Joker into a chair]

Joker: [laughing] Well, this should be interesting! Whee!

---

Dr. Harleen Quinzel: My name's Harleen. Harleen Quinzel.

Joker: What a pretty name. Do your friends call you Harley?

Dr. Harleen Quinzel: Oh, I don't have a lot of friends.

Joker: Well, Harley, you got one now.

---

[Batman walks in the prison chapel and begins to confront the Joker]

Joker: Oh bats… [cackling and laughing maniacally] What a night! [Batman grabs and lifts him up] Fresh off a kill and back for more, eh?

Batman: Bane's still alive.

Joker: [takes out the heart monitor] Now that's not FUNNY. [throws the heart monitor on the ground, punches Batman in the face, and points his gun at him] All this - all this rage. All directed at me, and for what? You know if you'd actually let me finish a sentence, You might learn something. You might learn that we're not so different. You might even learn something about yourself.

Batman: You need to learn to shut up.

Joker: You know it's sad, really-makes me feel like you don't care to see the good side of me. Well, I guess learning is a lot to ask from you, meat-for-brains.