Batman: Arkham Asylum has a surprising number of similarities to Die Hard, the iconic 1988 action film. Although police officer John McClane, portrayed by Bruce Willis, becomes something akin to a superhero in some of Die Hard's more over-the-top sequels, he's more or less an average person thrust into becoming a hero in the first movie. Rocksteady Studios' version of Bruce Wayne has been wearing the cowl for quite a few years by the time Arkham Asylum begins, but the narrative framework and details in the game's presentation share quite a few facets with Die Hard.

Just like John McClane not expecting to become embroiled in a terrorist plot on Christmas Eve, the opening sequence of Batman: Arkham Asylum sees the Batman unwittingly pulled into the Joker's latest plot. The two evil schemes themselves are comparable, creating similar narratives that surround the trapped heroes. In Die Hard, Hans Gruber has created a hostage situation at Nakatomi Plaza in a bid to manipulate the FBI into shutting down the power grid, a common anti-terrorist tactic. McClane was already aware that Gruber and his cronies are trying to break into a vault tied directly to the power grid, with electromagnetic locks being the last obstacle between them and the bearer bonds inside.

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In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Joker has similarly duped the authorities, with Batman the only one suspicious of an ulterior plan. A mole inside the Arkham Asylum security personnel was responsible for a fire at Blackgate Prison, which resulted in an inordinate number of inmates at the Asylum as prisoners were relocated. The game's limited setting is part of what Arkham Asylum did better than Arkham City, and allows for the reveal that the Joker only returned to the island to retrieve the TITAN serum, which he had been secretly funding the development of. Just like in Die Hard, the only person able to foil the clever plot is the main character that has been isolated with the villain and knows what the real goal is.

Arkham Asylum's Batman Is Just Like Die Hard's John McClane

Both Die Hard's John McClane and Arkham Asylum's Batman crawl through air ducts and have their clothes gradually degrade

The banter between hero and villain is instrumental in both stories. The Joker is constantly antagonizing Batman the same way Gruber is derisive toward McClane, calling him a cowboy and suggesting he's watched too many American action movies. In both, two sets of adversaries are constantly in contact, even though they rarely interact with each other directly prior to the final showdown. Arkham's returning Batman: The Animated Series voice actors, specifically Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, helped establish a chemistry that matches that of the one shared between Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman.

Aside from how the two lead pairs similarly clash, Die Hard and Batman: Arkham Asylum have an odd number of commonalities in visual depiction. Both Batman and McClane crawl through air ducts while avoiding detection, a very unrealistic trope that has become common in both movies and video games. The physical toll on each character is also shown in great examples of visual continuity. McClane's clothes become soiled and bloody as the movie goes on, and Batman's cape is filled with an increasing number of holes as he encounters more of Arkham Asylum's villains, some better than the Joker. Both works also notably take place over the course of only a single night. Bruce Wayne may not have a machine gun in Batman: Arkham Asylum, but many of these other similarities make it DC's version of Die Hard.

Next: Batman: Arkham Ignored BTAS’ Most Important Lesson