The Batman: Arkham games pay tribute to every part of the DC Universe both in their stories and in their many Easter eggs and references, including villains that most have never heard of. Batman as a character has been around for a long time, and has passed to and from multiple creative hands, all of whom had different ideas on what the perfect Caped Crusader villain looks like. Obviously, some were more successful than others, but the Arkham games left no stone unturned when it came to referencing them.
Batman: Arkham is stuffed to bursting with Easter eggs and secrets. From the movies, to the TV shows, and of course the comics, alternate suits, Batmobile designs, and Easter eggs ensure that no rock of the character's lore is left unturned. However, this means that a lot of villains don't appear in the games physically, and were instead referenced through the aforementioned environmental details.
Even though Black Mask is Batman: Arkham's biggest running joke, he has far more screen time than other villains that have faced off against the Dark Knight over the decades. However, that doesn't mean the games can't at least reference them throughout the series. There are three obscure Batman villains in particular who have Easter eggs hidden throughout the games that players might have missed.
Prometheus Appears On A Wanted Poster In Batman: Arkham Asylum
Many of Batman's villains act as dark reflections of the character, from Mister Freeze and his consuming grief, to the Joker and the chaos he represents. Then there's Prometheus, whose origins are a near one-to-one match with Bruce Wayne's. His real name isn't given in the Batman: Arkham games, but Prometheus watched his parents being gunned down by the police at a young age. He then trained himself to the apex of human ability and intellect to get revenge, dedicating himself to a life of crime
Much like another subtle DC Easter egg in Batman: Arkham Knight, Prometheus is hinted at through a clipping on the wall in Arkham Asylum. Unlike that other Easter egg, however, it's a little easier to find Prometheus' since it's part of the Riddler's side-mission. Prometheus' picture is the solution to the riddle, "Prometheus, Arkham guards' most wanted and most hated." His wanted picture is, naturally, found on a guard's corkboard.
Batman: Arkham City's Villain Hideouts Hint At The Broker
Part of what makes the Batman: Arkham games so good at fanservice is that they use the fanservice and Easter eggs to expand and further the world they create. Case in point, one often asked question about Batman and other superheroes is how the villains keep managing to get their hands on private property. Batman: Arkham City gives the answer in the same way it foreshadowed the return of Scarecrow: by subtly leaving clues for the player to find.
In Zsasz's hideout, there are cards strewn along the floor with the word "Broker" in large bold lettering. On Scarecrow's secret hideout hidden within the tugboat in the bay, there is a note reading "Mr. Fine will give all that you require." Finally, after completing the final Riddler Room, Oracle informs Batman that Nygma got the rooms from one Sherman Fine, aka The Broker. The Broker is the money launderer who handles and secures the funds for multiple supervillains in the Batman universe. This is especially interesting since The Broker first appeared in Gotham City Sirens, which was written by Batman: Arkham City's writer, Paul Dini. While he's a Batman villain yet to make a physical game appearance, these hints at his existence and his role in the city's gang war are interesting.
Ratcatcher Is The Hardest Easter Egg Of All In Batman: Arkham Knight
As shown in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, there are a surprising number of people who have inherited the mantle of The Ratcatcher. However, the Batman: Arkham games are only interested in the original, Otis Flannegan, a former rat catcher turned rat-themed supervillain. Not a villain most would call threatening, until the realization hits that in a New York-esque sprawling metropolis like Gotham City, a man who can control rats would be potentially unstoppable. However, this potential was never really explored for the character, leading to him falling by the wayside. Even so, the Batman: Arkham games hinted at Ratcatcher in cool and unique ways, starting with Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The first hint at the Ratcatcher in Arkham Asylum comes via a cleverly hidden Riddler clue, and in Batman: Arkham Knight, his gloves and mask can be found on a desk in the GCPD. Far more interesting, however, is his other Arkham Knight Easter egg. This Easter egg can only be found by clipping through the floor in a specific scripted part of the game, in this case, the Riddler room Numeracy 101. Once in the room with Catwoman, the player must clip through the floor, wherein they will find a bunch of floating monitor screens that come together to form the image of the Ratcatcher. This isn't the same kind of worldbuilding hint as Batman: Arkham Asylum's secret tablets foreshadowing Quincy Sharpe's fall to madness, but rather a fun Easter egg utilizing an underrepresented villain from Batman's rogues gallery. It would make for an awesome twist if this was a hint at his role in the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but for now, Ratcatcher remains only hinted at in the Arkhamverse.
Batman: Arkham's Easter eggs displayed a love and care for the source material, but also a respect for player choice by making them so well hidden and a restraint by keeping them as Easter eggs and nothing more significant. These villains will likely never find their way into the main rogues gallery of Batman villains, but they are part of his universe and mythos and should be treated as such. Then again, a few scant decades ago, the same was said of characters like Mister Freeze, so anything is possible. Either way, these Batman: Arkham Easter eggs also show how dense with content Rocksteady's games were, with each of them being very easy to miss if the player isn't dedicated enough to discovering everything. Hopefully, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League can continue this tradition of the Batman: Arkham series when it releases in 2023.