Rocksteady’s brilliant Batman Arkham game series may be on ice, but the fantastic action games are still inspiring new projects. After inspiring elements of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the now-classic action titles are serving as a major inspiration for DC’s upcoming Clayface film.
Alongside the brilliant 1989 comic book story Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Rocksteady’s treatment of the character within its game series has struck a chord with the film’s primary star, Matt Hagen.
Within the Arkham games, Basil Karlo’s transformation into Clayface occurs sometime between Arkham Origins and the original Arkham Asylum. It’s clear from their appearance within the original games that their transformation has also resulted in a severe mental break, and the supplementary materials you can find across the Asylum tell a rather heartbreaking story.
In Arkham City, however, Clayface plays a central role in the ongoing story, even telling Batman that he’s finally been given the “role of a lifetime” as he uses his skills to play The Joker. Really, Clayface doesn’t get much play within the four games outside of the documents and audio logs you discover, but it’s those background materials that have inspired Hagen’s take on the character.
Hagen explains that Clayface’s story within the games is “a really effective and psychologically jarring moment” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Of course, the aforementioned Arkham Asylum comic book also served as a key text, adding that there’s “ something so effective and disturbing about those illustrations in that story”.
Honestly, the Rocksteady Arkham games have served as inspirations for new Batman stories since their inception. While many point to Nolan’s Batman trilogy of films as a turning point for Batman, many have explicitly picked bits from the Rocksteady games to transform into new comics, animations, games, films, and more.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to see more Batman Arkham games in the future, although the VR sequel Arkham Shadow 2 has been sadly scrapped. Following Rocksteady’s abysmal failure with Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, we may be in with a chance of seeing another Arkham entry, but that’s not confirmed right now.
