Batman Arkham City Launch Trailer

As far as announcements and villain reveals for Batman: Arkham City go, Rocksteady has decided to remain silent with the little time left before the game's release next week. In fact, the reveal for the Mad Hatter was discovered completely by accident. Of course, the dam could burst anytime now that the Xbox 360 version of the game has been leaked. However, the newly released launch trailer for Batman: Arkham City features some choice bits of dialog that, when combined with other information known about the game, paints an interesting picture. Albeit, one painted with nothing but speculation.

The new launch trailer features narration from Dr. Hugo Strange, who seems to be profiling Batman.  Strange's rhetorical questions seem to send a subtle message that perhaps Batman himself belongs with the rest of the Arkham inmates. The narration switches to someone else (possibly Calendar Man?) about halfway through the trailer. There's more that could be said, but we'll stand aside for now and show the trailer embedded below:

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Let's start with some choice quotes from the trailer. First off, we finally get to hear Talia al Ghul's voice. The sentence she utters to Batman goes against his biggest principle.

"You must show you are willing to take a life."

Things must be desperate in Arkham City if Batman is being asked to consider lethal action. Who these actions would be directed against is still up in the air. However, Talia could just be manipulating Batman on behalf of Ra's al Ghul. Looking at Strange, he too has some choice quotes in the trailer. One in particular hints at the conspiracy underlying his control over Arkham City.

"I have powerful friends, Batman. This is just the beginning."

Strange could be hinting at something that spans this game, and provides the set up for the next installment. But who could these powerful friends be? Is he talking about the deals he's made with the underworld figures such as Penguin or Joker? We would like to posit a different theory: perhaps Dr. Strange is conspiring with the League of Shadows.

Sure, it may sound a bit far fetched, but the achievement list for Arkham City has one specific achievement called "Sand Storm: We are legion." Another word for a legion is league, and the League of Shadow's base of operations is situated within the deserts of the Middle East, according to the comic books. This would lend credence to the theory regarding a Ra's al Ghul reveal in the game. Again, however, this is all just speculation to keep our mental wheels turning and detective mode engaged until the game shows up on store shelves next week.

Batman: Arkham City will be released October 18th for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The PC version will be released November 8th.

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