Get ready to lay down on the couch and start talking about your mommy issues,
'cause this week, we're looking at the psychology of Batman villains.
♪Crazy by Britney Spears Covered by Richard Cheese♪
Hello internet, and welcome to Game Theory.
A full college course in useless information.
This week, to honor one of my most anticipated games at E3,
Arkham City,
we're putting my psychology degree to the test,
and looking at it's predecessor,
Arkham Asylum,
to see what makes Batman villains so, batty!
Why are these games placing so much emphasis on a hospital for the insane?
Can't Batman just send criminals to,
oh, I don't know, jail?
Are they truly loopy? Or does Gotham City not believe in prisons?
So, ALL ABOARRRRD!!!!!
The Crazy Train, cuz we're gonna find out.
We'll start off with Batman's most interesting nemesis,
The Joker.
His symptoms include:
blowing up buildings,
killing his own henchmen,
and wearing bright purple suits.
But we're not the fashion police here.
Instead, his biggest symptom is his desire to create chaos.
Think about it.
Does he ever really say why he wants to destroy Gotham?
Batman: "What are you really after?"
Joker: "Oh, nothing much.
Hundreds dying in pain and fear,
all their meaningless lives brought to a horrifying conclusion."
Not really,
he just hates "The Man".
This points directly to Antisocial Personality Disorder,
or APSD.
It's an illness characterized by rebellion against authority,
a trait The Joker has in *spades*.
(The sound of failure and bad puns.)
Those with APSD also feel no remorse for those they've hurt,
check;
and have chronic, crazy episodes,
another big check there.
Finally, people with Antisocial Personality Disorder tend to use multiple names.
So if "The Joker" wasn't enough of an alias, looking to the comics he's also known as red hood
looking to the comics he's also known as: Red Hood,
Joe Kerr,
and Clem Rusty,
a name he probably stole from The Dukes of Hazzard.
Can a mental hospital solve his problems?
Assuming he doesn't escape the pitiful security first,
probably not.
Therapy would only force him to interact with a psychiatrist,
an authority figure he would grow to resent.
Jail would be the better choice.
But that's only one of the looney tunes in this joint.
Case in point, Victor Zsasz.
A guy who randomly stabs people to death and cuts a tally into his own skin to keep count of his victims.
A real Man of the Year.
But is he crazy, or just emo?
We need to find the rest of his symptoms, and that means turning to the comics.
In Streets of Gotham it's revealed that Zsasz constantly hallucinates and sees everything in red.
On top of this,
Batman Chronicles #3 tells us:
he suffers from a gambling addiction,
was traumatized by the death of his parents,
and even once attempted suicide.
Wow, that was a downer of a sentence.
Here's a funny picture!
Now, I'm no doctor, but this cocktail of symptoms sounds a lot like Schizophrenia.
Which is defined by hallucinations,
addiction,
self-mutilation
and suicidal thoughts.
All of which go with Zsasz's backstory.
Arkham? Definitely a good place for him.
HOLD UP!
(Record Scratch)
This videos gone on too long without a sexy female, so let's check out Poison Ivy.
Who is definitely a little off kilter.
First, she has phytophilia,
which is the love of, and obsession with plant life.
However, true phytophiliacs tend to have sex with plants.
Now, maybe they cut this out of the comics and games, but-
(Screaming)
It wouldn't surprise me
However, there is no question about her having a disease known as Histrionic Personality Disorder.
What does that mean?
It occurs most often in women,
and involves overly emotional and dramatic behavior designed to attract attention.
In other words, Diva syndrome. sexual forward ness is a key symptom and yep
Sexual forwardness is a key symptom and, yep, Ivy's got that.
What else?
Well, dressing provocatively,
Yes.
Being overly seductive,
I'd say so.
Rapid mood swings,
Poison Ivy: "Oww!"
(Screaming)
"That looks so much better."
Definitely.
And my favorite, thinking relationships are more intimate than they are,
Just look at the way she view her relationship with Batman in any comic, game, or movie.
Talk therapy is the best treatment for Histrionic Personality Disorder,
so her treatment at Arkham would really, *take root*.
(The sound of failure and bad puns, again.)
Mmf.
And now for this week's mind-blowing revelation.
Of all the loonies in Arkham, guess who's the sanest, and the smartest.
Give up?
It's Bane. yep bane the guy you defeat by letting him run headfirst into Walls
Yep, Bane.
The guy you defeat by letting him run headfirst into walls.
Other than his addiction to venom, he doesn't actually exhibit any symptoms of mental illness.
But that's not all. what's truly shocking
What's truly shocking is that according to the "Bane of the Demon" storyline,
Bane has Eidetic Memory,
better known as Photographic Memory.
According to the series: he's an expert in various scientific disciplines,
knows eight languages fluently, and figured out Batman's identity in a year in other words a real bane in the neck
and figured out Batman's identity in a year.
In other words,
a real Bane in the neck.
(The sound of failu-
Oh, okay, okay enough. I'm done. I'm done, I promise.
In short, Bane would be just as dangerous at Trivial Pursuit as he is in hand-to-hand combat.
Something that never really came across in the game's portrayal of the guy.
But don't scrape that brain matter off the walls just yet, because it's time,
for my final thought.
We've spent a lot of time analyzing Batman's Bevy of Supervillains,
But what about The Caped Crusader himself?
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung theorized that those with identity crises develop complexes,
one of which is the Hero Syndrome,
a pathological need to help others.
Sound familiar?
But those suffering from the complex tend to set up dangerous situations so that they can save people.
Batman doesn't do that, right?
Right?
Think about it.
Each time The Joker, Poison Ivy, Bane, or any of these get guys get caught
Batman throws them in Arkham. a minimum-security
A minimum security hospital, practically a revolving door for the criminals of Gotham,
rather than a maximum-security prison where they belong.
Each time they escape more lives are put in danger, and they *always* escape.
Which gives Batman the chance to be hero, all over again.
So this Guardian of Gotham may have a little crazy in him.
But hey, that's just a theory, a Game Theory.
Thanks for watching!
♪I Whupped Batman's *** by Wesley Willis♪