There is no shortage of completely mad villains in the DC universe.
And definitely no shortage of them in Gotham; Batman seems to attract the absolutely worst
of the worse, and luckily for the citizens of his city, most of those baddies end up
in speciality crafted holding cells in Arkham Asylum.
So today, we’re returning to our list of the top 10 most dangerous inmates in Arkham
Asylum, with a part 2!
While these villains are arguably a little less dangerous than the likes of the Joker
or Bane or Poison Ivy, all of the criminals on this list have proven themselves to be
deadly foes to the dark knight in the past, and are great threats to the public, and sometimes,
themselves.
So with that in mind, let’s get to it!
10 Mr Freeze There is no doubt that Mr Freeze, aka Victor
Fries, is one of Batman’s most deadly foes.
He’s a former cryogenics expert who got into a lab accident when trying to cure his
terminally ill wife.
He builds himself a criminal empire in order to have the funds to continue his research.
Freeze ends up at the bottom of our list primarily because he’s a villain who often cooperates
quite well with Arkham staff, and his tragic and complex nature often lends him to be a
more empathetic villain; compared to others on this list or our part one, Mr Freeze isn’t
really trying to vindictively kill others in Arkham.
On some occasions, he’s even been allowed to continue his research while locked up at
Arkham.
And, he’s considered one of the only sane inmates in the Asylum, primarily there because
of it’s intensive security and ability to have specialized holding cells, which Freeze
needs in order to maintain his body temperature and stay alive.
9 Two Face Harvey Dent first appeared in Detective Comics
issue 66 back in 1942, making him one of the longest running adversaries of Bruce Wayne’s.
After acidic chemicals are thrown at him during a court trail, the once Gotham City District
Attorney went insane, adopting the criminal persona of Two Face thanks to his appearance.
Becoming obsessed with the concepts of chance and fate, the character is often depicted
as schizophrenic, bipolar, or having some sort of dissociative identity disorder.
Meaning, he’s exactly the kind of individual who, based on his criminal record, needs to
be in Arkham, despite the facility’s extraordinary track record when it comes to not reforming
its inmates.
In his post crisis depiction, Dent had always had mental health issues, but managed to hide
them thanks to his unyielding work ethic.
Regardless of that, Two Face’s list of crimes is quite massive, and his unpredictability
makes him a force of nature that needs to be approached with severe caution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Face 8 Lex Luthor
Ah yes, the DCEU Lex Luthor.
Like much of the rest of the Batman versus Superman Dawn of Justice, Luthor got a whole
lot of hate for being a very weird depiction of the super villain.
He was sort of like the Joker meets the Riddler meets Jesse Eisenberg with a shaved head.
Anywho, he ended up getting thrown into Arkham, which is something that’s revealed in the
Ultimate Edition of the film, with some dialogue noting that Batman pulled some strings to
get him transferred there.
Lex managed to break out of Arkham after hearing about Superman’s resurrection and the formation
of the Justice League, proving once again that Arkham, even in it’s cinematic adaptations,
is super easy to break out of.
Seriously, how many times has the Joker broken out?
Yeah, it’s a lot.
https://screenrant.com/arkham-asylum-batman-prison-facts-trivia/ - 3
7 Deadshot Deadshot might not be the first character
to come to mind when you think of deadly Arkham inmates, but do not be fooled; he’s the
most dangerous assassin in Gotham City, and knows his way around a ton of fire arms, using
them as his main MO.
Initially, he found himself being locked away in Blackgate prison, but ended up being sent
over to Arkham when he proved that he required a special maximum security facility in order
to keep him in check.
6 The Riddler Edward Nigma first hit the scene in DC’s
comics back in 1948, in Detective Comics issue 140.
He’s a criminal mastermind with a genius level intellect capable of extraordinary lateral
thinking when it comes to formulating puzzles and decoding them.
Arguably, his deductive abilities give the Dark Knight a run for his money.
With no superhuman abilities, and relying on being a brilliant strategist, the Riddler
often gets real creative with his, well, riddles, and traps, making him someone that any ol
civilian or criminal needs to be extremely cautious when in close proximity to.
5 Doctor Phosphorus Hey you know what’s dangerous?
Someone who has burning skin!
And also emits toxic fumes.
And can manipulate radiation.
All things that are pretty unsettling for human beings in general, in my opinion.
So Doctor Phosphorus is a dude named Dr Alex Sartorius who first appeared in Detective
Comics issue 469 in 1977.
After a crack in a reactor core causes the doctor to get five million slivers of radioactive
hot sand into his body, his body burns forever, a power that he only gains better control
over when he sells his soul to Neron in order to be able to wear things like clothes.
He uses his powers to get revenge against those he blames as being responsible for his
terrible fate, which ends up leaving him to cross paths with good ol bats, with him being
tossed into Arkham.
He’s not a villain who generally makes the rounds a whole lot, but considering his condition,
he’s no doubt a danger to those around him.
4 Black Mask Back during the Battle for the Cowl event,
a pre-New 52 storyline.
Jeremiah Arkham, who was the chief psychologist and head administrator of Arkham Asylum, once
again lost his mind, and ended up taking on the identity of Black Mask after a project
to rebuild the asylum goes haywire.
Throughout the storyline, as we see Jeremiah becoming increasingly unhinged, it’s eventually
revealed that he’s actually Black Mask, thanks to being under the influence of Hugo
Strange and the Joker, and while there’s a brief moment where he appears he might return
to sanity, 3 Scarecrow
Scarecrow is the master of fear.
First appearing in Worlds Finest Comics issue 3 back in 1941, Jonathan Crane has occasionally
been depicted on alternate Earths as a staff member working at Arkham Asylum driven mad
by the environment.
But as far as the main continuity is concerned, he’s always been much more of an inmate.
Crane is an expert in psychology and biochemistry, and uses fear inducing drugs and toxins that
cause those affected to severely hallucinate, experiencing their worst nightmares.
He is quite literally addicted to fear, and one of the only things he himself fears is
Batman, which causes him to compulsively seek out confrontations with the Dark Knight.
And there’s nothing quite like an addiction to motivate you; causing trouble at Arkham
or attempting to break out isn’t out of the norm for him.
Perhaps the most terrifying iteration of the Scarecrow in Arkham Asylum comes from the
Arkhamverse video games.
The Scarecrow is featured in arguably one of the best and scariest boss battles in the
entire franchise, with Bruce experiencing extremely traumatizing moments based on his
past, all thanks to Scarecrow’s fear gas affecting him.
It’s an excellent level design, that really encompasses so much of what Batman is all
about, all while allowing the Scarecrow to really shine at his most deadliest.
2 Hugo Strange Hugo Strange is another example of a character
who has gone from being an Arkham staff member to someone who has gone mentally insane, depending
on which alternate earth depiction of him you’re looking at.
The character is one of Batman’s earliest reoccurring villains, having first appeared
in Detective Comics issue 36 back in 1940.
He debuted as a mad scientist bad guy who uses a concentrated lightning machine to create
dense fog in order to allow his gang to rob banks unseen.
Batman stops his plans, and Strange manages to set a trap for him, but eventually the
dark knight is victorious and ships him off to jail.
His next appearance featured him breaking out of the city asylum, prior to it being
given the name Arkham.
He uses five other inmates as test subjects, turning them into 15 foot monsters.
Post crisis, his origin story changed, with him initially helping the police taskforce
capture batman, becoming absolutely obsessed with the caped crusader.
He ends up using inmates from Arkham to test out his experiments before having a mental
breakdown of his own.
His obsession with Batman and his genius level intellect, along with his mastery of chemicals
and psychology, makes him a threat to anyone locked up with him; he’s been known to manipulate
the worst of individuals.
In addition to that, he plays a massive role in the Arhkam City video game, with him being
a ring master of sorts.
1 Bruce Wayne No one said this list had to be only bad guys.
Batman has been admitted to Arkham on several occasions.
And Bruce Wayne’s admission to Arkham is the entrance point for the storyline in Arkham
City in the Arkhamverse video games.
In that case, Bruce ends up getting admitted so he can put an end to the chaos that’s
now brewing inside of the newly established Arkham City, dragging him into a bigger ploy
by Doctor Strange and ultimately, the Joker, in what is arguably the best written game
of the series and one of the best superhero video games of all time.
Anywho, in the comics, Batman was once admitted to Arkham after Jeremiah Arkham had rebuilt
the facility in order to test out it’s effectiveness and functionality, which ultimately led to
Black Mask throwing Batman into a cage match against other inmates.
Generally, his stints in Arkham are voluntary, but that still does make him an inmate.
And hey, duno about you guys, but I definitely wouldn’t want to be locked up in there with
him.
Alright there we have it friends!
What other inmates do you think deserve to be on this list?
Give us a shout in those comments and share your thoughts!
And be sure to check out our part 1 if you haven’t already.
If you dug this video, hey, why not spread the love and hit that like button, and be
sure to subscribe and become part of the nerd squad!
We’d love it if you stuck around with us.
In the meantime though, thanks for tuning in!
I’ll catch you all in the next video!