Who wants to knock some sense into criminals while wearing the same thing every night? Batman certainly wouldn’t, and gamers shouldn’t, either. As a result, Batman was given a plethora of alternate skins across the Batman: Arkham games. These skins ranged from iconic designs from the comics and movies to obscure costumes or even new designs altogether.
As with any wide selection, there are going to be ones that stand out from the others. On the opposite side, there are the skins that don’t quite capture the essence of Batman or don’t feel particularly compelling.
Updated on March 30th, 2022 by Melody MacReady: Batman is indeed the star of the Arkham games so it makes sense that he was given the most amount of skins. However, this led to characters like Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and the Bat-Family becoming overshadowed. Especially since not all of Batman’s skins were on the same level of quality as others.
Much like Batman himself, the other playable characters were given as many less-than-stellar skins as they were given iconic ones. One of them never even got to have any alternate skins, something that Gotham Knights will hopefully improve upon with its use of the Bat-Family.
The Best Batman Suits
Harley Quinn – Batman: Arkham Knight
Updating Harley Quinn to a more modern design led to Rocksteady mixing elements from newer comics and mixing elements of her original design into one new skin. This was even way before Margot Robbie’s take on the character and it matches the kind of outfits seen in her films.
As a result, this suit from Batman: Arkham Knight looks and feels ahead of its time. Combined with Tara Strong’s now-iconic performance as Harley, makes this skin a modern classic for fans of the character.
Batman Incorporated – Batman: Arkham City/Arkham Knight
The skins included in Arkham City had a wide variety of art styles and design choices. The Batman Incorporated suit’s entire design and art style fits closer to that of the game itself, and this made the Batman Incorporated skin look like something that Batman would wear.
On top of that, the detail in the suit, with different armor pieces and linings, gives it a realistic look that retains what fans love about the iconic Batman visage, similar to Ben Affleck’s Batman. This suit made a return in Arkham Knight as a free DLC that looked even better with the updated visuals.
Batman Earth-2 – Batman: Arkham Knight
The final suit ever added to Arkham Knight, the Earth-2 suit was added to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the game. Sadly, this skin based on a Thomas Wayne version of Batman is only available for PlayStation owners.
Still, the design itself is translated well with a mix of black, dark grey, and red that’s reminiscent of Adam West’s color scheme for his tech. The red eyes are always a nice touch on multiple suits in Arkham Knight and the texturing of the suit is unique, similar to the treads on tires.
XE Batsuit – Batman: Arkham Origins
If a player owns the Cold, Cold Heart story pack for Arkham Origins, one of the Arkham series’ best DLC about Batman’s first encounter with Mr. Freeze. During the story, Mr. Freeze’s ice and exo-suit prove too powerful for Batman, so he dons the Extreme Environment Batsuit, aka the XE Batsuit.
This suit is a powerhouse both in terms of strength and design. The orange glow gives it extra flavor, the mechanized armor makes it look imposing, and the new cowl with a mouth plate is like a cherry on top. The only thing holding this suit back is that it is only available in Cold, Cold Heart.
Arkham Origins Batsuit – Batman: Arkham Origins/Arkham Knight
Of all four games, the underappreciated Arkham Origins had easily the best base suit for Batman. It was armored and more realistic while still keeping the comic book elements that make Batman’s overall design so iconic.
The utility belt and other typically yellow pieces were given a new metallic black that was refreshing. In a way, it was a better-realized version of what Christopher Nolan was going for with his movies. As a result, fans loved the suit so much that it returned in Arkham Knight, where it looked even better.
Batman Beyond – Batman: Arkham Knight
Though there was a skin based on Batman Beyond in Arkham City, the revamped Batman Beyond skin in Arkham Knight is vastly different. That is a good thing, as everything about the suit in Arkham Knight feels like it could have been the model for a new Batman Beyond movie.
The armor is familiar to what fans know, but it’s given an Arkhamverse upgrade. The face mask covers Batman’s mouth, but Batman’s lips are somewhat visible through the mesh. Fans gravitated toward this suit when Arkham Knight came out, with so many walkthroughs on YouTube having the skin through most of the story.
Batgirl – Batman: Arkham Knight
There are so many looks that Batgirl has had in the comics, let alone Barbara Gordon. So it’s a shame that Batgirl only received one skin in Arkham Knight but as a bonus, it is a really good one. It essentially takes the black and gold suit from Gail Simone’s iconic run of Batgirl and puts an Arkhamverse twist to it.
The armor is sleek with the design presenting both functionality and style mixed together in a proper balance. In that way, the suit would be fitting for Leslie Grace’s Batgirl but as a video game skin, it does the job is introducing a beloved female hero to the Arkhamverse.
Justice League 3000 – Batman: Arkham Knight
Red and black suits seem to work with Batman. Exclusive for PlayStation users, the Justice League 3000 skin shows a futuristic Batman of the thirty-first century. This Batman features a hexagonal nanomesh pattern across the red bodysuit to give it some flair, the symbol is massive but well implemented into the suit.
The whole skin features a mechanized design that makes it look perfectly futuristic. With no reused assets, it’s great to see a suit from top to bottom that balances that fine line between fresh and iconic.
Batman Suits That Are Never Used
Injustice Batman – Batman: Arkham Origins
Considering that Injustice: Gods Among Us came out the same year as Batman: Arkham Origins, it made sense that Batman and Deathstroke would get promotional skins. However, the problem with that is that Batman had one of the more questionable designs in Injustice.
It’s just so busy in terms of design with so many layers of armor and paneling, almost as if they were taking The Dark Knight Batsuit and dialing its armor to the max. Despite having so much going on to the point of going overboard, there is also nothing that particularly stands out as a result.
Sinestro Corps – Batman: Arkham City
While far from awful, the Sinestro Corps suit just seems tacked on for a suit based on a corps on the Emotional Spectrum. For the most part, it looks like a basic Batman suit, but spray-painted yellow. Even the cowl seems to be the same cowl as the Batman Incorporated skin.
A nice touch that could have enhanced this skin would be if Batman was glowing with the yellow power of fear. An example of well-done glowing armor can be shown in the upcoming Gotham Knights game.
Zur En Arrh Batman – Batman: Arkham Knight
Arkham Knight features two skins that became free DLC in 2020. One was the Anime Batman skin, which received a mixed reception with fans, but the other one was hardly given a second thought: Zur En Arrh aka Alien Batman.
It’s a very cartoonishly ugly design that does not fit with Batman’s otherwise fierce exterior. The amount of detail put into the cloth is appreciable, but most gamers rarely ever touched this suit other than to get a slight laugh.
1990s Catwoman
Of all the dozens of designs that DC has given Catwoman over the years, why settle with this one? The massive ponytail looks ridiculous on a realistic character and the leather-like suit makes her look more like an exotic dancer.
Arkham Knight included a skin based on Julie Newmar’s Catwoman, so why not a Michelle Pfeiffer or Anne Hathaway costume to match the Batman skins of the same franchises? In the comics, this 1990s suit worked with the stylistic artwork but in the ultra-fine detailed video game, it mostly just looks goofy.
Original Arkham Nightwing – Batman: Arkham City/Arkham Knight
Nightwing was already one of the least used playable characters; it was mainly due to his bland gameplay and having zero dialogue but the look didn’t exactly help. While not terrible, especially with the enhanced detail of Arkham Knight, there is nothing that particularly stands out with the Arkham City Nightwing.
It’s a basic black suit, a bluebird insignia, and a mask. It doesn’t properly represent any famous design from the comics nor does it have enough flavor to make it distinct as an Arkhamverse Nightwing. Thankfully, that was fixed with his base design in Arkham Knight.
The Dark Knight 2008 Skin – Batman: Arkham Knight
Christian Bale’s second suit was added to Arkham Knight. Unfortunately, the changes it makes to the Batman character model are awkward. Batman is much skinnier, his face is being smashed by the cowl, and the overall design of the suit did not fit.
It is an accurate replication of Christian Bale’s live-action Batman suit, but that look was designed for Nolan’s hyper-realistic take on Batman. In Arkham Knight, it feels out of place, especially in the cutscenes.
Dark Knight Of The Round Table – Batman: Arkham Origins
This one is just confusing; of all the skins to use, why this obscure and ugly thing? It’s not as if the suit was given some flashy Batman elements to help it stand out. It’s simply a medieval knight’s armor with bat symbols super-imposed onto it.
Even the cowl is just a reused asset from another suit but given a blue recolor with red eyes. Overall, it’s just an unappealing suit that could have been used for something more iconic. The best thing to come from it is a light chuckle from seeing a medieval knight running around Gotham City.
Prestige Batsuit – Batman: Arkham Knight
Also known as Batsuit V8.05, the player has to one hundred percent complete Batman: Arkham Knight on all modes to prestige to two hundred forty percent. What is the great reward for prestige? It’s the basic Batsuit from the story but given a yellow symbol.
A suit that basic is far from worth the arduous grind of completing the story three times, and this includes getting all of Riddler’s tedious puzzles and trophies.
