DC Officially Confirms an Arkhamverse Villain Survived the Games

Warning: contains spoilers for Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #2!The Batman games’ Arkhamverse gave fans a brand-new version of Gotham City. Unconstrained by the continuity of comics, several characters got surprising endings, but one villain’s fate has baffled fans for over a decade. During the ending of Arkham City, one foe’s ultimate fate was left unclear, but fans finally know they survived what looked like a fatal accident.

During the finale of Arkham City, Batman battles the shapeshifting villain Clayface in the crumbling remains of the Monarch Theater. This fight eventually leads into the basement of the theater, where a Lazarus Pit is situated. During their battle, and in an attempt to stop Joker from using it, Batman destroys the Lazarus pit, and Clayface is caught in the explosion.

Clayface didn’t appear in the Arkham franchise after this point, which led tons of fans to believe he was killed in the explosion. But Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #2 by John Layman and Jesus Hervas shows Clayface perfectly alive and well during the riot in Arkham Asylum, showing that Clayface survived the games’ events.

Clayface Officially Survived Arkham City

DC Bridges the Gap Between Arkham Knight and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Arkham City was a huge showcase of Batman’s villains, with pretty much every major rogue accounted for. Throughout the game, Batman goes up against the Mad Hatter, Hugo Strange, the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Solomon Grundy, Two-Face, Riddler, Ra’s al Ghul, Bane, and Clayface. While most of these villains make it out of the game alive, not all of them do. The Joker had a famous death in Arkham City, which overshadowed the fact that many fans believed that Clayface died as well. Clayface was last seen being knocked into an exploding Lazarus pit, and then was notably absent from the game’s sequel, Batman: Arkham Knight.

Apparently, after the events of Arkham City, Clayface was simply recaptured at some point and brought back to Arkham, placed under Amanda Waller’s rule. Whether he suffered any side effects from the Lazarus pit is entirely unknown, though as the comic acts as a prelude to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it’s a concept DC may revisit eventually.

Clayface Lives On To Terrorize The Bat-Family

The Arkhamverse Still Has Plenty of Questions to Answer

The Arkham games have left tons of questions for fans. Things like what happened to Nightwing and Red Hood after the events of Arkham Knight? How did the world react to finding out Batman was Bruce Wayne? Some of these questions have been answered in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but most haven’t. While Clayface’s apparent death wasn’t the biggest unanswered question, it was something that weighed on fans for over a decade and now, fans finally know that the iconic Batman villain did in fact survive Arkham City.

Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #2 is on sale now from DC Comics!