New Arkham City Trailer Raises New Questions, Drips with Awesome Sauce

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Every new bit of news or reveals when it comes to Batman: Arkham Asylum tends to send me into crazed fits of nerdjoy, and this newest trailer is no exception.  There are a number of things that I noticed that are offering clues into what we can expect when the game drops in October.

The trailer takes place in and around Penguin’s hideout, the Iceberg Lounge, referring back to one of the exclusive challenge maps available in the Collector’s Edition of the game.  And we see Penguin straight up shooting a dude in the back, with the words “Dead Cop” written on his bare chest.  When the Penguin asks him if he’s here for the cops, or for him, Batman responds, in the most badass fucking voice ever:

“I was only here for the hostages…but now I’m taking you down too.”

Some new combat moves are also revealed in the trailer, like the bit where Batman walks up the shoulders of one goon so he can smash another dude right in the face.

“Thanks for the boost, you stupid dingleberry.”

But that’s not the coolest part.  The coolest part is this guy:

Solomon Fucking Grundy.

So this trailer reveals some interesting things about the game, both from a design standpoint, and from a story standpoint:

Penguin has been given a Cockney accent, which is an interesting design choice, but totally fits the character.  It’s definitely brining every single Jason Statham movie to mind, so even though it’s not comic book canonical, I totally support the choice.  But, an interesting detail that some people may have missed is the tiny little speaker-type thing embedded in Penguin’s throat.  What’s up with that?  Is Penguin dying?  Is that what’s caused him to basically go for broke and shed any pretense at being the “legitimate business man” he often purports to be in the comics?

Lay off the unfiltered cigarettes, dude.

The real interesting stuff comes from the brief glimpse we have of Solomon Grundy.  He’s not the most well-known villain outside of comics fandom, so here are the basics you need to know: he’s originally a Green Lantern villain from the 1940s who comes from the swamps, and he’s immortal, super-strong, and usually super-dumb.

What’s interesting about his appearance here is that his veins seem to be all neon blue and crazy looking, suggesting that he may have been dosed with the Titan formula that was the main plot device in the previous game.  Of course, the neon blue veins could simply be a design decision on Rocksteady’s part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a bunch of Titanized villains throughout this sequel.

Personally, I can’t wait for this.  Will it live up to the hype?  Let’s hope so.