“Sometimes…sometimes I think the asylum is a head. We’re inside a huge head that dreams us all into being. Perhaps it’s your head, Batman. Arkham is a looking glass, and we are you.”
With a name inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and a gloomy environment reminiscent of a Gothic horror film, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane–more commonly known as Arkham Asylum–is one of the most iconic settings in the Batman Universe. The majority of the Rogues Gallery have called it home, and some have even been employed at the asylum prior to engaging in full-time villainy. 2009 saw a revival of the institution in the Arkham Asylum video game, where players could explore Arkham Island and discover its many secrets, and throughout the years Arkham and its inhabitants have been depicted in various forms of media: animated television shows and movies, live-action films like Batman Forever and Batman Begins, both graphic and printed novels, and numerous other adaptions.
This list pays homage to Arkham as it appears in seven different comics, all of which share one single defining trait: an eternal hope to provide those who walk through the asylum doors with the treatment, assistance, and resources they need to live free of Gotham’s endless cycle of crime.
Gallery of Capes 