At least it would've had some kind of previous build up too because of Bruce's implied relationship with Talia in City. Unlike Jason who only had 2 throwaway lines more or less.
While I'm thinking about it I don't think it's ever explained whether Jason actually died or not. I think the general consensus is Joker faked killing him. But considering the Ra's Al Ghul DLC quest and how the usual versions of Jason are resurrected via Lazarus pit I guess it's whatever the fuck you want it to be. Personally I feel like that DLC was a wasted opportunity to provide more lore for Jason and thus the Arkham Knight. I think that's one of the greatest weaknesses of the game is we're kind of just expected to know who Jason is and why he now hates Batman. Which obviously if you know Red Hood you can guess I suppose but it doesn't really fix the problem. Plus as mentioned before since Joker is already dead and people think Batman did it they really needed to provide a new reason for why Jason hates Bruce but they never did.
In this universe, Joker doesn’t kill Jason and instead does something more akin to the DCAU where he tortures him and tries to turn him against the Bat. That is why Jason hates Bruce, along with Bruce being an absolute moron in this universe. At least in the comics, Jason was held up for a brief period of time across the world. In this series, Jason was tortured for a year in Arkham Asylum and “The World’s Greatest Detective” couldn’t figure this out. He goes there like every Tuesday and yet never thought to check for his protege? He also never looked for a body to actually prove he was dead, just taking Joker’s word on it I guess.
But why would the titan formula turn you into Joker???
Obviously, it contains Joker’s clown aids
Honestly when I typed it I meant how Scarecrow was hyped up in Knight. Scarecrow was hyped as the main villain after years of build-up, but they made him a boring villain who just is on screens monologuing about fear in a way that's not interesting, with his defeat being the most unoriginal way to beat Scarecrow.
This still pisses me off to this day. Even barring the story, they had every opportunity to expand on Asylum’s gameplay for the fear sections and didn’t. As for the story, he is a lesser version of Strange, who was a great antagonist in City.
Scarecrow could have been the perfect follow up to the themes of the first 2 games, which got botched due to writers going full Joker wank with Origins and Knight. Asylum was a simple story about Batman keeping his morals amongst chaos. City worked as a perfect response to what those morals would lead to. Batman’s unwillingness to kill pushed the city to take a more drastic solution on crime. Knight should have been the full conclusion, the peak to how bad crime can get and maybe a look into how the Joker biting the bullet was probably a good thing. Batman should be at the brink of a moral dilemma with Scarecrow pushing the more violent Knight. The best usage for Scarecrow is when he pushes how Batman is the villain, using enough fear gas and psychology to break him. It could have been a great look into Batman’s relationship with all his villains - how he can save them, and how he can’t.
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if there was some executive meddling with Knight since WB execs are obsessed with treating Joker like the only villain who matters.
They will make up any bullshit excuse to include him from the Blackmask fakeout in Origins, Joker Blood, and Multiverse bullshit for Suicide Squad
I don’t think so. Origins and Knight had new writers, and Joker is the easiest to write for. It would take some real balls to really expand the rogues as main villains and follow up on the themes of the previous. I don’t think they were up to the task and took the safe route. It would also explain Jason as he was a rising Batman character, so easy brownie points. Add in that they got Hamill back, which, who would waste the opportunity.
It sucks that Strange is the only real main non-Joker antagonist in the series. A case could maybe be made for Bane, but no one else really had a presence. Dini clearly wanted Scarecrow and Hush as main villains to finish out.
