History NightmareFuel / BatmanArkhamCity

[[caption-width-right:349:Hugo Strange will enjoy dissecting your brain. '''While you are still alive.''']]

* Early on, in the processing area of Arkham City when Bruce is being corralled with other inmates by TYGER guards, you can see a line inmate being taken to an interrogation room, where TYGERs armed with stun batons and other weapons are waiting. Terrified, the inmate attempts to flee but is forced inside. What happens in that room is left up to the imagination.

* During the fight with Mr. Freeze, there's a part where Batman is punching him and Freeze is suddenly replaced by Joker, who reaches out and grabs his face during a creepy hallucination.

** It gets worse if one remembers the third season of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' where Freeze's body had broken down to the point where there was nothing left but his head. That head and neck you see in Detective Mode might be all that's left of him.
** ...[[FridgeLogic Even though you first encounter him when he's out of his suit?]]

*** [[ComicallyMissingthePoint You're telling me he]] [[BadassInDistress kidnapped Batman]]?

** Do you all want to know what's [[FromBadToWorse worse]]? Those messages that Crane leaves behind in Arkham City are foretelling on what is yet to come. Apparently, Scarecrow makes good on his word in them... [[HesBack He]] [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight returns!]]

** At the end of the rewinding part, there's a barely-detectable garbled voice. Rewind the rewind (that is, make it go "forward") and slow it down: It's Joker saying "Thanks for the entertainment, Bats", literally [[WhatTheHellPlayer thanking Catwoman/the player for letting him run rampant through Gotham and maybe the whole world]].

** In his inspection of the Identity Theft killings, Batman notes that the surgery - read, the removal of the victim's face - was done ''while they were still alive.'' Because Hush cared far more about what he took than what he left behind, he would paralyze his victims with a drug and then mutilate their faces until death [[AndIMustScream while they were frozen, unable to fight back.]] The random nature of it makes it even worse: all of Hush's victims were meticulously target only because part of their face would help him look like Bruce Wayne - he's only even in Arkham City because a handful of his earmarked victims were arrested. By the end of it his face his a Frankenstein's monster of stolen parts.

* During the second visit to Joker's hideout, two Joker thugs can be seen hanging a Two-Face mook over acid, demanding information on his boss. Granted, it's just a horrible situation, but waiting around long enough will prompt one of the Joker goons to recall the last guy they did it to, complete with disgusting explanations on how his skin started to burn before he even touched the acid, including a description of how melting flesh smells. Wait around long enough and you get to see them lowering him into it, only for them to stop and raise him up again (in a "why aren't you stopping this?" kind of way); however, once you do rescue him, [[UngratefulBastard he decides to]] [[SuicidalOverconfidence attack Batman]].

* The premise itself is based on the idea of a city, or a large portion thereof, being turned into what is, for all intents and purposes, a free range concentration/extermination camp.
** Protocol 10. On Hugo Strange's orders, TYGER just starts shooting the place up. Extra horrifying because a fair portion of the prisoners are either in there on incredibly flimsy charges or because they [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]] about Strange's plans. They murder roughly a quarter of the prisoners before Batman shuts them down.

** Also, Strange was planning to do this over in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] and [[Franchise/TheFlash Keystone City]] once he was done eradicating everyone in Gotham. While the plan might not have flown quite as well as it did in Gotham, the thought of having the likes of Metallo, Captain Cold, Parasite, Zoom, Brainiac, and the like locked up in an isolated part of each city, then blasted to smithereens, which can be FridgeHorror for those who have read the ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' arc "Absolute Power." In that storyline, there were many alternate universes, including one where Batman did not exist (due to Bruce's parents living) and in that one, Ra's Al Ghul killed the entire Justice League.

** One of Zsasz's [[HaveANiceDeath game over screens]] has him delivering a chilling WhatTheHellHero: "I'm going to [[ColdBloodedTorture take my time]], Batman. After all, ''[[YouBastard you took yours...]]''"

** Actually it's ''worse'' than Killer Croc the first time you play it because, at least in the sewers of ''Asylum'', you know he's there. [[BringMyBrownPants Tiny, on the other hand]]...
* Azrael. He follows Batman everywhere, and if you throw Batarangs at him, he will simply catch them (there's an achievement for doing that, though). Yes: [[ParanoiaFuel Someone who can stalk]] [[MemeticMutation the Goddamn Batman]]. Curiously swinging to the top of a Ferris wheel results in finding some guy in a hood calmly staring you down.

** Solomon Grundy in general! The guy is three times the height of Batman, and the longer the fight goes on, the more ravaged Grundy's body becomes. By the end of it, [[BodyHorror Grundy's body has been put through all kinds of abuse]]: [[ManOnFire set aflame from]] [[LightningCanDoAnything all the electricity jumpstarting him]], [[TorsoWithAView his ribcage has been shattered, and his organs are pounded into mush.]]
** Solomon Grundy can't die, so Batman's ThouShaltNotKill approach goes out the window. And because Batman's not holding back this time... Well, no wonder Batman pulls punches on normal goons.

** His interview tapes count as well: Strange giving him free rein to MindRape several test subjects who "Nobody will miss" is a pretty horrifying idea. Even worse for the new assistant Strange hired to become [[SerialKiller his new "Alice"]].
*** Those interview tapes, plus the 'Arkham City Stories', reveal more: Remember those gibbering lunatics who liked to jump on Batman's back in ''Asylum''? Those are the guys Strange was already testing mind-control devices on.
* Harley Quinn has a pregnancy test that says 'positive' in Joker's hideout. If you finish the game in New Game Plus, she sings to the baby at the end. [[IronicNurseryTune "Hush little baby, don't say a word... momma's gonna kill, for you, the whole damn world..."]]
** Turns out the test was a false positive. In ''Harley Quinn's Revenge'', you can find a lot more used tests, all of them negative. They have been circled around a crib... with a Joker'd up Scarface. It's safe to say that Harley has indeed, "lost it, big time".
* The various NonStandardGameOver sequences count.

** The downright creepy ambient soundtrack of the credits following Joker's song is insanely unsettling as it sounds like the combination of ominous wind blowing and eerie industrial bellowing. This seemingly simple yet creepy ambience really can paint an image for the player regarding the future for Gotham, Batman, and the inmates of Arkham City which doesn't seem for the better even after Joker's death. You think there would be a JumpScare coming at some point, [[NothingIsScarier but nothing happens]] besides Harley's "Hush Little Baby", but only if you've completed the game in New Game Plus.
*** To make it even creepier, the music that plays at the end of the credits is the same music used in the Visitor Center in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''.
* Joker's interview tapes, which describe in disturbing detail how he murders all the doctors Strange sends him. Strange found one of them ''dismembered'', and then there's Joker's comment on another one...
-->'''Joker''': It was worth it to see the look on her face. Hey, you know what, I think I've got a piece of it here in my pocket.

** This gem: "I hope you're breathing through fractured ribs and punctured lungs! And if you're not, then you'd better summon up all your energy and run, because after I finish with the Bat, ''you're all next!''". Sure, slight paraphrasing, but take a [[JustForPun chill pill]], Penguin.
** [[BadBoss The Penguin isn't a good boss to work for]] either, as a few of his henchmen find out.

---> '''Thug:''' But, Mr. Cobblepot, we're stuck too!
---> '''Penguin:''' So?
---> '''Thug:''' We can't get back!
---> '''Penguin:''' And your point ''is''?
---> '''Thug:''' You've left us here with Joker's crew!
---> '''Penguin:''' Try an' take some of 'em down before ya die, son! ''[disconnects]''
** Not to mention that his customary monocle in ''this'' version is replaced with the butt of a glass bottle [[EyeScream shoved into his face in a bar-fight]]. Apparently it can't be removed without killing him, but that doesn't matter, because [[NightmareFetishist he likes the look of it anyway]].
** "Now, I wonder what would happen if I take this hammer and..." ''([[{{Fingore}} WHACK!]])'' "Well, what do you know? His whole bloody hand explodes!"
** The Penguin has "modified" the exhibits in the museum. Many of them show off his stolen military gear, or how he plans to kill the other crime lords in the city. And they're almost all decorated with corpses or skeletons. Even when the Penguin is just inflating his ego, ''people have to die''.
** This is all made somehow worse by [[EvilBrit his Cockney accent]]. Penguin sounds just so cheery when doing all these horrible things, as if he's just having a jolly good time. Penguin sounds like a friendly man in the pub, and then he rants at Batman about putting the Caped Crusader in a museum of bodies for the rest of his life.

* The Joker's always looked creepier than usual in the Arkhamverse, but this time around his appearance borders on BodyHorror. His disease has taken an obvious and terrible toll. After encountering him at the Steel Mill, the loading screen of his white face and expression make him look like a decaying skull.
** Solomon Grundy's partially-rotted face and body is BodyHorror as well. [[SarcasmMode He gets even more handsome]] during the fight as the voltage and explosions pretty much burn him down to a skeleton.
* During the fight with Mr. Freeze, there's a part where Batman is punching him and Victor is suddenly replaced by the Joker, who reaches out and grabs his face during a creepy hallucination.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' players may have thought Scarecrow's reign of terror was over. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFA0zuArg8U&feature=related It isn't.]]
** For those too afraid to tackle the [=YouTube=] link, there is a hidden section inside a boat that functions very similar to the Visitors' Center in ''Asylum''; it's the only part in the game where you are forced into first-person mode. The place is very dim and low-lit with flickering lights, bugs are crawling all over the place, in front of you is a passed-out inmate who is, more than likely, completely screwed up by nightmare gas, and when you approach, he will at one point twitch and scream before promptly passing out again, next to a letter to Dr. Jonathan Crane.
* While he doesn't make an actual appearance beyond a quick cameo, Killer Croc's name is mentioned by the prisoners throughout Arkham City, some even saying that they've seen him in the sewers, thus providing ParanoiaFuel that eventually culminates in that JumpScare of a cameo of his, in the sewers. He can smell Batman dying and decides to wait until the poison kills him, then eat the corpse.

* For another JumpScare, there's the mechanical T-Rex randomly popping up and roaring; even better, [[EnemyChatter one of the Penguin's mooks]] remarks [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall "I love it when they scream"]] shortly afterwards.
* The Riddler in general is pretty nightmare-inducing in this game. He started as harmless in the previous game, even a little silly, only to turn out to be a NotSoHarmlessVillain in ''City'', where [[FromNobodyToNightmare he's putting hostages in equally disturbing death traps]].

* Reading some of the Arkham City Stories unlocked by completing Riddler Challenges (specifically the actual riddles players must scan) can be creepy: One in particular concerned the obscure villain Ratcatcher. When Arkham City opened, he decided to use his rats to smuggle in whatever goods Penguin didn't (mainly necessities like hygiene products, clothing, maybe food, to grant the Penguin some kind of monopoly). Eventually, Penguin decided he wanted to meet his "rival" in the "selling stuff" business: Ratcatcher was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Museum that Penguin operates out of and was never heard from again.
** Slightly more chilling: You've been through that museum, where Penguin keeps his high profile victims alive (if only briefly) and on display, and litters the other exhibits with bones. Did you see Ratcatcher anywhere?

* When fighting Freeze, you can briefly scan him in Detective Mode before his jammer blocks your vision. The creepy part is that while most human characters show up as X-ray skeletons in Detective Mode, Freeze is only a skeleton from the neck up. Just a skull and stump of spinal cord in a robotic suit. This only means that other than the head, the suit can't be penetrated by Detective Mode's x-ray vision. Another detail some people might find unnerving in that unlike other enemies, his heart rate drops to single digits while you're fighting him, but climbs back to normal when outside the fight.

* The whole ending of the main game can be seen this way. "Highlights" include Strange being stabbed through the chest in a bloody fashion, Ra's being impaled, Talia getting shot, and you face off with [[HumanoidAbomination Clayface]] before watching as Joker dies in a messed-up version of dying with a laugh.

* As a DarkerAndEdgier HolidayMode, there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shxcoTMQFRo Calendar Man's disturbing monologues]]: While in the main canon he very rarely kills anyone, in ''City'', that's all he does, and each fits the theme of the month in a very grisly way. In general, all of his stories during the major holidays are disturbing or straight up terrifying and even entering depraved, ranging from spiking green beer with snake venom on St. Patty's, stalking and murdering a lone girl on Valentine's day, to straight up targeting pregnant mothers going into labor on Labor's Day. Each murder is also described in a CreepyMonotone.

** Another one from good old Julian Day.
--->'''Calendar Man:''' Ebenezer Scrooge was a saint compared to old Judge Harkness. Remember him, Batman? Gotham's {{hanging judge}}, they called him. Even though the state had ruled me insane, Harkness swore he'd send me to the gallows. So you see, it was all a simple act of self-preservation. I could hardly be held responsible for strangling that street corner Santa Claus for his suit. I needed the disguise to sneak into the judge's Christmas Eve party. Harkness thought it was all in fun until St. Nick caught him around the neck with a string of Christmas lights. The cops found him later, hanging from the elaborate light display of his own roof. Judgie almost looked like a cartoon himself alongside the comical reindeer, elves, and snowmen. I called that murder my "Christmas special."
** For those that played ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', it becomes a literal WhamLine, since on that faithful night, while Batman fought and stopped many other fiends throughout the night, he couldn't stop this [[DoomedByCanon one murder from taking place]]. It really becomes a bit jarring on just how casually Julian delivers this one quote and rubs it into Batman's face.
** Julian also has one more monologue, accessed by visiting him on the day Rocksteady was founded. He comments that he's watched Batman since his beginning, and that the end of days is coming, hints at the next ''two games'' in the franchise, and that he will be there to watch Batman's fall. In a FreezeFrameBonus in ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Arkham Knight]]'''s 100% ending, he makes clear he wasn't lying, as he is visible amongst the crowd gathered as Batman/Bruce activates the Knightfall protocol.
* Exploring Gotham City tunnels for a long period of time searching for Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins can be creepy as well when, after finding him and head back to the surface near the subway, you are greeted with a load of bodies piled on top of each other, Holocaust-style. Each of these men were Penguin's soldiers and after Batman took down Penguin and started searching for Ra's, a gang, presumably Joker's, offed the leaderless clan and executed them all. It's a disturbing sight to behold.
* In Wonder City, when you enter the second room upon nearing Ra's al Ghul's lair, you're presented with a roomful of hanged inmates, and a still-living one with a sword in his back saying "They're... everywhere!" before expiring.
** [[FromBadToWorse Even worse]], Ra's eventually left its citizens to go insane due to radiation from the Lazarus-based technology as their civilization collapsed. Now, if radiation from a Lazarus Pit can make people go insane and there is one located right under Gotham and has been there for centuries, then there is now a possible reason for why Gotham is an insane CrapsackWorld.

* Shortly after exiting the gladiator arena in the Penguin's museum, you walk through a hall with fish tanks on the walls. You can't see much in them besides the fish, but turn on Detective Mode and you're treated to the sight of corpses.

* During the second visit to Joker's hideout, two Joker thugs can be seen hanging a Two-Face mook over acid, demanding information on his boss. Granted, it's just a horrible situation, but waiting around long enough will prompt one of the Joker goons to recall the last guy they did it to - complete with disgusting explanations on how his skin started to burn before he even touched the acid, including a description of how melting flesh smells. Wait around long enough and you get to see them lowering him into it, only for them to stop and raise him up again (in a "why aren't you stopping this?" kind of way); however, once you do rescue him, [[UngratefulBastard he decides to]] [[SuicidalOverconfidence attack Batman]].

* During the first trip to the Steel Mill, we see Harley berating a terrified doctor who failed to cure the Joker, before throwing her to a baying crowd of henchman and calling for Mr. Hammer. The sight of the doctor cowering in terror, screaming for help, and the metallic clang of the hammer on the ground as the crowd chants "Hammer! Hammer!" is pretty chilling. Case in point: You aren't going to get there in time. Thankfully, Harley calls Hammer off, but if she hadn't, Stacy would have been brutally murdered with Batman less than ten feet away.
* While searching for the stolen Freeze tech, one thug calmly talks about how he once force-fed his own mother to the point of suffocating after she refused to eat it herself. These would have been the guys who went to Blackgate because they weren't insane. Yet they kill family members because of not liking them. The other goon he is talking to is in disbelief about the whole thing, but sounds impressed about what this guy did. Nevermind [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill the cake was already poisoned]] in the first place.
** What makes it [[FridgeHorror subtly more disturbing]] is the fact that none of the inmates seem to have any problem with this. RealLife prison inmates [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas place matricide as second only to child molestation/murder as the worst crime you can commit.]] It makes one wonder just how screwed up Joker's ''entire gang'' is.

** If you zoom in on the Joker television-mannequins, they start laughing quietly. It's unnerving to a first-time player. Add that to the background music and the fact Harley ''sounds'' more insane than she did the first time and you've got a damned effective opening.

** At the end of the rewinding part, there's a barely-detectable garbled voice. Rewind the rewind (that is, make it go "forward") and slow it down: It's Joker, saying "Thanks for the entertainment, Bats", literally [[WhatTheHellPlayer thanking Catwoman/the player for letting him run rampant through Gotham and maybe the whole world]].

* That oh-so-brief glimpse of Batman's face when Talia pulls up his mask for a kiss. Keeping in mind that Bruce was scant minutes from death just before. Talia's horrified reaction is what seals it.
* When you come across Nora Fries, Mr. Freeze's cryogenically-frozen wife, some of the goons guard her may be debating thawing her out with the implication that they were going to abuse her. Imagine that the last thing you remember is being frozen by your loving husband and the next conscious moment of your life is being [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually assaulted]] by by a group of psychos and murderers. That is the stuff of nightmares.
** Even more. It's revealed that [[AndIMustScream she actually regained consciousness]] from time to time! So she clearly could understand what could have awaited her.

---> '''Joker:''' '''RWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA--''HAAAAAA!!!'''''

* When Batman is captured by the Joker early on in the game. The thought of the Clown Prince of Crime jumping on you and putting a stunning gas mask on you, followed by Harley knocking you out with a baseball bat through your blurring vision is highly unsettling. And Harley's attack is done with a P.O.V. shot too!

* The whole ending of the main game can be seen this way. "Highlights" include Strange being stabbed through the chest in a bloody fashion, Ra's being impaled, Talia getting shot, and you face off with [[HumanoidAbomination Clayface]] before watching as Joker dies in a messed-up version of GoOutWithASmile.
** Combined with TearJerker: It's not just Joker's death, but his final moments leading up to it. Right after his last laugh and his IncurableCoughOfDeath, his body suddenly starts jerking as he clutches his chest and makes very loud, painful gasps, indicating that the Titan poisoning has completely taken over his bloodstream. The gasps start slowing down and getting quieter as seconds pass until, at his final gasp, he quietly lets out his long, last breath as he [[GoOutWithASmile goes out with a smile]]. Nothing says "painful sadness" like his last moments.

** What makes it [[FridgeHorror subtly more disturbing]] is the fact that none of the inmates seem to have any problem with this. RealLife prison inmates place matricide as second only to child molestation as the worst crime you can commit. It makes one wonder just how screwed up Joker's ''entire gang'' is.

* As a DarkerAndEdgier HolidayMode, there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shxcoTMQFRo Calendar Man's disturbing monologues]]: While in the main canon he very rarely kills anyone, in ''City'', that's all he does, and each fits the theme of the month in a very grisly way. Each murder is also described in a CreepyMonotone.

** In general, all of his stories during the major holidays are disturbing or straight up terrifying and even entering depraved, ranging from spiking green beer with snake venom on St. Patty's, stalking and murdering a lone girl on Valentine's day, to straight up targeting pregnant mothers going into labor on Labor's Day.
** Additionally, for every story that you hear from him, when you come back, you notice that the months get crossed out on the calendar next to Calendar Man, which would be fine...except the calendar is outside the cell he's locked in...

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrM7l8Em4Y8 Penguin's shark, Tiny.]] It's like Killer Croc in the last game, only while walking on ice as it cracks.

* Hugo Strange and Catwoman, in order to give the above-seen page image context. If you get seen during Catwoman’s StealthBasedMission, Hugo Strange appears in the [[GameOverMan game over screen]]. One of them is him holding a scalpel with a SlasherSmile on his face and smugly saying: "I will ''enjoy'' dissecting your brain, Miss Kyle!", in his Creator/ChristopherLee-[[Creator/CoreyBurton esque]] voice. [[AndIMustScream The way he said it makes it sound like he was eager to slice Catwoman's head open while she was still alive]].
* The premise itself is based on the idea of a city (or a large portion thereof), being turned into what is, for all intents and purposes, a free range concentration/extermination camp.
** [[spoiler:Protocol 10. On Hugo Strange's orders, TYGER just starts shooting the place up. Extra horrifying because a fair portion of the prisoners are either in there on incredibly flimsy charges or because they [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew too much]] about Strange's plans. They murder roughly a quarter of the prisoners before Batman shuts them down.]]
** [[spoiler:Worse, the helicopters start firing at YOU, the player, if they catch you while you're trying to find the Master Control Program needed to shut down Strange's operation or racing to Wonder Tower.]]
** Also, [[spoiler:Strange was planning to do this over in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] and [[Franchise/TheFlash Keystone City]] once he was done eradicating everyone in Gotham. While the plan might not have flown quite as well as it did in Gotham, the thought of having the likes of Metallo, Captain Cold, Parasite, Zoom, Brainiac, and the like locked up in an isolated part of each city then blasted to smithereens,]] which can be FridgeHorror for those who have read the ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' arc "Absolute Power". [[spoiler: In that storyline, there were many alternate universes, including one where Batman did not exist (due to Bruce's parents living) and in that one, Ra's Al Ghul killed the entire Justice League.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr9gAAMP1_Q Listening to Zsasz ramble on about his life before he became a murderer is made worse by the gradual anger in his voice and the sudden breaks in his monotone.]] And in [[NintendoHard Zsasz's side missions,]] you're trying to go save Mr. Freeze, and all of a sudden, you hear a phone ringing off in the distance. Pick it up, and Zsasz taunts you with a challenge of finding him within a certain amount of time. The stakes: you have to find out where he's calling from by going to every phone in the city (within a extremely small time limit), pick it up, and try to triangulate the source, rinse lather, repeat, until you find him. If you fail the side mission, or if you choose to ignore or miss the first several phones, he threatens and kills countless scores of people. A rather unnerving deviation from the storyline, especially if you choose to go back to the main trail.
** One of Zsasz's [[HaveANiceDeath game over screens]] has him delivering a chilling "WhatTheHellHero": "I'm going to [[ColdBloodedTorture take my time]], Batman... after all, ''[[YouBastard you took yours...]]''".
* [[spoiler: Hush/Thomas Elliot's]] hideout, and his gradual transformation into [[spoiler: "Bruce Wayne".]]
** Special notice goes to Creator/KevinConroy for taking the voice that [[spoiler: fans know, grew up with, and associate with being a voice of justice and good... and making it terrifying.]]
** [[spoiler: After the Stealth Tutorial on the church, you can see Hush being treated by another doctor. Said doctor promptly starts to narrate how Elliot cut off his own face.]]
* [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrM7l8Em4Y8 Penguin's shark, Tiny.]]]] It's like Killer Croc in the last game, only while walking on ice as it cracks.
** [[spoiler: Actually it's ''worse'' than Killer Croc the first time you play it because at least in the sewers of ''Asylum'', you know he's there. [[BringMyBrownPants Tiny on the other hand]]...]]
* [[spoiler:Azrael.]] He follows Batman everywhere, and if you throw Batarangs at him, he will simply catch them (there's an achievement for doing that, though). Yes: [[ParanoiaFuel someone who can stalk]] [[MemeticMutation the Goddamn Batman]]. [[spoiler: Curiously swinging to the top of a Ferris wheel results in finding some guy in a hood calmly staring you down.]]
* When fighting [[spoiler:Solomon Grundy, he's constantly shedding supernaturally huge maggots that attack you. Maggots the size of Batman's foot]].
* [[spoiler:Mad Hatter's]] mission is twenty shades of disturbing, especially because it shouldn't be. The [[spoiler: hats, the tea party, the Alice references, putting a bunny mask on Batman]]... it should be ridiculous. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Except it isn't.]]
** Said [[spoiler: bunny mask]] is shown as a JumpScare when you struggle to take it off. It's not helped by the eerie similarities between the [[spoiler: bunny mask]] and the one seen in ''Film/DonnieDarko''.
** His interview tapes count as well: Hugo Strange giving him free rein to MindRape several test subjects who "Nobody will miss" is a pretty horrifying idea. Even worse for the new assistant Strange hired to become [[SerialKiller his new "Alice"]].
*** Those interview tapes, plus the 'Arkham City Stories', reveal more: remember those gibbering lunatics who liked to jump on Batman's back in ''Asylum''? [[spoiler: Those are the guys Strange was already testing mind-control devices on.]]
* [[spoiler: Harley Quinn has a pregnancy test that says 'positive' in Joker's hideout. If you finish the game in New Game Plus, she sings to the baby at the end. [[IronicNurseryTune "Hush little baby, don't say a word... momma's gonna kill, for you, the whole damn world..."]]]]
** [[spoiler: Turns out the test was a false positive. In Harley Quinn's Revenge, you can find a lot more used tests, all of them negative. They have been circled around a crib... with a Joker'd up Scarface.]] It's safe to say that Harley has indeed, "lost it, big time".

* Joker's [[spoiler: literal swan song]] during the credits: "Only yooooouuuuu...", though it's sort of funny in a black comedy sort of way. Which was probably the point.
** The downright creepy ambient soundtrack of the credits following [[spoiler: Joker's song]] is insanely unsettling as it sounds like the combination of ominous wind blowing and eerie industrial bellowing. This seemingly simple yet creepy ambience really can paint an image for the player regarding the future for Gotham, Batman, and the inmates of Arkham City which doesn't seem for the better even after [[spoiler: Joker's death]]. You think there would be a JumpScare coming at some point, [[NothingIsScarier but nothing happens]] [[spoiler: besides Harley's "Hush Little Baby", but only if you've completed the game in New Game Plus.]]
*** To make it even creepier, the music that plays at the end of the credits is the same music used in the Visitor Center in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''
* The Joker's interview tapes, which describe in disturbing detail how he murders all the doctors Strange sends him. Strange found one of them ''dismembered'', and then there's The Joker's comment on another one...

* The Penguin, who finally gets to show off some of the "depraved mob boss" cruelty he's had in the comics. He becomes a BigBad to rival Joker, and in generally unsettling with his unpleasant mannerisms and the way he [[ColdBloodedTorture brutally tortures the cops he holds hostage]].
** This gem: "I hope you're breathing through fractured ribs and punctured lungs! And if you're not, then you'd better summon up all your energy and run, because after I finish with the Bat, ''you're all next!''". Sure, slight paraphrasing, but take a [[JustForPun chill pill,]] Penguin.
** The Penguin isn't a good boss to work for either, as a few of his henchmen find out.
--> '''Penguin:''' [blows up a bridge] See, I told you it would work. Blow up the bridges and cut off the clown's forces. Easy."
--> '''Thug:''' But, Mr. Cobblepot, we're stuck too!
--> '''Penguin:''' So?
--> '''Thug:''' We can't get back!
--> '''Penguin:''' And your point ''is''?
--> '''Thug:''' You've left us here with Joker's crew!
--> '''Penguin:''' Try an' take some of 'em down before ya die, son! [disconnects]
** Not to mention that his customary monocle in ''this'' version is replaced with [[spoiler: the butt of a glass bottle [[EyeScream shoved into his face in a bar-fight]]. Apparently it can't be removed without killing him, but that doesn't matter, because [[NightmareFetishist he likes the look of it anyway]]]].

** This is all made somehow worse by his Cockney accent. Penguin sounds just so cheery when doing all these horrible things, as if he's just having a jolly good time. Penguin sounds like a friendly man in the pub, and then he rants at Batman about putting the Caped Crusader in a museum of bodies for the rest of his life.
* Regardless of how horrifying Two-Face was in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Arkhamverse's Two-Face is somehow even worse.
** ''Way'' worse. Nolan's Two-Face's burned face is ''nothing'' compared to the exposed raw flesh of this incarnation.
** It somehow gets ''even damned worse'' in the remastered version - as the new model shows that even some ''bones'' are exposed, with bits of flesh having seared off of his skull.
* The Joker's always looked creepier than usual in the Arkhamverse, but this time around his appearance borders on BodyHorror: his disease has taken an obvious and terrible toll. After encountering him at the steel mill, the loading screen of his white face and expression make him look like a decaying skull.
** [[spoiler: Solomon Grundy's]] partially-rotted face and body is BodyHorror as well. [[spoiler: [[SarcasmMode He gets even more handsome]] during the fight as the voltage and explosions pretty much burn him down to a skeleton.]]

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' players may have thought [[spoiler: Scarecrow's reign of terror was over]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFA0zuArg8U&feature=related It isn't.]]
** For those too afraid to tackle the [=YouTube=] link, [[spoiler: there is a hidden section inside a boat, that functions very similar to the visitors' center in Arkham Asylum; it's the only part in the game where you are forced into first person mode. The place is very dim and low lit with flickering lights, bugs are crawling all over the place, in front of you is a passed out inmate who is, more than likely, completely screwed up by nightmare gas, and when you approach he will at one point twitch and scream before promptly passing out again, next to a letter to Dr. Jonathan Crane]].
* While he doesn't make an actual appearance beyond a quick cameo, Killer Croc's name is mentioned by the prisoners throughout Arkham City, some even saying that they've seen him in the sewers, thus providing ParanoiaFuel that eventually culminates in [[spoiler: that JumpScare of a cameo of his, in the sewers. He can smell Batman dying and decides to wait until the poison kills him, then eat the corpse]].
* If you fail to save the Riddler's second hostage, [[spoiler: you get to watch him being roasted alive, onscreen. You can still hear his screams as the screen fades to black.]]

* For another JumpScare, there's the [[spoiler: mechanical]] T-Rex randomly [[spoiler: popping up and roaring]]; even better, [[EnemyChatter one of the Penguin's mooks]] remarks [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall "I love it when they scream"]] shortly afterwards.
* The Riddler in general is pretty nightmare-inducing in this game: he started as harmless in the previous game, even a little silly, only to turn out to be a NotSoHarmlessVillain in the sequel: in Arkham City, [[FromNobodyToNightmare he's putting hostages in equally disturbing death traps.]]
** Riddler's [[spoiler: final]] challenge room, where you must save Anne Bishop. As you progress through the room, [[spoiler: you will hear Riddler shocking her at regular intervals while she screams in agony. And every time, once the electricity stops, she gasps in pain and begs you to save her]]. And all this while he's taunting you about how stupid you are for not solving it faster.
* Reading some of the Arkham City Stories unlocked by completing Riddler Challenges (specifically the actual riddles players must scan) can be creepy: one in particular concerned the obscure villain Ratcatcher. When Arkham City opened, he decided to use his rats to smuggle in whatever goods Penguin didn't (mainly necessities like hygiene products, clothing, maybe food, to grant the Penguin some kind of monopoly). Eventually, Penguin decided he wanted to meet his "rival" in the "selling stuff" business: Ratcatcher was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Museum that Penguin operates out of and was never heard from again.

*** The Penguin's minions mention a guy who tried to butt in on his business. Said guy had his legs cut off and was gradually fed to animals. So... guess that answers ''that'' question.

* When fighting Mr Freeze, you can briefly scan him in Detective Mode before his jammer blocks your vision. The creepy part is that while most human characters show up as x-ray skeletons in Detective Mode, Freeze is only a skeleton from the neck up. Just a skull and stump of spinal cord in a robotic suit. This only means that other than the head, the suit can't be penetrated by Detective Mode's x-ray vision. Another detail some people might find unnerving in that unlike other enemies, his heart rate drops to single digits while you're fighting him, but climbs back to normal when outside the fight.
** It gets worse if one remembers the third season of Batman: The Animated Series where Freeze’s body had broken down to the point where there was nothing left but his head. That head and neck you see in Detective mode might be all that’s left of him.
* The whole ending of the main game can be seen this way. "Highlights" include [[spoiler: Hugo Strange being stabbed through the chest in a bloody fashion, Ra's being impaled, Talia getting shot and you face off with [[HumanoidAbomination Clayface]] before watching as the Joker dies in a messed up version of GoOutWithASmile]].
** Combined with TearJerker: [[spoiler:it's not just the Joker's death, but his final moments leading up to it. Right after his last laugh and his IncurableCoughOfDeath, his body suddenly starts jerking as he clutches his chest and makes very loud, painful gasps, indicating that the Titan poisoning has completely taken over his bloodstream. The gasps start slowing down and getting quieter as seconds pass, until, at his final gasp, he quietly lets out his long, last breath as he [[GoOutWithASmile goes out with a smile]]. Nothing says "painful sadness" like his last moments.]]
* During the final battle with [[spoiler: Clayface, one of his attacks involves morphing into a ball with a huge, terrifying face and a gaping black mouth, rolling right towards the player]].
* As a DarkerAndEdgier HolidayMode, there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shxcoTMQFRo Calendar Man's disturbing monologues]]: while in the main canon he very rarely kills anyone, in Arkham City that's all he does, and each fits the theme of the month in a very grisly way. Each murder is also described in a CreepyMonotone.

** Additionally, for every story that you hear from him, when you come back, you notice that the months get crossed out on the calendar next to Calendar Man, which would be fine.....except the calendar is outside the cell he's locked in...

-->'''Calendar Man:''' "I wasn't real close to my dad, and after my first internment at Arkham we never spoke at all. Seems he wrote me off as a wacko, a loser. So after I was released, I wanted to clear the air between us. The next Father's Day I dropped by his place and suggested we go fishing. You ever go fishing with your pop? Well, it's some fun, let me tell you. The two of us, out on the water, pulling in one whopper after another. [[spoiler: Of course, I was doing the actual pulling. Dad was baiting the hooks. You know, with a finger, a foot, an eye... whatever I had left of him. Even today, whenever I eat a nice piece of fish, I feel closer to my dear old dad.]]"

-->'''Calendar Man:''' "Ebenezer Scrooge was a saint compared to old Judge Harkness. Remember him, Batman? Gotham's hanging judge, they called him. Even though the state had ruled me insane, Harkness swore he'd send me to the gallows. So you see, it was all a simple act of self-preservation. I could hardly be held responsible for strangling that street corner Santa Claus for his suit. I needed the disguise to sneak into the judge's Christmas Eve party. Harkness thought it was all in fun until "St. Nick" caught him around the neck with a string of Christmas lights. The cops found him later, hanging from the elaborate light display of his own roof. Judgie almost looked like a cartoon himself alongside the comical reindeer, elves, and snowmen. I called that murder my "Christmas special."
** For those that played VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins it becomes a literal WhamLine, since on that faithful night while Batman fought and stopped many other fiends throughout the night he couldn't stop this [[DoomedByCanon one murder from taking place]]. It really becomes a bit jarring on just how casually Julian delivers this one quote and rubs it into Batman's face.
** Julian also has one more monologue, accessed by visiting him on the day Rocksteady was founded. He comments that he's watched Batman since his beginning, and that the end of days is coming, hints at the next ''two games'' in the franchise, and that he will be there to watch Batman's fall. [[spoiler: In a freeze-frame bonus in Arkham Knight 100% ending, he makes clear he wasn't lying, as he is visible amongst the crowd gathered as Batman activates the Knightfall protocol and fakes his own death.]]
* Exploring Gotham City tunnels for a long period of time searching for Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins can be creepy as well, when, after finding him and head back to the surface near the subway, you are greeted with a load of bodies piled on top of each other, Holocaust-style. Each of these men were Penguin's soldiers and after Batman took down Penguin and started searching for Ra's, a gang, presumably the Joker's, offed the leaderless clan and executed them all. It's a disturbing sight to behold.
* In Wonder City, when you enter the second room upon nearing Ra's al Ghul's lair, you're presented with a roomful of hanged inmates, and a still living one with a sword in his back saying "They're... everywhere!" before expiring.
** [[FromBadToWorse Even worse]], [[spoiler: Ra's al Ghul]] eventually left its citizens [[spoiler: to go insane due to radiation from the Lazarus Pit based technology as their civilization collapsed]]. Now, if [[spoiler: radiation from a Lazarus Pit can make people go insane and there is one located right under Gotham and has been there for centuries]], then there is now a possible reason for why Gotham is an insane CrapsackWorld.
** Many players [[ParanoiaFuel expected those robot guardians littered around to wake up and attack at any second]]. [[spoiler: They were wrong, thankfully.]]
*** [[spoiler: [[DownloadableContent At least, at first.]]]]

* During [[spoiler: the second visit to Joker's hideout]], two Joker thugs can be seen hanging a Two-Face mook over acid, demanding information on his boss. Granted, it's just a horrible situation, but waiting around long enough will prompt one of the Joker goons to recall the last guy they did it to - complete with disgusting explanations on how his skin started to burn before he even touched the acid, including a description of how melting flesh smells. Wait around long enough and you get to [[spoiler: see them lowering him into it, only for them to stop and raise him up again (in a "why aren't you stopping this?" kind of way)]]; however, once you do rescue him, [[UngratefulBastard he decides to]] [[SuicidalOverconfidence attack Batman]].
* During (or after) your journey through Zsasz's hideout, if you stop near the floating rafter and turn on Detective mode, you can spot four skeletal figures: one belonging to Zsasz, two are his hostages, and there's a third sitting in the bottom of the flooding and draining room. How it got there in the first place isn't addressed, but then again, knowing [[AxCrazy Zsasz]], it would be almost redundant.
** The body is explained in Zsasz's first few calls, where he says he has 3 hostages. After several calls, if you take too long with decoding his signal, new calls will ensue where Batman tries to bargain with Zsasz, which pisses him off and tells him he will regret that. Worse, the body is always there whether you experienced those calls or not. This is horrifying because in these scenarios either Zsasz is being dishonest about his bargain, or Batman, the man who cannot kill, is indirectly responsible for someone's death.

* During the first trip to the Steel Mill, we see Harley berating a terrified doctor who failed to cure the Joker, before throwing her to a baying crowd of henchman and calling for Mr. Hammer. The sight of the doctor cowering in terror, screaming for help, and the metallic clang of the hammer on the ground as the crowd chants "Hammer! Hammer!" is pretty chilling. Case in point: you aren't going to get there in time. [[spoiler: Thankfully, Harley calls Hammer off, but if she hadn't, Stacy would have been brutally murdered with Batman less than ten feet away.]]

** What makes it [[FridgeHorror subtly more disturbing]] is the fact that none of the inmates seem to have any problem with this. RealLife prison inmates place matricide as second only to child molestation as the worst crime you can commit. It makes one wonder just how screwed up the Joker's ''entire gang'' is.
* Harley's RoomFullOfCrazy in the DLC: a shrine to Joker with incredibly depressing and incredibly disturbing graffiti all over the walls.

* In Catwoman's mission she can choose to walk off with the loot or save Batman. Walk off with the loot and the game ends, with the credits rolling and horrifying radio messages of how everyone in Arkham and Gotham had been killed because Catwoman didn't save Batman. After a while, the scene rewinds back so she can make the right choice.
** At the end of the rewinding part, there's a barely-detectable garbled voice. Rewind the rewind (that is, make it go "forward") and slow it down: [[spoiler:It's the Joker, saying "Thanks for the entertainment, Bats", literally [[WhatTheHellPlayer thanking Catwoman/the player for letting him run rampant through Gotham and maybe the whole world.]]]]
* As Batman pays his respects at the spot where the Waynes had died in Crime Alley, you hear tearjerking music... and the gunshots that killed them, over and over again until you get up. Not only that, there is Strange's message before hand, which details how much fun Strange is going to have revealing Batman's secret and watching him crumble.
* Take too long to complete the "disarm the bombs" mission in ''Harley Quinn's Revenge'', and you get to see [[spoiler:Gordon watching the building that Batman, Robin and Harley are in explode]].
* [[spoiler: Scarecrow's hidden messages over the radio.]] Chances are you'll stumble onto them by accident and be immediately freaked out as you try to figure out what the hell that was. But imagine if that ''actually'' happened. You're watching TV or listening to the radio in the car and suddenly everything stops... and all you hear is the sound of static and then a monotone voice calmly stating "[[spoiler:9 23 9 12 12 18 5 20 21 18 14 2 1 20 13 1 14]]" and then ''nothing''.
** [[spoiler: The numbers, when replaced with the corresponding letter, translate into "I Will Return Batman".]]
*** [[spoiler: [[ComicallyMissingthePoint You're telling me he]] [[BadassInDistress kidnapped Batman]]?]]
*** [[spoiler: YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME]]
*** [[spoiler: FEAR WILL TEAR GOTHAM CITY TO SHREDS]]
** Do you all want to know what's [[FromBadToWorse worse]]? [[spoiler: Those messages that Johnathan Crane leaves behind in Arkham City are foretelling on what is yet to come. Apparently, Scarecrow makes good on his word in them... [[HesBack He]] [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight returns!]]]]

* That oh-so-brief glimpse of Batman's face when Talia pulls up his mask for a kiss - keeping in mind that Bruce was scant minutes from death just before... Talia's horrified reaction is what seals it.
* When you come across [[spoiler: Nora Fries, Mr. Freeze's cryogenically frozen wife]] some of the goons guard her may be debating thawing her out with the implication that they were going to abuse her. Imagine that the last thing you remember is [[spoiler: being frozen by your loving husband and the next conscious moment of your life is being [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually assaulted]] by by a group of psychos and murderers.]] That is the stuff of nightmares.
** [[spoiler: Even more. It's revealed that [[AndIMustScream she actually regained consciousness]] from time to time! So she clearly could understand what could have awaited her.]]
* While The Joker's laugh is usually a good mix of funny and sinister, a good portion of his laughs in this game sound a little more terrifying, likely because of the toll the Titan disease has taken on his body. Just take a look at his laugh-only game over screens...particularly the one where he's not ''as'' over-the-top as the others.
--> '''Joker:''' D'ha-ha-ha-heh-heh...

--> '''Joker:''' ''EH-HEH-HEH-HA-HA-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEEEEH!''
--> '''Joker:''' '''RWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA--''HAAAAAA!!!'''''

* The cinematic trailer for the game that introduces Hugo Strange, which centers around him interrogating a TYGER guard about a fight with Batman with electroshock treatment and unnamed chemicals in syringes. When the guard dies, his only reaction is a disappointed frown. And the worst part is that you can find the dead guard in-game (you scan him for the solution to a riddle).
* When [[spoiler: Batman is captured by the Joker early on in the game]]. The thought of the Clown Prince of Crime jumping on you and putting a stunning gas mask on you, followed by Harley knocking you out with a baseball bat through your blurring vision is highly unsettling. And Harley's attack is done with a P.O.V. shot too!

* The cinematic trailer for the game that introduces Hugo Strange, which centers around him interrogating a TYGER guard about a fight with Batman with electroshock treatment and unnamed chemicals in syringes. When the guard dies, his only reaction is a disappointed frown. And the worst part is that you can find the dead guard in-game (you scan him for the solution to a riddle).

** Worse, [[TheJuggernaut whatever you throw at Freeze will only work once]]; he even stoically notes "That will not happen again."

** [[spoiler: Protocol 10. On Hugo Strange's orders, TYGER just starts shooting the place up. Extra horrifying because a fair portion of the prisoners are either in there on incredibly flimsy charges or because they [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew too much]] about Strange's plans. They murder roughly a quarter of the prisoners before Batman shuts them down.]]

--> '''Joker:''' D'ha-ha-ha-heh-heh...

* When you come across [[spoiler: Nora Fries, Mr. Freeze's cryogenically frozen wife]] some of the goons guard her may be debating thawing her out with the implication that they were going to abuse her. Imagine that the last thing you remember is [[spoiler: being frozen by your loving husband and the next conscious moment of your life is being [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually assaulted]] by by a group of psychos and murderers.]] that is the stuff of nightmares.
** [[spoiler: Even more. It's revealed that [[AndIMustScream she actually regained conciousness]] from time to time! So she clearly could understand what could have awaited her.]]