Arkham Knight (Arkhamverse)

"What's the matter? Lost for words? I expected more... I'm hurt."

- The Arkham Knight to Batman upon taking his mask off. Jason Todd was once Robin, and worked alongside Batman. He was tortured and believed to be killed by The Joker. However it was discovered that Jason was alive and hell-bent on destroying his former mentor as the Arkham Knight before he became the Red Hood to assist Batman once again after he laid his vendetta to rest. As the Arkham Knight, Jason worked with both Scarecrow and Deathstroke to turn Gotham City into a City of Fear.

Early Life
Jason was born on a rooftop to Willis and Cathy Todd, a pair of methamphetamine addicts who were in debt to Carmine Falcone. Willis tried to sell his newborn son to Falcone to settle his debt, but was instead beaten by Sal Maroni. As Jason grew up, Willis frequently told him that he was so worthless that he couldn't even give him away and frequently assaulted him.

Willis and Cathy were both executed by Maroni when Jason was thirteen. It was Jason who told Maroni where to find where they were hiding, but in exchange, the Maroni Family gave Jason his own patch in Gotham City where he could commit crime without interfering with any of their business.

The Second Robin
Jason had his first encounter with Batman when he was a witness to a fight between him and Joker at age fifteen shortly after a successful robbery. Jason saved Batman's life by pushing him, unconscious, out of the way of Joker's machine gun fire. Incredibly, Jason stole Batman's Grapnel Gun and used it to defeat Joker. Batman came to and knocked Jason's Pistol out of his hand with a Batarang before he could shoot the Joker point-blank in the head. The Joker warned Jason that he would never forget his face before Batman knocked him out.

Batman had Jason arrested for his crime, but he was charged as a minor because he had managed to avoid leaving anything probative behind in all of his other crimes. A Wayne Industries project that placed troubled teens into schools ensured that Jason did not serve his full sentence. Jason was an A student, an excellent athlete, and he attracted the personal interest of Bruce Wayne. A few months after being released, Batman appeared in Jason's dorm, handed him his own Grapnel Gun and a Robin costume, and told him that he had one night to impress him. He did.

Months later, Gotham County allowed Bruce to take Jason in as his ward. Bruce had another entrance to the Batcave built into Jason's bedroom.

The Joker's Torture
Like Dick Grayson before him, Jason assumed the role of Batman's sidekick, Robin. While Jason enjoyed being a hero and had an aptitude for it, he also had difficulty with his temper, recklessness, and self-control, and he frequently disobeyed Batman's direct orders. Reprimands for that behavior rankled the new, headstrong Robin - he expected to be treated as a partner to Batman and a son to Bruce, but instead felt like a mere assistant.

It was at this point of time that Joker was forming several of his successive plans formed into a gruesome campaign to target Batman's closest allies, starting with the second Robin. While Joker adored and defined himself through his battles with Batman, the villain had nothing but contempt for the hero's allies, believing that they are spoiling his game of cat and mouse with Batman.

Joker had abducted, tortured, murdered, and dismembered an entire kindergarten class, knowing of Jason's empathy for children, and stitched their body parts together in horrendous and mocking formations, leaving a trail of blood from the crime scene to an abandoned, underground wing of Arkham Asylum. As Jason watched a mother cry and attempt to put her son back together, he noticed the blood trail and followed it to the forgotten sanatorium of Arkham Asylum, turning off all his communications and equipment in order to ensure that Batman does not track him and attempt to prevent Joker's death.

When Jason entered the wing, intent to kill the Joker once and for all, this played directly into the villain's hand, who proceeded to knock out Jason with a crowbar, knocking out several teeth and breaking his ankle in the process, and abducted and entrapped the teenager within the wing to torture him over the course of a year. The forgotten halls of the asylum served as the perfect grounds to torture and humiliate Todd as, even when locked up, Joker had access to the wing thanks to several guards on his payroll, and Batman would never suspect that Jason was just below the surface of a fully functional institution.

With plenty of time, access, and resources, Joker crudely tied Jason to a wheelchair with barbed wire and rope within the filthy and abandoned wing and regularly beat him within an inch of his life with a crowbar, brutalized him with electrical and surgical implements, and convinced him that Batman had forgotten about him by showing him a picture of his new sidekick in training, Tim Drake. As his torture continued throughout the months, Joker eventually strung Jason up by his arms from the ceiling and branded him with a red-hot iron rod, in the shape of a 'J', on his face to signify that he belongs to him now.

Filling Jason with raw emotion and rage towards Batman, Joker finally had Todd sit in front of a camera and voice his hatred of the Dark Knight before asking him for the man's true identity. As Jason prepared to answer, Joker quickly shot Jason in the chest, seemingly murdering him, and sent the footage to Batman to further torture the hero, blaming Jason's death on the Dark Knight.

However, the truth was that Joker kept Jason alive and continued to torture him for several more months, having deceived Batman into believing the young man to be dead, as he felt Jason's hatred of his former mentor was too good of an opportunity to kill off. Abducting a doctor from the asylum, Joker had the unfortunate man patch Jason up, his armor having felt the blunt of the bullet impact, and then immediately murdered the doctor after his usefulness served its purpose. True to Joker's prediction, Jason eventually fled from Gotham after his final days of torture some months later and created a new identity for himself, eventually becoming known as the Arkham Knight, to plan his revenge on Joker and Batman and eventually kill him for failing to save him from the psychopath and apparently replacing him with Tim Drake.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Jason Todd, still imprisoned beneath the asylum, was finally able to escape from his torture during the confusion of the Arkham riots and with the aid of Slade Wilson, better known as Death Stroke, who was hired by Joker to keep watch over his prisoner while he concentrated on his plans to obtain the Titan serum from the asylum.

Todd convinced the assassin to help him in his own quest for vengeance under the prospect of tripling the amount of profits that Joker was supplying him with. Deathstroke agreed after placing a tracker within the young man to ensure that he does not attempt to escape before making good on his offers and the pair proceeded to break into Wayne Tower and wired over five-hundred million dollars from Bruce's accounts and into a swiss account of Slade's creation. Todd and Deathstroke then escaped to South America, where they formed their plans to build up a massive militia army, comprised of disgruntled and dishonorably discharged army veterans, in order to ultimately bring war to Gotham City and inflict the vengeance they both lusted for on Batman.

However, unknown to Jason, Joker had planned everything from the beginning, knowing that Deathstroke had the resources necessary for Todd to complete his plans. Over the following eighteen months, Slade kept Joker, who continued to pay the villain as his personal assassin and informant, updated on all developments with Jason, now known as the Arkham Knight, and his plans for revenge. Joker knew that his scheme to turn the second Robin against Batman was paying off beautifully, perhaps better than he ever imagined, and that the 'Arkham Knight' would be the perfect contingency plan to gain the final laugh on the Dark Knight.

Batman: Arkham City
After rescuing Nora Fries from his henchmen and retrieving Freeze's stolen equipment, Batman eventually confronts Joker, who is staring into a mirror and appears perfectly healed, though his reflection curiously shows him still sick, at the top of the Steel Mill. However, the reality was that Clayface was still posing as the healthy Joker while the real Joker was on the other side of the mirror, escaping from the Mill through this diversion. At the same time, Joker notices that the entire confrontation between Batman and his imposter and accomplice is being monitored by Jason Todd, who has been observing the events of Arkham City from afar.

Striking a conversation with his old victim, Joker reveals his continued partnership with Deathstroke, instructing the assassin to aid Todd's quest for revenge, and reinforces the young man's distorted perception of Batman abandoning him, encouraging him to ensure that he becomes a more well-known figure in Gotham as the Arkham Knight. While Jason brutally beats Joker and makes an attempt on his life in retribution for what the villain did to him years ago, Joker, even in his sickly condition, is able to defend himself and easily subdue Jason, carving around the 'J' brand on his cheek with a hidden knife. Joker leaves Jason bloody and bruised once again, informing him that he has high hopes for the young man's plans against Batman and Gotham.

Batman: Arkham Knight
Consumed by vengeance against Batman, Jason joined Scarecrow due to the fact that both had a score to settle with the Caped Crusader, and also killed Scarecrow's own guards as proof that he was capable of handling the Dark Knight. Jason trained a whole army of troops with knowledge that they could use to take down Batman and he gave Crane the knowledge of the Dark Knight's allies, including Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle and her main location: the Clock Tower. Both Jason and Scarecrow let Deathstroke join their alliance to make Gotham into a City of Fear.

Jason also offered his services in order to make sure that the Dark Knight suffered emotionally instead of just killing him, and knew full well about Scarecrow's access to Fear Gas. Jason eventually accompanied Scarecrow to the meeting between the three reigning crime lords to recruit them to kill Batman, and made clear that killing Batman was his business when Two-Face asked how they'd do that.

Jason later interfered an implied illicit meet between The Penguin and some other group, murdered all but one of Penguin's thugs, warned him while putting a gun to his mouth to mind his business, and also broke the man's arm in the process. The two then began a hostile takeover of Gotham after Crane utilized his latest Fear Toxin in his only warning to Gotham, and caused many to leave the city. Jason was also personally responsible for the attack at Pauli's Diner, who lured Officer Owens over to the booth by smoking in full view, and then doused him and the other patrons with the Fear Toxin at the diner.

He later destroyed the bridge to the Ace Chemicals to ensure that Batman couldn't interfere and get in, on Scarecrow's orders. Jason also attempted to kill Batman then and there, although Scarecrow forced him to disengage. That resulted in Jason entering an argument with Scarecrow over forcing him to abandon his opportunity to kill Batman. Jason later arrived with some Militia members and personally revealed himself to the Dark Knight while he taunted him, and also gave specific orders to his men on how to take out Batman, including explicitly telling them to avoid the Bat Symbol on Batman's chest as that's where the armor was the strongest.

However, Jason was forced to flee when Batman had the Batmobile ambush them from behind. Jason later had an unmanned chopper fight against Batman just as he was about to leave with the only other surviving Ace Chemicals Plant worker, and deliberately sent an unmanned drone to fight Batman rather than fight him personally as he knew that Batman would not hold back with an unmanned vehicle due to his one rule.

Jason later proceeded to lead his Militia forces to the Clock Tower to capture Barbara. However, Jason temporarily ran into a hitch in his plan when Barbara proceeded to force the driver of the car that she was imprisoned in off the road by pepper-spraying him. He nonetheless managed to recapture her, although not before she hid a memory card underneath a crate for Batman.

Batman later traced down Barbara and the Arkham Knight's location, although the Arkham Knight anticipated his arrival, ambushed him, and also managed to injure him. Jason also made his escape, and also went as far as to have one of the drivers synthesize his voice to fool Batman into thinking that he was pursuing the Arkham Knight and Oracle. He then left for North Refrigeration to rendezvous with Penguin and pick up their guns.

Afterwards, Jason also observed Scarecrow's interrogation of Oracle, although he intervened when Scarecrow attempted to inject her with a powerful dose of Fear Toxin, something that he disapproved of. Jason then privately attempted without success to talk to Oracle, and anticipated that she would keep talking to buy time before Batman arrived while alluding to his torture under Joker when he explained how he was. However, while explaining that and implying Batman wouldn't help her, Jason also let slip that he knew who Batman's true identity was, admitted that not even Scarecrow knew as he kept that from him, and claimed that Batman only wished to punish the guilty rather than protect the innocent. Oracle denied those claims, which resulted in the Knight exposing his own true identity as Jason Todd where he told her to "look [him] in the eye and say that", to Oracle's shock.

Oracle then attempted to talk Jason out of working with Scarecrow, but Jason refused, both because he still thought that Batman had left and replaced him (despite Oracle trying to tell him that he actually mourned for his loss), because Joker's torture had hollowed him out and filled him with hate for his mentor, and that he believed that the only way that he could fix it was to kill Batman. Oracle attempted to request him to return to Wayne Manor, and explained that's the actual way to fix it, since killing Batman was what Joker would have wanted. Jason refused, though he still asked how Alfred was doing, with Oracle admitting that he missed him, as did the rest of the Bat Family. Jason ultimately left due to Scarecrow telling him that the Cloudburst was ready, although not before he threatened his men with death should they harm Oracle.

After the Cloudburst was activated, Jason was also charged with manning the tank that carried the Cloudburst. Eventually, after Batman proceeded to awaken the second ancient plant at the cost of several of Arkham Knight's forces trying to stop him and being destroyed, the Arkham Knight decided to challenge the Dark Knight, and even ignored Scarecrow's orders for him to stand down due to his actions putting the Cloudburst at grave risk. Ultimately, Jason lost to the Dark Knight, and was then brought up to the rooftops and beaten, although he managed to find an opportunity to escape when the Fear Toxin from the Cloudburst managed to temporarily distract him with hallucinations of the Joker. As such, the Arkham Knight was officially removed from command by Scarecrow as punishment. Nonetheless, Jason managed to lay in wait near his main base for Batman, brought along an excavator, locked down all areas once he has Batman in sights, and anticipated heavily that Batman would be coming to save Commissioner James Gordon.

The Arkham Knight encountered Batman again in his Batmobile, and drove a excavator in the Arkham underground excavation site. Despite the Batmobile's weapons and armor could not match the Arkham Knight's excavator, Batman took advantage to damage the excavator by luring it to the excavation demolition sites, but it was not enough to destroy it. Batman found the Arkham Knight's excavator, still intact but heavily damaged. The Arkham Knight then explained that he knew Batman's secrets, admitted his role in Scarecrow knowing about Oracle, and made it clear that he was someone that Batman personally knew.

Batman escaped, but the Batmobile got destroyed. Batman confronted the Arkham Knight again before he could untie Gordon, but the Knight unmasked himself, and was revealed to be Jason, whom Batman thought was killed, even if he saw the film of Joker killing him. Jason retorted by asking Batman if he waited to find a replacement to take his place in a month or a week, and yelled for "Leaving him to die". Jason also stated that what he wanted Batman dead, but was stunned shortly before he could shoot him.

Angered that his former mentor ran away again, Jason yelled that he would hunt Batman down, then re-masked himself, formed his dual modified pistols as a sniper rifle, and then took up a sniping position to find Batman. Despite the aid of the last of his militia and drones, Batman managed to break Jason mentally by going underneath his post and offered to help him three times, but Jason always refused Batman's help. When Jason came close to healing, Batman disarmed him and reminded him that he's still Robin and not what the Joker created him, but Jason mentally broke down, tackled Batman off of his post, sent both of them falling, but survived and healed his mind. Batman threatened to beat up Jason, but Jason surrendered, and accused Batman for leaving him for over a year with the Joker. Batman apologized, told him that it's not too late, and offered help. Jason disappeared as Batman revealed to Alfred that he found Jason.

Jason appeared as the Red Hood at the ending, who disarmed Scarecrow and freed Batman in redemption. As stated within his bio, Jason had laid his vendetta with Batman to rest and helped him continue to patrol Gotham, albeit in his more violent manner. Under that new identity, Jason hunted down and killed several of Gotham's villains, including Killer Moth, Black Spider, and the entire Black Glove Organization.

Red Hood Story Pack
One of Jason's next targets became Black Mask, who eventually plunged to his death after Red Hood kicked him out of a window at his hideout after the latter foolishly suggested while he begged for his life that he would leave Gotham and allow the vigilante to pick the destination (with Red Hood sarcastically suggesting he "go to Hell"), neutralize his gang, and shut down his operations in the process. Before he left, however, Jason then sarcastically told the deceased crime lord to say "hi" to Joker for him, in an ironic reference to Black Mask's rivalry with the deceased Clown Prince of Crime, as well as his own personal hatred for the clown for what he did to him.

Personality
Jason Todd was the second incarnation as Robin. He cared for his mentor, Batman, and wanted to live up to his potential, to stop crime and protect Gotham City. However, Jason possessed an explosive temper with numerous incidents of him going too far in his actions as Robin despite his natural talents and aptitude under Batman's guidance, with hints in his behavior that he might one day kill instead of using restraint. After being tortured by Joker, his mental state started deteriorating, and he hoped that his partner would come in to rescue him. In time, (due to Joker showing him a photo of Batman with a new Robin); Jason lost hope and started to hate his mentor for leaving him to die. After he escaped, he became vengeful and wanted to kill Batman. As shown in the Arkham Knight's persona, he was ruthless, calculating, and appeared to be somewhat apathetic to the "weak" that Batman protected. Jason also was blinded by rage for Batman leaving him to die, as shown when he cost Scarecrow's toxin machine to be dismantled by Batman's Batmobile. Despite his hatred for Batman, he still showed genuine care for both Oracle and Alfred Pennyworth, and at one point asked the former how the latter was doing. He also deliberately avoided revealing Batman's true identity to Scarecrow. Once he snapped out of it, Jason showed some emotion and helped his former mentor stop Scarecrow. In the the Red Hood Story Pack DLC, Jason was still murderous and cold-blooded, as shown when he killed Black Mask who begged for mercy, but was ultimately driven by justice.

File One

 * Scarecrow: Patient notes: Gordon, Barbara. Session one. Wake up, Ms. Gordon. Wake up! Inject her.
 * Barbara Gordon: (Gasp)
 * Scarecrow: Another dose.
 * Barbara Gordon: I'm awake, you bastard.
 * Scarecrow: Good. Who is Batman?
 * Barbara Gordon: Ask him when he gets here.
 * Scarecrow: Thank you, Ms. Gordon. I was afraid that my preferred interrogation method would not be necessary. Do you know why I wear these syringes on my hand?
 * Barbara Gordon: Because you're insane?
 * Scarecrow: I usually disperse my toxin as an aerosol. It's efficient. But not pure. Now, the terror I can elicit with a concentrated dose, administered directly into the bloodstream, that is... beautiful to witness. The long-term damage is more severe, of course.
 * Barbara Gordon: Are you done talking?
 * Scarecrow: I am. But you have barely begun. You'll be incoherent when my toxin dissolves the wall between your conscious mind and your suppressed, subconscious nightmares. But as those fears slowly recede, they'll take this pathetic defiance with them.
 * Barbara Gordon: You're still talking.
 * Scarecrow: Very well.
 * Arkham Knight: Get the hell away from her!

File Two

 * Arkham Knight: He's gone. Did he hurt you?
 * Barbara Gordon: Spare me the good cop/bad cop routine.
 * Arkham Knight: No, no, no, no. See, you're supposed to keep me talking. Play for time. Wait for Batman. That's what he taught you, right?
 * Barbara Gordon: I've got nothing to say to you.
 * Arkham Knight: I talked for hours. 'Cause I knew, right? Batman was on his way to save me. The bastard let me talk... eventually I just, ran out of things to say. So trust me. You can't count on Bruce to save you.
 * Barbara Gordon: Bruce?
 * Arkham Knight: Mmm, yeah, Scarecrow doesn't know. It's our little secret. Now here's another. Batman likes to play the hero, Barbara, and he's pretty good at it. But it's an act. Batman's not about saving the innocent. No, no. He's about punishing the guilty. Now, don't get me wrong. He'll look for you. Or he'll try. But when it comes down to it, when he has to make a choice between you, and the mission? He'll choose the mission. Every time.
 * Barbara Gordon: You're wrong.
 * Jason Todd: Look me in the eye and say that.
 * Barbara Gordon: Jason!?

File Three

 * Barbara Gordon: Jason, this is wrong!
 * Jason Todd: This is justice! He left me!
 * Barbara Gordon: He LOST you! And he mourned for you. Come home.
 * Jason Todd: I can't go back. You don't know what Joker did, Barbara. He hollowed me out and he filled me back up with hate and...
 * Barbara Gordon: Jason, we can fix it...
 * Jason Todd: I can fix it! I know now what to do. I take all this pain, all this blackness, and I put it all in a bullet, and I put it right between Bruce's eyes.
 * Barbara Gordon: Joker's dead, Jason. You want revenge on the man who hurt you? You've got one shot. Come back to the manor. Let us help you. Don't let Joker win.
 * Jason Todd: How's Alfred?
 * Barbara Gordon: He misses you. We all do.
 * Scarecrow: The Cloudburst is charged, Knight. It's time.
 * Arkham Knight: Someone put a gag on her. Anyone hurts her, they're a dead man.

Trivia

 * Ironically, the Arkham Knight/Jason Todd's voice actor, Troy Baker, had previously voiced the Joker in Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins Blackgate, and Assault on Arkham.
 * He also previously voiced Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the various Arkham games, another former ally of Batman who turned to evil under extremely traumatic circumstances, yet retained some good in him. Both even blamed Batman for abandoning them during their traumatic situations.
 * In a commercial for the Red Hood Story Pack, it showed two people working at an undisclosed location before deciding to call it for the night. However, a news report came in stating that the Red Hood was on the loose, with them then deciding to work overtime, and revealed that they were actually working for a funeral home, which humorously implied that the Red Hood had killed enough people to have funeral homes working late.