Carl Todd

Biography
Carl Todd first appeared in Rocksteady Game's Batman: Arkham Asylum in August 2009. He is a janitor at Arkham Asylum, present during the Joker's takeover of the asylum.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Carl Todd was one of the three janitorial staff present during the Joker's takeover of Arkham Asylum. He was carrying out his regular duties in the Botanical Gardens as Harley Quinn and an army of escaped Arkham inmates loosed from the Intensive Treatment Center in Arkham North invaded Arkham East.

Carl Todd remained safe for the early stages of the Joker's takeover, as the Botanical Gardens were in Arkham East, which was heavily-guarded by security officer Louie Green, and was initially viewed as unimportant. After the Joker seized control of Arkham North, he dispatched four armed inmates to Arkham East, but the guards managed to stall their advance. After a brief exchange of fire, Batman arrived on the scene from the Intensive Treatment Center in Arkham North and defeated the remaining inmates. The Joker's next target was Arkham West, where his superior numbers allowed the inmates to overwhelm the security guards and wrestle away control of the western part of Arkham Island. He did this to capture the Medical Facility, where most of Arkham's doctors worked. Unknown to everyone but the Clown Prince of Crime himself, his goal in doing this was to get his hands on Dr. Penelope Young, to steal her research notes on the Venom-based experimental formula, 'Titan'. Titan mutated men into monstrous beasts, and the Joker planned to use inmates for experiments and get his personal army of monsters to loose on Gotham City. Unfortunately for the Joker, Dr. Young, with the aid of Batman and senior guard Aaron Cash, slipped through the villain's fingers and escaped to Arkham East, where she visited her office in the Arkham Mansion to retrieve her valuable research notes. But the Joker was not to be deterred. He unleashed his hordes of liberated inmates on Arkham East, which fell after a brief struggle with the guards. Upon massacring the security personnel, the inmates stripped them of their weapons and poured into the Arkham Mansion. Meanwhile, the serial killer Victor Zsasz penetrated the Botanical Gardens. He killed two security guards at the entrance, and armed inmates took their place, but the Joker cared little for a seemingly worthless recreational area, so he merely probed the garden's outer fringes, leaving Carl Todd and most of the Arkham staff within trapped within the garden area but at least secure.

The Botanical Gardens were soon gripped by a false sense of security, since the staff working there were oblivious to the fact that outside, Arkham East had fallen. Meanwhile, Batman destroyed Dr. Young's research notes to prevent Joker from getting them, but the Joker used Victor Zsasz to torture the formula for Titan out of her. Young also admitted that there was a secret Titan Production Facility, located in the Botanical Gardens. This revived the Joker's interest in the area. After Dr. Young was killed by a booby-trapped bomb in the Warden's Office, the Joker sent most of his inmates to the Botanical Gardens to initiate a takeover while Batman was preoccupied with trying to apprehend Harley Quinn in the Penitentiary. The Joker's henchmen infiltrated the Botanical Glasshouse, and then the Flooded Corridor. However, the Arkham security guards fought back, led by trainee Thomas Armbruster, shooting three of the thugs dead on the scene. In the ensuing gunfight, the Joker's numbers finally showed and all of the guards were killed, except Armbruster, who was taken hostage. Planning to electrify the water dividing the Flooded Corridor and having some fun with Batman at the same time, the Joker sent four inmates to the Glasshouse Generator Room, where the power to the entire gardens was maintained. It was here Carl Todd was carrying out his regular custodian duties and cleaning out the room. Suddenly, six goons burst in, two armed with lead pipes, one High Security Henchman with knives, and a prisoner with a stun baton, taken from a dead security guard. Finding Carl Todd working inside, four of the henchmen overpowered the janitor while the other two went to the generator controls. On the Joker's orders, they rigged canisters of Joker Toxin gas to the control box for the Flooded Corridor, making it dangerous for anyone to try to turn off power in that area of the gardens.

As for Carl Todd, the inmates dragged to him to a wooden chair, and found a coil of rope to bind his hands securely behind his back, to the chair. They then beat the custodian savagely, intending to kill him. However, the Joker ordered that Todd not be harmed, since he would make perfect bait for Batman. Turning his attention to the gardens, Batman defeated an army of armed prisoners in the Botanical Glasshouse, then tracked the Joker to the Flooded Corridor, where he was holding Thomas Armbruster captive. When Batman demanded that the villain let the guard go, the Joker kicked a power fuse box into the water of the Flooded Corridor, then dropped Armbruster in, electrocuting him. He then escaped and sealed off the Flooded Corridor behind him as Carl Todd and the inmates watched the entire horrifying scene from a security monitor in the generator room. Forced to retreat, Batman went to the Glasshouse Generator Room to shut off the power to the Flooded Corridor so he wouldn't suffer Thomas Armbruster's fate trying to follow the Joker. However, the villain had planned for this in advance, which was one reason he'd dispatched the six thugs to secure the Glasshouse Generator Room. When Batman entered the room, he found the henchmen so distracted by beating up Carl Todd that they failed to even notice him. Buckling under their blows, Todd begged, "Stop, please....! I'm not important. I can't help you." One of the pipe-wielding inmates then paced around the bound Todd in a circle, surveying him while replying, "You're lucky the boss don't want you hurt too bad. Said something about you being the 'perfect bait'. I don't get it. You're nothing special. Who's gonna save you?" Another thug then nodded in agreement, adding, "Yeah. And just in case someone does decide to try, we're ready and waiting." Carl Todd held out desperately, defiantly retorting, "But Batman will stop you. You know he will." The thug laughed bitterly, back in Todd's face, replying, "The Bat. I'm not scared of the Bat. You see Hego over there? He has a thing for blades." As the goon gestured to the High Security Henchman idling nearby, Batman attacked. The henchmen charged him, but the Dark Knight took several down with a series of punches and kicks. Carl Todd's head immediately dropped in relief as he saw the hero, shouting, "You jerks won't last one minute against Batman!" As the last inmate attempted to fight back, Todd added, "Finish 'em off, Batman."

Looking up as Batman took down the last man, and began surveying the room, Carl Todd asked him, "Are you going to cut me free any time soon?" The Caped Crusader then walked over to Todd and sliced apart his ropes. Carl was silent for a few moments as he tried to get circulation back into his wrists. He then looked up at Batman and said, "Thanks. Are you okay?" Batman reassured him, responding, "I'm fine. I eat punks like these for breakfast. What were they doing in here?" Carl Todd tried to explain to the best of his ability, replying, "The ones who weren't hitting me went over there and started doing something to the power controls. I have no idea what they were doing." Looking down and shaking his head, Todd continued, "I thought the gardens would be the last place those escaped goons would be interested in." Perhaps as an afterthought, Carl then mused, "So much for logic in this place."

Striding over to the control panel for the Flooded Corridor's electricity, Batman observed the canisters of Joker Toxin strapped to the box with duct tape: "Looks like Joker has booby-trapped this control box. This is going to be tougher than before, but it's a risk I'll need to take." Using Arkham security codes and a Cryptographic Sequencer, Batman cracked the fuse box and turned off the power to the Flooded Corridor before the rigged timer could set off the Joker Toxin. Looking up at the security feed of the Flooded Corridor, Batman noted the power deactivating and that the water was now no longer electrified: 'Looks like I've cut the power to the generator ahead." Carl Todd, meanwhile, watched as Batman turned to leave, mentioning that he would stay and defend the generator room if the Joker's thugs came back: "I'll stay here. The Joker's men may try to re-take the generator." Leaving Todd seated alone in his chair, Batman then turned and left the room to pursue the Joker.

For a while, Carl remained master of the room, resting in his seat while watching over the goons Batman had knocked out earlier. However, as Batman was rescuing several Arkham staff throughout the rest of the gardens, two more burly henchmen went to the Glasshouse Generator Room to turn on the electricity in the Flooded Corridor again. Carl Todd heard their footfalls in the Statue Corridor outside, and realizing that he was clearly in no condition to resist two men of superior strength, quickly took cover behind some machinery and hid. After re-activating the water, the goons failed to detect Todd and left for the Flooded Corridor to taunt Batman. Todd remained motionless until he was sure they had gone, then stood in the middle of the floor, with his arms folded across his chest, master of the generator room again.

As Batman returned to the Flooded Corridor, he found the two inmates gloating on the other side of the now-electrified water: "Hey! Screw you, Bat. We turned on the power. You're trapped over there." "Yeah, not so special now, are you?" "Why don't you just walk over here and stop us?" "I think he's scared." "I think you're right. Scared of a little water. What a girl!" "Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

When Batman briefly returned to the Glasshouse Generator Room to check on Carl Todd, he found the janitor was still alive and in one piece, if a little embarrassed. Todd admitted that he became frightened, lost his nerve, and hid when the henchmen returned. Batman left the Botanical Gardens a short while later, but one of the greatest threats in the gardens was yet to rise: Poison Ivy. Having been released from her cell in the Penitentiary by Harley Quinn, Ivy had made her new lair in the Elizabeth Arkham Garden, near the Flooded Corridor. The Joker, meanwhile, supplied her with a dose of Titan. This caused Ivy's plants to mutate to monstrous proportions and overrun the gardens completely. The plants released toxic plant spores into the air, and killed Arkham staff, along with many inmates alike. However, the Generator Glasshouse Room was mainly devoid of any significant vegetation, was isolated, and was reinforced, so this made it one of the few safe places from Ivy's plants in all of Arkham Island. Carl Todd noticed the tremors caused by Ivy which shook the room, but was trapped from going outside because the door to the Glasshouse had been sealed shut by Ivy's mutant plants.

Carl Todd waited out the remainder of the Joker's takeover in the Glasshouse Generator Room. He was freed when Poison Ivy was defeated, and most of her plants shrunk back into the undergrowth, leaving the door to the Glasshouse Generator Room freed so Todd could leave following the liberation of Arkham Island by the Gotham City Police Department. Having survived the attack on Arkham, Todd returned to his normal duties following the Joker's final defeat at the hands of Batman.

Notes/Trivia

 * During gameplay, players can choose whether to save Carl Todd in the Glasshouse Generator Room or go to the Flooded Corridor and witness the electrifying of the water by the Joker. Normal gameplay would have the player watch the demise of Thomas Armbruster, then go to the generator room, but it is possible for Carl Todd to be rescued first, and the water de-activated first. This results in an odd edit in the gameplay, as Thomas Armbruster never dies in the game and the Joker comments glumly that Batman is always one step ahead, via the Arkham public address system.