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"Thirty days has November. April, June, and September. Of twenty-eight is but one. And all the rest are thirty one. Of course leap year comes and slays. Every four years got it right, and twenty eight is twenty-nine."
―Calendar Man[src]

Julian Day, better known as the Calendar Man, is a character that is referenced in Batman: Arkham Asylum, physically appears in Batman: Arkham City, and makes cameo appearances in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight. A brutal and psychotic, but highly intelligent serial killer who plots his murders around holidays, with the grisly nature of his victims' deaths often serving as irony towards the nature of the respective holiday, Day does not discriminate against any potential victim on any holiday.

His victims have included entire families, members of his own gang, women he stalked, children, random citizens, Arkham inmates, and even his own mother and father. Regardless of what holiday it is, Gotham will always be in a state of fear and panic if Day is out on the loose, looking to celebrate the occasion in his own sadistic and murderous fashion.

Biography

Batman: Arkham Origins

Calendar Man is first mentioned early in the game, when Commissioner Loeb mentions on television that he is one of the most dangerous criminals in the city, and he has been apprehended by the Gotham City Police Department, though it is strongly implied that it was actually Batman who caught him. It was also strongly implied that Julian Gregory Day was legally insane, but his execution had been arranged by Loeb as a means to gain more political power, even having Harleen Quinzel do a second analysis that indicated that Day was sane to allow for an execution to commence.

He is later seen inside the gas chamber at Blackgate Prison, about to be executed, but the Joker, disguised as Black Mask, frees him in order to execute Loeb, and because it was Christmas Eve (although Mask/Joker admits that he did deeply consider having Calendar Man executed anyways). Calendar Man then quietly slips away. His cell can be glimpsed in Blackgate Prison. Several of the murders he mentions in Batman: Arkham City are referenced by text scrawled on the inside of his cell. It is also implied that he manages to murder Judge Harkness shortly after his escape.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Ark mans Calendar Manbatman-arkham-asylum-76

Calendar Man's cell, as seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Although he doesn't appear in the game, in the Main Cell Block of the Penitentiary, Calendar Man's cell can be glimpsed. The cell is covered with torn calendar pages, and when scanned it answers the riddle "This room is the end of days for even the most celebrated killer" which unlocks the bio of Calendar Man.

Batman: Arkham City

AC Calendar Man

Calendar Man in his cell beneath the courtroom.

Calender Man's appearance in Batman: Arkham City somewhat resembles his appearance during the Long Halloween story arc, including his leg injury.

Prior to the events of the game, Calendar Man was the first criminal who inhabited the Solomon Wayne Courthouse where he would formulate elaborate murders for specific holidays. After Two-Face's imprisonment, Day was imprisoned beneath the court. He was briefly invited to Two-Face's trial against the Joker, but after he attacked Two-Face, he was captured and put back in his cell, where he remained until Batman entered Arkham City. Unlike previous interpretations of Calendar Man, whose crimes consisted of everything but murder, this version reveals to Batman many of his crimes that resulted in murder; he evens confesses to murdering his own mother and father on their respective holidays. On a certain day, he will reminisce on both of their flawed but promising beginnings, before implying that, as he was "there at [Batman's] beginning," he'll observe "[Batman's] end" as well.

After you hear about his crimes on 12 separate holidays and return to his cell, he is gone with a dead Two-Face thug hanging from the ceiling, indicating Calendar Man has broken out. If you look closely with detective mode, the thug's neck is broken.

After Batman: Arkham City

After escaping from the courthouse, Calendar Man became one of the few inmates to escape from Arkham City prior to the prison's shutdown. Situating himself within a self-made hideout within the reconstruction site on Founders' Island, Day kept a detailed journey that chronicled his inclinations to find more obscure holidays to focus his murders on, as well as the grisly crimes centered around such occasions.

Planning to target Batman on the holiday of Halloween, remembering the promise he made to Batman within the courthouse to be there to kill him at the end of his days, Day is infuriated when Scarecrow returns and launches his plans on the same holiday and decides to reside in the shadows as Batman battles Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight's forces. After Batman defeats Scarecrow and his forces, being revealed as Bruce Wayne in the process, Day poses as a news reporter in order to get close to the Wayne Mansion, along with the other journalists and media outlets covering Batman's newly revealed identity, and kill Bruce when he arrives home.

Calendar Man would only be met with disappointment however, as Wayne implements the Knightfall Protocol, which destroys his mansion, along with any evidence of his vigilante activities, and fakes his own death. With Day forever unable to act on his promise to kill Batman, it can be assumed that the psychotic killer was once again arrested and imprisoned, as Bruce would go on to reinvent himself as a far more terrifying vigilante, continuing to patrol the streets of Gotham.

Psychological Profiles

Psychological Profile (by Penelope Young)

Calendar Man AA Portrait

Calendar Man

Real Name: Julian Day

CHECK PERMANENT CALENDAR BEFORE EACH VISIT...

Psychological Profile: Day suffers from schizotypal personality disorder, with ideas of reference focusing around the calendar. He believes the major dates of Gregorian calendar mark times when he is personally and uniquely freed from societal norms. On these dates, he exhibits mildly sociopathic, frequently criminal behavior. He is in general one of the easier to treat here at Arkham, except on major holidays, when he becomes impossible to handle, displaying borderline behavior and refusing to socialize throughout the day.


Additional Notes

I have been unable to source his ideas of reference; I suspect incidents of childhood trauma related to a number of major holidays.

Due to my tendency to work through the holidays during which most of other staff take leave, I've been able to study the majority of Day's schizotypal breaks.

Arkham City Profile: Dr. Hugo Strange

Calendar Man is one of the more circumspect and introverted prisoners. He whiles away his days obsessing over anniversary schedules, privately reliving every gruesome detail of his monstrous crimes. There is no hope for rehabilitating him; if he ever escapes Arkham City, his criminal plans extend endlessly into the future.

Quotes

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Batman Arkham City - Calender

  • Thirty days has September. April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one. Except February alone. To which we twenty-eight assign. Till Leap Year gives us twenty-nine. 
  • Thirty days has September. April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one. Except February alone. Which has twenty-eight rain or shine. But on Leap Year twenty-nine.
  • New Years Day comes but once a year.
  • Will you still be alive on New Years Day, Batman?
  • St. Valentine, St. Valentine, give me your heart, this Febuary.
  • What happened, Batman? Did someone cut out your heart for St. Valentine?
  • St. Patrick's Day will be special this year, Batman.
  • St. Patrick's Day. Lets hope the river continues to run green, hiding the blood beneath the surface.
  • April 1st, a day of fools.
  • Are you FOOL enough to missee me on April 1st?
  • Mother's Day, time to pay.
  • Remember to give your mother a call, Batman, and come back and see me.
  • Father's Day, time to pray.
  • Was your father a STERN man, Batman? Did he make you what you are today? Come back that day and tell me.
  • Independence Day for all.
  • Why do you work alone, Batman? I believe you crave independence. Enjoy loneliness. Come back and tell me.
  • The dogs will come and tear you apart.
  • The dogs will sit with there master on that hot, august night. Just waiting to sink there teeth into the bones, lying bloody on the floor.
  • Labor Day, a day for workers.
  • You work hard all year, Batman. Come back and celebrate on the day you deserve.
  • Halloween! Halloween! Ah, Saint's day. Wake up the witches, or someone will pay.
  • Don't be scared, Batman. Halloween will be a day to celebrate, if you come and see me.
  • Who will give thanks, this Thanksgiving?
  • Will you help me give thanks this year, Batman? You have much to be thankful for.
  • On Christmas Day, the red man comes. A bloody X marks the spot.
  • What do you want for Chistmas, Batman? A new toy? A car, maybe? Will you sit with your family and enjoy the season? Or, will you stand in front of me?

New Years Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man New Year's Day

"New Years Day. Old acqauintance be forgot and all that. I made sure she wouldn't forget me that day, didn't I, Batman? It was the first New Year's party I'd had been invited to in a long time. Ah, but then I wasn't really invited, was I? The restraining order saw to that. Still, she and I had been close, or so I believed, and a New Year means a new start. I admit, stepping into a crowded ballroom with a flamethrower was a bit dramatic, but what better way to melt ice at a party. Perhaps she should have taken that "cup of kindness" from me when I first offered."

Valentine's Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Valetine's Day-0

"Valentine's Day. Hearts and flowers. The perfect occasion to smother my new love with tokens of affection. I chose a dozen red roses, an assortment of truffles and a darling little lacy thing...Oh, excuse me. I didn't mean to be so intimate. A-hem...You might say I'd overdone it, and in truth, at that point, my love and I had not actually met. Ever the romantic, I followed her to her apartment. Loudly proclaiming my love, I drowned out her screams of protest. Sadly, it was not to be. So instead of smothering her with gifts, I simply smothered her."

St. Patrick's Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man St. Patrick's Day-0

"March 17th, the day set aside for St. Patrick, the holy man who drove the snakes from Ireland. Interesting thing about snake venom, Batman: Some are green, just like the dye used to make green beer. That made it all the easier when I hosted that St. Paddy's Day party for my old gang. As you remember, one of my henchmen tried to tip you off. I wasn't sure which one had done it, so I decided to punish them all. One dose of green mamba venom into the beer keg and they were soon rotting under the shamrocks. So I guess that makes you responsible for their deaths too. I'll drink to that."

April Fools Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man April Fool's Day-0

"Well, well, well, Batman, you listened well. You appear to understand the importance of dates, don't you? Let me tell you about this day, this day of fools. I remember clearly that I watched her for days, waiting for the perfect moment. It was cold that March; it felt like spring would never come. They drank coffee and she confessed her life lacked surprises. For six more days, I watched. April 1st, 5:22 A.M. I finished cutting through the brake lines of her car. From the camera I placed on her dash, I saw her panic. My only regret, she couldn't hear me yell, "Surprise!"

Mother's Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Mother's Day-0

""M" was for the murderous look she gave me. "O" meant only that she was weak and old. "T" is for her terror as she fought me. "H" is for her heart that I now hold. "E" is for her eyes swiftly dimming. "R" means rot, and soon rotting she will be. Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER", a word that means a corpse to me. Happy Mother's Day, Mommy."

Father's Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Father's Day-0

"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. 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."

Independence Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Independent's Day-0

"Explosives planted at every exit and beneath this cell itself. What better way to celebrate Independence Day? My independence, of course, from Arkham. Unfortunately I decided to be clever about it and had a calendar sent to police headquarters with the month of July ripped out. You figured it out right away and arrived just as the fireworks were starting. You stopped me from escaping. But not before the fire swept through the intensive care ward. But then, what's the Fourth of July without a barbecue?"

Feast Day of St. Roch

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man St. Roch's Day-0

"Do you remember that wonderfully hellish August, Batman? Packs of mad dogs swarming the furnace-hot streets, savaging everyone in their path? One bite and humans were reduced to crazed animals themselves. Mmm. Good times. Though Crane provided me with the hydrophobia formula, I had the presence of mind to release the hounds on August 16th, the feast day of St. Roch, patron saint of dogs. An obscure date I know, but I couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate "the dog days of summer." "

Labor Day

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Labor Day-0

"Ah, early September. Kids headed back to school, leaves starting to turn, and, best of all, Labor Day. Like the year I posed as a construction laborer and drove a bulldozer through the Gold Exchange. Or the year I referenced the Labors of Hercules and released lions, bulls and wild boars upon Gotham. (laughs) Better than a circus. Even you have to admit last Labor Day was my most inspired. Laying siege to that hospital maternity ward. You labored mightily yourself that day. Saved every one of them. Well, there's always next year."

Halloween

Batman_Arkham_City_-_Calender_Man_Halloween-0

Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Halloween-0

"Boo! Funny thing Halloween in Arkham. It seems redundant here. Within these walls the monsters are on display year 'round. Of course, there was that one year Joker lead a breakout on All Hallows' Eve. What a wonderful night. Costumed revelers innocently partying alongside killers and fiends. Of course, the real screams came when it was time to unmask. Trick or treat."

Thanksgiving

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Batman Arkham City - Calender Man Thanksgiving-0

"You know, I always feel a little lonesome in November. I think that's because even the worst of us enjoy a good old-fashioned family Thanksgiving. I know I did a few years back when I dropped in unannounced on Turkey Day. All those surprised faces around the table. Mom and dad could hardly believe it. Mind you, I don't know whose mom and dad they were. I was on the run and needed a place to lay low. That family, whoever they were, could certainly cook. Stuffing and gravy and pumpkin pie to die for. Unfortunately, they did. Like I said, always feel lonesome in November."

Christmas Day

Batman_Arkham_City_Calender_Man_Christmas

Batman Arkham City Calender Man Christmas

"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."

Gallery

Trivia

Batman_Arkham_City_Catwoman_&_Calendar_Man

Batman Arkham City Catwoman & Calendar Man

  • There is unique dialogue if visiting Calendar Man as Catwoman. Catwoman states that she won't release him after what happened with the Falcones and he asks her if she is expecting anything from her father this year for her birthday. This is most likely a reference to Batman: Dark Victory in which she tried to prove that Carmine "The Roman" Falcone was her biological father.
  • As with The Long Halloween's nods to Dr. Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs, Arkham City continues this with portraying Calendar Man as his Lecter-like self. He sits in his cell which is protected with a glass wall, often at the back in shadows and only gets up to approach Batman when he tells him of his crimes on holidays, speaking in a similar style to Dr. Lecter.
  • Although established as an enemy of Batman, Calendar Man does not serve as a villain or antagonist in any of his appearances in the Arkham series.
  • If visited on December 13th, 2004, Calendar Man will be pleased at Batman visiting him on such a specific date. He will remark on how both of their careers started off flawed and rough but with promise, perfecting their skills as time passed. Finally, he cryptically warns Batman that, as he was there at the Dark Knight's beginning, he "will be there at [your] end."
    • The date in question is the day Rocksteady, the company behind the Arkhamverse, was founded. The remark about starting "flawed but showing promise" may also reference Rocksteady's unremarkable start in the industry with Urban Chaos: Riot Response before they developed the Arkham games and became far more famous than they'd once been.
    • Day's warning about being "there at [Batman's] end" ultimately comes true, as he can be seen amongst the crowd of Gothamites who witness the Knightfall protocol going into effect, destroying Wayne Manor with Bruce himself inside.
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