- "Are you satisfied with your body? Do you crave the kind of powerful body only I can give you? A body literally throbbing with the power of a god? You do? Well, today's your lucky day. Just sign up for my Titan program and I, Joker, lord of Arkham Asylum, will deliver. Never again be embarrassed to fight an idiot vigilante. No longer have trouble opening cans. And you know what's best? Each trial pack of Titan comes with a personal guarantee that will enter you into a drawing to be the first to mach on Gotham. C'mon boys! First one's free."
- ―The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum[src]
Titan was a compound that was created by Dr. Penelope Young and was used by the Joker who used research on Bane, specifically the drug that was used to give Bane his super-strength, Venom, and Poison Ivy's Plants. Like Venom, Titan could turn any user of it into a Bane-like monster, but only a small amount was needed to trigger the transformation due to its potency, and removed the need for a storage device. Though it came at a heavy price for most; their bodies become horribly disfigured, and their rationality was lost and those that were infected attacked anything unlike them (or sometimes they even attacked each other). However, not everybody exposed to Titan necessarily showed symptoms. Notably, Joker retained his "sanity" due to already being insane, as well as Bane due to his previous use of Venom, while Poison Ivy was not affected since she was only half-human. A similar compound, TN-1, was developed by Bane during Batman's second year of activity in Batman: Arkham Origins.
History
Batman: Arkham Origins
A predecessor compound was introduced in this game. Bane had been trying to destroy Venom to eliminate his greatest weakness, but gravitated more to Project TN-1; he hoped to create a compound that will replace Venom's addictive properties and give a permeant transformation. However, the result was a muscule-bound brute with permeant memory damage. The full potency of the drug would take effect in 10 minutes, leaving a small window of vulnerability.
When Bane took the drug (since Batman had removed his activator switch for Venom), he grew into the giant he would be in future games. The drug also removed Bane's memory of Batman's true identity; the immediate sequel, shows that the physical transformation is temporary, but future games show that the user of TN-1 will regain their transformed state if they use a similar substance.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
The final Titan formula was originally conceived by Dr. Young on Arkham Island as a way for weaker patients to survive more strenuous treatments, and was funded by the Joker under the alias Jack White to create an army of "a thousand Banes". Dr. Young's patient records implied that Scarecrow had assisted in the creation of the formula.
Venom was drained from Bane's body against his will to research Titan, plus the use of Poison Ivy's plants. The resulting compound bore little resemblance to the original Venom Formula and was extremely potent. The effects of Titan typically grew the subject into a musclebound berserk superhuman, with increased strength, speed, and more resistance to melee attacks. The rapid transformation caused tears to the skin and bones to protrude out of the skin. It appeared that all of Joker's Titan Henchmen were even more aggressive than they normally were for a Blackgate Prison convict, and behaved like raging beasts. Joker appeared to not suffer that side effect, and even retained his speech and normal behaviors. Poison Ivy was also immune to Titan's side effects, most likely because she was not fully human. Instead of undergoing a transformation into a giant killer plant, it was her plants that experienced rapid growth, and their attacks became more powerful. Ivy's eyes turned bright glowing green and her chlorokinetic abilities were enhanced.
On interrogating Ivy, Batman discovered that special plant spores in Killer Croc's Lair were the key to creating an antidote. Batman described the process for the synthesis of the antidote as slow, and only yielded small quantities. Although Batman had set the Batcomputer to synthesize more, the untimely growth of Ivy's Titan-enhanced plants invaded the Batcave, destroyed the computer, and left Batman with very little antidote.
Fortunately, the effects of Titan were only temporary, and the transformed inmates eventually returned to normal. The Joker, however, suffered worse because an overdose from his dart gun that caused the residual Titan to be left in his bloodstream and reacted with the other chemicals in his body.
Though all the Titan was thought to be destroyed, a post-credits scene revealed that at least one box was left floating in the water, and three alternate endings showed either Bane, Scarecrow, or Croc grabbing the crate (based on the completion rate of the game).
After Arkham Asylum
During the comic book series that bridged the gap between the two games, it's revealed that the Titan made its way into the Gotham City underground. Crates of the compound floated into the docks and Two-Face bought it off of some gang bangers and hoped for quick cash. Too late did Two-Face realize the mistake of having Brother-Sister team, T&T (whose real names were Terry and Tracy Trask) take them down into his cellar.
Upon discovering what it was, they started to use it and turned the cellar into a personal training ground. Because they used the drug in small controlled doses, T&T were able to retain control of themselves, and after they slaughtered Two-Face's Gang and nearly put the man himself into a full body cast, they started to make plans to take over the city.
However it's soon revealed that T&T were actually under the employment of Professor Hugo Strange and under his instructions, launched a coup against the city. Unfortunately for them, Batman arrived in time to save the city, but before he could trace them back to Strange, they vaporized themselves via high explosives that were planted in their bodies, which killed hundreds and destroyed the new Gotham City Hall.
It's made clear that the purpose of the attack was to give Mayor Sharp the excuse that he needed to create Arkham City. It seemed that the Joker planned to use the Titan again after he had a doctor, which he promptly sent into an incinerator, isolate the Titan from his blood. In addition, the Joker had some of the Titan Formula that was isolated from his blood injected into one of his henchmen, and then sent him after Bane.
After the henchman had managed to place Bane at his mercy, he started to suffer from cardiac arrest, and resulted in Bane mercy kill him. Due to that experience, Bane also vowed to destroy the source of all Titan by any means necessary.
Batman: Arkham City
After Bane's encounter with Joker's Henchman, he launched a crusade against the Titan, realized that he couldn't do it alone, signaled Batman with a flare, and lured him to the abandoned Krank Co. Toys Factory in the flooded section of Arkham City at Amusement Mile. There, he alerted Batman to the Titan in Arkham City (Depending on what point in the game that the player chose to meet Bane Batman either found out from Bane or knew of the Titan from a run in with the Penguin). According to Bane, the Joker was the one who had arranged for the Titan crates to come into Arkham City.
Bane stated that each of the remaining 12 Crates were given a radio tracking device, Batman would destroy the six dotted around the south of Arkham City and Bane would take the northern six. Once Batman destroyed his six, he met back up with Bane and were ambushed by the TYGER Guards (or Joker's Henchmen depending if the player went back to Bane after Protocol 10). Batman and Bane quickly defeated them. Bane then revealed his intent to hoard the Titan to use for his own purposes.
Batman, however, anticipated Bane's betrayal. He was counting on Bane to hoard the containers and store them all in one place, so that they would be all that easier to destroy. Batman trapped Bane, then destroyed the Titan containers with his Explosive Gel, and finally rid Gotham of the Titan.
Meanwhile, Joker used the isolated strain of Titan as a bargaining chip, and had his blood that was filled with the Titan Disease sent all over Gotham and injected into Batman.
The Titan, having been altered due to exposure to the other chemicals in Joker's bloodstream, would have killed people in 24 hours. Batman had to rescue Mr. Freeze from Penguin to make the cure. However, Freeze needed a specific enzyme to render the cure stable long enough to have any effect, which so happened exists in the blood of Ra's al Ghul due to his longevity. Batman infiltrated the League of Assassin's base in Wonder City, and forcefully took Ra's' blood.
Freeze was able to create the cure, but decided to hold on to it in exchange for his wife, Nora. He and Batman got into a fight over the cure, and while they fought, Harley Quinn stole the cure. The cure was in turn stolen from Harley by Talia al Ghul. The Joker killed her for it and then the cure wound up in the hands of Clayface. Batman defeated Clayface, took the cure, drank half of it, and cured himself before Joker stabbed him in the arm, which caused him to drop the vial onto the floor. Joker died as a result from the Titan Disease. Two weeks following the events of Arkham City, Harley injected a thug from her newly-formed gang with Titan to fight Robin when he infiltrated the Shipyard to rescue Batman. A Titan crate could also be seen as apart of the giant Joker monument, and was used to build his arm, which implied that more remnants of Titan remained.
Batman: Arkham Knight
The sole appearance of Titan in the game was found in a shipping crate that contained Bane's former equipment, and was symbolic of how he was a changed man upon his departure from Gotham to Santa Prisca. A container of Titan was also shown in Bane's display case in the Evidence Room at the GCPD Lockup.
Individuals infected with Titan
- The Joker
- Poison Ivy
- Batman
- Bane
- Titan Henchman
- T&T
- Various Arkham staff and members of Gotham crime organizations
Trivia
- A similar concoction called Kobra-Venom appeared in Young Justice, which resulted in a "permanent" transformation by mixing Venom with the Blockbuster Formula.