Batman Beats Up a Shark In Newly Released ‘Arkham City’ Game

Batman: Arkham City, the long awaited video game sequel to 2009's Arkham Asylum, is finally out. And just in case you needed yet another reason to play it, we have found the best one yet. In a video entitled "Batman's An A-Hole In Arkham City," the folks over at IGN have showcased two minutes of Arkham City's Batman being mean to people, to hilarious effect. But while there may be hours of fun taping and un-taping Harley Quinn's mouth awaiting some players, I'm more concerned with something else featured in the video. Something amazing. Batman punching out a shark.

Check out the whole video (but beware of spoilers!) after the cut!

I'm going to go ahead and say that the rest of the game could try to stab you in the face with laser knives, and having Batman fight a shark would still put it in the running for Game of the Year -- and possibly even the best video game since Rockin' Kats for the NES. But more important than just the pure, visceral fun of it is the fact that it's yet another example of Rocksteady working with a crucial understanding of Batman.

Sure, they might not show up as often as, say, the Joker or Calendar Man, but Batman still has a long and important history of beating up sharks. Who could forget the 1966 Batman movie, where he dropped the elbow on one just before it exploded in one of the most complicated deathtraps of all time?

But if you think that shark-punching is just a remnant of Batman's campier days, I can assure you that it's not. No less a team than Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams pit the Dark Knight against a Great White in the classic "Joker's Five-Way Revenge."

The scene was even adapted for Batman: The Animated Series, which means that Batman has now fought sharks in comics, TV, movies, and video games. There is transmedia shark-fighting all over the place.

So once again, kudos to Rockstead for acknowledging, embracing and adding to this proud tradition. Now if we can only get some KGBeast-releated content, I'll be wiling to declare it the perfect video game before I even play it.