Origin

The history of Arkham Asylum began in the early 1900s. Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane is named after Elizabeth Arkham, who was the mother of Amadeus Arkham, the founder. Amadeus’s mother was suffering from mental illness and eventually committed suicide. Amadeus became the sole heir to the Arkham estate and decided to treat mentally ill patients in order for those to not go through what his mother went though. Amadeus also got married to a woman named Constance and had a daughter name Harriet. He decided to turn his family home into an asylum to treat patients, but while it was being built he treated patients at the State Psychiatric Hospital, while also living at the Hospital with his family. Eventually the family would move back to their home at the Arkham house, while back at home Arkham was notified by the police that one of his patient named Martin “Mad Dog” Hawkins had escaped from prison. On April 1, 1921 Arkham returns home and discovers his wife raped and murdered laying next to their lifeless daughter with “Mad Dog” carved on her body. The same year Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane officially opened in November. One of the first patients was Martin Hawkins himself, who Arkham had personally insisted on treating him. On April 1, 1922 Martin Hawkins was strapped to an electric chair for “treatment” and was electrocuted to death. The death was covered up as an “accident” and Arkham began to fall into madness, believing that the reason he lives is to be an executioner. Arkham would eventually be institutionalized at his own mental hospital, Arkham Asylum, eventually Arkham would die in his own asylum.

Arkham Asylum would eventually be used to imprison the truly insane character, for example, the Joker and Two-Face who were one of the first inmates of Arkham Asylum. Eventually Arkham would begin to imprision all of Batman’s supervillain enemies whether they are insane or not.

Most Notable Inmates

Joker is the Batman's arch foe. He was the cause of much pain in Bruce Wayne's life; such as the death of Jason Todd (Robin II) and he shot Barbra Gordon (Batgirl).

Two-Face used to be a man with a wife and great career, but went insane after having acid thrown on his once beautiful face.

Scarecrow is a parinoid man with weapons that cause fear.

Harley Quinn used to work at Arkham Asylum until she fell in love with her patient, mister Joker.

Penguin is a short, chubby man who is known to be seen in the iceberg lounge with beautiful women.

Mr. Freeze was in love and happy until a freak accident occurred and the only way for him to survive was to stay incased in ice cold armor.

Poison Ivy is known for her obsessive behavior towards plants and almost sister like relationship with Harley.

Bane is a large man with superhuman abilities thanks to steroids.

Ra's al Ghul wasn’t claimed to be insane until of recent. It was the only way to rid the world of his evil without resorting to murder.

Riddler has a compulsive behavior to always speak the truth even if it’s masked in the form of a riddle.

In Alphabetical Order

Abattoir

Alberto Falcone

Amygdala

Black Mask

Calendar Man

The Cavalier

The Charlatan (Paul Sloan)

Clayface II (Matt Hagen)

Clayface III (Preston Payne)

Clayface IV (Shondra Fuller)

Cornelius Stirk

Crazy Quilt

Doctor Double X

Doctor Phosphorus

Dragon Fly

Film Freak

Firefly

Harley Quinn

Hugo Strange

Hush

The Joker

Killer Croc

Killer Moth

Lock-Up

The Mad Hatter

Magpie

Maxie Zeus

Mr. Freeze

The Penguin

Poison Ivy

Professor Milo

Ra's Al Ghul (committed as "Terry Gene Kase" in Detective Comics 840)

The Riddler

Rupert Thorne

Santa Klaus

Samantha Voz (Witch)

The Scarecrow

Silken Spider

Tiger Moth

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Two-Face

The Ventriloquist

Vox

Warren White

Zsasz