It's been two weeks and people are still talking about Batman: Arkham City. Many have completed the main mission but of course Riddler's shaping up to be quite a pain with all his trophies you need to find. Arkham City does what most other comic book video games fail to do, it's a great game with great gameplay.

We know the chances of a third Arkham game is practically guaranteed. Rocksteady has made a great game even better in their second installment with Batman. The game is bigger and we get a nice variety in playable characters.

The idea of different playable characters in Arkham City opens the door for other characters to get the spotlight for themselves. Catwoman added some variety in the type of missions you have to complete and while there are some similarities in her fighting mechanics, it still gives a different feel to the game. It's been possible to play as Robin as well and beginning today, you have the opportunity to download Nightwing as a playable character. Are any of these characters or ones from other comics deserving of their own video game and could it be made with the same quality?

The fact that both Arkham games have been so successful doesn't mean any character could be thrown into a video game. Even if it was made by the same developers, there are reasons why these Batman games have worked (does anyone remember the past attempts?). Some characters would work with the formula created here and others would crash and burn.

Playing in the Arkham games, you get a feel for what it would be like to be Batman. It's an experience that you don't get from the comics. Batman is a street level hero that relies on his fighting skills along with his high tech gadgets. The game requires you to travel from one part of the city to another, whether it's walking down the streets or gliding from building to building, it's all a believable portrayal. Trying to make a game with someone like Superman wouldn't work. Having the power to fly around and the (nearly) unlimited strength would give the character too much power unless it was centered around a horde of creatures sent by Darkseid from Apokolips. And as much as I love the Flash, a game focused on a speedster could be a challenge to even make.

Batman isn't just about running around and beating up the bad guys. There is the puzzle solving aspect that utilized the fact that he's supposed to be the World's Greatest Detective. There are plenty of clues and you are straight out told where to go at times but you do have to do some thinking as well.

What about a Catwoman game? That could be a tougher sell. Having side missions is one thing but trying to build an entire gaming experience around her would be a little tougher. This is not to say she isn't a worthy character but missions of sneaking around, stealing items and saving the occasional victim wouldn't have the same epic feel.

Perhaps a story like Darwyn Cooke's 'Selina's Big Score' could be adapted into a video game. It would have a more adventure-type feel to it than the Arkham games but could turn out to be an interesting game, provided it could be made without being a completely horrible game. Having a Tomb Raider-clone game with Selina thrown in would be an insult to her character.

If there's anything we've learned from the Batman comics in the last couple decades is Robin can be a cool character. Tim Drake (currently Red Robin) showed readers he could be more than just a sidekick. With the training across the world he's received and the deadly villains he's faced on his own, there is the possibility that a Robin game could work.

The Robin in this game doesn't feel like any of the Robins we know. He's a little...tougher and stronger. He's more of a brawler. Robin should be about more than just punching a level full of thugs. Tim was able to figure out Batman's identity through his own detective skills at a fairly young age. Let's see more of that rather than just endless fight after endless fight.

The same goes for Nightwing. Nightwing has the advantage of having more experience and a larger rogues gallery. His fighting style is definitely different than Batman's in Arkham City. Having a deeper history than Tim Drake, a Nightwing game could easily work.

To mix things up a little, let's have Dick Grayson back in Blüdhaven (maybe it still exists in the "New 52" and in the Arkham City universe). Since Arkham City began with a certain character in a different...guise, maybe something similar could happen with Dick. Parts of the game could feature the time when he was an actual police officer in Blüdhaven. The Nightwing series lasted over one hundred fifty issues and there's also all the Teen Titans and New Teen Titans issues that are bound to have stories that could inspire the groundwork for a game.

Speaking of Teen Titans, why not a different angle? What if we had a game based on Deathstroke? He has (and has had) an ongoing title of his own. There are video games that feature cold-hearted characters. Deathstroke has been portrayed as having some sort of personal morals but maybe the game could center around the jobs he takes and wouldn't have to focus simply on being an assassin.

For an added selling point, there could be the occasional level where he goes up against some heroes like the Teen Titans or perhaps even the Justice League (remember that scene in Identity Crisis?).

For now, we have Arkham City and the side missions and DLC portions to play with characters other than Batman. It's often the case that if a video game is based on either a movie or a comic book character, it's not going to be good. Rocksteady has proven this doesn't have to be the case. We could have really great comic book video games but a lot will depend on the character, the story and the gameplay. Not all comic book characters would work in a video game, despite how great they may be on paper (or even in animated and live-action form). There are a lot of people that do like comic characters as well as video games so now is the time to have more. Let's hope we can see more really good comic book video games.

How about a Justice League game with multiple playable characters and lots of villains that is made by the same people? I think it could work. Same goes for Teen Titans. If you make it the same style and add stuff that makes it challenging for all the different type of characters, it could work out well.

i really would like a dedicated green lantern game thats true to the comics like batman arkham series is.

green lantern can just do so much and green lantern isnt subjected to just earth. and theres alotta interesting characters in the corps. and the other emotianol spectrum characters like larfleeze and sinestro are just awesome. green lanterns universe is by far my favorite in all of DC (besides batmans)

also a flash video game. since he has a realy cool rouges gallery!

It's really hard to say any other character would be able to sell a game like batman could, the whole fascination around batman is that he is a contender amongst behemoths like green lantern, superman, flash. He uses his brain and resources as his weapons. Where as lesser side characters don't (robin, nightwing, catwoman, etc.) There really isn't much selling power in the DC Universe besides batman or superman to be quite honest.  
 
While DC characters have their followings, people who don't even read comics know batman and enjoy something about a man dressing as a creepy bat.  
 
Ironman also is an IP that kind of fits this but his abilities almost make him fall into the same catagory as superman, his problems are solved with brute force and there is no tactical approach to making his games fun. I think any character that has the ability to fly really doesn't make for a good game.  
 
The only reason they got away with it in batman 1 and 2 is because of how massive the game is, nobody wants to spend 45 minutes walking from one side of a universe to the next.  
 
The wolverine video game that was recently made was actually worlds better than the movie. But still ends up a button mashing game with rooms of enemies to defeat and little puzzles to be solved. 

nightwing ,red hood, and deathstroke should get a game

rocksteady should make a superman game

green arrow game would be nice too

It'd definitely be hard to adapt other heroes for games. Hopefully we'll eventually see different heroes receive a well done game.

I still wonder what ever happened to that Suicide Squad game that Geoff Johns talked about at SDCC 2010

Batman : Beyond Arkham.

They already have the beyond skin & they could have actor Will Friedle reprise the role of Terry McGinnis.

Green Arrow would work best for this kind of game. If done right it could be amazing

i would not mind seeing a game about catwoman supergirl or powergirl.

wonder woman game

I was just thinking of a Superman (Arkham City) feel type game. Fly through Metropolis, instead of Batarangs, laser vision, and instead of the cape stunning, freeeeze breathe. Etc etc

Are we only talking DC character here? Because if we aren't, I think the "Cable & Deadpool" series could make for an awesome video game.

I solved the Riddler Trophies and caught him pretty quickly. Once you have all the gadgets. It just becomes a matter of figuring out how you need to use them.

I'm too concerned that Robin or Nightwing would just end up being basically the same game with a different setting. Catwoman played so differently from Batman. If they refined things a little, a Catwoman game could be pretty cool. Just not sure how they would build a full story around her. What could they do to create a reason for Catwoman to want to put herself through such a trial. Her game could be cool to focus on how she steals things from various groups. You can choose different styles, and you're rated on how well you do. Though, those sound more like Catwoman challenge rooms that an actual game.

I'd love to see a Daredevil game which was just as in depth and satisfying as the Arkham series has been.

@TheMess1428: they already tried that once with the justice league, they dint get enough ratings to make a second one

The hand-to-hand combat of a playable Green Arrow would work like Arkham City Robin and his combat staff.

They mentioned Bludhaven in the game if you listen to the thugs they say "If I get out of Arkham City I'm leaving Gotham stinkin' city, I'll even go to Bludhaven." I really wanted to use the sword in the game more, I expected more one on one in the Ra's fight, but maybe for the sequel. I wanted a (excuse my language) a mindfuck like in Arkham Asylum, where I thought my game broke. I hope Nightwing gets a game, maybe even Azrael. I think the more realistic thing would be Flash since he's a police scientist, you can keep leveling up your stats to be able to vibrate through walls or buildings or speed up your regenerating health. Have levels where you can't use speed, but you have to think about how to take down your enemy. Flashpoint: the Game!!

I hope in the next Batman game they have a level where you have to enter a building without being detected. like they are landmines on the road surrounding the building, the roof is filled with pressure sensors that blow up a hostage so batman has to break in through the window. Please have the batbike or even the bat gyro,

Thematically he couldn't carry a game by himself, but I think the mechanics for a potential Iceman game would be incredible if they made full use of a physics system.

The obvious choices would be another game based around a Bat-family member. A nightwing game (featuring the Hungtress?), a Birds of Prey game, a Robin game (featuring Batgirl too!!) or even a Catwoman solo game.

But I'd like to see they use some other non-Bat-centric characters. Like Green Arrow (which with just the right amount of parkour and a lock on system to aim at various enemies at once - Ollie's an expert archer which the player will wanna play as, not be able to make miss targets) or even a Flash game.

For some reason I always hoped they'd made a Doctor Mid-night game. Seriously! (read Matt Wagner's mini, you'll understand and even imagine why and how)

Sorry but I just thought about this, I think they will go with a Batman: RIP/Batman: Heart of Hush most of the characters fit everyone has their own role, It's perfect you bring it full circle with going back to the asylum while bringing in professor Hurt who has been alluded to the devil so therefore what a certain character tells you can happen (see spoiler for details). Doctor Hurt can come in as a colleague or a trusted friend of Hugo Strange. The only part is the Joker part in RIP. But you can run the heart of hush since two important characters are found in Arkham City, (see spoiler 2). One of them is Selina. I would love to see the League of Assassins vs the Black Glove, plus you get the Batman of Zurrenarrah or however it's spelled. I think this may go in the way of this type of storyline but they would have to include or not include Damian Wayne.

DEADPOOL!! I think the Gun & Sword fighting and kick ass ninja moves would be awsome in a Deadpool game!

@someone042: That would be fantastic, and a person would think after the success of the God of War games that a Wonder Woman game would be pretty successful, especially if it has a bit of a different feel to the brutal and dark feel of God of War.

Red Hood. A Jason Todd story would work with this gritty type of game. And his fightin' abilities would be a brutal version of Nightwings fightin' abilities. It would fit the most I think.

a captain america game (I know it'd not DC) it should be something like assassin's creed meets batman arkham city. I know captain america doesn't have gadgets to work with. So they would have to be creative with the shield and the natural abilities. I mean like shield bouncing, bullet deflecting, maybe pressure point fighting, disarming someone with hand to hand combat, etc. Also a "super soldier" button where you could jump higher, run faster (think of the ca the first avenger car chase scene but in a game) and hit harder.

1. Superman could make a good game if they treated it like the Arkham series. Superman could be trapped in the bottle city of Kandor by Brainiac or in the Phantom Zone, were General Zod plans his escaped with an army of Kryptonian criminals to invaded Earth (If they go with Kander, then the Phantom Zone could be used in the squeal).
2. Green Arrow would make a good series if the games are base on GA: Year One, Snowbirds Don't Fly (replacing Green Lantern with Black Canary), and The Longbow Hunters.

I personally am a huge Catwoman fan, she is the entire reason I read comics, but (as much as it kills me to say this) I can't see her holding up her own game. Her role in Arkham City is fantastic. I love that she's finally getting some good exposure next to her animated short in the Batman: Year One movie and being played by Anne Hathaway in Dark Knight Rises.

It would also be great to see more of the women of the Batman family. Like actually SEEing Oracle, like Batman physically visiting her and needing her help in an investigation so we see her on-screen, or maybe he could even save her from danger or an attack of her headquarters (but knowing Babs, she wouldn't really need saving). Plus with Tim and Dick in the Arkham City Universe now, it would be great to see Cassandra as Batgirl and Kate Kane (not so much Batwoman cause I can't really see her being incorporated into this game's universe).

I've always wanted to see a Blue Beetle game for some reason, despite not being a massive fan of him. It's got your teen drama, tons of free roaming "protect the city" potential, and they'd have a lot of creative liberty with his powerset too.

A Fantastic Four game could be pretty amazing too.

I think a cable game could be great. It could be like a mass effect game (With less dialogue trees) where his furture tech and cyborg enhancements work like an RPG upgrade system giving you choices to make a Tank,Engineer or Support type character with members of Cables furture resistance, X-Force and X-Men filling the roles of other squad members with many locals to visit and enemies to fight thanks to the rich history the character has. Dare Devil could work in a similar vein to Batman AC as Hells Kitchen with a free roam feel, side quests and the like but mostly being a stealth/action/Super-Hero game. Green Lantern could have a game that works I think... Again maybe in a Mass Effect kind of way or even an action adventurer type. Perhaps you start out as a rookie or somehow some enemy is sapping the power of your ring so you start out with basic constructs and abillities but as you progress you unlock powers along the way. Sadly characters such as THOR, Hulk, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and Blade are pretty much destined to be little more than button mashers. I dont know many Magic Users in Comic Books but what if Doc Strange got a game that was more like an RPG than an actioner or platform game? Would anyone buy that? Think about it game developers, not every super hero game needs to follow the same structure.

To be honest you need a very well-known (well known to the general public) character to even begin to have a chance at selling a game on a larger scale (at least a mainstream game, due to the production costs involved). One that also has at least some known villains to it and a setting wider gamers would have some familiarity with. The Batman character fills this criteria well as both he, his setting and a number of his main villains are well known thanks to the recent movies and associated cartoons, also the existence of the suit, utility belt and vehicles etc provide allot of directions for game developers to go in in providing different actions and resources for gamers to play around with.

So it would have to be a similar character with a well known setting to be looked at (so this would narrow it down most likely both of the recent movies, and beyond that ones that have been received well). Also it would depend on the type of game one wished to produce, free roaming, fps, action adventure or (though a rare direction), RPG or strategy game style. A tactical party-based RPG or a strategy game would work well for titles involving large teams and have a number of complicated characters and settings (such as the X-Men) could work well, but that kind of games needs allot of attention to work, and tends to have a more limited customer base. Choosing one character with an action RPG style could also work well, the Witcher and Witcher 2 games based of the Witcher series of books with the character Geralt would work with darker comic characters. There are a number of possibilities to make it work, the big thing is for the game to get the kind of caring attention the Arkham games get, most are only put out linked with upcoming movies or similar and generally tend to be very limited in their ambition and scope.

The Punisher, Wonder woman game set on olympus and in tartarus, An Iron man game would be good if it was made properly.

seriously, can't believe you stayed inside the bat canon with this. fair enough to say Superman and flash wouldn' work, but come on....

Off the top of my head Ultimate Hawkeye (Golden eye like game), Animal Man (Horror game), Punisher (GTA like game). Was just expecting some novel ideas I guess. Not things based off huge aspects of Arkham City

The only character I'm always expecting he gets his own videogame is Dick Grayson (Nightwing.) The title of the game can be NIGHTWING; The First Robin. The game can follow Dick's story with his multiple sequence suits to unlock, fight multiple villains as Deathstroke, Joker, Blockbuster and Tarantula, Firefly, Bane, Jason Todd, Torque, Two face and more, and get allies as Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, The Huntress, Barbara Gordon, Batwoman, Cassandra Cain, Damian Wayne and more, and play the game in an open world similar to Arkham City but it can be Bludheaven city.

A pipe dream I know, but I would love a Magneto game with a destructible environment system (ala. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed?) fighting off and just ripping apart huge frelling Sentinels, you could get some really gripping flashback sequences to his childhood, and if they did it right; some interesting player choices. And I have always been a staunch believer that you CANNOT go wrong with a Judge Dredd game. Get Mega City 1 done right (with a good pinch of blade runner) and it'd be golden IMO.

Wolverine. Try to imagine a "Wolverine Arkham Asylum" game. It would be awesome

I think there are two reasons as to why these Batman games are so awesome,First-its's been written incredibly with all that sense of mystery and action u wld want in a batman game,the second is that the game really does the job of making you feel like Batman and because the guys at rocksteady themselves are batman fans as they've mentioned countless times they worked on that aspect so much more.

So thats what u basically need- One Hell of a Great story fitting that character and a Good team of developers who love that character and work towards delivering the best experience possible.[And also,Amazing Voice Actors :) ]

Now iv loved these batman games so much its not funny[looking forward to (hopefully)the third one *fingers crossed*],im a Superman fan but dont think a game with that kind of character wld work unless its huge i mean unless the playable area for a character like superman is the size of a state or at least a Really Big City(a really big Metropolis) to be able to properly take advantage of supes powers,then it won't work.so if any developers take on a superman game that wld really do justice to the character they'll be workin for a long time(i'd think,i dont really kno how long it takes to do all the design work n then build an interactive world base on that but it cant be done in about 1.5-2 years right) plus Story has to be Good,Darkseid wld be the obvious choice for big scary endgame villain but even luthor who is a mastermind evil genius and whos a billionaire could easily set up something to vex Superman for a day or two,if written well. And when dealing with powers,yeah Flight is a hard mechanic but thats only when the superspeed part comes into it, so, there should be a Superspeed perception mode that can be accessed while flying or running that slows down time like relative to his speed like in Akham city with the bat line to switch directions while in mid slide.the whole thing slows down so u can effectively make that switch.

Anyway those are my thoughts on what can be done for a good superman experience,Green Lantern is another character thats tough to build a game on,see unlike Superman who even though he has all these powers,they're limited and can be translated into a game,Green lantern creates what he thinks,now thats just not possible to do in a game unless we can translate thought into virtual images n no we cant do that(yet),so the whole 'make you feel like green lantern' bit is not achievable unless you're happy with just making hammers and jetplanes,so i dont think that wld work. Alright phew my fingers are startin to hurt lol im endin this here and with luck Hope Someone who matters reads this(and by that i mean someone that can take my ideas n actually do stuff with em' other than imagine haha) So thats my view on who shld get a game.Peace.

They should totally make a Jason Todd (Red Hood) DLC. Instead of just allowing him to be a playable character. They should actually make adventure or event out of him. Like Batman noticed the certain criminals are being killed and goes into the investigate. That leads him into Jason and they started fighting all through the city. Then in the end, Jason becomes a playable character in challenges.

ive said it before and i will say it again, in the right hands a green arrow game would be awesome.

I think more than anybody SUPERMAN deserves a really great video game. and a movie. But definitely Superman and the Flash!

I'd be interested to see a Robin gane, so long as they age Tim back down to his normal age and make him fun instead of the gritty twenty-something year old from AC. Also, since I know it will never happen, what about a game bsed on the Legion of Super-Heroes. They've existed for years in various from, so why not, it could be like Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, in terms of plot, where the Retroboot, Postboot, Threeboot, and 5YL teams have to fight across time and dimensions to save the future or something like that. Anyone second either of those?

I think the only way a Robin or Nightwing game could work is if they made another Batman game. Except this time, make it a sandbox like the Spider-Man games, and just like Rise of Sin Tzu - character select.

I agree with Ravisher. A Green Arrow game would be sick! But a game with the X-Men, Avengers, or Justice League were you get to play as certain charecters for certain missions would be awesome. Similar to the old X-Men game for SNES (Mutant Apocalypse?) That game was amazing! When you picked Beast you played a stage that was specifically designed to cater to his powers. It would be reat to have something like that again with modern video game technology.

Wally West 2d side-scroller?

A two player game with Batman and Robin would be cool, an X-23 game would have a lot of potential, Starjammers and Justice League Dark could provide a new spin on Superhero games

Would like to see a well gone comic-book game from DC that didn't focus exclusively on the Bat-family.
One focussed on a team could work out if done correctly, same with a Superman game, all you have to do is make it challenging in the correct way according to the character being used. 
Like if Superman is faced with a time bomb that he cant move or smash, solution; he has to x-ray vision the bomb in order to cut the proper wire.
A team game could be sectioned off in the manner of how NTT: Games did it; Each character is sent to a specific location and faces certain opponents the others do not, alternatively the character could represent the difficulty setting (there was a survival mode in Resident Evil 3 where the hardest setting was a guy with a pistol and knife while the easiest had a shotgun) another alternative is to play a team game like the single player campains of many shooters where you control one guy/girl and the rest of the team is there as support.

@ravisher said:

nightwing ,red hood, and deathstroke should get a game

rocksteady should make a superman game

this. just don't need a superman game but one of the other three of course

It all goes back to the source, it would have to be something Rocksteady was well versed in and had a passion form otherwise it would not be such a flawlessly tweaked experience. Personally, I'm already dying for the next Arkham game, but A Swamp Thing or Animal Man horror game would be my #1 request. To have it play like Arkham City but to be in the shoes of either the powerful animal man or tragic swamp thing would not only re-energize interests in these characters, it would be supremely kick-ass!

After that I would love to see the rocksteady group do a Watchmen game. Can you imagine? Arkam City styled environment, multiple characters, hopefully ending where the graphic novel did, but starting some time before.

I'm not sure if Rocksteady is limited to DC properties, in which case I would also recommend a urban/mythological arkham styled game featuring wonder woman, this wuld take a lot of adaptation but Rocksteady could have a God of War on their hands.

A Green Lantern game would also be possible in the vein of Mass Effect, but would be a bit of a risk as the character has never been a huge money maker. (outside of comics I mean) Perhaps a Justice league game is in order, or they could cheat and give us batman beyond. ^^

If Rocksteady is not limited to the Dc universe, the possibilities truly blow my mind; Spider-man, X-men, and Iron man are good places to start, but i long for a sexy Witchblade adaption or perhaps the legendary Spawn.

Green Arrow
BB

I think if Rocksteady stays in the DCU they should go all out and make a JLA game. Let's get all the best in one game...you know what DCUO was supposed to be.

If I had to pick one character I think the Flash. I love the idea of another detective game but with the Flash's abilities.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Since Batman's Arkham games have arguably the best melee combat system in a game ever, the comic book character to star in games that rip that system off should be appropriate. This year's Captain America game tried but fell short. I think The Punisher would be a good fit. With the added bonus of being able to make it more violent. I invision a game with plenty of improvised weapons and stabbing.

Are we only supposed to be discussing DC characters?

Deadpool would be a great candidate for a mass murder spree similar to Prototype

A Flash game would work if you work through to get more speed force abilities. Maybe a story twisted in time similar to the Spider-Man shattered dimensions.