In your opinion, what was a better Batman adaptation: Arkham City or The Dark Knight?

[ShotgunZombie]

So Arkham City was just released a little less than a week ago and I have to say... It's magnificent. As you can see I like Arkham City but I also liked Christopher Nolan's take on ol' Bats, The Dark Knight. Personally though I'd have to say that Arkham City is the better adaptation of Batman because even though I make a terrible Batman (Curse you Riddler and your trophies!) the game delves much deeper into the caped crusader's mythology. Now don't get me wrong I am by no means saying that The Dark Knight was not a good Batman adaptation (it was and then some) I'm just saying that to me, Arkham City is a better adaptation. So what are your thoughts?

 

[DarkRyter]

I don't know. What do I look like? Some kind of Batman theologist?

I don't think that's even a real thing.

 

[dickywebster]

It depends what you want really, plus the fact your comparing 2 completly different forms of media...

The dark knight is kinda snookered from the start as its aiming to be realistic, so thats a good portion of the batman baddies not appearing purely because there is no way to explain say how poison ivy controls her powers.
And its got maybe 2 hours tops to tell everything it wants too.

Whereas the game can to some extent take as long as it wants. Also as its not claiming to be realistic as the dark knight, i can make use of all hte batman mythology in the dc universe itself.

So if your going for an adaptation thats as close to the comics as you can get, the film doesnt stand a chance. Both are good, heck the dark knight is possibly the best batman film that will ever be made, but the game has more freedom to make use of the world of batman.

 

[noodles loves you]

It's subjective.

Though the answer is actually Batman & Robin

 

[gigastar]

The stoic crazy prepared [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyPrepared], caped crusader.

Fixed.

And on that basis alone im going to vouch for Arkham City as the more faithful, and thus, better adaptation.

 

[Worgen]

A better question would be, "which is the better batman adaptation, Batman Arkham City or Batman the Animated series."

 

[Jennacide]

Arkham City for being based on the TAS aesthetics.

 

[vrbtny]

The stoic crazy prepared [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyPrepared], caped crusader.

Fixed.

And on that basis alone im going to vouch for Arkham City as the more faithful, and thus, better adaptation.

Spoiler

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You linked to TvTropes. NOOOOOO!!! I'm gonna be on there for the next 12 hours because of you.

Thanks /sarcasm.

 

[ShotgunZombie]

A better question would be, "which is the better batman adaptation, Batman Arkham City or Batman the Animated series."

Ah, well played sir. By the way I love your avatar.

 

[Rusman]

Depends what you are after, for realistic (ish) drama type thing that just happens to have a masked vigilante in then The Dark Knight.
For a slightly darker comic book series with all the mental super-powered villains then Arkham City.
Personally I like both AND I like Christian Bale as Batman... and don't like Kevin Conroy... please don't kill me DC fanboys.

 

[Lectori Salutem]

I choose the 1966 movie

 

[ShotgunZombie]

I don't know. What do I look like? Some kind of Batman theologist?

I don't think that's even a real thing.

Actually, considering Batman's popularity I'm pretty sure those exists.

It depends what you want really, plus the fact your comparing 2 completly different forms of media...

The dark knight is kinda snookered from the start as its aiming to be realistic, so thats a good portion of the batman baddies not appearing purely because there is no way to explain say how poison ivy controls her powers.
And its got maybe 2 hours tops to tell everything it wants too.

Whereas the game can to some extent take as long as it wants. Also as its not claiming to be realistic as the dark knight, i can make use of all hte batman mythology in the dc universe itself.

So if your going for an adaptation thats as close to the comics as you can get, the film doesnt stand a chance. Both are good, heck the dark knight is possibly the best batman film that will ever be made, but the game has more freedom to make use of the world of batman.

Hmm, you make some good points but even so it's not like the movies can't take a few liberties. I mean if Two Face can make an appearance then I can see Poison Ivy being brought in and her powers hand-waved as special pheromones that she can use to control people or some of the more exotic plants found in nature or something. Thought I'll admit even I think that's a long shot.

 

[dickywebster]

It depends what you want really, plus the fact your comparing 2 completly different forms of media...

The dark knight is kinda snookered from the start as its aiming to be realistic, so thats a good portion of the batman baddies not appearing purely because there is no way to explain say how poison ivy controls her powers.
And its got maybe 2 hours tops to tell everything it wants too.

Whereas the game can to some extent take as long as it wants. Also as its not claiming to be realistic as the dark knight, i can make use of all hte batman mythology in the dc universe itself.

So if your going for an adaptation thats as close to the comics as you can get, the film doesnt stand a chance. Both are good, heck the dark knight is possibly the best batman film that will ever be made, but the game has more freedom to make use of the world of batman.

Hmm, you make some good points but even so it's not like the movies can't take a few liberties. I mean if Two Face can make an appearance then I can see Poison Ivy being brought in and her powers hand-waved as special pheromones that she can use to control people or some of the more exotic plants found in nature or something. Thought I'll admit even I think that's a long shot.

Probably a bad example, remember the last movie poision ivy was in...
Also from what i can tell the bane from the new movie is basically like the kingpin from marvel, big and strong, but not superhumanly so, though details might have been released since saying what bane will be like?
Also if theres one thing ive learnt from the original arkham game, its thats theres a shed load of batman baddies no ones heard of. Now ive been reading batman on and off for years now and i had no idea who some of the villians were! Let alone people who dont know much about batman beyond his main villians. Actually that snookers the films to some extent as well, cause no ones gonna want to see batman beat up someone who theyve never heard of, whereas the game can take some time and explain background/seems more made for fans with regards to the story; plus they had it well worked in with story elements that you can find whereas the films cant take the time to explain in as much detail who random crazy number 42378956 is.

Also i only actually realised a few months ago that zsasz gets a meantion in betman begins, its nice when you catch stuff like that i think.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I've never played Arkham City but I've played Arkham Asylum and I've seen both of the Nolan films. I'd say the games are the better adaptation though since Nolan is completely against the whimsical side of the mythos, choosing instead to base the series on 100% gritty realism. Arkham Asylum plays out like one of the Animated Series based movies. Also, The Joker in AA seems to be having a ton of fun, enjoying himself in a much bigger way than Ledger did. Ledger gave a great performance but that scene where he's burning the pile of cash, he just seemed so somber. Arkham Asylum had a chemically altered Super Joker who still joked and laughed as though it was nothing.

 

[Byere]

Call me old and stupid, but in my opinion, I actually prefer the original, cheesy, Batman films to Batman Begins/Dark Knight. Well, all except Batman & Robin, that was just terrible...

I have to agree with Dicky Webster. The game has a lot more time to tell the story and less want for realism, so it's a better adaptation to the original comics and cartoons.

 

[CrashBang]

Every comic book artist and writer depicts Batman and the universe differently, as does every director and game designer so I can't really say.
The 1960s TV show reflected the comics of the 60s perfectly and The 90s cartoon was a great adaptation of the 90s comics. Nowadays the comics change in style more frequently so a better adaptation is more... subjective, I guess. I think Arkham City did an amazing job with the gothic feel of the world and the style of the characters but Nolan's films did an amazing job at modernising Batman and making him seem almost plausible in the real world, like he really could exist.
So they both have their merits and both do The Dark Knight justice.

 

[Worgen]

A better question would be, "which is the better batman adaptation, Batman Arkham City or Batman the Animated series."

Ah, well played sir. By the way I love your avatar.

Thank ye thank ye, I like yours also, Magus xlr was an awesome show, too bad they messed up its time slot.