Why is Batman so brutal in Batman: Arkham Knight?

[DCCoolness]

For a guy who has a no killing policy, he sure beats up crooks in brutal ways like breaking their limbs after knocking them down, or jumping on their chest. Some of his attacks could kill a man in real life such as the one where he jumps up in the air and slams down on Pyg's face. Ouch!

Shouldn't his attacks go against his code or something? Batman from the 90s wouldn't go this far. I'm sure there are other ways of taking down your enemies instead of breaking their bones

[Agent Z]

This isn't anything new Though. He's been doing this for years.

[The World]

Videogames typically ramp things up 11 when given the chance, i.e. Mortal Kombat.

[Triple J]

Depends on which version of Bats you are referring to - most of them have a no kill policy, yes. But, some versions aren't afraid to go brutal - like Arkham Batman, potentially paralyzing the victim (criminals of course).

Whether that is right or wrong is another question (which I don't think we need to discuss). Just a game, with a different version of Bats

[SuperiorIronman]

He was dealing with militia who took over his city and killed God knows how many people (rioters). Batman isn't going to treat them like regular crooks. For that matter in real life which the Arkham series is somewhat based given the sort of combat, it's far more effective to break a man's arm and leg to force him to stay down rather then Batman risking death by punching. Batman is strong enough to handle Killer croc in Origins and he is twice his size and triple his own strength. If I was Bruce I'd say breaking a bone or two is much safer than risking a crook dying from getting hit too hard and shredding some organs.

And outside of that it just looks better thematically for a videogame. How boring in a game where you do little to no detective work and mostly Tank combat be if you didn't go EXTREME by breaking some bones or used a takedown?

[Jody Garland]

spoilers:

Because he's been infected with the Joker's blood, which is ramping up his violent tendencies.

end of spoilers

[Vworp Vworp]

[Lady Nightwing]

I was rescuing a fireman by a dock and I accidentally knocked a goon into the sea, he never resurfaced. Batman is a straight up killer

[Nite-Wing]

I think Batman has been torturing and beating up criminals since Asylum
Although in Knight he is more brutal primarily because of the Batmobiles inclusion bluring that line between player and character actions

[Immortal Weapon]

I feel that a darker a Batman needs to be brutal. Making criminals afraid of him is what makes him effective especially since they know he won't kill. Break bone here, concession there, having the batmobile rev'd up on your head, go with what's most effective.

[Rahul]

In a video game context, this is an effective way of showing why people are afraid of Batman in general. He won't kill them, but because he injures them this gravely they are afraid of him anyway.

If you apply comic book hero sentiment here it would not work.

[joybeans]

The real answer is that it's a video game, and "edgy violence" sells video games. I mean, you have the Batmobile running people over like bowling pins, but it's all okay because there's a tiny text blurb somewhere that says they're only knocked unconscious.

[Immortal Weapon]

I'm not getting the "it's a video game" answers. Barring that it's never been unusual for Batman to display the type of brutality he does in the game.

[Claude]

For a guy who has a no killing policy, he sure beats up crooks in brutal ways like breaking their limbs after knocking them down, or jumping on their chest. Some of his attacks could kill a man in real life such as the one where he jumps up in the air and slams down on Pyg's face. Ouch!

Wait, Professor Pyg is in this game?

Hot damn!

[Rahul]

I'm not getting the "it's a video game" answers. Barring that it's never been unusual for Batman to display the type of brutality he does in the game.

Well, in the comics, he's had problems with Azrael and Huntress and even Jason Todd using brute force(killing is another thing), so that's probably where the "Batman would not do that" comes from.

On the other hand there was an issue where Batman locked up KGBeast in a sewer andd left him to starve so....yeah characterization on this matter can be mildly summed up as fluid.