Who is the Arkham Knight?

In Peter Tomasi’s current Detective Comics arc, a new vigilante in town is seeking to end Batman’s influence in Gotham City, calling himself the Arkham Knight. Clearly, Jason Todd is busy elsewhere. So what is the Knight’s true identity?

My prediction: considering the deep personal history Tomasi has with Damian Wayne, I think it’s going to be significant to him in particular. That plus his penchant for religious rhetoric makes me believe the Arkham Knight’s true identity is The Heretic, the accelerated adult clone of Damian who killed him back in Batman, Inc. five years ago.

But what do you think? Who is the Arkham Knight?

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I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I never considered the Heretic. It’s a good theory since, as you mentioned, Tomasi likes to write about Damian. However, Tomasi’s work on Detective Comics so far has focused more on Batman so I think he’ll continue down that path instead of focusing on Damien. Also, I don’t remember the Heretic having such a particular set of ideals like the Arkham Knight does. Maybe Tomasi is just building on the Heretic’s established character and adding some complexity, but the Arkham Knight’s disillusionment with Batman and his methods makes me feel like it may be one of Batman’s former allies behind the mask. Maybe an ally that’s more obscure or hasn’t had as much attention in a while. It would be a way for Tomasi to continue analyzing Batman. Has the Arkham Knight’s actual gender been confirmed in any way in the story so far besides what the Arkham Knight has said? That would greatly expand the list of suspects.

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My first thought was that, going off the last arc, it might be Leslie Thompkins. (Not that I’d have been happy with that.)

I thought of that too, but Tomasi doesn’t feel like the kind of writer who would completely wreck her character like that. Although it wouldn’t be the first time her character has been trashed. coughWar Crimescough

Detective Comics #1000 seems to imply that the Arkham Knight doesn’t know Batman personally, so I think my previous statements could be entirely or partially wrong.

Dumb and probably incorrect theory: It’s Clayface

Evidence:
The Arkham Knight is upset that Batman is not helping people who are clearly crying out for help, wanting to change, and lashing out as a result of that. Clayface wanted to change, but he never got the chance to. Batman never did much to give him any hope. Clayface was constantly unsure that he could change from being a villain to a hero and things Batman indirectly did (like the whole training room thing) definitely didn’t help. Eventually Clayface was tortured into becoming a monster and killed by someone who should have been his ally. What if somehow Clayface came back? He would probably be pretty disillusioned with Batman’s methods of “helping” people.

Weak evidence
1.)The Arkham Knight has an army, which Clayface could possibly form from himself
2.)The Arkham Knight claims to have seen Batman up close, which Clayface has
3.)The Arkham Knight claims to have seen Batman through the eyes of other people. Clayface can form people and use them as drones (right? I could be wrong)
4.)Clayface, while formerly an ally, does not have what I would consider a personal relationship with Batman

There’s no way that’s right, but I thought I’d put it out there.

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Maybe it could be Nobody the character supposedly murdered by Damian in Tomasi’s first Batman & Robin arc. But Heretic sounds about right.

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Weren’t there a few Damian clones? I thought Heretic was killed, so perhaps it’s one of the others. The knight type theme could also indicate a time (or timeline) displaced character. Maybe The Batman Who Laughs failed to actually kill all of his original Robins, and the surviving one followed him to this world to save it - and these Robins - from Batman. (Uh oh, maybe this is how we get a Dick Grayson back…)

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Didn’t Leslie die in one of the issues of 'Tec that lead up to #1,000?

I’m fine with AK being Heretic. In all honesty I have no preference for who I want it to be.

Twinkie The Kid could be under the helm and his whole plot could be to reinstitute Batman in a new Hostess marketing campaign. I’d say “Sure.” then buy a Hostess fruit pie with delicious fruit filling afterward.

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@Vroom I think Leslie’s death was just part of Bruce’s big nightmare thing. Not positive though…

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