Arkham Asylum

{{DC Database:Location Template
 * Image                  = Arkham Asylum 003.jpg
 * OfficialName           = The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane
 * Aliases                = Arkham; Arkham Hospital; Arkham Sanitarium; Mercey Mansion


 * Universe               = Earth-One; New Earth; Prime Earth
 * Galaxy                 = Milky Way
 * StarSystem             = Sol
 * Planet                 = Earth
 * Country                = United States
 * City                   =
 * State                  = New Jersey
 * Province               =
 * Locale                 = Gotham County
 * Creators               = Dennis O'Neil; Irv Novick
 * Dimensions             =
 * Population             =
 * First                  = Batman #258


 * Quotation              = Arkham Asylum is not just any institution for the criminally insane. It's the Ivy League of insanity. A "Harvard" for Psychopaths. Anything not described on the new inventory is contraband. Do not bring these items inside, no matter how small or commonplace they may appear. Bits and pieces do not fall through the cracks here. They fall into the hands of the best, the brightest and the sickest.
 * Speaker                = Jeremiah Arkham
 * QuoteSource            = Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #2

Arkham Asylum is located on the outskirts of Gotham City, and is where those of Batman's foes considered to be legally insane are incarcerated (other foes are incarcerated at Blackgate Penitentiary). Although it has had numerous administrators, its current head is Jeremiah Arkham. The Asylum does not have a good record, at least with regard to the high profile cases; escapes are frequent (on at least one occasion, an obsessive-compulsive multiple murderer was signed out of Arkham into the care of an incontinent, alcoholic vagrant, on the grounds that he "looked like a responsible citizen"), and those who are 'cured' and released tend to re-offend. Furthermore, several staff members, including at least one director, have ended up as residents, notably Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Lyle Bolton and even the founder Dr. Amadeus Arkham and, in some incarnations, Doctors Jonathan Crane and Hugo Strange.
 * HistoryText            =

Earth-One
Officially known as the Arkham Hospital, it was located at the edge of Arkham, New England. It was the main rehabilitation facility for the criminally insane and it was often called "Arkham Asylum". The most notorious among the earliest inmates of Arkham were Two-Face and the Joker.

Joker was the first inmate to escape Arkham under unknown circumstances and the next inmate was Two-Face, who had help from the outside to break free. On Joker's second breakout, he dosed a couple of guards with his Joker Venom and then he proceeded to release several other inmates. Before leaving the building, Joker confronted Batman on the asylum's kitchen, where he poured a special variation of his joker venom on the Dark Knight, which allowed him to escape for good.

Eventually, Joker managed to build a secret hideout that was connected to his personal cell in Arkham. The methods Joker used to build such structure underneath the Asylum remain unknown. Around these early days of Arkham, there wasn't a strict policy about visits and every inmate was allowed to get visits in a common room, much like a regular prison.

The criminal known as Professor Milo eventually got control of the Asylum when he and a couple of thugs captured the director and locked him on one of the padded cells. While running Arkham, Milo started a criminal ring using some of the inmates, just to lock them back when the authorities became suspicious. In order to learn the truth behind the crimes, Batman infiltrated Arkham disguised as an inmate transferred from the Gotham State Penitentiary and he learned of Milo's plan. Milo drugged Batman and tried to turn him mad using a gas of his own making, but the plan backfired when the Arkham inmates attacked him and forced him to inhale his own gas, turning himself into a madman and another inmate of the cursed asylum.

New Earth
Originally known as Mercey Mansion, Arkham Asylum was founded and run by Amadeus Arkham. Arkham himself was slowly driven insane shortly following the grisly murder of his wife and child by a lunatic named Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins. Amadeus Arkham eventually became a patient on his own asylum until his death, after which the custodianship of Arkham Asylum was passed down to his nephew, Jeremiah.

In an early incident during the new administration, one of the staff members of Arkham found the secret hidden room which belonged to Elizabeth Arkham, Amadeus' mother, where Amadeus had hidden his diary. Upon reading the diary and learning of the inherited madness of the Arkham family, the orderly became insane and released the inmates of the Asylum, hoping to lure Batman into a trap to kill him and end Arkham's curse. With the Asylum taken over by the likes of Joker, Black Mask and Two-Face, Batman had to go in alone, confront his own demons, fears and enemies until order was restored.

Jermiah Arkham took a hardline approach towards the care of his patients. He completely renovated the interior of the hospital, tearing away the old Victorian-style architecture, replacing it with newly designed interconnecting corridors patterned in the style of old classical labyrinths. With little regard for the hospital's dark history, Jeremiah was certain to destroy old remnants of the old asylum, including his uncle's private journal. Arkham hired Hiram Contractors to handle the renovations. What Jeremiah didn't realize however was that the company foreman, Zolly Hiram, had been blackmailed by patient Victor Zsasz into building a secret corridor that connected to several padded rooms, including his own. This later enabled Zsasz to affect a temporary escape from the asylum.



Years ago, the original Arkham Asylum suffered massive structural damage when the criminal Bane orchestrated a large-scale break-out, setting dozens of patients free. As a result, Jeremiah Arkham was forced to close its doors and relocate. He established a new Arkham Asylum at the site of the abandoned estate of Eric Mercey on Mercey Island.

Batman R.I.P.
Batman broke into Arkham and attacked the Scarecrow, took him to Joker's cell and beat him to learn the location of Hush's secret hideout, much to Joker's delight.

Later, Dr. Jeremiah noticed that the inmates were all singing about Batman's death. Shortly after, Arkham Asylum was the chosen scenario by the Black Glove to eliminate Batman as part of their master plan. Guy Dax infiltrated the asylum by posing as a doctor and after having Nightwing incarcerated and dosed with drugs, he attacked Jeremiah Arkham and took control of the asylum. As part of the plan, Dax and his henchmen carried red and black roses into the building, they dragged Jezebel Jet inside and he released Joker from his cell. Arkham was then the scenario for the final fight between Batman and Joker, as planned by the Black Glove. Jezebel was locked in one of the cells and after Batman broke her free, he fell into a trap and was paralyzed.

The Black Glove buried Batman on the backyard of Arkham, but Batman managed to rise again and using a remote device he called the Bat-Radia, he activated a remote signal from the Batcomputer that shut all the exits of Arkham, locking all the members of the Black Glove inside. While Joker escaped from Arkham before the lockdown, Batman confronted Jezebel Jet and chased Hurt to the rooftop of the building, where Hurt tried to escape on a helicopter. Batmam leapt to the vehicle and caused the pilot to lose control and crash on the river. Nightwing managed to escape from Dax and Scorpiana and retrieved Batman's cape and cowl from the rooftop of Arkham.

Arkham's Madness
After the Black Glove's failed attempt to destroy Batman, all the inmates from Arkham Asylum were transferred to Blackgate until Arkham was completely decontaminated. On their way back to Arkham, the vehicles that transported the inmates were assaulted by a new Black Mask, who freed the inmates and destroyed the asylum in front of all of them.

Prime Earth
Dutch immigrant Ambroos Lydecker was hired to construct the mansion and grounds that would become Arkham Asylum and incorporated a number of hidden rooms and passageways in the buildings which would later become a security nightmare. One of these passageways led to a tunnel that connected to the complex which would later be adapted into Gotham Academy.

Security
Jeremiah Arkham installed the most state-of-the-art security measures when he took control of the asylum. Video recorders were installed in every room and a corridor with two guards stationed on every level twenty-four hours a day to discourage bribery. Even Arkham himself was required to present identification to access various levels of the hospital. All exterior windows at Arkham were installed with heat detectors and microwave motion detectors. Magnetic foils in the walls were used to block radio waves from penetrating locked cells. Although security protocols were highly efficient, they were not foolproof. Within weeks of the renovations both Mister Zsasz and Batman succeeded in breaking out of the asylum. Additionally, Batman's former partner, Nightwing even succeeded in breaking into Arkham.

Although nobody actually lives in Arkham permanently, being an asylum, it has an infamous list of frequent residents. It's most notorious inmates throughout the years include:
 * PointsOfInterest       =
 * Residents              =


 * Abattoir
 * Alberto Falcone
 * Amadeus Arkham
 * Amygdala
 * Black Mask
 * Blockbuster
 * Calamity
 * Calendar Man
 * Cavalier
 * Charlatan
 * Clayface
 * Cornelius Stirk
 * Crazy Quilt
 * Dancer
 * Deadshot
 * Death Rattle
 * Doctor Destiny
 * Doctor Double X
 * Doctor Phosphorus
 * Doodlebug
 * Everard Mallitt
 * Film Freak
 * Firefly
 * Great White Shark
 * Harley Quinn
 * Hugo Strange
 * Humpty Dumpty
 * Hush
 * Jane Doe
 * Jason Woodrue
 * Jean Loring
 * Jonah Hex
 * Joker
 * Killer Croc
 * Killer Moth
 * Kobra
 * Lock-Up
 * Mad Hatter
 * Magpie
 * Maxie Zeus
 * Millie Jane Cobblepot
 * Mister Freeze
 * No-Face
 * Penguin
 * Poison Ivy
 * Polka Dot Man
 * Professor Milo
 * Psycho-Pirate
 * Riddler
 * Rupert Thorne
 * Scarecrow
 * Solomon Grundy
 * Terry Gene Kase
 * Tweedledum and Tweedledee
 * Two-Face
 * Ventriloquist
 * Mister Zsasz


 * Employees:
 * Aaron Cash Head of Security
 * Alyce Sinner Director
 * Jeremiah Arkham Director
 * Anne Carver Psychologist
 * Charles Nigaff Psychologist


 * Notes                  =
 * The first appearance of Arkham Asylum is often mis-credited as . This was actually the first issue where it was referred to as Arkham Asylum. In previous appearances, it was known as Arkham Hospital.
 * There are many early references to an unnamed insane asylum or mental hospital in Gotham City during Batman's early years. Most notably on the stories from, and.
 * From a chronological viewpoint, the first inmates locked in Arkham were Joker and Two-Face. The third inmate would be Rupert Thorne, the fourth was Maxie Zeus, the fifth was Professor Milo and the sixth was the Scarecrow. Afterwards came Doctor Double X, Black Mask and Night-Slayer.
 * Some villains of the DC Universe have been sent to Arkham, but have never made an appearance in the place. One of them is Anton Allegro.


 * Trivia                 =
 * The name comes from the imaginary city of Arkham, Massachussettes in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.
 * Normally, the cells were inmates are locked are decorated and customized by the madmen. On the early versions of the asylum, the cells were regular prison cells and the first personalized cells were the ones of Maxie Zeus, Two-Face and Joker. Zeus' cell was decorated with Greek architecture, Two-Face's cell was divided in two as his usual hideouts and Joker's cell had his own portrait, a big Joker card and a Batman manikin.


 * CustomSection1         = Recommended Reading
 * CustomText1            =
 * Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
 * Batman: Knightfall
 * Batman: The Last Arkham
 * Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
 * The Joker's Asylum

}}
 * Links                  =
 * Arkham Asylum at Wikipedia
 * Arkham Asylum article by Bob Rozakis

Arkham Asylum