Vicki Vale: Reporter for the Gotham Gazette
Lady Arkham: Masked terrorist leader
Vicki Vale is the primary antagonist of the 2016 video game Batman: The Telltale Series.
She works as a reporter for the Gotham Gazette newspaper, but unknown to many she is also the leader of The Children of Arkham, a terrorist group that are targeting the city of Gotham. Vicki commands them under the title of Lady Arkham and her identity is well hidden behind an intimidating masked outfit and voice changer.
Vicki was born Victoria Arkham, her parents were murdered by the corrupt Thomas Wayne for objecting to the use of Arkham Asylum to have others declared illegally insane and locked away for the rest of their lives. As a result, Vicki became an orphan and was placed into the care of foster parents, the Vale family. However, her foster parents were cruel people and it emerged that they tortured her, which ranged from beatings to being kept in a hidden chamber in the basement for days on end.
Despite her traumatic upbringing, Vicki grew into a highly intelligent and accomplished woman, and eventually secured a position at the Gotham Gazette as its star reporter. However, she still craved vengeance for the wrongs of her childhood and created the Children of Arkham. She located and recruited other individuals whose relatives had been wrongfully committed to Arkham Asylum at the hands of Thomas Wayne. This included Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend Oswald Cobblepot (aka The Penguin).
Vicki’s personal aim is to target Bruce Wayne for the death of her parents (even though Bruce was just a child at the time and was never involved in his father’s corruption, she still holds him responsible). She also wants the people of Gotham to suffer as she did, by spreading chaos throughout the city.
Vicki develops a powerful drug that makes people lose their morals and act on their basic impulses, which in most cases leads to violence. She plans a terrorist attack in Gotham's busiest area: Mercy Street Station. Her desire is to unleash the drug on the public via a gas attack, but her evil plans are foiled by Batman.
Thomas Wayne’s corrupt nature is revealed to the people of Gotham City, and they quickly turn against his son Bruce, despite his innocence in the entire matter. Bruce is forced to step down as CEO of Wayne Enterprises and his position is given to Oswald Cobblepot. Vicki appears at the press conference announcing the resignation and as Bruce leaves the stage she congratulates him on his speech. However, during the conversation Vicki takes the opportunity to drug Bruce in retribution for her family's fate. She reveals her identity as Lady Arkham to him and coerces him into violently attacking Cobblepot for taking his position as CEO. Unable to fight off the effects of the drug, Bruce attacks Oswald, which results in him being temporarily incarcerated at Arkham Asylum.
Soon after this Vicki fakes her own kidnapping at the hands of The Children of Arkham. She does this so she can focus entirely on her role as Lady Arkham and carry out an attack on the city with the drug. She uses her foster parents’ house as a base for operations and takes the opportunity to exact revenge on them for the childhood abuse they inflicted on her. She gives her foster mother a lethal dose of the drug and gouges her eyes out, and then hangs her foster father after giving him a vicious beating. She also uses The Penguin’s new position as Wayne Enterprises CEO to take control of Batman’s computer and gadgets, after learning that they are powered by the company’s technology.
After learning that Bruce Wayne has been released from Arkham Asylum, Vicki decides to take retribution on his butler, Alfred. She kidnaps him from Wayne Manor and films a video of her beating and torturing him, leaving it for Bruce to find. She takes Alfred with her to Arkham Asylum and takes over the institution, this includes releasing the prisoners from their cells. Bruce shows up as Batman and tries to save Alfred. Vicki flees to the catacombs of the asylum with Alfred and orders Batman to bring Bruce Wayne to her, threatening to murder Alfred should he refuse. A fight breaks out between Batman and Vicki, and she shows herself to be an extremely skilled fighter. As Vicki mindlessly attempts to murder Batman she does not realise that she is causing damage to the surrounding structure. When Batman uses her own powerful staff against her, Vicki is blasted through a column, causing the walls to crumble. Ultimately, Batman defeats Vicki, but the entire room starts to break down due to the damage caused to it. As Batman saves Alfred, Vicki attempts to leave the hall on foot but the ceiling collapses on top of her and she is seemingly killed.
In the game's sequel Batman: The Enemy Within, a profile on Vicki can be read inside the batcave. There it is revealed that her body was never discovered, although she is still presumed to have died.
Notes[]
In the Batman universe, the character of Vicki Vale is typically not a villain and is often portrayed as just a simple reporter, and occasionally as a love interest for Bruce Wayne. Telltale’s decision to have Vicki as their lead antagonist is a surprising and unexpected take on the character.