Where the evil villain will go on a rant about how society is cruel and needs to change and that they're going to change it. The hero opposes this for like zero reasons and somehow we're supposed to be on the hero's side.
Are we really supposed to believe that our society doesn't need to change? Are we supposed to cheer for the status quo even when it's shown to be terrible?
I also hate the sympathetic villain trope where it's shown that the villain is the product of abuse and yet their want for revenge is still treated as unjustified.
I think the funniest variation of that was in Arkham City where the villains' plan is just "let's make an open air prison and then kill everyone in it to inspire a wave of fascist reaction across the world!" and Batman's stance is "well I agree with your tough-on-crime stance but I think your methods are too extreme!" At least in that Batman was trying to change the status quo of Gotham having an open air prison that it was actively airstriking by trying to make it stop having an open air prison that it was actively airstriking.
still somehow a better plot than Arkham Knight's
where Venezuela helps Robin and Poison Ivy invade Gotham with robot tanks or some shit for no reason and Batman thinks that "Joker" is a communicable disease that he's caught by drinking the Joker's blood or some shit. All while zooming around in a rocket car on the sidewalk like it's GTA, except it electrocutes people it hits so they're actually totally fine, trust us that's how electricity works isn't it?
Holy shit really? :maduro-coffee:
Pretty much, yes. There were still some fun parts, but overall it was nonsensical tripe.
I had some good turn my brain off fun with it but I felt it really lacked the elements that made the second one so great, which was batman stalking the night and being like superhero sam fisher, this malevolent force always lurking in the shadows terrifying the villain's goons.
I recently replayed these games and while I do think their politics are by and large reactionary as fuck (even for Batman standards) I do think that Arkham Knight's spec ops invader dudes are mostly American. They may have mentioned offhand that they had done black ops in Venezuela which is maybe what you're thinking of? But there is a throwaway line in the diner in the beginning where someone asks if Bruce Wayne is setting up North Korea style propaganda or some shit for like no reason at all, so you're right that the game does indeed have some blatant anti-socialist BS, lol.
Also that third game leans really hard into the police ass licking, doubles down on the GCPD as the last civilizing force between us GOOD PEOPLE and da FREAKIN ANIMALS. And goddam that stupid rubber bullet shooting batmobile is basically a militarized police brutality fantasy simulator.
Fun games if you can shut the politics part of your brain off, but full of yikes shit.
EDIT: ok yeah I was mostly wrong here, supposedly the antagonist trained the mercenaries in Venezuela. The degree of government involvement is left vague I think but it's still clearly leaning on "le eebil backwards corrupt soshlist country allowed a supervillain to train on their soil because they r so backwards and corrupt!!" What a dumb fucking game lol capeshit always be finding new lows
Weren't they introduced as mercenaries trained and armed by Venezuela?
It's possible there was some background detail I missed, in which case that stupid game is even more cringe than I thought lmao. One of the bright points between all the copaganda is that at least I got to violently dunk on :amerikkka: tacticool spec op war criminal loser douche bags and that would sour that a bit. Would definitely not surprise me if I was wrong on this though, par for the course with capeshit.
Third game? Arkham Origins? The police are secondary villains in that game.
Mind you, it does imply that the problem is a few cops being bad, and that they'll all be better once Jim Gordon is Commissioner.
My bad! I meant Knight, so 4th. Since origins is made by a different studio, I tend to think of it as more of a side game but I don’t think that’s correct.
If there weren't political prisoners there, you'd probably see loads of video essays about "Why Hugo Strange did nothing wrong".