Victor Zsasz (Arkhamverse)

During the Joker's takeover of Arkham, Zsasz was loosed from his cell in the Intensive Treatment Center. Running free, he encountered two Arkham security guards in the Patient Pacification Chamber. After killing one guard who tried to stop him, he took hold of another guard named Mike, and strapped him to an electric chair. A third guard, Zach Franklin, came across Zsasz, and sounded the alarm, requesting backup on the radio. At least three more guards responded to the alarm and arrived with Dr. Gretchen Westler, Zsasz's personal therapist. He warned that he would kill Mike if he saw "anything that looked even a little bit like a bat" getting too close whilst the guards attempted to talk him down. Zach Franklin and another guard stood barred at the entryway to the Pacification area, but were able to see Zsasz pacing behind his hostage in the electroshock chair. Franklin tried to call for more backup in the Processing Corridor in dealing with the hostage situation, but found no answer on the radio, as most of the other guards in the vicinity had been murdered by the Joker after his escape through the area. A surviving guard, Eddie Burlow, picked up the call near the door to the Decontamination Chamber but was unable to respond. He directed Batman to the Patient Pacification Chamber. Batman arrived on the scene and met Zach Franklin, who informed him of the situation. Batman used the chamber balcony and grappled behind Zsasz on the gargoyles that lined the top of the room. He snuck up on Zsasz, taking him out and leaving him back in the care of Dr. Westler and the Arkham staff. He warned a doctor that it would take much time before Zsasz could be cured, if he could be cured at all. Soon after, Harley Quinn trapped the Arkham staff in the Pacification Chamber. One of the security personnel covered Zsasz with his shotgun to prevent any escape.

But yet Mr. Zsasz somehow escaped once again, killing three security guards above the Penitentiary in Arkham West. He then proceeded to prop them up like rag dolls around a table as if they were enjoying a game of cards. After the Joker's men had taken control of the Penitentiary, Zsasz proceeded to the heavily-guarded Arkham East. While the Joker's men wrestled the area from the guards, Zsasz invaded the Botanical Gardens. He entered the Botanical Glasshouse Entrance, where he encountered three more members of security at the doorway to the Botanical Glasshouse. Zsasz murdered two of them, arranging the dead guards in a lifelike pose around a park bench. After killing several more Arkham staff, Zsasz scratched out the tallies of his kills onto the bench. Shortly after, The Joker came across Zsasz in the Glasshouse Entrance with his latest victims. ("No doubt acting out some twisted fantasy", according to Joker) The Clown Prince of Crime took Zsasz to the Arkham Mansion after his men had captured Dr. Penelope Young in the Library, planning to torture the formula for her secret Titan drug out of her. Mr. Zsasz asked to be left alone with Young and successfully forced the secret out of her. Batman searched the mansion until he came across Zsasz, who was holding Dr. Young hostage with a knife to the throat. The Joker, contacting Zsasz via a monitor, tried to convince Zsasz to hurry up and kill her. Zsasz began to panic as he knew Batman would take him down if he did just that but he was also torn by his desire to kill her, slowly savoring her fright and saying that she was "just begging to be slaughtered". Before he could make a decision, Batman knocked him out with a Batarang to the head.

Dr. Young was driven to so many tears while Zsasz held her hostage and nearly killed her. She beat his unconscious body angrily, yelling at him "You monster! You evil, evil, evil monster!", while still crying. After Young was killed by an explosive set by Joker and Harley Quinn set her goons on Batman, Zsasz disappeared, suggesting that he escaped during the chaos, as no guards had arrived to detain him.

His final appearance was in Batman's hallucination of a replay of the game's opening sequence caused by Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. Batman was placed in the captured position, with Joker capturing him, and Zsasz among the Arkham inmates escorting Batman in the patient handcart. After this, Zsasz had no further appearance in the game and his status remained unknown.

Main article: Batman: Arkham City

With Arkham City nearing completion, Zsasz saw a way to spread his twisted salvation around. He bought a piece of property through the mysterious Broker, and somehow set up a surveillance apparatus on all of the payphones within the City's boundaries, which he acquired the numbers to. He would call the phones at random, and murder anyone who picked up a day or so after they answered. Soon the inmates were discussing how acquaintances had answered a phone, only to be found horrifically butchered the next morning.

When Batman answered a phone, Zsasz was delighted and proposed a game: Batman would have to race to another ringing phone within the City boundaries within a short amount of time, or Zsasz would butcher two people he had been saving for just such an occasion. Hiding behind an extensive system of relays and proxies, Zsasz admitted he wanted to talk about his first kill, unaware that his safeguards did nothing more than slow down Batman's ability to trace his call. Batman went along with his game, all the while getting closer and closer to finding Zsasz's hideout by tracing the signal across multiple phone calls.

When the location was discovered in the Industrial District, Batman would have to circumnavigate Zsasz's room, which had exposed machinery and a water level which rose and fell periodically. With one of Mister Freeze's ice-grenades to make a impromptu ice raft, this became possible and allowed Batman to blindside Zsasz and imprison him in one of his own cages until he could be safely collected later.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Zsasz appears in the challenge maps as an armored thugs, showing he has at least basic fighting abilities.
Weaponry
Intimidation
Escapology
Prestidigitation

Other Characteristics

Mental Disorder: Zsasz is a nihilist; he believes everything is pointless. To this end, he believes everyone wishes to escape their pointless lives and has killed without a care in the world. Because he has no preference for victims, Zsasz is hard to pin down.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Two Knives: Zsasz commonly only uses one knife but, when fighting on the Arkham Asylum challenge maps, Zsasz uses two knives like every armored thug.

Notes

This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the Arkhamverse video game series and is an adaptation of Victor Zsasz. The original character was created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle and first appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1.
Victor Zsasz was voiced by Danny Jacobs for the games and by Christian Lanz for the related animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham.

Trivia

Zsasz is one of three major villains to appear in Challenge Maps. Zsasz appears in all of the Arkham Asylum combat maps. The other two are Joker and Black Mask.
- Of the three, Zsasz is the only one whose bones Batman can break.
As of Batman: Arkham City, Zsasz is 37 years old.

Victor Zsasz (Arkhamverse)

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History