Life of Maniacs. Part I: Crocodile Tears - Killer Croc.
This post is a direct continuation of the post I published earlier, dedicated to the history of Batman, the journey he took from a frightened boy to the knight of the night, the terror of criminals of all kinds (it is highly recommended to read it first, as there are parallels between the posts, and the previous post deserves your attention). This post will focus on those very criminals, the antitheses of Batman, the uncles and aunts of evil, those who commit atrocities and bring evil, of course, since this post is specifically about the game Batman: Arkham Asylum, we will limit ourselves to the criminals that Batman encounters while wreaking havoc in the asylum. You know, in my humble opinion, Batman owes a great deal of his incredible popularity to his enemies. The Batman universe is rich in ugly personalities, intricately crafted down to the last detail, charismatic and often much more appealing than the angelic Mouse himself. Bats is just too good, too righteous, and every one of us deep down is a little bit of a rascal, which is probably why we are so attracted to rogues and scoundrels. Do you remember everyone you had to subdue in the game? Yes, they all, in order, will pass by you, glancing down, feeling shy like a row of failed lunatics.
Killer Croc.
Some were given a pretty face without intelligence, while others got smarts but an acne-riddled visage; in the muscle distribution, Croc spent all his bonuses and received nothing in return, he is hopelessly stupid and utterly hideous. But despite such a merciless description, the Crocodile is not devoid of a primal charm and the allure of a reptile. Ready to hear his story filled with poignant and thrilling events? Let's begin, and let every one of those who threw a batarang at Croc feel a twinge of shame, if only for a moment.
Little Whelan Jones was born and raised in the slums, he had no father, and his mother died during childbirth, so his aunt raised him, which is a strong word; she often ended up in jail rather than cooking lunch for her nephew. Whelans was not an ordinary child; he had one significant deviation – a very rare skin disease.
As he grew older, the disease progressed, and over time Whelan's skin became akin to reptilian scales. Do you think the peers of a kid with such a defect living in a ghetto loved and respected him, or did they humiliate and mock him? Yep, the second option, the boy got beaten regularly. But despite the beatings and humiliations, Whelan's will and character helped him endure all the trials; he did not break; on the contrary, misfortunes seemed to have tempered him, he grew up cruel and strong, oh yes, and resembling a crocodile, for which he earned the original nickname - Croc.
At 16, Croc first found himself in prison; one of the inmates laughed at his ugliness, and he paid for it with his life.
After serving a good 18 years, Croc was released into the world, a fully formed semi-crocodilian creature. The brute faced the urgent necessity of earning a living, and since his most outstanding characteristics were not beauty and intelligence, but hideousness and inhuman strength, he was turned away at McDonald's, but gladly accepted into a circus troupe. An original attraction was devised for the green-skinned African American in the circus - to the applause of the astonished crowd, Croc would engage in a deadly struggle with alligators, tearing them apart with his bare hands. In fact, the owner of the attraction came up with the final version of his nickname, adding the more substantial prefix "Killer" to the affectionate nickname Croc; from that moment on, the real name of the guy became meaningless, and he remained forever known to all as Killer Croc.
Croc's attraction gained insane popularity, and with the growing interest in his persona, Crocodile's ambitions grew and multiplied, his confidence in his own strengths solidified along with his hatred towards the human race, who pointed fingers at him and treated him like a beast. The green-skinned one decided to build a career. Instead of proving that people with skin diseases can also be normal members of society, engage in useful activities, become sculptors or doctors, Croc chose the path of least resistance - he planned to become a gangster. However, being a goon was not a proper role for a big guy, a scary figure, especially a star of an attraction; the green-skinned aimed for the top.
At that time, the criminal world of Gotham was ruled by the authority of Tony Falco, who was behind bars, and the still free gangster nicknamed Squid, an eccentric little person who fed his enemies to a giant squid. Croc had to start his long journey in the chaos of the criminal world from the bottom; he signed up to work for Squid, but when the latter dared to speak crudely to the Green One, he experienced Croc’s righteous crocodilian fury.
Croc shot Squid with a rifle, which was not typical for him; he could have bitten off his head right in front of the honest crowd, which would undoubtedly have made a greater impression on the criminal world. After dealing with the cantankerous dwarf, Croc appeared at a gathering of the criminal community, declaring himself the new crime boss. In response, they merely laughed at Croc, as long as the main boss Tony Falco was alive, the criminal world had no need for a new king. The green-skinned one wasn’t bothered; that same night he visited Tony in prison and gutted him like an antelope at a watering hole.
At the same time, Crocodile’s first encounter with Batman occurred; do you think they became good friends? Not at all, Croc tried to kill the Mouse. The scuffle took place in Croc's territory, the sewers, and let’s not hide it, the Green One is stronger than Batman by a mile. Croc drowned Batman several times, beat and choked him; Mouse took quite a beating that evening, however, Batman's training did not go in vain, and he managed to resist Crocodile’s assaults, who decided to escape.
Thus, having disposed of both heads of the criminal world standing in his way, Croc became what he had always wanted to be, an important crocodilian, boss number one. However, not everyone bowed their heads to Croc; who would want to be under the command of a crocodile-like simpleton seated on a throne thanks only to his muscular mass, and coming from the very bottom? Chaos and dissent began in the criminal world, and this turbulence, the rippling water, was sensed by a being far more dangerous than the man-crocodile, though perhaps less than half, possibly a tenth weaker than him, it was the Joker, the Great and Terrible. The Joker gathered all of Batman’s most sworn enemies in one place and delivered an impassioned speech about the necessity of united action to eliminate Batman. Reluctantly, the criminals, who hated each other, agreed to work together to eliminate the common thorn in their sides.
However, not everyone agreed to take out the Mouse; at the gathering of supervillains, two of Batman's lovers were present - Talia al Ghul and Catwoman. The girls began to fight, eager to warn Bats of the impending danger; had they known that the crafty Joker had intentionally invited them to the gathering, foreseeing the development of events in such a way.
Then old Joker casually hinted to Croc that it wouldn't be him to kill the Bat-Man and thus could never become the most titled boss in the criminal world, which irritated and upset the giant.
Thus, Joker pushed everyone’s heads together, hoping for a bloody conclusion, to finish off the remaining survivors with his own hands. As he expected, Bats dealt the first blow against the conspirators plotting his destruction, and Croc, along with his gang, found himself there; after a serious fight, Batman fell into Croc's clutches, landing in a hopeless deadly trap. However, Batman challenged the Green One to a fair one-on-one duel and utterly failed against the Scaly Thing. So ended the triumphant rule of the crocodile as the big boss. Croc was crushed and found himself in the filthy sewers.
Wandering through the underground sewage collectors, Croc encountered a bum flock that had settled in one of the livable rooms. To his surprise, the homeless people did not pay attention to his appearance or his brute behavior; they easily welcomed him into their ranks. For the first time in many years, the Green One found people, albeit from the lowest class, who treated him as an equal; for the first time, he felt part of something akin to a family.
However, the crocodile's joy was short-lived, as Batman was hot on his heels. In a deadly struggle, the brutes accidentally collided with a wall; the wall cracked, and a stream of water flooded into the room. The homeless were doomed to drown in filth, but Croc rushed to the crumbling wall and held it up while Batman saved the bums. As soon as the last homeless person left the filling water death trap, the wall collapsed, burying the crocodile under it. This act, of course, opened new facets of Croc's character, his human traits that manifested, however, far too rarely.
Of course, Croc did not die; after swimming enough in the sewers and stuffing himself with rat meat, he escaped to the outside world, wandering around the city in search of the detested Batman, frightening passersby and destroying everything in his path. However, Batman - Bruce Wayne was at that time far from being in the best shape, sleeping in his family mansion with depression and avitaminosis, while his friend Azrael patrolled the streets of Gotham in Batman's costume. Croc met Azrael, and after a long fight, the advantage was on the side of the Green One.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strange guy with black wrestling gear and hoses on his head appeared - Bane. Bane injected himself with a substance that turned him into a superhuman and broke Croc's arms, leaving him to die. After discussing something with Batman, the Wrestler left.
Recovering from his new wounds and immediately escaping from prison, Croc took after his new enemy - Bane; the wrestler had offended the Green One too much, and he craved revenge.
And the revenge occurred, and it happened on Croc's territory; the devil made Bane descend into the sewers! In this case, Croc was at his high point, the Green One did not yield to his opponent, and having broken his enhancer intake apparatus, he almost defeated the wrestler; however, both fell into the sewer whirlpool, and the current carried them apart; Bane escaped.
After that incident, there was no news of Crocodile for quite a while, as the well-fed and strong Croc searched for Bane, not knowing that Bane had broken Batman's life and spine during that time, and was later defeated by Azrael and spent time in prison. Batman sent the disheartened beast to Arkham to treat his nerves.
At Arkham, the Green One was not given peace; do you remember the one-armed black guard of the asylum from the game - Aaron? It was Croc who worked on his current image, shortening his left arm with a crocodilian jaw. Now Croc is Aaron's worst nightmare; at the sight of the Green One, the guard develops a neurotic paralysis, though in reality, Aaron is a rather serious and brave guy who has survived many riots in Arkham.
Escaping from the asylum, the poor fellow once again was homeless, causing minor nuisances, repeatedly being beaten by both heroes and villains until he found himself in a very serious predicament. As usual, the villains used Croc for their ends, ones with much more intellect than the crocodile. These were the Riddler and Hush, who launched a genuinely serious game with Batman (more details in the article about Riddler). The scoundrels infected Croc with a virus exacerbating his mutation; the crocodile completely lost even a semblance of human appearance and all remnants of human reason, transforming completely into a monster.
His jaws hypertrophied to the limit, and moreover, he became several times stronger, making him an even greater threat to Batman. Certainly, Bats with the help of clever electronic devices managed to tame the giant, sending him back to prison, from which Croc easily escaped, simply smashing through the walls.
Repeated attempts by Arkham doctors to restore the villain's human consciousness were interspersed with attempts by the bigwigs of the criminal world to seize Croc's mind to use such effective and frightening weaponry for their ends. Croc oscillated between "thinking" phases of existence and reverting back to a dull monster. The last green giant was used by Black Mask, who ordered his henchman Mad Hatter to implant a chip in Croc's brain controlling his behavior.
For a while, the chip worked fine, and Croc, like a puppet, obeyed his master’s commands, doing the dirty work for him. However, any machinery is prone to malfunction; when Croc broke free from the control of his masters, everyone around him had a hard time, including the masters themselves.
The last attempt to treat Croc by a charming busty doctor deserves special attention. Croc found the doctor who could help him, became quite close to her during treatment; the feelings that she awakened in the beast overtook the monster inside him.
It’s a pity that the feeling that arose in Croc was merely a feeling of hunger, and thus, after having his unfortunate doctor for lunch, the Green One once again disappeared into the catacombs.
Croc from Batman: Arkham Asylum is not straightforward; it’s unclear whether he is presented as a mutated or human version of himself. Chronologically he should still be human-like before being infected by the virus; however, his monstrousness and strength are evidently hypertrophied.
What’s up with Croc now? The crocodilian-like one is alive and well, still enormous, strong, dull, mischievous, and hungry.
No crocodiles were harmed in the writing of this post.
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