Batman: Arkham Origins Trailer

Does anyone notice how in the Batman: Arkham Origins trailer, everyone is wearing a mask? The henchman's faces are covered up in ski masks for the cold weather. You can only see the eyes of Deathstroke, Deadshot and Black Mask. Batman has his cowl, although he's Batman, so his face is permanently frozen into a scowl. If it's not a mask, it's at least a poker-face.

If I wanted to give the people who made this trailer more credit than they deserve, I'd ask if this was pointing out a running theme of some kind, seeing as Black Mask is the main antagonist in this game. It seems the only people unafraid to go out at night in Gotham are the people who won't show their true face to the world.

But if I'm going to be realistic here, I think it's a matter of visual priority. The trailer itself looks fantastic, almost photo-realistic at times. But we're still struggling with human faces, and eliminating most of that from the equation early on would be pretty convenient for the animators. It's a band-aid solution, but for a small trailer it serves its' purpose here.

It may also serve to give us a hint as to which members of the Rogues Gallery will be featured. I'm already hearing "Anarky" may be involved. Although I have to wonder if the upcoming cartoon where he's the main antagonist may have influenced the decision for him to be in AO as well.

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~A.H.