Panessa Studios was a movie studio which was abandoned, due to both bankruptcy and the death of the owner at the hands of a disgruntled employee.
Incident Reports[]
Before Arkham Knight Incident[]
Panessa Studios was a film studio that made low budget gangster and genre films. The Art Deco Gotham Palace Movie Theater located on the studio's lot was first opened for inauguration on December 18, 1936. Actor Paul Sloane appeared in several of the studio's films before he turned into a serial killer, as did Basil Karlo before becoming Clayface. The Studio was also rumored to actually be a front for the Panessa Crime Family (who were purportedly driven out of Gotham by Batman shortly after he first appeared), though it is unknown if these rumors were true.
During the nineties and up till the first few years of the 21st century, Panessa was known as a thriving television and commercial advertising facility that employed over 150 entertainment professionals. In 2004, local crime bosses began to levy protection money on the studio. This started a domino effect of movie companies pulling out of the studio and taking their business to other cities, resulting in Panessa turning towards bankruptcy as well as Gotham City's overall fortunes start to decline from the loss of outside support.
Garfield Lynns worked as a pyrotechnician at the studios and even appeared in one of the films. However their final film, The Inferno, was a financial failure, forcing the owner, Tomaso Panessa, to cut down on expenses by firing employees as laundering mob money was no longer considered a choice. Lynns disliked the idea and killed Panessa by spitting nitroglycerine into his burning cigar.
The studio was later bought by Wayne Enterprises, masked as an attempt to rebuild the studio. In fact, It was actually turned into one of Batman's many hideouts. Right before the events of Scarecrow's attack on Gotham, he captured Henry Adams, Christina Bell, Albert King and Johnny Charisma and locked them within special chambers. Alongside Robin, Batman then started trying to develop a cure for their disease, which also secretly affected Batman. Henry was the only one that seemed to be completely unaffected by the disease.
Later, Batman "Invited" James Gordon, and explained the situation to him. Batman, however, did not reveal that he himself also was affected.
Arkham Knight Incident[]
While Batman was out searching for Scarecrow and the mysterious Arkham Knight, Robin remained in the studios, still trying to create a cure. Henry managed to rewrite Batman's security protocols when Robin was distracted by something else. He then informed Harley Quinn about this, and she arrived to the studios, released Christina, Albert and Johnny, who then moved deeper into the building, taking over one stage each.
Batman arrived and learned about the breakout, but wondered how Harley had managed to find and enter his hideout, and how she could have rewrote the security system, as she wasn't very bright. Batman and Robin went after the escapees, and left Henry in charge of guarding the cells. They first went after Christina Bell, and together took out the guards assigned to her, and finally knocked her out as well. Robin then took her back to the quarantine cells.
While Robin was away, Batman experienced a hallucination about Jason Todd, the second Robin, who had died after going after the Joker on his own. He saw how he believed Joker had tortured Jason, by both beating him, and by showing him a picture of his successor, Tim Drake. As he believed he had been replaced, Jason finally broke.
The dynamic duo then went after either King or Charisma (Player choice). While Albert was simply looking for a fight, Charisma had prepared a song for Batman, and made sure that Robin wouldn't interfere by fitting the room (and himself) with bombs. After defeating either of them, Robin again left Batman temporarily to take the escapee pack to their cell. During this time, Batman experienced another hallucination of Jason.
After capturing the final escapee and Harley Quinn, both Batman and Robin returned to the quarantine cells, only to find out that Henry was affected by the disease after all. He had murdered the previous escapees, and shot the final one right in front of Batman and Robin. The difficulty of the situation almost caused Batman to embrace his Joker side, with his eyes turning green. Henry noticed this, and stated that how "You (Batman) are going to be spectacular" and shot himself, to leave the "best" Joker left.
Robin also noticed this, and persuaded Batman to lock himself into the final cell, which he eventually agreed with. After Robin left, Joker's hallucination released Batman, and he again saw a hallucination of Jason, being broken and turned against his mentor, and was then shot by the Joker. Instead of the normal darkness, this hallucination was surrounded by several TV screens, suggesting that this event was the tape sent by the Joker years earlier.
In reality, Batman hadn't yet entered the cell, and instead of locking himself away, he locked Robin in it, as a way to keep Tim safe from harm. He could then optionally tell Tim about the apparent death of Oracle. Later, Robin was found by Scarecrow, by using the help of reluctant James Gordon. Robin was then brought to the now abandoned Arkham Asylum.
Jason Todd, now using the alias Red Hood, later visited the hideout and painted his logo on the floor.
Trivia[]
- After leaving the Clock Tower, Batman can see Man-Bat fly around Panessa Studios before divebombing offscreen.
- Batman may have chosen this place for the quarantine zone due to Joker's influence. As Harley points out, she liked the place as it's somewhere the Joker would like to set up shop.
- If Batman attempts to leave after Robin learns he's infected with Joker's blood, the shutters on both exits will be lowered remotely by Robin to keep Batman from leaving.
- In 2024, a Youtube video was uploaded by a user who had discovered an unheard voice line that can't be triggered through playing the game normally. Under normal circumstances, If Batman attempts to leave the studios after Robin learns he's infected with Joker's blood, both exits will be lowered to stop Batman from leaving the area, however, if a speed mod is used in the PC version this allows Batman to make it to the elevator before the shutters close, and attempts to leave the studio will cause this voice line to play: "I can't leave this place. I won't be able to stop myself and Joker will win".
- It's unknown if this line comes from a version of the game where Batman was allowed to go as far as the elevators before stopping himself from leaving and was left in after a change in this section of the story, but this line is the only time Batman actually acknowledges the Joker's presence, as he actively ignores Joker throughout the game unless attacked by him or when finally confronting him in his mind at the end of the story.
- Batman may attempt to enter the cell after snapping out of the illusion for the first time, with Joker expressing disappointment every time and at the third time, Batman will automatically push Robin into the cell without any inputs from the player.
- Even if the game is completed, the corpses of Henry and his third victim remain on the floor of the hall of the quarantine cells.
- If Batman told Robin about Oracle's death, he could return after learning about her survival. Batman tells Tim that she is alive, and Tim then falls to his knees in relief.
- While playing as Officer Owens in Pauli's Diner, he can listen in on a conversation between a couple and one of the waitresses. It is mentioned that Bruce Wayne had bought the studio and was planning on turning it into an Amusement Park. The man claims that the studio was actually a front for the Panessa Crime Family (rivals of the The Falcone Crime Family & Maroni Family) used for money laundering and/or tax dodging. The man claims that the Studio put out trashy low budget films, mostly true life stories about Gotham criminals as well as the odd genre flick. He also mentions that Gotham's number 2 actor, Paul Sloane, appeared in some of the studios' films before he became a serial killer.
- He mentions the number 1 actor was Basil Karlo before becoming Clayface.
- He also says most of these movies are on VHS, which the means the movies were made before 1997, when DVDs were first introduced, at the earliest and 2007 at the latest, when VHS stopped being made. This is seemingly supported by the game's novelization, which states that the studio was still flourishing from the 90's era all the way to at least 2004.
- The studios currently holds the in-series record for most challenge maps in one building. The challenge maps Cat's Conundrum, Combo Master, Duet, Flawless, Guardians, Hand Of God, Wild Cat, Stage Fright and Under The Pale Moonlight are all set either inside the building or on it's rooftop.
- Posters of the TV show and/or movie The Gray Ghost can be spotted around the studios and one in the elevator leading to the quarantine zone. It is likely that Batman placed a few of these posters himself since the Gray Ghost was his childhood hero and later his inspiration into becoming Batman.