The public plays an important role in Marvel and DC comics and their absence in Arkham Asylum and the Ravencroft Institute is disorienting for heroes.
Arkham Asylum and the RavencroftInstitutions are two of the most story-focused institutions in Marvel and DC comics. Both of the institutions are mental health facilities in their respective universes. Not only that but both the facilities have a similar dark past hiding beneath the surface and thus have gone to attain the special type of dark histories for themselves.
They have established a looming and scary presence in the world of superhero comics, delivering a deep sense of classic gothic horror. Arkham Asylum, which resides in the DC comics, borrows its name from a city that was featured in the works by H.P. Lovecraft, the famous cult weird fiction writer. Situated on the outskirts of Gotham, Arkham Asylum is an important part of various Batman stories.
The most popular works on Arkham Asylum include Grant Morrison’s take on Arkham, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Scott Snyder’s Court of Owls saga, and, to a lesser extent, Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. Similarly, the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally insane, which was featured in the Spectacular Spider-Man #178 for the first time, and is located in Westchester County, New York. A number of Spider-Man villains, including members of the Sinister Six like Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Vulture, and Electro, were originally housed in the Ravencroft Institute.
Arkham Asylum And The Ravencroft Institute- Similarities Between Marvel And DC Comics
The fact that both Arkham Asylum and the Ravencroft Institute, are two of the biggest names in Marvel and DC superhero comics, brings us to the question that why do both Marvel and DC comics have similar notorious psychiatric facilities. This might seem like an obsolete idea that being evil is a type of mental illness, the reality is much more absurd.
The role that Arkham and Ravencroft play in their universes is to undo many ways that superheroes function within the world of their stories, placing them in novel environments that are seldomly seen in superhero comics. Arkham Asylum and the Ravencroft Institute exist to highlight a tension focused around the most important part of the stories i.e. the public. The public and superheroes share a relationship between them that is somewhat symbiotic. The heroes depend on the public to give them something to protect, and the public depends on superheroes to keep them safe.
The Reason For Their Existence
In conclusion, both Arkham Asylum and the Ravencroft Institute serve as ways for the superhero genre to challenge its own conventions. This is done by highlighting the line that excludes the superheroes and the patients at these facilities from the general public. These dark institutions provide a peek into the dark part of the hero’s jobs and only a slight mistake in their line of work could guarantee a place for these heroes in these very institutions.
Ultimately Arkham and Ravencroft depict the lack of success that Marvel and DC got while portraying that evil exists in all parts of society. Though it is much simpler to approach evil as a thing represented in specific individuals who must be contained and separated from society, the reality is much messier. And this fact is far scarier than any inmate of either Ravencroft or Arkham could ever be.
