Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum when the kidnapping of the judge who sentenced him, encased and paralyzed in a large playing-card styled box, bears all the hallmarks of him, yet it soon transpires that an orderly was coerced to do the deeds. Realizing that Joker is going after everyone who sent him down, upon escaping Arkham, Batman finds himself on a race against time before his other victims share the same fate as the judge.