Batman Who Laughs
The Batman Who Laughs is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Bruce Wayne was a male human born in the reality designated as Earth-22 in the Dark Multiverse where on that world he became the vigilante known as Batman. Similar to the Prime Earth version, he was the son of Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne when the two were killed by a gunman when he was a child. This saw the young Bruce swear vengeance and he went to train to learn the skills he needed to become a vigilante where he came to be known as the Batman. Operating from Gotham City, he battled crime and encountered the Joker who came to uncover his true identity. The villain proceeded to then kill off Batman's other rogues along with Commissioner Gordon after which he subjected the city to a massive Joker Toxin attack killing thousands of citizens. This saw the people being turned into twisted versions of himself with the Joker killing several parents in front of their children to scar them into a version of himself and Bruce Wayne. Batman managed to break free from restraints holding him back and attacked the Joker in a move that killed the Clown Prince of Crime. However, he let out a gas that unknown to Batman had infected him in a process that occurred over the next few days. This saw him beginning a transformation into a being that was a fusion of Batman and the Joker where he retained the former's intelligence and physical strength but was infected with the latter's psychopathy along with sadistic sense of humour. The process was irreversible and Bruce Wayne was unable to stop it as he fell into villainy as the Batman Who Laughs. He called his allies in the Batfamily to the Batcave warning them of the change only to kill them at the scene. Weeks later, he began targeting all his allies were he killed most of them with this culminating in an attack on the Justice League Watchtower to kill Superman. In the aftermath, he began to dominate the planet where all efforts to end him had failed. This included armies of villains, alien tyrants and even the wrath of god failing to stop the Batman Who Laughs who took over Earth-22. He came to turn his son Damian Wayne into a mini-Joker and recruiting the children infected by the Joker Toxin as his Rabid Robins. The Batman Who Laughs later came to be recruited by Barbatos where he was chosen to lead his Dark Knights that consisted of other versions of Batman gathered from the Dark Multiverse. (The Batman Who Laughs v1 #1)
Metal
After arriving on Prime-Earth, the Batman Who Laughs came to take control of Gotham and oversaw events at the Challenger's mountain. He came to distribute joker cards to Batman's villains where he gave them the ability to alter reality and take over sections of the city. (Teen Titans v6 #12)
In the aftermath, he broke into the Multiverse Research Lab of LexCorp and was confronted by Lex Luthor. At first, Luthor was willing to terminate the Batman Who Laughs but the being offered solutions to Lex on his plans to change the Multiverse. This intrigued Luthor who decided instead to imprison the Batman Who Laughs and keep him for information. (Year of the Villain: Year Arisen v1 #1) Luthor even came to offer the Batman Who Laughs a position within the Legion of Doom. (Justice League v4 #7)
He then journeyed to the maze of the Court of Owls seemingly to petition them granting him a small favour. The Court had, however, refused his offer before he had even said it and sent for their Talons to kill him. However, The Batman Who Laughs had already defeated them and left them badly injured. In desperation, the Court members attempted to flee through hidden exits but the Batman Who Laughs had seeded these locations with explosives thus killing many of their number. He then killed the 'littlest one' that was a Court member in a wheelchair where he stated that the small favour he intended to ask of them was simply to murder their number. It was then that another alternate Bruce Wayne was dragged from the Multiverse into the site with this one having risen to become the leader of the Court. He then pilfered the maps of the Courts and used these to convince the world's Batman that Gotham was not this beacon of light but rather intended to be used as a fortress to conquer the world in an effort to break his spirit. (The Batman Who Laughs v2 #5)
Though captured, the Batman Who Laughs had orchestrated a new plan to turn infect the entire world to become dark versions of themselves. To accomplish this, he needed access to his satellite from his universe but was unable to transport it to New Earth. In order to bring the station, he required six people that represented the different energies of the world and access to the Fortress of Solitude. Thus, he infected a number of individuals with special Batarangs that corrupted them with dark energies and turning them into his agents. These included Commissioner Gordon, the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle, Donna Troy, the Hawkman Carter Hall, Shazam and Superman. These were to take over the Fortress of Solitude and form a doorway to bring the satellite over New Earth so that its signal could corrupt the people of the planet. The corrupted heroes failed to infect Superman but did manage to infect Supergirl Kara Zor-El when she arrived at the Fortress to help her cousin. This led to the doorway being opened as the various infected heroes became the Secret Six whose respective energies managed to open the portal into the Dark Multiverse. (Batman/Superman v2 #4)
He later tracked down and captured the Time Master Rip Hunter but it was then that the Batman Who Laughs determined that Lex Luthor was searching for him. Thus, he decided to dispatch his Infected Secret Six and sent them to ambush Luthor at his laboratory. (Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen v1 #1)
Darkest Night
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that he was unlike the Joker in that he had no point to prove to the world but rather he existed to win by killing anything and everything that was a threat. Thus, he retained most of the qualities of Batman to the point that he was the living embodiment of the idea of Batman always wins. As such, he was free of any of the personal codes or morals of Bruce Wayne with this instead replaced with a heart that was as black as the Joker's. He was described as being an apex predator that had conquered world after world. (The Batman Who Laughs v2 #1)
Powers and abilities
Originally, the Batman Who Laughs was his world's incarnation of Bruce Wayne. (The Batman Who Laughs v1 #1) The Batman Who Laughs had the mind, memories and training of the primary Batman. (The Batman Who Laughs v2 #1)
He came to be infected by a new strain of nanotoxin unlike anything known before to anyone. This came from the Joker's heart that kept a virulent toxin stored in his cells. The trigger was the Joker's death where he exhaled the chemical into Batman thus beginning his transformation towards madness. (The Batman Who Laughs v1 #1)
It was claimed that his eyes were able to see through the membrane of the Dark Multiverse allowing him to see all the thing urges of people including their feats and desires. To filter out the energy, he utilised a special visor constructed of dark metal allowing him to remove the excess 'noise' and focus on what he wanted to see. (The Batman Who Laughs v2 #4)
He once possessed a set of cards forged out of Cosmic Metallurgy that was a material found in the Dark Multiverse with interesting properties. When in the 'light' Multiverse, the wielder of a Dark Card could manipulate reality to their whim. The Batman Who Laughs was known to sometimes give these to people in order for them to cause chaos in the world. (Teen Titans v6 #12)
It was shown that he was the leader of the Dark Knights. (Dark Nights: Metal v1 #2)
Notes
- The Batman Who Laughs was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo where he made his first appearance in Dark Days: The Casting v1 #1 (September, 2017).
- In DC Nation v2 #5 (2018), writer Scott Snyder commented, "The Batman Who Laughs is a Bruce Wayne with no morality at all, only evil in his heart. Cunning, calculating, with an added element of pure chaos that makes sure no one can really account for his plans. He's the Batman we all know, but he's pure evil. And Batman always wins."
- In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Snyder said, "He's basically Batman's worst nightmare come to life: Batman, if he was infected by the Joker toxin and lost all sense of ethics. What he wants to do in Gotham is bring Bruce’s worst nightmares to life."
In other media
Video games
- In Mortal Kombat 11, the Batman Who Laughs appeared as a DLC skin in the fighting video game for Noob Saibot with the Elseworld Skin Pack exclusive to Kombat Pack owners upon the release of the Joker as DLC.
- In DC Universe Online, the Batman Who Laughs appeared the primary antagonist in the Metal Part I episode of the MMORPG video game.
Appearances
- Dark Days: The Casting v1: (2017)
- Teen Titans v6:
- The Batman Who Laughs v1:
- Justice League v4:
- The Batman Who Laughs v2:
- Batman/Superman v2:
- Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen v1:
External Links
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