Who is The Batman Who Laughs? The Road to Death Metal

Out of all of DC’s post-New 52 villains, few have captured the public attention and imagination more than the Batman Who Laughs. This character combines elements of Batman and elements of the Joker into one dark and twisted individual. He has Batman’s genius intelligence and Joker’s destructive potential, giving him the power to become one of the DC Omniverse’s biggest threats. Today we’re exploring this character’s origins and more recent history.

Origin

In the Dark Multiverse (a menagerie of nightmarish universes that represent the regular Multiverse’s greatest fears), on the World of Earth -22, the Joker was dying and had decided to wage one final war against Gotham City. By the end of the war, he had killed a good portion of Gotham’s heroes and villains and was running rampant in the ruins of the city. There, he forced Batman to watch him continuously murder a series of parents in front of their children. Witnessing this after the destruction of his city was too much for Batman to take and, in an act of desperation and rage, he snapped the Joker’s neck.

At the moment of Joker’s death, toxin seeped out of his dying heart and infected Batman. At first, it seemed like the toxin had no effect, as Batman did not appear to have changed.

However, in the weeks that followed, the toxin took hold. Batman killed his closest allies, murdered the Justice League, and created a demented army of “Robins” to serve him. From here, he was able to use the League’s weaponry to take over his world.

Dark Nights: Metal

Shortly after conquering the world of Earth -22, the Batman Who Laughs was approached by Barbatos (Who is Barbatos?) and learned how to navigate the Dark Multiverse. He went from world to world meeting other evil versions of Batman and recruiting them to his cause. Then, this troupe of villains launched a full-scale invasion on the regular Multiverse.

What followed was a war for the fate of reality. The Batman Who Laughs worked to “sink” the entire Multiverse in order to bring out the destructive forces of the Dark Multiverse. Then, he tried to use a cosmic weapon to obliterate all reality.

However, he was opposed by Batman and the Justice League the entire way. At first, the Batman Who Laughs had a leg up on his competition, since he knew this attack was coming and had intimae knowledge of how Bruce Wayne thinks. Then, the good Batman did something unexpected: he partnered with the Joker. Batman and the Joker, together, took down the Batman Who Laughs and put a stop to his plans. After this, the Justice League was able to halt the invasion of the Dark Multiverse and put the world back together.

Road to Death Metal

After being defeated during the Dark Nights: Metal (Review) (Reading Order) event, the Batman Who Laughs disappeared for a while. Eventually, it was revealed he had been captured by Lex Luthor, who released him after receiving some information.

From here, the Batman Who Laughs briefly challenged the regular Batman for the fate of Gotham City. Though the evil Batman was defeated and then imprisoned, during the battle, he managed to put an even more nefarious plan in motion.

He secretly infected Commissioner Gordon with a mind-control toxin from the Dark Multiverse. Gordon went on to infect other heroes, who went on to infect other heroes. The infection quickly and secretly spread among the superhero community, which gave the Batman Who Laughs access to a immense level of power.

At the same time, Perpetua (Who is Perpetua?) was growing in power. Her disciple, Lex Luthor, had seemingly defeated the Justice League and she was on the verge of reshaping the entire Multiverse. Lex was then sent to stop the Batman Who Laughs from continuing to grow in power while Perpetua worked at reshaping the Multiverse.

In an extended battle of will and wits, Lex Luthor was seemingly able to defeat the Batman Who Laughs and bring him to Perpetua to face judgement. However, the evil Batman revealed that this was his plan the whole time. He convinced Perpetua he had information that could help her and even convinced her to abandon Lex Luthor, as Lex was no longer of any use to her. Perpetua agreed and, with the Batman Who Laughs, began to work on a plan to defeat the forces of good forever.

Recommended Reading

If you’re interested in reading these comic adventures for yourself, we recommend picking up the following titles:

• Check out ComicBookWire’s “Batman Who Laughs Reading Order” to see how his adventures progress from the moment he was introduced. 
• The Batman Who Laughs Vol. 1 #1, collected in Dark Nights Metal: Dark Knights Rising (Review)- This comic explains, for the first time, the Batman Who Laughs’ origin story and fits into the larger picture of the Dark Nights: Metal  (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• The entire Dark Nights: Metal event. This event is the Batman Who Laughs’ first comic book appearance and is one of the most critical pieces of his history.
• The Batman Who Laughs Vol. 2 #1-7, collected in The Batman Who Laughs (Review). These issues show the Batman Who Laughs’ war on the regular Batman and the rest of Gotham City.
• Batman/Superman Vol. 2 #1-6, collected in Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six? (Review). This story arc directly continues the story from the conclusion of The Batman Who Laughs Vol. 2.
• The Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen (Review) miniseries. This series depicts the battle between Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs.

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