DC May Finally Be Turning One of Batman’s Most Brutal Villains Into a Hero

Batman is used to dealing with the worst odds imaginable, but he’s about to be put to a test that he’s failed before. Batman: Bad Seeds is the next big Bat-event, with mayor Poison Ivy giving Gotham to the Green, after she killed Parliament of Trees member Bog Venus, in the fantastic Batman: Bad Seeds – Sunset #1. This issue sees the Green taking control of the city just as Vandal Savage, who is the Commissioner of the GCPD, decided to make his power play. The city is in more danger than its been in a while; we’ve seen the Green take over Gotham before in Alan Moore’s brilliant Swamp Thing (Vol. 2) #51-53 and Batman and his allies were unable to do anything about it – only the twisted genius of Lex Luthor was able to end the threat, throwing Swamp Thing out of the body he created fro himself into space.

Batman: Bad Seeds – Sunset #1 sets up numerous plots over its lengths, doing its best to get fans into the story. Batman finds himself trying to save as many people as possible, leading to him battling against a plant monster in the sewers to save an escaping mother and her child. Things started to go very badly for him, but then he gets help from an unexpected source: Killer Croc. Batman faces off against the most frightening villains and Croc has always been one of the most formidable, his super strength and scaly skin making him a dangerous foe, made all the worst by his sometimes bestial tendencies. However, the last two years have seen DC work to change the conception of Killer Croc, showing us that maybe the monster inside Waylon Jones isn’t all he is.

The Green’s Got Nothing on Killer Croc

Killer Croc has always been a somewhat sympathetic villain. Jones was born with his scaly skin and greater than normal strength. His deformities led him to becoming a circus sideshow act, battling alligators and crocodile for the crowd. However, one day he realized that he could make way more money as a criminal and the villain we known and fear started his criminal career. Croc is a character who is often in a state of flux; sometimes, Waylon is more in control of himself and other times he’s a savage monster, testing Batman and the Bat-Family in battle.

Most of the time we’ve seen him, especially recently, we have gotten the most monstrous version of Croc, but that started to change with Absolute Batman. This book took place on an Earth where Bruce Wayne grew up poor and was friends with Waylon, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler, and Catwoman. As an adult, Jones was an MMA fighter. He was meant to throw a fight against Bibbo Bibbowski (who in the mainline universe is Superman’s best friend), an idea brought to him by Bruce Wayne. However, he wouldn’t do that and ended up winning the fight. What makes this so interesting is that he’s the one who has qualms about the situation and not Bruce. This was a very different Waylon. Bruce used the money he made to buy Waylon a gym, allowing him to retire from the ring. Eventually, he was transformed into a monster by Ark M, leading Batman to go on a magic quest with Wonder Woman to allow him to keep control of his mind.

Fans really enjoyed this version of Waylon, and he’s still a part of the supporting cast. It changed the way we looked at him as a person, showing us that underneath all the rage, there’s a good person. We got more of this idea in 2025’s Batman (Vol. 4) #1. Croc was able to escape Arkham Tower, where he had been working with Dr. Annika Zeller. She was able to reach the person inside of him, with her telling Batman that Waylon had regressed to a gentler form, more like a child than anything else. Batman doesn’t trust her because of his history with Killer Croc and combs the city to find him. He eventually does, but instead of jumping into battle, he remembers what Zeller told him and decides to talk to him, leading to the two of them sitting together and bonding somewhat (with Croc saying that Batman’s “head is bad” and that he needs help like Waylon’s getting at Arkham), with Zeller showing up to take him back into custody.

The villain returns in Batman: Bad Seeds – Sunset #1, saving Bats from a plant monster, leading to the two of them having another conversation. Waylon is still mostly childlike, but he shows the wisdom that children sometimes bust out with, talking about the changing situation in the city and even telling Batman something he didn’t know – that Savage had created a special chemical made to destroy Ivy and her Green-based powers. This is Killer Croc in a way that we’ve never seen before him, but it honestly fits the character pretty well.

Waylon Jones (who I keep wanting to call “Waylon Jennings”) was born different and was tormented by his fellow children for it. He was forced to live a life that he didn’t want, eventually deciding that the only way out was crime. Over the years, creators have given us a more monstrous version of the villain, but this ignores the person who he is under all of that. Creators digging into the human parts of Killer Croc is exactly the right way to build him up; he’s already one of the most well-known Bat-villains and this can make him even more popular. Bat-villains are some of the hardest to redeem, but Killer Croc is making it look easy.

We’re Getting a New Killer Croc and It Fits Perfectly

Batman has always had some of the greatest villains in comics. Bat-villains can work on numerous levels, but all of them have their place in the mythology of the Caped Crusader. For years, Croc was one of the more brutal bad guys out there, an animalistic monster that can physically overwhelm Batman. However, one of the things about Croc that hasn’t been focused on is the person that he is underneath all of that. Sure, we’ve gotten to see it used, but it’s rarely the point of his stories; usually, it was used to allow Batman to win.

Recent years have seen creators take a different look at the character and it’s honestly about time. Killer Croc is a villain with hidden depths and it’s fantastic to see creators finally remember that. Croc might not be the perfect hero, even if he is redeemed, but it’s nice to see him being taken in new directions. Killer Croc has always been dangerous and now it’s time to see him use that against the bad guys for once.

Batman: Bad Seeds – Sunset #1 is on sale now.

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