Batman Is Going Behind the Justice League’s Back (Again)

Batman is known as the guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to save the day. He will never kill or let anyone die, and he legitimately wants to save everyone, but he is often willing to betray the trust of people closest to him to reach that goal. The Dark Knight has a history of doing just that, and every time it ends poorly for him and the very people he was trying to help, but that might not be enough to stop him from trying to do it again. Batman is about to go behind the Justice League’s backs again, and this time he might inadvertently destroy everything the Justice League Unlimited has built.

Ever since the “Tower of Babel” storyline revealed that Batman kept secret plans to disable his allies should they ever become threats, the Caped Crusader has repeatedly gone behind the back of his closest allies to prepare against his growing paranoia. After the “We Are Yesterday” crossover event nearly destroyed the JLU, Batman thinks that the Trinity needs to dig into the backgrounds of every Leaguer, without their knowledge. The others reject the idea, but Batman secretly goes to Red Tornado, and contemplates running the check anyways. Batman’s choice is vitally important, and both options perfectly reflect everything about his character.

Choosing to Invade People’s Privacy

Batman, at this core, is a detective who is trying to stop crime before it can happen. He will follow any clue and assume the worst until proven otherwise, seeking to find the worst case scenario so he can prevent it and save everyone. If the Dark Knight chooses to have Red Tornado run the algorithm that will let him look into the personal information of every hero in the League, including secret identities. He would be able to uncover anyone who could be a viable candidate to betray the Justice League Unlimited, but when the rest of the heroes find out, they would obviously hate him for it. Batman has taken everything into his hands before, just look at “Tower of Babel” or the Brother Eye satellite, and it would make sense for his character to do so again.

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This could easily set up tension between the Trinity, which would be a great thing to pump up to eleven as DC builds towards the major confrontation with Darkseid. It’s especially prevalent right now, as they prepare for DC K.O., the fighting tournament where one person has to become the next Darkseid. This would drive a wedge between the Trinity, and perfectly set up for a confrontation between Batman and Superman during the tournament. After all, everyone always brings up the idea of these two fighting, and they were already at each other’s throats before Batman makes this choice. Omega Energy can only be channeled through suffering and hatred, and the broken bond between two of DC’s best friends as they try to tear each other apart would definitely create plenty of that negative power. Of course, there’s always the other option too.

Choosing to Let Things Stand

As I said, Batman has chosen to betray the people closest to him by doing everything himself multiple times before. However, every time he has learned that this isn’t a viable way to handle the situation. Even in Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez’s newest Batman run, the Caped Crusader is going through an arc about how people can change for the better. Batman has learned his lesson about betraying people numerous times, and has grown from it. As such, given the ambiguous end of the scene where Red Tornado asked Batman if he wanted to run the algorithm, it’s equally possible that Batman chooses to not let invade the other Leaguers’ privacy and trust in Superman and Wonder Woman’s vision.

This choice would obviously go against the standard perception of what Batman would do, and demonstrate how he is willing to change and believe in hope. Superman is the ultimate symbol of hope, and DC K.O. is going to focus primarily on the Man of Steel as everyone struggles to become the next King Omega. It could easily be that Batman will choose to believe in a better tomorrow by trusting Superman’s judgement and thus prove himself unable to become King Omega, which can also set the stage for the final confrontation with Darkseid. Darkseid created the Absolute Universe to be a world where hope has been destroyed, and the idea of becoming King Omega means becoming a hopeless creature of hate like Darkseid. Instead, Batman choosing to not make this mistake could establish a standard for believing in hope. Maybe nobody will become King Omega, or maybe whoever does will fail, and the world will fall back onto Superman’s ideal of hope to save everything. No matter what Batman chooses, at the end of the day, they could both easily fit his character and the story DC is trying to tell. Which one do you think Batman chose? Let us know in the comments below!

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