Batman’s Most Dangerous Persona Just Became His Biggest Villain Threat

Batman may be up against one of the most dangerous villains he’s ever had to face – and he has no one but himself to blame! 

Writer Chip Zardarsky has spent the last few years re-weaving the lore of the Batman Universe, opening up some interesting new doors in the process – literally and figuratively. In many ways, the new Batman #140 is a culmination of the various storylines that Zadarsky has been building in the main Batman comic series and beyond (Batman: The Knight). Bruce Wayne/Batman is locked in a classic battle with his nemesis The Joker – only Bruce isn’t the one steering the Batman ship anymore. 

Bruce’s “100% Batman” alter-ego The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh has slowly be taking a controlling hold of Bruce’s psyche – and during Batman’s recent marathon run through the DC multiverse (after being displaced in an alternate universe), Zur managed to recruit variant versions of himself into a united collective, hidden in the depths of Bruce’s mind. In Batman #140 the Zur squad finally makes its move. 

(SPOILERS) As Batman pursues the Joker, Zur and his allies ambush Bruce in his mind, trying to wrestle control away so that Zur can fulfill his role by finishing Joker off once and for all. In the end, Bruce doesn’t win the fight inside his head (despite a formidable effort), and Zur doesn’t waste the opportunity. Last seen, it looked like Batman may have finally killed Joker (not bloody likely), while the internal battle took a very unexpected turn: Bruce wakes up to find himself on some kind of hi-tech operating table, only to find that Zur-En-Arrh enacted a plan to go from being a psychological figment to an actual physical being. Apparently, Zur had plans in place to keep Batman going after Bruce’s body died – by transferring his psyche to an android body! Now, the same Failsafe android that took down the Bat Family and some Justice League members by itself will have the mind of the ultimate, unrelenting, Batman in its head. 

At this point, it feels like Bruce will have to find some way to reconcile his mind and emotions to stop Zur – because a physical confrontation seems like a no-win scenario. Bruce taking on the “logic” of both his dogmatic persona’s views and the android’s processing abilities seems like it’s the real battle Zdarsky wants to explore – a battle where Batman has to prove that his version of Batman is the best. 

Batman #140 is on sale from DC Comics.