DC Just Revealed a Wild and Insane New Batman

DC is no stranger to parallel earths that wildly differ from their original. However, from stories like Dark Knights of Steel to their bombastically popular Absolute Universe, DC always includes some versions of its most popular characters in their elseworld comics. Sometimes these characters are nearly identical to their mainline counterparts, and other times they are radically different. One of DC’s newest and most interesting elsewords is told within the pages of Green Lantern Dark, a post apocalyptic story cataloging a new Green Lantern with a magical focus and a new magical lantern. Alongside her, there are new versions of Beast Boy, Solomon Grundy, and the focus of this article, Batman. And this Batman is very different from the original.

In this universe, the Dark Knight is known as Batwraith. He doesn’t simply call himself that because it is an edgier world and he needed an edgier name, although the new name definitely helps him fit in with the atmosphere of this ruined earth. No, he calls himself Batwraith because he is a bat-themed ghost who haunts this land delivering justice and vengeance. And he also speaks like a Shakespearean actor.

Who is Batwraith?

The Green Lantern Rina Mori first encountered Batwraith while traversing what seemed to be a dark and decrepit castle. She was looking for the missing children of a nearby town that were abducted by a purple beast, with her own companion and surrogate little sister Lunette being taken as well. Here she encountered this universe’s Beast Boy, who is able to turn not into animals, but monster-like hybrid creatures that are far more dangerous than a bear. Rina is in the midst of losing a fight against Beast Boy when an animated suit of armor with a bat motif appears and assists her.

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Several suits get battered aside before Batwraith reveals his true form to Rina. He is a ghost clad in bat armor, with four glowing red eyes and lit by crackling red energy. He has no face, instead just a pure black veneer. He announces himself as Sir William Walwyn, the lord of the castle they are in. He is a centuries old ghost that flies through the dark, and speaks exclusively in a medieval form of English and shouts overly dramatic lines about how he is the “silent wings of the endless dark.” He tells the Green Lantern that she is the most powerful being in this world, and is only held back by her fear. Through his guidance, Rina is able to channel her willpower and free Beast Boy from the spell that the main villain of the comic, Demona, put him under. After, he begins following Green Lantern and her companions around, insisting that she defeat Demona, as she is the only one who can.

What is Batwraith’s Role?

Batwraith is, without a doubt, the mentor figure on Rina’s ultimate heroic quest, although she denies even being on such a quest at this point. He is quite literally a ghost of heroism that shouldn’t exist in the harsh world Demona rules over, being possibly millennia old. He seems to be the only person on Demona’s team that actually knows anything about how the Green Lantern functions, as he is aware that it is fueled by Rina’s willpower and how her fear prevents her from using it. We only know the basics of how Rina came to possess her lantern, with her origin somewhat resembling Hal Jordan’s in that she witnessed the previous Green Lantern crash land next to her, but not more beyond that. The entire comic so far has been about Rina slowly discovering what she can do with her powers, as she knows somewhat, but clearly has far more potential than she knows.

Batwraith, meanwhile, is intimately aware of her potential, likely because he’s been around for so long and knows about the previous Green Lantern. Either way, it seems like Batwraith has joined the intrepid group Rina is putting together against her will, and he will offer his magic strength, knowledge, force of character, and insanely cool speeches to her cause. It seems like right now, that cause is bringing Demona down. It will be interesting to see what they do with this insane and utterly awesome new version of Batman. It’s literally Batman as a fantasy knight with over the top speeches, what’s not to love?

Green Lantern Dark #4 is on sale now!