Batman’s Most Tragic Enemies Aren’t Villains at All, and the Joker Just Proved It

DC’s Absolute Universe has defined itself by taking concepts and aspects of classic characters and preserving the ideas behind them while changing how they interact with the world. Nowhere is that more apparent than in how Absolute Batman has handled the Dark Knight’s villains. Instead of being strangers who fall into a mutual hatred of Batman, the majority of his well-known rogues grew up alongside Bruce as his best friends, and have continued to be so well into the series. Fans have been asking what their transition into villains would look like and how the friendship would impact it, and the landmark issue #25 has finally given us the answer.

Ultimately, the series manages to both turn these characters into villains and maintain the friendship that makes this new version of them so interesting. The reason they cross the line is specifically that they are trying to save Batman from himself, as they all fall into the Joker’s trap and facade. Batman’s best villains now work for the Joker, and this twist works phenomenally because it captures the exact thing that makes Batman’s villains so incredible in the first place: their hearts.

Friends Who Have Fallen for the Joker’s Lies

Fans expected Killer Croc, Riddler, Penguin, and Two-Face to fall into villainy after Bane’s attack left them all transformed beyond recognition, with their lives falling apart because of their connection to Batman. However, even though they received their new personas and trauma, they refused to leave Bruce’s side. That changed with “The Straw Man” arc. This arc focused on Joker and Scarecrow’s psychological attack on Bruce, making him doubt his origins and fall deep into a well of paranoia, to the point where he almost attacked his own mother. They tried to pull him out of it, but saw the footage of Batman seemingly killing Tim Drake and decided they needed to make a change.

Issue #25 revealed that Jack Grimm came to all of them with an offer to “help” Bruce, where he convinced them that Batman was lost to his own insanity and Grimm wanted to pull him out of it. The lies matched everything they already thought, so they fell for it hook, line, and sinker, unaware that this was all part of Grimm’s sick joke. When Batman broke into Grimm Manor, he instead found his friends, who tried to convince him to turn himself in, promising that, if he didn’t, they would be forced to fight him until they could save him from himself.

This scene was heartbreaking, but so darn rewarding. Instead of throwing away the interesting friendship that has defined Absolute Batman, this story is using it as fuel to evolve everyone. These characters aren’t villains, but misguided souls trying to save the friend who has always done the same for them. They all care about Bruce like a brother, and that connection will bring an all-new kind of tension to their inevitable fights against the Dark Knight. This is the perfect way to take these characters forward, giving fans the villains they’ve always wanted without throwing away what makes these incarnations special, and what’s even better is that this focus on their sad, personal stakes is the Absolute Universe doing what it does best and adapting that from the mainline Batman comics.

Villains Are at Their Best at Their Most Human

Batman’s rogues gallery is heralded as the greatest in comics, and there are a multitude of reasons for that, but a massive one is how nearly every iconic villain has a deeply human, intimate heart that their stories revolve around. Mister Freeze is the premier example, being a man so obsessed with feeling the warmth of his wife’s love again that he’s willing to freeze the world, even when he’s too cold to feel anything anymore. This is true almost across the board. It’s no mistake that Batman’s villains always end up in Arkham, calling on the idea that these are people born evil, but hurt, broken individuals who need help to become whole again. Batman is the man who tries to help them more than anyone, especially when they don’t want it, and that is the main source of tension in his most emotional stories.

That’s exactly what’s driving this new batch of Absolute villains. All of them have lost their connection to Bruce, and they are desperate to pull him back from the brink, unaware that they’re standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking Hell. Batman’s greatest villains are his closest friends, elevating the usual tension present from the Dark Knight saving these people from themselves a hundredfold. Now, these connections are personal, and Batman has to fight twice as hard, because they’re convinced they’re saving him. It’s a wonderful inversion that uses Batman’s rogues gallery’s greatest strength and turns it up to eleven, just like the Absolute Universe is famous for.

My favorite of Batman’s friends turned enemies is definitely Waylon, but let us know your choice in the comments below!

Absolute Batman #25 is on sale now!

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