DC Brings Back A Fan-Favorite Version of Joker As A Surprising Big Bad

DC Comics has brought back a fan-favorite version of The Joker as a surprising big bad in a major event storyline. The series in question is Flashpoint Beyond, the limited series that is running alongside DC’s other big event series, Dark Crisis. After his apparent death at Darkseid’s hands (or eyes rather), Thomas Wayne has woken up in a restored Flashpoint timeline that has some key differences from the doomed one he first came from. Thomas Wayne/Batman’s investigation of why his rogue timeline still exists has been impeded by an unknown enemy… who has finally been revealed.

The sadistic slaying of Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash was a major clue that Flashpoint Batman followed all the way to a set of clock gears, which were left implanted inside Thawne for the good Dr. Wayne to surgically remove. As Thomas obsesses with solving the mystery of the “Clockwork Killer” his crony Oswald Cobblepot is in a panic because the dead Harvey Dent’s son (and possible witness to the Clockwork Killer) snuck out of Batman’s protection and care and headed for the one place he wants to be more than anywhere else: by his mother’s side in Arkham Asylum. In this new Flashpoint reality, Gilda Dent ended up being Two-Face, but when her son Dylan comes to see her, they are confronted by the true mastermind behind the Clockwork Killings – just as Thomas Wayne comes to that same horrible realization, miles away in his mansion, when he realizes Wayne Manor’s infamous grandfather clock has the final gear in the Clockwork Killer’s puzzle. 

(MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!) 

It turns out that Martha Wayne’s (or Martha Kane) version of Joker is the Clockwork Killer of Flashpoint Beyond. Obviously, this final panel reveals that Martha’s Joker is hiding in the walls of Arkham raises more questions than it can answer, at this point. Martha Wayne’s Joker had a short arc in the DC Universe: she debuted in the original Flashpoint crossover event of 2011 and was shown to be dead by the end of it, during her showdown with Thomas Wayne’s Batman in the Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance limited series tie-in. Even then, the reveal that Bruce Wayne’s death as a child in the Flashpoint timeline drove Martha insane and made her The Joker was a late-game reveal of Flashpoint: Batman, leaving her scarce time to even be active as a character. 

That said, a lot of DC fans have been keeping fires burning for Martha Wayne’s Joker to make a return – and now Geoff Johns is delivering. Like Thomas Wayne’s Batman, Martha’s Joker should technically no longer exist, even in a restored Flashpoint timeline. How she now has the power to take out the likes of Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne is also unknown. However, given the relevance of Flashpoint Beyond and its clear connection to Dark Crisis, Martha Wayne’s Joker could end up being a bigger villain in DC lore, once this latest multiversal crisis shakes out. 

As Geoff Johns has stated: 

“There will be books and stories that spin out of [Flashpoint Beyond] into the greater DCU, some of them featuring characters that haven’t been at the forefront for quite a while that I’m excited to see,” Johns told IGN. “But it’ll do it in a very focused way on this side of history and time. But it is a storyline that is going to explore hopefully a different facet of the DCU that we haven’t seen for a while.”

MORE: Flashpoint Beyond Official Review

Flashpoint Beyond is on sale at DC Comics.