Batman and Superman‘s fight against the Batman Who Laughs continues in Batman/Superman #2. Unfortunately for the Caped Crusader, one of his greatest allies against this new threat falls under the dangerous spell of the villain. The twisted version of The Dark Knight has been going around this universe poisoning heroes to join his cause. In the last issue, the heroes discovered that their new nemesis turned Shazam against them. *Spoilers for Batman/Superman #2 follow*
This all comes after the last issue showed how The Batman Who Laughs managed to subdue his own universe’s Superman. He also took the Justice League out of the picture as well. All of those moments did a lot to further cement this sinister version Batman as someone who the World’s Finest shouldn’t take lightly. The duo barely manages to escape Shazam, but then hatches an almost unthinkable plan to defeat the villain.
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All The Batman Who Laughs has been after in this story arc is to turn a set number of the heroes from this timeline evil. The name of the entire arc is “Who Are the Secret Six?” after all. After the main timeline Batman takes a swift lightning bolt to the chest after trying to take Shazam by surprise, Superman takes him back to The Fortress of Solitude to formulate a new plan. The Man of Steel comes up with a pretty radical gambit.
Superman proposes to give himself over to The Batman Who Laughs as a way to get to the bottom of this problem once and for all. So, Big Blue decides to break the villain out of the prison, conveniently located under the Hall of Justice, in an effort to gather some information. The twisted Batman is thrilled to see the Kryptonian turned to his side, but he will probably be pretty upset if he figures out this entire thing is a rouse.
Readers will remember the dire scene as Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and all of Earth’s heroes from The Batman Who Laughs’ world who fell victim to his evil. Chances are he has some contingencies in place in case he discovers this treachery from the heroes. He is still Batman, even with this new coat of unhinged evil. The main timeline Batman seems absolutely amused by this game of cat and mouse.
What feels like an eternity ago, this story was about trying to locate a kidnapped boy named Danny, but there is so much more at stake now. The writers are also sure to have some more surprises in store as more of the “Six” are revealed. Shazam and Superman are pretty huge reveals for their part, but it feels like some other staggering secrets are still on the way as this title continues.