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Batman’s rogues gallery are being systematically hunted by a new, animalistic threat and not even the Dark Knight’s greatest foes are safe.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Reptilian #3, on sale now from DC.
The DC Black Label miniseries Batman: Reptilian envisions a crueler, seedier Gotham City, with its denizens markedly more caustic and self-aware than their main DC Universe counterparts, including its iteration of the Dark Knight himself. While this particular Batman may take on the criminal element of Gotham with decidedly more underhanded, morally questionable tactics and motivations, there is a new, animalistic supervillain lurking below Gotham’s streets. And after cutting through several of Batman’s most iconic enemies in its feral rampage, Batman’s biggest nemesis of them all is gruesomely dispatched as the reptilian antagonist’s latest victim, with the Joker easily maimed by the unseen foe.
Ever since the start of the miniseries — by Garth Ennis, Liam Sharp and Rob Steen — Batman has learned that a mysterious new figure has arisen in Gotham’s underworld. Shortly after this revelation, many of Batman’s extensive rogues’ gallery quickly and literally fell prey to this monstrous opponent. In between brutal attacks on his usual antagonists, Batman and Alfred Pennyworth compare notes back in the safety of the Batcave of the villains that have been claimed by the ravenous reptile so far. Scarecrow, Deadshot, Mister Freeze, Mad Hatter, Hugo Strange, Poison Ivy and the Riddler among the victims. Two-Face’s unscarred half of his face is apparently no longer intact while Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are evidently no longer a pair after the reptile claimed one of the twins.
The rampage has only left the Joker and Killer Croc as the last known supervillains in Batman’s usual cast untouched by the monstrous hunter. As the Dark Knight speculates that Croc may have fallen given into the feral side of his mutation, his pathology reports indicate that the true culprit is a bonafide reptile, and a pregnant one at that. With this in mind, Batman and Alfred ponder if Croc is somehow related to the pregnant creature, with the two spawning some new species while all the villains who cross the monster’s path while she is in heat pay the price. And the latest apparent victim of this monster’s rampage is the Clown Prince of Crime himself.
Never one to fear the apparent threat of death, the Joker tries to lure out both Batman and the monster to the Gotham City Zoo, taking several people hostage to heighten the stakes. However, before Batman can confront his arch-nemesis, the reptile beats him to the punch, gruesomely maiming the supervillain before the authorities claim what’s left of the ravaged enemy. I
n previous main DCU stories, Batman has gone through extraordinary lengths to protect the Joker from others, resuscitating him when he was beaten to death by Nightwing during “The Joker’s Last Laugh” and stopping him from bleeding out in Batman: Cacophony. Here, Batman merely offers his old enemy one last taunt before he is carted off to the county jail, confined to a gurney from his horrific injuries.
With Batman: Reptilian only halfway done and virtually all of the Caped Crusader’s usual rogues gallery maimed by the mysterious monster, the showdown has been narrowed down to Batman and this reptilian creature to finally meet face-to-face. And with Killer Croc still apparently on the loose and his potential connection to the new supervillain still unknown, Batman remains in the dark as ever while Waylon Jones is a wild card in the coming confrontation.
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