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Batman: Urban Legends just exposed Batman to his secret greatest wish — and it’s a horrifying reveal for the Dark Knight and his true intentions.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Urban Legends #6, now on sale
The Dark Knight is typically portrayed as a grim avenger of the night, working to fight against the seemingly endless sea of criminals and villains. Despite this, he holds himself to a certain code of conduct that may seem too forgiving for many of his enemies, but elevates his war on crime into a more noble mission. But despite his intentions, there’s a darker impulse even in a hero like Batman.
Batman just had his true greatest desire revealed in Batman: Urban Legends #6 by Chip Zdarsky, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Scott Eaton, Julio Ferreira, Oclair Albert, Marcus To, Adriano Lucas and Becca Carey — and it’s a genuinely haunting dream.
Batman and Red Hood have been trying their best to contend with Cheerdrops, a new drug sweeping the streets of Gotham. Based on Scarecrow’s Fear Toxins but with the ability to induce extreme joy, the Cheerdrops are a deceptively dangerous tool. Making matters worse, Batman is captured by Cheer and his new partner Mister Freeze, resulting in the Dark Knight being exposed to a massive amount of the compound all at once. By the time Jason Todd (followed by the rest of the Bat-Family) arrives to rescue him, he’s already been lost in a vision of pure joy. Although Jason isn’t sure what he sees, Batman does tell him that “we’re together,” breaking Jason’s heart as his vision was very similar.
Luckily, Jason is able to overcome the considerably weaker dosage forced upon himself and helps keep Batman from crossing a line and killing Cheer out of sheer rage. This is because the vision the drug showed Batman — his idealized version of the world — clearly haunts him in a way the fear-manipulating weapons of the Scarecrow never had. Sitting alone in his car, Batman thinks about the vision of the streets of Gotham, dank and dirty and covered in blood and bodies. But the sun finally breaks through the smog, allowing him to see the Bat-Family, all together and all happy. Finally, they’re joined by Jason, dragging the wounded Joker up to Batman.
Joker pleads that he can finally change, only for Batman to tell him to shut up as he wraps his hands around the Clown Prince of Crime’s throat. It only takes a few moments, but Batman finishes the job Jason started — killing the Joker with his bare hands. Jason then turns and thanks Bruce for his help in ending the threat of the Joker once and for all. It’s a genuinely horrifying and shocking moment and one that feels perfectly in character for Batman. Over the years, Bruce has admitted to imagining what would happen if he finally just broke his code and killed the Joker. How many lives it would save, the traumas it would help heal — all that it would take is one simple, terrible act to end it once and for all.
The fact that Batman is clearly so happy with this outcome speaks to just how innate this cruel desire really is for the Dark Knight. But to do so — to break the one true code of Batman — would betray everything he’s ever done and everything he’s been able to unite the Bat-Family around. It’s a genuinely tragic revelation, and one that leaves Bruce troubled in the moment, having seen Jason overcome his own similar vision and decide that he’s done trying to shoot criminals or actively kill his enemies. But it’s still a brutal reminder of just how close Batman is to that line.
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