The highly anticipated first chapter of Endgame arrives with a shocking ending.
Batman #35 is the start of a top-secret new storyline by writer Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo after the Zero Year origin story.
Earlier teases hinted at new sidekicks for the Dark Knight and a battle between Bruce and members of the Justice League.
But today marked the return of major villain.
Snyder talks about the rogue’s return in a new interview.
Before I continue here’s a…
SPOILER ALERT!
IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BATMAN #35 STOP READING NOW.
SERIOUSLY.
OK.
HERE IT COMES.
In the final page of Batman #35 Bruce learns the Joker is back!
As if that’s scary enough – Joker is in control of a Joker-ized Justice League attacking Batman.
When the Joker first appeared in The New 52 he escaped Arkham Asylum but without his face which had been carved off.
The villain returned a year later in Death of the Family to torment Bruce and his extended Bat-family. Now it appears the Joker has possessed Superman and the Justice League.
“He’s changed a tremendous amount since the last time we saw him, and this story is really sort of an inversion of the other one — we would never want to do something that felt, in any way, repetitive. For us, if that one was sort of a comedy, or was about him saying, “This story is all about friendship and love and this sense of immortality and you coming with me and your villains, who are your true family, who are your royal court — we’re the ones who transformed ourselves into these eternal figures, because we saw you do it, and we have transcended our bodies and death to become these things of legend and to give meaning to what we do” — and Batman rejects all of that in “Death of the Family,” where he says, “No, what makes me stronger is my humanity — the people that love me and the people I love as Bruce Wayne.” In doing so, he severed all ties with the Joker,” Snyder told Comic Book Resources.
“This time, the Joker’s back to say, “Actually, your life means nothing. Your life is a joke, and the fact that you think that it has any kind of significance or meaning, what you do, and that it has an effect on things in the greater picture, is laughable, and I’m here to prove that to you.” So this one is really about hate. [Laughs] And death and suffering — tragedy as opposed to “Death of the Family.” If that one was happy, this one is sad. But, that said, it’s not going to be centered on a character dying or going after one person — Joker’s really here to say, “I am out for all of you. I’m here to burn everything down this time.””
The Joker’s revenge continues in this six-part storyline that leads to something even bigger for the Dark Knight.
By Editor