Scott Snyder delivered a double dose of shock in the latest chapter of Endgame.
A revelation could that could everything we thought we know about Batman’s greatest enemy.
A hero so desperate he turns to a ruthless enemy for help.
As the Dark Knight desperately tries to stop the Joker’s infection of Gotham City he uncovers a horrific possibility
It all went down in this week’s Batman #38.
Before we share our analysis and see what Snyder is saying about Endgame here’s a…
SPOILER WARNING.
If you have not read Batman #38 yet stop reading now.
Seriously.
OK.
Here it comes….
In the DC Universe there is evil and there’s is immortal evil.
Ra’s Al Gul and Vandal Savage are two examples of eternal villains that have been on Earth since ancient times.
The Clown Prince of Crime’s real identity is different in several classic stories but there’s no definitive origin of him.
Maybe he’s not a lab worker who becomes the Red Hood before assuming the Joker identity.
Maybe he’s not the struggling nightclub comedian driven insane after the death of his wife and child.
Maybe he’s an immortal? A vampire-like being? Maybe he’s the devil?
In Batman #38 we learn a new origin for the foe similar to Vandal Savage and Ra’s Al Ghul suggesting Joker can regenerate and has an extended life span.
Before succumbing to the Joker’s latest virus, Jim Gordon discovers old photos of the villain dating back to the early of Gotham City.
But that’s not enough shock and awe for Scott Snyder to throw at us.
Who does Batman turn to for help?
The Court of Owls!
With this latest chapter of Endgame, Snyder takes it back to the first story since Batman The New 52 began.
He’s taking even further back in time.
If you want to know about the secret history of Gotham – you turn to the sinister society who has been manipulating it since it began.
“For me, this story is the second part of the two-part Joker story that we had been talking about for a long time. So once I’m done with this, it’s the same; Joker is done for me. But the Court, [Greg Capullo] and I were always like, “If we do this, we have to do a story where we get to bring them back in, use them in a way that shows how scary they still are, and say goodbye to them in certain ways.” Not that I wouldn’t use the Talons and all that again. I actually had such a good experience writing them this time — Greg too. He wrote to me like, “I miss these MFs!” I’m like, “I miss them too, man!” So it made me be like, “Why don’t I write these guys all the time?” They’re so much fun,” Snyder told IGN.
Snyder was asked about the science behind the new origin of the Joker that puts him in an elite league with DC’s eternal villains:
“The science of it is something I love researching. I love doing research as long as it doesn’t become — I do so much of it sometimes that I know I’m just procrastinating at some point and you know as a writer you’ve made a mistake; you’re just putting off writing.
But I’ve always been fascinated by this idea of science being able to overcome death. Frankenstein is my favorite book, since I was a kid, and every story I’ve done, if you look at them honestly, that is a theme.”Snyder told IGN.
Death of the Family was basically Joker saying, “You always wanted to be immortal. Come with me and be immortal,” and this is where he says, “Guess what? I’ve always been immortal, and now I’m closing the door on you, little mortal Bruce Wayne.” And (Snyder’s upcoming Image Comics series A.D. is clearly about overcoming death. For me, it’s just something that runs through a lot of my work. It’s something I really believe is a huge — for me, at least — it’s a big fear, wrestling with this idea that you’re just this person and eventually you die and what comes after that. Is this all it is? Is it more? Is it less?”
“For me, I wanted to make something that felt real and was believable, while at the same time was mythologically big and epic, the way the story is, so that it is material that might have been here and might have done this to Vandal Savage and might be the basis for the Lazarus Pit, or Electrum — which is what keeps the Owls coming back from the dead, the Talons. It might have something to do with other figures as well, for Solomon Grundy… I wanted to create something that links all that.
So the Joker says, “I knew this. I knew this part of it. I’m older than Gotham. I’m the Pale Man that walks these shores, and I’ve seen all of it. I’m the immortal person here. You are nothing. I let you believe it for a little while because I wanted you to come with me and become something important, but you had your chance in Death of the Family, and you threw me off a goddamn cliff. So… you’re done.”
When you see Snyder’s “mythological” comment you can’t help but think of the cover for Batman #40, the Endgame finale.
Greg Capullo’s cover hearkens to ancient struggles between Knights and Dragons. This surely reinforces an immortal evil origin for Batman’s greatest enemy.
By bringing back the villains of his first, a “final” story like Endgame and possibly universe changing story like Convergence coming in April – could this be the end of the Snyder/Capullo Batman run? The writer has said it’s not his final Batman story but this could be a the end of The New 52 Dark Knight?
For more from Snyder on The Court of Owls in a new Batman animated film here’s the IGN link.
By Editor