As Joker War escalates, the Dark Knight finds himself in a conflict that appears heavily inspired by the Batman: Arkham video games.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman #97, by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Batman and the Joker’s longstanding feud has reached deadly, new levels in the crossover event Joker War, with Gotham City already in flames as the Clown Prince of Crime and his goons use the Dark Knight’s vast arsenal upon the city. Just as Batman finally caught up with his nemesis at the Monarch Theater, Joker reanimated victims’ corpses with a new strain of Joker toxin to overwhelm the Caped Crusader.
The resulting battle is nightmarish and surreal, with the creative team evoking another classic interpretation of the Batman mythos: Rocksteady Studios’ universally acclaimed Batman: Arkham video game trilogy.
As Batman fights off the Joker’s undead army, he continues to hallucinate, having been dosed with a strain of Joker toxin developed by the villain’s latest sidekick, Punchline. The disoriented Dark Knight imagines all of his opponents have taken on the Joker’s grinning visage as his nemesis continues to taunt him relentlessly.
Fighting in the auditorium of the theater where Bruce Wayne spent his last night with parents, Batman’s fight is interspersed with flashbacks to that fateful evening at the movies. The hallucinations persist even after Batman defeats the undead army with a short-range electromagnetic pulse burst. He sees visions of the recently deceased Alfred Pennyworth, as well as a nightmarish incarnation of Harley Quinn.
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The Arkham games similarly had Batman racked with hallucinations at key points. In 2009’s Arkham Asylum, Batman was dosed with Scarecrow’s fear toxin on multiple occasions as he confronted the villain in psychedelically sinister obstacle courses and recalled his fateful night in Crime Alley, seeing Joker’s men transformed into an army of skeletons.
While Scarecrow himself was absent in 2011’s Arkham City, Ra’s al Ghul and Mad Hatter both employed similar hallucinatory tricks before the Scarecrow returned in full force in 2015’s Arkham Knight. The game had Batman endure exposure to both Scarecrow’s fear toxin and unknowingly receiving a transfusion of the Joker’s blood before the villain’s death, causing constant hallucinations throughout the game.
Punchline’s own strain of Joker toxin combines the classic formula, along with Scarecrow’s fear toxin and Bane’s Venom, likely as a nod to Arkham Knight. It is unknown how long the toxin will remain active in Batman’s system or if there are long term health effects if Batman doesn’t obtain a timely antidote.
Punchline’s toxin has left the superhero weakened and vulnerable — with his mind on the verge of collapse — at the worst possible time. Joker’s well-armed legion is running unchecked throughout the streets of Gotham, unleashing explosive chaos wherever they go.
Batman’s hallucinations are likely to continue before the Dark Knight can rally for his final showdown with the Joker. Punchline put Batman off-balance right at the outset of Joker War and the Clown Prince of Crime has continued to keep the pressure on, as the superhero just tries to determine what’s real. To survive the rematch, Batman will have to regain full control of all his senses as his city burns around him.
