Created in the halls of Arkham Asylum, Batman the Silenced is this world’s twisted version of the Dark Knight.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman Hush #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dexter Soy, Sergio Davila, Matt Santorelli, and Ivan Plascencia, on sale now.
Tempus Fuginaut is back with another twisted Dark Multiverse tale that show how terribly things can go for DC’s heroes in the various corners of the DC Multiverse. This partciular tale twists the Batman story “Hush” into a horrifying Gotham lorded over by Thomas Elliot, who was Hush in the original story, and who plays a different role with similar results. The most shocking reveal is the backstory of Batman the Silenced who at first appears as an urban legend inside Arkham Asylum but then winds up being more than real.
In this Dark Multiverse tale, Thomas Elliot and Bruce Wayne are boyhood friends who were like brothers. Elliot was with Bruce the night his parents were killed in the alley and watched as his best friend sunk into madness as a result of the tragedy. The Elliots took the orphan Bruce in and as a result, Alfred never became a large influence in his life. As adults, Elliot is the Senator of the Independent CityState of Gotham and has control over Wayne Enterprises.
Gotham has become everything that Batman, in the regular Multiverse has fought against- it’s a fascist dictatorship ruled over by a few people who have all the power. Everything from the media to the police force is state-run, and personal liberties and freedoms have been all but abolished. Elliot single-handedly funds Arkham Asylum, where he keeps Bruce Wayne locked up. Dr. Crane, the head of the asylum, tells Elliot that there has been an increase in weird goings-on in the asylum as inmates are being killed in their cells or disappearing altogether. Crane tells Elliot that the inmates talk about the existence of the urban legend of a Bat-Demon terrorizing the asylum. The doctor and Elliot both blow off the Bat-Demon as the product of sick minds, but little do they know that the Bat-Demon is real and more man than a demon.
Bruce Wayne has been using the legend of the Bat-Demon in order to create fear in those around him. The entire time Bruce has been in Arkham he has been training to become Batman the Silenced. By imprisoning Bruce for all those years, Elliot was able to wrestle control of Wayne Enterprises, and now that Bruce is rumored to have died in Arkham, Elliot is set to take over the Wayne fortune completely.
Just as the power structure in Gotham was about to shift, Batman the Silenced appears and takes Elliot to exact revenge. Batman the Silenced is, obviously, Bruce Wayne, who, while locked away in Arkham has trained to become a physical and mental titan. Bruce may not have been able to travel the world honing his skills from the best detectives, fighters, and criminal psychologists, but he got the most diabolical minds in Arkham to train him.