The Phantasm just struck a very deep blow to Batman and Catwoman, proving nowhere is safe from her attacks.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman/Catwoman #3 by Tom King, Clay Mann, Tomeu Morey & Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Batman and the Phantasm have a very personal connection thanks to their time together in their youth. But now, the Phantasm just brought war against the people who helped the Joker to an entirely new level.
In Batman/Catwoman #3, the Phantasm just snuck into Wayne Manor and came close to killing Catwoman — proving just how personal her fight with Batman is becoming.
In Batman/Catwoman, Andrea Beaumont — the Phantasm — has come out of hiding following years of laying low. The discovery of her son’s Joker-ized corpse has led the Phantasm to lash out at the various associates of the Joker while in search of the Clown Prince of Crime. But Batman made things complicated for the Phantasm when he agreed to take the Joker into protective custody. When Andrea discovers that the Joker is being held by the Dark Knight, she turns her attention towards Batman and, more specifically, Catwoman.
While Batman is on patrol and dealing with a drug shipment, the Phantasm slips into Wayne Manor. She’s able to get past the security features of the building and actually makes it into their bedroom, moving to kill a sleeping Catwoman. Luckily for Catwoman, the actions startle her cat and give Selina the chance to dodge Phantasm’s attack. This is one of the most personal attacks the Phantasm could have committed against Batman, considering that Andrea is a former lover trying to ruin his life by killing the woman he holds dear. Catwoman is just skilled enough to stay ahead of the more prepared Phantasm, but their fight sends them tumbling out a window and to the ground below — leaving them both injured and unconscious with Batman still on the other side of the city.
Notably, the Phantasm didn’t search through the mansion for the Joker after she broke in. He’s the one she nominally wants to murder and is the reason she’s leaving a trail of bodies across Gotham City. But instead, she takes the fight directly to someone who would break Batman. The fact that she knows to strike at Bruce when she learns about Batman protecting Joker proves she’s aware of his secret identity. Phantasm had the chance to potentially sneak into the Bat-Cave and take her vengeance but she instead made it even more personal by trying to kill Catwoman in cold blood. As an agent of vengeance, it makes sense that Andrea would try to take revenge on Batman for trying to hide the Joker from her.
Striking at Catwoman just proves how deadly Phantasm really is. Not even the heavily fortified Wayne Manor is safe from her. If she’s willing to strike at Catwoman, then she might be willing to attack other loved ones in Bruce’s life, such as his various allies across Gotham City. The fact that Selina also has a connection with the Joker could be another reason why she was targeted — setting Selina up to have that connection exposed and endanger her relationship with Batman. Even if the Phantasm failed to kill Catwoman, the attack changes the face of her conflict with Batman and sets them up to have a far more destructive and deadly face-off down the line.
