SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman: The Red Death #1 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico, on sale now.


As seen in Dark Nights: Metal, the Dark Knights (with a "K") have made their way from the Dark Multiverse into the DC Universe. Batman: Red Death #1, by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico, provided the first detailed look at one of these mysterious figures; the origin of the Dark Knight patterned after Batman and The Flash is presented here, meaning that readers are given their first peek inside the Dark Multiverse itself.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Metal — How Batman Opened the Door to the Dark Multiverse

Or is this actually a second look? Something about the Batman who becomes the Red Death seems awfully familiar...

That Unshaven Psychopath Dressed As Batman Looks Familiar

At first blush, the one-shot takes place on a world that looks relatively familiar – Central City looks normal enough, or as normal enough as a city inhabiting a world on the verge of destruction, complete with Crisis-red skies, can look. But instead of saving his city, Flash finds himself engaged in battle, oddly enough, with Batman. While The Flash seems to behave like his usual recognizable self, Batman has taken on a decidedly obsessive and psychotic persona – one that carries a distinct familiarity of its own. As Batman demands that Flash give him access to the Speed Force in order to allow him to travel back in time and save his parents, readers are reminded of an especially dark and violent take on the character that they saw a decade or so ago – he isn't just Batman, he's the goddamn Batman.

That's right – the Batman of Earth -52 (yes, that's a negative sign, not a hyphen) is displaying the same over-the-top and dangerous bravado that was exuded by the main character in Frank Miller and Jim Lee's oft-maligned All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, the notable but panned 10-issue, out-of-continuity series that abruptly ended in 2008. If any one element is remembered from that series, it's that neo-classic tagline Bruce growled at a traumatized Dick Grayson shortly after his parents' murder. At the time, many fans objected to Miller's noticeably mean-spirited and excessively violent take on the character, feeling that the Dark Knight had been made a little too dark. But those behaviors almost perfectly align to those observed here, as punctuated by Batman's ultimate claiming of the Speed Force and sacrificing The Flash in the process, emerging from the Speed Force as a character amalgamation calling itself The Red Death.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Was%20Miller%20and%20Lee%27s%20All-Star%20Batman%20Just%20Made%20Canon%3F']



Was Miller and Lee's All-Star Batman Just Made Canon?

But does this really mean that the non-canonical setting of All-Star Batman and Robin could be ret-conned into Earth -52? Besides Batman's extreme behavior, plenty of other aspects of Miller and Lee's series point to the possibility of this exact scenario; most blatantly, that devilish, unshaven grin as rendered by Di Giandomenico seems deliberately patterned after the look established by Lee and used throughout the series. Although Batman isn't shown to kill anyone outright in The Red Death, there's no certainty that he wouldn't be willing to – his actions to take the Speed Force from The Flash certainly seem dangerous enough to be potentially fatal. Batman's reckless actions against the Gotham police in All-Star Batman and Robin strongly implied fatalities – consequences that, although unintentional, demonstrate a similarly low regard for human life at the expense of his ultimate goal.

The Goddamn Batman in All-Star Batman and Robin

Both the Earth -52 and All-Star Batman are both shown to have never accepted the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, forever spinning around in the denial phase of the grieving process and therefore never achieving any kind of closure. If Bruce has never come to terms with death, then it's possible that he might never have sworn an oath not to take a life, and while he remains skillful enough to pursue his quixotic mission without going on a killing spree, incidental casualties might not be beneath him. His recklessness with the Batmobile caused a few fiery crashes in All-Star, and may have done irreparable harm to the flash in Red Death.

Doomed to Die – And It Did

On this issue's opening page, the Batman Who Laughs narrates that the worlds within the Dark Multiverse "are doomed to die, because they are wrong at their core." If there was ever a world that fit this bill, it was the one shown in All-Star Batman, at least if Gotham is any indication. The city's cops weren't just crooked – it was implied that they routinely engaged in reprehensible acts like child molestation. Black Canary was a bartender at a saloon full of unsavory clientele, but the harassment she faced was more akin to her walking through Cell Block D at Gotham Penitentiary than serving drinks at a bar.

All-Star Batman and Robin was supposed to be a reimagining of the Batman mythos, but instead it just felt like the legend was transported to a poisoned world. Wonder Woman's disdain for men was transformed into outright misandry. Heroic Hal Jordan is reduced to a buffoon. And Bruce himself struck young Dick – not in defense, but out of impatience over a boy who just suffered and witnessed a terrible loss. It's a safe bet that scene will never be made into an internet meme. Nearly everyone in the series who was supposed to be good was somehow corrupted, and those who were already bad were corrupted even more – certainly fitting for a world deigned to be "wrong at its core."

An Ending – A Decade Later

The Batman Who Laughs also speaks that the worlds of the Dark Multiverse "aren't meant to last. They are destined to die." There's a kind of real-life irony to these words, as All-Star Batman and Robin was a series that sounded like a dream project, but upon its realization, was plagued with overt criticism, publishing delays, and at its core, an uncertainty that the concept was even true to the nature of the character. An idea that sounded good in solicitations was far from good in reality, and considering its difficulties, was itself arguably destined to die. Its place in the Dark Multiverse is therefore all too fitting, as this long-abandoned world has now served its purpose, and having birthed its sole survivor, can now die its agonizing death.

All-Star Batman and Robin also served as a showcase for other DC Comics heroes – in addition to those mentioned above, Plastic Man, Batgirl, and Superman had roles to varying degrees, but the most notable hero who was ignored, ironically, was The Flash. Batman: The Red Death #1 almost feels like a dénouement of sorts to that series, flash-forwarding to a time where an older Batman, with little time left, is willing to go to even further extremes to misguidedly right a terrible wrong. Unlike the other superheroes of that series, though, The Flash remains relatively true to his mainstream incarnation, postulating the notion that perhaps a Flash untainted by a poisoned world holds the key to saving both himself and Batman from The Red Death.

RELATED: Dark Nights: Metal – Every Issue Features a Horn-Throwing Easter Egg 

Earth -52 doesn't have to be the world of All-Star Batman, but it's a perfect fit, and a hard notion to dismiss. And with the unlimited underside of the multiversal canvas now laid bare for use, there seems no viable reason not to find a dark corner for these out-of-continuity stories – stories that never were, after all - to live in and call home.

Even the goddamn All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder.