WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Dawn" a story in Future State: The Next Batman #3, by Paul Jenkins, Jack Herbert, Gabe Eltaeb, and Rob Leigh, on sale now.
In the possible future of DC's Future State, the Magistrate firmly rules over Gotham City, instilling fear through Peacekeepers and Cybers. In the face of these impossible odds, some of Batman's most famous villains have teamed up as the Arkham Knights, and they want to do their part to resist. Led by Astrid Arkham, these rebels are accomplishing what the Bat-Family could not, sticking together as a unit and fighting back, no matter the cost.
But in Future State: The Next Batman #3, Doctor Phosphorus, Gotham's deadliest villain and one of the team's key members, is killed off, bringing his brave run at redemption to an early, sympathetic end at the hands of the Magistrate's Peacekeepers.
In an ironic fate, Doctor Phosphorus has suffered radiation poisoning and has been dying from cancer for some time in this alternate reality, much as his radioactive body gave Batman terminal cancer in the future of Batman/Catwoman. Still, as Astrid makes clear here, Phosphorus earned his second chance and should have lived to see Gotham rise up from the darkness and into the light again.
However, Phosphorus'second chance is cut short when he joins the team for a special raid. Now a far cry from the radioactive criminal who plagued Batman for years, Astrid Arkham has lived up to her family's legacy by getting him to be the best hero he can be. Still, he's been trying to get her to forget about him as his body's too frail and causing him too much pain to go on for long as a worthwhile soldier.
Astrid has doctors treating him round the clock when he's not in the field, adamant they can find the cure. Sadly, one of the Peacekeepers puts in a bullet on Phosphorus when the Knights try to steal the Bat-Signal. After he uses his green energy blasts on some of the military, he's drained and way too tired to react quickly, so he takes a shot to the chest. Astrid loses her cool and impales the Peacekeeper with her sword, rushing over to her fallen colleague.
He's relieved, however, as he doesn't want to burden her or the mission anymore. They take him back to their base beneath Wayne Manor, but he's too far gone.
Mourning Phosphorus, Astrid uses him as a symbol, reminding Killer Croc, Two-Face, Anarky and the rest that their legion must honor the memory of fallen ones. Phosphorus showed that true rehabilitation was possible in his efforts to save the city he once terrorized, and his death serves as a reminder that Gotham needs to be freed. Still, Astrid is proud that Phosphorus became an example of the kind of reformed hero who could make Batman himself proud, too.