In case you haven't heard, Batman is getting married. One superhero who has definitely gotten the message is Booster Gold, and he decided to give the Dark Knight a wedding gift in Batman #45. It wasn't money. and he didn't get it off a registry. Instead, Booster went back in time, where he saved Thomas and Martha Wayne to show Bruce Wayne what life would be like, and how much worse off everyone would be, if he never became Batman.

It's probably the worst gift anyone has ever given anyone, and now it's created a whole new universe in the style of Flashpoint.

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Back in 2011, Barry Allen went back in time in order to save his mother's life. The consequences of messing around with time caused cracks in reality that warped the world into the Flashpoint universe. Thomas Wayne was Batman, Citizen Cold was the hero of Central City, and a war was brewing between Aquaman and Wonder Woman. It was a dark universe ravaged by time and turned into something almost unrecognizable. And that's basically what Booster Gold has done to Batman and Gotham City.

We are all familiar with the world of Flashpoint, but now it's time to get acquainted with a new universe, a world we will call... Batpoint.

Who is Batman?

By saving Bruce Wayne's parents, Booster Gold prevented the single act that would have turned a young boy into a masked vigilante. Now, instead of taking to the night to protect Gotham City, he's a wealthy socialite dancing with his mother at his birthday gala while the city burns around them. This version of Bruce turns out to be nothing like the man who became Batman in the DC Universe.

That doesn't mean there isn't a Batman running around town, though. Even though Bruce Wayne is nothing but a rich boy in his ivory tower, the universe still needs a Batman. Booster and Skeets run into a version of the Caped Crusader that is packing some serious weaponry. Unlike the traditional Batman, who is against the use of firearms, this guy is carrying multiple assault rifles and has actual grenades strapped to his body.

It is revealed that this world's Batman is Dick Grayson, and he apparently has no qualms about killing. There is no explanation given as to how Grayson could have become Batman without the influence of Bruce Wayne, but that's likely to be explored in a future issue. After all, we still have to see what happened to Catwoman.

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It's made abundantly clear that if Bruce Wayne wasn't around to be Batman, he was also not able to recruit a bunch of kids to serve in his war on crime. Tom King and Tony S. Daniel weave segments into the main story that focus on the fate of each of the Robins in this Batpoint universe. While Grayson may not have escaped the life of a masked vigilante, the others did -- but are they really better off?

Jason Todd is a tire salesman now, and he sells tires that taze people to death if they try to steal them. It's a hilarious callback to the character's origin, where Batman first met him trying to steal a tire off the Batmobile. This is a solid inside joke for Bat fans only.

In less exciting news, Tim Drake is an engineer with Wayne Engineering. Without a career as a superhero to get in the way, he has a pretty good job putting his technical genius to good use. He seems pretty bored, though.

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Things are a lot worse for Damian Wayne, because in this universe he was never born. Without Bruce Wayne, Talia al Ghul has no "beloved," and no one she deems to be worthy enough to have a child with. As much as Ra's wants an heir to his throne, Talia is determined to be the last of the al Ghul line.

Duke Thomas, (technically not a Robin) has it the worst, though. He seems to have been lobotomized in order to be cured of the Joker plague that is ruining the city. He's now barely able to chew his own food.

How About Those Villains?

Much of Batman #45 focuses on what Booster Gold has done to Batman's life and the family he has gathered around himself. However, these changes have also affected his rogues gallery in massive ways. First of all, Oswald Cobblepot has somehow managed to become the President of the United States. It would appear that without Bruce Wayne, the Penguin's illegal business schemes were never questioned as thoroughly as they should have been.

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In Cobblepot's America, everyone carries a gun, and sometimes when they protect themselves against bad guys, innocent bystanders get in the way. That's the sense we get when Tim Drake's coworker tells him about an incident on his way to work. Apparently in this universe, a woman getting stabbed in the face and then a bystander shooting the murderer and an innocent is all just a minor inconvenience on the day.

The biggest threat to Gotham, and perhaps the rest of the world, is the fact that there is some kind of Joker pandemic going on. People become infected, or "Jokered" and begin to act like the Joker. We see this in the opening pages of the comic when Green Lantern shoots himself in the head with his own ring... on a dare. This is what Jason Todd is trying to defend Gotham's tires against, it's what Dick Grayson is willing to kill people over, and it is what was wrong with Duke before his mind was messed around with.

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Since Bruce Wayne wasn't there to stop the Joker, it appears that the villain's toxin became uncontainable. Now, people are transforming into crazed menaces and destroying Gotham City. It's pretty clear that despite Dick's attempt to fill the Batman void, he just isn't as effective at stopping crime as Bruce Wayne has been.

Batman #45 also gives us a peek at what the al Ghuls are up to with no Batman to stand in their way. Ra's and Talia now rule over both Europe and Asia, and it seems their plan to decimate the world's population and rule over what remains is running full steam ahead. They are seemingly using the Joker problem to their advantage, and waiting for it all to take its course before they move in and take over.

It seems the Batpoint universe is one on the edge of complete chaos. The good guys are down and the bad guys are in power, but there is still hope. Or rather, it's a multi-issue story, so we know change is coming. With Skeets now out of commission, Booster Gold might be stuck here for awhile. This new, completely messed up world still has a lot to reveal.