Warning: The following contains spoilers for Batman Annual #5, by James Tynion IV, James Stokoe and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

One of the most deadly figures to surface in Gotham City over the past several months is Clownhunter, an antihero with a grudge against the Joker and everyone associated with him who openly employed lethal force to keep his neighborhood safe. First appearing during the crossover event "Joker War," Clownhunter's real identity was revealed to be teenager Bao Pham, with Batman warning the boy to stop his murderous crusade.

And as an undeterred Bao begins to expand his vendetta beyond the Narrows, his secret origin and why exactly he hates the Joker is unveiled in Batman Annual #5.

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Joker Clownhunter

Doctor Leslie Thompkins meets Clownhunter, injured from his latest night out presumably battling the Joker's associates. Bao recounts how his family ran a Vietnamese restaurant that happened to be patronized by the Joker and Harley Quinn on the criminal couple's twisted take on a date night years ago. After being forced to give the pair a romantic dinner, the Joker decides to give the family restaurant a tip: Bao should hold his breath as he uses his Joker toxin to kill both of the boy's parents before his horrified eyes. Batman visits Bao privately to console the boy over the loss, with the Caped Crusader especially empathizing as someone who watched his own parents murdered in front of him. Swearing that he will stop the Joker from continuing to menace others, Batman gives Bao a Batarang before departing.

History has shown that for all of Batman's vows, the Joker remains to be as deadly as ever all these years later, perhaps even more so as demonstrated by "Joker War." As the tenement building Bao is living in is struck by Joker toxin in a separate attack, a frustrated Bao decides to take matters into his own hands by embedding the Batarang into a baseball bat and launching his own crimefighting crusade in a way that Batman never would: By killing any one of the Joker's goons that gets in his way, hoping that he'll one day get a chance at the Joker and Harley himself.

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Batman Clownhunter

After making the Narrows the safest neighborhood for much of "Joker War" with his one-man war on crime, Clownhunter became bolder with his activities, even after being visited by Batman in the conflict's aftermath. Recently, Clownhunter left the Narrows to hunt Harley Quinn for her role in his parents' murder, battling her and taking her down only with the timely assistance of Ghost-Maker. While Harley didn't recall her prior encounter with Bao, she apologized and swore to work towards her redemption but offered herself to Clownhunter's fury only for a conflicted Bao to decide to spare her.

Between Clownhunter's surprise clemency towards Harley Quinn and his confessional with Leslie Thompkins, there may be hope yet for Bao Pham one day becoming a trusted ally to the Bat-Family rather than an unforgiving serial killer exemplifying the kind of vigilante that Batman seeks to take down.

Bao still has a long way to go and has revealed how deep his pain and anger against the Joker runs but his willingness to open up shows that he may yet be reached. The boy behind Gotham City's latest antihero stands fully revealed and the Dark Knight may bring him from the brink of his murderous rampage.

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