In Dark Prince Charming, Batman Adopts Joker’s (Possible) Daughter

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Batman: The Dark Prince Charming Vol. 2, written and illustrated by Enrico Marini, in stores now.

In 2017, superstar European artist Enrico Marini released the first volume of his Batman: The Dark Prince Charming story, a haunting tale that took place outside of the main DC Universe continuity. It was the first part of a two volume story, the second of which was only just released this past week. It was a long wait, but finally the conclusion of the story set up months ago is finally upon us.

The first volume of Marini's story quickly set itself apart from the usual Batman mythos by having an unexpected guest drop at Bruce Wayne's door. A woman with whom Bruce had been intimate with nine years ago, and who now claimed that the daughter she had was his. However, before Bruce could find out if this woman was telling the truth or not, the Joker kidnapped the young girl, and the Batman, pushed by nascent paternal feelings, scoured Gotham City with a rage that burned hotter than any we've seen in him before.

Volume 2 brings this story to a close, but not in the way anyone expected -- the series ends with a chilling twist that completely alters the Batman/Joker relationship.

Over the years, many Batman stories have cut to the heart of his relationship with the Joker. And, more often than not, these stories heavily involved the people closest to Batman -- his children, adopted or otherwise. Batman may have started his vigilante career on his own, but it wasn't long before he had Dick Grayson's Robin at his side, the first of many in a long line of sidekicks. There was Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, his biological son Damian Wayne and more recently Duke Thomas.

Many of the big Joker stories see the Clown Prince of Crime take out his rivalry with Batman on others. The Killing Joke saw the madman attack Jim Gordon and leave Barbara Gordon crippled, while A Death in the Family saw the Clown Prince of Crime do the impossible and kill a Robin. Even Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns universe explored the twisted relationship of Batman and the Joker through the lens of Jason Todd's death. In Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's "Death of the Family" storyline, the Joker sought to fracture the sacred bond of trust between Batman and all of his children, and the creative team's following storyline, "Endgame," took that even further by unleashing the Joker as a monster.

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All of these Batman/Joker stories are classics that are talked about to this day. They all gave their own take on the dichotomy of the two characters, on what makes them different and what makes them similar. Joker always finds a way to push Batman to his limits, more often than not through the people he loves.

Now, we can add The Dark Prince Charming to that list of iconic works. But Marini plays things differently, because he introduces a young girl who is not a Robin. She's just this nine-year old kid who wants to do good and who dreams of being a police officer.

The real twist of The Dark Prince Charming doesn't arrive until the final page. Once Batman rescues the young girl from the Joker's grasp, Bruce Wayne does the right thing and adopts her. But the final scene of Volume 2 depicts a flashback, 9-years prior, where the Joker pays a visit to the same woman Bruce Wayne had slept with. It's heavily implied that Joker then assaulted the woman, which means that there is also a good chance that he could be the young girl's father.

We can't be certain, of course, because it's left up to the readers to decide. In the first volume of the series, Bruce Wayne takes a paternity test, but we don't actually see the result -- we only see his reaction to the results, which is, obviously, shock. But was he shocked to find that he was the girl's father, or because the DNA matched that of the Joker?

Once that doubt is planted, if we go back and re-read the scenes between Joker and the girl, it could be argued that he does appear to care about her, in his very own Joker-way. But that may just be the madman being his typical madman self. After all, through the years, we have learned not to trust any flashback pertaining to the Joker, because he could easily be making them up as he goes along.

Still, The Dark Prince Charming really wants you to wonder. The little girl is Schrodinger's Cat inside a paternity box. She is both the daughter of Joker and Batman at the same time, and we won't know until the box is opened which she'll take after most. Somehow, she has two fathers, who are both the same and infinitely different. But what will she grow up to become?

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