WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Legends of the Dark Knight #12 by Matthew Rosenberg, Cian Tormey, Matt Hollingsworth, Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
Batman has made a name for himself by being prepared for most situations. But one of the few things he can't completely control is what happens to Gotham City if it is struck by a natural disaster, or even worse, an intentional transformative attack on the city. In Legends of the Dark Knight #12 Batman worked alongside Killer Croc to stop a group of criminals responsible for flooding the city, exposing just how vulnerable Gotham is in the process.
The issue began with Batman doing his best to save civilians trapped by the flooding. Once he was sure first responders could handle the rest he began his hunt for the people who broke the flood walls and allowed the city to be overtaken by the water. His hunt initially led him to Killer Croc, but upon seeing that Croc had an injury before they started fighting, Batman realized that Croc had seen who was actually responsible for the flooding. Despite their reservations about each other, the two decided to work together, knowing it was their best chance at stopping the real villains.
Croc led Batman to the site of the Gotham Stock Exchange, where it was revealed that the ones responsible for flooding the city and endangering thousands were not supervillains of any sort, but rather well-funded robbers. They had flooded the city knowing it would trigger so many alarms that no one would notice their entering and downloading billions from the exchange's servers. The server room, ironically, being better prepared for a natural disaster than the rest of the city, was protected in an environmentally sealed room with independent generators.
Batman tried to take the cautious approach to keep the servers from being destroyed, knowing that many counted on the money inside them. Croc however, was less keen on the idea of holding back. He barreled into the server room, allowing the water to begin filling the once secure area. Batman followed shortly and the two of them took down the robbers. But the damage was already done. Croc had cost the city millions in damages thanks to his rash actions. He helped stop the robbers, but may have made things worse in the process.
Their team up pointed out some things out about Gotham, notably that the city is woefully underprepared for disasters of this magnitude. This comes across as strange considering all that the city has been through. Gotham has been through its fair share of tough times. In the "Zero Year" crossover and "No Man's Land," the city suffered natural disasters that effectively crippled it, making it easy for supervillains to take over in the aftermath. This makes it somewhat baffling that a group of common robbers was able to do something similar to a city that is under Batman's protection.
An answer to this might be found in the opening pages of the issue. Batman went off in pursuit of the culprit and spotted Croc swimming through the flooded streets. His immediate instinct was to attack, making the assumption that Croc was responsible for this catastrophe. Even though the two worked out the truth, the fight itself was telling. Batman automatically assumed that it was a supervillain responsible. This may explain what he's come to expect from Gotham and why these simple robbers got away with breaking the flood walls.
Batman has set a standard in his mind about who is actually a threat to Gotham. He's seen people like the Joker and the Riddler ruin the city in a matter of days, an in all probability doesn't see normal people as much of a threat. It limits what he believes ordinary people are capable of when every night he has to deal with actual monsters. But that makes him underestimate what they're capable of if they have the drive and means to achieve their goals. This attitude may not only expose a weakness in the Dark Knight's armor, but also explain why a group of common criminals was able to literally flood the city with crime.