WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Future State: Gotham #2 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Giahhis Milogiannis & ALW's Troy Peteri, on sale now.
Thanks to Future State, the potential fate of Gotham City have been revealed, including a massive war against the Magistrate and some of the early days in the Next Batman's career. While his first team-up with Nightwing has already been revealed, now he's gotten the chance to team up with another former Robin.
In Future State: Gotham #2, Jace Fox just ended up becoming an unlikely half of a new desperate dynamic duo with Jason Todd.
The timeline of Future State has been a rough one for the heroes of Gotham City, with Batman seemingly killed by the Magistrate and their forces. The remaining heroes rallied around Nightwing and have been moving in the shadows, trying to stay ahead of the Magistrate and the Peacekeepers. A new Batman -- secretly Jace Fox -- has taken to protecting the streets of Gotham, barely staying ahead of not just his enemies but his potential allies (who blame him for a terrorist assault on the city that's being blamed on him). Meanwhile, Red Hood has seemingly betrayed the Bat-Family and has become a Peacekeeper himself. However, this isn't truly the case, as Red Hood is secretly a double agent for a still-alive Bruce Wayne as he operates in secret and prepares for his return.
Jason and Bruce come to believe that the new Batman could be tied to the Magistrate in some way, requiring Jason to confront Astrid Arkham. Future State revealed that Astrid eventually becomes the Arkham Knight, dedicated to changing the world and uniting the remaining Batman rouges under her banner. Seeing her as a witness to the new Batman's "crimes," Jason heads to Blackgate to confront her -- only to discover the new Batman arriving at the same time, also looking for information.
The pair quickly throw down and trade a few blows before realizing someone has opened up the cells of the prison, unleashing Two-Face, Clayface, Victor Zzsaz, and Killer Croc. All the villains -- and a host of other prisoners -- quickly surround the pair, prompting them to stop fighting and setting them up to instead team up to take on their new common enemy. It's a surprising turn of events, and positions Red Hood to once again to work with a Batman -- even if it's not the one he has a lengthy history with. Given their own respective skills, it's likely that the pair will escape the conflict, although they could then either resume their own battle or find at least a temporary truce.
Notably, though, Jason and Jace quietly have some strong similarities they might not realize yet that could result in them finding some common ground even outside of the fight. Both are the "unfavorite sons" of their respective families, with both Jason and Jace committing acts that estranged them from the Bat-Family and the Fox family, respectively. Both of them prefer their independence, have strong combat skills, and don't know how to stay down -- which could end up saving their lives. This could be the perfect chance for the pair to work together and create a new kind of dynamic duo. Jace has already been shown working well with his sister as well as Nightwing, and becoming an unlikely but effective partner to Jason Todd could be another step towards Jace becoming a full member of the Batman family.