Warning: The following contains spoilers for Batman: The Joker War Zone #1 by James Tynion IV, John Ridley, Joshua Williamson, Guillem March and more, on sale now.
The Joker War is tearing its way through Gotham, and no one is safe from its tendrils. While the city is being torn apart, Lucius Fox and his family find the will to reconcile and reconnect with the one member of the household that characters and audiences alike haven't seen in a very long time.
After the Wayne fortune was stolen by Punchline at the request of Joker, he used his newfound resources to turn Gotham City into a literal warzone. Joker's good fortune didn't last long, however, as a drive containing access to the entirety of the stolen assets was quickly retrieved by Catwoman, and subsequently left in the hands of Lucius Fox and his son Luke aka Batwing. Lucius, still feeling the traumas inflicted upon him by his time held captive by Punchline, is certain that Bruce Wayne is aware of who currently controls his billions and would want them to use it to end the reign of terror that Joker has spread across Gotham.
While Luke tries to convince his father that the money should be returned to Bruce Wayne, a small army of Joker goons crash through the walls of the home and open fire, dead set on retrieving their bosses ill-gotten gains. Luke begins his transformation into Batwing in order to deal with the threat, while Lucius decides upon a slightly more grounded form of defense in the form of a pistol. As Luke dispatches several clowns with his fists and feet, Lucius ends the fight in an instant by firing off sequential shots through the heads of the remaining henchmen. With the fight over, Batwing attempts to approach Lucius, but the father stands his ground, telling the vigilante to leave. Lucius says he knows who is under the suit, that he built it, and as such built bullets capable of going right through it.
The standoff is ended as Batwing leaves the scene, only for Gotham PD to pull up seconds later and immediately aim their weapons at the elder Fox. Luke can arrive back in his civilian garb not a moment too soon and diffuse the situation by identifying his father as such and himself as the one who made the call. While the fight is over and his family unscathed, Lucius is left emotionally broken, dropping his weapon and saying that they must do better. It's at this moment that his wife, Tanya, takes his hands and says that in order for them to do better they need to be better, and that it is time for Tim to come home.
The name Timothy Fox might not ring a bell for a lot of readers, and that's indicative of how little the character has been seen between his initial introduction all the way back in 1979. The original arc in which Tim was introduced saw him joining a gang-controlled by Ron Watkins. Watkins himself was working for one of Bruce Wayne's competitors by the name of Gregorian Falstaff. When Falstaff took it upon himself to fabricate evidence that painted Bruce Wayne as a slumlord, Timothy bought the lie. This led to a falling out between Tim and his father, as Lucius Fox was well into his working relationship with Bruce Wayne at the time. By the time the truth had come to light, the strain between Lucius and Tim had already taken a heavy toll, but Tim apologized and acknowledged that it would take nothing but time to heal the wounds he had inflicted upon their relationship. Now that Lucius is willing to take those first steps to bring his estranged son back into the fold, a whole new direction has been opened up in regards to what the greater fallout of the Joker War could be.