WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia and Tom Napolitano, in stores now.
In Batman: Last Knight on Earth, which is set outside of the DC Universe's main continuity, the world has effectively ended and most of DC's heroes have fallen. The Earth is nothing but a dangerous, hopeless wasteland. What's left of the world is under the control of a new mysterious villain named Omega. Thankfully, a final copy of Bruce Wayne was created by Batman's cloning machine, and he's ready to keep fighting as the one and only Dark Knight.
In Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2, after traveling a long, long way in search of answers, Bruce Wayne finally returns home to Gotham, but what he finds there is nothing like the city we once knew. It's now under the control of Omega, which is abundantly obvious thanks to the light that now shines over the Gotham City skyline.
We still don't know much about Omega. While his identity remains a mystery for the time being, we know that he is someone connected to Batman. In Last Knight on Earth #1, Wonder Woman revealed that Omega rose from the ashes of Gotham City and used the decapitated head of Darkseid to take over the world. Armed with the Anti-Life Equation itself, he took over the entire East Coast and, if he is able to amplify its power, he could control everyone left on the planet.
When Bruce and Diana head back to Gotham City to face him, we find out what became of Batman's beloved city. As it turns out, it was rebuilt with futuristic skyscrapers that would look at home in the Batman Beyond future. Bat designsare prevalent in the infrastructure, bat-inspired blimps patrol the skies, and a giant Bat-Signal shines over the city.
However, this isn't a normal Bat-Signal. This is the logo that appeared on Last Knight on Earth's various chapter title pages. At first, it appeared as if it was an Omega symbol, but it also uses some Bat-shaped imagery from the Bat-Signal. Unfortunately, the Omega signal isn't just there for show. As Diana tells Bruce, this is Omega's Anti-Life signal, which allows the villain to control everyone in the city.
This is the new Bat-Signal that now shines over Gotham, but where it once was a symbol of hope and strength, it's now become an instrument of control and suppression, and it could control everyone on Earth if Batman and Diana aren't able to stop the villain. While Omega's identity is still a mystery, it already clear that Omega has twisted everything that Batman stood for and turned it into a weapon.