New Batman Villain Karma is Influenced by Heath Ledger's Joker

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Detective Comics #985 by Bryan Hill, Phillipe Briones, Adriano Lucas and Sal Cipriano, on sale now.

It's not unusual to for Batman to ponder whether his methods help create the very monsters he fights, and if his role is truly Gotham's savior or indirect villain. Themost recent deep dive into this question has been unfolding in Detective Comics through the introduction of a new enemy known as Karma, someone obsessed with killing the Dark Knight's sidekicks.

In Detective Comics #985 from Bryan Hill and Co., as new a face as Karma is to the Bat-mythos, it becomes pretty clear influence is being drawn from Heath Ledger's Joker from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.

Karma apes Ledger's Joker in quite a few ways in this issue, all because he wants to break the ideology of the Caped Crusader and the fascination Gotham has with him. To get to the Bat, Karma kidnaps a female anchor, which is very similar to what Ledger did to Anthony Michael Hall's Mike Engel from the Gotham Tonight news report on the big screen. Nolan's Clown Prince of Crime had Engel read out an ultimatum to Gotham's citizens in that film, all to spread panic and make citizens flee a city believed to be rigged with explosives.

Karma, however, has a more sinister goal in mind, as he gets the unknown reporter to issue a statement to the vigilante on-air. Earlier, Karma kidnapped a bunch of school kids from their bus to use as leverage, declaring an ultimatum: He will free the children, once Batman kills his team of sidekicks and leaves their bodies in a public setting.

Obviously it's not something Batman will do, even to liberate adolescent hostages, but Karma is dead serious. In fact, the level of his sincerity can be seen when he pulls another scare tactic from Ledger's book.

Karma lights the reporter on fire on live television, in order to scare Gotham senseless and perhaps get its people to also go after the burgeoning Bat-family. Now, in The Dark Knight, no one was set on fire on air, but Joker did hatch a plan that incinerated Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and almost burnt Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent alive, thus turning him into Two-Face. What both villains have in common, aside from their love of pyrotechnics, is they crave chaos and they do so by showing a lack of mercy. Not to mention, this dance with the Bat is all a big game to them.

For anyone still doubting the parallels to the Nolan sequel, look no further than the way in which Karma jacked the kids from a school bus, which throws back to the movie's opening bank robbery. Ledger's villain used a school bus in the heist, and then as the getaway vehicle. Sure, it's not a carbon copy of the iconic scene, but Hill is definitely working in the Easter eggs. Even in his speeches, Karma waxes on with a poetic essence a la Ledger, as he believes his is the only way that can bring true order to the system, not Batman's.

What makes things so special is this month was the 10 year anniversary for the film, and so, this issue couldn't have come at a more fitting time. Ledger's Joker is considered one of the best villainous performances in cinema, even winning him a Best Supporting Oscar posthumously, and it's a nice tribute to see Karma setting himself up in the same intimidating vein.

CBR

Batman's New Villain Takes A Page From Heath Ledger's Joker