SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #60 by Tom King, Mike Janín, Jorge Fornes, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist, and that’s exactly what Bane has done with his takeover of Arkham Asylum right under Batman’s nose. It’s been so successful for the villain that after the reveal of Bane’s masterplan at the end of Batman #50, he disappeared from the comic as we watched Batman deal with being left at the altar by Catwoman and seeing Nightwing shot in the head and left amnesiac by KGBeast.

Even now, with The Penguin working alongside Batman to uncover Bane’s true plot, the villain has everyone else fooled into thinking he’s a broken shell of his former self rotting away in an Arkham cell after his defeat at the hands of Batman. In this week’s issue, Batman runs through his entire rogues gallery of C-List villains to find someone willing to turn on Bane and prove what Penguin is saying is true -- but he should be more concerned about the threat he never saw coming, as the biggest unanswered question from Batman #50 makes its presence known in the Batcave.

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Interrogation

Batman #60 is split into three separate narratives taking place at the same time; as Alfred watches over The Penguin in The Batcave and Jim Gordon becomes increasingly frustrated with Batman’s hunt to prove something Gordon doesn’t believe is true, The Dark Knight is on the streets roughing up anyone he can get his hands on to spill the beans about Bane. More brutal than ever following the attack on Nightwing, Batman shows no mercy to the likes of Maxie Zeus, Firefly, Signalman and even the fan-favorite Kite-Man in his search for the truth about Bane, but no-one will budge on their story. According to them, Bane spends all day in his cell in Arkham Asylum, tucked in a corner, sobbing.

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However, while Batman is out beating several shades out of his least threatening villains, a new threat emerges in the heart of the Batcave. With the Penguin blindfolded, he can’t see the person who has come for him. He’s told that Bane expected Penguin to go straight to Batman, and that the villain is pleased by Oswald Cobblepot’s betrayal. When Penguin exclaims that Batman will be back to stop his would-be attacker, he’s cryptically told that Batman is already here. Everything makes sense when Batman returns to the Batcave to find the lights off and Alfred beaten and bloody on the floor. Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler tries to warn Batman of the threat that still lurks in the Batcave, as Thomas Wayne, the Batman of the Flashpoint timeline, emerges from the shadows.

NEXT PAGE: The Flashpoint Batman Is Back - And He Has His Own Agenda

Knight of Vengeance

All of the DC Universe’s current problems can be traced back to Flashpoint, when Barry Allen attempted to undo his mother’s death at the hands of Eobard Thawne and instead rewrote the entire timeline. In this new reality, the young Bruce Wayne was killed by Joe Chill in the alley and the death of their son sent the Waynes in very different directions. Thomas Wayne became The Batman, dealing out justice on the streets of Gotham with none of his son’s qualms about taking lives in his war against crime. Meanwhile, Martha Wayne was so traumatised by the death of her son that she became The Joker and was her husband’s greatest enemy.

Thomas Wayne eventually teamed up with Barry Allen in an attempt to put the universe back how it should be, and gave The Flash a note to give to his son when he returned. The Flash’s actions created the universe of The New 52 — although now it seems that Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen had something to do with it, also — and seemingly erased the Flashpoint timeline.

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Remember, Flashpoint isn’t an alternate universe like Earth-2, it’s a corrupted version of the main timeline. When things were set right, the Flashpoint timeline should have disappeared, but it didn’t. The Flash and Batman were able to visit the Flashpoint timeline while researching the mysterious smiley faced button, and Bruce Wayne came face-to-face with his father.

Thomas Wayne refused to leave the dying reality with them, but instead gave his son some words of advice, telling him to give up being Batman and dedicate more time to his family. These words have had a major effect on Bruce; they’re part of the reason he sought to marry Catwoman and look to a future where he didn’t need to be Batman. However, since Bane manipulated Catwoman into leaving Bruce on their wedding day, Batman has been more cold, distant and violent than ever before. Bane obviously has a larger plan in mind, but just how does the Flashpoint Batman factor into it?

Daddy Issues

A cynical mind would question the very identity of the man behind the mask, but King and company seem to be going out of their way to reinforce that this is Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint timeline. First of all, the only people that have seen that costume are Bruce and Barry, so if someone were to recreate it in the main timeline it would be a massive coincidence. Then, there’s Alfred’s dialogue at the end of this issue, where he specifically refers to the Flashpoint Batman as Bruce’s father. If anyone was going to be able to identify Thomas Wayne, it’d be Alfred Pennyworth, so the chances of Flashpoint Batman being Clayface or Simon Hurt or any other option seem to be purposefully off the table.

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That leaves the question of how did Thomas Wayne survive the destruction of his timeline? When we last saw him, he was charging the armies of Atlantis and Themyscira as they invaded his mansion, and reality crumbled around him as whoever was keeping his reality intact finally let go. Was he transplanted from that timeline by Doctor Manhattan on purpose? Did he somehow hitch a ride with Barry and Bruce without them knowing? And why is he with Bane?

The obvious answer would be that he wants his son to give up being Batman, but if so why go along with the plan to disrupt the wedding? King’s run on Batman has been on a slow boil since the revelations of Batman #50 but the surprise ending of this issue rockets the heat back up and remind us that there is a master plan at play, both from Bane and from Tom King himself; it just remains to be seen what that plan actually is.