WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Joker #9, on sale now from DC Comics.

While Jim Gordon hunts down the Joker, his daughter Barbara has been investigating the Court of Owls' interest in her family as well as the recently revealed criminal organization known as the Network. In the process, Barbara learned that the Network has had a hand in some of the tragedies the Bat-Family has suffered over the years. As it turns out, the criminal organization played a pertinent part in one of the family's greatest tragedies, the death of Batman's second Robin, Jason Todd, in the classic "A Death in the Family" story, giving an indication of just how long the Network has been entrenched in the criminal underworld.

In The Joker #9 (by James Tynion IV, Stefano Rafaele, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Tom Napolitano), Julia Pennyworth was investigating Santa Prisca on behalf of Oracle and stumbled across hard evidence of the government's affiliation with foreign powers. An anecdote in the file revealed that one of their America contacts, undoubtedly a member of the Network, was responsible for selling a cruise missile to an American supervillain some time ago. When she saw the time stamp and missile design, Oracle realize that the armament in question was the same missile that the Joker had sold to terrorists. A later investigation revealed that the villain acquired the missile from a government official who secretly worked for the Network.

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The Network has recently been revealed to be an organization of criminals providing services for supervillains. Initially they started off as providing luxury hideaway spots for Nazis after World War II, making a fortune by keeping them safe. But as time passed their clientele thinned, so they began offering their services to the villains of the DC Universe. This explains how the Joker has always been able to disappear between attacks, using the shady organization to help him fall off the grid as needed.

However, it appears that in recent years, the Network has elected to broaden their horizons. The results of Julia's investigation imply that the organization now employs a range of various experts in places of political influence who have access to weapons and advanced technology. And with that influence came enough reach to give the Joker access to the nuclear weapon that would lead to one of the worst tragedies the Bat-Family has ever experienced.

Batman and Robin were lured into the Joker's trap when the villain sold the nuclear warhead to terrorists who intended to blow up Tel Aviv. After thwarting them, the Dynamic Duo pursued the Joker. This would lead to the capture, torture, and eventual murder of Jason Todd. But even though the Joker was responsible for dealing the killing blow, it has now been made clear that he never would have come to the Middle East if he didn't have the missile. This signifies that the madman would never have had the opportunity to evoke this tragedy upon the Bat-Family without the help of the Network.

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As horrifying as this all is it's even more disturbing to note how long the Network has been in existence without the Bat-Family's knowledge. A government official selling a nuclear weapon to the Joker should have been investigated, but somehow the criminal organization's influence in this tragedy seems to have gone unnoticed.

The Network has been operating for decades, but it is just now becoming apparent how much of a hand they have had in shaping the DC Universe. They operate in the mundane and unnoticed parts of the world, using their flamboyant clients to keep the spotlight off of their behind the scenes activities. The Network could quite possibly be one of the most dangerous organizations in the DC Universe, made even more so by their habit of working quietly out of sight of the heroes who would be best suited to stop them.

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