WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Young Justice #8 by Brian Michael Bendis, John Timms, Gabe Eltaeb and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
Something that fans love about DC's Multiverse is how the alternate Earths provide fresh new takes on classic superheroes. With 52 Earths to choose from, there is bound to be at least one for each and every fan to gravitate towards.
The reassembled Young Justice superhero team is currently taking a tour of the Multiverse in its second story arc. Drake (formerly Robin), Superboy, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Teen Lantern and Jinny Hex are joined by Amethyst, after the heroes escaped Gemworld. While they believed Gemworld's high council was sending them back to their Earth, the group secretly left them lost in the Multiverse.
Young Justice #8 finds the team fighting their evil counterparts on Earth-3, the former home of the Crime Syndicate. We're calling it their former home, because the evil version of the Justice League hasn't returned to the world since 2013's Forever Evil, leaving Amaxon Thunder in charge. Along with her Young Justice Crime Syndicate consisting of Drake, Luthor-El and Speed Zone, they've continued to rule Earth-3 with an iron grip.
However, that hasn't stopped heroes from rising up to fight back against the oppression. Dictators and vigilantes tend to go hand-in-hand, and even though Earth-3's Batman, aka Owlman, is a bad guy, not everyone typically associated with the Dark Knight is on Owlman's side. Just as a local street gang called the Snapper Carrs descend on Tim Drake, he receives an assist from Earth-3's Batman, aka Stephanie Brown.
Tim is both surprised and relieved to see Stephanie, who goes by the moniker Spoiler on Earth-Prime. The last time we saw Tim and Stephanie together was in a flashback sequence in Young Justice #5, when Tim started to suspect someone had altered memories of his friends and teammates. Tim and Stephanie have been an on and off couple in pre-New 52 era and the post-Rebirth era, which explains why Tim immediately starts pouring his heart out to Earth-3 Stephanie.
Instead of a black costume, Earth-3 Batwoman has chosen to stick with the familiar purple color scheme found in her Spoiler costume on Earth-Prime. And while she keeps a cape on the Batwoman costume, another big change from Spoiler is the removal of a mask that completely hides her face, in favor of a cowl with goggles that displays her blonde hair, nose and mouth.
Batwoman is just the latest alias Stephanie Brown has adopted in the DC Universe. She has also replaced Tim Drake as Robin, as well as suiting up as Batgirl, so it only makes sense that she'd add Batwoman to her impressive resume. Earth-3 Stephanie appears to believe Tim when he explains how he isn't the Drake from Earth-3, but right when she takes off her cowl to tell Tim something important, she's knocked unconscious by Impulse, who think she's another evil doppelganger. Robin suggests they take her to the Earth-3 Batcave, which Earth-3 naturally has.
Once Batwoman wakes up, she may be able to assist Young Justice in getting back home to their proper Earth. Tim's encounter with Earth-3 Stephanie may also drive him to seek out his Stephanie once returning home, which should make for a tear-jerker of a reunion. But knowing Young Justice's luck, Stephanie, aka Spoiler, will be involved in some drama with her criminal father, Cluemaster.