Batman Makes His Biggest Mistake By Bringing [SPOILER] Back To Life

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last 52 – War of the Multiverses #1.

In the latest tie-in issue to DC Comics’ Dark Nights: Death Metal, Batman may have just made a pretty critical error. In Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last 52 – War of the Multiverses #1, the undead Dark Knight has been reanimating other corpses with his powerful Black Lantern ring in order to help the living in their fight against the Darkest Knight and his legions. However, there’s one being that Batman probably shouldn’t have resurrected, as there could very well be some big consequences in the future should the heroes and villains prevail against the forces of the Dark Multiverse.

In the issue, Batman is trying to press the attack with his undead army, doing all that he can to protect his allies and loved ones who are still among the living. However, one of the resurrected is able to resist the Dark Knight’s control, stabbing him through the chest in the story from James Tynion IV and Alex Maleev. Many readers shouldn’t be all that surprised to discover that the one resurrected being who can fight Batman’s power is the corpse of The Batman Who Laughs. However, as the two Batmen face off, an understanding and truce is remarkably made, though it could have dire consequences for the future.

As the Batman Who Laughs sees it, there’s two options for the DC Universe going forward: either his cosmic self known as the Darkest Knight will achieve victory and overwhelm all the multiverses in darkness as a god, or the united heroes and villains win, and the Dark Multiverse will be sent back in the shadows where it belongs. If the second option happens, the currently deceased Batman Who Laughs has to ensure that he can create enough fear of him in those that remain, so he can eventually be reformed in the Dark Multiverse. In order to do that, he can’t very well fall in line as one of Batman’s undead minions. However, Batman counters with laughter of his own, realizing the irony of their shared situation and relationship.

The two Batmen laugh together at the end of the story, as it truly is just a cruel joke. Batman needs the Batman Who Laughs to fight and help him defeat the Darkest Knight, while the Batman Who Laughs needs the Batman to be afraid of him and what he can do, in order to one day be reborn. If Batman Who Laughs doesn’t help, Batman promises that he’ll make sure to forget about the Dark Batman, and he’ll likewise never be remade.

Unfortunately, this seems to indicate that even if the heroes and villain win, Batman’s resurrection of the Batman Who Laughs has opened a door for the darkest and most evil Batman to one day rise again to sow more chaos and fear across the DC Universe. Now, their fates are tied with one another, but it seems as though it didn’t need to be that way in the first place.

Nothing has been shown to suggest that resurrecting the Batman Who Laughs was the key to stopping the Darkest Knight. If the Batman Who Laughs truly is just another corpse for Batman’s undead army, Batman should have definitely passed on reanimating him. Had he done so, the Batman Who Laughs could have been well and truly defeated, rather than this new possibility coming into existence of his potential reemergence in the DC Universe after Death Metal. All in all, it certainly seems like a pretty big miscalculation and mistake on Batman’s part.

More: With Dark Nights: Death Metal, DC is Repeating its Greatest Mistakes