Warning: contains spoilers for Robins #3!
In the most recent issue of Robins – a new series starring Batman‘s former sidekicks – the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery are merged into a single bizarre form. The move comes as a gaggle of Z-list villains – Giggles, Guffaw, Kitten, and Honeysuckle – use the Batcomputer’s extensive files on Gotham’s villains to become their idols in an attempt to take down Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Spoiler, and Damian Wayne.
Robins emerged from the DC Round Robin contest, which gave fans the chance to vote on the series they’d most like to see, and follows Batman’s various former Robins as they fight the machinations of a mysterious villain who claims to be the first, forgotten Robin. But while their hidden antagonist is very present in the issue, they’re not the main threat – that comes from a quartet of villains who see themselves as the ‘Robin’ equivalents to several of Gotham’s deadliest killers.
While these opponents couldn’t give even one Robin trouble on their own, they’re armed with Triplux, a hard-light holographic material that allows them to become Joker, Poison Ivy, Penguin and Catwoman. The tech runs on stolen files from Batman’s Batcomputer, and the Dark Knight is so methodical in chronicling his foes, the evil sidekicks are able to gain the appearances and combat styles of their mentors. Thankfully, the tech has a weakness, as everything about the villains has been passed through Batman’s perspective, allowing the Robins to come out ahead by using moves taught to them by other mentors. Unfortunately, once the villains start losing, Giggles absorbs the Triplux from his allies, becoming a “composite villain.” The resulting foe is a giant mix of Joker and Penguin’s bodies with Catwoman’s ears and claws, and a gigantic (likely offensive) bloom for Poison Ivy. The issue comes from Baldemar Rivas and Tim Seeley.
Thankfully for the Robins (though not for fans who wanted to see what this amalgam villain can do) the power quickly proves too much for Giggles, and Damian is able to deliver a knockout blow, crowing, “Watch as I defeat Batman’s entire rogues gallery with one hand.” Sadly, the Robins’ hidden enemy isn’t anywhere near done, and it turns out the villains were just an excuse for a second act that leaves the found family doubting each other more than ever before.
The Robins originally gathered to discuss whether they feel that being Batman’s sidekick was a good thing, and whether Bruce helped or hurt them by allowing them each to become Robin. The composite Gotham villain is both a representation of the danger to which each of the Robins was subjected as a child and a manifestation of how young minds can be warped into new shapes by harmful influences. The Robins have to abandon Batman’s teaching to defeat villains his paranoid precautions helped empower, and Nightwing informs Bruce that after this experience, he’s confident that creating the idea of ‘Robin’ was a mistake.
While Dick doesn’t yet have the full picture of how he’s being manipulated, the composite villain fulfills his worst fears of what ‘Robin’ may truly be, with Bruce Wayne’s absolute commitment to his mission reshaping impressionable young people according to his own dark vision. Fans likely haven’t seen the end of Triplux tech in Robins, and it’s possible the team may yet get a rematch against the freaky merged form of Batman‘s most famous villains.
