Warning: Spoilers for DC / RWBY #7!As the DC / RWBY crossover concludes, Batman will finally learn the one way he can stop the Joker – and it’s not by killing the Clown Prince of Crime. The seven-issue DC / RWBY series has seen the two universes meld into one, with each DC hero and villain gaining semblances, including Batman gaining a superpower from a Sherlock Holmes movie, and Joker gaining a nightmare-fuel new form.
DC / RWBY #7 – written by Marguerite Bennett, with art by Soo Lee, color by Marissa Louise, and lettering by Morgan Martinez – sees the conflict between the newly Grimm Batman and a Nuckelavee-Joker comes to a head. Megan Hetrick’s main cover art, and Mirka Andolfo’s variant cover, can be viewed below.
Joker vs Batman Gets a New Supernatural Upgrade
Preview panels for DC / RWBY #7, the final issue of the crossover, feature narration depicting Batman and The Joker’s feud in mythological terms. Batman is the prince protecting the city of Gotham, while his adversary the Joker is the beast terrorizing the city. No matter how badly the orphaned prince may want to “slay” the beast, Gotham will fall if he does, alluding to the repercussions of Batman breaking his no-kill rule for The Joker. However, the narration continues, if there came a day when the beat ate the prince, then the beast “would cease to grow – and would wither – and crumble.” Most intriguing are the closing remarks: “They needed one another. And if they have not yet died – they are living happily today.”
Batman and Joker Need Each Other to Survive
The idea that the Joker would recede if Batman died has been confirmed in different stories throughout DC’s history. After Bruce retires his cowl for a decade in The Dark Knight Returns, the absence of Batman is enough to put the Joker in a catatonic state, one he doesn’t awaken from until Batman takes to the streets of Gotham once more. Similarly, in Batman: Going Sane, when Joker’s thinks he’s finally killed Batman, his insanity disappears, and he becomes a normal citizen.
More recently, Batman’s death has proven to be an actual nightmare for Joker. The parable in the preview panels above echoes that same sentiment, which in turn relates to the idea that both men need each other to survive, in a sense. Both men are intertwined in each other’s life missions. If Batman kills the Joker, then Joker wins, truly giving rise to the fall of Gotham as it proves even Gotham’s finest can be broken. If Batman dies, then The Joker’s life is empty and meaningless. The battle between Joker and Batman is one that both men need to win, but oddly enough, neither can afford to.
The Joker and Batman’s never-ending battle continues in DC / RWBY #7, available now.
