Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman #143!The dark origin behind Batman’s greatest contingency has finally been revealed. For several months now, Bruce Wayne has been plagued by the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, his unhinged backup personality. A new look into the past reveals the man responsible for teaching Bruce how to create his most effective and most dangerous failsafe.
In Batman #143 by Chip Zdarsky, Andrea Sorrentino, and Giuseppe Camuncoli, the “Joker: Year One” storyline sees the Clown Prince of Crime team up with Dr. Daniel Captio, the man who once trained Bruce Wayne. Captio sees potential in the Joker and begins teaching him about the powers of the mind.
Captio reveals one of his greatest techniques to the Joker: The ability to create new personas that build on a person’s desired traits. To demonstrate, Daniel unleashes his backup persona, ‘Kahr Em Zed’, a manifestation of Captio’s anger, who offers Joker the chance to create his own alternate personas.
Batman and Joker’s Shared Teacher Helped Create Zur-En-Arrh
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is Bruce Wayne’s violent and unpredictable backup persona designed to protect Bruce in case he incurs too much trauma. Zur-En-Arrh is essentially a streamlined Batman, not held back by Bruce’s moralities or rules. While created to help Bruce, the alter ego has become a severe problem in Bruce’s life. He created Failsafe, the automaton that nearly killed Batman after erroneously believing he’d killed the Penguin. Zur-En-Arrh has also tried taking over Bruce’s body, intent on eradicating crime, not just in Gotham, but on Earth and the various other worlds in the DC multiverse.
Not only are Captio and Bruce’s personas named similarly, but Kahr Em Zed describes himself as a ‘fragment’ of Daniel, called when Captio needs his anger, much like how Batman created Zur-En-Arrh for times of intense stress. Captio being the person who helped Bruce create Zur-En-Arrh makes sense, given that Daniel is one of the world’s best experts on the human mind. However, in a way, that also makes Captio responsible for everything that’s happened with Bruce’s persona. If Daniel never taught Batman this technique, the DC Universe wouldn’t be facing its most dangerous threat.
Batman’s Old Teacher Has Doomed the DC Universe
“Joker: Year One” is set in the past, but in the modern day, Zur-En-Arrh has grown beyond being just Bruce’s backup personality and is preparing to replace Batman permanently. One can say that much of the blame lies at Bruce’s feet for creating such a dangerous alternate personality. But Batman never would have had the tools if Captio didn’t teach such an irresponsible technique. It’s bad enough that Captio taught such a method to the Joker, but knowing what Batman’s worst side has planned for the multiverse, Captio’s teachings might have placed the world in serious danger.
Batman #143 is on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman #143 (2024) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
